Know thou verily these Divine Teachings are heavenly and spiritual. They penetrate in the heart as the penetration of the heat of the sun, the outpouring of clouds and the blowing of vernal winds at morning-time upon the trees. When the lights (of these Teachings) arose, they became spread, just as the shining dawn spreads upon the horizons. These wonderful traces shall surely appear throughout all regions and their lights will shine forth during centuries and ages forevermore.
As to thy question: "Why pray? What is the wisdom thereof? For God has established everything and executes the affairs after the best order, and He ordains everything according to a becoming measure and puts things in their (proper) places with the greatest propriety and perfection—therefore, what is the wisdom in beseeching and supplicating and in stating one's wants and seeking help?"
Know thou, verily, it is becoming of a weak one to supplicate to the Strong One, and it behooveth a seeker of bounty to beseech the Glorious Bountiful One. When one supplicates to his Lord, turns unto Him and seeks Bounty from His Ocean, this supplication is by itself a light to his heart, an illumination to his sight, a life to his soul and an exaltation for his being.
Therefore, during thy supplication to God and thy reciting, "Thy Name is my healing"—consider how thine heart is cheered up, thy soul delighted by the spirit of the Love of God, and thy mind becomes attracted to the Kingdom of God! By these attractions, one's ability and capacity increase. When the vessel is widened the water increaseth, and when the thirst grows the bounty of the cloud becomes agreeable to the taste of man. This is the mystery of supplication and the wisdom of stating one's wants (i. e., praying).
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a Tablet; Star of the West, vol. 4, no. 18, February 7, 1914)
