The Baha'i Studies Listserv On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 1:50 PM, Susan Maneck <[email protected]> wrote:
> Dear Ahang, > > I think it is implicit in following passage from the Aqdas: > > > It hath been laid down in the Bayan that marriage > is dependent upon the consent of both parties. Desiring > to establish love, unity and harmony amidst Our > servants, We have conditioned it, once the couple's > wish is known, upon the permission of their parents, > lest enmity and rancour should arise amongst them. > And in this We have yet other purposes. Thus hath > Our commandment been ordained. > > (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 42) > > That seems to imply to me that parents aren't supposed to be involved > until the couple has announced they wish to get married. > I'm sorry Susan, but I just don't see this passage suggesting any kind of prohibition, or even limitation, on parents in arranging the union of their children. In fact, Baha'u'llah himself arranged for the marriage of his children and very much picked spouses for them, as you well know. Abdu'l-Baha did the same thing and picked spouses for his daughters. Of course, none of this is to say that the Baha'i Faith promotes arranged marriage, which it doesn't. But I also don't know of any limitations on what parents can or can't do in this regard. All that the above passage says is that once the couple announce their consent, it is followed with the announcement of the parental consents. Are there other passage on this issue? Did either Abdu'l-Baha or Shoghi Effendi ever suggest that arranged marriage is prohibited or discouraged? Thanks, Ahang. __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[email protected] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
