Bahai Provisions: A Rehash Of Bayan

3.     Prayer Direction (Al-Qibla)
The passage, p.25 runs as follows: “whenever you desire to worship, turn your face towards my Most holy direction, the holy station which god made the place of circumambulation for the angels… and the service of command to all who are on the earth and in the heavens.”
The passage is from the Persian Bayan, iv, 16 which the Point prescribed for himself as Him-Who-Has-Appeared and for Him-Whom-God-Will-Make-Manifest.

The passage should be read together with that text at p.60, where Primal Point quotes as saying: “Indeed, the worship-direction (Al-Qibla) is He Whom God Manifests and wherever he turns till He is settled.” Baha’s quotation is from the Arabic Bayan, viii, 7, which runs as follows: “say, indeed al-Qibla is He Whom we manifest, when he turns it turns until he is settled. Therefore (the order of god] before is like unto that of afterwards, know ye. Say whichever ye may turn there is the face of god, ye gaze at god.” Enclosure III, Arabic Bayan, Wáhid viii, BÁB 7, p.34 text, printed.

This means that the Qibla is the Sun of Truth in each manifestation. God reveals Himself in the person of His manifestation. The Qibla varies with the change in the person of His manifestation. The provision in the Arabic Bayan is meant for the Primal Point as Him-Who-Has-Appeared as well as for Him-Whom-God-Will-Make-Manifest. The Qibla for Bayanis is Shiraz (chapter iv). When Baha set up his pretensions to be Him-Whom-God-Will-Make-Manifest he changed the Qibla from Shiraz to Acre.