June 20. On this date in 1978, the Universal House of Justice wrote "The law of Bahá'u'lláh prescribes the death penalty for murder and arson, with the alternative of life imprisonment."

 

June 20. On this date in 1978, the Universal House of Justice wrote "The law of Bahá'u'lláh prescribes the death penalty for murder and arson, with the alternative of life imprisonment. This, however, is a law designed for a future state of society, and the various details of the law, such as degrees of offence, etc. have been left for the Universal House of Justice to decide upon when the time comes. You can say, therefore, that in principle the Baha’i Faith accepts the correctness of capital punishment for murder, but the details of the Bahá'í law on such matters have not been specified as this is not a matter of practical importance to Bahá'í communities at the present time. Whether capital punishment should be applied specifically in cases of terrorism when murder is not involved is also a matter for future legislation 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 authoritieswished to shield Western believers from its contents, as they do from Bahá'u'lláh's other works by not providing translations.

The law of Bahá'u'lláh prescribes the death penalty for murder and arson, with the alternative of life imprisonment. This, however, is a law designed for a future state of society, and the various details of the law, such as degrees of offence, etc. have been left for the Universal House of Justice to decide upon when the time comes. You can say, therefore, that in principle the Baha’i Faith accepts the correctness of capital punishment for murder, but the details of the Bahá'í law on such matters have not been specified as this is not a matter of practical importance to Bahá'í communities at the present time. Whether capital punishment should be applied specifically in cases of terrorism when murder is not involved is also a matter for future legislation by the Universal House of Justice.

(From a letter dated 20 June 1978 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to a Local Spiritual Assembly)