Date: Tue, 1 Aug 1995
From: Juan R Cole
Subject: Aqdas Pillar II, K11

Cole: I think many of the Friends on Talisman agree that the US community has paid insufficient attention to this command to erect places of worship in every village and town. Of course, there are practical reasons for this. I think Richard Hollinger pointed out that average community size in the US has been on the order of 30-40, which probably is not in most instances big enough to support the erection and maintenance of a building. But there must be other factors that have worked against our having enough mashriqu'l-adhkars

In a Tablet to Mashhadi `Abdu'r-Razzaq Qummi, quoted by Mr. Ishraq-Khavari on p. 231 of Ganjinih, `Abdu'l-Baha extolls these Baha'i places of worship as a "magnet for the confirmations of God," says their erection "causeth the exaltation of the Word of God;" and that the prayers recited therein make the heart glad and endue the righteous with spirit. He concludes by asserting, "Today, the greatest of affairs and the most perfect act of service at the sanctified divine threshhold is the establishment of the mashriqu'l-adhkar." (Provisional trans.)

I think it worth emphasizing that He is not talking only about the cathedral-style great Houses of Worship, but also about the need for such buildings in every community.

cheers Juan Cole, History, University of Michigan