25 We Have Enjoined Upon You Fasting During A Brief Period #16

Categories: NOTES
Sources: The Kitab-i-aqdas

Fasting and obligatory prayer constitute the two pillars that sustain the

revealed Law of God. Baha'u'llah in one of His Tablets affirms that He has

revealed the laws of obligatory prayer and fasting so that through them

the believers may draw nigh unto God.



Shoghi Effendi indicates that the fasting period, which involves complete

abstention from food and drink from sunrise till sunset, is



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...essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual

recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the

necessary 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.





Fasting is enjoined on all the believers once they attain the age of 15

and until they reach the age of 70 years.



A summary of the detailed provisions concerning the law of fasting and of

the exemptions granted to certain categories of people is contained in the

Synopsis and Codification, section IV.B.1.-6. For a discussion of the

exemptions from fasting see notes 14, 20, 30 and 31.



The nineteen-day period of fasting coincides with the Baha'i month of

'Ala, usually 2-20 March, immediately after the termination of the

Intercalary Days (see notes 27 and 147), and is followed by the feast of

Naw-Ruz (see note 26).