Ridvan season begins after sunset April 20th...

arthra

arthra

Baha'i
Messages
3,806
Reaction score
241
Points
63
Location
Redlands, California
The Ridvan (Riz-wan) season begins after sunset on April 20th this year. It's the Twelve Day Anniversary of the Declaration of Baha'u'llah in an island garden of the Tigris River in Baghdad in 1863. Baha'u'llah was in exile from Persia and He was in Baghdad. He was deemed too close by Persian authorities to some sites of pilgrimage in and near Baghdad so a Persian diplomat requested the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to move Him away to Istanbul. Baha'u'llah later traveled to Istanbul as the Sultan ordered but first en route He spent a fortnight in the "verdant" isle of the Tigris. The first, ninth and twelfth days of Ridvan are Baha'i Holy Days.

While in the Garden Isle Baha'u'llah announced to close friends and family that He was "Him Whom God would make manifest" promised by Siyyid Ali Muhammad the "Bab" (Gate) Who had been martyred in Tabriz in 1850.

Two sites are referred to as Ridvan: One is located in Baghdad known as the Najibiyyih Garden in the Tigris River and the other Ridvan Garden near Akka, Israel.

“One day of days We repaired unto Our Green Island. Upon Our arrival, We beheld its streams flowing, and its trees luxuriant, and the sunlight playing in their midst. Turning Our face to the right, We beheld what the pen is powerless to describe; nor can it set forth that which the eye of the Lord of Mankind witnessed in that most sanctified, that most sublime, that blest, and most exalted Spot. Turning, then, to the left We gazed on one of the Beauties of the Most Sublime Paradise, standing on a pillar of light, and calling aloud saying: "O inmates of earth and heaven! Behold ye My beauty, and My radiance, and My revelation, and My effulgence. By God, the True One! I am Trustworthiness and the revelation thereof, and the beauty thereof. I will recompense whosoever will cleave unto Me, and recognize My rank and station, and hold fast unto My hem. I am the most great ornament of the people of Baha, and the vesture of glory unto all who are in the kingdom of creation. I am the supreme instrument for the prosperity of the world, and the horizon of assurance unto all beings."

~ Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 37

Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, pages 31-44

Baha’u’llah is revealing His Station:

“…I will recompense whosoever will cleave unto Me, and recognize
My rank and station, and hold fast unto My hem. I am the most great ornament of the people of Baha, and the vesture of glory unto all who are in the kingdom of creation. I am the supreme instrument for the prosperity of the world, and the horizon of assurance unto all beings.”

Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas

The word “Paradise” also has a Persian origin and means a Garden and in Arabic “Ridvan” has the same meaning.

From an article in Wikipedia:

Persian transliteration: Riḍván,

Persian pronunciation: is a twelve-day festival in the Bahá'à Faith, commemorating the commencement of Bahá'u'lláh's prophethood. It begins at sunset on April 20 and continues until sunset, May 2. On the first (April 21), ninth (April 29) and twelfth days of Ridván (May 2), work and schooling should be suspended.[1]

"Ridván" means paradise, and is named for the Garden of Ridván, outside Baghdad where Bahá'u'lláh stayed for twelve days after the Ottoman Empire exiled him from Baghdad and before commencing his journey to Constantinople.
Also read:
Declaration of Baha'u'llah in the Ridvan Garden in 1863
 
Thou didst wish to celebrate the Day of Ridvan with a feast, and to have those present on that day engage in reciting Tablets with delight and joy, and thou didst request me to send thee a letter to be read on that day. My letter is this:

O ye beloved, and ye handmaids of the Merciful! This is the day when the Day-Star of Truth rose over the horizon of life, and its glory spread, and its brightness shone out with such power that it clove the dense and high-piled clouds and mounted the skies of the world in all its splendour. Hence do ye witness a new stirring throughout all created things.

See how, in this day, the scope of sciences and arts hath widened out, and what wondrous technical advances have been made, and to what a high degree the mind's powers have increased, and what stupendous inventions have appeared.

This age is indeed as a hundred other ages: should ye gather the yield of a hundred ages, and set that against the accumulated product of our times, the yield of this one era will prove greater than that of a hundred gone before. Take ye, for an example, the sum total of all the books that were ever written in ages past, and compare that with the books and treatises that our era hath produced: these books, 112 written in our day alone, far and away exceed the total number of volumes that have been written down the ages. See how powerful is the influence exerted by the Day-Star of the world upon the inner essence of all created things!

