Bahá’í World/Volume 11/The Institution of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár

The Bahá’í World
Volume 11

3.

THE INSTITUTION OF THE MAflRIQU’L-ADiIKAR

Visible Embodiment of the Universality of the Faith of Bahá'u’lláh

FOREWORD

MANY discerning minds have testified to the profoundly significant change which has taken place during recent years in the character of popular religious thinking. Religion has developed an entirely new emphasis, more especially for the layman, quite independent of the older sectarian divisions.

Instead of considering that religion is a matter of turning toward an abstract creed, the average religionist today is concerned with the practical applications of religion to the problems of human life. Religion, in brief, after having apparently lost its influence in terms of theology, has been restored more powerfully than ever as a spirit of brotherhood, an impulse toward unity, and an ideal making for a more enlightened civilization throughout the world.

Against this background, the institution of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár stands revealed as the supreme expression of all those modern religious tendencies animated by social ideals which do not repudiate the reality of spiritual experience but seek to transform it into a dynamic striving for unity. The Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, when clearly understood, gives the world its most potent agency for applying mystical vision or idealistic aspiration to the service of humanity. It makes Visible and concrete those deeper meanings and wider possibilities of religion which could not be realized until the dawn of this universal age.

The term “Mashriqu’l-Aolhkér” means literally, “Dawning-place of the praise of God.”

To appreciate the significance of this

Bahá’í institution, we must lay aside all customary ideas of the churches and cathedrals of the past. The Mashriqu’l-Adhkár fulfills the original intention of religion in each dispensation, before that intention had become altered and veiled by human invention and belief.

The Mashriqu’l-Ac_lhkér is a channel releasing spiritual powers for social regeneration because it fills a different function than that assumed by the sectarian church. Its essential purpose is to provide a community meetingplace for all who are seeking to worship God, and achieves this purpose by interposing no man—made veils between the worshiper and the Supreme. Thus, the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár is freely open to people of all Faiths on equal terms, who now realize the unix'rersality of Bahá’u’lláh in revealing the oneness of all the Prophets. Moreover, since the Bahá’í Faith has no professional clergy, the worshiper entering the Temple hears no sermon and takes part in no ritual the emotional effect of which is to establish a separate group consciousness.

Integral with the Temple are its accessory buildings, without which the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár would not be a complete social institution. These buildings are to be devoted to such activities as a school for science, a hospice, a hospital, an asylum for orphans. Here the circle of spiritual experience at last joins, as prayer and worship are allied directly to creative service, eliminating the static subjective elements from religion and laying a foundation for a new and higher type of human association.

—H0‘RACE HOLLEY

321

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THE BAHA’I'

WORLD

THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MAflRIQU’L-Am-IKAR

A LETTER FROM SHOGHI EFFENDI

The Beloved of the Lord and the Handmaids of the Merciful throughout the United States and Canada.

My well—beloved friends:

Ever since that remarkable manifestation of Bahá’í solidarity and self—sacrifice which has signalized the proceedings of last year’s memorable Convention, I have been expectantly awaiting the news of a steady and continuous support of the Plan which can alone ensure, ere the present year draws to its close, the resumption of building operations on our beloved Temple.

Moved by an impulse that I could not resist, I have felt impelled to forego what may be regarded as the most valuable and sacred possession in the Holy Land for the furthering of that noble enterprise which you have set your hearts to achieve. With the hearty concurrence of our dear Bahá’í brother, Ziaoullah Asgarzadeh, who years ago donated it to the Most Holy Shrine, this precious ornament of the Tomb of Bahá’u’lláh has been already shipped to your shores, with our fondest hope that the proceeds from its sale may at once ennoble and reinforce the unnumbered offerings of the American believers already accumulated on the altar of Bahá’í sacrifice. I have longed ever since to witness such evidences of spontaneous and generous response on your part as would tend to fortify within me a confidence that has never wavered in the inexhaustible vitality of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in that land.

I need not stress at this moment the high hopes which so startling a display of unsparing devotion to our sacred Temple has already aroused in the breasts of the multitude of our brethren throughout the East. Nor is it I feel necessary to impress upon those who are primarily concerned with its erection the gradual change of outlook which the early prospect of the construction of the far—famed Mashriqu’l Adhkár in America has unmistakably occasioned in high places among the hitherto sceptical and indifferent towards the merits and the practicability of the Faith proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh. Neither do I need to expatiate upon the hopes and fears of the Greatest Holy Leaf, now in the evening of her life, with deepening shadows caused by failing eyesight and declining strength swiftly gathering about her, yearning to hear as the one remaining solace in her swiftly ebbing life the news of the resumption of work on an Edifice, the glories of which she has, from the lips of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself, learned to admire. I cannot surely overrate at the present juncture in the progress of our task the challenging character of these remaining months of the year as a swiftly passing opportunity which it is in our power to seize and utilize, ere it is too late, for the edification of our expectant brethren throughout the East, for the vindication in the eyes of the world at large of the realties of our Faith, and last but not least for the realization of what is the Greatest Holy Leaf’s fondest desire.

As I have already intimated in the course of my conversations with visiting pilgrims, so vast and significant an enterprise as the construction of the first Mashriqu’l-AcLhkér of the West should be supported, not by the munificence of a few but by the joint contributions of the entire mass of the convinced followers of the Faith. It cannot be denied that the emanations of spiritual power and inspiration destined to radiate from the central Edifice of the Mashriqu’l-Adjkér will to a very large extent depend upon the range and variety of the contributing believers, as well as upon the nature and degree of self-abnegation which their unsolicited offerings will entail. Moreover, we should, I feel, regard it as an axiom and guiding principle of Bahá’í admin [Page 323]INSTITUTION OF THE

istration that in the conduct of every specific Bahá’í activity, as different from undertakings of a humanitarian, philanthropic, or charitable character, which may in future be conducted under Bahá’í auspices, only those who have already identified themselves with the Faith and are regarded as its avowed and unreserved supporters should be invited to join and collaborate. For apart from the consideration of embarrassing complications which the association of non—believers in the financing of institutions of a strictly Bahá’í character may conceivably engender in the administration of the Bahá’í community of the future, it should be remembered that these specific Bahá’í institutions, which should be viewed in the light of Bahá’u’lláh’s gifts bestowed upon the world, can best function and most powerfully exert their influence in the world only if reared and maintained solely by the support of those Who are fully conscious of, and are unreservedly submissive to, the claims inherent in the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. In cases, however, when a friend or sympathizer of the Faith eagerly insists on a monetary contribution for the promotion of the Faith, such gifts should be accepted and duly acknowledged by the elected representatives of the believers with the express understanding that they would be utilized by them only to reinforce that section of the Bahá’í Fund exclusively devoted to philanthropic or charitable purposes. For, as the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh extends in scope and in influence, and the resources of Bahá’í communities correspondingly multiply, it will become increasingly desirable to differentiate between such departments of the Bahá’í treasury as minister to the needs of the world at large, and those that are specifically designed to promote the direct interests of the Faith itself. From this apparent divorce between Bahá’í and humanitarian activities it must not, however, be inferred that the animating purpose of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh stands at variance with the aims and objects of the humanitarian and philanthropic institutions of the day. Nay, it should be realized by every judicious promoter

MASHRIQU’L-ADHKAR 323 of the Faith that at such an early stage in the evolution and crystallization of the Cause such discriminating and precautionary measures are inevitable and even necessary if the nascent institutions of the Faith are to emerge triumphant and unimpaired from the present welter of confused and often conflicting interests with which they are surrounded. This note of warning may not be thought inappropriate at a time when, inflamed by a consuming passion to witness the early completion of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, we may not only be apt to acquiesce in the desire of those who, as yet uninitiated into the Cause, are willing to lend financial assistance to its institutions, but may even feel inclined to solicit from them such aid as it is in their power to render. Ours surely is the paramount duty so to acquit ourselves in the discharge of our most sacred task that in the days to come neither the tongue of the slanderer nor the pen of the malevolent may dare to insinuate that so beauteous, so significant an Edifice has been reared by anything short of the unanimous, the exclusive, and the self-sacrificing strivings of the small yet determined body of the convinced supporters of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. How delicate our task, how pressing the responsibility that weighs upon us, who are called upon on one hand to preserve inviolate the integrity and the identity of the regenerating Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, and to vindicate on the other its broad, its humanitarian, its all-embracing principles!

True, we cannot fail to realize at the present stage of our work the extremely limited number of contributors qualified to lend financial support to such a vast, such an elaborate and costly enterprise. We are fully aware of the many issues and varied Bahá’í activities that are unavoidably held in abeyance pending the successful conclusion of the Plan of Unified Action. We are only too conscious of the pressing need of some sort of befitting and concrete embodiment of the spirit animating the Cause that would stand in the heart of the American Continent both as a witness and as a rallying center to the manifold activities of a fast growing

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Faith. But spurred by those reflections may we not bestir ourselves and resolve as we have never resolved before to hasten by every means in our power the consummation of this all-absorbing yet so meritorious task? I beseech you, dear friends, not to allow considerations of number, or the consciousness of the limitation of our resources, or even the experience of inevitable setbacks which every mighty undertaking is bound to encounter, to blur your vision, to dim your hopes, or to paralyze your efforts in the prosecution of your divinely appointed task. Neither, do I entreat you, suffer the least deviation into the paths of expediency and compromise to obstruct those channels of vivifying grace that can alone provide the inspiration and strength Vital not only to the successful conduct of its material construction, but to the fulfillment of its high destiny.

And while we bend our efforts and strain our nerves in a feverish pursuit to provide the necessary means for the speedy construction of the Mashriqu’l-A(flikér, may we not pause for a moment to examine those statements which set forth the purpose as well as the functions of this symbolical yet so spiritually potent Edifice? It will be readily admitted that at a time when the tenets of a Faith, not yet fully emerged from the fires of repression, are as yet improperly defined and imperfectly understood, the utmost caution should be exercised in revealing the true nature of those institutions Which are indissolubly associated with its name.

Without attempting an exhaustive survey of the distinguishing features and purpose of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, I should feel content at the present time to draw your attention to what I regard as certain misleading statements that have found currency in various quarters, and which may lead gradually to a grave misapprehension of the true purpose and essential character of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár.

It should be borne in mind that the central Edifice of the Mashriqu’l-Ad_1;ikér, round Which in the fullness of time shall cluster such institutions of

THE Bahá’í WORLD

social service as shall afford relief to the suffering, sustenance to the poor, shelter to the wayfarer, solace to the bereaved, and education to the ignorant, should be regarded apart from these Dependencies, as a House solely designed and entirely dedicated to the worship of God in accordance with the few yet definitely prescribed principles established by Bahá’u’lláh in the Kitábi—Aqdas. It should not be inferred, however, from this general statement that the interior of the central Edifice itself will be converted into a conglomeration of religious services conducted along lines associated With the traditional procedure obtaining in churches, mosques, synagogues, and other temples of worship. Its various avenues of approach, all converging towards the central Hall beneath its dome, will not serve as admittance to those sectarian adherents of rigid formulae and manmade creeds, each bent, according to his way, to observe his rites, recite his prayers, perform his ablutions, and display the particular symbols of his faith within separately defined sections of Bahá’u’lláh’s Universal House of Worship. Far from the Mashriqu’l-Acfllkér offering such a spectacle of incoherent and confused sectarian Observances and rites, a condition wholly incompatible with the provisions of the Aqdas and irreconcilable with the spirit it inculcates, the central House of Bahá’í worship, enshrined within the Mashriqu’1Adhkár, will gather within its chastened walls, in a serenely spiritual atmosphere, only those who, discarding forever the trappings of elaborate and ostentatious ceremony, are willing worshippers of the one true God, as manifested in this age in the Person of Bahá’u’lláh. To them Will the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár symbolize the fundamental verity underlying the Bahá’í Faith, that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is not final but progressive. Theirs will be the conviction that an all-loving and ever-watchful Father Who, in the past, and at various stages in the evolution of mankind, has sent forth His Prophets as the Bearers of His Message and the Manifestations of His

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Light to mankind, cannot at this critical period of their civilization withhold from His children the Guidance which they sorely need amid the darkness which has beset them, and which neither the light of science nor that of human intellect and wisdom can succeed in dissipating. And thus having recognized in Bahá’u’lláh the source whence this celestial light proceeds, they will irresistibly feel attracted to seek the shelter of His House, and congregate therein, unhampered by ceremonials and unfettered by creed, to render homage to the one true God, the Essence and Orb of eternal Truth, and to exalt and magnify the name of His Messengers and Prophets Who, from time immemorial even unto our day, have, under divers circumstances and in varying measure, mirrored forth to a dark and wayward world the light of heavenly Guidance.

But however inspiring the conception of Bahá’í worship, as witnessed in the central Edifice of this exalted Temple, it cannot be regarded as the sole, nor even the essential, factor in the part which the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, as designed by Bahá’u’lláh, is destined to play in the organic life of the Bahá’í community. Divorced from the social, humanitarian, educational and scientific pursuits centering around the Dependencies of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, Bahá’í worship, however exalted in its conception, however passionate in fervor, can never hope to achieve beyond the meager and often transitory results produced by the contemplations of the ascetic or the communion of the passive worshipper. It cannot afford lasting satisfaction and benefit to the worshipper himself, much less to humanity in general, unless and until translated and transfused into that dynamic and dis interested service to the cause of humanity which it is the supreme privi MASHRIQU’L-ADHKAR 325

lege of the Dependencies of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár to facilitate and promote. Nor will the exertions, no matter how distinterested and strenuous, of those who within the precincts of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár will be engaged in administering the affairs of the future Bahá’í Commonwealth, fructify and prosper unless they are brought into close and daily communion with those spiritual agencies centering in and radiating from the central Shrine of the Mashriqu’l-Acihkér. Nothing short of direct and constant interaction between the spiritual forces emanating from this House of Worship centering in the heart of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, and the energies consciously displayed by those who administer its affairs in their service to humanity can possibly provide the necessary agency capable of removing the ills that have so long and so grievously afflicted humanity. For it is assuredly upon the consciousness of the efficacy of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, reinforced on one hand by spiritual communion with His Spirit, and on the other by the intelligent application and the faithful execution of the principles and laws He revealed, that the salvation of a world in travail must ultimately depend. And of all the institutions that stand associated with His Holy Name, surely none save the institution of the Mashriqu’l-Acihkér can most adequately provide the essentials of Bahá’í worship and service, both so vital to the regeneration of the world. Therein lies the secret of the 1Oftiness, Of the potency, of the unique position of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár as one of the outstanding institutions conceived by Bahá’u’lláh.

Dearly-beloved friends! May we not as the trustees of so priceless a heritage, arise to fulfill our high destiny? Haifa, Palestine.

October 25, 1929.

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PASSAGES

THE Bahá’í WORLD

REGARDING THE TEMPLE

IN AMERICA

Taken from

“GOD PASSES BY”

BY SHOGHI EFFENDI

and

INTRODUCTION

BY ARCHDEACON TOWNSHEND, MA.

0 N the lake shore at WiJmette stands the completed Temple of Praise, a sign of the Spirit of the Most Great Peace and of the Splendor of God that has come down to dwell among men. The walls of the Temple are transparent, made of an open tracery cut as in sculptured stone, and lined with glass. A11 imaginable symbols of light are woven together into the pattern, the lights of the sun and the moon and the constellations, the lights of the spiritual heavens unfolded by the great Revealers of today and yesterday, the Cross in various forms, the Crescent

and the nine pointed Star (emblem of the Bahá’í Faith). No darkness invades the Temple at any time; by day it is lighted by the sun Whose rays flood in from every side through the exquisitely perforated walls, and by night it is artificially illuminated and its ornamented shape is etched with light against the dark. From whatever side the Visitor approaches, the aspiring form of the Temple appears as the spirit of adoration; and seen from the air above it has the likeness of a Nine-Pointed Star come down from heaven to find its resting place on the earth.

G. Townshend

CHAPTER XXII

THE RISE AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER

l‘

. significant has been the erection of the superstructure and the completion of the exterior ornamentation of the first Mashriqu’1-Adhkár of the West, the noblest of the exploits which have immortalized the services of the American Bahá’í community to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. Consummated through the agency of an efficiently functioning and newly established Administrative Order, this enterprise has itself immensely enhanced the prestige, consolidated the strength and expanded the subsidiary institutions of the community that made its building possible.

Conceived forty—one years ago; originating with the petition spontaneously addressed, in March 1903 to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá by the “House of Spirituality” of the Bahá’ís of Chicago—the first Bahá’í center established in the Western world ———the members of which, inspired by the example set by the builders of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of ‘Ishqábád, had appealed for permission to construct a similar Temple in America; blessed by His approval and high commendation in a Tablet revealed by Him in June of that same year; launched by the delegates of various American As [Page 327]327

INSTITUTION OF THE MASHRIQU’L-ADHKAR

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Wilmette, Illinois, USA.

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semblies, assembled in Chicago in November, 1907, for the purpose of choosing the site of the Temple; established on a national basis through a religious corporation known as the “Bahá’í Temple Unity,” which was incorporated shortly after the first American Bahá’í Convention held in that same city in March, 1909; honored through the dedication ceremony presided over by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself when visiting that site in May, 1912, this enterprise —the crowning achievement of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the first Bahá’í century —had, ever since that memorable occasion, been progressing intermittently until the time when the foundations of that Order having been firmly laid in the North American continent the American Bahá’í community was in a position to utilize the instruments which it had forged for the efficient prosecution of its task.

At the 1914 American Bahá’í Convention the purchase of the Temple property was completed. The 1920 Convention, held in New York, having been previously directed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to select the design of that Temple, chose from among a number of designs competitively submitted to it that of Louis J . Bourgeois, a French-Canadian architect, a selection that was later confirmed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself. The contracts for the sinking of the nine great caissons supporting the central portion of the building, extending to rock at a depth of 120 feet below the ground level, and for the construction of the basement structure, were successively awarded in December, 1920 and August, 1921. In August, 1930, in spite of the prevailing economic crisis, and during a period of unemployment unparalleled in American history, another contract, with twenty-four additional sub-contracts, for the erection of the superstructure was placed, and the work completed by May 1, 1931, on which day the first devotional service in the new structure was celebrated, coinciding with the 19th anniversary of the dedication of the grounds by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The ornamentation of the dome was started in June, 1932 and finished in January, 1934. The orna THE Bahá’í WORLD

mentation of the clerestory was completed in 1935, and that of the gallery unit below it in November, 1938. The mainstory ornamentation was, despite the outbreak of the present war, undertaken in April, 1940, and completed in July, 1942; whilst the eighteen circular steps were placed in position by December, 1942, seventeen months in advance of the centenary celebration of the Faith, by which time the exterior of the Temple was scheduled to be finished, and forty years after the petition of the Chicago believers had been submitted to and granted by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

This unique edifice, the first fruit of a slowly maturing Administrative Order, the noblest structure reared in the first Bahá’í century, and the symbol and precursor of a future world civilization. is situated in the heart of the North American continent, on the western shore of Lake Michigan, and is surrounded by its own grounds comprising a little less than seven acres. It has been financed, at cost of over a million dollars, by the American Bahá’í community, assisted at times by voluntary contributions of recognized believers in East and West, of Christian, of Muslim, of Jewish, of Zoroastrian, of Hindu and Buddhist extraction. It been financed, at cost of over a milwith ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. and in the concluding stages of its construction with the memory of the Greatest Holy Leaf, the Purest Branch and their mother. The structure itself is a pure white nonagonal building, of original and unique design, rising from a flight of white stairs encircling its base; and surmounted by a majestic and beautifully proportioned dome, bearing nine tapering symmetrically placed ribs of decorative as well as structural significance, which soar to its apex and finally merge into a common unit pointing Skyward. Its framework is constructed of structural steel enclosed in concrete, the material of its ornamentation consisting of a combination of crystalline quartz, opaque quartz and white Portland cement, producing a composition clear in texture, hard and enduring as stone, impervious to the elements, and cast into a design as delicate as lace. It soars 191 feet from

