Fasting, like the Obligatory Prayers, has been ordained by Bahá’u’lláh as the two essential pillars that sustain the revealed Law of God. They act as stimulants to the soul, strengthen, revive, and purify it, and thus ensure its steady development.

Bahá'ís practice fasting as a discipline for the soul; they see abstaining from food, drink and carnal desires as an outer symbol of a spiritual abstention and cleansing for the soul.   By this they mean the practice of self-restraint in order to distance oneself from all the appetites of the body and so concentrate on oneself as a spiritual being and get closer to God.   It is not only about abstaining from food and drink but is essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life.   Its significance and purposes are, therefore, fundamentally spiritual in character.  Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish desires. 

The fasting period, which lasts nineteen days, begins from 2nd March and ends on 20th March, involves complete physical abstention of food and drink from sunrise till sunset.   Bahá’ís over 15 years are enjoined to partake of the spiritual Fast, while exemptions are mercifully granted to those who are over 70 years old, ailing, travelling long distance, pregnant with child and nursing mothers.