Notes to Aqdas, Sentence #158

Notes from the Authorized Translation

100. Should resentment or antipathy arise between husband and wife, he is not to divorce her but to bide in patience throughout the course of one whole year # 68
Divorce is strongly condemned in the Baha'i Teachings. If, however, antipathy or resentment develop between the marriage partners, divorce is permissible after the lapse of one full year. During this year of patience, the husband is obliged to provide for the financial support of his wife and children, and the couple is urged to strive to reconcile their differences. Shoghi Effendi affirms that both the husband and wife "have equal right to ask for divorce" whenever either partner "feels it absolutely essential to do so".

In Questions and Answers, Baha'u'llah elaborates a number of issues concerning the year of patience, its observance (Q and A 12), establishing the date of its beginning (Q and A 19 and 40), the conditions for reconciliation (Q and A 38), and the role of witnesses and the Local House of Justice (Q and A 73 and 98). In relation to the witnesses, the Universal House of Justice has clarified that in these days the duties of the witnesses in cases of divorce are performed by the Spiritual Assemblies.

The detailed provisions of the Baha'i laws on divorce are summarized in the Synopsis and Codification, section IV.C.2.a.-i.

Earl Elder's Notes

2. As in Islam, Baha'u'llah confines the right to give the divorce to the husband. The wife cannot divorce her husband.

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