The First Mashriqu'l-Adhkár: 'Ishqábád Rises from the Steppe

The early issues of *Star of the West,* the American periodical of the Bahá'í community founded in 1910, devote several articles to the construction and dedication of the first Bahá'í House of Worship in the world — the *Mashriqu'l-Adhkár* of 'Ishqábád, in the Russian-administered province of Trans-Caspia in Central Asia.

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The community of 'Ishqábád, at the time the Russian frontier town now known as Ashgabat in Turkmenistan, had grown substantially since the Russian conquest of Central Asia in the 1880s. The town had attracted Persian merchants and craftsmen seeking refuge from the persecutions of their homeland. Among them were a substantial number of Bahá'ís — some exiled, some emigrated, some born to the Cause in the new town. By the early 1900s the 'Ishqábád Bahá'í community numbered, by the *Star of the West's* accounts, in the thousands.

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Bahá'u'lláh, in His Tablets of the late 1880s, had given instruction that a House of Worship should be raised by the Bahá'í community at the first opportunity. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, after His father's ascension, encouraged the 'Ishqábád community to take up the work. The community was uniquely positioned to carry it out — its substantial size, its prosperity, and the relative tolerance of the Russian Imperial authorities all favoured the project.

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The community pooled its means. Architects were engaged — the chief design was the work of an Iranian architect, Ustád 'Alí-Akbar Banná-yi-Yazdí — and the construction was begun in 1902. The completed building, dedicated in 1908, was a nine-sided structure surmounted by a great dome. Around the central building were arranged subsidiary buildings: a school, a clinic, a guesthouse, a small library. The complex was set in a garden of nine sides, in the ratio of nine that would become characteristic of every subsequent Mashriqu'l-Adhkár.

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The dedication was attended, *Star of the West* records, by believers from Persia, from India, from the Caucasus, from the Russian provinces. The municipal authorities of 'Ishqábád sent representatives. Visiting Russian officers attended out of curiosity. The dedication ceremony itself was held in the central hall, with prayers and Tablets chanted by the most accomplished readers of the community.

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The 'Ishqábád House of Worship would for the next forty years be the centre of Bahá'í life in Central Asia. It would inspire, in the early 1920s, the design of the second House of Worship — the one being built at Wilmette, Illinois — and indeed the design of every subsequent Mashriqu'l-Adhkár around the world. The principle of the nine sides, the central dome, the surrounding gardens, the dependencies for service of the community — all were established at 'Ishqábád.

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The history of the building after the Russian Revolution was tragic. The Soviet authorities sequestered the building in 1928, drove the believers from it, and in the years that followed used it as an art gallery. Earthquakes in 1948 and 1962 damaged the structure; the Soviet authorities refused to permit repair; the remains were demolished in 1963.

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The site is now a public garden. The community of 'Ishqábád, suppressed in the Soviet period, has begun to be reconstituted in independent Turkmenistan. The first House of Worship in the Bahá'í world stood for two generations and is gone. The memory of it shapes every Mashriqu'l-Adhkár that has been built since.

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*Paraphrased from articles in Star of the West, vols. 1-3 (1910-1912), describing the community of 'Ishqábád and the dedication of its House of Worship; see originals for full text.*

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