There are a number of Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá addressed to Bahá’ís who had husbands who did not accept the Faith, and in them He encourages the Bahá’í to be patient and understanding and to increase her love and consideration for the husband. This does not mean, of course, that the Bahá’í should in any way renounce her faith, but it may mean a modification of the amount or nature of her Bahá’í activities to ensure that family responsibilities are fully attended to. Quite often a non-Bahá’í husband, although not accepting the Faith, has sufficient affection for his wife and respect for the Faith to assume extra responsibilities in the home so that his wife will have more time for her Bahá’í activities, but she should not insist that he do this, and should always bear in mind that fostering the unity of her family is in itself a Bahá’í duty. The same principles, of course, apply to a husband whose wife is not a Bahá’í.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 25 January 1979 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly; compilation: ‘To Set the World in Order: Building and Preserving Strong Marriages’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, August 2023)
