, seat yourselves
cross-legged--men and women alike--and eighteen times repeat "Glorified be
God, the Lord of the kingdoms of earth and heaven". Thus doth the Lord
make plain the ways of truth and guidance, ways that lead to one way,
which is this Straight Path. Render thanks unto God for this most gracious
favour; offer praise unto Him for this bounty that hath encompassed the
heavens and the earth; extol Him for this mercy that hath pervaded all
creation.

15 Say: God hath made My hidden love the key to the Treasure; would that
ye might perceive it! But for the key, the Treasure would to all eternity
have remained concealed; would that ye might believe it! Say: This is the
Source of Revelation, the Dawning-place of Splendour, Whose brightness
hath illumined the horizons of the world. Would that ye might understand!
This is, verily, that fixed Decree through which every irrevocable decree
hath been established.

16 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.

17 These are the ordinances of God that have been set down in the Books
and Tablets by His Most Exalted Pen. Hold ye fast unto His statutes and
commandments, and be not of those who, following their idle fancies and
vain imaginings, have clung to the standards fixed by their own selves,
and cast behind their backs the standards laid down by G