The one-day conference is gathering a considerable number of senior officials and Shia and Sunni scholars together in Bandar Abbas, a port city on the southern coast of Iran.

The conference aims at promoting prayer, or ‘namaz’ as it is called in Persian – a religious act of worship carried out five times a day and considered as one of the pillars of Islam.

In a message issued on the occasion, Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted the need for employing all existing capacities to invite the nation to perform prayers, adding “organizers of this annual gathering should appreciate this great divine responsibility with which they have been tasked with and continue to persist on the path of righteousness, and know that God Almighty will be with those who are patient and resilient.”