The purpose of the Fast is to draw nearer to God, to be attracted to divine qualities, and to prepare for the life ahead by becoming more virtuous here. When Abdul-Baha was asked what is the purpose of life, he responded, “to acquire virtues.”

Every vice has a virtue; backbiting is the vice while praise is the virtue! We would do well to focus our attention on what we want to achieve, not avoid. In this case, we should focus our attention on seeing ONLY the good in each other and praising them.

“Abdu’l-Bahá daily practices the command, “If a man have ten bad qualities and one good one, look at the one and ignore the ten.” (4)

We may not be able to stop people from speaking ill of another, but we do not have to listen to it. If we do, we are complicit.

“You must not listen to anyone speaking about another, because no sooner do you listen than you must listen to someone else and thus the circle will be enlarged endlessly. Therefore, O friends! Let us come together, forget all our self-thoughts and be in one accord, and cry at the top of our voices ‘Yá Bahá’u’l-Abhá!’” (5)

“Backbiting, slander and dwelling on the faults of others have been repeatedly condemned by Bahá’u’lláh. In the Hidden Words, He clearly states: “O Son of Being! How couldst thou forget thine own faults and busy thyself with the faults of others? Whoso doeth this is accursed of Me.”

And again: “O Son of Man! Breathe not the sins of others so long as thou art thyself a sinner. Shouldst thou transgress this command, accursed wouldst thou be, and to this I bear witness.”

This strong admonition is further reiterated in His last work, “the Book of My Covenant”:

“Verily I say, the tongue is for mentioning what is good, defile it not with unseemly talk. God hath forgiven what is past. Henceforward everyone should utter that which is meet and seemly, and should refrain from slander, abuse and whatever causeth sadness in men.” (6)

“No Bahai must open his lips in blaming another one, he must regard backbiting as the greatest sin of humanity, for it is clearly revealed in all the Tablets of Baha’u’llah that backbiting and faultfinding are the fiendish instruments and suggestions of Satan and the destroyers of the foundation of man. A believer will not blame any soul among the strangers, how much less against the friends. Faultfinding and backbiting are the characteristics of the weak minds and not the friends. Self-exaltation is the attribute of the stranger and not of the Beloved.” (7)

When asked, what should we do if people speak ill of others in our presence, the response was clear:

“If any soul speak ill of an absent one, the only result will clearly be this: he will dampen the zeal of the friends and tend to make them indifferent. For backbiting is divisive, it is the leading cause among the friends of a disposition to withdraw. If any individual should speak ill of one who is absent, it is incumbent on his hearers, in a spiritual and friendly manner, to stop him, and say in effect: would this detraction serve any useful purpose?

Would it please the Blessed Beauty, contribute to the lasting honour of the friends, promote the holy Faith, support the Covenant, or be of any possible benefit to any soul? No, never! On the contrary, it would make the dust to settle so thickly on the heart that the ears would hear no more, and the eyes would no longer behold the light of truth.

If, however, a person setteth about speaking well of another, opening his lips to praise another, he will touch an answering chord in his hearers and they will be stirred up by the breathings of God. Their hearts and souls will rejoice to know that, God be thanked, here is a soul in the Faith who is a focus of human perfections, a very embodiment of the bounties of the Lord, one whose tongue is eloquent, and whose face shineth, in whatever gathering he may be, one who hath victory upon his brow, and who is a being sustained by the sweet savours of God.”

Hopefully you have had lots of inspired thoughts during this Fast, and are more knowledgeable, inspired, attracted to the Divine, and more committed to your own transformation. We know that obedience to God is critical to our station in the next life and the determining factor as to whether we greet death as a messenger of joy or the harbinger of doom is how near we are to God.

