" ... We have ordained obligatory prayer and fasting so that all may by these means draw nigh unto God, the Most Powerful, the Well-Beloved."

 

© 2026 Chuck Egerton

WE, verily, have set forth all things in Our Book, as a token of grace unto those who have believed in God, the Almighty, the Protector, the Self-Subsisting. And We have ordained obligatory prayer and fasting so that all may by these means draw nigh unto God, the Most Powerful, the Well-Beloved. We have written down these two laws and expounded every irrevocable decree. We have forbidden men from following whatsoever might cause them to stray from the Truth, and have commanded them to observe that which will draw them nearer unto Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Loving. Say: Observe ye the commandments of God for love of His beauty, and be not of those who follow in the ways of the abject and foolish.

(Bahá’í Sacred Writings)
www.bahai.org/r/276428590

"Verily, the religion of God is like unto heaven; fasting is its sun, and obligatory prayer is its moon."

© 2026 Chuck Egerton

CLING firmly to obligatory prayer and fasting. Verily, the religion of God is like unto heaven; fasting is its sun, and obligatory prayer is its moon. In truth, they are the pillars of religion whereby the righteous are distinguished from those who transgress His commandments. We entreat God, exalted and glorified be He, that He may graciously enable all to observe that which He hath revealed in His Ancient Book.

(Bahá’í Sacred Writings)
www.bahai.org/r/480888212

"In truth, it hath been revealed in such wise that if it be recited to a rock, that rock would stir and speak forth ..."

 

OF the new Obligatory Prayers that were later revealed, the long Obligatory Prayer should be said at those times when one feeleth himself in a prayerful mood. In truth, it hath been revealed in such wise that if it be recited to a rock, that rock would stir and speak forth; and if it be recited to a mountain, that mountain would move and flow. Well is it with the one who reciteth it and fulfilleth God’s precepts. Whichever prayer is read will suffice.

(Bahá’í Sacred Writings)
www.bahai.org/r/557295869

"Should one perform the Obligatory Prayer in this manner, he will be accounted by God and the Concourse on high among those who have truly offered the prayer."

 

© 2026 Chuck Egerton

O MY brother! How great, how very great, can the law of obligatory prayer be, when, through His mercy and loving-kindness, one is enabled to observe it. When a man commenceth the recitation of the Obligatory Prayer, he should see himself severed from all created things and regard himself as utter nothingness before the will and purpose of God, in such wise that he seeth naught but Him in the world of being. This is the station of God’s well-favoured ones and those who are wholly devoted to Him. Should one perform the Obligatory Prayer in this manner, he will be accounted by God and the Concourse on high among those who have truly offered the prayer.

(Bahá’í Sacred Writings)
www.bahai.org/r/325285720

" ... for it is God’s Words that kindle love’s fire and set it ablaze."

 

photo by Margarete P.

IT behoveth the friends in whatever land they be, to gather together in meetings, and therein to speak wisely and with eloquence, and to read the verses of God; for it is God’s Words that kindle love’s fire and set it ablaze.

(Bahá’í Sacred Writings)
www.bahai.org/r/624343390

"MEDITATE upon that which hath streamed forth from the heaven of the Will of thy Lord ..."

 

photo by Trina Ridvan (Enhanced by CE)

MEDITATE upon that which hath streamed forth from the heaven of the Will of thy Lord, He Who is the Source of all grace, that thou mayest grasp the intended meaning which is enshrined in the sacred depths of the Holy Writings.

(Bahá’í Sacred Writings)
www.bahai.org/r/763648979

"Whoever hath been transported by the rapture born of adoration for My Name, the Most Compassionate, will recite the verses of God in such wise as to captivate the hearts of those yet wrapped in slumber."

© 2026 Chuck Egerton

 

Teach your children the verses revealed from the heaven of majesty and power, so that, in most melodious tones, they may recite the Tablets of the All-Merciful in the alcoves within the Mashriqu’l-Adhkárs. Whoever hath been transported by the rapture born of adoration for My Name, the Most Compassionate, will recite the verses of God in such wise as to captivate the hearts of those yet wrapped in slumber. Well is it with him who hath quaffed the Mystic Wine of everlasting life from the utterance of his merciful Lord in My Name—a Name through which every lofty and majestic mountain hath been reduced to dust.

(Bahá’í Sacred Writings)
www.bahai.org/r/595837291