Smoking in Relation to the Fast

Smoking in Relation to the Fast
In one of His Tablets, 'Abdu'l-Baha, after stating that fasting consists
of abstinence from food and drink, further indicates that smoking is a
form of "drink." In Arabic the verb "drink" applies equally to smoking.
In the East, therefore, the friends abstain from smoking during the
hours of fasting, and friends from the East living in the West do
likewise. But, as stated in our letter to the National Assembly of New
Zealand, this application of the divine law has not been extended to the
friends in the West for the present, and therefore it should not be made
an issue.
Letter from the Universal House of Justice, dated March 15, 1972, to
an individual believer

The Universal House of Justice has instructed us to say that the
prohibition of smoking as an aspect of fasting, as explained in Note 16
on page 59 of the Synopsis and Codification of the Kitab-i-Aqdas has not
yet been applied in the West and therefore the friends should not make
an issue of it.
Letter written on behaf of the Universal House of Justice, dated
July 17, 1980, to an individual believer


NOT TO MAKE AN ISSUE

note 
 THIS LAW IS APPLICABLE IN GENERAL now to all  Bahais