June 9

We have enjoined obligatory prayer upon you, with nine rak’áhs, [1] to be offered at noon and in the morning and the evening unto God, the Revealer of Verses. We have relieved you of a greater number, as a command in the Book of God. He, verily, is the Ordainer, the Omnipotent, the Unrestrained. When ye desire to perform this prayer, turn ye towards the Court of My Most Holy Presence, this Hallowed Spot that God hath made the Centre round which circle the Concourse on High, and which He hath decreed to be the Point of Adoration for the denizens of the Cities of Eternity, and the Source of Command unto all that are in heaven and on earth; and when the Sun of Truth and Utterance shall set, turn your faces towards the Spot that We have ordained for you. He, verily, is Almighty and Omniscient. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘The Kitab-i-Aqdas)

[1] The Obligatory Prayer … referred to in this verse [of the Kitab-i-Aqdas] has been superseded by the three Obligatory Prayers later revealed by Bahá’u’lláh…

 A rak’áh is the recitation of specifically revealed verses accompanied by a prescribed set of genuflections and other movements.

 The Obligatory Prayer originally enjoined by Bahá’u’lláh upon His followers consisted of nine rak’áhs. The precise nature of this prayer and the specific instructions for its recitation are unknown, as the prayer has been lost…

 The original Obligatory Prayer had “for reasons of wisdom” been revealed by Bahá’u’lláh in a separate Tablet... It was not released to the believers in His lifetime, having been superseded by the three Obligatory Prayers now in use.

 Shortly after the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh, the text of this prayer, along with a number of other Tablets, was stolen by Muhammad-‘Alí, the Arch-breaker of His Covenant.  

(From the “Notes” section of the ‘Kitab-i-Aqdas’, prepared by the Research department of the Universal House of Justice)