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BAHÁ'Í PRAYERS
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Pages 246-256
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"Glory be to Thee, O Lord my God! These are..."
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1 |
Glory be to Thee, O Lord my God! These are
the days whereon Thou hast bidden all
men to observe the fast, that through it they may
purify their souls and rid themselves of all attachment
to anyone but Thee, and that out of their
hearts may ascend that which will be worthy of
the court of Thy majesty and may well beseem the
seat of the revelation of Thy oneness. Grant, O
my Lord, that this fast may become a river of life-giving
waters and may yield the virtue wherewith
Thou hast endowed it. Cleanse Thou by its
means the hearts of Thy servants whom the evils
of the world have failed to hinder from turning
towards Thie all-glorious Name, and who have
remained unmoved by the noise and tumult of
such as have repudiated Thy most resplendent
signs which have accompanied the advent of Thy
Manifestation Whom Thou hast invested with
Thy sovereignty, Thy power, Thy majesty and
glory. These are the servants who, as soon as Thy
call reached them, hastened in the direction of Thy
mercy and were not kept back from Thee by the
changes and chances of this world or by any human
limitations.
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2 |
I am he, O my God, who testifieth to Thy unity,
who acknowledgeth Thy oneness, who
boweth humbly before the revelations of Thy
majesty, and who recognizeth with downcast
countenance the splendors of the light of Thy
transcendent glory. I have believed in Thee after
Thou didst enable me to know Thy Self. Whom
Thou hast revealed to men's eyes through the
power of Thy sovereignty and might. Unto Him
I have turned, wholly detached from all things,
and cleaving steadfastly unto the cord of Thy gifts
and favors. I have embraced His truth, and the
truth of all the wondrous laws and precepts that
have been sent down unto Him. I have fasted for
love of Thee and in pursuance of Thine injunction,
and have broken my fast with Thy praise on
my tongue and in conformity with Thy pleasure.
Suffer me not, O my Lord, to be reckoned among
them who have fasted in the daytime, who in the
night-season have prostrated themselves before
Thy face, and who have repudiated Thy truth,
disbelieved in Thy signs, gainsaid Thy testimony,
and perverted Thine utterances.
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3 |
Open Thou, O my Lord, mine eyes and the
eyes of all them that have sought Thee, that we
may recognize Thee with Thine own eyes. This is
Thy bidding given us in the Book sent down by
Thee unto Him Whom Thou hast chosen by Thy
behest, Whom Thou hast singled out for Thy favor
above all Thy creatures, Whom Thou hast
been pleased to invest with Thy sovereignty, and
Whom Thou hast specially favored and entrusted
with Thy Message unto Thy people. Praised be
Thou, therefore, O my God, inasmuch as Thou
hast graciously enabled us to recognize Him and
to acknowledge whatsoever hath been sent down
unto Him, and conferred upon us the honor of attaining
the presence of the One Whom Thou didst
promise in Thy Book and in Thy Tablets.
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4 |
Thou seest me then, O my God, with my face
turned towards Thee, cleaving steadfastly to the
cord of Thy gracious providence and generosity,
and clinging to the hem of Thy tender mercies and
bountiful favors. Destroy not, I implore Thee, my
hopes of attaining unto that which Thou didst
ordain for Thy servants who have turned towards
the precincts of Thy court and the sanctuary of
Thy presence, and have observed the fast for love
of Thee. I confess, O my God, that whatever proceedeth
from me is wholly unworthy of Thy
sovereignty and falleth short of Thy majesty. And
yet I beseech Thee by Thy Name through which
Thou hast revealed Thy Self, in the glory of Thy
most excellent titles, unto all created things, in this
Revelation whereby Thou hast, through Thy
most resplendent Name, manifested Thy beauty,
to give me to drink of the wine of Thy mercy and
of the pure beverage of Thy favor, which have
streamed forth from the right hand of Thy will,
that I may so fix my gaze upon Thee and be so detacted
from all else but Thee, that the world and
all that hath been created therein may appear before
me as a fleeting day which Thou hast not
deigned to create.
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5 |
I moreover entreat Thee, O my God, to rain
down, from the heaven of Thy will and the clouds
of Thy mercy, that which will cleanse us from the
noisome savors of our transgressions, O Thou
Who hast called Thyself the God of Mercy! Thou
art, verily, the Most Powerful, the All-Glorious,
the Beneficent.
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6 |
Cast not away, O my Lord, him that hath
turned towards Thee, nor suffer him who hath
drawn nigh unto Thee to be removed far from
Thy court. Dash not the hopes of the suppliant
who hath longingly stretched out his hands to seek
Thy grace and favors, and deprive not Thy sincere
servants of the wonders of Thy tender mercies
and loving-kindness. Forgiving and Most
Bountiful art Thou, O my Lord! Power has Thou
to do what Thou pleasest. All else but Thee are
impotent before the revelations of Thy might, are
as lost in the face of the evidences of Thy wealth,
are as nothing when compared with the manifestations
of Thy transcendent sovereignty, and are
destitute of all strength when face to face with the
signs and tokens of Thy power. What refuge is
there beside Thee, O my Lord, to which I can flee,
and where is there a haven to which I can hasten?
Nay, the power of Thy might beareth me witness!
