Ayyám-i-Há - a unique opportunity - REFLECTIONS

It is such an unspeakable blessing to have been enabled to recognize the identity and station of one's Guide in life. It provides a locus and an anchoring point for a person's spiritual, intellectual and material development, not only in this world, but in the next one as well. As stated in the Islamic Hadíth (Tradition):

"He who is a true believer liveth both in this world and in the world to come."
(quoted by Bahá'u'lláh in Gems of Divine mysteries, p. 48)

Baha'u'lláh states:

"Men at all times and under all conditions stand in need of one to exhort them, guide them and to instruct and teach them. Therefore He hath sent forth His Messengers, His Prophets and chosen ones..."
(Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 158)

The Baha'i calendar given to us for this unique Dispensation (which initiates the "Cycle of Fulfillment") by the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh provides a spiritual and practical rhythm for advancement, realized through the individual's reflection and deliberation over the requirements of each of the various God-(and nature-)given stages through which he passes, from month to month and from year to year. The "twin-pillars" of the "changeless Faith of God", Fasting and Obligatory prayer, which take place once a year and once a day respectively, offer a convenient and manageable framework for the individual's eternal process of drawing closer to his Creator, and for his short- and long-term efforts along the path of perfection -

"Let each morn be better than its eve, and each morrow richer than its yesterday."
- Bahá'u'lláh

Photo by Marco Abrar - BahaiPictures.com

When it comes to Ayyam-i-Há, these 4 (in leap years 5) out of the year's 365 days, they give us the wonderful opportunity to think outside of the usual regulations we impose upon ourselves, beyond the limits of time and convention:

"We have ordained that these, amid all nights and days, shall be the manifestations of the letter Há, and thus they have not been bounded by the limits of the year and its months. It behoveth the people of Bahá, 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."

- Baha'u'llah (Kitab-i-Aqdas, v. 25)

A comment on the above:

"As in His prayer for Ayyám-i-Há, Bahá'u'lláh juxtaposes these "days of giving" with the Fast's "season of restraint." Ayyám-i-Há is intended partly as spiritual preparation for the Fast, a reminder of its approach, and a way of fostering the detachment from material things so necessary for the Fast."

(Karla Jamir, Ayyám-i-Há: Days Outside of Time http://www.geocities.com/cwynne19/feast/ha/ayyamiha05.html )

Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Faith, states:

"These days...should be days of preparation for the Fast, days of hospitality, charity and the giving of presents." (Baha'i Prayers, p. 236)

It is unique to the history of religion to have been given such definite specifications of the time and duration of the period for unusual generosity, by the Founder of the religion Himself. He has thus endowed them with eternal, enduring significance that projects their value and reality beyond this earthly realm to that of the afterlife. This fact encourages the adoption of a wholly new attitude to this ancient practice and offers a GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY to align oneself closer with God's Will and Intention:

"The way Bahá'ís are encouraged to celebrate God and His Oneness during Ayyám-i-Há is by ourselves showing forth God's love, fellowship and unity. We are to give and accept gifts and hospitality in the same spirit that God creates. God who loves us before we exist, who takes outsiders into his Being and ever gives forth grace without thought of reciprocity. Such effusiveness requires a new attitude to the deity."

(John Taylor, Sept. 2001 http://bahai-library.com/conferences/badia.html )

Regarding the days' designation and mystical aspect, the Universal House of Justice says:

"Known as the Ayyám-i-Há (the Days of Há), the Intercalary Days have the distinction of being associated with "the letter Há"... The letter "Há" has been given several spiritual meanings in the Holy Writings, among which is as a symbol of the Essence of God."

(Kitáb-i-Aqdas, commentary, p. 178)

The Ayyám-i-Há prayer revealed by Bahá'u'lláh is worth meditating deeply upon -

My God, my Fire and my Light!

The days which Thou hast named the Ayyám-i-Há 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.

- Bahá'u'lláh

Read more on the Baha'i calendar here.