38In another sense, by the terms ‘sun’, ‘moon’, and ‘stars’ are meant such laws and teachings as have been established and proclaimed in every
Dispensation, such as the laws of prayer and fasting. These have, according to the law of the
Qur’án, been regarded, when the beauty of the Prophet
Muḥammad had passed beyond the veil, as the most fundamental and binding laws of His dispensation. To this testify the texts of the
traditions and chronicles, which, on account of their being widely known, need not be referred to here. Nay rather, in every Dispensation the law concerning prayer hath been emphasized and universally enforced. To this testify the recorded traditions ascribed to the lights that have emanated from the Day-star of Truth, the essence of the Prophet Muḥammad.
39The traditions established the fact that in all Dispensations the law of prayer hath constituted a fundamental element of the
Revelation of all the Prophets of God—a law the form and the manner of which hath been adapted to the varying requirements of every age. Inasmuch as every subsequent Revelation hath abolished the manners, habits, and teachings that have been clearly, specifically, and firmly established by the former Dispensation, these have accordingly been symbolically expressed in terms of