Hidden Word, Arabic 1: A Pure, Kindly and Radiant Heart
Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words, (1858), Bahá'í Publishing Trust · Read original
When in Bahá'í history
Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Hidden Words in Baghdád in the year 1274 A.H. (1857–58), partly in Arabic and partly in Persian. Shoghi Effendi writes in God Passes By that Bahá'u'lláh was inspired with them "as He paced, wrapped in His meditations, the banks of the Tigris." The book has 71 short passages in Arabic and 82 in Persian. In its opening words Bahá'u'lláh says that He has taken the inner essence of what was revealed to the Prophets of old "and clothed it in the garment of brevity, as a token of grace unto the righteous, that they may stand faithful unto the Covenant of God."
This is the first of the Arabic Hidden Words:
O SON OF SPIRIT! My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting.
From The Hidden Words of Bahá'u'lláh (Arabic, no. 1), translated by Shoghi Effendi. The account of its revelation is from Shoghi Effendi's God Passes By.
Cite this story
Bahá'u'lláh. (1858). *The Hidden Words*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/hidden-words/
This story shares quotes with 3 other stories
“as He paced, wrapped in His meditations, the banks of the Tigris.”
Also in
- Hidden Word, Arabic 22: Noble Have I Created Thee— Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words
- Hidden Word, Arabic 59: Thy Heart Is My Home— Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words
- Shoghi Effendi Translates The Hidden Words— Rúḥíyyih Khánum, The Priceless Pearl
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