icuous than any of these undertakings, however, was the erection
of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the Baha'i world in the city of
I_sh_qabad, 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.

The edifice itself, the foundation stone of which was laid in the presence
of General Krupatkin, the governor-general of Turkistan, who had been
delegated by the Czar to represent him at the ceremony, has thus been
minutely described by a Baha'i visitor from the West: "The
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar stands in the heart of the city; its high dome
standing out above the trees and house tops being visible for miles to the
travelers as they approach the town. It is in the center of a garden
bounded by four streets. In the four corners of this enclosure are four
buildings: one is the Baha'i school; one is the traveler's house, where
pilgrims and wayfarers are lodged; one is for the keepers, while the
fourth one is to be used as a hospital. Nine radial avenues approach the
Temple from the several parts of the grounds, one of which, the principal
approach to the building, leads from the main gateway of the grounds to
the principal portal of the Temple." "In plan," he further adds, "the
building is composed of three sections; namely, the central rotunda, the
aisle or ambulatory which surrounds it, and the loggia which surrounds the
entire building. It is built on the plan of a regular polygon of nine
sides. One side is occupied by the m