Physical disability preventing genuflections of Long Obligatory Prayer

8 October 2000

Dear Bahá'í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice has received your emailed letter of 19 August 2000 requesting guidance, in light of your physical incapability, about the requirements of the Obligatory Prayers. With regard to your query, we share with you below extracts from two letters written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi in response to similar questions:

"With reference to your question regarding the three daily obligatory prayers: the Bahá'í worshipper is not required to recite them all each day, but has to choose one, and should also strictly conform to any instructions revealed by Bahá'u'lláh in connection with its recital, such as the raising of hands, various genuflexions, etc. Those who for some reason or other, especially when physically unable to observe these regulations owing to illness or some bodily defect, cannot conform to these instructions should preferably choose the short prayer, which is exceedingly simple." (7 December 1939 to an individual believer)

"As regards the questions about the proper use of the Long Obligatory Prayer: All the writings of the Faith may be read and should be read for the instruction and inspiration of the friends. This includes the specific prayers. If a believer is physically incapable of performing the genuflexions accompanying one of the prayers, and yet he longs to say it as an obligatory prayer, then he may do so. By physically incapable is meant a real physical incapacity a physician would attest as genuine." (17 February 1955 to a Local Spiritual Assembly)

It is hoped that these quotes will provide the clarification you seek.

With loving Bahá'í greetings,

Department of the Secretariat

(Baha’i Library Online)

"Democratization" and the Bahá'í Administrative Order

18 July 2000 

Dear Bahá'í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice received your letter of 31 May 2000 and has asked us to send you the following reply.

To your question "What do I have to think of the promotion of a Bahá'í democratization?" there is both a simple reply and a more complex one, and the House of Justice feels that it is desirable to approach the matter from both points of view.

Firstly, as a Bahá'í who has given many decades of outstanding service in your community, you understand that the Bahá'í Administrative Order is an integral part of the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh; it is a divinely conceived system which, as the Guardian explained in The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh, "incorporates within its structure certain elements which are to be found in each of the three recognized forms of secular government, without being in any sense a mere replica of any one of them, and without introducing within its machinery any of the objectionable features which they inherently possess. It blends and harmonizes, as no government fashioned by mortal hands has as yet accomplished, the salutary truths which each of these systems undoubtedly contains without vitiating the integrity of those God-given verities on which it is ultimately founded."

It is the continuing task of Bahá'ís to increase their understanding of the principles on which the Administrative Order is founded, and to improve the faithfulness with which they implement these principles in their actions. Indeed one of the specific needs of this period in the development of the Faith is the evolution of national and local Bahá'í institutions. If, therefore, by "the promotion of a Bahá'í democratization" is meant the furthering of an increasingly responsible participation in the work of the community by its individual members, this is highly meritorious, and should be a continual endeavour of Bahá'í institutions.

Tablet to a Physician (Lawh-i-Tibb)

20 April 2000

Dear Bahá'í Friend,

Your email of 14 December 1999, inquiring about a translation of Bahá'u'lláh's Tablet to a Physician subsequent to the one found in Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, was received by the Universal House of Justice and referred to our Department for reply.

Excerpts from Bahá'u'lláh's Tablet to a Physician appeared in Star of the West, volume 13, page 252, as well as in many and various Bahá'í newsletters and compilations, as an early translation of a portion of the Tablet entitled "Lawh-i-Tibb", revealed by Bahá'u'lláh in honour of Mirza Muhammad Rida Yazdi, a physician. However, until such time as conditions are propitious for the Tablet to be translated, only portions of it have an authorized translation. For your convenience, we are enclosing the text of the early, partial translation of the Tablet to a Physician which was published in Star of the West, as cited above, along with a related exhortation from Bahá'u'lláh taken from Star of the West, volume 21, number 5, page 160. Furthermore, it may interest you to know that the prayer starting with the words, "Thy Name is my healing ..." is also found in this Tablet.

With regard to the Tablet, on 18 December 1945 a letter was written on behalf of the beloved Guardian to an individual believer stating:

The Tablet to a Physician was addressed to a man who was a student of the old type of healing prevalent in the East and familiar with the terminology used in those days, and He addresses him in terms used by the medical men of those days. These terms are quite different from those used by modern medicine, and one would have to have a deep knowledge of this former school of medicine to understand the questions Bahá'u'lláh was elucidating.

It is hoped that this information will be of assistance to you, and you may be assured of the loving prayers of the House of Justice in the Holy Shrines that the tender mercies of Bahá'u'lláh may surround you.

Application of Bahá'í Laws

23 February 2000

Dear Bahá’í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice received your emailed letter of 6 February 2000 and appreciates your suggestion for a procedure to be followed when Bahá’í laws are applied. You provide a very interesting perspective and the House of Justice has asked us to send you the following comments.

The way in which the House of Justice currently takes such actions is largely dictated by the nature of the law in each case and on the condition of the Bahá’í community at the time. The method adopted may not be suitable for publication in a special legal bulletin or for the specification of the sacred Texts on which the law rests.