Bahaullah cautions us to “strive to translate that which hath been written into reality and action.” (9)

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, reaffirms the importance of action,

“Unless these thoughts are translated into the world of action, they are useless. The wrong in the world continues to exist just because people talk only of their ideals, and do not strive to put them into practice. If actions took the place of words, the world’s misery would very soon be changed into comfort.” (10)

Happy Fasting

Barbara Talley

1. (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 264)

2. (SOW – Star of the West, Star of the West –

3. (SOW – Star of the West, Star of the West –

4. (Diarys, Goodall – Cooper — Daily Lessons Received at ‘Akka January 1908, p. 64)

5. (SOW – Star of the West, Star of the West –

6. (Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 181)

7. (Provisional Translations, Star of the West (Volume 2))

8. (Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 230)

9. (Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 249)

10. (Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 22)

A group of us are reading the Kitab-i-Aqdas during the Fast. Today we were reading about backbiting. So I thought I’d share an article I wrote on the topic: Perfecting the Power of Praising and Avoiding the Most Great Sin.

19 YE HAVE BEEN FORBIDDEN TO COMMIT MURDER OR ADULTERY, OR TO ENGAGE IN BACKBITING OR CALUMNY; SHUN YE, THEN, WHAT HATH BEEN PROHIBITED IN THE HOLY BOOKS AND TABLETS.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá taught that the purpose of life is to acquire virtues. Since the portals of God’s mercy are opened wider during this time, the Fast is the best time to strive to get rid of all evil habits and acquire spiritual habits. One way to “refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in our souls” during the Fast is to increase the practice of praising one another so to be obedient to the laws of God. Obedience to Divine Laws assist us, not God.

Those who knowingly break or violate spiritual laws will be considered handicapped in the next life, just as a child delivered from the womb who lacked vital limbs, organs, or senses is. There are innumerable virtues, each with its opposite vice, so I thought I would start with the worst or most destructive vice.

Consider the company of these vices mentioned together in the same breath by Baha’u’llah in the The Kitab-i-Aqdas, “Ye have been forbidden to commit murder or adultery, or to engage in backbiting or calumny; shun ye, then, what hath been prohibited in the holy Books and Tablets.”

One would think that murder or adultery would be the worst human sin, but another one has an equally dubious distinction and:

1. Is the most great sin
2. Is the worst human quality
3. Is cause for being dishonored
4. Devours the heart
5. Devours the soul
6. Defiles the tongue
7. Quenches the light of the heart
8. Extinguishes the life of the soul
9. Is the cause of Divine Wrath
10. Is grievous error
11. Is the most hateful characteristic of man
12. Causes us to lose all the traces of spirituality,
13. Excommunicates a person from the divine company of the worthy ones
14. Submerges one in the sea of phantasms
15. Suffers one to become cold and pessimistic
16. Throws one headlong into the death of despair and haunting hopelessness
17. Endures a century
18. Is a deadly poison
19. Is divisive
20. Causes us to be cursed by God

For this reason, this message will be a bit longer today. “

Baha’u’llah warned us, “… observe silence and refrain from idle talk. For the tongue is a smoldering fire, and excess of speech a deadly poison. Material fire consumeth the body, whereas the fire of the tongue devoureth both heart and soul. The force of the former lasteth but for a time, whilst the effects of the latter endureth a century. That seeker should, also, regard backbiting as grievous error, and keep himself aloof from its dominion, inasmuch as backbiting quencheth the light of the heart, and extinguisheth the life of the soul”. (1)

I would urge each of us to reflect seriously on the potential spiritual suicide of this one vice today as we conclude the second week of our 19-Day Fast. Gossiping and backbiting have the power to put the light out in our hearts, and KILL the life of our immortal souls!!! I don’t know about you, but that is one vice that I am putting first on my radar and goal list and committing to working on breaking immediately!

“ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá warned that “the worst human quality and the most great sin is backbiting; more especially when it emanates from the tongues of the believers of God. If some means were devised so that the doors of backbiting could be shut eternally and each one of the believers of God unsealed his tongue in the praise of the other, then the teachings of His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh would be spread, the hearts illuminated, the spirits glorified and the human world would attain to everlasting felicity.

