Isn't showering a subcategory of bathing? And if you can figure out a way to
take a shower _without_ the water covering your body, while still getting
clean, let me know...
Baha'u'llah said: "bathe yourselves each week in water that covereth your bodies." I understand where you're coming from, but bear in mind that you are arguing for a different understanding of the word "covereth" here, and while I suppose this could be applied to a shower, this is not the most likely meaning unless context supports it. Now, what of the context? Just after it says, "Immerse yourselves in clean water." "Immerse" and "immersion," while they don't have to, generally mean, in relation to water, that you are actually in the water. Given that what follows refers to Persian baths and pools, there seems no reason to doubt this interpretation. Furthermore, your answer seems to be contradictory to the text, as the last part of the paragraph, which I might note only applies to dirty water, not at all to the clean water most of us can get from the shower, gives an alternative to what comes before. The question then is: does the "covereth your bodies" part apply just to the bulk of the paragraph, without meaning to apply to the option of pouring water over oneself, or does it include that part? I have reread the passage, but can't find any good reason to assume that it doesn't merely apply to the proper immersion in pools and baths which it then mentions. It certainly doesn't have to. After the part which begins by saying that the water should cover our bodies, it says, "If the bather, instead of entering the water, wash himself by pouring it upon his body..." The words "entering the water" show that it was referring to proper immersion, not showering, and it now refers to pouring the water upon the body. It doesn't say that this qualifies as covering our bodies with water, and having water upon one's body hardly sounds like being "in water that covereth your bodies." In order for your interpretation to work we have to assume Baha'u'llah was not working from present day conditions in Iran, which involved bathing as He then says. He was talking about Persian baths. The "showering" allowed for in the passage is talking about dirty water, so I don't see present day showering in the text. Also, the passage at the end shows quite well that "covereth your bodies" meant bodily immersion, as it says, "If the bather, instead of entering the water, wash himself by pouring it upon his body, it shall be better for him and shall absolve him of the need for bodily immersion." Evidently Baha'u'llah saw only bathing as involving bodily immersion and the body being covered by water.
Regards, David
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