A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
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71: FASTING (The Ordinance of) |
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“The ordinance of fasting is, as is the case with these
three prayers (obligatory) a spiritual and vital obligation
enjoined by Bahá’u’lláh upon every believer who has attained
the age of fifteen. In the Aqdas He thus writes: ‘We have
commanded you to pray and fast from the beginning of maturity;
this is ordained by God, your Lord and the Lord of your
forefathers. He has exempted from this those who are weak
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from illness or age, as a bounty from His Presence, and He is
the Forgiving, the Generous.’
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“And in another passage He says: ‘We have enjoined upon
you fasting during a brief period, and at its close have designated
for you Naw-Rúz as a Feast… The traveller, the ailing,
those who are with child or giving suck, are not bound by the
Fast… Abstain from food and drink, from sunrise to sundown,
and beware lest desire deprive you of this grace that is appointed
in the Book.’
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“Also in the ‘Questions and Answers’ that form an appendix
to the Aqdas, Bahá’u’lláh reveals the following: ‘Verily, I say
that God has appointed a Great station for fasting and prayer.
But during good health its benefit is evident, and when one is
ill, it is not permissible to fulfill them.’ Concerning the age of
maturity, He reveals in the appendix of that same Book: ‘The
age of maturity is in the fifteenth year; women and men are alike
in this respect.’ Regarding the vital character and importance of
the Divine ordinances and laws, and the necessity of complete
obedience to them by the believers, we thus read in the
Gleanings, p. 175:
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‘Know verily that the essence of justice and the source
thereof are both embodied in the ordinance prescribed by Him
Who is the Manifestation of the Self of God amongst men, if
ye be of them that recognize this truth. He doth verily incarnate
the highest, the infallible standard of justice unto all creation.
Were His law to be such as to strike terror in the
hearts of all that are in heaven and on earth, that law is naught
but manifest justice. The fears and agitation which the revelation
of this law provoke in men’s hearts should indeed be
likened to the cries of the suckling babe weaned from his
mother’s milk, if ye be of them that perceive…’
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“The fasting period, which lasts nineteen days starting as a
rule from the second of March every year and ending on the
twentieth of the same month, involves complete abstention from
food and drink from sunrise till sunset. It is essentially a
period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation,
during which the believer must strive to make the necessary
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readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate
the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and
purpose are, therefore, fundamentally spiritual in character.
Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish
and carnal desires.”
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