18. We have absolved you from the requirement of performing the Prayer of the Signs.
The Prayer of the Signs is a special form of Muslim obligatory prayer that was ordained to be said in times of natural events, like earthquakes, eclipses, and other such phenomena, which may cause fear and are taken to be signs or acts of God. The requirement of performing this prayer has been annulled. In its place a Baha'i may say, "Dominion is God's, the Lord of the seen and the unseen, the Lord of creation," but this is not obligatory (Q and A 52). (172:3)

19. Save in the Prayer for the Dead, the practice of congregational prayer hath been annulled.
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 party stands in silence; the reader has no special status. The congregation is not required to face the Qiblih (Q and A 85). (172:4)

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