IBefore you read
Some prayers run for pages and take a full hour to chant. This one has only three sentences, twenty-three Arabic words, and takes less than half a minute even when read slowly. Yet for the Bahá'ís who choose it, it is a duty of every single day: said alone, after washing the hands and face, standing turned towards a set direction, within a set span of hours between noon and sunset. Those three sentences hold a testimony about why human beings exist, an admission of where one stands before God, and a declaration of the oneness of God.
Vietnamese Bahá'ís call this prayer Kinh Cầu Nguyện Bắt Buộc Ngắn Nhất, the Shortest Obligatory Prayer, and in English it is the Short Obligatory Prayer. In the original, it belongs to the category of ṣalát صلاة. Arabic has several words for prayer, and according to the notes of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the word ṣalát refers specifically to a class of prayers that believers are bound to recite at certain times of the day. Other prayers, said whenever the heart moves one to, belong to a different class. The word obligatory in the name therefore does not mean compulsion from outside. It simply marks the prayer's place in the law of the faith: this is something the faith sets as a duty, not something left to whim.
The Bahá'í Faith has three obligatory prayers: the short, the medium and the long, all three by Bahá'u'lláh. Each believer chooses one of them to keep each day. The short prayer has only three sentences, so short that it can be learned by heart after a few readings, and it is the prayer this page presents.
This page sets out the complete Arabic text with full vowel marks, a Latin transliteration, the Vietnamese version that the Bahá'í community of Vietnam prints in its prayer book, and an English version translated by the library itself. The prayer has an official English translation by Shoghi Effendi, who served as Guardian of the faith from 1921 to 1957, and that is the version English speaking believers recite. The library does not reproduce that version but translates afresh from the original, to give readers one more view that stays close to the words. The library describes and explains. It does not set out to guide you in practice, nor does it judge this faith right or wrong compared with any other.
The textual history of the prayer lies within the story of the faith's law of prayer. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the book of laws that Bahá'u'lláh wrote in Arabic around 1873, prescribes an obligatory prayer of nine rak'ahs, that is, nine units of set verses accompanied by bowing and kneeling, to be said in the morning, at noon and in the evening. The notes of the edition of the Aqdas published by the Bahá'í World Centre in 1992 record that this nine rak'ah prayer was written in a separate document and was not released to the believers in Bahá'u'lláh's lifetime, because it had been replaced by the three obligatory prayers in use today.
The three current prayers are printed in the supplementary section of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, in both the original language edition and the English edition. In the original language edition on the Bahá'í Reference Library, the prayer itself is in Arabic, while the line of instruction that precedes it is in Persian and mentions the time of zawál زوال, the moment when the sun passes its highest point. This mix of two languages is a general pattern of the Bahá'í sacred writings: Arabic for prayers and solemn laws, Persian for exposition and letters.
The English version was translated by Shoghi Effendi, and translations into other languages by Bahá'í communities around the world usually follow that English version. The Vietnamese version is printed on page 13 of the book Kinh Cầu Nguyện Baha'i (Bahá'í Prayers) of the Hội Đồng Tinh Thần Tôn Giáo Baha'i Việt Nam (the Bahá'í Spiritual Assembly of Vietnam), a book file published openly on the website bahai.org.vn. The file gives neither the translator's name nor the year of printing. As the section on the three contrasting pairs below explains, the Vietnamese version follows the English version more closely than the Arabic original at one significant point.
