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FASTING

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During the Baha'i month of Loftiness which begins March 2nd, Baha'is over 15 years of age fast from sunrise to sunset for nineteen days. Exempted from the Fast are children under 15, those who are ill, over 70, travelling, pregnant or nursing women, women in their courses or those doing heavy labour. The Fast ends at sunset March 20, Naw-Ruz (Baha'i New Year).

'Abdu'l-Baha tells us that "prayer and fasting is the cause of awakening and mindfulness and conducive to protection and preservation from tests." ('Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha, pp. 69-70)

Prayer and fasting "act as stimulants to the soul, strengthen, revive, and purify it, and thus insure its steady development." (Shoghi Effendi, Principles of Baha'i Administration, p.8)

The Guardian, Shoghi Effendi writes, "it (the fasting period) is essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make necessary readjustments to 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." (Shoghi Effendi, Principles of Baha'i Administration, p. 9)

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