"Regarding the Baha'i funeral service: It is extremely simple, as it
consists only of a congregational prayer to be read before burial. This
prayer will be made available to the friends when the Aqdas is translated
and published. In the meantime your N.S.A. should take great care lest any
uniform procedure or ritual in this matter be adopted or imposed upon the
friends. The danger in this, as in some other cases regarding Baha'i
worship, is that a definite system of rigid rituals and practices be
developed among the believers. The utmost simplicity and flexibility
should be observed, and a selection from the Baha'i Sacred Writing should
serve the purpose at the present time, provided this selection is not
rigidly and uniformly adopted on all such occasions."
"There is no objection whatsoever to non-Baha'is being present when the
long prayer for the dead is read, as long as they respect our manner of
reading it by rising and standing as the Baha'is do on this occasion. Nor,
indeed, is there any objection to non-Baha'is being present during the
reading of any Baha'i prayer for the departed.
"An official Baha'i funeral service should only be given for a believer,
but there is no objection to the reading of Baha'i prayers, or indeed, to
a Baha'i conducting the funeral service of a non-Baha'i if this has been
requested."