Laws and Teachings of Baha’u’llah

A most important aspect of every religion is the laws that the Manifestation brings to humanity in order to guide it in the right path. Some of these laws and commandments are eternal, others change as humanity progresses and evolves. In the Baha’i Faith we are taught that we should not think of Baha’i laws as a series of do’s and don’ts.

Bahá’u’lláh tells us that His laws are “the lamps of My loving providence among My servants, and the keys of My mercy for My creatures.” Nor should we obey these laws out of fear of punishment, for He clearly has stated in His Most Holy Book: “Observe My commandments, for the love of My beauty.”

Baha’u’llah’s teaching on prayer is an example of these ideas about Baha’i laws. In the physical world, human beings have to eat every day. This is a requirement of the human body; if we don’t, we will get sick and quickly die. We can say, then, that eating daily is a law of physical existence which has to be obeyed.

In the same way one of the commandments of Bahá’u’lláh is that we should pray every day. Like our body, our soul needs constant nourishment, and prayer provides the nourishment for our spiritual growth. There are many beautiful prayers revealed by the Báb, by Bahá’u’lláh and by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá which we can say when we are alone or recite in meetings. Some of these prayers are special, and some are bligatory. One obligatory prayer is recited by Bahá’ís every day sometime between noon and sunset. It says:

“I bear witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to worship Thee. I testify, at this moment, to my powerlessness and to Thy might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth. There is none other God but Thee, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.”

In another commandment, Bahá’u’lláh prohibits backbiting and calumny. This is important because, if you think about it, one of the greatest enemies of unity is backbiting. And unfortunately, it has become an established practice among most of humanity to talk about other people’s faults in their absence. Everybody seems to be concerned with everybody else’s shortcomings, which are made bigger and bigger as they are constantly mentioned. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells us to do just the opposite. If we see ten good qualities in someone and one fault, we should concentrate on the ten, and even if a person has ten faults and only one good quality we should focus on that one quality.

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