t down in the Book by Him Who is the Mighty, the
Powerful. On other than these four consummate days, engage ye in your
daily occupations, and withhold yourselves not from the pursuit of your
trades and crafts. Thus hath the command been issued and the law gone
forth from Him Who is your Lord, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

154 Say: O concourse of priests and monks! Eat ye of that which God hath
made lawful unto you and do not shun meat. God hath, as a token of His
grace, granted you leave to partake thereof save during a brief period.
He, verily, is the Mighty, the Beneficent. Forsake all that ye possess and
hold fast unto that which God hath purposed. This is that which profiteth
you, if ye be of them that comprehend. We have ordained a fast of nineteen
days in the most temperate of the seasons, and have in this resplendent
and luminous Dispensation relieved you from more than this. Thus have We
set forth and made clear unto you that which ye are bidden to observe,
that ye may follow the commandments of God and be united in that which the
Almighty, the All-Wise, hath appointed unto you. He Who is your Lord, the
All-Merciful, cherisheth in His heart the desire of beholding the entire
human race as one soul and one body. Haste ye to win your share of God's
good grace and mercy in this Day that eclipseth all other created Days.
How great the felicity that awaiteth the man that forsaketh all he hath in
a desire to obtain the things of God! Such a man, We testify, is among
God's blessed ones.

155 O King! Bear thou witness unto that which God hath Himself and for
Himself borne witness ere the creation of earth and heaven, that there is
none other God but Me, the One, the Single, the Most Exalted, the
Incomparable, the Inaccessible. Arise with the utmost steadfastness in the
Cause of thy Lord, the All-Glorious. Thus hast thou been instructed in
this wondrous Tablet. We, verily, have desired naught for thee save that
which is better for thee than all that is on earth. Unto this testify all
created things and beyond them this perspicuous Book.

156 Meditate on the world and the state of its people. He, for Whose sake
the world was called into being, hath been imprisoned in the most desolate
of cities,(20) by reason of that which the hands of the wayward have
wrought. From the horizon of His prison-city He summoneth mankind unto the
Dayspring of God, the Exalted, the Great. Exultest thou over the treasures
thou dost possess,