IIThe full text in three sentences
| Verse | Original Arabic | Transliteration | English | Vietnamese, as printed by the Bahá'í community of Vietnam |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | أَشْهَدُ يَا إِلٰهِي بِأَنَّكَ خَلَقْتَنِي | Ashhadu yā ilāhī bi-annaka khalaqtanī | My God, I testify that You brought me into being | Lạy Thượng Đế của con, con xin chứng nhận rằng Ngài đã tạo nên con |
| 2 | لِعِرْفَانِكَ وَعِبَادَتِكَ | li-ʿirfānika wa-ʿibādatik. | so that I might come to know You and serve You in worship. | để hiểu biết Ngài và tôn thờ Ngài. |
| 3 | أَشْهَدُ فِي هٰذَا الْحِينِ بِعَجْزِي وَقُوَّتِكَ وَضَعْفِي وَاقْتِدَارِكَ | Ashhadu fī hādhā al-ḥīn bi-ʿajzī wa-quwwatika wa-ḍaʿfī wa-iqtidārika | I testify, in this very hour, to my helplessness and Your strength, to my weakness and Your sovereign power, | Con xin thú nhận, ngay lúc này, con thật là bất lực trước uy lực của Ngài, |
| 4 | وَفَقْرِي وَغَنَائِكَ | wa-faqrī wa-ghanāʾik. | to my need and Your self-sufficiency. | và nghèo nàn trước sự phong phú của Ngài. |
| 5 | لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ | Lā ilāha illā anta | There is no god but You, | Không có Thượng Đế nào khác ngoài Ngài, |
| 6 | الْمُهَيْمِنُ الْقَيُّومُ | al-Muhaymin al-Qayyūm. | the Watchful Guardian over all, the Ever-Abiding Sustainer. | Đấng Cứu nạn, Đấng Tự tồn. |
IIIPhrase by phrase commentary
The Vietnamese column above is the version the Vietnamese Bahá'í community prints for recitation, so the library keeps it word for word. To let you see what the original says as closely as possible to its wording, the library translates the whole prayer again as follows: I bear witness, O my God, that You created me to know You and to worship You. I bear witness, at this hour, to my powerlessness and Your strength, to my weakness and Your power, to my want and Your sufficiency. There is no god but You, the all-encompassing Guardian, the Self-Subsisting who upholds all things.
The ten phrases below follow the order of the original. For each phrase, the library gives the root meaning of the Arabic word, the places where the Vietnamese recited version chooses different words, and the differing interpretations where they exist. Many words in the prayer also occur in the Qur'an, a scripture familiar to the educated classes of Persia in Bahá'u'lláh's time. The library notes these overlaps as a linguistic fact and draws no conclusion from them about the relationship between the two faiths.
The prayer opens with a verb in the first person: I bear witness. The root is the three consonants sh, h, d, the same root as shahīd, a witness, and shahāda, testimony. Bearing witness is different from believing. A believer can keep faith inside the heart, whereas a witness speaks it aloud and puts their own name to what they say, like a witness before a tribunal.
The Vietnamese version renders this word in two ways in two places: the first time as con xin chứng nhận, I attest, and the second time as con xin thú nhận, I confess. In the original, both are the single word أَشْهَدُ. The translator changed the word the second time because what is said there concerns oneself, an acknowledgment of one's weakness, so the word confess sounds more natural in Vietnamese. But a reader of the original hears a repeated beat: the prayer contains two testimonies, one about the purpose of human life and one about the human condition, and then closes with the declaration of faith.
Yā is a word of address, like O. Ilāhī is the word ilāh, god, the one who is worshipped, with the first person suffix, giving my God. The testimony is therefore not spoken to some invisible tribunal but directly to the very One about whom witness is borne.
The word ilāh here and the word ilāh in the last sentence لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ are one and the same. The prayer opens with my God and closes with there is no god but You, moving from one person's own relationship to a statement that holds for everyone. The Vietnamese version renders the opening address as Lạy Thượng Đế của con, O my God, with the reverent word lạy, using the familiar form of Vietnamese prayer in which the one praying calls themselves con, child, and addresses God as Ngài, a reverent You.
Literally: that it is You who created me. The verb khalaqa means to create, to bring into being from nothing. The word anna introduces an affirmed clause, so the sentence stresses that the reader is bearing witness to a truth, not merely recounting it.
What is worth noticing is that the first thing the reader bears witness to is not the existence of God but the relationship between God and oneself: You created me. Everything that follows is built on that relationship.
Literally: to know You and to worship You. The prefix li marks purpose. This is the prayer's most concise answer to the question of what human beings are born for.
The word ʿirfān deserves a pause. Arabic has the word ʿilm for ordinary knowledge, learning. ʿIrfān leans towards recognition, a knowing with one's whole being, and in the Persian mystical tradition it is also the name of an entire current of spiritual knowledge. The Vietnamese version renders it as hiểu biết, understanding, which keeps the general sense but not that shade of recognition.
On the question of what knowing God means, two readings are common. The first takes it in a broad sense: human beings were created to turn their hearts towards God. The second reads it through the specific teaching of the Bahá'í Faith, in which God in His essence lies beyond human comprehension, and the knowing that is possible is recognizing Him through His Manifestations. On this reading, the opening of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas says that the first duty of human beings is to recognize the One who is the Dayspring of God's Revelation, and passage XXIX of the anthology Gleanings says that God's purpose in creating human beings is to enable them to know their Creator and to attain His Presence. The two readings do not exclude each other, but they place the emphasis differently.
