Ablutions are to be performed by the believer in preparation for the offering of obligatory prayer. They consist of washing the hands and face. If water is unavailable, the repetition five times of the specifically revealed verse is prescribed. See note 34 for a general discussion of ablutions. Antecedents in earlier Dispensations for the provision of substitute procedures to be followed when no water is available are found in the Qur’án and in the Arabic Bayán. 17. In regions where the days and nights grow long, let times of prayer be gauged by clocks and other instruments that mark the passage of the hours. #10 This refers to territories situated in the extreme north or south, where the duration of days and nights varies markedly (Q and A 64 and 103). This provision applies also to fasting. 18. We have absolved you from the requirement of performing the Prayer of the Signs. #11 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 Bahá’í 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). 19. Save in the Prayer for the Dead, the practice of congregational prayer hath been annulled. #12 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 (see note 10) 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 (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 Bahá’í 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. 20. God hath exempted women who are in their courses from obligatory prayer and fasting. #13