We have enjoined upon you fasting during a brief period, and at its close have designated for you Naw-Ruz as a feast…. The traveller, the ailing, those who are with child or giving suck, are not bound by the Fast; they have been exempted by God as a token of His grace. He, verily, is the Almighty, the Most Generous. (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas)
“Fasting and obligatory prayer constitute the two pillars that sustain the revealed Law of God. Bahá'u'lláh in one of His Tablets affirms that He has revealed the laws of obligatory prayer and fasting so that through them the believers may draw nigh unto God.
Shoghi Effendi indicates that the fasting period, which involves complete abstention from food and drink from sunrise till sunset, is ‘...essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are, therefore, fundamentally spiritual in character. Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires.’
Fasting is enjoined on all the believers once they attain the age of 15 and until they reach the age of 70 years. …Exemption from fasting is granted to those who are ill or of advanced age, … women in their courses, … travellers … and to women who are pregnant and those who are nursing. This exemption is also extended to people who are engaged in heavy labour, who, at the same time, are advised ‘to show respect to the law of God and for the exalted station of the Fast’ by eating ‘with frugality and in private’” (Q and). (The Universal House of Justice, ‘Notes’ section of the ‘Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
