“Shave not your heads; God hath adorned them with hair, and in this there are signs from the Lord of creation to those who reflect upon the requirements of nature. He, verily, is the God of strength and wisdom. Notwithstanding, it is not seemly to let the hair pass beyond the limit of the ears. Thus hath it been decreed by Him Who is the Lord of all worlds.”(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
In some religious traditions it is considered desirable to
shave one’s head. The shaving of the head is forbidden by Bahá’u’lláh, and He
makes it clear that the provision contained in His Súriy-i-Hájj [Tablet of Pilgrimage]
requiring pilgrims to the Holy House in Shíráz to shave their heads has been
superseded through this verse of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (Q and A 10).
Shoghi Effendi has made clear that, unlike the prohibition
on shaving the head, this law forbidding the growing of the hair beyond the
lobe of the ear pertains only to men. The application of this law will require
clarification by the Universal House of Justice.
- The Universal House of
Justice (The Notes section of the Kitab-i-Aqdas)
