O Pen of the Most High! Say: O people of the world! We have
enjoined upon you fasting during a brief period, and at its close have
designated for you
Naw-Ruz 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
Baha, 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. He, verily, is the Almighty, the Most Generous. - Baha'u'llah (The
Kitab-i-Aqdas)
