29 August 2001

Transmitted by E-mail.

To The National Spiritual Assembly
of the Bahá’ís of South Africa

Dear Bahá’í Friends,

     Your email of 16 August 2001, enquiring on behalf of a few believers in your community about the authenticity of a prayer which begins with the words “O my God! Thou seest me detached...”, was received at the Bahá’í World Centre.

     The Research Department of the Universal House of Justice has advised that the prayer in question was revealed by Bahá’u’lláh to 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 19 times, followed by meditation on the problem, the formulation of a solution, and the implementation of the conceived solution.

     There is no authorized translation for this prayer. However, as it was noted that the electronic copy of the prayer which you appended to your message differs from the version held at the World Centre, we provide the following provisional translation for your information.

     You may be interested to know that the Research Department has ascertained that the prayer was revealed in Arabic and is published in Majmú’iy-i-Alváh-i-Mubarakiy-i-Hadrat-i-Bahá’u’lláh (Tihrán: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 132 B.E.), page 9, transcribed by ’Andalib.^[1]

With loving Bahá’í greetings,


Department of the Secretariat
Universal House of Justice

---

Múnáját-i-Jináb-i-Samandarí^[2]

Short Prayer for Decision
Revealed for Shaykh Kázim Samandar^[3]

Provisional Translation by the Bahá’í World Centre

     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.

Notes

^[1] No date or period of revelation for this text is known to the present editor (MW’s note).

^[2] The Arabic title given to this text is merely provided for identification purposes and does not occur in the original. The editor thanks Dr. Mehrán Ghasempour for suggesting this title (MW’s note).

^[3] Shaykh Kázim-i-Qazviní (1844 - 189?), surnamed Samandar, by Bahá’u’lláh and named as one of the Apostles of the Blessed Beauty. He was an outstanding teacher and champion of the Faith, and, from his earliest days, associated with many of the heros and heroines of the Bábí Dispensation. In 1867, during the Most Great Separation, he wrote a treatise denouncing and refuting the claims of Mírzá Yahyá, and became a pillar of strength for the Bahá’ís of ’Irán, particularly in Qazvín. Later, near the end of his life, he defended the Covenant from the misrepresentations and lies of Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alí. Many Tablets by Bahá’u’lláh were addressed to him, including the Lawh-i-Fu’ád (See  Summons of the Lord of Hosts: Tablets of Bahá‘u‘lláh, pp. 177-181). He was also an historian; his work, the Tarikh-i-Samandar (The History of Samandar), which was printed in Tíhrán in 1974, is cited many times by ‘Adib Taherzadeh. See The Revelation of Bahá‘u‘lláh, Vol. II, pp. 88-91 (MW’s note).