Sequence-Homes-Hazíratu'l-Quds-Mashriqu'l-Adhkár
(This page describes the sequence in structures used for Bahá'í worship (and their names).)
Summary of sequence from homes to Houses of Worship by stage[edit]
Stage progression and quotations elaborating on the progression[edit]
- 1 -> 2 : 1, 2, 8
- 1 (or 2) -> 3 (embyronic of the structure) : 3, 4, 5
- 1 (or 2) -> 3 (in name) : 6, 7
- 2 -> 3 : (7), 8, 9, 10
Quotations elaborating on the sequence from homes to full-fledged Houses of Worship[edit]
Advantages of transitioning from homes to Bahá'í Centers[edit]
"Shoghi Effendi...is much hopeful of your new centre in Regent Street or thereabouts, and he trusts that it will mark a turning point in the history of the Cause in England - from happy tea-parties at individual homes, into a group of less personal but eager, active and thoughtful workers co-operating in a common service."
Devotional meetings to be held in a centre if available[edit]
"As we have said in an earlier message, the flourishing of the community, especially at the local level, demands a significant enhancement in patterns of behaviour: those patterns by which the collective expression of the virtues of the individual members and the functioning of the Spiritual Assembly are manifest in the unity and fellowship of the community and the dynamism of its activity and growth. This calls for the integration of the component elements - -- adults, youth and children -- in spiritual, social, educational and administrative activities; and their engagement in local plans of teaching and development. It implies a collective will and sense of purpose to perpetuate the Spiritual Assembly through annual elections. It involves the practice of collective worship of God. Hence, it is essential to the spiritual life of the community that the friends hold regular devotional meetings in local Baha'i centres, where available, or elsewhere, including the homes of believers."
- (Universal House of Justice, Ridván 1996)
Regular devotional meetings open to all (and service) are expressions in and toward the implementation of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár[edit]
"The spiritual growth generated by individual devotions is reinforced by loving association among the friends in every locality, by worship as a community and by service to the Faith and to one's fellow human beings. These communal aspects of the godly life relate to the law of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár which appears in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Although the time has not come for the building of local Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs, the holding of regular meetings for worship open to all and the involvement of Bahá'í communities in projects of humanitarian service are expressions of this element of Bahá'í life and a further step in the implementation of the Law of God."
- (28 December 1999, from the Universal House of Justice to the Bahá'ís of the World)
Holding of daily dawn prayers is possible and even ideal (at least in some places); the devotional meetings are parallel to the Temple of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár[edit]
"We have been watching with profound interest the manner in which the goal of encouraging the friends to meet for dawn prayers is being carried out. In some rural areas this has become already an established practice of the friends and indeed a source of blessing and benefit to them as they pursue their activities during the day, as well as increasing the consciousness of community solidarity. In other areas, the friends have found that, because of the distances involved, better results are obtained by meeting for prayer in smaller groups. In yet other areas, as a first step, plans have been made to meet for dawn prayers once a week."
- (Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-86, no. 162.37, p. 311)
"Can daily early morning prayer sessions be held? If so, where and when? (If this is not feasible every day, an effort could be made to hold such sessions less frequently. At such devotional meetings not only prayers, but suitable selections from the Sacred Writings could be read. Bahá'u'lláh has pointed out that upon the Word of God "must depend the gathering together and spiritual resurrection of all men," that "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God is endowed with such potency as can instill new life into every human frame," and that were man to "taste the sweetness of the words which the lips of the All-Merciful have willed to utter, he would, though the treasures of the earth be in his possession, renounce them 'one and all, that he might vindicate the truth of even one of His commandments." It is because of such considerations the the Five Year Plan calls for the friends to memorize selections from the Writings. If the believer finds it difficult to memorize, he may be encouraged to make for his own use a selection of extracts, however brief, which he could reread and enjoy at his own leisure, to satisfy his inner soul."
- (Universal House of Justice, From a letter addressed to a National Spiritual Assembly, offering examples of local goals that Local Spiritual Assemblies may wish to consider, Developing Distinctive Bahá'í Communities, p. 7.24)
Meetings reciting the Holy Writings are Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs[edit]
"It befitteth the friends to hold a gathering, a meeting, where they shall glorify God and fix their hearts upon Him, and read and recite the Holy Writings of the Blessed Beauty - may my soul be the ransom of His lovers! The lights of the All-Glorious Realm, the rays of the Supreme Horizon, will be cast upon such bright assemblages, for these are none other than the Mashriqu'l-Adhkars, the Dawning-Points of God's Remembrance, which must, at the direction of the Most Exalted Pen, be established in every hamlet and city... These spiritual gatherings must be held with the utmost purity and consecration, so that from the site itself, and its earth and the air about it, one will inhale the fragrant breathings of the Holy Spirit."