On the order of the two words: knowing comes first, worship second. Readers familiar with the Qur'an will recall verse 51:56, where God declares that He created the jinn and humankind only so that they might worship Him. The Bahá'í prayer keeps that word worship but puts the word know before it. Some read this order as deliberate, worship having to spring from recognition, while others see it as simply the rhythm of the sentence. The library records both views.
Literally: at this time. The Arabic word ḥīn can refer to a brief moment or a longer span of time, depending on the context. The Vietnamese version renders it as ngay lúc này, right at this moment, and that is also how translations generally understand it.
This phrase ties the prayer to the hour of its recitation. The prayer is said within a set span of hours each day, and the second testimony is placed exactly in that moment. The reader does not bear witness to the human condition in general once and for all, but bears witness afresh every day, at the very moment of standing there.
This is the first contrasting pair. ʿAjz is powerlessness, being unable to do something. Quwwa is strength. The suffix ī means my, and the suffix ka means Your. This structure repeats three times in the sentence: something of mine set beside something of Yours, joined by the word wa, and.
Note that the prayer does not say I am powerless before Your strength. The original simply sets the two side by side: I bear witness to my powerlessness and to Your strength. The Vietnamese version adds the word trước, before, to join the two halves into a single image, a human being standing before might. That is a translator's choice, and it makes the Vietnamese sentence easier to read, but the original lets the two testimonies stand in parallel.
The second contrasting pair: ḍaʿf is weakness, and iqtidār is power, the capacity to accomplish what one intends. The word iqtidār shares the root q, d, r with the word qadīr, the One who has power over all things, a familiar Arabic name of God.
This is the phrase that most needs to be spelled out on this page. Neither the official English version nor the Vietnamese community version has this pair as a separate item. In those two versions the sentence has only two pairs, powerlessness with might and poverty with wealth, whereas the Arabic original in all three sources the library checked has all three pairs. The most reasonable explanation is that the translator of the English version merged two pairs of close meaning, powerlessness and weakness, strength and power, into a single pair. The library has not found an official explanation for this merging, so it only records the difference, and in the English column translated by the library it keeps all three pairs. The section on the three contrasting pairs below sets this out as a table.
As to the wording, both fully vowelled copies the library checked write ḍaʿf with the vowel a. Arabic also has the form ḍuʿf with the vowel u for the same meaning of weakness, but none of the sources the library consulted gives that form for this prayer.
The third contrasting pair: faqr is poverty, want, and ghanāʾ is wealth, a fullness that needs nothing. The Vietnamese version renders this as nghèo nàn trước sự phong phú của Ngài, poor before Your abundance.
When the word ghanāʾ is said of God, it means self-sufficiency rather than material riches. Readers familiar with the Qur'an will recognize this pair of words in verse 35:15, where humankind is called needy of God, while God is the Self-Sufficient. In the Bahá'í prayer, that pair of words becomes the reader's own speech: not something said about human beings, but something a human being says about themselves.
Looking at all three pairs, there is a clear direction. The first pair is about being able or unable to act, the second about strength, the third about needing or not needing. Some read these as three aspects of one and the same condition, others as a ladder descending from action to being itself. The original does not explain itself, and the library does not choose on your behalf.
Literally: there is no god but You. This is the familiar Arabic formula of the oneness of God, but in the second person. The more familiar form is in the third person, lā ilāha illā huwa, there is no god but He, as when speaking about God to others. Here the reader is still speaking directly to God, so the declaration of faith becomes an address.
This second person form also occurs in the Qur'an, for instance in verse 21:87, the cry of the prophet Yūnus in the darkness. The Vietnamese version renders it as Không có Thượng Đế nào khác ngoài Ngài, there is no God other than You, using the word Thượng Đế, God, for the word ilāh to keep the form of address consistent throughout the Vietnamese prayer text.
The prayer closes with two names of God, both found in the Qur'an. Al-Muhaymin appears in verse 59:23, within a series of divine names. Al-Qayyūm appears in verse 2:255, the verse Muslims call the Throne Verse, right beside the word al-Ḥayy, the Ever-Living.
The word muhaymin is hard to translate, and Arab lexicographers understand it in different ways. One reading is the Guardian, the Protector. Another is the One who encompasses and rules over all things. Another is the One who witnesses and watches over. The official English version chose the sense of one who helps in time of peril, and the Vietnamese version follows it with Đấng Cứu nạn, the Rescuer from peril. The library translates it as the all-encompassing Guardian, to keep both the sense of protection and the sense of encompassing.
