5 Powerful Prayers for Your Parents

Our parents brought us into this world and helped shape us into the people we are today. So, remembering them in our daily prayers is the least we can do to show our appreciation for them.

The Bab, the herald of Baha’u’llah — the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, advised us to, after every prayer we say, “supplicate God to bestow mercy and forgiveness” upon our parents. He wrote:

Thousand upon thousand of what thou hast asked for thy parents shall be thy recompense!

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We’re blessed when we remember our mother and father when we commune with God. The central figures of the Baha’i Faith revealed the following prayers for us to recite for our parents.

1. A Prayer for Your Mother

We owe so much gratitude to our mothers who carried us for nine months, gave birth to us, and fed us from their bodies. Here is a prayer we can say that was revealed specifically for our mothers:

O Thou forgiving God! Forgive the sins of my loving mother, pardon her shortcomings, cast upon her the glance of Thy gracious providence, and enable her to gain admittance into Thy Kingdom.

O God! From the earliest days of my life she educated and nurtured me, yet I did not recompense her for her toil and labours. Do Thou reward her by granting her eternal life and making her exalted in Thy Kingdom.

Verily, Thou art the Forgiver, the Bestower, and the Kind.

2. A Prayer for Your Father

Abdu’l‑Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah and the authorized interpreter of the Baha’i writings, revealed this prayer for us to recite for our fathers. In this prayer, we ask God to submerge our father in divine grace:

O Lord! In this Most Great Dispensation Thou dost accept the intercession of children in behalf of their parents. This is one of the special infinite bestowals of this Dispensation.

Therefore, O Thou kind Lord, accept the request of this Thy servant at the threshold of Thy singleness and submerge his father in the ocean of Thy grace, because this son hath arisen to render Thee service and is exerting effort at all times in the pathway of Thy love. Verily, Thou art the Giver, the Forgiver and the Kind!

3. A Prayer for Your Parents

In this prayer for the mercy and forgiveness of our parents, we ask God to purify our mother and father from “every sin and transgression:”

O Divine Providence! Immerse the father and mother of this servant of Thy Threshold in the ocean of Thy forgiveness, and purge and sanctify them from every sin and transgression. Grant them Thy forgiveness and mercy, and bestow upon them Thy gracious pardon. Thou, verily, art the Pardoner, the Ever-Forgiving, the Bestower of abundant grace.

O Thou forgiving Lord! Though we are sinners, yet our hopes are fixed upon Thy promise and assurance. Though we are enveloped by the darkness of error, yet we have at all times turned our faces to the morn of Thy bountiful favours. Deal with us as beseemeth Thy Threshold, and confer upon us that which is worthy of Thy Court. Thou art the Ever-Forgiving, the Pardoner, He Who overlooketh every shortcoming.

4. A Prayer for You and Your Parents 

If you or your parents feel like you haven’t done enough to serve humanity and reflect God’s love, you may want to say this prayer that was revealed by the Bab. In this prayer, we ask God to pardon us, and our parents, and wash all of our sins away:

I beg Thy forgiveness, O my God, and implore pardon after the manner Thou wishest Thy servants to direct themselves to Thee. I beg of Thee to wash away our sins as befitteth Thy Lordship, and to forgive me, my parents, and those who in Thy estimation have entered the abode of Thy love in a manner which is worthy of Thy transcendent sovereignty and well beseemeth the glory of Thy celestial power.

O my God! Thou hast inspired my soul to offer its supplication to Thee, and but for Thee, I would not call upon Thee. Lauded and glorified art Thou; I yield Thee praise inasmuch as Thou didst reveal Thyself unto me, and I beg Thee to forgive me, since I have fallen short in my duty to know Thee and have failed to walk in the path of Thy love.

5. A Short Prayer for You and Your Parents

Baha’u’llah revealed this prayer, so we may ask God for His favor, grace, and bounty:

Thou seest, O Lord, our suppliant hands lifted up towards the heaven of Thy favor and bounty. Grant that they may be filled with the treasures of Thy munificence and bountiful favor.

Forgive us, and our fathers, and our mothers, and fulfill whatsoever we have desired from the ocean of Thy grace and Divine generosity. Accept, O Beloved of our hearts, all our works in Thy path. Thou art, verily, the Most Powerful, the Most Exalted, the Incomparable, the One, the Forgiving, the Gracious.

Whether your mother and father are living or deceased, these five Baha’i prayers are powerful for imploring God to bestow mercy, grace, and forgiveness upon you and your parents.