I hope that the believers of God will shun completely backbiting, each one praising the other cordially and believe that backbiting is the cause of Divine wrath, to such an extent that if a person backbites to the extent of one word, he may become dishonoured among all the people, because the most hateful characteristic of man is fault-finding.

One must expose the praiseworthy qualities of the souls and not their evil attributes. The friends must overlook their shortcomings and faults and speak only of their virtues and not their defects.” (2)

“This day is the day of joy and fragrance. These petty backbitings and jealousies

make one lose all the traces of spirituality,

excommunicate a person from the divine company of the worthy ones,

submerge one in the sea of phantasms,

suffer one to become cold and pessimistic and

throw him headlong into the death of despair and haunting hopelessness.” (3)

So, who do you need to begin praising? Perhaps, the next time you are dying to talk about someone and share some juicy tidbit, you’ll first pause, and ask yourself, is it really worth losing my your soul over?

1. (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 264)
2. (SOW – Star of the West, Star of the West –
3. (SOW – Star of the West, Star of the West –

Fasting is more than just not eating

Barbara Talley

The first day of the 2022 fast began on March 2, 2022 and ends on March 20, 2022. I’ve said for the past 15 years that I have been offering this fasting prep workshop that: Fasting is more than just not eating. If you only skip lunch, that’s a diet. Also, so many people have said because of having to take medicine that they cannot Fast. I thought, that’s such a shame, since the Fast offers so many benefits. Fasting brings light into our lives and dispels darkness. We get immense value from the spiritual Fasting, but can also get additional light if we are also able to have a physical fast at the same time. So to be clear, we’re told that if we are able to have both, we have light upon light. But, if we must eat, we can still have some light.

“The spiritual fasting comes first and is the soul’s refusal or denial of all kinds of evil actions and habits — this is the important fasting.”

The Bahai 19-Day Fast is a law and an obligation. It is both a spiritual and physical fast for 19 days, in which the believer abstains from food and drink from sunrise to sunset. An excerpt from a prayer reminds us of the main purpose:

These are they who have been so inebriated with the wine of Thy manifold wisdom that they forsake their couches in their longing to celebrate Thy praise and extol Thy virtues.

The prayer is teaching us what to do. We are to celebrate His praise and to extol His virtues. We are to be focusing on praising God and being more virtuous. Abdul-Baha said that the purpose of life is to acquire virtues. Today I will be focused on seeing the virtues of others and in myself.

What is speaking to me today is the attitude and spirit in which we approach the Almighty. We are told that the spirit we have when uttering prayers is greater than than just the words we say, and even greater than the spirit, is how we act out the prayer. Neither prayer, nor fasting should be an imposition, duty, or obligation. We are to be “inebriated” and “longing“. This Fast, I will be practicing being in the presence of God. When we pray and meditate the right way, we are “in the presence of God.” We are told to have no mention, but the mention of Him. The Great Being has chosen this time of year, these 19 days, to shower upon us grace EVERY HOUR. I want to be in the “receive mode” to receive this grace which is to be humble, self effaced, longing, and inebriated so that my heart can be made pure and I can be protected from animal traits.

This beautiful fasting prayer has so much guidance and promises.

These are, O my God, the days whereon Thou didst enjoin Thy servants to observe the fast. With it Thou didst adorn the preamble of the Book of Thy Laws revealed unto Thy creatures, and didst deck forth the Repositories of Thy commandments in the sight of all who are in Thy heaven and all who are on Thy earth.

Thou hast endowed every hour of these days with a special virtue, inscrutable to all except Thee, Whose knowledge embraceth all created things.

Thou hast, also, assigned unto every soul a portion of this virtue in accordance with the Tablet of Thy decree and the Scriptures of Thine irrevocable judgment.

Every leaf of these Books and Scriptures Thou hast, moreover, allotted to each one of the peoples and kindreds of the earth.

For Thine ardent lovers Thou hast, according to Thy decree, reserved, at each daybreak, the cup of Thy remembrance, O Thou Who art the Ruler of rulers!

