"Do as Thou willest, and fear not the ignorant."

"O Living Temple! Stretch forth Thy hand over all who are in heaven and on earth, and seize within the grasp of Thy Will the reins of command. We have, verily, placed in Thy right hand the empire of all things. Do as Thou willest, and fear not the ignorant. Reach out to the Tablet that hath dawned above the horizon of the pen of Thy Lord, and take hold of it with such strength that, through Thee, the hands of all who inhabit the earth may be enabled to lay fast hold upon it. This, in truth, is that which becometh Thee, if Thou be of those who understand. Through the upraising of Thy hand to the heaven of My grace, the hands of all created things shall be lifted up to their Lord, the Mighty, the Powerful, the Gracious. Erelong shall We raise up, through the aid of Thy hand, other hands endued with power, with strength and might, and shall establish through them Our dominion over all that dwell in the realms of revelation and creation. Thus will the servants of God recognize the truth that there is none other God beside Me, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. With these hands, moreover, We shall both bestow and withhold, though none can understand this save those who see with the eye of the spirit."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, Súriy-i-Haykal, p. 18

"How puny and insignificant is the evanescent drop when compared with the waves and billows of God’s limitless and everlasting Ocean ..."

"By the righteousness of My name, the All-Merciful! The Pen of the Most High trembleth with a great trembling and is sore shaken at the revelation of these words. How puny and insignificant is the evanescent drop when compared with the waves and billows of God’s limitless and everlasting Ocean, and how utterly contemptible must every contingent and perishable thing appear when brought face to face with the uncreated, the unspeakable glory of the Eternal! We implore pardon of God, the All-Powerful, for them that entertain such beliefs, and give utterance to such words. Say: O people! How can a fleeting fancy compare with the Self-Subsisting, and how can the Creator be likened unto His creatures, who are but as the script of His Pen? Nay, His script excelleth all things, and is sanctified from, and immeasurably exalted above, all creatures."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, XCIII, pp. 187-188




     "Fasting and obligatory prayer constitute the two pillars that sustain the revealed Law of God. Bahá’u’lláh in one of His Tablets affirms that He has revealed the laws of obligatory prayer and fasting so that through them the believers may draw nigh unto God. 
     Shoghi Effendi indicates that the fasting period, which involves complete abstention from food and drink from sunrise till sunset, is …essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are, therefore, fundamentally spiritual in character. Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires. ...
     Fasting is enjoined on all the believers once they attain the age of 15 and until they reach the age of 70 years. The nineteen-day period of fasting coincides with the Bahá’í month of ‘Alá, usually 2–20 March, immediately after the termination of the Intercalary Days..., and is followed by the feast of Naw-Rúz." 
The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, pp. 176-177

"Such, in truth, are the matchless wonders of Our immutable method—a method which hath ever governed, and shall continue to govern, all things ..."

"O dwellers of the earth! Would ye contend that if We raise up a soul unto the Sadratu’l-Muntahá, 8 it  shall then cease to be subject to the power of Our sovereignty and dominion? Nay, by Mine own Self! Should it be Our wish, We would return it to the dust in less than the twinkling of an eye. Consider a tree: Behold how We plant it in a garden, and nourish it with the waters of Our loving care; and how, when it hath grown tall and mature, and brought forth verdant leaves and goodly fruits, We send forth the tempestuous gales of Our decree, tear it up by its roots, and lay it prostrate upon the face of the earth. So hath it been Our way with all things, and so shall it be in this day. Such, in truth, are the matchless wonders of Our immutable method—a method which hath ever governed, and shall continue to govern, all things, if ye be of them that perceive. None, however, knoweth the wisdom thereof save God, the All-Powerful, the Almighty, the All-Wise."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, Súriy-i-Haykal, pp. 36-37

8.	"The tree beyond which there is no passing", a reference to the station of the Manifestation of God.

" ... I am the True One, the Knower of things unseen."

"O Living Temple! We have, in very truth, appointed Thee to be the sign of My majesty amidst all that hath been and all that shall be, and have ordained Thee to be the emblem of My Cause betwixt the heavens and the earth, through My word "Be", and it is!

 O First Letter of this Temple, betokening the Essence of Divinity! 4 We have made thee the treasury of My Will and the repository of My Purpose unto all who are in the kingdoms of revelation and creation. This is but a token of the grace of Him Who is the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.

 O Second Letter of this Temple, betokening My name, the Almighty! We have made thee the manifestation of Our sovereignty and the dayspring of Our Names. Potent am I to fulfil that which My tongue speaketh.

 O Third Letter of this Temple, betokening My name, the All-Bountiful! We have made thee the dawning-place of Our bounty amidst Our creatures and the fountainhead of Our generosity amidst Our people. Powerful am I in My dominion. Nothing whatsoever of all that hath been created in the heavens or on the earth can escape My knowledge, and I am the True One, the Knower of things unseen."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, Súriy-i-Haykal, pp. 21-22

4.

The word Haykal (Temple) is composed in Arabic of the four letters Há’, Yá’, Káf and Lám (HYKL). Its first letter is taken to symbolize the word Huvíyyah (Essence of Divinity); its second letter the word Qadír (Almighty), of which Yá’ is the third letter; its third letter the word Karím (All-Bountiful); and its fourth letter the word Fadl (Grace), of which Lám is the third letter.

"Through you shall We bestow the power of vision upon whomsoever We desire ..."

"O Eyes of this Temple! Look not upon the heavens and that which they contain, nor upon the earth and them that dwell thereon, for We have created you to behold Our own Beauty: See it now before you! Withhold not your gaze therefrom, and deprive not yourselves of the Beauty of your Lord, the All-Glorious, the Best-Beloved. Erelong shall We bring into being through you keen and penetrating eyes that will contemplate the manifold signs of their Creator and turn away from all that is perceived by the people of the world. Through you shall We bestow the power of vision upon whomsoever We desire, and lay hold upon those who have deprived themselves of this gracious bounty. These, verily, have drunk from the cup of delusion, though they perceive it not."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, Súriy-i-Haykal, p. 11

"Beneath the shadow of every letter of this Temple We shall raise up a people whose number none can reckon save God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting."

"We, verily, have ordained this Temple to be the source of all existence in the new creation, that all may know of a certainty My power to accomplish that which I have purposed through My word "Be", and it is! Beneath the shadow of every letter of this Temple We shall raise up a people whose number none can reckon save God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. Erelong shall God bring forth from His Temple such souls as will remain unswayed by the insinuations of the rebellious, and who will quaff at all times of the cup that is life indeed. These, truly, are of the blissful."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, Súriy-i-Haykal, p. 8

"Be fair, O peoples of the earth! Which is preferable, this, or a temple which is built of clay?"

"Thus have We built the Temple with the hands of power and might, could ye but know it. This is the Temple promised unto you in the Book. Draw ye nigh unto it. This is that which profiteth you, could ye but comprehend it. Be fair, O peoples of the earth! Which is preferable, this, or a temple which is built of clay? Set your faces towards it. Thus have ye been commanded by God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, Súriy-i-Haykal, p. 1











for George