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 Islám where Friday prayer in the mosque is led by an
imám, has been annulled in the Bahá’í Dispensation. The Prayer for the Dead is
the only congregational prayer prescribed by Bahá’í law. It is to be recited by
one of those present while the remainder of the party stands in silence; the
reader has no special status. The congregation is not
required to face the Qiblih.
- The Universal House of Justice (‘Notes’
section of ‘The Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
