The Bahá’í Book of Laws

An earlier post described the corpus of the Bahá’í sacred texts. From time to time I hope to examine specific texts in that collection. This article will briefly examine one that is often called the Book of Laws. It is also called The Most Holy Book, or specifically: the Kitab-i-Aqdas, its title. It is most often referred to as simply, “The Aqdas.” This book is not an introduction to the Bahá’í Faith, in fact one may not learn much about the faith from this book. Much of its contents refer to past religions and a through grounding in the Bábi Faith and Islam is necessary to understand much of it because it abrogates much that is in those two religions (one of the reasons for a century and a half of persecution in much of the Muslim world which continues today).

This book was revealed by 1873 while Bahá’u’lláh was confined in Akka, the penal colony of the Ottoman Empire. Part of the time He was under house arrest, part of the time he was in a cell. At the very end the governor refused to enforce the decree of imprisonment and personally begged Bahá’u’lláh to leave the confines of the city walls. He did and lived a short distance away. He repeated that He was a prisoner and the governor was responsible for his whereabouts, so he did not go far.

The book is written in Arabic, but Arabic that is influenced by Persian. One person described the style as “lofty and austere” and “similar to that of the Qur’an.” It is brief and without commentary. It is not a legal treatise. In fact, much of it has nothing to do with Bahá’í law. Prayer and fasting are covered in great detail, they are essential to a person’s spiritual wellbeing, and so are marriage and inheritance, but other matters are merely alluded to or mentioned in passing. Many subjects mentioned in the Aqdas are referred to in other of Bahá’u’lláh’s writings which form auxiliary texts to the Aqdas.

The organization of the Aqdas appears to be the result of questions people sent to him asking about certain subjects. Topics appear to be in a random order. Much of the content deals with general ethical exhortations and statements directed to specific individuals, groups and even places. It might best be stated that the Aqdas is less a code of laws than a constitution providing a framework for future legislation. Bahá’u’lláh directed the Universal House of Justice, ordained in the Aqdas, to legislate on those matters not expressly delineated in the Aqdas, therefore guaranteeing flexibility in the religion.

Subjects mentioned in the Aqdas have been grouped into nearly a dozen categories.
1. the status of religious law and its importance linked to recognition of the Prophet.
2. outlining Bahá’í administrative structure – councils of consultation, not individuals.
3. Bahá’í religious practices: prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, etc.
4. personal status: marriage, divorce and inheritance modifying those of the Bábi faith.
5. criminal laws: murder, arson, theft, etc.
6. miscellaneous matters abrogating a variety of practices of previous religions, such as the kissing of hands, destroying books, etc.
7. ethical principles and standards: truthfulness, courtesy, etc.
8. social principles: the education of children, ones occupation, arts and sciences.
9. addresses to individuals (the German Kaiser, the rulers of America, etc.), groups (religious leaders, etc.) and places (Constantinople, Tehran, Germany, etc.)
10. prophecies, such as the banks of the Rhine being covered with gore (not once but twice), and others.

One unique feature of the Aqdas is that Bahá’u’lláh cautioned against implementing its features “unwisely.” For instance, one subject covered is the Baháí form of tithe. Bahá’u’lláh had refused to mention it for many years even though many followers wanted to give Him money. He finally revealed the details (generally one nineteenth of one’s excess income) and specified that only a certain individual could collect the money – then refused to name the individual! Years later the individual was named, but this law was not binding on all believers – only those who could read it in the original language. Gradually, over a century, its provisions were applied to the rest of the Bahá’í community.

After copies of the Aqdas began to be circulated among the Bahá’ís some wrote asking questions about its contents. One believer sent one hundred and seven questions. This set of questions, and their answers, form a separate work, called Questions and Answers, which form an appendix to the Aqdas. In the English translation they are included together. Other subjects were addressed later in additional letters. These are compiled and published together as Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas linking the two together. In addition, many details were filled in by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His appointed role of interpreter of the writings of Bahá’u’lláh, and others later by Shoghi Effendi in his appointed role as Guardian.

Because of the vast references to aspects of the Muslim and Bábi faiths, translations of the Aqdas have generally been inadequate. An early English translation was circulated in manuscript form in America in the early 1900s. Arabic editions were published in India in 1891 and 1896. About a third of it had been translated and included in Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh by the Guardian in 1952.

Just as many aspects of the Bahá’í Faith are gradually unfolding translation and publication of the Aqdas was also gradual. An English synopsis, begun by the Guardian, was published in 1973. A full, annotated English translation with explanatory notes, a glossary and analytical index, as well as the Questions and Answers, was published in 1993. It included paragraph numbering to facilitate references between printings and to assist in translation into other languages as well.

Implementation of the contents of the Aqdas in the Bahá’í community will continue gradually into the future.