A Study of Baha’u’llah’s
Kitab-i-Iqan, The Book of Certitude
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While discussing issues related to the translation of the original Writings of the faith from Persian or Arabic into English, the Universal House of Justice draws attention to the statement of the Beloved Guardian in his forward to the Kitab-i-Iqan. Because there is a lesson in this comment, this guidance is reproduced below.
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With reference to your present request for clarification of
the difference in the use of "authorized" and "provisional"
when describing translations, we are to convey the following.
When a
translation is approved by one or more translation committees appointed by the
House of Justice, the translation is regarded as authorized.
This does
not mean it is final, as improvements or amendments can always be made in the
future. In the work of translation from the original text into English, the
following statement was made by Shoghi Effendi when he released the text of his
translation of "The Kitab-i-iqan":
This is one more
attempt to introduce to the West, in language however inadequate, this book of
unsurpassed pre-eminence among the writings of the Author of the Baha'i
Revelation. The hope is that it may assist others in their efforts to approach
what must always be regarded as the unattainable goal -- a befitting rendering
of Baha'u'llah's matchless utterance.
(11
February 1992, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an
individual believer) [10]
(Letters of
The Universal House of Justice, 1994 Nov 26, Policy Concerning Provisional
Translations)