Each day a Baha'i is obliged to say one of the three Obligatory Prayers revealed by Baha-u-llah. The prayer must be said while facing Akka near Haifa in Israel. The Short Obligatory Prayer is the shortest of the three, consisting of a brief but poetic statement of belief. This prayer must be said between noon and sunset. The other two prayers from which a Baha'i may choose are available through the following links:
Long Obligatory Prayer
Medium 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
Short Obligatory Prayer
To be recited once in twenty-four hours, at noon
I bear witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to worship Thee. I testify, at this moment, to my powerlessness and to Thy might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth.
There is none other God but Thee, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.
- Bahá'u'lláh
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