# Fasting: The mercy and grace of God

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: William P. Collins, Fasting: The mercy and grace of God, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Fasting:
> 
> The mercy and grace of God
> 
> William P. Collins
> 
> 1998
> 
> The pillars that sustain the individual's spiritual life in the Bahá'í Faith
> are similar to those in Islam and the other world religions. Prayer, fasting
> and pilgrimage nourish believers throughout the planet.
> 
> These spiritual disciplines are deeply interconnected. They form one seamless
> web to impel the believer along the path of growth and maturity. The fasting
> period(1) is intimately connected to prayer and pilgrimage. In the temporary
> denial of the body's demands, awareness of conversation with God is heightened.
> The soul is urged along the roads of a spiritual pilgrimage that is the inward
> mirror of the outward voyage each pilgrim undertakes toward the sacred heart of
> his or her faith.
> 
> There is a Qiblih of the Bahá'í world, and there is a Qiblih of the heart. Each
> points to the other. The conscious decision to forgo food and drink reminds the
> penitent believer that God has commanded this step. The reminder urges the soul
> to meditate on the Lord's purposes and to ask the Lord for guidance. God,
> through His grace and mercy, furthers the faithful ones on their journey to the
> ultimate goal, to "Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me
> standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting."(2)
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh's purpose in ordaining the fast is not to mortify the flesh as
> ascetics would do. Neither is it to compel the believer toward self-hatred and
> morbidity. Fasting is a symbol, a sign, a reminder of the realities that
> surround and transcend the workday existence of our usual petty concerns.
> 
> Bahá'ís often refer to fasting as a law. This description is deceptive; it
> risks demeaning the spirit of the fast by confusing it with our current notion
> of law as force and compulsion. Bahá'u'lláh, in His deep wisdom and mercy,
> ordains the fasting period without making it a burden. This is not simply
> because He has shortened it in comparison to the Christian and Islamic fasts.
> He has made fasting a personal obligation, freed from the constraints and
> dictatorial possibilities of institutional enforcement. Fasting is the
> responsibility of each individual to undertake to the best of his or her
> ability, within the requirements of that person's life, work and
> circumstances.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh has commanded exemptions to the fast for those whose health,
> physical growth, or safety might be compromised by adherence to it. These
> exemptions are as much obligations as is the abstention from food and drink.
> The Lord of the Age does not compel us to harm ourselves by excessive zeal in
> fasting.
> 
> These thoughts come from 27 years of experience as a Bahá'í. I once believed
> that my own well-being and salvation depended on a punctilious observance of
> the most stringent and rigid requirements of Bahá'u'lláh's commandments. Such
> an attitude led to my attempt to fast even when I became ill. I developed an
> excessively critical eye toward the attempts of my fellow believers to observe
> the obligation, including their use of the exemptions. The National Spiritual
> Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States reminded us in a feast letter that
> we live in a society in which people "pride themselves on being bitterly
> critical in order to justify their conflicts with others."
> 
> I believe that Bahá'u'lláh's purpose in ordaining the fast goes well beyond our
> puny conceptions. It was not to create a law by which to parade our good works
> and piety to others, nor a yardstick to condone the judging of others'
> sincerity in observance of their private spiritual obligations. Rather, it is
> Bahá'u'lláh's map to the moderate path that He so unfailingly recommended. He
> reveals the following in the Kitab-i-Aqdas:
> 
> "Lament not in your hours of trial, neither rejoice therein; seek ye the Middle
> Way which is remembrance of Me in your afflictions and reflection over that
> which may befall you in future. Thus informeth you He Who is the Omniscient, He
> Who is aware."(3)
> 
> Whether an individual Bahá'í is fasting fully, partially or not at all, the
> month of Loftiness is a reminder and remembrance. We remember who we are, with
> Whom we must converse, to Whom we owe our allegiance, and toward Whom we must
> journey. Thus reminded, we see Bahá'u'lláh standing before us, always beckoning
> us forward into the light.
> 
> Footnotes:
> 
> The Bahá'í fasting period takes place between March 2-20 inclusive.
> During this time, Bahá'ís do not drink or eat between sunrise and sunset.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh, Hidden Words of Bahá'u'lláh From the Arabic No. 13.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, no. 43 p. 35.
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views12594 views since posted 1998; last edit 2012;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../collins_fasty_mercy_god;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> — *Fasting: The mercy and grace of God (Used by permission of the curator)*