1. We have enjoined upon you fasting during a brief period,
and at its close have designated for you Naw-Rúz as a feast.
Thus hath the Day-Star of Utterance shone forth above the
horizon of the Book as decreed by Him Who is the Lord of the
beginning and the end. Let the days in excess of the months be
placed before the month of fasting. We have ordained that
these, amid all nights and days, shall be the manifestations
of the letter Ha, and thus they have not been bounded by the
limits of the year and its months.
It behoveth the
people of Bahá, throughout these days, to provide good cheer
for themselves, their kindred and, beyond them, the poor and
needy, and with joy and exultation to hail and glorify their
Lord, to sing His praise and magnify His Name; and when they
end - these days of giving that precede the season of
restraint - let them enter upon the Fast. Thus hath it been
ordained by Him Who is the Lord of all mankind. The traveller,
the ailing, those who are with child or giving suck, are not
bound by the Fast; they have been exempted by God as a token
of His grace.
These are the
ordinances of God that have been set down in the Books and
Tablets by His Most Exalted Pen. Hold ye fast unto His
statutes and commandments, and be not of those who, following
their idle fancies and vain imaginings, have clung to the
standards fixed by their own selves, and cast behind their
backs the standards laid down by God. Abstain from food and
drink from sunrise to sundown, and beware lest desire deprive
you of this grace that is appointed in the Book.
(The
Kitab-i-Aqdas, pages 24-25; Notes, pages 178-179)
2. My God, my
Fire and my Light! The days which Thou hast named the
Ayyam-i-Ha (the Days of Ha, Intercalary days) in Thy Book have
begun, O Thou Who art the King of names, and the fast which
Thy most exalted Pen hath enjoined unto all who are in the
kingdom of Thy creation to observe is approaching. I entreat
Thee, O my Lord, by these days and by all such as have during
that period clung to the cord of Thy commandments, and laid
hold on the handle of Thy precepts, to grant that unto every
soul may be assigned a place within the precincts of Thy
court, and a seat at the revelation of the splendors of the
light of Thy countenance.
These, O my Lord,
are Thy servants whom no corrupt inclination hath kept back
from what Thou didst send down in Thy Book. They have bowed
themselves before Thy Cause, and received Thy Book with such
resolve as is born of Thee, and observed what Thou hadst
prescribed unto them, and chosen to follow that which had been
sent down by Thee.
Thou seest, O my
Lord, how they have recognized and confessed whatsoever Thou
hast revealed in Thy Scriptures. Give them to drink, O my
Lord, from the hands of Thy graciousness the waters of Thine
eternity. Write down, then, for them the recompense ordained
for him that hath immersed himself in the ocean of Thy
presence, and attained unto the choice wine of Thy
meeting.
I implore Thee, O
Thou the King of kings and the Pitier of the downtrodden, to
ordain for them the good of this world and of the world to
come. Write down for them, moreover, what none of Thy
creatures hath discovered, and number them with those who have
circled round Thee, and who move about Thy throne in every
world of Thy worlds. 8. Thou, truly, art the Almighty, the
All-Knowing, the All-Informed.
(Prayers and
Meditations, Baha'u'llah: pages 65-67)
3. Ye had written
of the fasting month. Fortunate are ye to have obeyed the
commandment of God, and kept this fast during the holy season.
For this material fast is an outer token of the spiritual
fast; it is a symbol of self-restraint, the withholding of
oneself from all appetites of the self, taking on the
characteristics of the spirit, being carried away by the
breathings of heaven and catching fire from the love of
God.
Your letter also
betokened your unity and the closeness of your hearts… Deal
ye with strangers the same as with friends, cherish ye others
just as ye would your own. See foes as friends; see demons as
angels; give to the tyrant the same great love ye show the
loyal and true… Be ye a refuge to the fearful; bring ye rest
and peace to the disturbed; make ye a provision for the
destitute; be a treasury of riches for the poor; be a healing
medicine for those who suffer pain; be ye doctor and nurse to
the ailing; promote ye friendship, and honour, and
conciliation, and devotion to God, in this world of
non-existence….
Beware lest ye
harm any soul, or make any heart to sorrow; lest ye wound any
man with your words, be he known to you or a stranger, be he
friend or foe. Pray ye for all; ask ye that all be blessed,
all be forgiven. Beware, beware, lest any of you seek
vengeance, even against one who is thirsting for your blood.
Beware, beware, lest ye offend the feelings of another, even
though he be an evil-doer, and he wish you ill. Look ye not
upon the creatures, turn ye to their Creator. See ye not the
never-yielding people, see but the Lord of Hosts. Gaze ye not
down upon the dust, gaze upward at the shining sun, which hath
caused every patch of darksome earth to glow with light….
When calamity
striketh, be ye patient and composed. However afflictive your
sufferings may be, stay ye undisturbed, and with perfect
confidence in the abounding grace of God, brave ye the tempest
of tribulations and fiery ordeals.
(`Abdu'l-Baha:
Selections ... `Abdu'l-Baha, pages 69-71)
