… 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’)
