Activities by age
Fifteen[edit]
- See Age of maturity
Eighteen[edit]
Age at which a believer may now vote in Bahá’í elections[edit]
"One of the most striking and inspiring features of this twenty-five-year period has been the service rendered by Bahá’í youth, who with faith and valour have assumed their rightful place in the forefront of the community’s efforts. As teachers of the Cause and educators of the young, as mobile tutors and homefront pioneers, as cluster coordinators and members of Bahá’í agencies, youth on five continents have arisen to serve their communities with devotion and sacrifice. The maturity they have demonstrated, in the discharge of duties upon which depends the advancement of the Divine Plan, is expressive of their spiritual vitality and their commitment to safeguarding humanity’s future. In recognition of this increasingly evident maturity, we have decided that, immediately following this Riḍván, while the age at which a believer becomes eligible to serve on a Spiritual Assembly shall remain twenty-one, the age at which a believer may vote in Bahá’í elections shall be lowered to eighteen. We have no doubt that Bahá’í youth everywhere who are of age will vindicate our confidence in their ability to fulfil “conscientiously and diligently” the “sacred duty” to which every Bahá’í elector is called."
Nineteeen[edit]
Reaching the Age of Nineteen[edit]
"...it behooveth man, upon reaching the age of nineteen, to render thanksgiving for the day of his conception as an embryo. For had the embryo not existed, how could he have reached his present state? Likewise had the religion taught by Adam not existed, this Faith would not have attained its present state...."
- (The Báb, Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 89, in Lights of Guidance, no. 2162)
Twenty-one[edit]
Age of administrative capacity is for now fixed at twenty-one=[edit]
"Regarding the age of fifteen fixed by Bahá'u'lláh: This relates only to purely spiritual functions and obligations and is not related to the degree of administrative capacity which is a totally different thing, and is, for the present, fixed at twenty-one."
- (From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, May 15, 1940: Bahá'í News, No. 138, p. 1, September 1940, in Lights of Guidance, no. 515)
Age of serving on a Spiritual Assembly remains at twenty-one[edit]
"...the age at which a believer becomes eligible to serve on a Spiritual Assembly shall remain twenty-one..."
