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I have a question whether or not a prayer like this exists?

Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 2:46 pm
by Allah Is The Truth
I won't go into detail as to why I'm asking this question, but I was wondering if anyone knew of a Prayer or a Writing from the Bab' that says a person should hear it 19 times before they recite it themselves...

I doubt it would be in any English translation, but I was wondering if such a thing would exist in the Persian or Arabic writings that haven't been translated to English.

peace

Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 11:14 am
by British_Bahai
where did u hear about this, or who told u this
(eg did u read about this on the net, or did someone tell u this and u no longer have contact with this person?)

the answer to this question will give u an indication as to how correct (the fact about this prayer) is true... (i.e. - almost always, things u read on the internet arent true)

so how did u hear about this?

Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 3:18 pm
by Allah Is The Truth
It was just a dream I had. I was having some problems, and someone told me in my dream that there was this prayer that the Bab' said, but you had to hear it 19 times before you recited it yourself...

I don't put much credence on dreams (on matters like these, I mean) but I wanted to ask anyway just to see if something like that existed.

Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 3:53 pm
by brettz9
Well, given that the Bab and Baha'u'llah are, we believe, One in Spirit, there is the following attributed to Baha'u'llah, as explained here by the Universal House of Justice Research Department (though this prescribes reciting it 19 tiems, not hearing it 19 times):

No authorized translation of this prayer has been issued. A provisional translation of this prayer was provided a few years ago for a member of the Bahá'í World Centre staff, who was told that he could share it with friends and that it could be used pending the publication of an authorized translation. We show the provisional translation below.

    O my God!

    Thou seest me detached from everything save Thee and clinging to Thee. Guide me then in my doings in a manner which profiteth me for the glory of Thy Cause and the loftiness of the state of Thy servants.

This prayer was revealed by the Blessed Beauty for Jináb-i-Samandar [Shaykh Kázim Samandar], the father of the Hand of the Cause of God Tarázu'lláh Samandarí, to assist him in making a difficult decision. The prayer was to be recited nineteen times, followed by meditation on the problem, the formulation of a solution, and the implementation of the conceived solution.

(at http://www.bahai-library.com/provisiona ... andar.html )


best wishes,
Brett

Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 4:37 pm
by British_Bahai
Well, maybe you should! ;)
Im a bit like that aswell & so's my mum

Allah Is The Truth wrote:It was just a dream I had. I was having some problems, and someone told me in my dream that there was this prayer that the Bab' said, but you had to hear it 19 times before you recited it yourself...

I don't put much credence on dreams (on matters like these, I mean) but I wanted to ask anyway just to see if something like that existed.

Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 1:54 am
by Dorumerosaer
Allah Is The Truth wrote:It was just a dream I had. I was having some problems, and someone told me in my dream that there was this prayer that the Bab' said, but you had to hear it 19 times before you recited it yourself...

I don't put much credence on dreams (on matters like these, I mean) but I wanted to ask anyway just to see if something like that existed.


I don't know of any such prayer. What this reminds me of, is the statement of the great Baha'i scholar Mirza Abu'l-Fazl Gulpaygani. He said that he read Baha'u'llah's Kitab-i-Iqan, Book of Certitude, 18 times with the eye of intellect, and found it to be a meaningless string of words. Then he read it a 19th time with the eye of faith, and it opened up all of the Books of God.

You might do well to read the Dawn-Breakers, which describes the birth of the Baha'i Faith in a Muslim milieu, including the dreams that various people had. Perhaps something will strike a chord with your own spiritual experience.

Brent

Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2007 12:38 pm
by Allah Is The Truth
I had heard that story too, albeit with some different details. But hey, that's how oral recounts happen to play out much of the time.

I don't have dreams about spirituality often, which is strange because I'm always thinking about it in my waking hours. (I would think that would influence's one's dreams.) But when I do have such dreams, I tend to remember them without needing to write them down in a journal, and they stay fresh in my memory bank for months, sometimes years to come.

Another dream I had a few years back was humorous and vague. Before going to sleep, I had asked God to send a Prophet in my dream to talk to me and keep me company. Instead, I got a frustrated and begrudging voice saying "You asked for a Prophet to come in your dream, and now you have a Prophet in your dream" in a very irritated tone (as if he did not want to be in there at all.) When I woke up, I couldn't help but laugh because I imagined how a Prophet was delegated to come into this random guy's dream for no apparent reason, and just takes out all of his frustrations onto the dreamer.

Another dream I had, (which really demonstrated to me the non-existence of time in the dream) was of of my friend's father talking to me about something, and he looked genuinely sad about something, and I said "I'm sorry you lost your dream" and then he said "Praise be to...." and I was immediately awakened by my Islamic Prayer Program on the computer, with the guy chanting "Allah." It finished my dream's sentence with exact precision.