The word qayyūm is an intensive form of the root q, w, m, meaning to stand. The One who is qayyūm stands firm by Himself without needing any support, and at the same time upholds everything else. The Vietnamese version calls Him Đấng Tự tồn, the Self-Existent, which keeps the first half of the meaning. Placing these two names right after the three contrasting pairs closes the prayer very tightly: the human being has just admitted to being powerless, weak and in want, and the One named last of all is the One who protects and the One who stands firm by Himself.
IVThree obligatory prayers, believers choose one
Newcomers often ask: do Bahá'ís have to say this prayer every day? The more precise answer is that Bahá'ís must say one of the three obligatory prayers every day, and the short prayer is one of those three options. The three prayers differ greatly in length, in the time of recitation and in the ritual that goes with them.
The introductory note before the obligatory prayers in the English Bahá'í prayer book quotes Shoghi Effendi, and the library gives its sense as follows: there are three daily obligatory prayers, believers are entirely free to choose any one of them, but they are under the obligation to recite one, in accordance with the specific directions that accompany it. The Vietnamese book Kinh Cầu Nguyện Baha'i prints a note with the same meaning in its section Về Kinh Cầu Nguyện Bắt Buộc (On the Obligatory Prayers): believers are entirely free to choose any one of the three, but are obliged to recite one.
| Prayer | How often, and when | Accompanying ritual |
|---|---|---|
| Short prayer, three sentences | Once in twenty-four hours, at any time between noon and sunset | Ablutions of hands and face, facing the Qiblih. No bowing or kneeling is prescribed. Asked whether one should sit or stand, Bahá'u'lláh answered that standing in an attitude of humility is more fitting. |
| Medium prayer | Three times a day: in the morning, at noon and in the evening | Ablutions of hands and face with specific verses said while washing, facing the Qiblih, with standing, bowing and sitting between the verses. |
| Long prayer | Once in twenty-four hours, at whatever time the reader feels humble and full of longing | Ablutions of hands and face, facing the Qiblih, a long prayer in several passages, with standing, raising the hands, kneeling, bowing the forehead and sitting as directed in each passage. |
What noon means
The line of instruction printed above the short prayer says that it is to be recited once in twenty-four hours, at noon. The Vietnamese book prints exactly that: Đọc một lần trong 24 giờ, vào buổi trưa, to be read once in 24 hours, at noon. A first-time reader may easily take this to mean the prayer must be said exactly when the clock shows twelve.
The law of the faith allows a wider span. In the Questions and Answers of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, question 83, when asked what morning, noon and evening mean, Bahá'u'lláh answered that they are sunrise, noon and sunset, and that the permitted times for prayer are from morning until noon, from noon until sunset, and from sunset until two hours afterwards. The synopsis of the laws printed with the Aqdas also records that noon, in the obligatory prayers, means the span from noon until sunset. So those who choose the short prayer have the whole afternoon in which to say it, starting from the moment the sun passes its highest point rather than from twelve o'clock by the clock, since the time the sun passes its highest point shifts with the seasons and with the longitude of where one lives.
Set beside the prayer laws of traditions from the same region, the pattern of three prayers with a choice of one is a distinctive feature. The Islamic tradition keeps five obligatory prayers a day with a fixed number of rak'ahs. The nine rak'ah prayer in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas still followed that pattern of many rounds of bowing and kneeling. The three replacement prayers go further: one prayer said three times a day with gestures, one long prayer with gestures, and one short prayer with no prescribed gestures, said once. The notes of the Aqdas explain that the new law is lighter than earlier laws in the number of times and rounds, and the believer's freedom to choose among the three prayers is something Shoghi Effendi stated clearly. The library records this difference as a fact about ritual structure and does not judge which side is more right.