The fundamental aspects of the laws of obligatory prayer and fasting have long been known to the believers and applied by them in varying degrees depending upon their awareness of their importance. The details which remained to be applied universally were quite secondary in relation to the vital spiritual significance of the laws themselves. It was with this in mind that the announcement made by the House of Justice did not go into such matters as the verses of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and the Questions and Answers in which these details can be found. It wishes the friends to register in their understanding the basic concepts of these laws and the importance of observing them. Then, as individuals study the Texts, they will undoubtedly have questions which can be answered as they arise. In due course the House of Justice will provide National Spiritual Assemblies with references which they can use in replying to such questions.

Exemption from Obligatory Prayer for the sick

27 March 2000

Regarding The Kitab-i-Aqdas: Exemption from Obligatory Prayer for the Sick, in Questions and Answers# 93:

The Research Department has studied the query contained in the email message of 23 January 2000 to the Bahá'í World Centre from ....

Ms. ... states that, since becoming a Bahá'í in June 1992, she has said an obligatory prayer, following the laws on ablutions, each day. However, she has studied the exemption for those who are ill and she wonders if she is "in fact breaking the Law by doing so". She relates that since infancy she has been "physically challenged" with a chronic disease, spinal muscular atrophy, and has lived her life from a wheelchair. Since 1998, due to further problems, she has been confined to bed. Nevertheless, she states that she leads an active life, earns an income and serves the Faith. Although her health is often poor, she has both good and bad days, and often sees herself as being in "good health". She wonders when an individual is considered in ill-health and so should not perform obligatory prayers, as prescribed in Questions and Answers 93, we read,

QUESTION: Concerning fasting and obligatory prayer by the sick.

ANSWER: In truth, I say that obligatory prayer and fasting occupy an exalted station in the sight of God. It is, however, in a state of health that their virtue can be realized. In time of ill health it is not permissible to observe these obligations; such hath been the bidding of the Lord, exalted be His glory, at all times. Blessed be such men and women as pay heed, and observe His precepts. All praise be unto God, He who hath sent down the verses and is the Revealer of undoubted proofs!

Reproduction and other biological subjects

Dear Bahá'í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice has received your email letter of 24 August 2000 and has asked us to respond as follows.

The House of Justice has not found anything specific in the Bahá'í writings concerning the ethics of genetic engineering on human tissue, including fetal tissue, and on possible means of biologically creating replacement limbs and organs for human beings. It regards it as premature to give consideration to these matters and to their spiritual consequences. For the present, believers confronted with such issues are free to come to their own conclusions, based on their knowledge of the pertinent Bahá'í teachings.

Enclosed for your information is a brief compilation of passages from the Bahá'í writings on reproduction and other biological issues, which may be of interest to you in your consideration of these subjects.

With loving Bahá'í greetings,

Department of the Secretariat

Enclosure

(Baha’i Library Online)

Regarding source of prayer "Make me a hollow reed"

December 12, 1999

Your email of 26 October 1999, and the one of 2 December 1999 addressed to the United States National Bahá'í Centre, seeking clarification about the source of the "Hollow Reed" prayer were noted by the Universal House of Justice and referred to our Department.

In response to a similar query in the past, the Research Department has advised that the first portion of the text, "O God! Make me a hollow reed from which the pith of self hath been blown, that I may become a clear channel through which Thy love may flow to others", has often been attributed to ‘Abdu'l-Bahá; however, the Research Department has not yet located any original text and is therefore unable to verify its authenticity. As a result, the prayer may be recited or sung by the believers, but it should not be attributed to the Master nor appear under His name in books and other publications.

You cite a reference which states that this prayer was in fact written by the Hand of the Cause of God George Townshend. Because this prayer has often been incorrectly quoted as the opening sentence from the following passage on page 124 of Mr. Townshend's book The Mission of Bahá'u'lláh (London: George Ronald, 1965), it would give the impression that he has written the words. However, the prayer in question does not appear in his book and cannot be attributed to him. For your information we quote below the text in question.

“I have left behind me impatience and discontent. I will chafe no more at my lot. I commit myself wholly into Thy hands, for Thou art my guide in the desert, the teacher of my ignorance, the physician of my sickness.

I am a soldier in my King's Army; I have given up my will to Him, and my life is His to dispose of as He may please.

I know not what fate Thou designest for me, not what work Thou hast ordained for me, nor will I enquire nor seek to know. The task of the day suffices for me, and all the future is Thine.

Little by little Thou trainest me. Little by little Thou changest weakness to strength, doubt to faith, perplexity to understanding. When I am fit to bear the burden Thou wilt lay it on my shoulders. When I am prepared to take the field Thou wilt assign me a place in Thy army of Light. Now I have no other duty than to equip myself for Thy service.

With eagerness and patience, with hope and gratitude I bend to the task of the hour lest when Thy call to battle comes I be found unready.”

We hope that this information will provide some clarification on this matter.

Department of the Secretariat

(Baha’i Library Online)