Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh

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Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh is a compilation of selected tablets and extracts from tablets by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. Shoghi Effendi, head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 to 1957, made the selection and performed the translation, which was first published 1935.

The work consists of "a selection of the most characteristic and hitherto unpublished passages includes from the outstanding works of the Author of the Bahá'í Revelation," according to Shoghi Effendi.^[1] The passages come from the whole range of Bahá'u'lláh's writings, dated from about 1853 to 1892.

The book is divided in five parts:

• The "Day of God" (sec. 1-18)
• The Manifestation of God (sec. 19-69)
• The soul and its immortality (sec. 70-99)
• The World Order and the Most Great Peace (sec. 100-121)
• The duties of the individual and the spiritual meaning of life (sec. 122-166)

Among others, passages from the following works are included:

• Epistle to the Son of the Wolf
• The Hidden Words
• The Kitáb-i-Aqdas
• The Kitáb-i-Íqán

In addition, works partially translated in Gleanings were published more completely in the following compilations:

• The Summons of the Lord of Hosts
• The Tabernacle of Unity
• Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas

The book was published without an index of which passages were derived from which works of Bahá'u'lláh, but such a list has been reconstructed subsequently and is on the web^[2] .

Because of its broad selection,Gleanings is one of the first works of Bahá'u'lláh many people read. Rúḥíyyih Rabbání, Shoghi Effendi's widow, called it "a magnificent gift" to the Western Bahá'ís. Queen Marie of Rumania wrote that "even doubters would find a powerful strength in it, if they would read it alone, and would give their souls time to expand."^[3] It has been translated into many languages.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Bahá'u'lláh (1976). Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. ISBN 0877431876. http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/GWB/. 

• Hatcher, J.S. (1997). The Ocean of His Words: A Reader's Guide to the Art of Bahá'u'lláh. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. ISBN 0877432597. 

• Taherzadeh, A. (1976). The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 1: Baghdad 1853-63. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0853982708. 

• Taherzadeh, A. (1977). The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 2: Adrianople 1863-68. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0853980713. 

• Taherzadeh, A. (1984). The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 3: `Akka, The Early Years 1868-77. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0853981442. 

• Taherzadeh, A. (1987). The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 4: Mazra'ih & Bahji 1877-92. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0853982708. 

[edit] External links

• A compendium on Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah