Pulpits

Pulpits are prohibited; to sit on a chair on a dais

"Ye have been prohibited from making use of pulpits. Whoso wisheth to recite unto you the verses of his Lord, let him sit on a chair placed upon a dais, that he may make mention of God, his Lord, and the Lord of all mankind.

(Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, 154)

No pulpits in any location (sit, stand, or use a platform); speeches of believers to be with the utmost humility

"...In the case of meetings in places other than the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, it is also permissible for the reader or speaker to sit or stand, and to use a platform. In one of His Tablets, when reiterating the prohibition of the use of pulpits in any location, 'Abdu'l-Bahá has stressed that when Bahá'ís deliver their speeches in gatherings, they are to do so in an attitude of utmost humility and self-abnegation."

(Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Note 168)

• See House of Worship Auditorium for the policy in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár

The Báb has made such a law (forbidding use of pulpits) in the Persian Bayán

"These provisions have their antecedent in the Persian Bayán. The Báb forbade the use of pulpits for the delivery of sermons and the reading of the Text. He specified, instead, that to enable all to hear the Word of God clearly, a chair for the speaker should be placed upon a platform..."

(Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Note 168)

See also

• Seating
• Star of the West, vol. 3, issue 17, p. 4 - 'Abdu'l-Baha at first hesitant to ascend a pulpit until made clear that some were above him in the gallery and could hear better