The Revelation of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas

*A retelling based on **The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh**, volume 3, by Adib Taherzadeh, with details from Shoghi Effendi's **God Passes By**. Words in quotation marks are quoted from those books or from the Kitáb-i-Aqdas itself.*

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On 31 August 1868 Bahá'u'lláh and His fellow exiles, about seventy in number, were brought as prisoners to 'Akká, a fortress town on the coast of the Holy Land. The Sulṭán's decree ordered that they be strictly confined. In a Tablet Bahá'u'lláh repeated what was said of the place: "it is the most desolate of the cities of the world, the most unsightly of them in appearance, the most detestable in climate, and the foulest in water."

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For some years believers had been writing to Bahá'u'lláh asking about the laws of the Faith. He did not answer them. In Adrianople He had revealed some laws in His Persian writings but had not released them. "For a number of years," He later wrote, "petitions reached the Most Holy Presence from various lands begging for the laws of God, but We held back the Pen ere the appointed time had come."

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The time came in 'Akká. In the early part of 1873, almost five years after His arrival, Bahá'u'lláh was living in the house of 'Údí Khammár, still a prisoner, when He revealed the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Most Holy Book. A letter written by His amanuensis and dated 11 July 1873 mentions that the Book had been revealed around that time.

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The Kitáb-i-Aqdas is written in Arabic. Shoghi Effendi calls it "the Mother Book of His Dispensation, and the Charter of His New World Order." In it Bahá'u'lláh prescribes the obligatory prayers and the Fast, abolishes the priesthood, prohibits slavery, condemns cruelty to animals, and stresses the education of children. He ordains the institution of the House of Justice and alludes to the future Centre of His Covenant. He addresses the kings of the earth and the religious leaders of the world. Taherzadeh notes that the Book also calls for the adoption of an international auxiliary language.

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Taherzadeh observes that the laws in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas are interwoven with passages of spiritual counsel and exhortation. Bahá'u'lláh Himself warns against reading it as a legal code alone: "Think not that We have revealed unto you a mere code of laws. Nay, rather, We have unsealed the choice Wine with the fingers of might and power." Earlier in the Book He writes that the Tongue of His power has addressed His creation in these words: "Observe My commandments, for the love of My beauty."

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From the first, Bahá'u'lláh urged His followers to be wise in carrying out the new laws. He advised them not to practise any provision that might be untimely or cause disturbance among the people. To one believer who was eager to see the laws put into effect He wrote: "Indeed the laws of God are like unto the ocean and the children of men as fish, did they but know it. However, in observing them one must exercise tact and wisdom."

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*This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see **The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh**, volume 3, by Adib Taherzadeh, chapters 13 to 17.*

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