19 Save In The Prayer For The Dead The Practice Of Congregational Prayer Hath Been Annulled #12
Categories: NOTESSources: The Kitab-i-aqdas
Congregational prayer, in the sense of formal obligatory prayer which is
to be recited in accordance with a prescribed ritual as, for example, is
the custom in Islam where Friday prayer in the mosque is led by an imam,
has been annulled in the Baha'i Dispensation. The Prayer for the Dead (see
note 10) is the only congregational prayer prescribed by Baha'i law. It is
to be recited by one of those present while the remainder of the p
stands in silence; the reader has no special status. The congregation is
not required to face the Qiblih (Q and A 85).
The three daily Obligatory Prayers are to be recited individually, not in
congregation.
There is no prescribed way for the recital of the many other Baha'i
prayers, and all are free to use such non-obligatory prayers in gatherings
or individually as they please. In this regard, Shoghi Effendi states that
...although the friends are thus left to follow their own
inclination, ... they should take the utmost care that any manner
they practise should not acquire too rigid a character, and thus
develop into an institution. This is a point which the friends
should always bear in mind, lest they deviate from the clear path
indicated in the Teachings.
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