The Bahá'í Faith

Tradition·Founded 1863 CE·est. ~8 million worldwide

Islam → Shia Islam → The Bahá'í Faith

Branch
Rite of The Bahá'í Faith

Ninety-five times.

Alláh-u-Abhá — God is Most Glorious — repeated ninety-five times a day after washing. It is also how Bahá'ís greet each other, and its calligraphic form, drawn by a nineteenth-century Persian calligrapher, is the closest thing the faith has to an icon and hangs in a great many Bahá'í homes.

⏱ daily — ninety-five times◌ every Bahá'í over fifteen, alone
What happensRepeat Alláh-u-Abhá, God is Most Glorious, ninety-five times after performing ablutions
What it needsA quiet few minutes. Some use beads; the practice is not prescribed to be counted aloud
What it aims atThe Greatest Name. It is also the salutation Bahá'ís use to each other, and the calligraphic form of it hangs in Bahá'í homes
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this rite is held

After ablutions, the phrase Alláh-u-Abhá — God is Most Glorious — is repeated ninety-five times daily. Ninety-five is the numerical value of the word Abhá in the abjad system. The same phrase functions as the standard greeting between Bahá'ís worldwide, so a devotional formula doubles as a social one. Its calligraphic rendering, executed in the nineteenth century by Mishkín-Qalam, one of the Báb's and Bahá'u'lláh's calligrapher-followers, is the closest thing the faith has to a visual symbol and hangs in homes, on Assembly walls and on gravestones. The ringstone symbol, a related design of two stars and a stylised representation of the worlds of God, the Manifestation and humanity, is used on the burial ring and on jewellery. Neither is an image of anything, which keeps the aniconic principle intact — the faith's entire visual vocabulary is writing and geometry.

The same ground, other faiths

rites that share this one's ideas
The Namokar mantra. Jainism Go deeper →
The Psalms. Christianity · scripture Open the book →
Khushu. Islam · the interior Go deeper →
Remember the Name. Sikhism · core tenet Go deeper →
Calling the Name is enough. Pure Land · core tenet Go deeper →
Serve with fervor. Hasidism · core tenet Go deeper →

The conversation

argument stays attached to the rite it is about All discussion →

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