The Meaning of the Fast

A retelling based on Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era by J. E. Esslemont (chapter 11, "Various Ordinances and Teachings"). Words in quotation marks are Esslemont's, and the indented passage is 'Abdu'l-Bahá's as he quotes it.

The Bahá'í year has nineteen months of nineteen days, and the Báb named the months after attributes of God. The last month is 'Alá', which means Loftiness. Esslemont explains that it is the month of the Fast. It comes straight after the intercalary days, which are set aside for hospitality to friends, giving presents, and ministering to the poor and sick.

For the nineteen days of 'Alá' the Fast is kept by abstaining from food and drink from sunrise to sunset. The month ends at the March equinox, so the Fast always falls in the same season: spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern, never in the extreme heat of summer or the extreme cold of winter, "when hardship would be likely to result." At that time of year, Esslemont adds, sunrise and sunset come at about six in the morning and six in the evening over most of the inhabited world. The Fast is not binding on children, the sick, travellers, those who are too old or too weak, or women who are with child or nursing.

Esslemont grants that there is "much evidence" that such a fast is good for the body. But he says its reality lies elsewhere: not in going without food, although that may help purify the body, but "in the abstention from the desires and lusts of the flesh, and in severance from all save God."

He then quotes words of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, as recorded by E. S. Stevens in the Fortnightly Review in June 1911:

Fasting is a symbol. Fasting signifies abstinence from lust. Physical fasting is a symbol of that abstinence, and is a reminder; that is, just as a person abstains from physical appetites, he is to abstain from self-appetites and self-desires. But mere abstention from food has no effect on the spirit. It is only a symbol, a reminder. Otherwise it is of no importance. Fasting for this purpose does not mean entire abstinence from food. The golden rule as to food is, do not take too much or too little. Moderation is necessary. There is a sect in India who practice extreme abstinence, and gradually reduce their food until they exist on almost nothing. But their intelligence suffers. A man is not fit to do service for God with brain or body if he is weakened by lack of food. He cannot see clearly.

The Fast ends with the month of 'Alá' at the equinox, and the new year begins with the Feast of Naw-Rúz.

This is a retelling. For the full passage, see Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era by J. E. Esslemont, chapter 11.

Esslemont, J. E.. (1923). *Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19241