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Notes:
Please note: Except where credited, these are translations made by a very unskilled (not to mention, rusty) translator. The translations are posted here in the hopes that someone more skilled can verify their accuracy. The passages by Violetta Zein were translated with the assistance of Kamal Zein, Adib Masumian, Eric Michot and Farhan Yazdani.
Crossreferences:
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| English Translations of French Passages in God Passes By (See also here for the English translations of the French foot-notes in the Dawn-Breakers, including the one short phrase and one sentence still in French which were overlooked (or not included) in the official translation.) The French passage in Chapter 4, p. 55 at the beginning of the first new paragraph: "C'est un des plus magnifiques exemples de courage qu'il ait été donné a l'humanité de contempler," is the testimony recorded by a Christian scholar and government official, who had lived in Persia and had familiarized himself with the life and teachings of the Báb, "et c'est aussi une admirable preuve de l'amour que notre heros portait a ses concitoyens. Il s'est sacrifié pour l'humanité: pour elle il a donné son corps et son âme, pour elle il a subi les privations, les affronts, les injures, la torture et le martyre. Il a scellé de son sang le pacte de la fraternité universelle, et comme Jesus il a payé de sa vie l'annonce du regné de la concorde, de l'équité et de l'amour du prochain." “It is one of the most magnificent examples of courage ever offered to humanity and an admirable proof of the love which our hero held for his fellow citizens. He sacrificed himself for humanity, offering his body and his soul, suffering privations, affronts, insults, torture and martyrdom. He sealed with his blood the pact of universal brotherhood, and like Jesus he offered his life to proclaim the reign of harmony, equity and love of one’s neighbor.” (Translated by Violetta Zein) The French passage also in Chapter 4, p. 55 in the middle of the first new paragraph: "Un fait étrange, unique dans les annales de l'humanité," “A singular event, unique in the recorded history of mankind.” (Translated by Violetta Zein) The French passage in Chapter 5, p. 76 at the beginning of the page: "Prodige de science, mais aussi prodige de beauté" "A wonder in science, but also a wonder of beauty" The French passage in Chapter 5, p. 80 toward the bottom of the page: "Des milliers de martyrs," attests Renan in his "Les Apôtres," "sont accourus pour lui (the Báb) avec allegressé au devant de la mort. Un jour sans pareil peut-être dans l'histoire du monde fut celui de la grande boucherie qui se fit des Bábís a Teheran." "For his sake, thousands of martyrs flocked to their death. A day unparalleled perhaps in the world's history was that of the great massacre of the Bábís at Teheran. (Ernest Renan, Les Apôtres [The Apostles], translated from the French by William G. Hutchison (London: Watts & Co., 1905), p. 134, online at http://www.bahai.org/article-1-3-1-1.html#13) (Shoghi Effendi translates the second sentence as "a day perhaps unparalleled in the history of the world!" on p. 66 of God Passes By) (The original text of the above citation of Renan continues (though it is not printed in God Passes By:) "`On that day was to be seen in the streets and bazaars of Teheran,' says a narrator, who has first-hand knowledge, `a spectacle which it does not seem that the populations can ever forget....Women and children advanced, singing a verse, which says: "In truth we come from God, and unto him we return."'" The narrator referred to is J.A. de Gobineau, 3d ed., Les Religions et les Philosophies dans l'Asie Centrale [The Religions and Philosphies in Central Asia] (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1900), p. 304 et seq. The French passage in Chapter 5, p. 81 toward the top of the page: "J'avoue même," is the assertion made by Comte de Gobineau in his book, "que, si je voyais en Europe une secte d'une nature analogue au Babysme se présenter avec des avantages tels que les siens, foi aveugle, enthousiasme extreme, courage et devouément éprouvés, respect inspire aux indifférents, terreur profonde inspirée aux adversaires, et de plus, comme je l'ai dit, un proselytisme qui ne s'arrête pas, et donc les succes sont constants dans toutes les classes de la societé; si je voyais, dis-je, tout cela exister en Europe, je n'hésiterais pas a prediré que, dans un temps donné, la