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| Key scripture | |
| Kitáb-i-Aqdas · Kitáb-i-Íqán |
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| Institutions | |
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Administrative Order |
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| History | |
| Notable individuals | |
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Shoghi Effendi |
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Symbols · Laws |
Bahá'í marriage is union of a man and a woman. Its purpose is mainly spiritual and is to foster harmony, fellowship and unity between the two partners. The Bahá'í teachings on marriage call it a fortress for well-being and salvation and place marriage and the family as the foundation of the structure of human society.
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The Bahá'í teachings on marriage see it as an eternal bond that survives past the lives of the partners in the physical life, and into the spiritual worlds. Thus the teachings stress that during courting the partners must take the utmost care to become acquainted with each other's character. Furthermore, the husband and wife should be united not only physically, but also spiritually, so that they can improve the spiritual life of each other, and that they can spiritually advance towards God.
For the two partners to become engaged they must obtain consent of all living biological parents. Before getting married, the parents cannot interfere with the selection of the person their child wants to get married to, but to be engaged all living parents must give approval of the marriage. The purpose of this law is to foster unity between the two families, since the Bahá'í teachings see marriage and the family as the foundation of the structure and society, and having disunity between two families is not conducive to that. The consent of all parents is needed even if one of the partners is not a Bahá'í.
Bahá'ís see this aspect of Bahá'í marriage as combining marriages practices from the East and West; in the East arranged marriage is common, and in the west marriages sometimes go forward with no input from the parents. The Bahá'í marriage gives full freedom of the individuals to select their partner, but places certain gratitude and respect to the parents.
From the time that the consent of all parents is obtained to the time of the marriage ceremony should not exceed 95 days. The 95-day period of engagement is currently applicable only to Persian believers. [2]
The Bahá'í marriage ceremony is done differently in each culture. The only compulsory part of the wedding is the reading of the wedding vows prescribed by Bahá'u'lláh which both the groom and the bride read,
in the presence of two witnesses.
Most Bahá'í marriage ceremonies consist of the reading of Bahá'í writings, prayers and music followed by a talk about the spiritual nature of Bahá'í marriage, and then the reading of the vows.
There are a number of laws that concern Bahá'í marriage
Following the natural and appropriate extension of the union of marriage, children, whether adopted or biological, should be raised in this same spiritual atmosphere. Formal duties exist between parents and children (of education and obedience, training and respect.) Second to discovering God for oneself is respect for one's parents. Reversing the degradation of women and children is a subject of much attention in the Bahá'í Faith.