That actual garden, named Ridvan or Paradise by Baha\u2019u\u2019llah, witnessed the birth of the Baha\u2019i Faith, the world\u2019s newest independent religion, in April of 1863.<\/p>\n\n\n
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It happened on a verdant island in the Tigris River near Baghdad. The garden on that island marks the exact spot where Baha\u2019u\u2019llah first declared his mission and inaugurated the Baha\u2019i Faith, as he recounted in his Book of Certitude<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consider how all created things eloquently testify to the revelation of that inner Light within them. Behold how within all things the portals of the Ridvan of God are opened, that seekers may attain the cities of understanding and wisdom, and enter the gardens of knowledge and power. Within every garden they will behold the mystic bride of inner meaning enshrined within the chambers of utterance in the utmost grace and fullest adornment.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n A decade before his momentous declaration, in 1853, the Persian government had exiled Baha\u2019u\u2019llah to Baghdad, fearing the rapid spread of his teachings and their progressive impact on society. In April of 1863, because Baha\u2019u\u2019llah\u2019s message of oneness and harmony continued to spread and threaten the clerics and their hold on power, he faced another exile \u2013 described in Star of the West Magazine by Jinab-i-Fadil:<\/p>\n\n\n\n At last the enemies of the Cause secured from the government authorities an order banishing Baha\u2019u\u2019llah from Baghdad. It first read that he should go, alone. But later this was changed, permitting his family and a few followers to accompany him. The band of exiles left Baghdad and paused, first, in a beautiful garden outside the city. Here they sojourned for twelve days. A tent was pitched for Baha\u2019u\u2019llah, and around it the tents for the others. These days in the garden are called \u201cThe days of Ridvan\u201d and they are of supreme importance, for it was then that Baha\u2019u\u2019llah declared, to a few followers, his great mission and began to build the palace of peace and unity for the world. He revealed many wonderful verses which sing the melodies of the New Day of God.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When the twelve days were over, the party, mounted on horses and donkeys and guarded by Turkish soldiers, set out again. The believers who could not accompany them were utterly broken-hearted. It was as though Baha\u2019u\u2019llah was a king starting upon a glorious journey. Outwardly, an exile \u2013 but in his spirit a great light was shining.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Baha\u2019u\u2019llah, his family, and the band of exiles and believers who accompanied them faced a grueling, arduous overland journey to Constantinople. It took them four months of traveling, on foot and horseback, through the deserts and mountains of Asia Minor in the heat of the summer. During that period Baha\u2019u\u2019llah continued to proclaim the mission of his new Faith \u2013 the oneness of humanity and peace between all nations \u2013 to a widening circle of new adherents and followers in each village they passed through.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n This profound announcement transformed the occasion of Baha\u2019u\u2019llah\u2019s banishment from crisis to victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RELATED: How Baha\u2019u\u2019llah\u2019s Followers Learned Not to Fear Death<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The flower pots on the ground mark the location of the bench where Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h often sat when He visited the replica of the Ridvan garden in Israel, c. 1920<\/p>\n\n\n\n So each year in April, the twelve days of Ridvan \u2013 which Baha\u2019is observe this year from sunset on April 20th to sunset on May 2nd \u2013 commemorate Baha\u2019u\u2019llah\u2019s sojourn in the garden, and joyously celebrate the birth of his new Faith. To commemorate and observe this holiday, Baha\u2019i communities and their friends around the world remember the eve of Baha\u2019u\u2019llah\u2019s banishment from Baghdad to Istanbul, not as a time of sorrow or regret, but as a happy festival of revelation and renewal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In that way, the Ridvan Baha\u2019i holy days symbolize the power of the prophet of God to bring forth light from darkness and win triumph from seeming defeat, as Abdu\u2019l-Baha said in this 1912 speech<\/a> he gave in New York City:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Persian government believed the banishment of [Baha\u2019u\u2019llah] from Persia would be the extermination of his cause in that country. These rulers now realized that it spread more rapidly. His prestige increased, his teachings became more widely circulated. The chiefs of Persia then used their influence to have Baha\u2019u\u2019llah exiled from Baghdad. He was summoned to Constantinople by the Turkish authorities. While in Constantinople he ignored every restriction, especially the hostility of ministers of state and clergy. The official representatives of Persia again brought their influence to bear upon the Turkish authorities and succeeded in having Baha\u2019u\u2019llah banished from Constantinople to Adrianople, the object being to keep him as far away as possible from Persia and render his communication with that country more difficult. Nevertheless the cause still spread and strengthened.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Baha\u2019is believe that Baha\u2019u\u2019llah\u2019s announcement of his new revelation in the paradise of the Ridvan garden brought a new, inner paradise to humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n During that first day of Ridvan in 1863 Baha\u2019u\u2019llah revealed the Suriy-i-Sabr, known as the \u201cTablet of Job.\u201d In it, Baha\u2019u\u2019llah wrote<\/a> a sentence that revealed one of the great themes of the Baha\u2019i teachings, the concept of progressive revelation and the inherent unity of all religions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n God hath sent down His Messengers to succeed to Moses and Jesus, and He will continue to do so till \u2018the end that hath no end;\u2019 so that His grace may, from the heaven of Divine bounty, be continually vouchsafed to mankind.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n
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