The Mashriqu'ul-Azkar and the Bahai Movement.

Chicago: Baha'i Temple Unity, 1921. First separate edition (it first appeared in The Lake Shore News, Oct. 19, 1916). Small octavo (3 1/2 x 6 inches). 39, [1, publisher's offer) pp. Publisher's blue wrappers, title within a silver panel on front. Staples with some rust, light edge wear, a 'Maud McDermott' has practiced writing her name on the title page. A scarce item. A small book celebrating the upcoming groundbreaking for the proposed temple in Wilmette, Illinois. The Bahai House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois (or Chicago Bahai Temple) is a Bahai temple. It is the second Bahai House of Worship ever constructed and the oldest one still standing. It is one of eight continental temples, constructed to serve all of North America. The temple was designed by French-Canadian architect Louis Bourgeois (1856–1930), who received design feedback from Abdu'l-Baha during a visit to Haifa in 1920. To convey the Bahai principle of the unity of religion, Bourgeois incorporated a variety of religious architecture and symbols. Although Abdu'l-Baha participated in a ground-breaking ceremony in 1912 that laid a cornerstone, construction began in earnest in the early 1920s and was delayed significantly through the Great Depression and World War II. Construction picked up again in 1947, and the temple was dedicated in a ceremony in 1953.Bahá í Houses of Worship are intended to include several social, humanitarian, and educational institutions clustered around the temple, although none have been built to such an extent. The temples are not intended as a local meeting place, but are instead open to the public and used as a devotional space for people of any faith. All Bahá'í temples share certain architectural elements, some of which are specified by Bahá'í scripture. All Bahá'í Houses of Worship are required to have a nine-sided shape (nonagon) and to have nine pathways lead outward and nine gardens surrounding them. While as of 2010 all standing Bahá'í Houses of Worship have a dome, the Bahá'í teachings do not require that Houses of Worship have domes. Bahá'í scripture also states that no pictures, statues or images may be displayed within the House of Worship and no pulpits or altars incorporated as an architectural feature (readers may stand behind simple portable lectern). To date all the Houses of Worship built or planned have a single, undivided room under their dome.