Service to humanity, an element of Bahá’í life.

Baha’i Houses of Worship

As service to humanity is an element of Bahá’í life in communities everywhere, no matter what their size or means, in communities where a Mashriqu’l-Adhkár emerges, the purpose of its dependencies is to systematize the facilitation of service to the common good by providing centres of education and scientific learning as well as cultural and humanitarian endeavour and by promoting the application of knowledge to serve social and spiritual progress.
Crucially, these two aspects of worship and service cannot be isolated from each other. Until translated and transfused into dynamic and disinterested service to the cause of humanity, the results of worship are limited; the dependencies of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár both promote this change and provide channels for it.

The Emergence of Bahá’í Houses of Worship. 
By Ann Boyles.

Worship, in Bahá’í practice

Bahá’í Houses of worship

Worship, in Bahá’í practice, is simple in form and open to all. In devotional gatherings, which the Universal House of Justice has called seeds of future Mashriqu’l-Adhkárs, any soul may enter, inhale the heavenly fragrances, experience the sweetness of prayer, meditate upon the Creative Word, be transported on the wings of the spirit, and commune with the one Beloved.
In a Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, worship is likewise without ritual or set patterns, and the object is the same.
As Shoghi Effendi wrote, the more universal and informal the character of Bahá’í worship in the Temple the better. Sacred scriptures from the Bahá’í Faith and other religions are read or chanted; there is no sermon or lecture, no collection of funds, no instrumental music, and no segregation for any reason such as sex, religion, or caste.

The Emergence of Bahá’í Houses of Worship.
By Ann Boyles.

Mashriqu’l-Adhkár

Baha'i Houses of Worship 

The first use of the term, Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, (the Dawning-place of the Praise of God)  with reference to gatherings, reflects the truth that any group of people in any locality in the world can create the spiritual environment of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár when they gather together to pray;
the second, in conjunction with structures, indicates a dedicated space, an outward frame that reveals the inward reality;
and the third signals the emergence of a formal institution as the inward reality strengthens and is expressed through action.
In fact, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá described the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár as one of the most vital institutions in the world. Elaborating on this, the Universal House of Justice refers to it as the focal point of the community from which it emerges because it not only provides a space for worship but also encompasses dependencies; together, these embody two essential and inseparable aspects of Bahá’í life: worship and service.

The Emergence of Bahá’í Houses of Worship.
By Ann Boyles.