...we feel that it will be helpful to you to know that songs
whose words are the primary Writings of the Bab, Bahá'u'lláh or ‘Abdu'l-Bahá
are all quite fitting for the devotional portion of the Feast. Indeed, the
Persian chants are such songs, out of a different tradition; they are a way of
giving music to the holy Word, and each person who chants does it in a way
which mirrors his feeling and expression of the Words he is uttering. As for
songs whose words are poetic and the composition of persons other than the
Figures of the Faith, these may be desirable but in their proper place, for, as
you know, "music is the language of the spirit.
Inasmuch as the spirit of our gatherings is so much affected
by the tone and quality of our worship, of our feeling and appreciation of the
Word of God for this day, we would hope that you would encourage the most
beautiful possible expression of the human spirits in your communities, through
music among other modes of feeling.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a
letter dated 22 February 1971 to a National Spiritual Assembly; The Compilation
of Compilations, vol. III, The Importance of Arts in Promoting the Faith)