No protector is there but Thee, no place to flee to
except Thee, no refuge to seek save Thee. Cause
me to taste, O my Lord, the divine sweetness of
Thy remembrance and praise. I swear by Thy
might! Whosoever tasteth of its sweetness will rid
himself of all attachment to the world and all that
is therein, and will set his face towards Thee,
cleaned from the remembrance of anyone except
Thee.
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7 |
Inspire then my soul, O my God, with Thy
wondrous remembrance, that I may glorily Thjy
name. Number me not with them who read Thy
words and fail to find Thy hidden gift which, as
decreed by Thee, is contained therein, and which
quickeneth the souls of Thy creatures and the
hearts of Thy servants. Cause me, O my Lord, to
be reckoned among them who have been so stirred
up by the sweet savors that thave been wafted in
Thy days that they have laid down their lives for
Thee and hastened to the scene of their death in
their longing to gaze on Thy beauty and in their
yearning to attain Thy presence. And were anyone
to say unto them on their way, "Whither go
ye?" they would say, "Unto God, the All-Possessing,
the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting!"
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8 |
The transgressions committed by such as have
turned away from Thee and have borne themselves
haughtily towards Thee have not availed
to hinder them from loving Thee, and from setting
their faces towards Thee, and from turning in
the direction of Thy mercy. These are they who
are blessed by the Concourse on high, who are
glorified by the denizens of the everlasting Cities,
and beyond them by those on whose foreheads
Thy most exalted pen hath written: "These! The
people of Bahá. Through them have been shed the
splendors of the light of guidance." Thus hath it
been ordained, at Thy behest and by Thy will, in
the Tablet of Thine irrevocable decree.
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Proclaim, therefore, O my God, their greatness
and the greatness of those who while living
or after death have circled round them. Supply
them with that which Thou hast ordained for the
righteous among Thy creatures. Potent art Thou
to do all things. There is no God but Thee, the All-Powerful,
the Help in Peril, the Almighty, the
Most Bountiful.
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do not bring our fasts to an end with this fast,
O my Lord, nor the covenants Thou hast made
with this covenant. Do Thou accept all that we
ahve done for love of Thee, and for the sake of
Thy pleasure, and all that we have left undone as a
result of our subjection to ur evil and corrupt
desires. Enable us, then, to cleave steadfastly to
Thy love and Thy good pleasure, and preserve us
from the mischief of such as have denied Thee and
repudiated Thy most resplendent signs. Thou art,
in truth, the Lord of this world and of the next.
No God is there beside Thee, the Exalted, the
Most High.
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11 |
Magnify Thou, O Lord my God, Him Who is
the Primal Point, the Divine Mystery, the Unseen
Essence, the Dayspring of Divinity, and the
Manifestation of Thy Lordship, through Whom
all the knowledge of the past and all the knowledge
of the future were made plain, through
Whom the pearls of Thy hidden wisdom were
uncovered, and the mystery of Thy treasured
name disclosed, Whom Thou hast appointed as
the Announcer of the One through Whose name
the letter B and the letter E have been joined and
united, through Whom Thy majesty, Thy sovereignty
and Thy words have been sent down, and
Thy laws set forth with clearness, and Thy signs
spread abroad, and Thy Word established,
through Whom the hearts of Thy chosen ones
were laid bare, and all that were in the heavens and
all that were on the earth were gathered together,
Whom Thou has called `Alí-Muhammad in the
kingdom of Thy names, and the Spirit of Spirits
in the Tablets of Thine irrevocable decree, Whom
Thou hast invested with Thine own title, unto
Whose name all other names have, at Thy bidding
and through the power of Thy might, been
made to return, and in Whom Thou hast caused
all Thine attributes and titles to attain their final
consummation. To Him also belong such names
as lay hid within Thy stainless tabernacles, in
Thine invisible world and Thy sanctified cities.
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12 |
Magnify Thou, moreover, such as have believed
in Him and in His signs and have turned
towards Him, from among those that have acknowledged
Thy unity in His Latter Manifestation
- a Manifestation whereof He hath made
mention in His Tablets, and in His Books, and in
His Scriptures, and in all the wondrous verses and
gem-like utterances that have descended upon
Him. It is this same Manifestation Whose covenant
Thou hast bidden Him establish ere He had
established His own covenant. He it is Whose
praise the Bayán hath celebrated. In it His excellence
hath been extolled, and His truth established,
and His sovereignty proclaimed, and His
Cause perfected. Blessed is the man that hath
turned unto Him, and fulfilled the things He hath
commanded, O Thou Who art the Lord of the
words and the Desire of all them that have known
Thee!
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13 |
Praised be Thou, O my god, inasmuch as Thou
hast aided us to recognize and love Him. I, therefore,
beseech Thee by Him and by Them who are
the Daysprings of Thy Divinity, and the Manifestations
of Thy Lordship, and the Treasuries of
Thy Revelation, and the Depositories of Thine
inspiration, to enable us to serve and obey Him,
and to empower us to become the helpers of His
Cause and the dispensers of His adversaries. Powerful
art Thou to do all that pleaseth Thee. No God
is there beside Thee, the Almighty, the All-Glorious,
the One Whose help is sought by all men!
- Bahá'u'lláh
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