The consumption of wine and other intoxicants is prohibited in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (see notes 144 and 170).

Reference to the use of “wine” in an allegorical sense—such as being the cause of spiritual ecstasy—is found, not only in the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, but in the Bible, in the Qur’án, and in ancient Hindu traditions. 166

For example, in the Qur’án the righteous are promised that they will be given to drink of the “choice sealed wine”. In His Tablets, Bahá’u’lláh identifies the “choice Wine” with His Revelation whose “musk-laden fragrance” has been wafted “upon all created things”. He states that He has “unsealed” this “Wine”, thereby disclosing spiritual truths that were hitherto unknown, and enabling those who quaff thereof to “discern the splendours of the light of divine unity” and to “grasp the essential purpose underlying the Scriptures of God”.

In one of His meditations, Bahá’u’lláh entreats God to supply the believers with “the choice Wine of Thy mercy, that it may cause them to be forgetful of any one except Thee, and to arise to serve Thy Cause, and to be steadfast in their love for Thee”.