PREFACE


In 1953 Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, included as one
of the goals of his Ten Year Plan the preparation of a Synopsis and
Codification of the Laws and Ordinances of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas as an
essential prelude to its translation. He himself worked on the
codification, but had not finished it when he died in 1957. The task was
continued on the basis of his work, and the resulting volume was released
in 1973. That publication included, in addition to the Synopsis and
Codification itself and explanatory notes, a compilation of the passages
from the Kitáb-i-Aqdas which had already been translated by Shoghi Effendi
and published in various books. The Synopsis and Codification covered the
text of both the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and the Questions and Answers which
constitutes an appendix to the Aqdas. In 1986 the Universal House of
Justice decided that the time had come when the preparation of an English
translation of the complete text of the Most Holy Book was both possible
and essential and made its accomplishment a goal of the Six Year Plan
1986-1992. Its publication in English will be followed by translations in
other languages.

It has been recognized that the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, being Sacred Scripture,
should be presented in a form which can be read with ease and inspiration,
uncluttered with the footnotes and index numbers that are common in
scholarly texts. Nonetheless, to assist the reader in following the flow
of the text and its changing themes, paragraph divisions have been