This is, O my God, the first of the days on which Thou hast
bidden Thy loved ones to observe the Fast. I ask of Thee by Thy Self and by him
who hath fasted out of love for Thee and for Thy good-pleasure - and not out of
self and desire, nor out of fear of Thy wrath - and by Thy most excellent names
and august attributes, to purify Thy servants from the love of aught except
Thee and to draw them nigh unto the Dawning-Place of the lights of Thy
countenance and the Seat of the throne of Thy oneness. Illumine their hearts, O
my God, with the light of Thy knowledge and brighten their faces with the rays
of the Daystar that shineth from the horizon of Thy Will. Potent art Thou to do
what pleaseth Thee. No God is there but Thee, the All-Glorious, Whose help is
implored by all men. - Baha’u’llah (‘The Importance of Obligatory Prayer and
Fasting’, compiled by Research Department of the Universal House of Justice;
published in The American Baha'i, September 2000)
