Notes to Aqdas, Sentence #181
Notes from the Authorized Translation
107. first day of Ridvan # 75
This is a reference to the arrival of Baha'u'llah and His
companions in the Najibiyyih Garden outside the city of
Baghdad, subsequently referred to by the Baha'is as the
Garden of Ridvan. This event, which took place thirty-one
days after Naw-Ruz, in April 1863, signalized the
commencement of the period during which Baha'u'llah
declared His Mission to His companions. In a Tablet, He
refers to His Declaration as "the Day of supreme felicity" and
He 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". Baha'u'llah spent twelve days in this Garden
prior to departing for Istanbul, the place to which He had
been banished.
The Declaration of Baha'u'llah is celebrated annually
by the twelve-day Ridvan Festival, described by Shoghi
Effendi as "the holiest and most significant of all Baha'i
festivals" (see notes 138 and 140).
Anton Haddad's Notes
Rizwan is the greatest festival and lasts nineteen days, commensing on the anniversary of His manifestation.
Earl Elder's Notes
2. Just before Baha'u'llah and other Babis were deported from Baghdad in 1863, they spent twelve days in a garden near the city, which they named al-Ridvan (a name for
Paradise). It seems that on the first day in the garden Baha'u'llah informed some of the people closest to him that he was a new Manifestation. Later in Adrianople he made the claim publicly.
These twelve days were later commemorated by the Feast of al-Ridwan, which is observed each year from 21st April, to 2nd May, the first, ninth and twelfth days being kept as
feast days. Baha'u'llah says that at that time everything was made clean by his appearing. "To him in the possible" means "to all men".
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