Paradise. That is what the Persian word 'Ridvan' means. The followers of Baha'u'llah felt that they had reached paradise when they joined Baha'u'llah in Najib Pasha's garden park, Najibiyyih. After the 12 days they spent there they came to call this garden 'Ridvan'. I'd like to tell you the story of this garden and what is now celebrated as "The Festival of Ridvan" by millions of Baha'is world wide from April 21 to May 2.

      This first Ridvan garden was in Baghdad and alas no longer available to us. The name of the rose in the picture above is 'Centennial Star' and I thought it was perfect to represent this garden. If you click on it it will take you to pictures of the second Ridvan Garden that has been kept up by Baha'is in Akka,Isreal. You will learn about it there. Baha'u'llah loved roses and the first Ridvan Garden was full of roses. Baha'u'llah is God's Messenger for this century and a nine point star is often used as a symbol of the Baha'i Faith.

       To tell the story you must first know why Baha'u'llah ( a native of Persia) was in Baghdad and why he was leaving. He was a Follower of The Bab. The Bab Means "The Gate"-you might think of Him like you do of John the Baptist in some ways. Many in the Government feared this new religion of the Babis  and not only Martyred The Bab but many thousands of His followers ( even to this day in Iran they are still persecuted). Because of Baha'u'llah (Glory of God) nobel lineage and the respect so many awarded Him the government had banished Him to Baghdad.  Having lived in Baghdad 10 years the populance had come to love and respect Baha'u'llah.

        This didnot sit well with the Governor of Baghdad, a relative and enemy of Baha'u'llah. The Governor relentlesy pursued The Shah of Persia to remove Baha'u'llah. The Shah then used his enfluence to have the Sultan of Persia banish Baha'u'llah to Constantinople. The magistartes expressed great sorrow, that they had not instigated the order, but they were powerless to suspend or modify it and must proceed with its execution.He had 2 weeks to prepare to leave.  The news of his impending departure quickly spread through Baghdad and neighboring towns.Large numbers of people wanted to pay thier last tributes to him. So much so that it became clear His house was too small for this. When Najib Pash, one of the notables of the city, heard of this he lent his garden to Baha'ullah.

        Following are quotes that tell about this momentous time in this beautiful garden situated across the Tigris river from Baghdad.

        "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 center 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 Baha'u'llah 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....."

                                                                                                                          Nabil

         " Then,as the only way in which to soothe his followers, the Blessed Perfection (Baha'u'llah) took all his family to the garden, leaving to friends the preparation of his household goods for the journey. Here we pitched tents and lived in them ...The tents made,as it were, a liitle villiage, that of my father, which, he occupied alone, in the center.

            Four days before the caravan was to set out, the Blessed Perfection called 'Abbas Effendi ( Also known as Abdu'l-baha Baha'u'llah's eldest son) into his tent and told him the he himself was the one whose coming had been promised by the Bab- The Chosen of God, The Center of the Covenant. A little later, and before leaving the garden, he selected from among his disiples four others, to whom he made the same declaration; but there were reasons which caused him to deem it necessary to make it at that time to a few whom he could trust.....

           Many of the Blessed Perfections followers decided to abandon Baghdad also, and accompany him in his wanderings. when he caravan started, our company numbered about seventy-five persons...."

                                            'The Greates Holy Leaf' (Baha'u'llah's daughter) in an interview with Myron Phelps, an American Lawyer in Dec. 1902

           On the First Day of Ridvan, Baha'u'llah revealed the Surih of Patience. Shoghi Effendi has translated a brief passage from that work:" In the Suriy-i-Sabr,revealed as far back as the year 1863, on the very first day of Baha'u'lla's 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 hhath no end'; so that His grace may, from the heaven of Divine bounty, be continually vouchsafed to mankind."

            According to Mirza Aqa Jan ( a close follower of Baha'u'llah) Baha'u'llah made three other important statements the first day od Ridvan.

1. The first was to forbid the use of the sword in His Dispensation... He particulary exhorted His followers to guard against falling into the hands of the enemies, but if faced with martyrdom,to lay down thier lives in the path of thier Faith rather than kill thier persecuters. ( This attitude must not be confused with pacifism which is not in conformity with Baha'i teachings. Indeed Baha'u'llah advocates the use of force on an international scale, if needed to stay the hand of an aggressor. Addressing the kings and rulers of the world He writes '.... Should any one among you take up arms against another, rise ye all against him, for this is naught but manifest justice.'

2.The second statement made by Baha'u'llah on the first day of Ridvan was that no other Manifestation of God would appear before the expiration of a thousand years.

3.The third statement made was that the moment He uttered those words, all names and attributes of God were fully manifested within all created things. By this He implied the advent of a new Day and the infusion of a fresh capacity into all beings.

       In the twelve days of Ridvan Festival are Three Baha'i Holy Days: The 1st day when He declared Himself, the  9th  day (when his family joined Him) and the twelfth when He left the garden. I'd like to end with a quote from Shoghi Effendi, the Gaurdian of the Faith, ( Baha'u'llah's grandson) describing Baha'u'llahs departure in "God Passes By" page 155

"   The departure of Baha'u'llah from the Garden of Ridvan at noon, on the 14th day of Dhi'l-Qa'dih 1279A.H. (May 3rd, 1863), witnessed scenes of tumultuous enthusuasm no less spectacular, even more touching, than those which greeted Him when leaving His Most Great House in Baghdad.'The great tulmet,'wrote an eyewitness,'associated in our minds with the Day of Gathering, The Day of Judgement, we believers alike sobbed and lameneted. The chiefs and notables who had congregated were struck with wonder. Emotions were stired to such depths as no tongue can describe, nor any observer  escape their contagion.'

       Mounted on His steed, a red roan stallion of the finest breed, the best His lovers could purchase for Him, and leaving behind Him a bowing multitude of fervent admirers, He rode forth on the first stage of a journey that was to carry Him to the city of Constantinople.'Numerous were the heads' Nabil himself a witness of that memorable scene, recounts,'which ,on every side, bowed down to the dust at the feet of Hid horse, and kissed its hoofs, and countless were those who press forward to embrace His stirrups.' 'How great were the number of those embodiments of fidelity,' testifies a fellow traveler,'who, casting themselves before hat charger preferred death to seperation from thier Beloved!......"

       My last quote is from Baha'u'llah found in "Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah."

       " ........Hear Me, ye mortal birds! In the Rose Garden of changeless splendor a Flower hath begun to bloom, compared to which every other flower is but a thorn, and the brightness of Whose glory the very essence of beauty must pale and wither.Arise ,therefore,and, with the whole enthusiasm of your hearts, with all the eagerness of your souls, the full fervor of your will, and the concentrated efforts of your entire being, strive to attain the paradise of His presence, and endeavor to inhale the fragrance of the incorruptible Flower, to breath the sweet savors of holiness, and to ontain a portian of this perfume of celestial glory. Whoso followeth this counsel will break his chains asunder, will taste the abandonment of enraptured love, will attain unto his heart's desire, and will surrender his soul into the hands of his Beloved. Bursting though his cage, he will, even as the bird of the spirit, wing his flight to his holy and everlasting nest......".