Prayers and Meditations — §478

Arabic source with Shoghi Effendi’s authorized English translation. Paragraph 478 of 858.

Source (Arabic)

فَاغْفِرْ لِي وَلأَحِبَّتِي، ثُمَّ ارْزُقْهُمْ خَيْرَ الدُّنْيا وَالآخِرَةِ

Shoghi Effendi Translation

Forgive me, then, my sins and the sins of them that love me, and supply them with the good of this world and of the next.

Translation Notes

فَاغْفِرْ

fághfir gh-f-r → “forgive”

literal: forgiving; forgiveness; forgive

forgive 86% wash 14%

epistle-to-the-son-of-the-wolfESW §206: Pardoner fire-tabletFire §35: forgiveness gleaningsGWB §375: implore pardon kitab-i-iqanKIQ §145: to forgive prayers-and-meditationsP&M §478: Forgive me, then,will-and-testamentW&T §13: vast epistle-to-the-son-of-the-wolfESW §30: grant me Thy pardon fire-tabletFire §35: Forgiver

وَلأَحِبَّتِي،

walʾaḥibbatí، ḥ-b-b

literal: love; beloved; beloved ones

SE rendered فَاغْفِرْ (fághfir), لِي (lí), وَلأَحِبَّتِي، (walʾaḥibbatí،), ارْزُقْهُمْ (irzuqhum), خَيْرَ (khayr) as “Forgive, me, supply them with, the good”

loved 33% love 33% such 33%

epistle-to-the-son-of-the-wolfESW §136: love fire-tabletFire §7: of Thy love gleaningsGWB §38: the love kitab-i-iqanKIQ §279: faithful prayers-and-meditationsP&M §210: their love towards Thee tablet-of-the-holy-marinerMariner §40: the Beloved One the-hidden-wordsHW §20: a beloved will-and-testamentW&T §38: for His steadfast friends)

ارْزُقْهُمْ

irzuqhum r-z-q → “supply them with”

literal: provide; sustenance; provided

SE expanded to “supply them with”

supply 89% help 11%

epistle-to-the-son-of-the-wolfESW §61: nourish themselves gleaningsGWB §449: Who hath nourished thee kitab-i-iqanKIQ §75: such sustenance prayers-and-meditationsP&M §618: and sustainest will-and-testamentW&T §36: Vouchsafe unto them epistle-to-the-son-of-the-wolfESW §205: attain gleaningsGWB §581: suffice kitab-i-iqanKIQ §219: sustenance

خَيْرَ

khayr kh-y-r → “good”

literal: good; better; choice

good 50% better 20% best 11% chosen 7% righteous 4% virtue 3% what 3% preferred 1% blessing 1% goodly 1%

epistle-to-the-son-of-the-wolfESW §88: what ye prefer gleaningsGWB §71: the righteous kitab-i-ahdAhd §3: what is good kitab-i-iqanKIQ §270: He Who hath the authority prayers-and-meditationsP&M §561: of Thy bestowals will-and-testamentW&T §17: truth epistle-to-the-son-of-the-wolfESW §12: the Unconstrained gleaningsGWB §224: goodly

الدُّنْيا

ad-dunyá d-n-w → “this world”

literal: world; world/this life

world 78% life 6% things 4% earth 4% earthly 2% world’s 1% desire 1% worldliness 1% worldly 1% “the 1%

epistle-to-the-son-of-the-wolfESW §85: world gleaningsGWB §370: earthly kitab-i-iqanKIQ §251: sordid prayers-and-meditationsP&M §601: abasement the-hidden-wordsHW §23: abased epistle-to-the-son-of-the-wolfESW §92: of the world gleaningsGWB §675: that which kitab-i-iqanKIQ §130: or low

وَالآخِرَةِ

wálákhirah ʾ-kh-r → “and of the next”

literal: end; hereafter; other

SE expanded to “and of the next”

world 32% end 20% next 19% finally 6% another 5% hath 5% life 5% last 4% new 2% latter 2%

epistle-to-the-son-of-the-wolfESW §240: ensuing gleaningsGWB §257: or of the future kitab-i-iqanKIQ §261: world to come prayers-and-meditationsP&M §774: Thine own Lastness the-hidden-wordsHW §96: While there is yet will-and-testamentW&T §42: of late epistle-to-the-son-of-the-wolfESW §226: the end gleaningsGWB §70: heaven

Model Translations by Shoghi Effendi

Epistle to the Son of the Wolf

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The last outstanding Tablet revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, written around 1891 and addressed to Shaykh Muḥammad-Taqí of Iṣfahán. It calls upon that rapacious priest to repent, quotes the most celebrated passages from Bahá’u’lláh’s own writings, and adduces proofs establishing the validity of His Cause.

268 ¶

Fire Tablet

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Revealed in late 1871 during a period of severe hardship in ‘Akká, this Tablet takes the form of an anguished dialogue between Bahá’u’lláh and God. Questions about the sufferings of the faithful are answered with divine assurances, building to a crescendo of triumph over tribulation.

50 ¶

Gleanings

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A compilation of 166 selections from Bahá’u’lláh’s Tablets, spanning the Baghdad, Adrianople, and ‘Akká periods (1853–1892). George Townshend assisted with English refinement. Shoghi Effendi wrote that it gives the friends a splendid opportunity to acquire knowledge and understanding of the Faith.

729 ¶

Kitáb-i-’Ahd

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The Book of the Covenant — Bahá’u’lláh’s Will and Testament, written entirely in His own hand and unsealed on the ninth day after His ascension. It designates ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as His successor and establishes what Shoghi Effendi called the mightiest Covenant in all religious history.

16 ¶

Kitáb-i-Íqán

Bahá’u’lláh

The principal doctrinal work of the Faith, revealed in Baghdad within the space of two days and two nights in response to questions from the Báb’s maternal uncle. Shoghi Effendi described it as occupying a position unequalled by any work except the Kitáb-i-Aqdas — a model of Persian prose, at once original, chaste, vigorous, and remarkably lucid.

291 ¶

Tablet of Aḥmad

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Revealed in Adrianople and addressed to a believer named Aḥmad, this Tablet has been invested by Bahá’u’lláh with a special potency and significance. Its central imagery draws on the metaphor of fire and water: “Be thou as a flame of fire to My enemies and a river of life eternal to My loved ones.”

17 ¶

Tablet of Carmel

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Revealed during a visit to Mount Carmel, this Tablet addresses the mountain directly and prophesies its future as the world spiritual and administrative center of the Faith. Shoghi Effendi designated it one of three foundational Charters. Its imagery of the Ark and the dwellers therein prefigures the Universal House of Justice.

5 ¶

Tablet of the Holy Mariner

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Chanted aloud in the outskirts of Baghdad just weeks before the Declaration in the Garden of Riḍván, its gloomy prognostications aroused the grave apprehensions of all who heard it. Only the Arabic portion has an authorized translation; the Persian portion remains untranslated.

57 ¶

The Hidden Words

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Seventy-one Arabic and eighty-two Persian aphorisms revealed around 1858 while walking along the banks of the Tigris in Baghdad. Originally designated the “Hidden Book of Fáṭimih,” Shoghi Effendi described it as a marvelous collection of gem-like utterances occupying a position of unsurpassed preeminence among the ethical writings of the Faith.

160 ¶

Will and Testament

‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Written by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in three parts between 1901 and 1908, opened and read after His passing on 28 November 1921. Shoghi Effendi designated it the Charter of the New World Order — the mightiest instrument forged to ensure the continuity of the three ages of the Bahá’í Dispensation.

59 ¶