In 1953 Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i 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 Kitab-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 Kitab-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 Kitab-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 Kitab-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
added--such divisions not being common in works of Arabic literature--and
these paragraphs have then been numbered for ease of access and indexing,
as well as for uniformity of reference in all the languages in which the
work will be published.
Following the text of the Aqdas is a brief compilation of Writings of
Baha'u'llah which are supplementary to the Most Holy Book, and a
translation of the Questions and Answers published here for the first
time.
Shoghi Effendi had stated that the English translation of the Aqdas should
be "copiously annotated". The policy followed in preparing the notes has
been to concentrate on those points which might strike a
non-Arabic-speaking reader as obscure or which, for various reasons,
require elucidation or background information. They are not intended to be
a comprehensive commentary on the text beyond these fundamental
requirements.
The notes, which are placed following the Synopsis and Codification, are
numbered sequentially. Each is preceded by a quotation of the passage to
which it relates, and indicates the number of the paragraph in which this
appears. This facilitates cross-reference between the text and the notes,
while making it possible for readers to study the notes without repeatedly
consulting the text, if they so prefer. It is hoped in this way to meet
the needs of readers of a wide range of backgrounds and interests.
The index provides a guide to subjects in all sections of the volume.
The significance and character of the Kitab-i-Aqdas and the range of
subjects it contains have been graphically depicted by Shoghi Effendi in
his history of the first Baha'i century entitled God Passes By. As an
assistance to the reader, these passages are provided in the section that
immediately follows the introduction. The Synopsis and Codification, which
is republished in this volume, serves as another aid for obtaining an
overview of the Book.