THE FAST “I beseech Thee, O my God, by Thy mighty...” “Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God! I beseech...” “These are, O my God, the days whereon Thou...” “Glory be to Thee, O Lord my God! These are...” NAW-RÚZ “Praised be Thou, O my God, that Thou hast...” MARTYRS AND THEIR FAMILIES “He is God! O Lord my God! O Thou Helper of the...” MOTHER TEMPLE OF THE WEST “O God, my God! I implore Thee with a throbbing...” “BLESSED IS THE SPOT, AND THE HOUSE...” Blessed is the spot, and the house, and the place, and the city, and the heart, and the mountain, and the refuge, and the cave, and the valley, and the land, and the sea, and the island, and the meadow where mention of God hath been made, and His praise glorified. —Bahá’u’lláh “INTONE, O MY SERVANT, THE VERSES OF GOD...” Intone, O My servant, the verses of God that have been received by thee, as intoned by them who have drawn nigh unto Him, that the sweetness of thy melody may kindle thine own soul, and attract the hearts of all men. Whoso reciteth, in the privacy of his chamber, the verses revealed by God, the scattering angels of the Almighty shall scatter abroad the fragrance of the words uttered by his mouth, and shall cause the heart of every righteous man to throb. Though he may, at first, remain unaware of its effect, yet the virtue of the grace vouchsafed unto him must needs sooner or later exercise its influence upon his soul. Thus have the mysteries of the Revelation of God been decreed by virtue of the Will of Him Who is the Source of power and wisdom. —BAHÁ’U’LLÁH OBLIGATORY PRAYERS “The daily obligatory prayers are three in number....” “The daily obligatory prayers are three in number. ... The believer is entirely free to choose any one of these three prayers, but is under the obligation of reciting one of them, and in accordance with any specific directions with which they may be accompanied.” —from a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi “By ‘morning,’ ‘noon’ and ‘evening,’ mentioned in connection with the Obligatory Prayers, is meant respectively the intervals between sunrise and noon, between noon and sunset, and from sunset till two hours after sunset.”—Synopsis and Codification of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 36 SHORT OBLIGATORY PRAYER _TO BE RECITED ONCE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS, AT NOON_ I bear witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to worship Thee. I testify, at this moment, to my powerlessness and to Thy might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth. There is none other God but Thee, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. MEDIUM OBLIGATORY PRAYER _TO BE RECITED DAILY, IN THE MORNING, AT NOON, AND IN THE EVENING_ Whoso wisheth to pray, let him wash his hands, and while he washeth, let him say: