Festival of Ridván

"Bahá’u’lláh had been in Baghdad for ten years. Fearing that His growing acclaim would re-ignite popular enthusiasm in Iran for the new religion, the regime of the Shah successfully pressed the Ottoman authorities to send Him farther away.

"In April 1863, before leaving Baghdad for Constantinople (Istanbul), Bahá’u’lláh and His companions camped in a garden on the banks of the Tigris River for twelve days. Bahá’u’lláh told these few friends that He was the Promised One foretold by the Báb — foretold, indeed, in all the world's scriptures. Today, the most joyous of Bahá’í holy days is the Ridván Festival, which celebrates the anniversary of those twelve days."

~ Quoted from  http://www.bahaullah.org/baghdad/bahaullah-declares-mission

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“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)

Photograph: Historical view of Baghdad and the Tigris River, c. 1930 by Effie Baker.  Copyright 2006, Baha'i International Community. May only be used in accordance with the Terms of Use of the Baha'i Media Bank available at http://media.bahai.org/terms .