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the floor of its basement to the culmination of the ribs, clasping the hemispherical dome which is forty-nine feet high, with an external diameter of ninety feet, and one-third of the surface of which is perforated to admit light during the day and emit light at night. It is buttressed by pylons forty—five feet in height, and bears above its nine entrances, one of which faces ‘Akká, nine selected quotations from the writings of Bahá’u’lláh, as well as the Greatest Name in the center of each of the arches over its doors. It is consecrated exclusively to worship, devoid of all ceremony and ritual, is provided with an auditorium which can seat 1600 people, and is to be supplemented by accessory institutions of social service to be established in its vicinity, such as an orphanage, a hospital, a dispensary for the poor, a home for the incapacitated, a hostel for travelers and a college for the study of arts and sciences. It had already, long before its construction, evoked, and is now increasingly evoking, though its interior ornamentation is as yet unbegun, such interest and comment, in the public press, in technical journals and in magazines, of both the United States and other countries, as to justify the hopes and expectations entertained for it by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Its model exhibited at Art centers, galleries, state fairs and national expositions—among which may be mentioned the Century of Progress Exhibition, held in Chicago in 1933, where no less than ten thousand people, passing through the Hall of Religions, must have viewed it every day—~its replica forming a part of the permanent exhibit of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago; its doors now thronged by visitors from far and near, whose number, during the period from June, 1932 to October, 1941 has exceeded 130,000 people, representing almost every country in the world, this great “Silent Teacher” of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, it may be confidently asserted, has contributed to the diffusion of the knowledge of His Faith and teachings in a measure which no other single agency, operating within the framework of its

MASHRIQU’L—ADHKAR 329 Administrative Order, has ever remotely approached.

“When the foundation of the Mashriqu’l-Acihkdr is laid in America,” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself has predicted, “and that Divine Edifice is completed, a most wonderful and thrilling motion will appear in the world of existence , . . From that point of light the spirit of teaching, spreading the Cause of God and promoting the teachings of God, will permeate to all parts of the world.” “Out of this Mashriqu’l-Arflpkdr,” He has affirmed in the Tablets of the Divine Plan, “without doubt, thousands of Mashriqu’l-Acihkdrs will be born.” “It marks,” He, furthermore, has written, “the inception of the Kingdom of God on earth.” And again: “It is the manifest Standard waving in the center of that great continent.” “Thousands of Mashriqu’l-Acfltkdrs,” He, when dedicating the grounds of the Temple, declared, “ . . . will be built in the East and in the West, but this, being the first erected in the Occident, has great importance.” “This organization of the Mashriqu’l-Acflikclr,” He, referring to that edifice, has moreover stated, “will be a model for the coming centuries, and will hold the station of the mother.”

“Its inception,” the Architect of the Temple has himself testified, “was not from man, for, as musicians, artists, poets receive their inSpiration from another realm, so the Temple’s architect, through all his years of labor, was ever conscious that Bahá’u’lláh was the creator of this building to be erected to His glory.” “Into this new design," he, furthermore, has written, “ . is woven, in symbolic form, the great Bahá’í teaching of unity—the unity of all religions of all mankind. There are combinations of mathematical lines, symbolizing those of the universe, and in their intricate merging of circle into circle, and circle within circle, we Visualize the merging of all the religions into one.” And again: “A circle of steps, eighteen in all. will surround the structure on the outside, and lead to the auditoriumeloor. These eighteen steps represent the eighteen first disciples of the Báb, and the door to which

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they lead stands for the Báb Himself.” “As the essence of the pure original teachings of the historic religions was the same . . . in the Bahá’í Temple is used a composite architecture, expressing the essence in the line of each of the great architectural styles, harmonizing them into one whole.”

“It is the first new idea in architecture since the 13th century,” declared a distinguished architect, H. Van Buren Magonigle, President of the Architectural League, after gazing upon a plaster model of the Temple on exhibition in the Engineering Societies Building in New York, in June 1920. “The Architect,” he, moreover, has stated, “has conceived a Temple of Light in which structure, as usually understood, is to be concealed, visible support eliminated as far as possible, and the whole fabric to take on the airy substance of a dream. It is a lacy envelope enshrining an idea, the idea of light, a shelter of cobweb interposed between earth and sky, struck through and through with light—light which shall partly consume the forms and make of it a thing of faery.”

“In the geometric forms of the ornamentation,” a writer in the well-known publication Architectural Record has written, “covering the columns and surrounding Windows and doors of the Temple, one deciphers all the religious symbols of the world. Here are the swastika, the circle, the cross, the triangle, the double triangle or six pointed star (Solomon’s sea1)—but more than this—the noble symbol of the spiritual orb . . the five pointed star; the Greek Cross, the Roman cross, and supreme above all, the wonderful nine pointed star, figured in the structure of the Temple itself, and appearing again and again in its ornamentation as significant of the spiritual glory in the world today.”

“The greatest creation since the

THE Bahá’í

WORLD

Gothic period,” is the testimony of George Grey Barnard, one of the most widely—known sculptors in the United States of America, “and the most beautiful I have ever seen.”

“This is a new creation,” Prof. Luigi Quaglino, eX-professor of Architecture from Turin declared, after viewing the model, “which will revolutionize architecture in the world, and it is the most beautiful I have ever seen. Without doubt it Will have a lasting page in history. It is a revelation from another world.”

“Americans,” wrote Sherwin Cody, in the magazine section of the New York Times, of the model of the Temple, when exhibited in the Kevorkian Gallery in New York, “will have to pause long enough to find that an artist has wrought into this building the conception of a Religious League of Nations.” And lastly, this tribute paid to the features of, and the ideals embodied in, this Temple—the most sacred House of Worship in the Bahá’í world, whether of the present or of the future—by Dr. Rexford Newcomb, Dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Illinois: “This ‘Temple of Light’ opens upon the terrain of human experience nine great doorways Which beckon men and women of every race and clime, of every faith and conviction, of every condition of freedom or servitude to enter here into a recognition of that kinship and brotherhood without which the modern world will be able to make little further progress . . . The dome, pointed in form, aiming as assuredly as did the aspiring lines of the medieval cathedrals toward higher and better things, achieves not only through its symbolism but also through its structural propriety and sheer loveliness of form, a beauty not matched by any domical structure since the construction of Michelangelo’s dome on the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome.”

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331

TO KNOW AND WORSHIP GOD The Bahá’í Temple As Embodiment of the Principle of World Faith

HORACE HOLLEY

FOR more than forty years the Bahá’ís of North America, with the encouragement and financial support of fellow-religionists in many other lands, have been engaged in the construction of a House of Worship. The vision seized upon the first small Bahá’í community, and the sanction and blessing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá were besought and graciously bestowed before those early believers felt they had the power or right to assume a task so weighty and a mission so exalted.

The story of their ardent labors, and the gradual development of the structure, has been recounted many times. The adoption of a design for the interior ornamentation now provides occasion not for one more recapitulation of the history of the project, nor presentation of its unusual engineering and technical elements, but for a tentative exploration of some of the profound meanings which the Temple yields as we study its architectural form and ponder its aim and function.