But alas, a thousand times alas! The eyes see it not, the ears are deaf, and the hearts and minds are oblivious of this supreme bestowal. Strive ye then, with all your hearts and souls, to awaken those who slumber, to cause the blind to see, and the dead to rise.

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 111
 
One of the activities Baha’is are involved in during the Ridvan season is electing members of the Local Spiritual Assembly which serves in the jurisdiction where the Baha’is live. A minimum of nine adult Baha’is are required to form a Local Spiritual Assembly.

There are no clergy or priests in the Baha’i Faith. The Assembly deals with issues that concern the community and reviews Baha’i marriage and other issues as needed.

Nationally elected Delegates meet to elect a National Spiritual Assembly by secret ballot during Ridvan season.

Every five years delegates elected by National Spiritual Assemblies meet in Convention at the Baha’i World Center in Haifa Israel and elect the nine member Universal House of Justice.

For more information read:

http://www.bahai-encyclopedia-proje...istration&catid=36:administrationinstitutions
 
Last edited:
Every five years at Ridvan the Supreme body of the Faith is elected at an International Convention which will be held this next week. National Spiritual Assemblies send delegates to the Baha'i World Center in Haifa, Israel on the slopes of Mount Carmel overlooking the Bay of Haifa.

.
26772_24b2f92ab25d70f2bd1b18f1aa2d0249.jpeg


"The members of all National Spiritual Assemblies elect, in turn, the nine members to serve on the Universal House of Justice. The election of the Universal House of Justice is conducted once every five years at the International Bahá’í Convention. Of several days’ duration, the Convention is held at the World Centre of the Bahá’í Faith in Haifa, Israel, where the members of the National Spiritual Assemblies are able to visit the Holy Shrines in preparation for the duty they are called upon to discharge. Foremost in their minds as they cast their ballots are passages from the Bahá’í Writings which describe those whom they choose to serve on such an august body as “daysprings of knowledge and understanding”, “steadfast in God’s faith”, and the “well-wishers of all mankind”.1 In common with the procedure of electing all Bahá’í institutions, the election of the Universal House of Justice is devoid of any system of nomination, electioneering, canvassing or propaganda."

Electoral Process | The Universal House of Justice - An official website of the Bahá’í Faith
 
1254_00.jpg


BAHA’I WORLD CENTRE — Some 1,300 delegates representing more than 160 countries have arrived in Haifa to participate in the 12th International Baha’i Convention.

The International Convention is a unique gathering held every five years in Haifa, the administrative and spiritual center of the Baha’i world community. Delegates hail from virtually every nation. Over the course of the convention, they participate in a series of consultative sessions and elect the Faith’s international governing body, the Universal House of Justice.

The consultations at International Convention are generally concerned with the development of the Baha’i Faith and the contributions of Baha’i communities to the progress of society. One of the primary areas of discussion is how Baha’u’llah’s teachings—such as the oneness of humankind, the equality of women and men, the harmony of science and religion, and the independent investigation of truth—are finding expression in a vast array of social settings, from the remotest of villages to large urban centers, and across diverse cultural realities.

Worldwide representatives gather for 12th International Convention | Bahá’í World News Service (BWNS)
 
UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE ELECTED:

30 April 2018

Share
The members of the Universal House of Justice are, from left to right, Paul Lample, Chuungu Malitonga, Payman Mohajer, Shahriar Razavi, Stephen Hall, Ayman Rouhani, Stephen Birkland, Juan Mora, and Praveen Mallik. The House of Justice was elected by delegates to the 12th International Baha’i Convention in Haifa.
BAHA’I WORLD CENTRE — The results of the election of the nine members of the Universal House of Justice, the international governing body of the Baha’i Faith, have been announced.

Yesterday, delegates to the 12th International Baha’i Convention cast ballots to elect the House of Justice.

The elected members are Paul Lample, Chuungu Malitonga, Payman Mohajer, Shahriar Razavi, Stephen Hall, Ayman Rouhani, Stephen Birkland, Juan Francisco Mora, and Praveen Mallik.

Members are elected for five-year terms.

Source:

Universal House of Justice elected | Bahá’í World News Service (BWNS)
 
wil said:
No women?
Click to expand...

That's right... women do not serve on the Universal House of Justice.
See:
http://bahai-library.com/uhj_women_uhj

The Baha'i Faith has no priests or Mullahs and there are no altars or rites as such. Baha'u'llah specified that the elected members of the House of Justice would be men. Women have served as Hands of the Cause of God, Counselors and on National and Local Spiritual Assemblies. Bahiyyih Khanum the sister of Abdul-Baha served as de facto head of the Cause for some years before Shoghi Effendi began serving as the Guardian.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top