Fasting in the Bahaitum

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In Baha'i'um , believers abstain from eating and drinking after sunrise to sunset in the last month ʿAla 'of the Bahá'í calendar , which corresponds to the period from March 2nd to March 20th. At the end of the month of fasting, the Nouruz festival is celebrated. The month of fasting represents “a special time. B. Families and friends the opportunity for common prayer. Many find fasting helpful in breaking harmful habits, such as smoking or eating an unhealthy diet. Others use the contemplative nature of this time to consciously devote themselves to personal challenges. "

In addition to prayer, fasting is one of the most important religious practices of the Baha'i'm. Fasting is useful for the spiritual development of people and is therefore not an end in itself. It should strengthen the spiritual powers and be committed out of love for God.

The wisdom of the commandment to fast is seen on the one hand in the fact that it increases spirituality and reduces the influence of the lower self. In fasting, believers feel the state of the revelators who also fasted when they received the revelation. Even if fasting is a mental exercise, from a medical point of view the increase in satisfaction, a new calibration of pain perception and the ability to control oneself can be cited as advantages. This in turn protects against anxiety, depression and chronic psychosomatic states.

According to the Baha'i teachings, the commandment of fasting, like the compulsory prayer, is one of the laws that are left only to the conscience of the believer. So no one has the right to ask a Baha'i to observe Lent. Whether the believers accept the observance of the commandment to fast depends only on God's good pleasure. Believers cannot claim God's blessing by observing this commandment, since this only depends on God's good pleasure.

If the observance of the fasting requirement can result in health disadvantages, the believers are exempt from fasting - for example during pregnancy, breastfeeding and the monthly rule, an age from the completed 70th year of life, travel under certain conditions, heavy work and illness are legitimate exceptions represent.

literature

  • Bernado Fritzsche: Fasting. A practice-oriented manual. The Bahá'í fast in question and answer . Bahá'í-Verlag, Hofheim 2014, ISBN 978-3-87037-538-6 .
  • Helen Bassett Hornby: Lights of Guidance. A Bahá'í Reference File . Bahá'í-Pubishing Trust, New Delhi 1994, ISBN 81-85091-46-3 , pp. 234-236 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi dated January 10, 1936, quoted in Hornby: Lights of Guidance § 775
  2. ^ Stephan A. Towfigh, Wafa Enayati: The Bahá'í religion. An overview . 5th edition. Lau, Reinbek / Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-95768-121-8 , pp. ? .
  3. ↑ Hornby: Address by Abdu'l-Bahá quoted. in Hornby: Lights of Guidance, § 779
  4. ↑ Bernado Fritzsche: Fasting. A practice-oriented manual. The Bahá'í fast in question and answer . Bahá'í-Verlag, Hofheim 2014, ISBN 978-3-87037-538-6 .
  5. ^ Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendis of March 9, 1937, cited in in Hornby: Lights of Guidance, § 776