The basic architectural form incorporated in the building is the perfect circle, the orb or horizon, and the division of its circumference into nine equal chords. The circle appears in the foundation on which the structure stands, manifest in the series of ascending steps leading to the circular platform on the level of the main floor, and again in the circular horizontal section produced by the intersection of the hemispherical dome with the vertical wall of the clerestory. Another circle is cut by the meeting of the clerestory and the horizontal plane of the top of the gallery unit.

The nine chords which intersect the perfect circle are traced in the nonagon form of the main storey. These chords are produced again by the horizontal

plane of the gallery or second storey, but here the circle is swung one-eighteenth of its orbit beyond the nine intersecting points of the first storey, so that the two nonagons mark circles in revolution and not circles forever at rest. The nonagon formed by the nine dome—ribs matches the chords formed by the gallery.

The function of the surrounding steps is to provide equal facility for access from any external point. The monumental structure in its external architectural mass has no specialized direction. Its circular steps include all directions simultaneously. The function of the main storey is to supply nine formal entrances to the interior. The function of the gallery unit is to form the ornamental framework for nine immense window systems. The clerestory also provides illumination but its function is to provide the basis from which spring the spherical dome and its nine arching ribs.

The points of the first two nonagons are marked by pylons and turrets which, with the dome ribs, orient the structure upward.

The greatest visible horizontal dimension is that of the platform on which the building stands. The gallery storey is set back from the edge of the main storey; and the clerestory is also set back from the line of the gallery unit. The diameter of the platform at the top of the steps is one hundred fiftytwo feet, while that of the foundation beneath the platform is two hundred two feet. From first floor level to the pinnacle of the dome the measure is one hundred sixty-one feet. The building stands on nine caissons which go down to bedrock one hundred twentyfour feet below the earth.

Steps and platform, entrance level,

[Page 332]332 THE BAHA’I' WORLD

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gallery level, clerestory and dome are combined as five elements in an architectural form which creates a new aesthetic mode. Whether viewed in terms of vertical section, horizontal section or silhouette, the building utters a call to spiritual devotion which employs a language of the heart not speaking in a dialect descended from the Gothic, nor the Byzantine, nor the Roman, Greek or Hindu tongues. The language is new. and the heart must re-enter the school of love to attain its meaning.

The builder’s dimensions do not define the aesthetic masses and lines of the architectural form. The structure of the Bahá’í House of Worship is not large nor is it small. It is monumental, recreating itself anew in the mind of every beholder. The structure has the repose of a monument, but in this repose is fluidity of motion, and the energy of mass resisting as well as supporting mass.

A sense of unity and universality emanates from the completed circles. The nonagons which intersect other circles represent, in the Bahá’í conception, the meanings of perfection and fulfilment. It is as though an endless orbit of eternity contains a succession of points of ascent.

These cosmic meanings wrought into the Temple structure have connection through the unique scheme of ornamentation with the organic life-force of nature and with man’s own sense of spiritual destiny. In the different units of decoration can be discerned the planetary orbits, the entwining of leaves and flowers, and the revered traditional and conventionalized symbols of revealed religions: the cross, the star of David, the new nine-pointed star of this dispensation, the ancient swastika and others.

The Temple typifies man on his different but interrelated levels of experience and responsibility: man in the universe, man on earth, man in society, and man made conscious of the Kingdom of God. Its structure thus sets forth, among other Bahá’í principles, the harmony of science and religion, the basic unity of all divine revelation, and the spiritual evolution of mankind

MASHRIQU’L-ADHKAR 333 through clan, tribe, race and nation to the goal of knowledge and peace attained through the union and order of the world.

It is only in its external structure that the Bahá’í House of Worship fulfills the nature of a great monument which, living in the outer world of the eye, can because of its spiritual characteristics penetrate t0 the world of mind and heart. The beholder’s consciousness, having drunk the cup of aesthetic experience, feels a consummation on reading the words of Bahá’u’lláh carved over the entrance ways; as for example, “The source of all learning is the knowledge of God, exalted be His glory.”

The Temple becomes more than a monument when we realize that the mystery of the structure, its essential aim, lies in the interior of this brilliant shell and is not held by its outer surfaces, superb architecture though they be. The function of this shell is to enclose a meeting-place for the souls of men, a place where men may meet and mingle as spiritual beings, a place where men may have association with the Spirit of God.

Between the structure as monument and the structure as a place for the mention of the Greatest Name of God, it is essential to note a distinction, a distinction like that between architecture and music or between scientific understanding and the fire of faith.

To examine the design chosen for the interior, and appreciate its architectural and artistic qualities in relation to their spiritual function, it is helpful to give preliminary thought to a statement about the House of Worship made by the Guardian of the Faith as long ago as 1929. This statement was written in order to correct a misapprehension of the nature of the House of Worship which the architect had incorporated in his design. The interior, as the architect conceived it, was to symbolize the universality of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh by including, around the central hall or auditorium, a series of nine chapels each of which would be used for worship by a different denomination. The recognition of these

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diverse modes of worship, in this early conception of the Bahá’í religion, would constitute a new and impressive example of toleration and support the principle of unity inherent in the new teachings. The Guardian declared: “It should be borne in mind that the central edifice Of the Mashriqu’l-Aclhkér, round which in the fullness of time shall cluster such institutions of social service as shall afford relief to the suffering, sustenance to the poor, solace to the bereaved, and education to the ignorant, should be regarded, apart from these Dependencies, as a House solemnly designed and entirely dedicated to the worship of God in accordance with the few yet definitely prescribed principles established by Bahá’u’lláh . . It should not be inferred, however, from this general statement that the interior of the central Edifice itself will be converted into a conglomeration of religious services conducted along lines associated with the traditional procedure obtaining in churches, mosques, synagogues, and other temples of worship. Its various avenues of approach, all converging towards the central Hall beneath its dome, will not serve as admittance to those sectarian adherents of rigid formulae and man—made creeds, each bent, according to his way to observe his rites, recite his prayers, perform his ablutions and display the particular symbols of his faith, within separately defined sections of Bahá’u’lláh’s Universal House of Worship. The central House of Bahá’í worship, enshrined within the Mashriqu’l-Aclhkér, will gather within its chastened walls, in a serenely spiritual atmosphere, only those who, discarding forever the trappings of elaborate and ostentatious ceremony, are Willing worshipers of the one true God, as manifested in this age in the Person of Bahá’u’lláh.” This decisive criterion makes it clear that the Temple represents a victory of faith and truth over the errors and imitations which have gradually overlaid the blessed reality revealed in the past. Spiritually it stands on a level infinitely higher than is attained by the

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mind and conscience of men today when shut out from the experience of a living faith.

The interior design as now modified therefore creates one unified space: the domed auditorium (the Central Hall) into which open nine arched alcoves or bays.

