Among the laws of Bahá’u’lláh there is one that instructs everyone to have an occupation. In the Bahá’í Faith, begging is prohibited and sitting idle is highly discouraged. Therefore, work is compulsory for every Baha’i believer of working age (normally after education and before retirement).
Baha’u’llah says:
“The best of men are they that earn a livelihood by their calling and spend upon themselves and upon their kindred for the love of God, the Lord of all worlds.” – The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, 82, pp. 51-52
The Bahá’í Faith also teaches that work performed in the spirit of service to the community becomes a form of worship. According to this wonderful law work and service are the equivalent of worship. However, to reach the level of worship work has to be done with love and sincerity. It is like a farmer who is cultivating the land solely for his own monetary benefit compared to another farmer who does it to provide people with healthy nutrients. The latter is truly worshipping and praising God because his heart and mind are centred on serving others. When we want to worship God, we must do it with joy and happiness. Bahá’ís believe that the farmer who is cultivating the land while considering the benefit of others is truly worshiping God.
A Bahá’í therefore should work with the same happiness and reverence with which he or she says a prayer. When an individual reaches such a degree of detachment and devotion, his heart becomes happier because the person is guided by higher motives, serving both God and His creatures. The Bahá’í Faith teaches:
“God has given us eyes, that we may look about us at the world, and lay hold of whatsoever will further civilization and the arts of living. He has given us ears, that we may hear and profit by the wisdom of scholars and philosophers and arise to promote and practice it. Senses and faculties have been bestowed upon us, to be devoted to the service of the general good; so that we, distinguished above all other forms of life for perceptiveness and reason, should labor at all times and along all lines, whether the occasion be great or small, ordinary or extraordinary, until all mankind are safely gathered into the impregnable stronghold of knowledge”. – `Abdu’l-Bahá, The Secret of Divine Civilization
In the Bahá’í Faith we also have teachings,which highly praise work in the fields of education, the arts and various branches of science.
“Among the greatest of all great services is the education of children, and promotion of the various sciences, crafts and arts. Praised be God, ye are now exerting strenuous efforts towards this end.The more ye persevere in this most important task,the more will ye witness the confirmations of God, to such a degree that ye yourselves will be astonished.”- A Compilation on Bahá’í Education, p.27
