Today is a Bahá’í Holy Day

On this day in 1850, one of the central figures of the Bahá’í Faith, Siyyid Ali-Muhammad whom we call “The Báb”, was executed by firing squad in the main square of the Iranian city of Tabriz. The day is now commemorated by Bahá’ís across the world as a “Holy Day” when they stop doing any paid work and instead spend their time either in prayer and meditation or in carrying out acts of service for their friends, neighbours and other members of their community.

As for me, I’ve been reading some other Bahá’í blogs and updating this one on The Tiverton Bahá’í, which I’m now registering with Technorati.

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The Short Obligatory Prayer

This is the prayer I recite every day between noon and sunset:

‘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.’

~ Bahá’u’lláh

Why You Should Recite the Word of God

Recite ye the verses of God every morning and evening. Whoso reciteth them not hath truly failed to fulfil his pledge to the Covenant of God and His Testament and whoso in this day turneth away therefrom, hath indeed turned away from God since time immemorial. Fear ye God, O concourse of My servants.

~ Bahá’u’lláh

What ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says about Prayer and Fasting

Prayer and fasting is the cause of awakening and mindfulness and conducive to protection and preservation from tests.

~ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

What the Bahá’í Fast is Really About!

Today marks the start of the Bahá’í Fast. For the next three weeks Bahá’ís are encouraged by Bahá’u'lláh to avoid eating and drinking each day between the times of sunrise and sunset. Technically, I’m exempted from the Fast because I’m ‘unwell’ (I have a long-term heart condition and a touch of diabetes) but this doesn’t mean that I’m jumping for joy at the thought of not having to suffer the rigours of the Fast. On the contrary, I’m taking the opportunity to focus on what the Fast is really about.

If you study the Bahá’í writings you soon realize that fasting is not about strictly following a set of rules about when you can or cannot eat or drink; it’s about replacing physical food and drink with their spiritual equivalent through prayer and the recitation of the Word of God. It is also about spending some time thinking (or meditating) about what you have read or recited. Meditation is the spiritual equivalent of digestion: you can only gain spiritually from reading from the Bahá’í writings if you think deeply about the real meaning of the words you’ve just seen on the page or recited from memory.

For me personally, I’m using the period of the Fast to get my Bahá’í life back on track, by reading more Bahá’í books and blogs, and trying to write regularly on my own blog here on The Tiverton Bahá’í. And I must think about teaching the Faith more and participating in Bahá’í activities across Devon.

So, with the Bahá’í New Year approaching on 21 March, these are my resolutions! Let’s go and put them into action – fast!