A holy site steps away from campus

Charlotte Bawol Contributor

In the late summer of 1912, a highly anticipated visit to the Montreal Baha’i Shrine, formerly the Maxwell home, located at 1548 Avenue des Pins, made anglophone and francophone headlines all across Montreal. Articles titled “Persian Teacher to Preach Peace” and “Apostle of Peace Meet Socialists” could be found across Montreal publications. Over a hundred years later, the Maxwell home stands as the sole shrine of the Baha’i faith outside of the Middle East. And it’s just a 12-minute walk away from McGill’s Law Library.

I was eager to learn more about the Baha’i faith from my first introduction to its principles. Rather than being practised through a complex set of rites administered by clergy, the religion places human unity at its centre; it is a highly personal practice, a conversation between the soul and God.

“Central to the faith is the duty of independently investigating the truth,” Shidan Javaheri, a U2 Engineering student at McGill who grew up in a Baha’i family in Lusaka, Zambia, told me.

He explained that he decided to become Baha’i at age 15, after the teachings of the faith resonated with him. This notion of religious choice at such an early age was almost as shocking to me as a Roman Catholic as was hearing that Baha’is do not practice confession. Indeed, the confession of sin is forbidden and individuals are encouraged to seek repentance directly with God. At this point in our interview, I started to wish I had heard about this religion sooner—it would have saved me years of Catholic guilt.

The shrine became a holy site of the Baha’i faith after the 1912 visit of Abdu’l Bahá, one of the three central figures of the faith. The home was owned by May and Sutherland Maxwell, one of the earliest Baha’is in Montreal and one of Canada’s most renowned architects, respectively. Montreal was the only Canadian city Abdu’l Bahá visited during his voyages to the West to spread the Baha’i faith, but this alone was not enough to cement the Maxwell home as a shrine. It was only when Abdu’l Bahá’s declared “this is helping keep the air fresh.

Overcoming the challenges of student apartments

Many students find themselves in small apartments with low levels of natural light and, like Zarrouki, often do not have a window in their bedroom. This presents the biggest challenge for indoor plants that need light to grow. To combat this, Professor David Wees, Faculty Lecturer in the Department of Plant Science at McGill, recommends investing in a plant-based alternative.

“Light will always be a limiting factor. So for someone with a small apartment and the only light is a north-facing window with no direct sunlight, you might want to consider putting in a plant light,” Wees said in an interview with The McGill Tribune

Another reason why maintaining healthy plants may be challenging for students is the limited time spent at home. Camille Lederer, U3 Environment, finds the time needed to grow most plants a particular challenge as an international student.

“When I go home for summer