# Kitab-i Aqdas, the Most Holy Book

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: John Walbridge, Kitab-i Aqdas, the Most Holy Book, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Kitab-i Aqdas, the Most Holy Book
> 
> John Walbridge
> 
> 1999
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh's book of laws and his most important work, dating from the early Akka period. This work is written in Arabic and its Arabic title is al-Kitab al- Aqdas, but
> it is commonly referred to by its Persian title, Kitab- i-Aqdas, which was
> given the work by Bahá'u'lláh himself. It is sometimes called "the Aqdas," "the
> Most Holy Book," "the Book of Laws," and occasionally "the Book of Aqdas." It
> is also referred to as "the Mother-Book" of the Bahá'í Revelation (GPB 325,
> 411). This article covers the history of the work and its contents in general.
> Detailed discussions of particular subjects covered in the Aqdas will be found
> in the respective subject articles (see the cross- references in this
> article).
> 
> 1. Circumstances of composition: The Aqdas is usually stated to have been
> revealed in the House of `Udi Khammar, Akka, in about 1873 (GPB 213), a date
> confirmed by its reference to the fall of Napoleon III. There is some evidence,
> however, that part at least of the book may have been written even earlier. In
> the tablet called Ishraqat (q.v.), a verse of the Aqdas is stated to have been
> revealed "upon Our arrival in the Prison City" (TB 128, dar awwal-i
> vurud-i-sijn), which would imply a date perhaps as early as 1868. In another
> tablet, Bahá'u'lláh states that after completing the Aqdas, he kept it back for
> some years before releasing a copy (AVK 1:10). Since we know that copies of the
> Aqdas reached Iran in 1290/1873-74 (AVK 1:11), this would again point to a date
> a few years before 1873 for its revelation. Thus although the completion of the
> Aqdas may have occurred in 1873, it seems clear that it was being revealed for
> several years prior to this (Ekbal).
> 
> 2. Style: The Aqdas is written in a lofty and austere Arabic with little
> rhetorical ornamentation, a style somewhat similar to that of the Qur'an. As is
> usual in Bahá'u'lláh's Arabic, there are some deviations from Arabic norms
> reflecting Persian usage. There are occasional grammatical innovations but many
> fewer than in the Arabic writings of the Bab. Discussions of particular
> subjects are generally succinct, important laws often being given in a sentence
> or two. The book as a whole is quite short: the full English translation
> occupies seventy pages.
> 
> 3. Contents: Although the Kitab-i-Aqdas is often referred to as Bahá'u'lláh's
> book of laws, this is misleading, especially to a reader unfamiliar with
> Islamic law and the Qur'an. First, much of the content deals with other
> matters--notably ethical exhortations and addresses to various individuals,
> groups, and places. Second, it is not a systematic legal treatise. Subjects are
> dealt with seemingly at random. While a few subjects are dealt with in detail,
> notably inheritance and marriage, other topics of comparable importance are
> treated only briefly, and Bahá'u'lláh's statements about them are scarcely
> comprehensible without reference to Islamic and Babi law and to other works of
> Bahá'u'lláh. Third, the Aqdas contains religious law in the Islamic sense. Much
> attention is given to matters that might not be considered law at all, such as
> obligatory prayer and fasting, while other topics, such as contract law,
> central to secular legal systems, are not mentioned at all. Finally, many of
> the specific legal statements are simply abrogations of particular Islamic and
> Babi laws and customs. Thus, the Aqdas is less like a code of religious law
> than a constitution, with many laws stated succinctly in the text of the Aqdas
> and developing greatly and sometimes in unexpected ways in later Bahá'í
> literature and practice. In style and content the Aqdas is to be compared
> to the Qur'an, a work in which legislation is often alluded to rather than
> expounded and in which disparate topics are placed together without obvious
> logic. In the case of the Qur'an, this may be because it is pieced together
> from many distinct revelations, some very short. The Aqdas follows the
> stylistic conventions of the Qur'an, and thus is not bound to a rigid outline,
> but it may also have been shaped by similar factors. While there is no detailed
> description of the composition of the Aqdas, it is known to have been written
> over a period of time (see above), and Bahá'u'lláh alludes in the text to
> letters from believers asking about laws (KA 98:55-6). It seems possible that
> the text grew gradually from a nucleus of the initial section (KA 1-17:19-25),
> a self-contained text beginning with a general discussion of religious law and
> laying down the regulations of obligatory prayer and fasting, two laws which
> Bahá'u'lláh links in his writing and on which he places special emphasis.
