What follows is my provisional translation (in other words, not official or authorized; see here for more) of a passage from a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the original text of which has been published in Muntakhabátí az Makátíb-i-Ḥaḍrat-i-‘Abdu’l-Bahá, vol. 2, pp. 264–65 (selection no. 371). An authenticated typescript of the full text of the Tablet is also available on the Bahá’í Reference Library here.
An authorized translation of another portion of this Tablet can be found on the Bahá’í Reference Library at this link, but it seemed very appropriate to me to provisionally translate the passage below in light of this excerpt from the Universal House of Justice’s Riḍván 2024 message: “We are conscious of how much vibrancy and strength is generated in any society by its youth being awakened to the vision of Bahá’u’lláh and becoming protagonists of the Plan. And so, with what immense kindliness, courage, and complete reliance on God must Bahá’í youth resolve to reach out to their peers and bring them into this work! All must surge, but the youth must soar.”
15 MAY 2024 UPDATE: After making this provisional rendering available, I was informed that an authorized translation by the Bahá’í World Center appears as selection no. 38 in Bahá’í Prayers and Tablets for Children.
* * *
O ye beloved of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá! The days of one’s life are even as the springtime; the wondrous beauty of the season of youth hath a special potency, and the days of adolescence are the finest period of human existence. Therefore, with a divine strength and a luminous intention, as well as a heavenly assistance and a lordly confirmation, ye must strive day and night, in order that ye may become the ornament of the world of humanity and lead the people of love and wisdom, and that—with sanctity and holiness, with exaltedness of purpose and high resolve, with intense determination and celestial character, with lofty endeavor and noble conduct—ye may be raised up amidst all creation. Thus may ye become the means of exalting the Cause of God and the recipients of His favors, conducting yourselves in accordance with the counsels and exhortations of the Blessed Beauty—may my soul be offered up for His loved ones—and distinguishing yourselves from others through the attributes of a Bahá’í character. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá expecteth that each one of you may become a fierce lion in the forest of perfections, and a fragrant musk-laden breeze wafting through the meads of virtue. Upon you be the Glory of the Most Glorious.
A typescript of the original Persian text of this passage appears below.
Adib Masumian 