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What is the Bahai Fast, and what is its purpose?

Baha'i fast purpose
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What is the Bahai Fast, and what is its purpose?

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Baha’is are commanded to fast each year from the age of maturity (15) during the last month of the Baha’i calendar which corresponds to the period from March 2nd to March 20 in the Gregorian calendar. Shoghi Effendi indicates that the fasting period, which invoves complete abstinence from both food and drink from sunrise to sunset, 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. Its significance and purpose are, therefore, fundamentally spiritual in character. Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires.” — Shoghi Effendi, Directives from the Guardian, p. 28 & 29. Children younger than age 15, the elderly (age 70 and above), the ill or infirm, and women who are menstruating or nursing are exempted from fasting because to do so would be harmful to their he

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