A word should be said about the style of language in which
the Kitáb-i-Aqdas has been rendered into English. Bahá’u’lláh enjoyed a superb
mastery of Arabic, and preferred to use it in those Tablets and other Writings
where its precision of meaning was particularly appropriate to the exposition
of basic principle. Beyond the choice of language itself, however, the style
employed is of an exalted and emotive character, immensely compelling,
particularly to those familiar with the great literary tradition out of which
it arose. In taking up his task of translation, Shoghi Effendi faced the
challenge of finding an English style which would not only faithfully convey
the exactness of the text’s meaning, but would also evoke in the reader the
spirit of meditative reverence which is a distinguishing feature of response to
the original. The form of expression he selected, reminiscent of the style used
by the seventeenth-century translators of the Bible, captures the elevated mode
of Bahá’u’lláh’s Arabic, while remaining accessible to the contemporary reader.
His translations, moreover, are illumined by his uniquely inspired
understanding of the purport and implications of the originals.
- The Universal House of Justice ('Introduction to the
Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
