November 29

…you wished to know whether there is an explanation for this law given in the Bahá’í Writings, so that you can explain it to non-Bahá’í relatives. The words of the law, as they appear in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, are: “It is forbidden you to transport the body of the deceased a greater distance than one hour’s journey from the city; rather should it be interred, with radiance and serenity, in a nearby place.” The Research Department has been unable to locate any passage in the Writings giving specific reasons for this law, but if one bears in mind Bahá’u’lláh’s purpose to unite mankind and to free it from many of the ritual observances and traditional practices which divide one people from another, one can perhaps obtain an understanding for the very simple and dignified burial laws that He has given us. In past centuries it has been a practice of various peoples to transport the bodies of the dead over long distances so that they could be buried either in the vicinity of a sacred place or in some other location of special significance for the deceased. The Bahá’í law abolishes such practices. It also emphasizes the unity of the world and recognizes the importance of the spirit as compared with the body. The body of the dead person is treated with reverence and dignity and, without undue delay, is consigned to the earth in a place near where the person dies. The soul, we know, continues to exist in a world that is exalted above the limitations of time and place.  

- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 23 November 1993 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; compilation: ‘Assembly Resource Compilation’, prepared by the NSA of Canada)