Ridván
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Riḍván (Arabic: ﺭﺿﻭﺍﻥ transliteration: Riḍwán; Persian transliteration: Riḍván) is a twelve day festival in the Bahá'í Faith, commemorating the commencement of Bahá'u'lláh´s prophethood. It begins at sunset on April 20th and continues until sunset, May 2nd. On the first (April 21st), ninth (April 29th) and twelfth days of Riḍván (May 2nd), work and schooling is suspended.
"Riḍván" 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.
It is the most holy Bahá'í festival, and is also referred to as the "Most Great Festival" and the "King of Festivals".
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[edit] History
[edit] Context
In 1844 Siyyid `Alí-Muhammad of Shiraz, Iran proclaimed that he was "The Báb" (Arabic: "The Gate"), after a Shi'a religious concept. His followers were therefore known as Bábís. The Báb's writings introduced the concept of "He whom God shall make manifest", a Messianic figure whose coming, according to Bahá'ís, was announced in the scriptures of all of the world's great religions.
Bahá'u'lláh claimed his mission as the Promised One of the Báb was revealed to him in 1853 while imprisoned in the Síyáh-Chál in Tehran, Iran. After his release from the Síyáh-Chál, Bahá'u'lláh was banished from Persia, and he settled in Baghdad, which became the centre of Bábí activity. He did not, however, openly declare this prophetic mandate, and Subh-i-Azal remained the generally-recognized head of the Bábí community. In Baghdad on several occasions, Subh-i-Azal went into hiding from the authorities; increasingly, therefore, Bahá'u'lláh was the leader of the Bábí community.
Bahá'u'lláh's rising attention in the city, and the revival of the Persian Bábí community gained the attention of his enemies in Islamic clergy and the Persian government. They were eventually successful in having the Ottoman government summon Bahá'u'lláh from Baghdad to Constantinople (present-day Istanbul).
[edit] Najibiyyih garden
Before Bahá'u'lláh left to Constantinople many visitors came to visit him, and thus to allow his family to pack for the trip, he decided to move to the Najibiyyih garden across the Tigris river from Baghdad and receive visitors. He entered the garden on April 22nd, 1863 (31 days after Naw Ruz, which usually happens on March 21) accompanied by his sons `Abdu'l-Bahá, Mírzá Mihdí and Mírzá Muhammad `Alí, his secretary Mirza Aqa Jan and some others, and stayed there for eleven days.
After their arrival in the garden, Bahá'u'lláh made his perceived station known for the first time to a small group of family and friends. The exact nature and details of Bahá'u'lláh's declaration are unknown. Bahíyyih Khánum is reported to have said that Bahá'u'lláh stated his claim to his son `Abdu'l-Bahá and four others. While some Bábís had come to the realization that Bahá'u'lláh was claiming to be the Promised One through the many remarks and allusions that Bahá'u'lláh had made during his final few months in Baghdad, it appears that most other Bábís were unaware of Bahá'u'lláh's claim until a couple years later while he was in Edirne.
For the next eleven days Bahá'u'lláh received visitors including the governor of Baghdad. Bahá'u'lláh's family was not able to join him until April 30th, the ninth day, since the river had risen and made travel to the garden difficult.
On the twelfth day of their stay in the garden, Bahá'u'lláh and his family left the garden and started on their travel to Constantinople.
[edit] Festival
In the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, written around 1873, Bahá'u'lláh ordains Ridván as one of two "Most Great Festivals, along with the Declaration of the Báb. He then specified the first, ninth and twelfth days to be holy days; these days mark the days of Bahá'u'lláh's arrival, the arrival of his family and his departure to the Ridván garden.
The Festival of Ridván is observed according to the Bahá'í calendar, and begins on the thirty-second day of the Bahá'í year which usually falls on April 21. The festival properly starts at two hours before sunset on that day, which symbolizes the time that Bahá'u'lláh entered the garden. On the first, ninth, and twelfeth days, which are Bahá'í Holy Days, work is prohibited.
Currently the three holy days are usually observed with a community gathering where prayers are shared followed with a celebration.
[edit] Significance
The time that Bahá'u'lláh spent during the Garden of Ridván, and the associated festival and celebration, has a very large significance for Bahá'ís. Bahá'u'lláh calls it one of two "Most Great Festivals" and describes the first day as "the Day of supreme felicity" and he then describes the "Garden of Ridvan as "the Spot from which He shed upon the whole of creation the splendours of His Name, the All-Merciful".
The festival is significant because of Bahá'u'lláh's public declaration that he was "Him Whom God shall make manifest" and a Manifestation of God, and thus it forms the beginning of the Bahá'í Faith. It is also significant because Bahá'u'lláh left his house in Baghdad, which he designated the "Most Great House", to enter the Garden of Ridván. Bahá'u'lláh compares this move from the Most Great House to the Garden of Ridván to Muhammad's travel from Mecca to Medina. Furthermore, during Bahá'u'lláh's first day in the garden, he made a further three announcements: (1) abrogating religious war which was permitted in Islam and under certain conditions by the Báb (2) that there would not be another Manifestation of God for another 1000 years (3) that all the names of God were fully manifest in all things.
[edit] References
- Bahá'u'lláh [1873] (1992). The Kitáb-i-Aqdas: The Most Holy Book. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. ISBN 0853989990.
- Phelps, Myron H.; Bahíyyih Khánum & Gail, Marzieh (1985). The Master in `Akka: Including the Recollections of the Greatest Holy Leaf. Los Angeles: Kalimát Press. ISBN 0933770499.
- Taherzadeh, Adib (1976). The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 1. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0853982708.
