Ko NgÄ Kupu Huna A: Hidden Words of Baha’u'llah in New Zealand Maori
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Over the weekend of April 28-30 2007, during the 50th National Convention of the Baha’is of New Zealand an historic event occurred. Launched at that gathering was a long awaited translation of a piece of Baha’i Scripture into Maori. The translation has been undertaken by scholars at the University of Waikato. Also nearing completion is the translation into Maori of “Baha’u'llah and the New Era” and Book 1 of the distance learning programme offered by the Ruhi Institute from Cali, Colombia “Reflections on the Life of the Spirit”.
The translation of Esslemont’s textbook into Maori has been awaited since 1932 when the then Head of the Baha’i Faith, Shoghi Effendi, cabled Margaret Stevenson an early New Zealand Baha’i “INFORM BERTRAM DEWING ENSURE PROMPT TRANSLATION ESSLEMONTS BOOK MAORI”. This was one of four cables sent out on that day equesting translation of Esslements book. The additional languages included Czech, Hungarian, Rumanian, Greek, English Braille and Burmese were completed within a few years of the request, many driven along by Shoghi Effendi himself and his close colleague Martha Root. Completing this task will be a long cherished wish and a signal achievement of the New Zealand Baha’i community. The Association for Baha’i Studies congratulates the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of New Zealand on its fine translation and production of Ko Nga Kupu Huna A. This translation of the Hidden Words, (originally in Arabic and Persian as Kalimat-i-Maknunih), joins the Old(1858) and New(1868) Testaments and the Book of Mormon (1889) as primary religious works translated into Maori. |