At present we have an artist’s rendering of two interior views, one of the domed auditorium, the other of one of the nine alcoves. The architectural form of the Temple interior has for its principal elements the great circular auditorium overarched by the hemisphere of the dome at a height of more than one hundred fifty feet from the floor; nine groups of columns, some supporting the first gallery encircling the auditorium at a height of thirty—six feet, others continuing to support the base of the dome, one hundred feet from floor level. The nine arched alcoves occupy the area under the ceiling of the gallery. Systems of columns provide entrances between adjoining alcoves extending from the outside doors to the auditorium and to the alcoves on either side of the entrances. A second and smaller gallery overlooks the auditorium eighty-one feet above the floor.

To this architectural form Will be added the exquisite beauty of an ornamental scheme conceived in the same spirit as the ornamentation applied to the exterior of the building, but rendered with more grace, delicacy and charm. The interior ornamentation will furthermore be enhanced by the harmony of color. Each surface, whether of wall, column, arch, ceiling or perforated dome, will pay its tribute in line and color to this enclosed amphitheater of the drama of Divine Revelation. The upwardness given to the exterior of the structure is here in its interior intensified and made the supreme climax of the artist’s conception, for the eye finds the focal point of attention as well as meaning in the illumined symbol of the Greatest Name of God which will appear at the top of the dome.

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Though the circular steps outside are oriented to the whole encircling horizon of humankind, the interior has its direction indicated in that the seats in the central auditorium will all face that one of the nine alcoves or bays which stands on the side of the structure facing ‘Akká, the new point of holiness conferred by Bahá’u’lláh. In the other eight alcoves the seats will face the center of the auditorium itself.

The ninth alcove will not be part of the auditorium. There facilities for readers will be arranged. Thus in this House of Worship there will be no pulpit for sermons nor altar for ritual conducted by clergyman or priest. Bahá’í worship consists of readings, by several persons who may be differently chosen at each meeting, taken from the utterances revealed by the Manifestations of Godz—from the words of Moses, of Jesus, of Muhammad, of the Bab, and of Bahá’u’lláh. For Bahá’ís join in adoration of the revealers of all faiths, revering them as those successive Spokesmen of the Infinite, Unknowable God who have, by their divinely conferred authority, appeared on earth age after age to revive the souls of men, restore the true Faith, and guide humanity onward through different stages in its spiritual and social evolution. Since these unique Beings are one Person, one Spirit, and he who denies any one has denied all, the Bahá’í mode of worship is not

ARCHITECTURE OF THE TEMPLE

MASHRIQU’L-ADHKAR 335

human tolerance restored in a different form, but understanding of the oneness of de.

The Bahá’í House of Worship is not one more religious edifice of denominational character. It has been built according to a new and higher pattern of worship, wherein persons of all races, nations and creeds may enter the unifying Spirit which emanates from the Word of God. Bahá’í worship includes no sermon, no physical drama, no man-conceived prayer, invocation or conventionalized response. The Manifestion of God, He alone, has utterance in this holy place. Because Bahá’u’lláh has revealed the mysterious Identity of that higher being who manifests God through the person of the prophet from age to age, the essence of divine worship today is adoration of God in His Glory which encompasses all mankind today, yesterday and forever. “I bear witness,” is His assurance to the world in its hour of bitterest agony: “I bear witness that he who hath known Thee hath known God, and he Who hath attained unto Thy presence hath attained unto the presence of God. Great, therefore, is the blessedness of him who hath believed in Thee, and in Thy signs, and hath humbled himself before Thy sovereignty, and hath been honored with meeting Thee, and hath attained the good pleasure of Thy will, and circled around Thee, and stood before Thy throne.”

INTERIOR

BY ROBERT W. MCLAUGHLIN

ABOUT thirty-five years have passed since Louis Bourgeois conceived and developed the design for the Temple in Wilmette. These thirty-five years have seen perhaps as rapid and violent a change in prevailing concepts of architecture as the world has ever known. In 1920 and the years immediately pre ceding, American architecture was in the grip of rigid stylism, of painstaking archaeology. In 1950 American architecture has abandoned eclecticism and is committed to a wholehearted expression of function and structure as the supreme objective.

The Bahá’í Temple typifies neither

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point of view. Had Bourgeois been content to swim along in the main stream of 1920 American architecture he would have clad his design in a medley of architectural styles. Instead he put away his books of archaeology and brought forth a flowing, dynamic type of ornamentation that defies placing as to specific source. Were we to follow the prevailing fashion of 1950 as we complete the interior we would simply leave exposed the concrete framework of the interior and probably do a lot of talking about the honesty, integrity and beauty of naked, unabashed structures—perhaps a little whitewash and a few accents of color and form and we would consider it complete.

But all of us who are Bahá’ís during this thrilling period of completing the most holy House of Worship, know that our Temple is something quite apart from any architectural fashion of the moment. When our Temple is completed it will be a unified, integrated entity, although designed and built in a period of swiftly moving change. The Guardian has directed that it be so, and of course that is the only way that a Bahá’í Temple can be.

When we enter one of the nine entrances to the Temple, sometime in the spring of 1951, we will find the old temporary wooden doors removed, and simple but fine aluminum and glass substituted. The wooden crossbars above are to be removed and two large pieces of clear glass installed in each opening—there would be only one piece, except for the pressures of high winds off Lake Michigan. These large areas of glass will show, from the inside of the Temple the ornament on the back of some of the exterior columns and arches,

The concrete piers in the bays have already been finished as round columns. A picture of these appeared in the Bahá’í News for December, 1949. The design of these columns makes no attempt to copy heavy, masonry forms. They taper towards the bottom rather than towards the top as has been the case with masonry columns for milleniums past. In so doing they register as surface treatment and not as massive

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masonry, for the load is carried by the concrete pier within. Vertical joints, instead of being staggered in usual masonry fashion, are lined one above the other, further recognizing the surface qualities of the material. The marble base of the column will be recessed rather than projecting in the usual manner. We can see already, at the Temple, the lightness and grace, as well as the great dignity of these columns.

The ceiling of each bay consists of a pair of ogee curves meeting in a straight line at the top. A lighting trough carries around each bay between columns, and silhouetted in front will be the nine inscriptions selected by the Guardian. Color can be applied to the ceilings, and there is space for draperies against the outside wall, between windows.

In the main portion of the Temple there are, of course, the nine pairs of columns which rise to the springing Of the dome. These columns are even now being finished with square sections of the surface material, and between each pair of columns rises a brilliant panel of ornament, clear to the springing of the dome. Our architect, Alfred Shaw, has felt from the very start of his work that he wanted to recapture the scale and quality of the exterior ornament Of the dome. That he has at last fully done so is clear to those who have watched his designs progress from sketches to detailed drawings, to clay models, plaster casts, and finally to the executed panels. These nine great vertical panels of vibrant, flowing ornament eventually find their way into the detail of the dome.

Between the nine panels and pairs of piers are first the main storey arches, then the gallery arches, and finally the smaller interlacing arches of the triforium gallery. At each of the main storey arches is a nine pointed star on which Will be inscribed the Greatest Name. The Guardian has sent a detail of this inscription, which is to be followed exactly lest any Occidental liberties with epigraphy offend a practiced eye.

