Ordinances which are obligatory and
decrees that are binding are those that have issued forth from the Supreme Pen
or are issued by a decision of the Universal House of Justice. For we are the
commanded, not the commander. We are the ones upon whom duties are imposed, not
the ones who impose duties. This is the reality of the law of God and the
foundation of the religion of God. As for devotions and invocations, whoever
wisheth may, after the Obligatory Prayers, recite other supplications of the
Blessed Perfection.
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, compilation ‘The Importance of Obligatory
Prayer and Fasting’, compiled by Research Department of the Universal House of
Justice; published in The American
Baha'i, September 2000)
