The National Spiritual Assembly observes that in the Long
Obligatory Prayer, there are three occasions on which one has to repeat the
Greatest Name three times. While it is clear that, on the first occasion, the
believer has to raise his or her hands once and repeat the Greatest Name three
times, the National Assembly enquires whether it is also necessary to raise
one's hands on (1) the other two occasions.
In relation to the first of the three instances, the Universal House of Justice stated on 22 April 1991 that, in following the instruction "Let him then raise his hands, and repeat three times the Greatest Name", the believer is required to raise his hands once and to repeat the Greatest Name three times in conjunction with that act. In relation to the second and third occasions, the Research Department has not, to date, been able to locate any specific guidance. It is, however, informative to consider the wording of the instructions:
"Let him then repeat the Greatest Name thrice, and bend down with hands resting on the knees, and say..." "Let him then repeat the Greatest Name thrice, and kneel with his forehead to the ground, and say..."
In contrast to the first occasion where the raising of the hands forms part of the explicit instructions, in the second and third instances no mention is made of raising the hands.
Raising hands twice in supplication
The National Spiritual Assembly refers to the instruction to
stand and raise one's hands twice in supplication, and say the words that
follow. It enquires "whether one should say each (of the two) phrase(s)
each time one raises one's hands". While the intent of the question is not
exactly clear to the Research Department, we provide the following extract from
the letter dated 22 April 1991 written on behalf of the Universal House of
Justice. The letter addresses a question about the performance of this
particular part of the Long Obligatory Prayer:
Regarding the direction "Let him then stand and raise his hands twice in supplication, and say; ...", the believer does not have to read twice the paragraph which follows. Whether the believer raises his hands twice before the reciting of the passage, or commences the reciting after having raised his hands once, and raises them a second time soon thereafter, is left to his choice.
(Memorandum from the Research Department of the Universal
House of Justice dated 28 November 2000 re: ‘Questions about Obligatory’;
Baha’i Library Online)
(1) Bahá'í Prayers: A Selection of Prayers Revealed by Bahá'u'lláh, the Báb, and 'Abdu'l-Bahá (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1993), p. 10; 14 and 15.
