The Mash̲riqu’l-Adh̲kár is a unique concept in the annals of religion and symbolizes the teachings of the new Day of God. A collective centre of society to promote cordial affection, the Mash̲riqu’l-Adh̲kár stands as a universal place of worship open to all the inhabitants of a locality irrespective of their religious affiliation, background, ethnicity, or gender and a haven for the deepest contemplation on spiritual reality and foundational questions of life, including individual and collective responsibility for the betterment of society. Men and women, children and youth, are held in its embrace as equals. This singular and integral universality is captured in the very structure of the Mash̲riqu’l-Adh̲kár, whose design as a nine-sided edifice conveys a sense of completeness and perfection symbolized by that number.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 18 December 2014 to the Bahá’ís in Iran; compilation: ‘The Institution of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, September 2017)
