RELIGION in its fullest development, its perfection, will have the outward and visible form in complete correspondence with the inward invisible spirit. Its institutions, its philosophy, and its essential spiritual purpose will be in full harmony and agreement.
The Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, the symbol and embodiment of the Bahá’í Revelation, is the outcome and fulfillment of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh in the world of action. It embodies those teachings in a manner applying them to daily life. It makes unity a practice and habit as well as an ideal. It identifies religion with the social body, not by materializing religion, but by inspiring society. The appearance of an institution of this character in the world today is a proof of the re-birth of religion acceptable to those who have lost faith in the evidences of doctrine.
The present age is moving toward the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in its realization of the need to co-ordinate the churches with the fundamental problems of civilization, and in the willingness to abandon unnecessary duplication of religious effort. Community churches have come into existence which foreshadow the Bahá’í Temple in many respects, but none possesses the whole range of its significance.
In the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár we have a house of worship and devotion open to people of all religions, races and classes without distinction. Its services consist of reading and chanting the holy Word. The purpose is to turn the heart directly to the divine Source, and this purpose is not compatible with human sermons or the artifice of ritual. There will be the music of voices but not of instrument. Those who enter the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár will do so most frequently in order to meditate and pray.
The Bahá’í House of Worship becomes new and unique in that the central edifice will be surrounded with accessory buildings of humanitarian intent, and the relation of all these buildings one with another and with the central edifice discloses the relation of the organic functions of society with the spirit of religion. The Mashriqu’l-Adhkár perfectly symbolizes the two-fold nature of religion—one aspect the turning to God, the other aspect service to man. As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has said: “Religion is an attitude toward God reflected in life.”
The writings of the Bahá’í Movement contain many references to the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár.
In the Kitáb-i-Aqdas Bahá’u’lláh said: “O Concourse of creation! O people! Construct edifices in the most beautiful fashion possible, in every city, in every land, in the name of the Lord of Religions. Adorn them with that which beseemeth them. Then commemorate the Lord, the Merciful, the Clement, in spirit and fragrance.
“Teach your children what hath been revealed through the Supreme Pen. Instruct them in what hath descended from the Heaven of greatness and power. Let them memorize the Tablets of the Merciful and chant them with melodious voices in the galleries built in the Temple of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár. The prayer of the Lord should be chanted in a
manner to attract the hearts and[Page 60]
souls. Blessed is he who listeneth unto the River of Life.”
From Tablets and addresses of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:
“Temples are symbols of the Reality and Divinity of God—that is, the Manifestation of God is the real divine Temple and Collective Center of which the Church is a symbol.
“The real Temple is the very Law of God, for to that all humanity must resort, and that is the center of unity for all mankind. That is the Collective Center. That is the cause of accord and unity of the hearts. That is the cause of the solidarity of the human race. That is the source of life eternal. Temples are symbols of that unifying force, in order that when the people gather there, in a given edifice of God, they may recall the fact that the Law has been revealed for them and that the Law is to unite them. That just as this edifice was founded for the unification of mankind, the Law preceding and creating this Temple was issued therefore.
“In the Temple of the Lord man must be submissive to God. He must enter into a covenant with His Lord in order that he shall obey His Commands and be unified with his fellowmen. He must not consider divergences of races nor difference of nationalities; he must not view variation in denomination and creed, nor should he take into account the differing degrees of thoughts; nay rather, he should look upon all mankind and realize that all must become united and agreed. He must recognize all as one family, one race, one nativity; all the servants of one God, dwelling beneath the shelter of the Mercy of God. Just as the external world is a place where various peoples of different hues and colors, of various faiths and denominations meet; just as they are submerged in the Sea of Favors, likewise, all may meet under the dome of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár and adore the One God in the same Spirit of Truth, for the ages of darkness have passed away and the century of Light has arrived. The imaginary prejudices are in process of dispersion and the Light of Unity is shining.
“In the days of the Manifestation, any city wherein a Temple was founded, afforded the means of promulgation (of the Cause), the confirmation of the hearts and the confidence of souls; for in those buildings the Name of God is ever commemorated. For the tranquillity and repose of the hearts there is no other means save the commemoration of Almighty God.
“The original purpose is this: that is why His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh has commanded that a place be built for all the religionists of the world. Not only does the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár have an effect upon those who built it but upon the whole world."
“The Mashriqu’l-Adhkár must have nine sides, doors, fountains, paths, gateways, columns and gardens, with the ground floor, galleries and domes, and in design and construction must be beautiful. The mystery of the edifice is great and cannot be unveiled yet, but its erection is the most important undertaking of this Day.
“The Mashriqu’l-Adhkár has important accessories, which are accounted of the basic foundations. These are:—school for orphan children, hospital and dispensary for the poor, home for the incapable, college or higher scientific education and hospice. In every city a great Mashriqu’l-Adhkár must be founded after this order. In the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár services will be held every morning. There will be no organ in the Temple. In buildings near by, festivals, services, conventions, public meetings and spiritual gatherings will be held,[Page 61]
but in the Temple the chanting and singing will be unaccompanied. Open ye the gates of the Temple to all mankind.
