We have enjoined obligatory prayer upon you, with nine rak’ahs, to be offered at noon and in the morning and the evening unto God, the Revealer of Verses. We have relieved you of a greater number, as a command in the Book of God. He, verily, is the Ordainer, the Omnipotent, the Unrestrained. When ye desire to perform this prayer, turn ye towards the Court of My Most Holy Presence, this Hallowed Spot that God hath made the Centre round which circle the Concourse on High, and which He hath decreed to be the Point of Adoration for the denizens of the Cities of Eternity, and the Source of Command unto all that are in heaven and on earth; and when the Sun of Truth and Utterance shall set, turn your faces towards the Spot that We have ordained for you. He, verily, is Almighty and Omniscient.
When ye desire to perform this prayer, turn ye towards the Court of My Most Holy Presence, this Hallowed Spot that God hath . . . decreed to be the Point of Adoration for the denizens of the Cities of EternityThe
“Point of Adoration”, that is, the point to which the worshipper should turn when offering
obligatory prayer, is called the
Qiblih. The concept of
Qiblih has existed in previous religions. Jerusalem in the past had been fixed
for this purpose. Muhammad changed the
Qiblih to Mecca. The Báb’s instructions in the Arabic Bayán were:
The Qiblih is indeed He Whom God will make manifest; whenever He moveth, it moveth, until He shall come to rest.
This passage is quoted by Bahá’u’lláh in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (
137) and confirmed by Him in the above-noted verse. He has also indicated that facing in the direction of the
Qiblih is a
“fixed requirement for the recitation of obligatory prayer” (Q&A
14 and
67). However,
for other
prayers and devotions the individual may face in any direction.
Question: Concerning the long Obligatory Prayer, it is required to stand up and "turn unto God". This seemeth to indicate that it is not necessary to face the Qiblih; is this so or not?
Answer: The Qiblih is intended.