Baha’is prepare to celebrate, fast
Kamloops Baha’is will celebrate the Ayyam-i-Ha, the intercalary days in the Baha’i calendar, from sunset on Saturday, Feb. 25, until sunset on Thursday, March 1.
Baha’is are members of the Baha’i faith, based on the teachings of its founder, Baha’u’llah.
The intercalary days serve as a time of rejoicing, feasting, charitable action and community as Baha’is prepare for the month of fasting, a 19-day period that begins immediately after the Ayyam-i-Ha.
Baha’is contend humanity is one and part of this five-day period includes prayer and meditation upon the oneness of God.
Baha’u’llah provides the following prayer for this period:
“My God, my Fire and my Light! The days which Thou hast named the Ayyam-i-Ha in Thy Book have begun, O Thou Who art the King of names, and the Fast which Thy most exalted Pen hath enjoined unto all who are in the kingdom of Thy creation to observe is approaching.
“I entreat Thee, O my Lord, by these days and by all such as have during that period clung to the cord of Thy commandments, and laid hold on the handle of Thy precepts, to grant that unto every soul may be assigned a place within the precincts of Thy court, and a seat at the revelation of the splendors of the light of Thy countenance.
“These, O my Lord, are Thy servants whom no corrupt inclination hath kept back from what Thou didst send down in Thy Book. They have bowed themselves before Thy Cause and received Thy Book with such resolve as is born of Thee, and observed what Thou hadst prescribed unto them, and chosen to follow that which had been sent down by Thee.
“Thou seest, O my Lord, how they have recognized and confessed whatsoever Thou hast revealed in Thy Scriptures.
“Give them to drink, O my Lord, from the hands of Thy graciousness the waters of Thine eternity. Write down, then, for them the recompense ordained for him that hath immersed himself in the ocean of Thy presence, and attained unto the choice wine of Thy meeting.
“I implore Thee, O Thou the King of kings and the Pitier of the downtrodden, to ordain for them the good of this world and of the world to come.
“Write down for them, moreover, what none of Thy creatures hath discovered, and number them with those who have circled round Thee, and who move about Thy throne in every world of Thy worlds.
Thou, truly, art the Almighty, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed.”
The Baha’i community of Kamloops wishes to extend heartfelt joy and compassion to everyone in Kamloops.
To learn more about the Baha’is, go online to bahai.org or, for updates on the local community, join its Facebook page at .facebook.com/groups/132024426895808 or facebook.com/groups/237817616264780.
KTW welcomes submissions to its Faith page. Columns should be between 600 and 800 words in length and include a headshot of the author, along with a short (paragraph) bio on the writer. Submissions can be sent by email to editor@kamloopsthisweek.com.
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