133. It is forbidden you to wed your fathers' wives.
Marriage with one's stepmother is here explicitly prohibited. This prohibition also applies to marrying one's stepfather. Where Baha'u'llah has expressed a law between a man and a woman it applies mutatis mutandis as between a woman and a man unless the context should make this impossible. (222:3)

Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi confirmed that, while stepmothers are the only category of relatives mentioned in the text, this does not mean that all other unions within a family are permissible. Baha'u'llah states that it devolves upon the House of Justice to legislate "concerning the legitimacy or otherwise of marrying one's relatives" (Q and A 50). Abdu'l-Baha has written that the more distant the blood-relationship between the couple the better, since such marriages provide the basis for the physical well-being of humanity and are conducive to fellowship among mankind. (222:4)

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