September 1. On this date in 1975, the UHJ wrote to someone who was "particularly disturbed by the punishments prescribed for certain offences, presumably those for theft, murder and arson. As is explained in Note 42 on page 64 of the 'Synopsis and Codification of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas', these punishments are intended for a future condition of society and will have to be supplemented and applied by the Universal House of Justice ..."

 

September 1. On this date in 1975, the Universal House of Justice wrote to someone who was "particularly disturbed by the punishments prescribed for certain offences, presumably those for theft, murder and arson. As is explained in Note 42 on page 64 of the 'Synopsis and Codification of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas', these punishments are intended for a future condition of society and will have to be supplemented and applied by the Universal House of Justice ..."

In 1973 a "Synopsis and Codification" of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the central book of the Bahá'í Faith written by Bahá'u'lláh, was published in English by the Universal House of Justice, with 21 passages of the Aqdas that had already been translated into English by Shoghi Effendi with additional terse lists of laws and ordinances contained in the book outside of any contextual prose.

The Aqdas was only officially translated into English in 1992, by which time other translations, such as one by the Royal Asiatic Society, were becoming increasingly available through dissemination via the internet. My personal opinion is that the material in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas is so objectionable that the Bahá'í authorities wished to shield Western believers from its contents, as they do from Bahá'u'lláh's other works by not providing translations.

One of the purposes of divine Revelation is to educate human beings in the right way of living, so that they will know how they should behave and will refrain from criminal acts because the very thought of performing them would be horrifying. However, we are at the present time far from the attainment of this goal, and Baha'u'lláh has provided in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas those basic laws which He knows mankind will need during this Dispensation in order to establish the unity of mankind and upraise the standard of justice in the world. If you read Chapter 77 of "Some Answered Questions" you will see that 'Abdu'l-Bahá has developed this theme more fully.

Bahá'u'lláh warns mankind in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas itself not to forget that these are the laws of Him Who is the Most Merciful of the Merciful. It is God Who knows what mankind needs and we should never imagine that we can be more merciful than He.

You say that you were particularly disturbed by the punishments prescribed for certain offences, presumably those for theft, murder and arson. As is explained in Note 42 on page 64 of the "Synopsis and Codification of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas", these punishments are intended for a future condition of society and will have to be supplemented and applied by the Universal House of Justice. The punishment for theft, for example, says that for the third offence a mark must be placed on the thief's forehead (nothing is said about branding), so that people will be warned of his proclivities. All details of how the mark is to be applied, how long it must be worn, on what conditions it may be removed, as well as the seriousness of various degrees of theft have been left by Bahá'u'lláh for the Universal House of Justice to decide when the law has to be applied. Similarly, only the fundamental principles of the punishments for murder and arson are given in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Wilful murder is to be punished either by capital punishment or life imprisonment.

Such matters as degrees of offence and whether any extenuating circumstances are to be taken into account, and which of the two prescribed punishments is to be the norm are left to the Universal House of Justice to decide in the light of prevailing conditions when the law is in operation. Arson, as you yourself can see from the newspapers, is becoming an increasingly frequent offence — scarcely a day passes without some building being burned or blown up, often causing agonizing death to innocent people. Bahá'u'lláh prescribes that a person who burns a house intentionally is to be burned or imprisoned for life, but again, the application of these punishments and the fixing of degrees of offence are left to the Universal House of Justice. Obviously there is a tremendous difference in the degree of the offence of a person who burns down an empty warehouse from that of one who sets fire to a school full of children.

(From a letter dated 1 September 1975 written by the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)