> According to this theory, Bahá'u'lláh would gradually have added material,
> probably often in answer to specific questions asked by believers. It is
> difficult otherwise to explain why the law of marriage and divorce should be
> followed by a prohibition of slave trading, a condemnation of strife and
> murder, and a clarification of the laws of ritual purity (KA 72:45ff). It is
> difficult likewise to explain why particular Babi and Islamic laws, some rather
> obscure, should have been chosen for specific abrogation except on the
> assumption that Bahá'u'lláh was asked about them. The laws of the Aqdas
> somewhat resemble those of Islam and the Bab, but the personal laws are
> considerably less rigorous than either. The Aqdas tends to replace specific
> ordinances with general spiritual and moral principles. Except in certain
> specific areas--notably prayer, fasting, marriage, and inheritance--much of the
> legislation of the Aqdas relates to the community as a whole or is of a
> relatively general character, while many of the more specific ordinances either
> abrogate older laws or prohibit specific offensive practices.
> 
> Subjects
> discussed in the Aqdas may be categorized under the following headings:
> 
> The
> station of religious law: The Aqdas begins with a proclamation of the
> inseparable duties of recognizing the Manifestation of God (q.v.) for the age
> and obedience to his laws. Bahá'u'lláh mentions related topics often in the
> Aqdas, notably in a passage on liberty and obedience to divine law (KA
> 122-25:63-4).
> 
> Establishment of Bahá'í administrative institutions: Almost all the major
> Bahá'í administrative institutions are at least foreshadowed in the Aqdas.
> Bahá'u'lláh indicates in the Aqdas that he would appoint one of his sons as his
> successor and his interpreter (KA 121:63, 174:82; see "Covenant"). The
> guardianship (q.v.) is foreshadowed in the role given to his descendants in the
> administration of charitable endowments (KA 42:34-5). He instructs the Bahá'ís
> to establish a House of Justice in each city where there are at least nine
> believers (KA 30:29). Bahá'u'lláh seems to refer to a House of Justice that is
> the supreme authority over the Bahá'í community (KA 42:34-5), an institution
> explicitly referred to in a later text (KA 91). The Huququ'llah (q.v.), the
> religious tax that is a major source of the revenue of the Universal House of
> Justice, is also established in the Aqdas (KA 97:55); its details are found in
> Questions and Answers. The Nineteen Day Feast (q.v), which in modern Bahá'í
> communities is the most important community gathering, is also a development of
> a practice mentioned briefly in the Aqdas (KA 57:40).
> 
> Bahá'í religious practices: The major Bahá'í religious practices are
> enjoined in the Aqdas. Obligatory prayer (q.v., salat) and fasting (q.v.) are
> commanded in the Aqdas. Although the Aqdas does not contain the texts of the
> obligatory prayers, it does contain many regulations relating to them, such as
> specifying those on whom they are binding and the conditions of ritual purity
> (q.v.). Other practices such as pilgrimage (q.v., hajj), communal morning
> prayers (mashriqu'l-adhkar, q.v.), funeral laws (q.v.), and the religious
> calendar (q.v.) are also commanded in the Aqdas with more or less detail.
> Several Bahá'í holy days are established or endorsed.
> 
> Laws of personal status: The Aqdas deals in detail with marriage (q.v.),
> divorce (q.v.), and inheritance (q.v.). These are matters that in Islamic
> countries fell under the authority of religious rather than civil law. In each
> of these areas, Bahá'u'lláh's laws are modifications of those of the Bayan
> (q.v.).
> 
> Criminal law: Punishments for the crimes of murder, manslaughter, arson,
> theft, and adultery are specified (see Crime and Punishment.3").
> 
> Miscellaneous laws and abrogations: Many of the laws in the Aqdas repeal
> Islamic, Babi, and occasionally Christian laws and customs--for example, the
> Aqdas prohibits muttering prayers in the streets, using the public pools in
> Iranian baths, destroying books, and kissing hands as a sign of respect. While
> many of these topics may seem incongruous to a modern western reader, they
> undoubtedly represent practices offensive to Bahá'u'lláh or are responses to
> questions that had been raised by Bahá'ís.
