Engagement age
Engagement cannot take place before the age of maturity (age 15)[edit]
"43. QUESTION: Concerning the betrothal of a girl before maturity.
"ANSWER: This practice hath been pronounced unlawful by the Source of Authority, and it is unlawful to announce a marriage earlier than ninety-five days before the wedding."
- (Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Questions and Answers, no. 43)
"92. QUESTION: In a treatise in Persian on various questions, the age of maturity hath been set at fifteen; is marriage likewise conditional upon the reaching of maturity, or is it permissible before that time?
"ANSWER: Since the consent of both parties is required in the Book of God, and since, before maturity, their consent or lack of it cannot be ascertained, marriage is therefore conditional upon reaching the age of maturity, and is not permissible before that time."
- (Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Questions and Answers, no. 92; also in Lights of Guidance, no. 516)
"It is unlawful to become engaged to a girl before she reaches the age of maturity."
No very strict adherence to this rule at present for primitive societies[edit]
"In dealing with people who are still backward in relation to our civilized standards, and in many cases guided by a tribal system which has strong orders of its own, he feels that you should be both tactful and forbearing. There is no specific minimum age mentioned in the Bahá'í teachings at which girls may marry. In the future, this and other questions unspecified will be dealt with by the International House of Justice. In the mean time, we must not be too strict in enforcing our opinions on peoples still living in primitive social orders."
- (Shoghi Effendi, Unfolding Destiny, p. 334 )
"In response to a similar question about the quotation above, the Universal House of Justice in a letter of 25 October 1984 written on its behalf to a National Spiritual Assembly provides the following elucidation:
"What is not specified in the texts, in connection with the question of the age at which girls may marry, is the degree to which the Bahá'í law on this point, and other similar points, is to be applied at this time, if and when it conflicts with the requirements of an established tribal system which has what is described in the above passage as "strong orders of its own". Such questions are to be referred to the Universal House of Justice, and, in the interim, the Guardian did not want the friends to be "too strict" in such matters.
"When Shoghi Effendi's statement is read in this light, it is not in conflict with what has been outlined in the "Synopsis and Codification of the Laws and Ordinances of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas"."
- (On behalf of the Universal House of Justice, at https://bahai-library.com/uhj_reconciliation_apparent_contradictions#4 )
(Exact) age of marriage left to the individual[edit]
"Such matters as the age of marriage or the manner of meeting economic commitments are left to the individual to decide for himself. The friends, however, should not hesitate to seek the advice of their Local Spiritual Assemblies in all such matters if they feel the need."
- (From a letter of the Universal House of Justice to two believers, May 22, 1966, in Lights of Guidance, no. 1208)
