Ridvan Holy Days are upon us!

[arthra]

In April of 1863 Baha'u'llah stayed in what we call the Garden of Ridvan and known as the Najibiyyih which was actually an island in the Tigris River outside Baghdad for twelve days.. on His way to Istanbul summoned by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Baha'u'llah declared that He was "Him Whom God would make manifest" promised by the Bab.


"With the Declaration of Bahá'u'lláh the prophecies of the Báb concerning the appearance of 'Him Whom God shall make manifest' were fulfilled. The Báb had alluded in His Writings to the scene of Bahá'u'lláh's Declaration in 'Ridvan' and to the wafting of the breezes of His Revelation from 'Baghdad'. He had also foretold in the Persian Bayan that He would be manifested on the completion of the first Vahid (nineteen years) of the Bábí Dispensation, which began in 1844. In the first chapter of the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá', which was revealed when the Báb communicated His Message to Mulla Husayn, He referred to the 'people of Baha' as the only 'companions of the Crimson-Coloured Ark' moving upon the 'Crimson Sea'. The 'Crimson Ark' was a reference to the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh, which was 281 launched on the first day of Ridvan. The community of the Most Great Name emerged on that day, when the followers of Bahá'u'lláh acknowledged His station.

Of the twelve days that Bahá'u'lláh stayed in the Garden of Ridvan, three are regarded as Holy Days: the first day on which He declared Himself, the ninth day when all His family joined Him and rejoiced at His Declaration, and the twelfth day when He left that garden."

~ Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah v 1, p. 280


The Twelve Days of Ridvan (Paradise) are in the Baha'i (Badi) Calendar from sunset April 20th to sunset May 2nd.. this year.

The First, Ninth and Twelfth Days of Ridvan are Holy Days when work and school attendance are suspended.

Of these twelve days the First Day of Ridvan which starts this year in the Gregorian Calendar after sunset Wednesday April 20th is the day local Baha'i communities elect Local Spiritual Assemblies around the world wherever there are nine adult believers in a given jurisdiction.

The Assembly is the local institution responsible for the activities of the Baha'is in their area.. It can also be consulted for issues concerning the Baha'is. Baha'i marriages are recognized by the Local Assembly and it is the Assembly's responsibility to see that Baha'i laws are observed..

Also every National Spiritual Assembly representing the Baha'is of over a hundred nations have convention this time every year and elect the nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly of a given country..

 

[arthra]

"Every day ere the hour of dawn..."

"Every day ere the hour of dawn, the gardeners would pick
the roses which lined the four avenues of the garden, and
would pile them in the centre of the floor of His blessed tent.

So great would be the heap that when His companions
gathered to drink their morning tea in His presence, they
would be unable to see each other across it.


All these roses Bahá'u'lláh would, with His own hands, entrust to those whom He dismissed from His presence every morning to be
delivered, on His behalf, to His Arab and Persian friends in
the city...

One night, the ninth night of the waxing moon,
I happened to be one of those who watched beside His
blessed tent.

As the hour of midnight approached, I saw Him
issue from His tent, pass by the places where some of His
companions were sleeping, and begin to pace up and down
the moonlit, flower-bordered avenues of the garden. So loud
was the singing of the nightingales on every side that only
those who were near Him could hear distinctly His voice.

He continued to walk until, pausing in the midst of one of these
avenues, He observed:

'Consider these nightingales. So great
is their love for these roses, that sleepless from dust till
dawn, they warble their melodies and commune with burning
passion with the object of their adoration. How then can
those who claim to be afire with the rose-like beauty of the
Beloved choose to sleep?'

For three successive nights I watched and circled round His blessed tent. Every time I passed by the couch whereon He lay, I would find Him wakeful, and every day, from morn till eventide, I would see Him ceaselessly engaged in conversing with the stream of visitors
who kept flowing in from Baghdad. Not once could I discover
in the words He spoke any trace of dissimulation."

~ From the record of Nabil-i-Azam


__________________

 

[NiceCupOfTea]

who what is the Bab ?

 

[arthra]

Who was the Bab?

Thanks for asking and welcome to the Baha'i Forum "nice cup of tea"!

For Baha'is the Bab (Siyyid Ali Muhammad) Whose name means the "Gate" fulfilled the prophecies of the Promised One of Islam..the Mehdi and the Return of Christ.. He declared His station on May 23, 1844 in Shiraz, Persia (Iran).. Very soon after that nineteen people recognized Him independently on their own.. soon the movement spread through the Middle East in what is today Iraq and Iran.. The Bab revealed Writings and new ordinances.. Within a few months a persecution began of His followers and twenty thousand of His followers (called "Babis") offered their lives for is Cause.. among His followers was Mirza Husayn Ali known by His title Baha'u'llah ("Glory of God").

