they have been exempted by God as a token of His grace. 16 Exemption from fasting is granted to those who are ill or of advanced age (see note 14), women in their courses (see note...
O SON OF BEING! Bring thyself to account each day ere thou art summoned to a reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall come upon thee and thou shalt be called to give account for thy...
O SON OF EARTH! Wouldst thou have Me, seek none other than Me; and wouldst thou gaze upon My beauty, close thine eyes to the world and all that is therein; for My will and the will...
Know, moreover, that it is through such words that God proveth His servants and sifteth them, separating the believer from the infidel, the detached from the worldly, the pious fro...
This relates to the period of fasting. In one of His Tablets, 'Abdu'l-Baha, after stating that fasting consists of abstinence from food and drink, further indicates that smoking is...
O BEFRIENDED STRANGER! The candle of thine heart is lighted by the hand of My power, quench it not with the contrary winds of self and passion. The healer of all thine ills is reme...
O SON OF THE SUPREME! I have made death a messenger of joy to thee. Wherefore dost thou grieve? I made the light to shed on thee its splendor. Why dost thou veil thyself therefrom?
It behoveth him who is a wayfarer in the path of God and a wanderer in His way to detach himself from all who are in the heavens and on the earth. He must renounce all save God, th...
... shall, each day ... repeat Allah-u-Abha ninety-five times. 18 Allah-u-Abha is an Arabic phrase meaning God the All-Glorious. It is a form of the Greatest Name of God (see note...
O MY BROTHER! Hearken to the delightsome words of My honeyed tongue, and quaff the stream of mystic holiness from My sugar-shedding lips. Sow the seeds of My divine wisdom in the p...
O SON OF SPIRIT! With the joyful tidings of light I hail thee: rejoice! To the court of holiness I summon thee; abide therein that thou mayest live in peace for evermore.
Know thou that the passages that We have called "ambiguous" appear as such only in the eyes of them that have failed to soar above the horizon of guidance and to reach the heights...
Ablutions are specifically associated with certain prayers. They must precede the offering of the three Obligatory Prayers, the daily recitation of Allah-u-Abha ninety-five times,...
O DWELLERS OF MY PARADISE! With the hands of loving-kindness I have planted in the holy garden of paradise the young tree of your love and friendship, and have watered it with the...
O SON OF SPIRIT! The spirit of holiness beareth unto thee the joyful tidings of reunion; wherefore dost thou grieve? The spirit of power confirmeth thee in His cause; why dost thou...
Now that We have reached this most excellent theme and attained such lofty heights by virtue of that which hath flowed from this Pen through the incomparable favours of God, the Ex...
The prohibition against taking another's life is repeated by Baha'u'llah in paragraph 73 of the Kitab-i-Aqdas. Penalties are prescribed for premeditated murder (see note 86). In th...
O MY FRIENDS! Quench ye the lamp of error, and kindle within your hearts the everlasting torch of divine guidance. For ere long the assayers of mankind shall, in the holy presence...
O SON OF MAN! Sorrow not save that thou art far from Us. Rejoice not save that thou art drawing near and returning unto Us.
Know thou of a truth that the seeker must, at the beginning of his quest for God, enter the Garden of Search. In this journey it behoveth the wayfarer to detach himself from all sa...
The Arabic word zina, here translated as adultery, signifies both fornication and adultery. It applies not only to sexual relations between a married person and someone who is not...
O SON OF DUST! The wise are they that speak not unless they obtain a hearing, even as the cup-bearer, who proffereth not his cup till he findeth a seeker, and the lover who crieth...
O SON OF MAN! Rejoice in the gladness of thine heart, that thou mayest be worthy to meet Me and to mirror forth My beauty.
In this journey the seeker becometh witness to a myriad changes and transformations, confluences and divergences. He beholdeth the wonders of Divinity in the mysteries of creation...
Backbiting, slander and dwelling on the faults of others have been repeatedly condemned by Baha'u'llah. In the Hidden Words, He clearly states: O Son of Being! How couldst thou for...
In the first line of the Tablet it is recorded and written, and within the sanctuary of the tabernacle of God is hidden: O MY SERVANT! Abandon not for that which perisheth an everl...
O SON OF MAN! Divest not thyself of My beauteous robe, and forfeit not thy portion from My wondrous fountain, lest thou shouldst thirst for evermore.
When once the seeker hath ascended unto this station, he will enter the City of Love and Rapture, whereupon the winds of love will blow and the breezes of the spirit will waft. In...
The Baha'i laws of inheritance apply only in case of intestacy, that is, when the individual dies without leaving a will. In the Kitab-i-Aqdas ( 109), Baha'u'llah instructs every b...
O SON OF BEING! Walk in My statutes for love of Me and deny thyself that which thou desirest if thou seekest My pleasure.