“When these institutions, college, hospital, hospice, and establishment for the incurables, university for the study of higher sciences, giving post-graduate courses, and other philanthropic buildings are built, the doors will be opened to all the nations and religions. There will be absolutely no line of demarcation drawn. Its charities will be dispensed irrespective of color or race. Its gates will be flung wide open to mankind; prejudice towards none, love for all. The central building will be devoted to the purpose of prayer and worship. Thus. . . . . .religion will become harmonized with science, and science will be the handmaid of religion, both showering their material and spiritual gifts on all humanity.”
“Now the day has arrived in which the Edifice of God, the Divine Sanctuary, the Spiritual Temple shall be erected in America. I entreat God to assist the confirmed believers in accomplishing this great service and with entire zeal to rear this mighty structure, which shall be renowned throughout the world. The support of God will be with those believers in that district, that they may be successful in their undertaking. For this cause is great because this is the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in that country.
“Verily the founding of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár will mark the inception of the Kingdom of God on earth. It is the evident standard waving in the center of that great continent of America. Make the erection of the Temple in America conducive to the unity and oneness of the believers, of the maid-servants and servants of the Merciful, so that in one thought, one aim, they engage themselves in building the Temple. Think not that this Temple will be like the hundred thousand gigantic Temples you see about you. Know ye that when this Temple of God shall be built in Chicago it will be to the spiritual body of the world what the inrush of the spirit is to the physical body of man, quickening it to its utmost parts and infusing a New Light and Power. Should the believers undertake (the erection of the Temple) in many places, it will not become completed anywhere; and as in Chicago they have preceded every other place to plan the erection of the Temple, undoubtedly to co-operate and help them is nobler and a necessity. Then when it is built in one place it will become erected in many other places. God willing, in all the states of America in the future there will be erected Temples, with infinite architectural beauty, with pleasing proportions and handsome and attractive appearances.”
“Praise be to God that, at this moment, from every country in the world according to their various means, contributions are continually being sent toward the fund of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in America. In reality this magnanimity of the believers is worthy of great praise and thankfulness. This donation in the path of the Orb of Religions is conducive to the happiness of the souls of the spiritual ones. From the day of Adam until now, such an event has never been witnessed by man that, from the farthermost country of Asia contributions were forwarded to America. This is through the Power of the Covenant of God.
“Verily this is a cause of astonishment to the people of perception.
“The debt on the land of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár is clear. This news made the hearts happy. Collect contributions for the building and then think about the plans. It is hoped that the believers of God may show[Page 62]
magnanimity and raise a great sum for the building, that the foundation of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár may be laid by the hands of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. I want everyone left free to act as he wills. If anyone wishes to put money into other things, let him do so. Do not interfere with him in any way, but be assured that—the most important thing at this time is the building of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár . . . .”
“When the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár is completed, when the lights are emanating therefrom, the prayers are performed with supplication toward the Mysterious Kingdom (of Heaven), the voice of glorification is raised to the Lord, the Supreme;—then the believers shall rejoice, the hearts be dilated and overflow with the love of the All-living and Self-existent (God). The people shall hasten to worship in the heavenly Temple, the Fragrances of God will be elevated, the Divine Teachings will be established in the hearts like the establishment of the Spirit in mankind; the people will then stand firm in the Cause of our Lord, the Merciful. Whosoever arises for the service of this building shall be assisted with great power from His Supreme Kingdom, and upon him spiritual and heavenly blessings shall descend which shall fill his heart with wonderful consolation and enlighten his eyes by beholding the Glorious and Eternal God.”
It may be questioned whether any modern edifice has attracted such widespread interest as the Bourgeois design of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, descriptions and illustrations of which have appeared in newspapers and magazines throughout the world. Even in China and Japan the press gave details of this universal religious structure, and in architectural and engineering journals the design has been acclaimed as the inauguration of a new style and period.
The symbolism of the Temple has been sympathetically interpreted by Mary Hanford Ford:
“The Temple model is a nonagon, or nine sided structure, with nine doors, nine ribs in the dome, nine openings on each side, etc. All the dimensional numbers of the temple are related to nine.
“Nine is the number of perfection, both in the ancient numerology of Pythagoras and the cabala, and in that of the present day. . . . In the older systems 9 represented the highest perfection of man, while 10 stood for God and man united, as in the Messiah. In the Bahá’í symbolism, 9 adds to its own power that of 10, because it stands for the Glory, or Bahá, which is God.
“It is actually formed by the word Bahá, the Glory, because in the Arabic language letters are numerical symbols also. B is 2; A is 1; H is 5, and A is 1 again, and the consensus of all makes 9. So the nine doors of the Temple symbolize the perfect number of paths to God, and thus unity in the Glory of Bahá, and the prevalence of 9 in the numerical structure of the temple creates heavenly unity in its vibration.
