Lawḥ-i-Salát-i-Mayyit
Read online at https://bahai-library.com/writings/bahaullah/pm/167.html .
Authoritative discussions[edit]
From Lights of Guidance (to categorize)[edit]
Prayer for the Dead to be Recited by One Believer[edit]
"The Prayer for the Dead is the only Bahá'í obligatory prayer which is to be recited in congregation; it is to be recited by one believer while all present stand in silence. Bahá'u'lláh has clarified that the Prayer for the Dead is required only when the deceased is an adult, that the recital should precede the interment of the deceased, and that there is no requirement to face the Qiblih when saying this prayer."
- (Bahá'u'lláh, Kitab-i-Aqdas, Notes, N. 10, in Lights of Guidance, no. 661)
Non-Bahá'ís Can Be Present When Long Prayer for the Dead is Read[edit]
"There is no objection whatsoever to non-Bahá'ís being present when the long prayer for the dead is read, as long as they respect our manner of reading it by rising and standing as the Bahá'ís do on this occasion. Nor, indeed, is there any objection to non-Bahá'ís being present during the reading of any Bahá'í prayer for the departed."
- (From letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada, July 20, 1946, in Lights of Guidance, no. 662)
Prayer for the Dead--Special Conditions[edit]
"The Prayer for the Dead should be recited at the funeral if the deceased is 15 years old or more. If there is no one at the funeral able to read, it is sufficient to say only that part of the Prayer which requires the repetition nineteen times of each of six short verses.
"The body must be placed in the grave in such a position that the feet point towards Akka (the Qiblih)."
- (From a statement prepared by a National Spiritual Assembly in Africa and approved by the Universal House of Justice on June 14, 1982, in Lights of Guidance, no. 663)
Any Prayer May Be Said for a Woman--Text Must Not Change[edit]
"In connection with the question you asked about the prayer for the dead: any of the prayers which were originally revealed for a man or a woman can be said for the opposite sex, but the text must not be changed."
- (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, November 10, 1946, in Lights of Guidance, no. 664)
Congregational Prayer Only for the Dead[edit]
"There is no congregational prayer except that for the dead. We read healing and other prayers in our meetings, but the daily prayer is a personal obligation, so someone else reading it is not quite the same thing as saying it for yourself…"
- (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, January 31, 1949: Bahá’í News, No. 220, June 1949, pp. 2-3, in Lights of Guidance, no. 1502)
One Person should Read the Funeral Prayer; reading of other prayers or writings is entirely optional[edit]
"We have received your letter of 14th December inquiring which funeral prayer is considered as the desirable one for use in Europe, whether there is any obligatory prayer and what instructions are concerning standing at a Bahá’í funeral service.
"The only obligatory prayer for use at Bahá’í funerals is the prayer No. 167 in 'Prayers and Meditations'. This prayer should be recited by one of those present and all present should stand while it is being read. There is no requirement to face the Qiblih or any other particular direction while this prayer is being read.
- (From a letter of the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of Finland, January 31, 1971, in Lights of Guidance, no. 1504)
