Bahá'í Prayers
Praise and Gratitude
All praise, O my God, be to Thee Who art the
Source of all glory and majesty, of greatness
and honor, of sovereignty and dominion, of
loftiness and grace, of awe and power. Whomsoever
Thou willest Thou causest to draw nigh unto
the Most Great Ocean, and on whomsoever Thou
desirest Thou conferrest the honor of recognizing
Thy Most Ancient Name. Of all who are in
heaven and on earth, none can withstand the operation
of Thy sovereign Will. From all eternity
Thou didst rule the entire creation, and Thou wilt
continue for evermore to exercise Thy dominion
over all created things. There is none other God
but Thee, the Almighty, The Most Exalted, the
All-Powerful, the All-Wise.
Illumine, O Lord, the faces of Thy servants,
that they may behold Thee; and cleanse their
hearts that they may turn unto the court of Thy
heavenly favors, and recognize Him Who is the
Manifestation of Thy Self and the Dayspring of
Thine Essence. Verily, Thou art the Lord of all
worlds. There is no God but Thee, the Unconstrained,
the All-Subduing.
- Bahá'u'lláh
In the Name of God, the Most High! Lauded
and glorified art Thou, Lord, God Omnipotent!
Thou before Whose wisdom the wise falleth
short and faileth, before Whose knowledge the
learned confesseth his ignorance, before Whose
might the strong waxeth weak, before Whose
wealth the rich testifieth to his poverty, before
Whose light the enlightened is lost in darkness,
toward the shrine of Whose knowledge turneth
the essence of all understanding and around the
sanctuary of Whose presence circle the souls of all
mankind.
How then can I sing and tell of Thine Essence,
which the wisdom of the wise and the learning of
the learned have failed to comprehend, inasmuch
as no man can sing that which he understandeth
not, nor recount that unto which he cannot attain,
whilst thou hast been from everlasting the Inaccessible,
the Unsearchable. Powerless though I
be to rise to the heavens of Thy glory and soar in
the realms of Thy knowledge, I can but recount
Thy tokens that tell of Thy glorious handiwork.
By Thy Glory! O Beloved of all hearts, Thou
that alone canst still the pangs of yearning for
Thee! Though all the dwellers of heaven and earth
unite to glorify the least of Thy signs, wherein
and whereby Thou hast revealed Thyself, yet
would they fail, how much more to praise Thy
holy Word, the creator of all Thy tokens.
All praise and glory be to Thee, Thou of Whom
all things have testified that Thou art one and there
is none other God but thee, Who hast been from
everlasting exalted above all peer or likeness and
to everlasting shalt remain the same. All kings are
but Thy servants and all beings, visible and invisible,
as naught before Thee. There is none other
God but Thee, the Gracious, the Powerful, the
Most High.
- Bahá'u'lláh
Magnified be Thy name, O Lord my God!
Thou art He Whom all things worship
and Who worshipeth no one, Who is the Lord of
all things and is the vassal of none, Who knoweth
all things and is known of none. Thou didst wish
to make Thyself known unto men; therefore,
Thou didst, through a word of Thy mouth, bring
creation into being and fashion the universe.
There is none other God except Thee, the Fashioner,
the Creator, the Almighty, the Most Powerful.
I implore Thee, by this very work that hath
shone forth above the horizon of Thy will, to enable
me to drink deep of the living waters of Thy chosen
ones and quickened the souls of them that love
Thee, that I may, at all times and under all conditions,
turn my face wholly towards Thee.
Thou art the God of power, or glory and bounty.
No God is there beside Thee, the Supreme
Ruler, the All-Glorious, the Omniscient.
- Bahá'u'lláh
Glorified art Thou, O Lord my God! I yield
Thee thanks for having enabled me to
recognize the Manifestation of Thyself, and for
having severed me from Thine enemies, and laid
bare before mine eyes their misdeeds and wicked
works in Thy days, and for having rid me of all
attachment to them, and caused me to turn wholly
towards Thy grace and bountiful favors. I give
Thee thanks, also, for having sent down upon me
from the clouds of Thy will that which hath so
sanctified me from the hints of the infidels and the
allusions of the misbelievers that I have fixed my
heart firmly on Thee, and fled from such as have
denied the light of Thy countenance. Again I thank
Thee for having empowered me to be steadfast in
Thy love, and to speak forth Thy praise and to
extol Thy virtues, and for having given me to
drink of the cup of Thy mercy that hath surpassed
all things visible and invisible.
Thou art the Almighty, the Most Exalted, the
All-Glorious, the All- Loving.
- Bahá'u'lláh
Praised be Thou, O Lord my God! Every time
I attempt to make mention of Thee, I am
hindered by the sublimity of Thy station and the
overpowering greatness of Thy might. For were
I to praise Thee throughout the length of Thy
dominion and the duration of Thy sovereignty, I
would find that my praise of Thee can befit only
such as are like unto me, who are themselves Thy
creatures, and who have been generated through
the power of Thy decree and been fashioned
through the potency of Thy will. And at whatever
time my pen ascribeth glory to any one of Thy
names, methinks I can hear the voice of its lamentation
in its remoteness from Thee, and can recognize
its cry because of its separation from Thy
Self. I testify that everything other than Thee is
but Thy creation and is held in the hollow of Thy
hand. To have accepted any act or praise from Thy
creatures is but an evidence of the wonders of Thy
grace and bountiful favors, and a manifestation of
Thy generosity and providence.
I entreat Thee, O my Lord, by Thy Most Great
Name whereby Thou didst separate light from
fire, and truth from denial, to send down upon
me and upon such of my loved ones as are in my
company the good of this world and of the next.
Supply us, then, with Thy wondrous gifts that
are hid from the eyes of men. Thou art, verily, the
Fashioner of all creation. No God is there but
Thee, the Almighty, the All-Glorious, the Most
High.
- Bahá'u'lláh
All majesty and glory, O my God, and all dominion
and light and grandeur and splendor
be unto Thee. Thou bestowest sovereignty
on whom Thou willest and dost withhold it from
whom Thou desirest. No God is there but Thee,
the All-Possessing, the Most Exalted. Thou art
He Who createth from naught the universe and all
that dwell therein. There is nothing worthy of
Thee except Thyself, while all else but Thee are as
outcasts in Thy holy presence and are as nothing
when compared to the glory of Thine Own Being.
Far be it from me to extol Thy virtues save by
what Thou hast extolled Thyself in Thy weighty
Book where Thou sayest, "No vision taketh in
Him, but He taketh in all vision. He is the Subtile,
the All-Perceiving." (Qur'án 6:103) Glory be unto Thee, O my
God, indeed no mind or vision, however keen or
discriminating, can ever grasp the nature of the
most insignificant of Thy signs. Verily, Thou art
God, no God is there besides Thee. I bear witness
that Thou Thyself alone art the sole expression of
Thine attributes, that the praise of no one besides
Thee can ever attain to Thy holy court nor can
Thine attributes ever be fathomed by anyone
other than Thyself.
Glory be unto Thee, Thou art exalted above the
description of anyone save Thyself, since it is beyond
human conception to befittingly magnify
Thy virtues or to comprehend the inmost reality
of Thine Essence. Far be it from Thy glory that
Thy creatures should describe Thee or that anyone
besides Thyself should ever know Thee. I
have known Thee, O my God, by reason of Thy
making Thyself known unto me, for hadst Thou
not revealed Thyself unto me, I would not have
known Thee. I worship Thee by virtue of Thy
summoning me unto Thee, for had it not been for
Thy summons I would not have worship Thee.
- The Báb