Editing Kitáb-i-Aqdas (section)

== Content ==

The ''Kitáb-i-Aqdas'' is supplemented by the 
*"Questions and Answers"', which consists of 107 questions submitted to Baháʼu'lláh by [[Zaynu'l-Muqarrabin]] concerning the application of the laws and Baháʼu'lláh's replies to those questions
*"Some Texts Revealed by Baháʼu'lláh"
*''Synopsis and Codification of the Laws and Ordinances'', prepared by [[Shoghi Effendi]]
*explanatory notes prepared by the [[Universal House of Justice]]

The book was divided into six main themes in the ''Synopsis and Codification'' by Shoghi Effendi:
#The appointment of [[ʻAbdu'l-Bahá]] as the successor of Baháʼu'lláh
#Anticipation of the Institution of the [[Guardian (Baháʼí Faith)|Guardianship]]
#The Institution of the Universal House of Justice
#Laws, Ordinances and exhortations
#Specific admonitions, reproofs and warnings
#Miscellaneous subjects

Further, the laws were divided into four categories:
:A. Prayer
:B. Fasting
:C. Laws of personal status
:D. Miscellaneous laws, ordinances and exhortations

===Themes===
A scholarly review finds the Aqdas has themes of laws of worship, societal relations and administrative organization, or governance, of the religion.<ref name="JLR19-2"/> Through the authority vested in [[ʻAbdu'l-Bahá]] in the Aqdas there is material on [[Cosmopolitanism|internationalism]] related to the law in works like ''[[The Secret of Divine Civilization]]'' and through his extended authority to [[Shoghi Effendi]] works like his ''[[World Order of Baháʼu'lláh]]'' further elaborates on the theme of internationalism. This stands in some distinction from other scriptures by not using triumphal tones as the voice of God is given to be viewed but rather one of progressive development, social context, and outright delay in application until another day. It insists that divine law is applicable only in situations with requisite conditions, where it is likely to have certain social effects. The goal of application of the law and its methods are not to cause disturbance and dissension and requires an appreciation for context and intention. Additionally one is to eschew emphasis in the development of [[textualist]] and [[intentionalist]] arguments about the law though some of this is visible in scholarship on the Aqdas. Such methods of application of law in a religious context are, in the opinion of Roshan Danish, common in Islam and Judaism.<ref name="JLR19-2"/>

The Aqdas is understood by Baháʼís to be a factor in the process of ongoing developments in world order. This can be seen comparing the Baháʼí approach to history and the future to that of the theory of the [[Clash of Civilizations]] on the one hand and the development of a [[posthegemony]] system on the other (compared with work of Robert Cox, for example, in ''Approaches to World Order'', (Robert Cox & Timonthy Sinclair eds, Cambridge University Press, 1996).)<ref name="JLR19-2"/>

Certain possible sources of law are specifically abrogated: laws of the Bábí religion, notably in the ''[[Persian Bayán]]'', oral traditions (linked with [[Baháʼí literature#Authenticity and authority|pilgrim notes]], and natural law, (that is to say God's sovereign will through revelation is the independent authority.)<ref name="JLR18-3"/> Divine revelation's law-making is both unconditioned in terms of the divine right to choose, and conditioned in the sense of the progress of history from one revelation to the next.<ref name="JLR19-2"/><ref name="JLR18-3"/>

====Marriage and divorce====
{{main|Baháʼí marriage}}
Baha'u'llah's statements about marriage in the ''Kitáb-i-Aqdas'' are brief. Marriage is highly recommended but is stated to not be obligatory.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Smith |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Smith (historian) |encyclopedia=A concise encyclopedia of the Baháʼí Faith |title=marriage |year=2000 |publisher=Oneworld Publications |location=Oxford |isbn=1-85168-184-1 |pages= 232–234 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yhy9DwAAQBAJ}}</ref> Baháʼu'lláh states that the maximum number of wives is two, but also states that having only one wife would add more tranquility to both partners.<ref name="polygamy">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Smith |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Smith (historian) |encyclopedia=A concise encyclopedia of the Baháʼí Faith |title=Polygamy |year=2000 |publisher=Oneworld Publications |location=Oxford |isbn=1-85168-184-1 |pages= 273 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yhy9DwAAQBAJ}}</ref> These statements were later interpreted by [[ʻAbdu'l-Bahá]] that having a second wife is conditional upon treating both wives with justice and equality and was not possible in practice, thus establishing monogamy.<ref name="polygamy"/><ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2008|pp=205}}</ref><ref name="JLR18-m">{{cite journal |last=Schaefer |first=Udo |title=An Introduction to Baha'i Law: Doctrinal Foundations, Principles and Structures |journal=Journal of Law and Religion |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=321, 333 |year=2002–2003 |jstor=1602268 |doi=10.2307/1602268|s2cid=154511808 }}</ref>

That [[Baháʼu'lláh]] had three wives,<ref name="polygamy"/><ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2008|pp=16}}</ref> while his religion teaches monogamy, has been the subject of criticism. The writing of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and Baháʼí teachings on gender equality and monogamy post-date Baháʼu'lláh's marriages and are understood to be evolutionary in nature, slowly leading Baháʼís away from what had been a deeply rooted cultural practice.<ref name="polygamy"/><ref name="JLR18-m"/>

====Administration====
{{main|Baháʼí administration}}
The institutional status of the authority of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and a House of Justice are specifically delineated.<ref name="JLR19-2"/><ref name="JLR18-3"/> On the basis of the authority granted ʻAbdu'l-Bahá he extended forms of the authority vested in him to the Guardianship, whose sole member was Shoghi Effendi, and the Universal, or International, House of Justice through his [[Will and Testament of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá|Will and Testament]]. This was confirmed and amplified in other texts, notably the [[Covenant of Baháʼu'lláh#Kitáb-i-ʻAhd|Kitáb-i-'Ahd]]. The Universal House of Justice is specifically empowered to write and rescind any laws it is felt necessary aside from those of the text of scripture and actual application of the laws of the Aqdas among Baháʼís are dependent on the choice of the Universal House of Justice.<ref name="JLR18-3"/>