Prohibition of Drugs and Alcohol
Intoxicants cloud the rational mind and undermine spiritual perception; their use is prohibited except for medicinal purposes.
The Bahá'í writings prohibit the use of alcohol and recreational drugs on the grounds that they impair the rational faculty — the highest gift of God to humanity. Since reason is the primary instrument of spiritual development and ethical action, impairing it is spiritually counterproductive. Medical use under physician guidance is acceptable.
Beware of using any substance that inebriates the mind.
The Bahá'í prohibition of intoxicants connects it to Islamic prohibitions and anticipates modern neuroscientific understanding of substance effects on cognition.
The Kitáb-i-Aqdas
Written about in
- What the Bahá'í Faith says about habit and discipline
Alcohol and recreational drugs are prohibited, with medical use under a physician excepted. The stated reason is narrow and worth noticing: they impair the rational faculty, which the tradition treats as the instrument of spiritual development — the rule protects the tool the rest of the discipline runs on.