ns of Paradise on earth, so that there may be diffused
from you that whereat the hearts of the favored ones shall
rejoice.--Kitab-i-Aqdas.

Mirza Abu'l-Fadl, in his book, Baha'i Proofs (p. 89), points out the
extreme importance of these commands, more especially in some parts of the
East, where water of the foulest description is often used for household
purposes, for bathing and even for drinking, and horribly insanitary
conditions abound, causing a vast amount of preventable disease and
misery. These conditions, often supposed to be sanctioned by the
prevailing religion, can be changed, among Orientals, only by the
commandment of one who is believed to have Divine authority. In many parts
of the Western Hemisphere, too, a wonderful transformation would result
were cleanliness accepted not only as next to godliness, but as an
essential part of godliness.

Effect of Obedience to Prophetic Commands

The bearing on health of these commands relating to the simple life,
hygiene, abstinence from alcohol and opium, etcetera, is too obvious to
call for much comment, although their vital importance is apt to be
greatly underestimated. Were they to be generally observed, most of the
infectious diseases and a good many others would soon vanish from among
men. The amount of illness caused by neglect of simple hygienic
precautions and by indulgence in alcohol and opium is prodigious.
Moreover, obedience to these commands would not only affect health, but
would have an enormous effect for good on character and conduct. Alcohol
and opium affect a man's conscience long before they affect his gait or
cause obvious bodily disease, so that the moral spiritual gain from
abstinence would be even greater than the physical. With regard to
cleanliness, 'Abdu'l-Baha says:--"External cleanliness, although it is but
a physical thing, has great influence upon spirituality.... The fact of
having a pure and spotless body exercises an influence upon the spirit of
man."

Were the commands of the Prophets concerning chastity in sexual relations
generally observed, another fertile cause of disease would be eliminated.
The loathsome venereal diseases, which wreck the health of so many
thousands today, innocent as well as guilty, babes as well as parents,
would very soon be entirely a thing of the past.

Were the commands of the Prophets concerning justice, mutual aid, loving
one's neighbor as oneself, carried out, how could overcr