A Bahá'í House of Worship or Bahá'í temple is a place of worship of the Baháʼí Faith. It is also referred to by the name Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (مشرق اﻻذكار), an Arabic phrase meaning "Dawning-place of the remembrance of God." The teachings of the religion envisage Houses of Worship being surrounded by a number of dependencies dedicated to social, humanitarian, educational, and scientific pursuits, although none has yet been built to such an extent. The Houses of Worship are open to the public, and are exclusively reserved for worship, where sermons are prohibited and only scriptural texts may be read or chanted. According to Shoghi Effendi, a Bahá'í temple is a “silent teacher” of the Bahá'í faith. Most Bahá'í meetings occur in local Haziratu'l-Quds (commonly known as Bahá'í centres), individu