Today I treked up north of Chicago to Wilmette, Ill., the last stop on Chicago’s elevated train system. A quiet suburb, Wilmette offers few cues that it’s next to one of the country’s largest metropolises, except for a magnificent view of Chicago’s skyline from the beach.
But Wilmette also houses one of Illinois’s marvels, according to the Seven Wonders of Illinois program: The North American Bahá‘í temple:
The Bahá‘í faith holds that all religions have a kernel of truth to them, as exemplified by a common Bahá‘í adage, “All the prophets of God proclaim the same faith.” In fact, you can see such belief enshrined in the building itself, as in this close-up of one of the temple’s nine pillars:
Notice the Hindi swastika, the Jewish Star of David, the Christian cross, and the Islamic crescent. Above all of these is the nine pointed Bahá‘í star. The number nine in the Bahá‘í faith symbolizes completeness, as the Bahá‘í believe their faith completes all others.
The Bahá‘í are not Unitarian Universalists. While Unitarian Universalists believe that all faiths have an equal, or at least equally important place, the Bahá‘í see their faith as a fulfillment of all the expectations of prior religions. While the religions that came before the Bahá‘í faith have truth, they also have flaws. Religious history is interpreted as a series of dispensations, where each manifestation brings a somewhat more advanced revelation, suited its contemporary time and place. The Bahá‘í believe their prophet, Bahá‘u’lláh, corrects all flaws and completes the revelation with his revelations in the 19th century.
The Bahá‘í faith essentially began in Shiraz, Iran in 1844 when a man named Ali-Muhammad declared that he was “The Bab,” which means “The Gate” in Arabic. His writings introduced the concept of a coming messianic figure, which was later exemplified in Bahá‘u’lláh, one of The Bab’s followers.
Bahá‘u’lláh lived a very difficult life due to his religious involvement. He was arrested and imprisoned for following The Bab in 1852, and a year later received his first revelation that he might be the messiah. Soon after he was expelled from Tehran to Baghdad, then Constantinople, then to Adrianople, and many other places. Beginning in 1866, he began writing letters to world leaders such as the pope and Queen Victoria, declaring his mission as a messenger of God.
He died In Akka in Palestine in 1892, leaving a large volume of writings, including his major works, The Kitab-i-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book) and the Kitab-i-Iqan (The Book of Certitude).
The Bahá‘í faith is an extremely progressive faith, holding as its main tenants the
unity of mankind, the eradication of sexism, racism, and all other kinds of bias, and world peace. Notably, monasticism is forbidden. All Bahá‘í are required to make themselves useful in the world, and community service is thus an irreplaceable aspect of their faith.
Overlooking the bustling Sheridan Road, the temple in Wilmette is a bastion of quiet, effectively locking out all outside noise for a blanket of peace. Is it magic? No, it’s one of the most amazing feats of science! You see, nestled in the temple’s surrounding immaculately tended gardens are fountains, controlled by wind-monitoring towers. The fountains create a muffling hum perfect for meditation, and will never spray you. Every time the wind picks up, the fountains are lowered by the sensor towers. And when the wind is still, water shoots several feet in the air.
This temple is the oldest of seven standing Bahá‘í temples in the world, essentially one on every continent. The one in Chile is slowly being built, as the Bahá‘í only take contributions from other Bahá‘í, and gathering contributions from the five million adherents worldwide can take a while. Constructed between 1912 and 1953, the temple features a 135-foot tall dome and intricate stone lacework.
I couldn’t take photographs inside the temple, but I was able to find some from the Bahá‘í website, which they allow you to download. Here’s the auditorium:
And here’s the top of the dome, with the inscription “Yá Bahá‘u’l Abhá,” which means “O Glory of All Glorious” in Arabic.
Interestingly, the Bahá‘í do not build houses of worship other than the continental temples. In all other cities, old houses or ordinary buildings double as places of worship, and thus Bahá‘í often make pilgrimages to different temples or to sites important in the lives of The Bab or Bahá‘u’lláh.
Services are also very different than one would necessarily expect. The Bahá‘í have no clergy, and at a meeting for worship, anyone can come up and read, whether they are a member of the faith or not. And they can read from any established religious text, be it the Bible, the Qur’an, the Bhagavad Gita, or the writings of Bahá‘u’lláh.
In fact, to finish this post, I’ll end with an excerpt from the Kita-I-Iqan:
“The more they are told that this wondrous Cause of God, this Revelation from the Most High, hath been made manifest to all mankind, and is waxing greater and stronger every day, the fiercer groweth the blaze of the fire in their hearts. The more they observe the indomitable strength, the sublime renunciation, the unwavering constancy of God’s holy companions, who, by the aid of God, are growing nobler and more glorious every day, the deeper the dismay which ravageth their souls. In these days, praise be to God, the power of His Word hath obtained such ascendancy over men, that they dare breathe no word… Ere long, thine eyes will behold the standards of divine power unfurled throughout all regions, and the signs of His triumphant might and sovereignty manifest in every land.”