These are they who have been so inebriated with the wine of Thy manifold wisdom that they forsake their couches in their longing to celebrate Thy praise and extol Thy virtues, and flee from sleep in their eagerness to approach Thy presence and partake of Thy bounty. Their eyes have, at all times, been bent upon the Dayspring of Thy loving-kindness, and their faces set towards the Fountainhead of Thine inspiration.

Rain down, then, upon us and upon them from the clouds of Thy mercy what beseemeth the heaven of Thy bounteousness and grace.

Lauded be Thy name, O my God! This is the hour when Thou hast unlocked the doors of Thy bounty before the faces of Thy creatures, and opened wide the portals of Thy tender mercy unto all the dwellers of Thine earth.

I beseech Thee, by all them whose blood was shed in Thy path, who, in their yearning over Thee, rid themselves from all attachment to any of Thy creatures, and who were so carried away by the sweet savors of Thine inspiration that every single member of their bodies intoned Thy praise and vibrated to Thy remembrance, not to withhold from us the things Thou hast irrevocably ordained in this Revelation—a Revelation the potency of which hath caused every tree to cry out what the Burning Bush had aforetime proclaimed unto Moses, Who conversed with Thee, a Revelation that hath enabled every least pebble to resound again with Thy praise, as the stones glorified Thee in the days of Muhammad, Thy Friend.

These are the ones, O my God, whom Thou hast graciously enabled to have fellowship with Thee and to commune with Him Who is the Revealer of Thyself. The winds of Thy will have scattered them abroad until Thou didst gather them together beneath Thy shadow, and didst cause them to enter into the precincts of Thy court. Now that Thou hast made them to abide under the shade of the canopy of Thy mercy, do Thou assist them to attain what must befit so august a station. Suffer them not, O my Lord, to be numbered with them who, though enjoying near access to Thee, have been kept back from recognizing Thy face, and who, though meeting with Thee, are deprived of Thy presence.

These are Thy servants, O my Lord, who have entered with Thee in this, the Most Great Prison, who have kept the fast within its walls according to what Thou hast commanded them in the Tablets of Thy decree and the Books of Thy behest. Send down, therefore, upon them what will thoroughly purge them of all that Thou abhorrest, that they may be wholly devoted to Thee, and may detach themselves entirely from all except Thyself.

Rain down, then, upon us, O my God, that which beseemeth Thy grace and befitteth Thy bounty. Enable us, then, O my God, to live in remembrance of Thee and to die in love of Thee, and supply us with the gift of Thy presence in Thy worlds hereafter—worlds which are inscrutable to all except Thee. Thou art our Lord and the Lord of all worlds, and the God of all that are in heaven and all that are on earth.

Thou beholdest, O my God, what hath befallen Thy dear ones in Thy days. Thy glory beareth me witness! The voice of the lamentation of Thy chosen ones hath been lifted up throughout Thy realm. Some were ensnared by the infidels in Thy land, and were hindered by them from having near access to Thee and from attaining the court of Thy glory. Others were able to approach Thee, but were kept back from beholding Thy face. Still others were permitted, in their eagerness to look upon Thee, to enter the precincts of Thy court, but they allowed the veils of the imaginations of Thy creatures and the wrongs inflicted by the oppressors among Thy people to come in between them and Thee.

This is the hour, O my Lord, which Thou hast caused to excel every other hour, and hast related to the choicest among Thy creatures. I beseech Thee, O my God, by Thy Self and by them, to ordain in the course of this year what shall exalt Thy loved ones.

Do Thou, moreover, decree within this year what will enable the Daystar of Thy power to shine brightly above the horizon of Thy glory, and to illuminate by Thy sovereign might, the whole world.

Render Thy Cause victorious, O my Lord, and abase Thou Thine enemies. Write down, then, for us the good of this life and of the life to come. Thou art the Truth, Who knoweth the secret things. No God is there but Thee, the Ever-Forgiving, the All-Bountiful.

Bahá’u’lláh