Even Homes Can Be Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs[edit]
"This is a matter of the utmost significance. If the erection of the House of Worship in a public place would arouse the hostility of evil-doers, then the meeting must, in every locality, be held in some hidden place. Even in every hamlet, a place must be set aside as the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, and even though it be underground.
"Now, praised be God, ye have succeeded in this. Engage ye in the remembrance of God at dawn; rise ye up to praise and glorify Him. Blessed are ye, and joy be yours, O ye the righteous, for having established the Dawning-Point of the Praises of God. Verily I ask of the Lord that He make you standards of salvation and banners of redemption, rippling high over the valleys and hills."
"In Persia there are many; some are houses which have been utilized for the purpose, others are homes entirely devoted to the Divine Cause, and in some places temporary structures have been erected. In all the cities of Persia there are Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs"
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, stated in reference to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs, p. 71)
"Although to outward seeming the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar is a material structure, yet it hath a spiritual effect. It forgeth bonds of unity from heart to heart; it is a collective centre for men's souls. Every city in which, during the days of the Manifestation, a temple was raised up, hath created security and constancy and peace, for such buildings were given over to the perpetual glorification of God, and only in the remembrance of God can the heart find rest. Gracious God! The edifice of the House of Worship hath a powerful influence on every phase of life. Experience hath, in the east, clearly shown this to be a fact. Even if, in some small village, a house was designated as the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, it produced a marked effect; how much greater would be the impact of one especially raised up."
Ideally progress to a Bahá'í Centre and ideally in same location to Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (though not necessary)[edit]
"In these days one of the essential requirements of the Faith which will attract divine blessings and lead to the protection of the servants at His Threshold, is to set aside a suitable place to serve as a centre for Bahá'í activities in each of the localities where believers reside. In such a centre, even if it is among the most modest of locations, all gatherings of the friends should be held, such as those for the reading of the Tablets, for prayers and supplications, for the meetings of the Local Spiritual Assembly, for the teaching work, for the delivery of talks, for commemorations, for festivals and for the Feasts. If the location is suitable, it would be light upon light if in the future the edifice of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár could also be erected on that spot. That centre should be named Hazíratu'l-Quds, so that the musk-scented breaths of the fervent prayers offered therein, and the sweet breeze of spiritual discussions and worthy enterprises wafted from the Hazíratu'l-Quds may spread to neighbouring regions, and impart healing and fragrance to the nostrils of a sorely-afflicted world."
- (Translated from a letter of Shoghi Effendi to the friends in Írán and the East, dated July 1925 quoted in Social and Economic Development)
Permissible to change location of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (or have more than one in a single locality)[edit]
'Changing the location of Mashriqu'l-Adhkar to a better and improved location is permitted. Multiplicity of Mashriqu'l-Adhkars in a single locality is acceptable.'
- (Abdu'l-Baha, Tablet quoted by Ishraq-Khavari, addressed to Mirza Ali-Asghar Faridi-yi Usku'i)
The Hazíratu'l-Quds may be used for spiritual, administrative, and other aspects of community life (e.g., social and economic development) as an embryonic Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (or House of Worship dependencies for service)[edit]
"With regard to your first query concerning the institution of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, as you know, it is envisioned that a House of Worship and its dependencies will eventually be established in every locality. The upraising of the Temple, the central edifice and spiritual heart of the community, is to be followed by the erection and functioning of the various dependencies dedicated to the social and economic upliftment of the community. However, long before a Baha'i community reaches the stage of building its own Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, this process begins in an embryonic way. Even the first local centre that a Baha'i community acquires can begin to serve not only as the spiritual and administrative centre and gathering place of the community, but also as the site for other aspects of community life. Clearly, then, social and economic development projects need not await the building of a Mashriqu'l-Adhkár and are, themselves, worthy pursuits, provided that the community has the capacity to initiate and sustain such activity. Some of the entities created in this process may even later become dependencies of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár once it is built. What is important to remember is that, as is the case with the institution of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, central to the development process are the spiritual illumnation of hearts and the enlightenment of minds."
- (On behalf of the Universal House of Justice, to an individual in the UK, dated 15 February 1994)
"One of the characteristics of Bahá'í society will be the gathering of the believers each day during the hours between dawn and two hours after sunrise to listen to the reading and chanting of the Holy Word. In many communities at the present time, especially in rural ones, such gatherings would fit naturally into the pattern of the friends' daily life, and where this is the case it would do much to foster the unity of the local community and deepen the friends' knowledge of the Teachings if such gatherings could be organized by the Local Spiritual Assembly on a regular basis. Attendance at these gatherings is not to be obligatory, but we hope that the friends will more and more be drawn to take part in them. This is a goal which can be attained gradually."
- (Universal House of Justice, Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-86, Naw Rúz 1974 to all National Spiritual Assemblies, no. 142.14, p. 269)
