19 August 2003
Dear Baha'i Friend,
Your email letter of 17 August 2003 regarding tattoos has been received at the Baha'i World Centre and referred to our Department for response.
In reply to your enquiry, nothing at all has been found in the Holy Texts on the matter of tattooing. There is, of course, the following general counsel given by Baha'u'llah:
Let there be naught in your demeanour of which sound and upright
minds would disapprove, and make not yourselves the playthings of
the ignorant. Well is it with him who hath adorned himself with the
vesture of seemly conduct and a praiseworthy character.
(The Kitab-i-Aqdas, paragraph 159)Generally, what is appropriate in such matters will clearly vary from culture to culture.
With loving Baha'i greetings,
Department of the Secretariat
As one might expect, this letter doesn't try to lay down the law or make any fixed rules. Certainly tattooing can be quite standard in some cultures, and approved by all. I am a Westerner, and have always felt that getting tattooed would not be something Baha'u'llah would desire for me to do, and this particular passage, which mentions being made "the playthings of the ignorant," is what I've often thought of in this connection. I also think that some people would be less receptive to the Faith if the person telling them about it was tattooed. If I were a non-Baha'i I probably wouldn't take the Faith as seriously if the person telling me about it was tattooed. Also, most Westerners who get tattooed are doing it for reasons of ego. Put it this way: if the tattoo was invisible to everyone other than them, they wouldn't get it. They want others to see it so that they will think they are cool. Baha'i youth who take up smoking do so to fit in (a poor reason to take up smoking, IMO). Same thing with nose rings and tongue piercing. Furthermore, I know of Baha'is who have tattoos of the Greatest Name on parts of their body where the sun don't shine. Personally, I don't like heavily tattooed bodies, and wouldn't want to marry someone like that.
Regards,
David
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