Requirements for Mashriqu'l-Adhkar sites

A site for a future Mashriqu'l-Adhkar can be as small as 8,000 square metres in area if a larger property would be too expensive. It should, if possible, be situated within the city designated or, if this is not feasible, within 25 kilometres from the city. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a message dated Naw-Ruz 1974 to all National Spiritual Assemblies; ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986’)

‘Abdu’l-Baha’s objectives for going to North America

…he [‘Abdu’l-Baha] has returned to Egypt and hopes that during the next spring no obstacle may arise, so that with infinite joy and fragrance he may hasten to America 

• to meet the friends,
• to unfurl the banner of rejoicing,
• to spread the Glad Tidings of the Kingdom of Abha,
• to illumine the meetings and gatherings with the Rays of the Sun of Truth,
• to perfume the nostrils with the Fragrances of Holiness,
• to impart gladness and delight to the hearts,
• to attract the souls to the Realms of Might,
• to grant the outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that in this nether world the congregation of the Righteous Ones may be firmly established.

Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings! The bounties of the Most Great Name are descending.

Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings! The Lights of the Kingdom of Abha are shining.

Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings! The Doors of Heaven are opened and the call of the Kingdom is raised. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; Star of the West, vol. 2, no. 16, December 31, 1911)

1911: First Persian Baha'i woman to travel to the West to continue education

Ghodsieh (Qudsiyyih) Khanum Ashraf 

(22 Nov. 1889 Tehran - 16 April 1976 Tehran)  

She saw 'Abdu'l-Baha several times in Chicago and Washington during 1912. She is the first Persian Baha'i woman to travel to the West in 1911 for the purpose of obtaining an education. She studied at the Lewis Institute in Chicago. In 1918 she graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Education. She returned to Persia in 1919 and became involved in women's movements and in education. Her brother, Ashraf Ashraf, studied in Paris during 1911-1915, and met 'Abdu'l-Baha on several occasions at 4, avenue de Camoens in 1911 and 1913. In Iran he apparently held several government positions and emigrated to Switzerland in 1953. 

(Adapted from “Abdu’l-Baha in the West, A biographical guide of the people associated with His travels”, by Jan Teofil Jasion)

“There are two kinds of cooperation: material and spiritual”

There are two kinds of cooperation: material and spiritual. Cooperation in the material world will insure happiness and fellowship, and will facilitate the progress of humankind; but the ideal, the most real and virtuous cooperation is spiritual. That is realized when people gather together to investigate and discuss principles impartially, to talk over the divine and philosophic principles of the age and to assist each other in pursuit of divine knowledge and wisdom. This real cooperation and mutual assistance is the foundation on which the super-structure of material reciprocity is based. Through this spiritual inter-assistance the prosperity of the world of man is unveiled. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha at a Nineteen-Day Feast in London, December 29, 1912; Baha’i News no. 33, July 1929)

How the “grace of God” becomes “revealed” in “the human heart”

…love of God and spiritual attraction do cleanse and purify the human heart and dress and adorn it with the spotless garment of holiness; and once the heart is entirely attached to the Lord, and bound over to the Blessed Perfection, then will the grace of God be revealed. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’)