----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan Maneck" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Baha'i Studies" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 29 July 2003 00:56 Subject: Re: Declaration of Baha'u'llah
> > > > I'm just wondering if historians have got any further in penetrating the > > obscurity since Shoghi Effendi wrote. > > Dear David, > > Ismael Velasco wrote a very nice post on the current stage of scholarship on > this topic entitled Reconstructing Ridvan a few years ago. Unfortunately it > is on my other computer and I can't find it in the archives. Perhaps someone > else has a copy. > > warmest, Susan This article is already published RECONSTRUCTING RID.VAN Reconstructing Ridvan The twelve days Baha'u'llah spent in the Najibiyyih Garden (April 22 - May 3, 1863) rank among the most significant dates in Baha'i history. It is perhaps surprising then that the exact circumstances of so momentous an event are, Shoghi Effendi explains, "shrouded in an obscurity which future historians will find it difficult to penetrate." Uncertain are the "words Baha'u'llah actually uttered on that occasion, the manner of his Declaration, the reaction it produced, its impact on Mirza Yahya, the identity of those who were privileged to hear Him". Praise be to God, since the beloved Guardian wrote these lines a little light has been shed on these areas by the assiduous endeavours of a number of Bah�'� scholars. One of the most illuminating contributions is the notice given by Stephen Lambden of a tablet in the name of Bah�'u'll�h's amanuensis, Mirza Aqa Jan Khadimullah, composed by Bah�'u'll�h Himself. It conveys what would seem to be the crux of the "words Baha'u'llah actually uttered on that occasion": . . .On the first day that the Ancient Beauty occupied the Most Great Throne in a garden which hath been designated Ridvan, the Tongue of Grandeur uttered three blessed verses. The first of them was that in this Dispensation the sword is put aside. Secondly, prior to the completion of one thousand years any divine claim put forward by any person is baseless - each year should be considered a complete year. Both commentary (tafsir) and interpretation (ta'wil) are forbidden. Thirdly, the True One, exalted be His Glory, at that time manifested all the Divine Names upon all things. Beyond this mighty proclamation associated with the first day of Ridvan, it appears that Bah�'u'll�h also secretly made explicit His claim to be the Promised One to a small group of believers. The manner of this direct declaration remains obscure. Bahiyyih Khanum, daughter of Bah�'u'll�h, is recorded as saying: "Four days before the caravan was to set out, the Blessed Perfection [Bah�'u'll�h] called Abbas Effendi ['Abdu'l-Baha] into his tent and told him that he himself was the one whose coming had been promised by the Bab. . . A little later, and before leaving the garden, he selected among his disciples four others, to whom he made the same declaration. . . he enjoined upon them secrecy as to this communication, as the time had not come for a public declaration; but that there were reasons which caused him to deem it necessary to make it at that time to a few whom he could trust". The caravan was to set out on the 12th day of Ridvan, so it would have been on the 9th day of Ridvan that this full declaration to 'Abdu'l-Baha would have taken place, followed shortly afterwards with a similar declaration to four others. The identity of these four souls is a matter for speculation. Mirza Musa Aqay-i Kalim, the most trusted brother of Bah�'u'll�h and His foremost Apostle would likely have been among them, as would Mirza Aqa Jan Khadimullah, who had already recognised Him. Who the other two might be is more difficult to contemplate although they could have been Ismullahu'l-Munib and Aqa Muhammad-Ibrahim-i Amir-i Nayrizi who, with 'Abdu'l-Baha and Mirza Aqa Jan, subsequently accompanied Bah�'u'll�h's horse on either side as He departed from the Ridvan garden, singing ecstatic odes in His praise. The Greatest Holy Leaf indicates that Baha'u'llah's decision to go to the garden was prompted by the practical need to pack in preparation for the impending journey, a need obstructed by the constant flow of visitors to His house. Accordingly, Bah�'u'll�h left for the garden and was joined by his family on the ninth day after His departure, leaving friends to do the remaining tasks at home. The twelfth day was appointed for leaving the garden and initiating the journey to Constantinople, Bah�'u'll�h's place of banishment. A deeper reason than fortuitous circumstance seems, however, to have dictated the stay of twelve days. An tablet of Bah�'u'll�h tells of an overwhelming experience which the Blessed Beauty underwent some time previous to the Ridvan declaration, and which also lasted twelve days, after which the ocean of utterance surged. This suggests that the twelve days in the Ridvan garden were intended to re-enact or commemorate a preceding spiritual event, which had also lasted a twelve day period. One thing is clear. The atmosphere in that holy garden must have been exhilarating, pregnant with symbolism and divine unveiling. Bah�'u'll�h's tent had been placed, according to Bahiyyih Khanum, at the very centre of the small settlement of tents, where He stayed alone amidst a rich profusion of roses. "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." The fragrance of roses, we are told, drew a chorus of nightingales to the gathered petals. Thus even the material setting was conducive to powerful spiritual emotions, the very use of space evoking the cosmic dimensions of Bah�'u'll�h's declaration. Beyond these outward signs, the Blessed Beauty's mercy suffused the realities of things: Verily, all created things were immersed in the sea of purification when, on that first day of Ridvan, We shed upon the whole of creation the splendours of Our most excellent Names and Our most exalted Attributes. Today, one hundred and thirty nine years later, we are spiritually transported once more to that recurring "Most Great Festival," that "King of Festivals" which is designated - what could be more hallowed - the "Festival of God". May we learn from Bah�'u'll�h's own example as we conceive the material arrangements for our holiest celebration. May we be so alive to its significance as to taste the very rapture which that same occasion inspired in Bah�'u'll�h's first companions. May we thus, like them, accompany one another in ecstasy and ardour and utter adoration at the threshold of His Beauty, for jubilation alone will do justice to this Day. God Passes By, p.153 ibid. Slightly edited provisional translation by Stephen Lambden, cf. Bah�'� Studies Bulletin, vol. 3.2, p.82 Bahiyyih Khanum, cited in Myron Phelps, The Master in Akka, p.39 ibid. Adib Taherzadeh, Revelation of Bah�'u'll�h, vol.2, p.348 Bahiyyih Khanum, op. cit. Nabil, cited in God Passes By, op. cit. Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 153 ---------- You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://list.jccc.net/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=bahai-st news://list.jccc.net/bahai-st http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist (public) http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] (public)
