… inspired by the example set by their fellow-disciples in
Ishqabad, who had already commenced the construction of the first
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the Bahá'í world, and afire with the desire to
demonstrate, in a tangible and befitting manner, the quality of their faith and
devotion, the Bahá'ís of Chicago, having petitioned 'Abdu'l-Bahá for permission
to erect a House of Worship, and
secured, in a Tablet revealed in June 1903, His ready and enthusiastic
approval, arose, despite the smallness of their numbers and their limited
resources, to initiate an enterprise which must rank as the greatest single
contribution which the Bahá'ís of America, and indeed of the West, have as yet
made to the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh. The subsequent encouragement given them by
'Abdu'l-Bahá, and the contributions raised by various Assemblies decided the
members of this Assembly to invite representatives of their fellow-believers in
various parts of the country to meet in Chicago for the initiation of the
stupendous undertaking they had conceived. On November 26, 1907, the assembled
representatives, convened for that purpose, appointed a committee of nine to
locate a suitable site for the proposed Temple.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes
By’)
