Your desire to obtain a greater understanding of the laws of Bahá’u’lláh is warmly acknowledged. Concerning your question, the Bahá’í law stipulates burial. The instructions of Bahá’u’lláh in His Most Holy Book make this law clear, and Shoghi Effendi, in a letter written on his behalf to an individual believer in 1955, comments that ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá “... also explained that burial is natural and should be followed.”
With regard to the hesitations you have experienced because of the Bahá’í teachings on burial, it is to be expected that when one begins to learn about the Faith, one encounters aspects of the teachings that differ from one’s beliefs. Naturally, the customs and views of people worldwide vary greatly with regard to issues such as burial practices. Yet, in coming to understand that Bahá’u’lláh is the Manifestation of God for this Day, that His Revelation reflects God’s will for humanity, and that His teachings are intended to unite the peoples of the world in one common Faith, one can, over time, come to see the wisdom of His teachings and appreciate the importance of adopting them, confident that “The All‑Knowing Physician hath His finger on the pulse of mankind” and recognizing that “No man, however acute his perception, can ever hope to reach the heights which the wisdom and understanding of the Divine Physician have attained.”
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 29 June 2018 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual; compilation: ‘Baha’i Burial and Related Laws’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, 2020)
