24. O Pen of the Most High!
"Pen of the Most High", "the Supreme Pen" and "the Most Exalted Pen" are references to Baha'u'llah, illustrating His function as Revealer of the Word of God. (176:2)

25. We have enjoined upon you fasting during a brief period
Fasting and obligatory prayer constitute the two pillars that sustain the revealed Law of God. Baha'u'llah in one of His Tablets affirms that He has revealed the laws of obligatory prayer and fasting so that through them the believers may draw nigh unto God. (176:3)

Shoghi Effendi indicates that the fasting period, which involves complete abstention from food and drink from sunrise till sunset, is ...essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are, therefore, fundamentally spiritual in character. Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires. (176:4)

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