House of Worship symbolism
The temple represents the Manifestation of God[edit]
"The real Temple is the very Word of God"
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 65)
"They will realize that just as this temple was founded for the unification of mankind, the law preceding and creating it came forth in the manifest Word."
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 65)
"In the temple of the Lord, in the house of God, man must be submissive to God. He must enter into a covenant with his Lord in order that he shall obey the divine commands and become unified with his fellowman...the real Collective Centers are the Manifestations of God, of Whom the church or temple is a symbol and expression."
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 65)
'Question: What is the difference between a church and a Mashrak-el-Azkar?
'Answer: A church is a meeting house where sermons are preached by paid preachers, whereas a Mashrak-el-Azkar represents the body of the Manifestation, from which will radiate the highest religious teaching of the whole world. From the Mashrak-el-Azkar praises to God must shine forth, both spiritual and material. Divine souls must be gathered around it -- souls who shine like a sun. Just as the body of Jesus confirmed His Manifestation, so will the Mashrak-el-Azkar confirm the Manifestation of Baha-o-llah.
'The most important point is that from the Mashrak-el-Azkar must go forth not only Spiritual necessities, but also material needs such as hospitals, schools, orphanages, hospices, etc., etc.'
- (Attributed to 'Abdu'l-Bahá (pilgrims' notes) from the Woodcock notes of 1910, cited at https://bahai-library.com/compilation_mashriq_adhkar_mcglinn )
“The Mashrek-el-Azkar is the symbol of the real church, which church is the Reality of the Christ. It is for this purpose that we should consider that, as the outward Edifice can gather men of different nations in one place, likewise the Reality of Christ has united the great races of the world together.”
- (Attributed to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Star of the West, vol. 2, issue 10, p. 7)
The temple a symbol of the divine uniting force (the law behind the Temple's creation)[edit]
"Temples are the symbols of the divine uniting force so that when the people gather there in the House of God they may recall the fact that the law has been revealed for them and that the law is to unite them. They will realize that just as this temple was founded for the unification of mankind, the law preceding and creating it came forth in the manifest Word."
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 65)
The temple represents the inner temple[edit]
"These are the institutions of God and the foundations of His temple, the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár. The outer edifice is a symbol of the inner. May the people be admonished thereby."
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 66)
'In reality, the radiant, pure hearts are the Mashrak-el-Azcar and from them the voice of supplication and invocation continually reacheth the Supreme Concourse.
'I ask God to make the heart of every one of you a temple of the Divine Temples and to let the lamp of the great guidance be lighted therein; and when the hearts find such an attainment, they will certainly exert the utmost endeavor and energy in the building of the Mashrak-el-Azcar; thus may the outward express the inward, and the form (or letter) indicate the meaning (or reality).'
- (Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá Abbas p. 678)
'Wherever the heart of a believer sincerely worships there is a Mashrak-el-Azkar, but with the growth of the Cause the outward Temple is also necessary.'
- (Attributed to 'Abdu'l-Bahá (pilgrims' notes) from the Hannen notes of 1909, cited at https://bahai-library.com/compilation_mashriq_adhkar_mcglinn )
The temple represents the relativity of religious truth[edit]
"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 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 irrestibily 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...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."
