Compiled and Photography

by Dr. Gregory T. Lawton

The Bahá’í Faith on Health, Healing, and Death

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Introduction

This booklet, The Bahá’í Faith on Health, Healing, and Death, constitutes a brief introduction to the Bahá’í writings on health, healing, and death. This booklet has been prepared for individual Bahá’ís, for use in their personal prayer and meditation related to health, healing, and death, as well as, for health and pastoral care professionals who may be ministering to the needs of Bahá’ís in a medical, psychological, or other professional setting.

Whatever its use this booklet has been created in the hope that it will uplift the hearts and spirits of those suffering from health care problems or grief related the loss of a loved one.

The writings that appear in this booklet are a very small selection of the Bahá’í writings on topics related to health, healing and death and have been taken directly from the holy writings of Bahá'u'lláh and the writings and guidance of `Abdu'l-Bahá.

Dr. Gregory T. Lawton July 2012

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Resort ye, in times of sickness, to competent physicians; We have not set aside the use of material means, rather have We confirmed it through this Pen, which God hath made to be the Dawning-place of His shining and glorious Cause.

Bahá'u'lláh - The Kitáb-i-Aqdas

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Guidance and Admonitions on Health and Healing From the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh

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Whatever competent physicians or surgeons prescribe for a patient should be accepted and complied with, provided that they are adorned with the ornament of justice. If they were to be endued with divine understanding, that would certainly be preferable and more desirable.

Bahá'u'lláh, from a Tablet - Translated from the Persian

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Well is it with the physician who cureth ailments in My hallowed and dearly-cherished Name.

Bahá'u'lláh, from a Tablet - Translated from the Arabic

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O Befriended Stranger! The candle of thine heart is lighted by the hand of My power, quench it not with the contrary winds of self and passion. The healer of all thine ills is remembrance of Me, forget it not. Make My love thy treasure and cherish it even as thy very sight and life.

Bahá'u'lláh - The Hidden Words of Bahá'u'lláh

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Guidance and Admonitions on Health and Healing

From the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá

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One must obey the command of God and submit to medical opinion. Thou hast undertaken this journey to comply with His command and not for the sake of healing, since healing is in the hand of God, not in the hand of doctors.

'Abdu'l-Bahá, from a Tablet - Translated from the Persian

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God is the great compassionate Physician who alone has the power to give true healing.

`Abdu'l-Bahá - Paris Talks

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There is nothing greater or more blessed than the Love of God! It gives healing to the sick, balm to the wounded, joy and consolation to the whole world, and through it alone can man attain Life Everlasting.

Abdu'l-Baha - Paris Talks

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Bahá’í Prayers for Healing and for the Departed

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Baha’i Prayer for Healing

Thy name is my healing, O my God, and remembrance of Thee is my remedy. Nearness to Thee is my hope, and love for Thee is my companion. Thy mercy to me is my healing and my succor in both this world and the world to come. Thou, verily, art the All-Bountiful, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Bahá'u'lláh

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Baha’i Prayer for Healing

Praised be Thou, O Lord my God! I implore Thee, by Thy Most Great Name through Which Thou didst stir up Thy servants and build up Thy cities, and by Thy most excellent titles, and Thy most august attributes, to assist Thy people to turn in the direction of Thy manifold bounties, and set their faces towards the Tabernacle of Thy wisdom. Heal Thou the sicknesses that have assailed the souls on every side, and have deterred them from directing their gaze towards the Paradise that lieth in the shelter of Thy shadowing Name, which Thou didst ordain to be the King of all names unto all who are in heaven and all who are on earth. Potent art Thou to do as pleaseth Thee. In Thy hands is the empire of all names. There is none other God but Thee, the Mighty, the Wise.

I am but a poor creature, O my Lord; I have clung to the hem of Thy riches. I am sore sick; I have held fast the cord of Thy healing. Deliver me from the ills that have encircled me, and wash me thoroughly with the waters of Thy graciousness and mercy, and attire me with the raiment of wholesomeness, through Thy forgiveness and bounty. Fix, then, mine eyes upon Thee, and rid me of all attachment to aught else except Thyself. Aid me to do what Thou desirest, and to fulfill what Thou pleasest.

