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And last but not least, 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 Baha'i world, and afire with the desire to demonstrate, in a tangible and befitting manner, the quality of their faith and devotion, the Baha'is of Chicago, having petitioned Abdu'l- Baha 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 Baha'is of America, and indeed of the West, have as yet made to the Cause of Baha'u'llah. The subsequent encouragement given them by Abdu'l- Baha, 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. By April 9, 1908, the sum of two thousand dollars had been paid for the purchase of two building lots, situated near the shore of Lake Michigan. In March 1909, a convention representative of various Baha'i centers was called, in pursuance of instructions received from Abdu'l- Baha. The thirty- nine delegates, representing thirty- six cities, who had assembled in Chicago, on the very day the remains of the Bab were laid to rest by Abdu'l- Baha in the specially erected mausoleum on Mt. Carmel, established a permanent national organization, known as the Baha'i Temple Unity, which was incorporated as a religious corporation, functioning under the laws of the State of Illinois, and invested with full authority to hold title to the property of the Temple and to provide ways and means for its construction. At this same convention a constitution was framed, the Executive Board of the Baha'i Temple Unity was elected, and was authorized by the delegates to complete the purchase of the land recommended by the previous Convention. Contributions for this historic enterprise, from India, Persia, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Russia, Egypt, Germany, France, England, Canada, Mexico, the Hawaiian Islands, and even Mauritius, and from no less than sixty American cities, amounted by 1910, two years previous to Abdu'l- Baha's arrival in America, to no less than twenty thousand dollars, a remarkable testimony alike to the solidarity of the followers of Baha'u'llah in both the East and the West, and to the self- sacrificing efforts exerted by the American believers who, as the work progressed, assumed a preponderating share in providing the sum of over a million dollars required for the erection of the structure of the Temple and its external ornamentation.
(261:2)
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