Prayer - Dawn

Although the words 'at dawn' are used in the Divine Book, nevertheless, such prayer is acceptable to God at dawn and after dawn to sunrise, and further until two hours after the sun has risen.

Can daily early morning prayer sessions be held? If so, where and when? (If this is not feasible every day, an effort could be made to hold such sessions less frequently. At such devotional meetings not only prayers, but suitable selections from the Sacred Writings could be read.

In the courses for Local Spiritual Assembly members special attention should be paid to. .. the vital necessity of prayer, and the value of holding gatherings for dawn prayers where and when feasible. . .

One of the characteristics of Bahá’í society will be the gathering of the believers each day during the hours between dawn and two hours after sunrise to listen to the reading and chanting of the Holy Word. In many communities at the present time, especially in rural ones, such gatherings would fit naturally into the pattern of the friends' daily life, and where this is the case it would do much to foster the unity of the Local community and deepen the friends' knowledge of the Teachings if such gathering could be organized by the Local Spiritual Assembly on a regular basis. Attendance at these gatherings is not to be obligatory, but we hope that the friends will more and more be drawn to take part in them. This is a goal which can be attained gradually.

We have been watching with profound interest the manner in which the goal of encouraging the friends to meet for dawn prayers is being carried out. In some rural areas this has become already an established practice of the friends and indeed a source of blessing and benefit to them as they pursue their activities during the day, as well as increasing the consciousness of community solidarity. In other areas, the friends have found that, because of the distances involved, better results are obtained by meeting for prayer in smaller groups. In yet other areas, as a first step, plans have been made to meet for dawn prayers once a week.

The encouragement of the believers by Local Spiritual Assemblies to gather each day during the hours between dawn and two hours after sunrise, in localities where such gatherings would fit into the pattern of the friends' lives, to listen to the reading and chanting of the Holy Word.