The dome has been brilliantly de [Page 337]INSTITUTION OF THE MASHRIQU’L-ADHKAR 337

Architect’s drawing of interior of Bahá’í House of Worship, Wilmette, Illinois, USA.

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signed with an interlacing of flowing ornament, culminating in the Greatest Name at the zenith. The interior dome, like the exterior treatment, will be pierced, to transmit light.

To have watched the development of the interior design has been a thrilling experience. The complete willingness and desire of our distinguished architect, Alfred Shaw, to merge his great creative powers into the background of the over-all concept of the Temple has

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been stirring and deeply and gratefully admired. The problem has been difficult technically if only because of the absolute necessity of integrating what is being done in 1950 to form a harmonious entity with what was conceived before 1920.

But in only a little more than a year from now, given the necessary flow of funds, the Temple interior will have been completed. And it is going to be very beautiful.

HOUSE OF WORSHIP

BY WILLIAM KENNETH CHRISTIAN This Temple . . .

ON THE first day of May, 1912, a group of men, women, and children stood in the open fields where this House of Worship now stands. With them was ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith. He had come to perform the symbolic act of laying a cornerstone for the future Temple. A woman who wanted to aid the building of the Temple, found a rough stone. She lived many miles from here and started on foot to carry the stone. A little boy with a cart helped her part way. Finally, a man offered to carry it on his back, and the stone was brought to the fields here. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá asked to use it as the foundation stone.

This act of sacrifice is symbolic of the whole story behind this House of Worship. In 1903 the Chicago Bahá’ís started the project to build in America a Temple to embody the new principles of faith in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. The American Bahá’ís, then a few hundred in number, united in this project. Their determination was an act of faith. They had no money collected. They had no architect’s plan. But they made a beginning.

Bahá’u’lláh taught that in each community there should be a Temple where the voices 6f men and women are

raised in praise to God. Each Bahá’í Temple is to have nine sides. This is the only architectural requirement which Bahá’u’lláh made. But the symbolism is important. Nine is the largest single number. Bahá’u’lláh used nine to symbolize the coming of age of the human race. He taught that the purpose of religion in this age is to unite the conflicting races and nations in one faith and a common world civilization. He changed religion from personal salvation to a means for building world order.

The nine sides of the Temple also concern the great religions of the world. At present, most people belong to religions differing greatly in time of origin. Judaism, for example, is over a thousand years older than Christianity. Some religions were started by men who were reformers. Some originated With individuals Who claimed to reveal the Word of God. We have record of nine revealed religions including the Bahá’í Faith. The nine sides of the Temple show that each revealed religion has encouraged men and women to turn to God. The spiritual truths of these religions are essentially the same. Every Bahá’í Temple, by its nine-sided form, symbolizes the unity of religion. The early American Bahá’ís

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wanted to erect a Temple to express this idea. No group of people in the west had ever undertaken such a project.

In 1920 a competition was held for Bahá’í architects to submit designs for a Temple. The designs were submitted at a convention in New York City. Among the competitors was Louis Bourgeois, a French-Canadian architect. His design was enthusiastically selected by the Bahá’ís after a committee of architects and engineers endorsed it. One prominent architect declared that it was the first new idea in religious architecture since the Middle Ages.

Bourgeois tried to get the feeling of the unity of religion into the design. On the great outer columns you find religious symbols placed in rising, chronological order——to give the idea of the continuity of religious truth from God. The swastika, an ancient religious symbol, is at the bottom of the design on these columns. Thence comes the six pointed star of Judaism, the cross of Christianity, the star and crescent of Islam. Above these is a nine-pointed star to indicate the coming religious unity of the human race.

People find other ideas in the Temple design. The nine doors suggest varied ways by which men in the past have found a knowledge of God. Because the design is unusual, people try to find a single term for the architecture. Some point out traces of different stylesEgyptian, Romanesque, Arabic, Renaissance and Byzantine. By suggestions of these various styles Bourgeois has indicated the repeated efforts of men to glorify God.

The materials for the outside of the Temple presented many problems. The architect and engineers had no precedent to go by. Years were spent in research. Finally, John J. Early, an architectural sculptor, helped solve the main problem. Using a mixture of white cement and ground quartz, the outer ornamentation was cast in molds and then applied section by section.

MASHRIQU’L-ADHKAR 339 With the war over, the Bahá’ís are planning to complete the interior by 1953, the fiftieth anniversary of the time when the idea of building a Bahá’í Temple in America was adopted. Then the Bahá’ís will eventually erect auxiliary buildings. Bahá’u’lláh gave a unified plan for a community center with a beautiful House of Worship at its heart. Around this will be a hospital, a hospice, an orphanage, a college, and scientific laboratories. Bahá’u’lláh urged that each Bahá’í Temple be surrounded by gardens and fountains.

Services in the Temple will not be elaborate. There will be no ritualism or set forms. Bahá’ís have no professional clergy to preside. Services are for prayer, meditation, and the reading of writings from the Sacred Scriptures of the Bahá’í Faith and the other great Faiths of the world. Sermons of any type will be out of place. Vocal music alone will be heard. The Temple will be open to all people for prayer and meditation.

Bahá’í worship means more than prayer and meditation. Bahá’u’lláh said that any work done in a spirit of service is a form of prayer. The educational, humanitarian, and scientific institutions around the Temple Will complete the dedication of the individual to God. To the Bahá’í there is no rigid division between the spiritual and practical parts of life.

Bahá’ís do not solicit funds from the public for any of their activities. From all over the world the Bahá’ís have contributed to the erection of this building. Funds have come from Persia, India—in fact, from all the five continents. This Temple is both a gift from Bahá’ís and a demonstration of their' Faith. Here is a building where men and women of all races and religions are welcome to come for prayer. Here no creed stigmatizes the follower of any great faith as infidel or pagan. Here all men may turn their hearts to God and know that they are brothers.

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NINE SELECTED UTTERANCES OF Bahá’u’lláh CARVED ABOVE THE ENTRANCES OF THE TEMPLE

“The earth is but one country; and mankind its citizens.”

“The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me.”

“My love is My stronghold; he that entereth therein is safe and secure.”

“Breathe not the sins of others so long as thou art thyself a sinner.”

“Thy heart is My home; sanctify it for My descent.”

THE Bahá’í

“I have made death a messenger of joy to thee; wherefore dost thou grieve?”

“Make mention of Me on My earth

that in My heaven I may remember thee.”

“0 rich ones on earth! The poor in your midst are My trust; guard ye My Trust.”

“The source of all learning is the knowledge of God, exalted be His glory.”

HOUSE OF WORSHIP

This Faith . . .

THE PEOPLE who built this House of Worship are Bahá’ís. They bear this name as members of a World Faith. The word ”Bahá’í” comes from the name of the Founder of the Faith Bahá’u’lláh (“the Glory of God”). Bahá’í simply means “a follower of Bahá’u’lláh.”

