QUERY: Some questions on Obligatory Prayers translation

Dear Rachel:

I am very happy to see H-Bahai spring back to life after a very long
sleep. I hope this can begin a new series of discussions.

I hope that someone who knows more than I do can answer your specific
questions. But I find the questions curious for a number of reasons.
Legalistic question of the kind you are asking, especially when they are
concerned with private rituals, are usually distasteful to Baha'is.
Normally, they are avoided. First, because no one can give an
authoratative answer to such questions as they relate to prayer (at least,
in the absence of a living Guardian). Second, because such matter are
generally considered private, and unimportant. Who cares if the believer
raises his hands twice or three times while saying the prayer. And third,
because it is understood that there is a variety of practice as relates to
ritual observance within the Baha'i community. No one really wants to
start an argument about such things, because it cannot be resolved.

Ablutions have never been observed by the Western Baha'i community, and I
don't think that they are ever likely to be. Perhaps the exception is for
the Medium Obligatory Prayer because of the instructions in the
prayerbook. I seem to recall a letter from Shoghi Effendi to the NSA of
the United States saying that such matters were not binding on the Western
Baha'is at that time, and that it would all be explained when the Aqdas was
translated an published. So, I have never seen or heard of Western
believers performing ablutions before prayers.

I think that this is likely to remain the case indefinitely. This is
because Baha'u'llah abolished the idea of ritual impurity. So, the
spiritual rationale for ablutions was removed. There is no need to wash as
a means of establishing ritual purity before prayer. It is already
established. The only function of ablutions might be as a preparation for
prayer, to put oneself into a prayerful state of mind, so to speak. But,
of course, that might be accomplished in other ways.

In any case, your questions might have answers that someone else can
provide. I rather doubt it, but perhaps. I do think, however, that it is
perhaps more important to observe the context of actual Baha'i practice in
which your questions are asked.

Warm regards,
Anthony A. Lee

Greetings,

Iskandar wrote: "the saying of the verses while doing the ablution is mandatory only for the medium prayer solely" and, Anthony wrote:
"no one can give an authoratative answer to such questions as they relate to prayer (at least, in the absence of a living Guardian)"

Yes, that's the official position, but my interest is more in Baha'i shari`a from a textual analysis. I'm not an expert in palaeography but I would be interested in whether the (second) Lawh-i-Salat manuscript is digitised and available for study. Does anyone know?

Also, Anthony, I could be mistaken, but I thought the House's 1999 letter "Further Application of the Laws of the Kitab-i-Aqdas" made the fiqh of salat including wudu' obligatory on everyone.
https://bahai-library.com/uhj_further_application_aqdas

Iskandar also wrote: "Regarding your other question, 'twice' implies a second time, not two times. Just as 'thrice' implies a third time and not three times."

The word for twice is مرتين whereas it reads (to me anyway) "مرّة بعد أخرى" is literally "time after the other" and "the other" is the second qunut.

I do hope H-Baha'i springs back into life too Anthony, I've kind of missed it :)

With kind regards
Rachel

Sen wrote: "The problem is, these are editorial choices. How do we know whether they are informed choices ?"

That's why I'd be interested to see a manuscript rather than a printed edition.

It is true that Baha'is do not obsess over the minutiae of prayer positions to the same degree that Muslims do, and certainly the general thrust of advice given by the institutions has largely been to let Baha'is decide for themselves individually how they might implement movements and postures. It's also probably true that where you have a jama'at such as with Islamic salat it makes sense that everyone do the same thing (although of course, in reality the minor differences continued and you might find a line where one worshipper folds their hands over their chest, and another leaves their hands by their sides etc.), whilst in Baha'i salat, it is prayed individually by design so uniformity is probably not as cogent.

Still, Baha'u'llah chose to reveal various ablutions and movements as part of his salat, which would suggest to me they have an importance that seems worthy of serious attention when considering the fiqh of Baha'i salat.

I do find it curious that there is almost a sense of distaste when it comes to approaching Baha'i shari`a comparatively to Islamic and Babi shari' rulings.

Best
Rachel