The ministry of the Bab was relatively brief from 1844 to 1850 when He was martyred in Tabriz Persia. In the Writings of the Bab He frequently referred to "Him Whom God would make manifest" in a way that was similar to how John the Baptist spoke of Jesus Christ (Messiah) to prepare the way for Him. Nineteen years after the declaration of the Bab, Baha'u'llah declared that He was the One promised by the Bab.

As an exile in Baghdad, Baha'u'llah was summoned to the court of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and on His way He stopped for twelve days in the Najibiyyih Garden (an island in the Tigris River outside Baghdad) we know today as the Garden of Ridvan (Paradise)..there He declared He was the "Him Whom God would make manifest" in the Writings of the Bab.. Most of the followers of the Bab then accepted His declaration and so today we Baha'is observe this time of year in commemoration of that declaration.

 

[arthra]

Encyclopedia Article on Ridvan by John Walbridge






The announcement



While the exact nature and details `of Bahá'u'lláh's declaration are unknown, Abdu'l-Bahá states that on the afternoon He arrived at the garden Bahá'u'lláh disclosed His claim to be Him Whom God shall make manifest. Bahá'u'lláh's daughter Bahiyyih Khanum is also reported to have said that on that day Bahá'u'lláh privately stated His claim to prophethood to `Abdu'l-Bahá and four other followers. According to this account `he enjoined upon them secrecy as to this communication, as the time had not come for a public declaration; but that there were reasons which caused him to deem it necessary to make it at that time to a few whom he could trust'.4 Bahá'u'lláh clearly did not make a general public announcement of His prophetic claim at the Najibiyyih Garden: that did not happen until after His arrival in Edirne.5 Most Babis --even those in exile with Him -- seem to have been unaware of Bahá'u'lláh's claim until a year or two later -- although, of course, His Baghdad writings are full of hints about it.6



The departure from the most great house



In some places Bahá'u'lláh stresses His departure from the Most Great House: `as He departed from His house, proceeding to the Spot from which He shed upon the whole of creation, the splendours of His name, the All-Merciful.'7 Another Tablet recounts His journey from the House to the Ridvan Garden, giving supernatural significance to each stage of the journey. Another refers to His `exile (hijrah) from Iraq', thus linking Bahá'u'lláh's departure from the Most Great House to Muhammad's emigration from Mecca, the site of the most holy House of Islam, to Medina, the city where Muhammad fully exercised the prerogatives of prophethood.



The three announcements



In a Tablet written some years later Bahá'u'lláh states that three announcements were made on the first day of Ridvan. First, Bahá'u'lláh's followers were forbidden to fight to advance or defend their faith. (Religious war, jihad, had been permitted in Islam and under certain conditions by the law of the Bab.) Second, there would not be another prophet for a full thousand years. Third, at that moment all the names of God were fully manifest in all things. These are perhaps to be regarded as an oblique announcement of His own prophethood. The first two anticipate basic features of Bahá'í law recorded in the Kitab-i-Aqdas. The third announcement is echoed in many passages from Tablets related to Ridvan, for example:

For We perceive the fragrance of the Day whereon He Who is the Desire of all nations hath shed upon the kingdoms of the unseen and of the seen the splendour of the light of His most excellent names, and enveloped them with the radiance of the luminaries of His most gracious favours -- favours which none can reckon except Him, Who is the omnipotent Protector of the entire creation.8

Thus, Bahá'u'lláh's arrival in Ridvan marks a mystic transformation of the world, in which the entire creation is infused with the glory of God's names. His announcement should, therefore, be viewed less as the revealing of a secret to a few individuals than as a fundamental transformation in the relationship between God and the world.

Excerpted from an article by John Walbridge on Ridvan


Source:

Ridvan

 

[NiceCupOfTea]

Re: Who was the Bab?

Thanks for asking and welcome to the Baha'i Forum "nice cup of tea"!

For Baha'is the Bab (Siyyid Ali Muhammad) Whose name means the "Gate" fulfilled the prophecies of the Promised One of Islam..the Mehdi and the Return of Christ.. .

so he was both Mehdi and Christ come again, is that right ?

 

[BruceDLimber]

Re: Who was the Bab?