puissance et le sceptre appartiendront de toute necessité aux possesseurs de ces grands avantages." "I even confess that if I were to see appear in Europe a religion like unto Babism, with advantages such as Babism possesses, with complete faith, an undaunted enthusiasm, tried courage and proven devotion, winning the respect of the indifferent, frightening its adversaries and, moreover, a tireless proselytism constantly gaining adherents in every social class, --if I were to see such a phenomenon in Europe, I would not hesitate to predict that, within a given time, power and sovereignty would of necessity belong to a group so richly endowed." (Comte de Gobineau's "Les Religions et les Philosophies dans l'Asie Centrale," [The Religions and Philsophies of Central Asia] pp. 116, 293-294.) (This passage corresponds to note 1 of The Dawn-Breakers on pp. 663-665 (p. 80 of the separate booklet of Translation of French Foot-Notes of the Dawn-Breakers). The French passages in Chapter 12, pp. 203-204, starting on the third (last) paragraph of 203: Count Gobineau, writing as far back as the year 1865, testified as follows: "L'opinion genérale est que les Bábís sont répandus dans toutes les classes de la population et parmi tous les religionnaires de la Perse, sauf les Núsayrís et les Chrètiens; mais ce sont surtout les classes éclairées, les hommes pratiquant les sciences du pays, qui sont donnés comme très suspects. On pense, et avec raison, ce semble, que beaucoup de mullás, et parmi eux des mujtahids considèrables, des magistrats d'un rang élève, des hommes qui occupent à la cour des fonctions importantes et qui approchent de près la personne du Roi, sont des Bábís. D'après un calcul fait rècemment, il y aurait a Tihrán cinq milles de ces religionnaires sur une population de quatre-vingt milles âmes a peu près." Furthermore: "...Le Bábísme a pris une action considèrable sur l'intelligence de la nation persane, et, se rependant même au délà des limites du territoire, il a débordé dans le pachalik de Baghdád, et passé aussi dans l'Inde." And again: "...Un mouvement religieux tout particulier dont l'Asie Centrale, c'est-à-dire la Perse, quelques points de l'Inde et une partie de la Turquie d'Asie, aux environs de Baghdád, est aujourd'hui vivement préoccupée, mouvement remarquable et digne d'être étudié à tous les titres. Il permet d'assister à des développements de faits, à des manifestations, à des catastrophes telles que l'on n'est pas habitué à les imaginer ailleurs que dans les temps réculés où se sont produites les grandes religions." Count Gobineau, writing as far back as the year 1865, testified as follows: "The general opinion is that Bábís are widespread in all the classes of the population and among all the religionists of Persia, except Núsayrís and the Christians; but they are especially the literary classes, the scientific men of the country, who are viewed very suspiciously. One thinks, and with reason, this seems, that many mullás, and among them the important mujtahids, the magistrates of an elevated rank, the men who occupy important functions at the court and who approach closely the person of the King, are Bábís. After a calculation made recently, Tihrán would have about five thousand of these religionists out of a population of eighty thousand hearts." Furthermore: " … Bábísme had a considerable influence on the intelligence of the Persian nation, and, being recaptured even beyond the limits of the territory, it overflowed into the Pachalik of Baghdád, and also passed into India." And again: " … A religious movement with which any private individual of Central Asia, that is to say Persia, some parts of India and a part of Turkey in Asia, and around Baghdád, is today highly preoccupied, a remarkable and worthy movement to be studied in all aspects. The circumstances allow for witnessing the development of occurrences, events, and catastrophes such as one is not accustomed to imagining, except in remote times when the great religions occurred." Other passages? There may also conceivably be other French passages in the work, but I have not been able to find any as of yet. There may not be any others, however, since I believe Shoghi Effendi may have strictly used the French sources for information related to The Dawn-Breakers and early history of the Faith, and I have more carefully examined these corresponding earlier chapters of God Passes By. However, if you discover any not included above, please let me know at: . |
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