The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh is called the “Bahá’í World Faith.” There are three reasons for this.

First, Bahá’ís live in more than seventy countries of the world. Bahá’ís are people who formerly had different and conflicting religious backgrounds. They had been Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Protestants, Catholics, or else they had no religion at all. They have found in the Bahá’í Faith a basis of unity that makes the competition of sects and denominations seem unimportant to them. Bahá’ís are people of different economic and social classes. Through a common devotion, rich and poor mingle

as equals and work together to establish a world order for all men and women. They are people of different national and racial backgrounds. But the Bahá’í teachings have given them a higher loyalty—the loyalty to humanity. Bahá’ís have no “color line” or racial segregation. In this Faith, people of all races find equality with each other because they are equal before God.

Second, the Bahá’í Faith develops world-mindedness. Read these wellknown Bahá’í quotations: “Let your vision be world-embracing, rather than confined to your own selves.” . . . “That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race.”

Third, the Bahá’í Faith offers a clear pattern of world order. It does not have any secret mystic doctrines; it does not have any priesthood or professional clergy. People find this a practical, spiritual religion with the mission of

[Page 341]INSTITUTION OF THE MASHRIQU’L-ADHKAR 341

A view of the “Mother Temple of the West,” Wilmette, Illinois, USA.

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uniting the world in one common faith and one order. Bahá’u’lláh declared that in our time religion must unite people or else it has no social value. He dec]a%ed that religion must show men how to build a just world. He emphasized that justice is the greatest good in the sight of God. To show men how to achieve this, He outlined a pattern of world order.

Bahá’u’lláh’s vision of a united world begins with each man and woman. Individuals must have high moral standards and a new basis of belief if they are to be become citizens of one world.

Bahá’ís believe in one God, even though men have called Him by different names. God has revealed His Word in each period of history through a chosen Individual Whom Bahá’ís call “the Manifestation of God.” He restates in every age God’s purpose and will. His teachings are a revelation from God. Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Christ, and Muhammad were Manifestations of God. Each gave men divine teachings to live by. Bahá’ís believe that true religion is the real basis of civilized life.

Since there is one God, these Manifestations of God have each taught the same religious faith. They have developed and adapted it to meet the needs of the people in each period of history. This unfoldment of religion from age to age is called “progressive revelation.” Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, is the Manifestation of God for our time.

This is the basis of Bahá’í belief: one God has given men one Faith through progressive revelations of His Will in each age of history, and Bahá’u’lláh reveals the Will of God for men and women of the present age. This basic belief enables Bahá’ís to unite and work together in spite of different religious backgrounds.

The Oneness of Mankind is like a pivot around which all the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh revolve. This means that men and women of all races are equal in the sight of God and equal in the Bahá’í community. People of different races must have equal educational and economic opportunity, equal access to

THE Bahá’í WORLD

decent living conditions—and equal responsibilities. In the Bahá’í view, there is no superior race or superior nation.

Bahá’u’lláh declared that a house of Justice must be established in each community. This body, elected by the people, is to be composed of men and women so qualified that they may be “trustees of the Merciful among men.” Each nation will have a Secondary or National House of Justice whose members will elect the International House of Justice. This international legislature will make the laws for a federalized world.

Bahá’u’lláh emphasized certain principles to help bind people together in a united world:

Men must seek for truth in spite of custom, prejudice, and tradition.

Men and women must have equal opportunities, rights, and privileges.

The nations must choose an international language to be used along with the mother tongue.

All children must receive a basic education.

Men must make a systematic effort to Wipe out all those prejudices which divide people.

Men must recognize that religion should go hand—in-hand with science.

Men must work to abolish extreme wealth and extreme poverty.

This Faith and these challenging ideas originated in Persia (frén) in 1844. In that year a young Man Who called Himself the Báb (or “Gate”) began to teach that God would soon “make manifest” a World Teacher to unite men and women and usher in an age of peace. That Bab attracted so many followers that the Persian government and the Islamic clergy united to kill Him. And they massacred more than twenty thousand of His followers.

In 1863 Bahá’u’lláh announced to the few remaining followers of the Báb that He was the chosen Manifestation of God for this age. He called upon people to unite; He said that only in one common faith and one order could the world find an enduring peace. He declared that terrible wars would sweep

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the face of the earth and destroy the institutions and ideas that keep men from their rightful unity.

The teachings of Bahá’u’ll‘ah are a ringing call to action. They offer hope, courage, and vision. The books of Bahá’u’lláh in English are: The Hidden Words, The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys, The Book of Certitude, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, Prayers and Meditations, and Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. A selection of His writings is in the anthology called Bahá’í World Faith.

But Bahá’u’lláh was not greeted with enthusiasm by the religious leaders of Islam. As they saw His Faith spread, their hatred grew. They forced Him into exile—first to Baghdad, then to Constantinople, to Adrianople, and finally to ‘Akká, Palestine. There He died, still an exile and prisoner, in 1892.

Bahá’u’lláh appointed ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, His eldest son, as the Interpreter of His teachings and the Exemplar of the Faith. Under the leadership of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the Faith was introduced to Europe and America. After He was freed from prison in 1908, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá made several missionary journeys. In 1912 He was in America for eight months during which time He laid the cornerstone of this Temple.

In 1921 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá died and left a will naming His eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, the first Guardian of the Faith and the interpreter of the teachings. Under Shoghi Effendi’s direction the Bahá’ís throughout the world have adopted an administrative order that is an application of

MASHRIQU’L-ADHKAR 343 Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings for a world order. Thus Bahá’ís have begun to practice in their own affairs the social teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.

Local and National Bahá’í Spiritual Assemblies are the pattern for the Houses of J ustice of tomorrow. Bahá’ís know from increasing experience that differences of nation, race, class, and religion can be removed by the uniting power of Bahá’u’lláh. Bahá’ís know from increasing experience that this Faith can save men and women from the hatreds, the pessimism, the corruption, and the materialism of our age. They know this because they have seen it and experienced it. They invite you to investigate this Faith and share in this spiritual adventure.

Following are the nine sentences chosen by Shoghi Effendi for use in the Temple interior:

1. “All the prophets of God proclaim the same faith.”

2. “Religion is a radiant light and an impregnable stronghold.”

3. “Ye are the fruits of one tree and the leaves of one branch.”

4. “So powerful is unity’s light that it can illumine the Whole earth.”

5. “Consort with the followers of all religions with friendliness.”

6. “O Son of Being! Thou art My lamp and My light is in thee.”

7. “O Son of Being! Walk in My statutes for love of Me.”

8. “Thy Paradise is My love; heavenly home reunion with Me.”

9. “The light of a good character surpasseth the light of the sun.”

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A view of the symbolic tracery of the exterior ornamentation of the Bahá’í

House of Worship, Wilmette, Illinois, USA.