Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh

"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The work consists of "a selection of the most characteristic and hitherto unpublished passages includes from the outstanding works of the Author of the Bahá'í Revelation," according to Shoghi Effendi. [Shoghi Effendi, quoted in Rúḥíyyih Rabbání, "The Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1988), 93.] 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 [ [http://bahai-library.com/resources/leiden.list/leiden.index.html#2 The Leiden List: indexes ] ] .

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." [Both the quote from Rúḥíyyih Rabbání and the one from Queen Marie come from Rúḥíyyih Rabbání, "The Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith," 93.] It has been translated into many languages.

Notes

References

*cite book
author=Bahá'u'lláh
authorlink=Bahá'u'lláh
year=1976
title=Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh
publisher=Bahá'í Publishing Trust
location=Wilmette, Illinois, USA
id=ISBN 0877431876
url=http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/GWB/

*cite book
author = Hatcher, J.S.
year = 1997
title = The Ocean of His Words: A Reader's Guide to the Art of Bahá'u'lláh
publisher = Bahá'í Publishing Trust
location = Wilmette, Illinois, USA
id = ISBN 0877432597

*cite book
last = Taherzadeh
first = A.
year = 1976
title = The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 1: Baghdad 1853-63
publisher = George Ronald
location = Oxford, UK
id = ISBN 0853982708

*cite book
last = Taherzadeh
first = A.
year = 1977
title = The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 2: Adrianople 1863-68
publisher = George Ronald
location = Oxford, UK
id = ISBN 0853980713

*cite book
last = Taherzadeh
first = A.
year = 1984
title = The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 3: `Akka, The Early Years 1868-77
publisher = George Ronald
location = Oxford, UK
id = ISBN 0853981442

*cite book
last = Taherzadeh
first = A.
year = 1987
title = The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 4: Mazra'ih & Bahji 1877-92
publisher = George Ronald
location = Oxford, UK
id = ISBN 0853982708

External links

* [http://bahai9.com/Gleanings_from_the_Writings_of_Bah%C3%A1'u'll%C3%A1h A compendium on Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah]