I.
Extracts FromThe Writings Of Bahá'u'lláhItis forbidden you to carry the body more than an hour's distance from thetown; bury it with tranquillity and cheer in a nearby place.QUESTION:Is the ordinance that the body of the deceased should be carried no greaterdistance than one hour's journey applicable to transport by both land andsea?ANSWER: This command applieth to distances by sea as well as by land,whether it is an hour by steamship or by rail; the intention is the hour'stime, whatever the means of transport. The sooner the burial taketh place,however, the more fitting and acceptable will it be. Inbrief, the Bahá'í law for the burial of the dead states thatit is forbidden to carry the body for more than one hour's journey fromthe place of death; that the body should be wrapped in a shroud of silkor cotton, and on its finger should be placed a ring bearing the inscription"I came forth from God, and return unto Him, detached from all save Him,holding fast to His Name, the Merciful, the Compassionate"; and that thecoffin should be of crystal, stone or hard fine wood. A specific Prayerfor the Dead (seenote 10) is ordained, to be said before interment. Asaffirmed by `Abdu'l-Bahá and the Guardian, this law precludes cremationof the dead. The formal prayer and the ring are meant to be used for thosewho have attained the age of maturity, i.e. 15 years of age (Q and A 70)ThePrayer for the Dead (see Some Texts Supplementary to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas)is the only Bahá'í obligatory prayer which is to be recitedin congregation; it is to be recited by one believer while all presentstand in silence (seenote 19). Bahá'u'lláh has clarifiedthat the Prayer for the Dead is required only when the deceased is an adult(Q and A 70), that the recital should precede the interment of the deceased,and that there is no requirement to face the Qiblih when saying this prayer(Q and A 85).II.Extracts fromLetters Written on behalf of the Guardian:Regardingthe Bahá'í funeral service: it is extremely simple, as itconsists only of a congregational prayer to be read before burial. Thisprayer will be made available to the friends when the "Aqdas" is translatedand published. In the meantime your National Spiritual Assembly shouldtake great care lest any uniform procedure or ritual in this matter beadopted or imposed upon the friends. The danger in this, as in some othercases regarding Bahá'í worship, is that a definite systemof rigid rituals and practices be developed among the believers. The utmostsimplicity and flexibility should be observed, and a selection from theBahá'í Sacred Writings would serve the purpose at the presenttime, provided this selection is not rigidly and uniformly adopted on allsuch occasions. [See alsoDirectives from the Guardianno. 85]Boththe Bahá'í marriage service and the Bahá'ífuneral service are extremely simple in character, and you must have certainlyread in the "Bahá'í News" the explanation given by the Guardianon these two points. As already stated all forms of rigidity and uniformityin such matters should be avoided by the believers. What is of vital importanceis to strictly observe the laws and directions specifically revealed byBahá'u'lláh. These will be gradually brought to the attentionof the friends and explained to them by the Guardian. In the mean timegreat care should be taken to prevent the introduction of unnecessary detailsand additions of a man-made nature to the body of the Teachings.Thereis no objection whatsoever to non-Bahá'ís being present whenthe long prayer for the dead is read, as long as they respect our mannerof reading it by rising and standing as the Bahá'ís do onthis occasion. Nor, indeed, is there any objection to non-Bahá'ísbeing present during the reading of any Bahá'í prayer forthe departed. In reporting Bahá'í marriages it is much betterto mention that the ceremony was performed by the Assembly, as this isthe proper thing to do, and an individual only acts for the Assembly onthis occasion. As a funeral is not a legal ceremony more latitude can beallowed, especially as the family of the deceased may want some particularBahá'í friend to officiate.·Mr. and Mrs....are naturallyquite free to be buried in their own plot in the Cemetery, if that is whatthey desire.An official Bahá'í funeral service should only be givenfor a believer, but there is no objection to the reading of Bahá'íprayers, or indeed to a Bahá'í conducting the funeral serviceof a non-Bahá'í, if this has been requested. [Also quoted in part inDirectives from the Guardian,section 85Thebody may be conveyed by any means to a distance that can be covered inone hour's journey.TheGuardian thinks the ideal thing would be for the believers to have a Bahá'íCemetery....Regardingthe questions which you ask, concerning Bahá'í burials, etc.At the present time, the Guardian is not stressing these matters, as theirestablishment might divert attention from the supreme tasks we have beforeus. However, the answers are as follows: Under the Bahá'íteachings it seems clear