Truthseeker
Non-debating member when I can help myself
As to where Abdu'l-Baha says
The fifth candle is the unity of nations -- a unity which in this century will be securely established, causing all the peoples of the world to regard themselves as citizens of one common fatherland.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 32)
I asked this elsewhere:
Yes, I've seen the terms there in that passage "This wondrous age, this glorious century", and was thinking those two clauses were maybe equivalent. Is this age and this century used interchangeably by Abdu'l-Baha? I don't know for sure, but I suspect so.
Answer: Yes, they are alternative terms for the same thing, as is "the century of light." The Persian texts do not have a term that strictly corresponds to a "century" as in, exactly 100 years. 'asr is translated as century here, but in Persian it means "era." For example, 'asr-e qaajaar is the era of the Qajar rulers. There's also qarn, which can best be translated 'a span of years.' When Shoghi Effendi wants to refer to a literal century in his Persian writings, he uses qarn. The Persian word for a hundred is sad, and there's a word derived from it, sada/sadeh – but in the 19th century that was used for a group of a hundred soldiers. Today, both qarn and sadeh are used to refer to a literal hundred years. But Persian in the Qajar era, the time in which Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha lived, was short of unambiguous terms for '100 years,' except by saying "one hundred years."
Not only is 'century' not well defined in Persian, the centuries in the Islamic lunar calendar don't correspond to those in the western calendar, and Persians used a Persian solar calendar for most purposes, and Abdu'l-Baha also used the Syrian calendar. Moreover the Baha'i solar calendar begins in 1844. So there is lots of room for confusion, when Persian speakers or writers are being translated into English. Shoghi Effendi, when translating, routinely uses "century" to mean an age.
""This is the Day which past ages and centuries can never rival…" to "Peerless is this Day, for it is as the eye to past ages and centuries, and as a light unto the darkness of the times."
(Cited in Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 79)
Briefly, in every age and century differences have arisen in the days of the manifestation of the Daysprings of Revelation, …
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 120)
Such objections and differences have persisted in every age and century.
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 81)
In every age and century, the purpose of the Prophets of God and their chosen ones …
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 120)
The fifth candle is the unity of nations -- a unity which in this century will be securely established, causing all the peoples of the world to regard themselves as citizens of one common fatherland.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 32)
I asked this elsewhere:
Yes, I've seen the terms there in that passage "This wondrous age, this glorious century", and was thinking those two clauses were maybe equivalent. Is this age and this century used interchangeably by Abdu'l-Baha? I don't know for sure, but I suspect so.
Answer: Yes, they are alternative terms for the same thing, as is "the century of light." The Persian texts do not have a term that strictly corresponds to a "century" as in, exactly 100 years. 'asr is translated as century here, but in Persian it means "era." For example, 'asr-e qaajaar is the era of the Qajar rulers. There's also qarn, which can best be translated 'a span of years.' When Shoghi Effendi wants to refer to a literal century in his Persian writings, he uses qarn. The Persian word for a hundred is sad, and there's a word derived from it, sada/sadeh – but in the 19th century that was used for a group of a hundred soldiers. Today, both qarn and sadeh are used to refer to a literal hundred years. But Persian in the Qajar era, the time in which Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha lived, was short of unambiguous terms for '100 years,' except by saying "one hundred years."
Not only is 'century' not well defined in Persian, the centuries in the Islamic lunar calendar don't correspond to those in the western calendar, and Persians used a Persian solar calendar for most purposes, and Abdu'l-Baha also used the Syrian calendar. Moreover the Baha'i solar calendar begins in 1844. So there is lots of room for confusion, when Persian speakers or writers are being translated into English. Shoghi Effendi, when translating, routinely uses "century" to mean an age.
""This is the Day which past ages and centuries can never rival…" to "Peerless is this Day, for it is as the eye to past ages and centuries, and as a light unto the darkness of the times."
(Cited in Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 79)
Briefly, in every age and century differences have arisen in the days of the manifestation of the Daysprings of Revelation, …
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 120)
Such objections and differences have persisted in every age and century.
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 81)
In every age and century, the purpose of the Prophets of God and their chosen ones …
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 120)