4. Dependencies of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár
In the fullness of time, Shoghi Effendi states, the central edifice of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár will be surrounded by “such institutions of 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”.52 The indispensability of “a dynamic coherence between the spiritual and practical requirements of life on earth”, the House of Justice writes, “is unmistakably illustrated” in Bahá’u’lláh’s “ordination of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, the spiritual centre of every Bahá’í community round which must flourish dependencies dedicated to the social, humanitarian, educational and scientific advancement of mankind”.53 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains in this regard that the House of Worship is “connected with a hospital, a drug dispensary, a traveler’s hospice, a school for orphans, and a university for advanced studies”. As such, “The Temple is not only a place for worship; rather, in every respect is it complete and whole”.54
Shoghi Effendi highlights the vital interplay between worship and service and offers the following vision of the corresponding interrelationship between the central edifice and its dependencies:
Divorced from the social, humanitarian, educational, and scientific pursuits centring around the Dependencies of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, Bahá’í worship, however exalted in its conception, however passionate in fervour, can never hope to achieve beyond the meagre 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 disinterested service to the cause of humanity which it is the supreme privilege of the Dependencies of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár to facilitate and promote. Nor will the exertions, no matter how disinterested 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 centring in and radiating from the central Shrine of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár. Nothing short of direct and constant interaction between the spiritual forces emanating from this House of Worship centring 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-Adhkár 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 loftiness, of the potency, of the unique position of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár as one of the outstanding institutions conceived by Bahá’u’lláh.55
The first stirrings of the relationship between the spiritual and the practical as embodied in a House of Worship can be found in the pioneering efforts of the believers in ‘Ishqábád. In its letter dated 1 August 2014 to the Bahá’ís of the World, the House of Justice recounts:
On a befitting tract of land in the centre of the city that had been obtained some years before with the consent of the Blessed Beauty Himself, facilities were built for communal well-being—a meeting hall, schools for children, a hostel for visitors, and a small clinic, among others. A sign of the notable achievements of the Bahá’ís in ‘Ishqábád, who in those productive years became distinguished for their prosperity, magnanimity, and intellectual and cultural attainments, was their attention to ensuring that all Bahá’í children and youth were literate in a society with rampant illiteracy, especially among girls.… For over twenty years, the friends experienced the heavenly joy of having realized their lofty aim: the establishment of a focal point of worship, a nerve centre of community life, a place where souls gathered at daybreak for humble invocation and communion before flowing out of its doors to engage in their daily pursuits.56
In other words, the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, the House of Justice relates in a subsequent letter, is concurrently “the place from which spiritual forces are to radiate”, “the focal point for dependencies to be raised up for the well-being of humanity”, and “the expression of a common will and eagerness to serve”.57 “These dependencies”, the same letter continues, are “centres of education and scientific learning as well as cultural and humanitarian endeavour” that “embody the ideals of social and spiritual progress to be achieved through the application of knowledge, and demonstrate how, when religion and science are in harmony, they elevate the station of the human being and lead to the flourishing of civilization”.58