> 
> Ethical exhortations: Except for certain areas such as obligatory prayer,
> Bahá'u'lláh clearly prefers general ethical principles to specific
> regulation--in contrast to the Islamic law of his day, which included precise
> rules for every aspect of life. Thus there are many passages in the Aqdas
> urging virtues such as truthfulness, courteousness, tact, perseverance, and the
> like (see "Ethical Teachings"). Sometimes, abrogations of specific laws are
> accompanied by exhortations to virtuous behavior--thus replacing a specific
> religious law with an ethical principle. For example, the Islamic prohibition
> on listening to music is abolished and the question of music is brought under
> the general principle of moderation and temperance.
> 
> Social principles: Some social principles are given in the Aqdas-- the
> command to show friendship to those who believe in other religions, the stress
> on the education of children, and the command to have a useful occupation and
> to study useful arts and sciences. Further social and political principles can
> be inferred from the addresses to kings and rulers and perhaps from the details
> of laws such as those of marriage, education, and the division of
> inheritance.
> 
> Addresses to individuals, groups, and places: The Aqdas was written at about
> the same time as Bahá'u'lláh's tablets to kings and rulers and contains
> passages addressed to humanity, kings, parliamentarians, and ecclesiastics in
> general. It also contains passages addressed to the Kaiser of Germany, the
> Emperor of Austria, and the leaders of the American republics. It addresses the
> Azali Babis and Bahá'u'lláh's brother Azal (q.v.) in particular. It
> apostrophizes several places, including Constantinople, Tehran, Germany,
> Khurasan, and Kirman. A number of other individuals are also alluded to in
> various passages.
> 
> Prophecies: Prophecies are made in the book that Istanbul will fall; that
> the "Banks of the Rhine" will be "covered with gore, inasmuch as the swords of
> retribution were drawn against you"; that this will occur twice and the
> "lamentations of Berlin" will be heard; and that Tehran will be blessed with
> "one who will rule with justice."
> 
> 4. Related works: The laws of the Aqdas are supplemented by the Questions and
> Answers, which consists of 107 questions submitted to Bahá'u'lláh by
> Zaynu'l-Muqarrabin (q.v.) concerning the application of the laws of the Aqdas
> and Bahá'u'lláh's replies to those questions. The social principles of the
> Aqdas are amplified by a series of major tablets revealed in Akka (collected as
> Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh). A great many tablets of Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l- Baha
> and letters of Shoghi Effendi clarify and supplement specific points in the
> Aqdas.
> 
> 5. Significance and influence: The Aqdas is the most important Bahá'í book and
> the basis for almost every distinctive feature of the Bahá'í community.
> Bahá'u'lláh himself refers to it as the "source of true felicity," the
> "Unerring Balance," the "Straight Path," and the "quickener of mankind" (GPB
> 215). Evidently, many Bahá'ís were anxious to implement the laws of the
> Aqdas, for in several tablets dated soon after its release, Bahá'u'lláh
> cautioned against doing so unwisely. In the West the Aqdas appeared in a
> manuscript translation by Anton Haddad in about 1900 and seems to have been an
> important source of early American Bahá'í administrative practice and
> understanding of Bahá'í teaching, especially before contact with `Abdu'l-Bahá
> became routine (Stockman, Bahá'í Faith in America, vol. 2, forthcoming).
> The question of the degree to which the laws of the Aqdas are currently binding
> on Bahá'ís is discussed under "Law, Bahá'í."
> 
> 6. Manuscripts, editions, translations, and related texts: Bahá'u'lláh,
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, and the Universal House of Justice each
> discouraged indiscriminate circulation of the Aqdas. Thus, apart from two early
> editions printed in India, the Aqdas has never been published by the Bahá'í
> community in Arabic and only recently has it become available in full
> translation in English. Translations into other languages are presently being
> undertaken.
> 
> Manuscripts: When `Abdu'l-Bahá was asked which manuscript of the Aqdas
> should be regarded as authoritative, he stated that the accurate text of the
> book is the one transcribed by Zaynu'l- Muqarrabin (q.v., AVK 1:11). A
> manuscript of the Aqdas in the hand of `Abdu'l-Bahá also exists (see
> frontispiece of RB3). Less authoritative manuscripts of the Aqdas are common.
> 
> Arabic editions: The Kitab-i-Aqdas was first published in Bombay in
> 1308/1891 on the instructions of Bahá'u'lláh. Since then there have been
> several other editions (Bombay, Cairo, Tehran: n.p., n.d., 187 pp.);
> Aqdas-i-Buzurg (Bombay: n.p., 1314/1896), containing several other important
> Arabic tablets. Non-Bahá'í editions include: Kitab-i-Aqdas, ed. Kh. A. Enayat
> (1st ed.; Baghdad: Maktabatu'l-Amrikaniyyah, 1349/1931); "Al-Aqdas," in
> `Abdu'r-Razzaq al-Hasani, Al-Babiyun wa'l-Bahá'íyun (Sidon, 1957, pp. 150-72).
