Qiblih
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Notes on the Qiblih
"The "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 and A 14 and 67). However, for other prayers and devotions the individual may face in any direction."
- (Universal House of Justice, Kitáb-i-Aqdas Notes no. 7)
"The Qiblih" (from the Kitáb-i-Aqdas Synopsis and Codification)
(from IV.A.2 under "Prayer" of the Synopsis and Codification)
"a. Identified by the Báb with "the One Whom God will make manifest"."
"O people of the Bayán! Fear ye the Most Merciful and consider what He hath revealed in another passage. He said: "The Qiblih is indeed He Whom God will make manifest; whenever He moveth, it moveth, until He shall come to rest." Thus was it set down by the Supreme Ordainer when He desired to make mention of this Most Great Beauty. Meditate on this, O people, and be not of them that wander distraught in the wilderness of error. If ye reject Him at the bidding of your idle fancies, where then is the Qiblih to which ye will turn, O assemblage of the heedless? Ponder ye this verse, and judge equitably before God, that haply ye may glean the pearls of mysteries from the ocean that surgeth in My Name, the All-Glorious, the Most High."
- (Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, par. 137)
"b. The appointment made by the Báb is confirmed by Bahá'u'lláh."
"c. Bahá'u'lláh ordains His resting-place as the Qiblih after His passing."
"In this Book He...fixes the Qiblih"
- (Universal House of Justice, Kitáb-i-Aqdas Introduction p. 14)
"d. Turning to the Qiblih is mandatory while reciting the Obligatory Prayers."
Nothing found requiring the friends to stand and face the Qiblih upon reciting the Tablets of Visitation including on Holy Day observance (unless near or in the precincts of the Holy Shrines)
"Nothing has been found in the Baha'i Writings requiring the friends to stand and face the Qiblih whenever the Tablets of Visitation are recited. No issue should be made of this matter when a Holy Day observance is being held. However, when one is actually in, or within the precincts of one of the Holy Shrines, it is an act of simple reverence to stand and face that Shrine when the Tablet of Visitation is recited."
- (On behalf of the Universal House of Justice, 19 August 1992, at http://bahai-library.com/uhj/holy.day.observances.html )
Resources
- Although the Universal House of Justice may not have ruled on exactly what constitutes "facing" the Qiblih, there is a website at http://www.bcca.org/misc/qiblih/ which helps indicate the proper direction given the spherical nature of the earth.
Unanswered (Application) Questions
- What is one to do about Obligatory Prayer when the time arrives and when one cannot calculate the Qiblih at the given location?
