The Universal House of Justice has
received your letter of 1 December 1993 in which you explain that complications
arising from a chronic heart condition have left you in a weakened state, and
request a definition of "ill health" as it relates to the exemption
from obligatory prayers and fasting under these circumstances. We have been
asked to respond.
The following excerpt from a letter dated 14 April 1947 written on behalf of
the Guardian provides instruction for determining whether one should
participate in the Fast:
As to your question regarding the Fast: if there is
any doubt in the mind of a person as to whether it will really be bad for that
person's health to keep it, the best doctor's advice should be obtained.
Insofar as the exemption from the saying of obligatory prayers is concerned,
this is left to the conscience of the individual. (From a letter dated 9
January 1994 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an
individual believer; compilation ‘Exemption
from Obligatory Prayer’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal
House of Justice)
