Annual Baha'i Fast cleanses, challenges mind and body

February 13, 2008 - 4:20pm

From March 2-20, Baha'is worldwide will rise before dawn to eat breakfast, pray and then abstain from eating or drinking until sunset in observation of the annual 19-day Fast.


As in many world religions, the Fast is a time for reflecting on one's spiritual progress and making an effort to detach from material desires. As one Baha'i puts it, "During the fast, we make an effort to know God better.”

The Faith exempts from fasting those who are ill, elderly, traveling, pregnant, nursing, menstruating or engaged in heavy labor. Baha'is from age 15 to 70 are enjoined to participate in the annual fast.

Abdu'l-Baha, the son and appointed successor of Baha'u'llah, wrote that “Fasting is the cause of awakening man. The heart becomes tender and the spirituality of man increases.”

The Fast, said, Baha'u'llah, helps people become better aware of the sufferings of the poor. Abdu’l-Baha described how the Prophets of God - including Moses, Jesus and Baha'u'llah - all fasted. Thus, He said, the Baha'i period of fasting allows believers to feel closer to the founders of the great religions by sharing this experience.

Ashley Sandvoss chronicled her first Fast in her blog last year, shortly after becoming a member of the Baha’i Faith. For Ms. Sandvoss, reflecting on the approach of her second Fast, one challenge will be to get through two college midterm exams. “If I remember what it (the Fast) is really all about,” she writes, “I’ll have a bit of an advantage going into my studies, a grounding in faith, Baha’u’llah among all the lines of my textbooks.”

Baha'i Dale E. Lehman says he and his fellow Baha’is look forward to this opportunity to “recharge our spiritual batteries.” “The Universal House of Justice has in the past referred to the ‘spiritual energies unleashed by the Fast,’" he says. “These energies, real and potent, propel us forward into the new year that dawns with Naw-Ruz at the close of the Fast.”