> The legal passages are collected with supplementary material from Questions
> and Answers and other tablets in Ishraq-Khavari, Ganjiniy-i-Hudud va Ahkam.
> The messages to kings and rulers may be found in Alvah-i-Nazilih Khitab
> bi-Muluk va-Ru'asay-i-Ard (Athar Qalam A`la). Several pages of one manuscript
> are reproduced in Miller, The Bahá'í Faith.
> 
> Partial and non-Bahá'í Translations: Shoghi Effendi translated most of the
> passages of general interest, comprising perhaps a third of the whole in works
> such as Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh and Promised Day is Come
> (see SCK 11-28). A number of short passages were later translated under the
> auspices of the Universal House of Justice. Anton Haddad's translation was
> never published though it enjoyed considerable circulation in typescript in the
> early American community and is still occasionally found. Non- Bahá'í
> translations include Earl E. Elder and William McE. Miller, Al-Kitab al-Aqdas
> or the Most Holy Book (London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1961), 74 pp., reprinted
> in Miller, The Bahá'í Faith, and a Russian translation by Alexander Tumanski,
> Kitabe Akdes (Zapiski Imperatorskoy Academii Nauk S. Peterburg [Mmoires de
> L'Acadmie Impriale des Sciences de St Petersbourg] 8th ser., Vol. 3, No. 6,
> 1899) prepared with the help of Mirza Abu'l-Fadl Gulpaygani (q.v.).
> 
> Full authorized English translation: In 1986 the Universal House of Justice
> made the publication of a full annotated translation of the Kitab-i-Aqdas a
> goal of the Six Year Plan (see "Plans"). A task force was established at the
> Bahá'í World Centre to undertake the project. The lead translator was Mark
> Hellaby, a British Arabist employed at the World Centre. The appearance of the
> translation in March 1993 was a major event in the Bahá'í world. Copies were
> sent to many non-Bahá'í intellectuals in order to elicit reviews. The
> translation was the most sophisticated edition of a piece of Bahá'í scripture
> produced up to that time. The full translations of Kitab-i-Aqdas and Questions
> and Answers occupied less than half the volume. The remaining contents included
> an introduction to the text by the Universal House of Justice, several shorter
> supplementary texts, the outline synopsis first published by the Universal
> House of Justice in 1973, extensive explanatory notes to the various texts, a
> glossary, and an analytical index. The text employed a system of paragraph
> numbering intended to facilitate reference to the text independent of language
> and edition.
> 
> Related Works: As a preliminary to a full annotated translation of the
> Aqdas, Shoghi Effendi had begun work on a synopsis and codification of the laws
> of the Aqdas. On the basis of his outline and preliminary notes, the House of
> Justice completed the work and published it as A Synopsis and Codification of
> the Laws and Ordinances of the Kitab-i-Aqdas in 1973 in fulfillment of a goal
> of the Nine Year Plan (see "Plans"). This work contains all the passages
> translated by Shoghi Effendi, a detailed outline of the contents of the Aqdas
> and Questions and Answers, and explanatory notes. It is now incorporated into
> the authorized translation of the Aqdas.
> 
> Bibliography
> 
> For detailed summaries of the contents of the Aqdas see GPB
> 213-16, SCKA (both reprinted in KA 12-16, 141-64), and RB 3, chap. 13-17.
> Kamran Ekbal, "Kitab-i-Aqdas: redating its beginning," unpublished paper. An
> excellent account of the place of the Kitab-i-Aqdas in the writings and thought
> of Bahá'u'lláh is "Kitab-i-Aqdas: Its Place in Bahá'í literature," Bahá'í World
> Centre Publications, reprinted in The American Bahá'í, Kamal 150/1 August 1993,
> pp. 12-13. Other works include: Badi`u'llah Farid, Maqalih dar
> Mu`arifiy-i-Kitab-i-Aqdas, 2nd ed. Wilmette, Ill.: Persian American Affairs
> Office, National Spiritual Assembly of United States, 1993.
> 
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> — *Kitab-i Aqdas, the Most Holy Book (Used by permission of the curator)*