Thou art truly the Lord of this life and of the next. Thou art, in truth, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.

Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah

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Baha’i Prayer for Healing

Glory be to Thee, O Lord my God! I beg of Thee by Thy Name through which He Who is Thy Beauty hath been stablished upon the throne of Thy Cause, and by Thy Name through which Thou changest all things, and gatherest together all things, and callest to account all things, and rewardest all things, and preservest all things, and sustainest all things - I beg of Thee to guard this handmaiden who hath fled for refuge to Thee, and hath sought the shelter of Him in Whom Thou Thyself art manifest, and hath put her whole trust and confidence in Thee.

She is sick, O my God, and hath entered beneath the shadow of the Tree of Thy healing; afflicted, and hath fled to the City of Thy protection; diseased, and hath sought the Fountainhead of Thy favors; sorely vexed, and hath hasted to attain the Wellspring of Thy tranquility; burdened with sin, and hath set her face toward the court of Thy forgiveness.

Attire her, by Thy sovereignty and Thy loving-kindness, O my God and my Beloved, with the raiment of Thy balm and Thy healing, and make her quaff of the cup of Thy mercy and Thy favors. Protect her, moreover, from every affliction and ailment, from all pain and sickness, and from whatsoever may be abhorrent unto Thee.

Thou, in truth, art immensely exalted above all else except Thyself. Thou art, verily, the Healer, the All-Sufficing, the Preserver, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.

Bahá'u'lláh - Compilations, Baha'i Prayers

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Baha’i Prayer for Healing

O kind Father! Confer Thy blessings. Consider not our shortcomings. Shelter us under Thy protection. Remember not our sins. Heal us with Thy mercy. We are sick; Thou art mighty. We are poor; Thou art rich. We are sick; Thou art the Physician. We are needy; Thou art most generous.

O God! Endow us with Thy providence. Thou art the Powerful. Thou art the Giver. Thou art the Beneficent.

'Abdu'l-Bahá - Compilations, Baha'i Prayers

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Baha’i Prayer for the Departed

O my God! O Thou forgiver of sins, bestower of gifts, dispeller of afflictions! Verily, I beseech Thee to forgive the sins of such as have abandoned the physical garment and have ascended to the spiritual world. O my Lord! Purify them from trespasses, dispel their sorrows, and change their darkness into light. Cause them to enter the garden of happiness, cleanse them with the most pure water, and grant them to behold Thy splendors on the loftiest mount.

'Abdu'l-Bahá – Compilations, Baha’i Prayers

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Baha’i Prayer for the Departed

O my God, O Forgiver of sins and Dispeller of afflictions! O Thou Who art pardoning and merciful! I raise my suppliant hands to Thee, tearfully beseeching the court of Thy divine Essence to forgive, through Thy mercy and pardon, Thy handmaiden who hath ascended unto the seat of truth. Cause her, O Lord, to be overshadowed by the clouds of Thy bounty and favor, immerse her in the ocean of Thy forgiveness and clemency, and enable her to enter the sanctified abode, Thy heavenly Paradise.

Thou art, verily, the Mighty, the Compassionate, the Generous, the Merciful.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá - Compilations, Baha'i Prayers

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As Ye Have Faith…

I say unto you that anyone who will rise up in the Cause of God at this time shall be filled with the spirit of God, and that He will send His hosts from heaven to help you, and that nothing shall be impossible to you if you have faith. And now I give you a commandment which shall be for a Covenant between you and me: that ye have faith; that your faith be steadfast as a rock that no storms can move, that nothing can disturb, and that it endure through all things even to the end; even should ye hear that your Lord has been crucified, be not shaken in your faith; for I am with you always, whether living or dead; I am with you to the end. As ye have faith so shall your powers and blessings be. This is the standard, this is the standard, this is the standard.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá - Compilations, Baha'i Scriptures

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The Bahá’í Faith on Health, Healing, and Death

Copyright 2012 Dr. Gregory T. Lawton

gtlawton@aol.com