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More conspicuous than any of these undertakings, however, was the erection of the first Mashriqu'l- Adhkar of the Baha'i world in the city of Ishqabad, a center founded in the days of Baha'u'llah, where the initial steps preparatory to its construction, had been already undertaken during His lifetime. Initiated at about the close of the first decade of Abdu'l- Baha's ministry (1902); fostered by Him at every stage in its development; personally supervised by the venerable Haji Mirza Muhammad- Taqi, the Vakilu'd- Dawlih, a cousin of the Bab, who dedicated his entire resources to its establishment, and whose dust now reposes at the foot of Mt. Carmel under the shadow of the Tomb of his beloved Kinsman; carried out according to the directions laid down by the Center of the Covenant Himself; a lasting witness to the fervor and the self- sacrifice of the Oriental believers who were resolved to execute the bidding of Baha'u'llah as revealed in the Kitab- i- Aqdas, this enterprise must rank not only as the first major undertaking launched through the concerted efforts of His followers in the Heroic Age of His Faith, but as one of the most brilliant and enduring achievements in the history of the first Baha'i century.
(300:1)
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