VThree contrasting pairs and two translations
Anyone who places the Arabic original beside the official English version will at once see a discrepancy: the second sentence of the original has three contrasting pairs, while the English version has only two. The Vietnamese community version follows the English version, also with two pairs. The library sets them out below for you to compare.
| Original | Literal meaning | In the Vietnamese community version |
|---|---|---|
| بِعَجْزِي وَقُوَّتِكَ | my powerlessness and Your strength | con thật là bất lực trước uy lực của Ngài (I am truly powerless before Your might) |
| وَضَعْفِي وَاقْتِدَارِكَ | my weakness and Your power | not separate, the sense is merged into the pair of powerlessness and might |
| وَفَقْرِي وَغَنَائِكَ | my want and Your sufficiency | và nghèo nàn trước sự phong phú của Ngài (and poor before Your abundance) |
As to why this merging occurred, the library has not found an official explanation and so draws no conclusion. Two known facts can be stated. First, all three sources of the original that the library checked, including the edition printed by the Bahá'í World Centre, have all three pairs, so this is not a difference between Arabic manuscripts. Second, in English the two pairs of powerlessness with weakness and strength with power are very close in meaning, and translating both in full easily makes the sentence heavy and repetitive. Those who translate prayers to be read aloud often have to balance closeness to the words against the rhythm of the sentence, and this English version is a translation meant to be read aloud.
For Bahá'ís, Shoghi Effendi's English version carries authority as a translation accepted by the faith, and communities recite it or the translation into their own language. From the believers' point of view, this discrepancy is therefore not an error to be corrected but a feature of the translation. The library points it out only so that you can read the original in full.
The words the Vietnamese version chooses
Besides merging two pairs, the Vietnamese community version makes several word choices worth knowing when placed beside the original.
- Lạy Thượng Đế của con, O my God: the address يَا إِلٰهِي is moved to the head of the sentence, in the manner of Vietnamese prayers, while the original puts the verb of bearing witness first.
- Chứng nhận, attest, and thú nhận, confess: one Arabic word is translated two ways in two places, as explained in the commentary section.
- Hiểu biết, understanding, for the word ʿirfān, and tôn thờ, worship, for the word ʿibāda: two familiar Vietnamese words, easy to read aloud.
- Trước, before: a linking word added between the two halves of each pair, creating the image of a human being standing before God.
- Đấng Cứu nạn, the Rescuer from peril, and Đấng Tự tồn, the Self-Existent: these follow the way the English version understands the two names al-Muhaymin and al-Qayyūm.
None of these choices distorts the meaning. They show that the Vietnamese version was made to be read aloud, to be prayed, not for scholarly study, and that is also why the library keeps that version unchanged in the Vietnamese column.
VIWhen and how believers say it
The Bahá'í Faith has very little ritual, and the obligatory prayer is one of the few places where there are specific rules. What follows is what the sacred writings and the authoritative texts of the faith record, and the library reports it as an observer.
Once in twenty-four hours, within the span from noon, when the sun passes its highest point, until sunset. This span is stated clearly in the Questions and Answers of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, question 83.
The obligatory prayer is said individually, with no one standing in front to lead and a congregation following. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas abolishes congregational prayer, except for the prayer for the dead. The introductory book of the Bahá'í community of Vietnam also states clearly that the obligatory prayers are prayed by each individual alone and not prayed together.
The reader turns to face the Qiblih قبلة, that is, the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh at Bahjí, near Akka, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. According to the notes of the Aqdas, this direction is a fixed requirement of the obligatory prayer, while other prayers are not bound to any direction. The faith's main page in this library has calculated that direction as about 297 degrees from Hà Nội and about 301 degrees from Hồ Chí Minh City, that is, west northwest.
The short prayer prescribes no bowing or kneeling. In the Questions and Answers of the Aqdas, question 81, when asked whether the third obligatory prayer should be said sitting or standing, Bahá'u'lláh answered that standing in an attitude of humility is preferable and more fitting.
Before the obligatory prayer, the reader washes the hands and face. The notes of the Aqdas, note 34, record that these ablutions carry a meaning beyond cleanliness: even someone who has just bathed still washes hands and face before praying. With the medium prayer, specific verses are said while washing. With the short prayer, the sacred text prescribes only the washing.
According to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, someone with no water for ablutions says five times the verse In the Name of God, the Most Pure, the Most Pure, and then begins the prayer. The Questions and Answers, question 51, extends this to those for whom using water would harm the body.
Who keeps this practice
The Kitáb-i-Aqdas makes prayer and fasting obligatory from the age of maturity, and its notes, note 13, set the age of maturity for religious duties at fifteen, for both men and women. Children in Bahá'í families often learn the short prayer by heart before that age, but the obligation begins at fifteen.
The law also records cases of exemption. According to note 14, those who are ill are not bound by the duty of prayer and fasting while ill, and those aged seventy and over are exempt, an age stated clearly in question 74 of the Questions and Answers. According to note 20, women during their menstrual days are exempt from the obligatory prayer, and instead wash their hands and face and repeat a set verse of praise ninety-five times each day.
