Fasting has been a significant practice of religion throughout human history. Many of the Manifestations of God Themselves went through a period of meditation and fasting at some point in Their lives during which, in intense communion with God, They contemplated the mysteries of the universe and the nature of Their mission.
This year i.e. 2025, the Baháʼí fast begins at sunset on Friday, February 28 and ends on sunset on Wednesday, March 19.
The nineteen-day period of Baháʼí fasting begins with the termination of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) and ends with the festival of Naw-Rúz (Baháʼí New Year). Abstinence from food, drink, and smoking from sunrise to sunset. Fasting is obligatory for men and women once they attain the age of 15. If one eats unconsciously during fasting, this is not breaking the fast as it is an accident. In regions of extremely high latitude where day and night duration varies considerably, the fast times are fixed by the clock. Missed days of fasting are not required to be made up later. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas says, “Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires.”
Bahá’u’lláh designated a nineteen-day period each year during which adult Bahá’ís fast from sunrise to sunset each day. This period coincides with the Bahá’í month of Alá—meaning Loftiness—from 1 to 19 March this year in 2025, which immediately precedes the Bahá’í New Year Naw-Rúz (New Day).
It is a time of prayer, meditation, and spiritual rejuvenation. During this time, Bahá’ís between the ages of 15 and 70 abstain from food, drink, and tobacco from sunrise to sunset.
The Bahá’ı́ day ends and a new one begins at sunset; consequently, the day on which a Feast or Holy day is observed begins at sunset of the day before the Gregorian calendar.
As mentione above, this year, the Baháʼí fast concludes at the festival of Naw-Rúz (Baháʼí New Year) on the vernal equinox 20 March, 2025.
Baháʼís observe a sunrise-to-sunset fast for nineteen days every March. The practice is regarded as one of the most significant obligations of a Baháʼí, along with daily obligatory prayers.
There are several exemptions to the fast, such as pregnancy or illness, and it only applies to those 15 to 70 years old.
The nineteen-day fast was instituted by the Báb, who is the
Prophet Herald of the Baháʼí Faith. It was later affirmed by Baháʼu’lláh, the Prophe-Founder of the Baháʼí Faith and explained in His Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Most Holy Book. The purpose of the fast is to practice abstinence from carnal desires, rejuvenate one’s inner spiritual life, and bring to mind the deprivation experienced by Prophets.
The Báb, the Prophet- Founder of the Bábí Faith, instituted the Badíʻ calendar with 19 months of 19 days in his Book the Persian Bayán, and stated that the last month would be a period of fasting. The Báb stated that the true significance of the fast was abstaining from all except the love of the Messengers from God. The Báb also stated that the continuation of the fast was contingent on the approval of a messianic figure, Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest. Baháʼu’lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Baháʼí Faith, who claimed to be the one foretold by the Báb, accepted the fast but altered many of its details and regulations.
The Baháʼí fast resembles fasting practices of several other religions. Lent is a period of fasting for Christians, Yom Kippur and many other holidays for Jews, and the fast of Ramadan is practiced by Muslims.
The Baháʼí fasting most resembles the fast of Ramadan, except that the period of fasting is defined as a fixed Baháʼí month. In contrast, Muslims fast during a lunar month, whose specific Gregorian dates vary yearly.
Baháʼu’lláh established the guidelines of the fast in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, His Book of Laws. Fasting is observed from sunrise to sunset during the Baháʼí month of ʻAlaʼ (between 1/2 March through 19/20 March), and it is the complete abstention from food, and drink. Observing the fast is an individual obligation and is binding on all Baháʼís who have reached the age of 15 until the age of 70; it is not enforceable by the Baháʼí administrative institutions. Various exemptions are given to the sick, the travelling, and others.
Along with obligatory prayer, it is one of the greatest obligations of a Baháʼí. It is intended to bring the person closer to God. Shoghi Effendi, the head of the Baháʼí Faith in the first half of the 20th century, explains that the fast “is 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.”
Religious fasting is practiced in many religions, including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism.
Various exemptions are provided in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas from the obligation of fasting. However, one meeting the exemptions may still choose to fast if they so wish, except for the ill. Baha’u’llah has stated that in “time of ill health it is not permissible to observe these obligations…” The Universal House of Justice has counseled the Baha’is that the decision of whether or not to observe an applicable exemption should be made with wisdom, keeping in mind that the exemptions were set down with good reason. Regarding those engaged in heavy labour, Baha’u’llah has stated, “It is most commendable and fitting to eat with frugality and in private.”
Those who are ill.Those who are younger than 15 or older than 70.Those who are engaged in heavy labour.Women who are pregnant.Women who are nursing.Women who are menstruating (instead they must perform an ablution and recite the verse Glorified be God, the Lord of Splendour and Beauty 95 times a day).
Exemptions are also given to those travelling during the fast. Exemptions are granted when the travel is longer than 9 hours (or 2 hours if travelling by foot). If the traveller breaks their journey for more than nineteen days, they are only exempt from fasting for the first three days. Also, if they return home, they must begin fasting right away.
Fasting, said ‘Abdu’l-Bahá “is the cause of awakening man. The heart becomes tender and the spirituality of man increases. This is produced by the fact that man’s thoughts will be confined to the commemoration of God, and through this awakening and stimulation surely ideal advancements follow”.
‘(Abdu’l-Bahá, cited in Star of the West, vol. 3, p. 305)
However, it is important to note that fasting should not be viewed as a practice of asceticism, nor is it to be used as a means of penance: “This material fast is an outer token of the spiritual fast; it is a symbol of self-restraint, the withholding of oneself from all appetites of the self, taking on the characteristics of the spirit, being carried away by the breathings of heaven and catching fire from the love of God.”
(Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá)
A number of special prayers have been revealed specifically for the period of the fast. One, for example, begins with these words:
“This is, O my God, the first of the days on which Thou hast bidden Thy loved ones to observe the Fast. I ask of Thee by Thy Self and by him who hath fasted out of love for Thee and for Thy good-pleasure—and not out of self and desire, nor out of fear of Thy wrath—and by Thy most excellent names and august attributes, to purify Thy servants from the love of aught except Thee and to draw them nigh unto the Dawning-Place of the lights of Thy countenance and the Seat of the throne of Thy oneness. Illumine their hearts, O my God, with the light of Thy knowledge and brighten their faces with the rays of the Daystar that shineth from the horizon of Thy Will.”
(Bahá’u’lláh, Bahá’í Prayers, p. 259).
Compiled by:-
Jaya Raju Thota,
Greater Visakhapatnam,
Andhra Pradesh, INDIA)