Welcome to the neighborhood!

o [the Bab] was both Mehdi and Christ come again, is that right ?

No, the Bab was the Mahdi (however spelled), but Baha'u'llah (Whom the Bab spoke of as "He Whom God will make manifest") was the return of the Christ Spirit.

Please note that further questions are most welcome; we LOVE 'em!

Best regards,

Bruce

 

[arthra]

In a sense the return of Christ, the Mahdi and so forth are speaking of the same thing spiritually..

Wherefore, should one of these Manifestations of Holiness proclaim saying: "I am the return of all the Prophets," He verily speaketh the truth. In like manner, in every subsequent Revelation, the return of the former Revelation is a fact, the truth of which is firmly established. Inasmuch as the return of the Prophets of God, as attested by verses and traditions, hath been conclusively demonstrated, the return of their chosen ones also is therefore definitely proven.

(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 153)

Regarding the "Twin Manifestations" the Bab and Baha'u'llah:

All the peoples of the world are awaiting two Manifestations, Who must be contemporaneous; all wait for the fulfillment of this promise. In the Bible the Jews have the promise of the Lord of Hosts and the Messiah; in the Gospel the return of Christ and Elijah is promised.

In the religion of Muhammad there is the promise of the Mihdi and the Messiah, and it is the same with the Zoroastrian and the other religions, but if we relate these matters in detail, it would take too long. The essential fact is that all are promised two Manifestations, Who will come, one following on the other. It has been prophesied that in the time of these two Manifestations the earth will be transformed, the world of existence will be renewed, and beings will be clothed in new garments.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 39)

 

[arthra]

In the Suriy-i-Sabr, revealed as far back as the year 1863, on the very first day of His arrival in the garden of Ridvan, He thus affirms:

"God hath sent down His Messengers to succeed to Moses and Jesus, and He will continue to do so till 'the end that hath no end'; so that His grace may, from the heaven of Divine bounty, be continually vouchsafed to mankind."

"I am not apprehensive for My own self," Bahá'u'lláh still more explicitly declares, "My fears are for Him Who will be sent down unto you after Me -- Him Who will be invested with great sovereignty and mighty dominion."

And again He writes in the Suratu'l-Haykal:

"By those words which I have revealed, Myself is not intended, but rather He Who will come after Me. To it is witness God, the All-Knowing." "Deal not with Him," He adds, "as ye have dealt with Me."

~ Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 116

 

[arthra]

For the Twelfth Day of Ridvan:



So it was that Khurasan became the grove of the lions of God, and a nesting-place for the birds of the Ridvan Paradise. The Ancient Beauty singled out that blessed land for special favour, extending to it uncounted blessings and gifts. Now in wondrous and most sweet voice, again with the tracings of His exalted pen, and on the head of each one of the beloved in that bright region, He set a crown of imperishable glory, and He robed each one with His bestowals and grace, and wrapped each one in a mantle of spiritual perfections. Of them all He spoke the highest praise, and to all He gave abundant blessings, as is proved by the text of His scrolls and Tablets. And whenever that sacred King of all the world would speak of Khurasan, His being would stir for joy, and His luminous face would grow still brighter with exceeding gladness. His bounties never ceased, and from clouds of grace His favours continually showered down upon that land.

Then came the era of the Covenant, and that full cup was passed from hand to hand, and the Sun of the Covenant rose up, shedding abroad on the horizon of unity the rays of servitude and thraldom, and lighting up the hearts of humankind. New life was breathed into the body of the world, and into the human soul came a fresh measure of delight. The hearts of the people of Baha rejoiced to hear the glad-tidings from the Abha Kingdom, and the minds of those who had sought shelter under the Tree of holiness were illumined with beams of fidelity and faith. Once again, the loved ones in that region were inebriated with the wine of the Primal Covenant, and in their firmness and steadfastness and loyalty they led the field. They showed forth such constancy as to astonish the mind, and they manifested such power and endurance as to raze the piled-up doubts of the doubters to the ground. Of the poisoned winds of violation there was no trace left in all that land. The hopes of the disaffected were blighted, and the centre of violation clearly witnessed the defeat of all his aims and plans.

It is certain that those who have caught the fragrance blowing from the Abha Paradise, those who have heard the nightingale singing from the immortal gardens and taken delight therein, those who have trembled for joy, and whose souls have been renewed when the breezes of holiness out of the bowers of the All-Merciful were wafted over them -- will find the raven's croaking and cawing a wearisome thing, and can only turn from it and flee away.

(Compilations, Bahiyyih Khanum, p. 150)