“19 is the Báb’s number for unity, and 5 is the number of the Báb himself. So these numbers reappear constantly. There are 18 steps at each of the nine entrances of the Temple, which with the completing doorway make 19—and each door (a 19) becomes a recurring symbol of the Báb himself, because as we remember, Báb is a title meaning a door between heaven and earth. There are nine openings on each of the nine sides of the Temple on the first and second stories, producing the number 81 or spiritually 9, and 3 small doors on each side of the third story, making 27—or again 9. There are 9 columns on the first story, 9 buttress ornaments on
the second, 9 ribs to the[Page 63]
great dome, so that one can never escape the heavenly presence of the 9. It becomes the emblem of perfection, more definitely exemplified in the Bahá’í teaching than ever before; as the 9 reflected through the Bahá or the Glory, it becomes the emblem of the divine messenger upon earth, Bahá’u’lláh, Christ, Zoroaster, Moses, et al.
“The surfaces of the Temple are covered with a geometrical ornamentation, exquisite in character, and sufficiently interesting from its beauty alone. These traceries, when examined, are made up of the most beautiful combinations of the triangle, the square and the circle: The Swastika cross of the Egyptian hieroglyphics is one, the five pointed star, the six pointed star, the glorious nine pointed star, and last but not least the looped life symbol of the old Egyptian hieroglyphics, which was carried by the priests in the sacred processions of the worship of Dionysos in Greece.
“The Swastika cross is the oldest religious symbol known. It became indicative of the divine creative fire, and life, and the looped cross, the Greek cross, the Roman Cross are its modifications. The Roman cross with the elongated arm has become the symbol of sacrifice through its relation to Christ. There is a lovely row of Swastikas around the base of the dome, repeated again toward its top and these will show brilliantly when it is lighted at night.
“The triangle has been from time immemorial the symbol of the great trinity, the Essence, the Orb and the Messenger, or God, the Father, or Logos, and the Son, as Christ puts it. The six pointed star or double triangle is thus the symbol of the heavenly Sun or Logos behind the earthly Messenger. So that the old orthodox Jewish Rabbis say today: ‘We have always had the six pointed star, but we are now looking for the five pointed star, the Messiah.’ The five pointed star has been for ages the symbol of the earthly Messenger. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says in the Tablet of the Ringstone: ‘The two stars represent the divine origin and also the human personality of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, because the human being like the star has five points, the head, the two arms and the two legs.’
“The triangle has another symbolism, and a very beautiful one, that of humanity with its base upon the earth and its point reaching up to heaven, and this is also a part of the heavenly meaning of the six pointed star. The five pointed star was used by the early Christians as the symbol of Christ, and the cross came later with the introduction of theology into Christian teachings.
“The circle has been from very ancient periods the symbol of infinity and eternity, and is commonly seen upon the temple of India, especially associated with the serpent of the past. The square is the old cabalistic symbol of realization or manifesta tion in earthly form for the microcosm or human, while 8 or the cube is the symbol of realization for the Macrocosm or Divine Man. The glorious nine pointed star is of course the symbol of divine manifestation belonging to the new day. The Temple itself is a nine pointed star. Looked at from an aeroplane it would seem a great star dropped upon the ground, and when lighted at night all its nine points will appear brilliantly. The nine pointed star forms the beautiful roselike top of each window and door of the temple’s lower story, while at the center of each star gleams the decorative lettered form of the Greatest Name. This will be always illumined and shining, so that the Glory of the Most Glorious will penetrate every worshipper who enters the temple. A larger replica of the same illumined symbol forms the[Page 64]
center in decoration above the doors and speaks again of the meaning of the great Temple.
“There is a charming story in Hindu mythology to the effect that, when the great God Brahm finished his avatar on this earth, he did not ascend, but went to sleep in a lotus flower until it should be time for him to awaken for another mission to mankind. Over the low archway of each entrance to the Temple is a delicate and graceful tracery which attracts the eye and, when one examines it, there is revealed a succession of lotus flowers, and in the center of each is the looped symbol of life, which comes to us from Egypt and Greece, and appears here again as the note of awakening, of resurrection in the lotus flower of the world. It is singularly fitting that the story of Brahm should be recalled in the decoration of the Temple of mankind and should arise there under the symbol of life, because the Temple contains in its glorious ensemble the unity of all faiths and the aspirations of all hearts.
“There is an ornament in the dome which appears also in the upper part of the columns and is unlike any other portion of the decoration. It is a whirling succession of elongated circles, and Bourgeois says that, in drawing the dome especially, he would begin to think of the orbits of the planets and their whirling spaces, and then his fingers would create these wonderful lines, as his thoughts roamed among the stars. Thus a new symbol has been added to those of the past, which might be called that of the unity of the heavens.
“The structure of the Temple is such that at night all its surfaces will be a blaze of light. Its decorations are cut completely through the terra cotta (or other) substance, which is to be lined with transparent glass, so that at night each column and buttress ornament as well as the stars and crosses and ‘milky way’ of the dome, will shine forth like an embroidery upon the darkness. So the Temple will be veritably a temple of light in this day of resurrection, of brotherhood and new civilization.
“The nine ribs joined above the surface of the dome are like hands clasped in prayer, Bourgeois says, and in the space between their union and the rounded top of the dome proper, will shine a great electric light sending forth nine bars into the darkness of the night, and forming a glorious illumined climax to the beautiful nonagon structure.”