that the body is not to be embalmed. The burialshould take place within an hour's travel time from the place of death.The preparation for the body for burial is a careful washing, and placingin a shroud of white cloth, silk preferably. There is nothing in the teachingswith regard to turning the body over to Scientific Institutions for scientificresearch, and therefore the individual may do as he wishes, until sucha time as the Universal House of Justice may legislate on this matter,if they ever do. The practice in the Orient is to bury the person within24 hours of the time of death, sometimes even sooner, although there isno provision in the teachings as to the time limit.Thereis nothing in the Teachings against leaving our bodies to medical science.The only thing we should stipulate is that we do not wish to be cremated,as it is against our Bahá'í Laws.As many people make arrangements to leave their bodies to medicalscience for investigation, he suggests that you inquire, either throughsome lawyer friend or through some hospital, how you could do this, andthen make the necessary provision in your Will, stipulating that you wishyour body to be of service to mankind in death, and that, being a Bahá'í,you request that your remains not be cremated and not be taken more thanan hour's journey from the place you die. The spirit has no more connectionwith the body after it departs, but, as the body was once the temple ofthe spirit, we Bahá'ís are taught that it must be treatedwith respect. [Also quoted inDirectives from the Guardian,section 126]III.Extracts fromLetters written on behalf ofthe UniversalHouse of Justice:Forthe burial of the dead the only requirements now binding in the West areto bury the body (not to cremate it), not to carry it more than a distanceof one hour's journey from the place of death, and to say the Prayer forthe Dead if the deceased is a believer over the age of 15.Youhave asked whether it is permissible for the friends to chant a prayercollectively. There is a difference between chanting a prayer collectivelyand congregational prayer. The latter is a formal prayer usually led byan individual using a prescribed ritual. Congregational prayer in thisform is forbidden in the Faith except in the case of the Prayer for theDead. While reciting prayers in unison and spontaneously joining in therecitation of the Words of God is not forbidden, the friends should bearin mind the advice of the beloved Guardian on this subject when he statedthat: "·although the friends are thus left free to follow their own inclination,.... they should take the utmost care that any manner they practice shouldnot acquire too rigid a character, and thus develop into an institution.This is a point which the friends should always bear in mind, lest theydeviate from the clear path indicated in the Teachings."TheUniversal House of Justice advises that the place of death may be takento be the city or town in which the believer passes away, and thereforethe hour's journey may be calculated from the city limits to the placeof burial. However, it should be borne in mind that the spirit of Bahá'u'lláh'slaw is to be buried near where one dies.At the present time there are no definite regulations for preparingBahá'í cemeteries. However, in a Tablet of the Master's,He emphasizes the need for the cemetery to have a beautiful outward appearanceand states that the graves should not be joined together but that eachone should have a flower bed around its four sides. He also indicates thatit would be pleasing if a pool were located in the center of the cemeteryand beautiful trees were planted around it as well as around the cemeteryitself. ThePrayer for the Dead should be recited at the funeral if the deceased is15 years old or more. If there is no one at the funeral able to read, itis sufficient to say only that part of the Prayer which requires the repetitionnineteen times of each of six short verses.The body must be placed in the grave in such a position that thefeet point towards `Akká (the Qiblih).
- A newer translationof this passage has been substituted for the translation originally included.
- "note 10," "The Kitab-i-Aqdas,The Most Holy Book, Bahá'u'lláh", pp.169-170.
- "Q and A70", "The Kitab-i-Aqdas,The Most Holy Book, Bahá'u'lláh", p.127.
- A newer translationof this passage has been substituted for the translation originally included.
- "seeSome Texts Supplementaryto the Kitab-i-Aqdas", "The Kitab-i-Aqdas, The Most Holy Book, Bahá'u'lláh",pp.91-102.
- "seenote 19", "TheKitab-i-Aqdas, The Most Holy Book, Bahá'u'lláh", pp.172-173.
- "Q and A70", "The Kitab-i-Aqdas,The Most Holy Book, Bahá'u'lláh", p.127.
- "Q and A85", "The Kitab-i-Aqdas,The Most Holy Book, Bahá'u'lláh", p.131.
- A newer translationof this passage has been substituted for the translation originally included.
- "Synopsis and Codificationof the Kitab-i-Aqdas", No. 2 of Notes, p. 57. [Ed. note: This reference is also available inNote 19 of the Kitab-i-Aqdas (on pp.172-173).]
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