A day in the life of someone who chooses the short prayer
Putting the rules together, a day for someone who chooses the short prayer runs simply like this. After noon, at any convenient moment before sunset, the person finds a quiet place, washes hands and face, stands facing the direction of Bahjí, and says the three sentences, either in the Arabic original or in a translation into their own language. No temple is needed, no officiant, no ritual objects. The whole act can be done in a minute or two, at home, at work or anywhere at all.
Alongside the obligatory prayer, note 34 of the Aqdas also mentions another daily practice that likewise requires washing hands and face first: repeating the phrase الله أبهى, Alláh-u-Abhá, God is Most Glorious, ninety-five times. The two practices are separate, and Bahá'ís keep both.
As for differences from place to place, the Bahá'í Faith is not divided into branches with their own rituals for this prayer, as many older religions are. The differences lie in language: some recite the Arabic original learned by heart, others recite a translation into their mother tongue. In Vietnam, the community's prayer book prints the prayer in Vietnamese. Online, projects such as The Utterance Project produce recordings of the Arabic original with subtitles in many languages, for those who wish to recite along with the original sounds.
The library records the above so that you can understand what you see when a Bahá'í friend quietly stands facing a particular direction in the afternoon. Everything concrete about keeping this practice is a matter for the Bahá'í community, and you should ask them directly.
VIICommon misunderstandings
The prayer is short and often mentioned, so it is also often misunderstood, especially by people used to the prayer laws of other faiths. The six points below are the ones the library encounters most often.
No. There are three obligatory prayers, and each believer chooses one to keep. Shoghi Effendi stated clearly that believers are entirely free to choose, but are obliged to recite one.
No. The three prayers are three separate texts, with different wording, different times of recitation and different rituals. The short prayer is not taken from the long or the medium prayer, and saying the short prayer fulfils the duty in full, not in part.
The word noon in the law refers to a span, from the moment the sun passes its highest point until sunset, according to the Questions and Answers of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, question 83. The reader has the whole afternoon in which to choose a moment.
No. The Qiblih of the Bahá'í Faith is the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh at Bahjí, near Akka. That direction is required only when saying the obligatory prayer, while other prayers are not bound to any direction.
No. The obligatory prayer is said individually. The Bahá'í Faith has no clergy or officiants, and the only prayer said together under its law is the prayer for the dead.
Nearly, but not entirely. The Arabic original has three contrasting pairs: powerlessness and strength, weakness and power, want and sufficiency. The official English version and the Vietnamese community version have only two pairs. The library's English column keeps all three.
?Quick Questions
What is the Bahá'í Short Obligatory Prayer
It is one of the three daily obligatory prayers revealed by Bahá'u'lláh in Arabic, and the shortest of them, only three sentences and twenty-three words. It consists of a testimony that God created human beings to know Him and to worship Him, a testimony to the powerlessness, weakness and want of human beings before the strength, power and sufficiency of God, and the declaration that there is no god but Him. Vietnamese Bahá'ís call this prayer Kinh Cầu Nguyện Bắt Buộc Ngắn Nhất, the Shortest Obligatory Prayer.
When is the Short Obligatory Prayer said
Once in twenty-four hours, at noon. According to the Questions and Answers of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, question 83, and the synopsis of the laws printed with it, noon here means the whole span from the moment the sun passes its highest point until sunset, not exactly twelve o'clock by the clock.
Why do the Vietnamese and English versions have only two contrasting pairs
The Arabic original has three pairs: عَجْز and قُوَّة, powerlessness and strength, ضَعْف and اقْتِدَار, weakness and power, فَقْر and غَنَاء, want and sufficiency. Shoghi Effendi's official English version merges the first two pairs, which are close in meaning, into one, and the Vietnamese community version follows the English version. The library has not found an official explanation for this merging, so it only records the difference.
Do Bahá'ís have to wash their hands and face before saying it
Yes. According to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and its notes, note 34, the reader washes hands and face before each obligatory prayer, even after having just bathed. If there is no water, or if using water would harm the body, a set verse is said five times in place of the washing. The short prayer requires only the washing, while the verses said during the washing belong to the medium prayer.
Which direction do Bahá'ís face for the obligatory prayer
They face the Qiblih, that is, the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh at Bahjí, near Akka, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, where he passed away in 1892. From Vietnam that direction is west northwest, about 297 degrees from Hà Nội and 301 degrees from Hồ Chí Minh City by the library's calculation. The direction is required only for the obligatory prayer, not for other prayers.