Fasting

"Fasting . . . is essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul." Shoghi Effendi

"We have enjoined upon you fasting during a brief period", Baha'u'llah writes in His Book of Laws. The Baha'i Fast is a time of spiritual regeneration, when Baha'is all over the world rise before dawn to pray and meditate before beginning their daily fast from sunrise to sunset.

This handbook brings together passages from the Baha'i Writings about the Fast, with reflections by Baha'is on the practice of fasting, and prayers appropriate to the fasting period. It has been compiled primarily for personal use by Baha'is during their Fast, but it is also of interest to anyone who wants to know about the age-old practice of fasting for spiritual reasons - what it is, how to do it and what it means to those who experience it.

Includes all the Baha'i prayers for the Fast available in English.

Fasting for spiritual reasons has been an age-old human practice.  At the very least it is an exercise in physical detachment.  That is the point of fasting for members of the Baha'i Faith.  The Baha'i fast comes at the end of the year on the Baha'i calendar, an exercise in detachment and renewal for the new year.  It is not an arduous fast, just during daylight hours and there are exemptions for cases where even this much fasting would be physically unwise.  Restraining from eating is a minor aspect of the Baha'i fast.  Detachment is the point,