Each day a Baha'i is obliged to say one of the three Obligatory Prayers revealed by Baha'u'llah. If selected, the Medium Obligatory Prayer must be performed at three points during the day: In the morning, at noon and at sunset. The other two prayers from which a Baha'i may choose are available through the following links:
Long Obligatory Prayer
Short Obligatory Prayer
"The daily obligatory prayers are three in number. ... The believer is entirely free to choose any one of these three prayers, but is under the obligation of reciting either one of them, and in accordance with any specific directions with which they may be accompanied." - from a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi
"By `morning,' `noon' and `evening,' mentioned in connection with the Obligatory Prayers, is meant respectively the intervals between sunrise and noon, between noon and sunset, and from sunset till two hours after sunset." - From the Synopsis and Codification of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas
Medium Obligatory Prayer
To be recited daily, in the morning, at noon, and in the evening
Whoso wisheth to pray, let him wash his hands, and while he washeth, let him say:
Strengthen my hand, O my God, that it may take hold of Thy Book with such steadfastness that the hosts of the world shall have no power over it. Guard it, then, from meddling with whatsoever doth not belong unto it. Thou art, verily, the Almighty, the Most Powerful.
And while washing his face, let him say:
I have turned my face unto Thee, O my Lord! Illumine it with the light of Thy countenance. Protect it, then, from turning to anyone but Thee.
Then let him stand up, and facing the Qiblih (Point of Adoration, i.e. Bahjí, Akká), let him say:
God testifieth that there is none other God but Him. His are the kingdoms of Revelation and of creation. He, in truth, hath manifested Him Who is the Dayspring of Revelation, Who conversed on Sinai, through Whom the Supreme Horizon hath been made to shine, and the Lote-Tree beyond which there is no passing hath spoken, and through Whom the call hath been proclaimed unto all who are in heaven and on earth: "Lo, the All-Possessing is come. Earth and heaven, glory and dominion are God's, the Lord of all men, and the Possessor of the Throne on high and of earth below!"
Let him, then, bend down, with hands resting on the knees, and say:
Exalted art Thou above my praise and the praise of anyone beside me, above my description and the description of all who are in heaven and all who are on earth!
Then, standing with open hands, palms upward toward the face, let him say:
Disappoint not, O my God, him that hath, with beseeching fingers, clung to the hem of Thy mercy and Thy grace, O Thou Who of those who show mercy art the Most Merciful!
Let him, then, be seated and say:
I bear witness to Thy unity and Thy oneness, and that Thou art God, and that there is none other God beside Thee. Thou hast, verily, revealed thy Cause, fulfilled Thy Covenant, and opened wide the door of Thy grace to all that dwell in heaven and on earth. Blessing and peace, salutation and glory, rest upon Thy loved ones, whom the changes and chances of the world have not deterred from turning unto Thee, and who have given their all, in the hope of obtaining that which is with Thee. Thou art, in truth, the Ever-Forgiving, the All-Bountiful.
(If anyone choose to recite instead of the long verse these words: "God testifieth that there is none other God but Him, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting," it would be sufficient. And likewise, it would suffice were he, while seated, to choose to recite these words: "I bear witness to Thy unity and Thy oneness, and that Thou art God, and that there is none other God beside Thee.")
- Bahá'u'lláh
All quoted material is free to be reproduced under the terms of the following statement
COLLECTIVE COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
BAHA'I ETEXT SERVER
February 1997 (revised)
(30 September 1999: REVIEWED - no changes)
The entire contents of the Baha'i World Centre Etext Server are
copyrighted by the Baha'i International Community, Copyright (c) 1994, All
Rights Reserved, as a collective work (compilation copyright). They may
be freely redistributed in their entirety provided that this copyright
notice is not removed. These documents may not be sold for profit or
incorporated in commercial documents without the written permission of the
Baha'i International Community.
The Baha'i International Community asserts that it owns the copyrights to
the texts of the four Central figures of the Baha'i Faith (The Bab,
Baha'u'llah, Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi) and the texts of letters of
the Universal House of Justice, which are available for distribution by
the Baha'i World Centre Etext Server, as part of its compilation
copyright.
Some material in the Baha'i World Centre Etext Server may be copyrighted by
others. The owner of an individual work added to the compilation ALSO retains
his copyright and the right to control further distribution of his work. The
copyrights asserted by the Baha'i International Community do not supercede an
author's copyrights.
Permission is expressly granted for these documents to be made available
for file transfer from installations offering unrestricted anonymous file
transfer on the Internet. These documents are provided as is without any
express or implied warranty. Permission for re-use of these documents in
"value-added" or "for profit" re-publications (in print or electronic
formats), may be requested from:
The Secretariat
Baha'i International Community
P.O. Box 155
31001, Haifa
Israel
email: secretariat@bwc.org