Chronology of the Bahá'í Faith

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Date 1863-04, descending sort earliest first

date event tags firsts
1863 30 Apr Bahá'u'lláh's family joined Him in the Garden. [BKG175; RB1:281; SA235]
  • This initiated the holy day of the Ninth Day of Ridván, to be celebrated on 29 April. [BBD 196]
  • Ridvan; Bahá'u'lláh, Declaration of; Bahá'u'lláh, Family of; Bahá'u'lláh, Life of; Ridvan Festival; Najibiyyih Garden; Holy days; Baghdad, Iraq; Iraq
    1863 Apr Mírzá Yahyá fled Baghdád, travelling to Mosul in disguise. [BKG158; RB252–5]
  • Mírzá Yahyá had, since Bahá'u'lláh's return, concealed himself indoors ore, whenever danger threatened, would withdraw himself to Hillih or Basra where he disguised himself as a Jewish shoe merchant. [BKG224]
  • CH59 says that he left Baghdád about two weeks before the larger party.
  • Bahá'u'lláh advised him to go to Persia to disseminate the Writings of the Báb. [RB1:252–3]
  • Mírzá Yahyá abandoned the Writings of the Báb and travelled surreptitiously to Constantinople, joining the exiles when they passed through Mosul. He had obtained a passport in the name of Mírzá 'Alíh-i-Kirmánsháhí. [ESW167–8; RB1:255; BKG224]
  • See ESW167 and RB1:253–4 for Yahyá's movements.
  • Mírzá Yahya (Subh-i-Azal); Baghdad, Iraq; Mosul, Iraq; Iraq; Istanbul (Constantinople), Turkey; Turkey; Iran
    1863 22 Apr Thirty–one days after Naw-Rúz, which in this year fell on 22 March, Bahá'u'lláh left His house for the last time and walked to the Najíbíyyih Garden, afterward known as the Garden of Ridván (Paradise). This garden was on an island in the Tigris River and belonged to the governor of Baghdad, Najib Pásha. The river has since changed its course and the island is now a park on the north bank of the Tigris. [C3MT15]
  • See BKG168, GPB149, RB1:260–1 and SA234–5 for details of His walk.
  • For the first time, He wore a tall táj as a symbol of His station. [BBD221; BKG176; GPB152]
  • Bahá'u'lláh entered the Garden just as the call to afternoon prayer was being made. [GPB149; RB1:261]
  • On this day Bahá'u'lláh declared His mission to a few of His disciples. [RB1:260, 262]
  • On the afternoon of Bahá'u'lláh's arrival at the Garden He revealed the Lawh-i-Ayyúb (Tablet of Job) (also known as the Súriy-i-Sabr (Súrat of Patience), Madínatu's-Sabr (City of Patience) and Súrat Ayyúb for Hájí Muhammad-i-Taqíy-i-Nayrízí whom He surnamed Ayyúb (Job). He was a veteran of the battle of Nayríz. The Tablet praised Vahíd and the believers of Nayríz. [SA239; Tablet of Patience (Surih Íabr): Declaration of Bahá'u'lláh and Selected Topics by Foad Seddigh]
  • He also revealed the Tablet of Ridván, an Arabic tablet beginning with "He is seated upon this luminous throne.... [SA239]
  • ...and Húr-i-'Ujáb (The Wondrous Maiden). [SA239]
  • ...as well as Qad atá Rabí'u'l-Bayán, ...The Divine Springtime is come.... [SA240]
  • and an Arabic Tablet that begins...When the gladness of God seized all else. [SA240]
  • 'Of the exact circumstances … we, alas, are but scantily informed.' [BKG173; GPB153]
  • For such details as are known, see BKG173–5 and GPB153. iiiii
  • For the import of the event, see BKG169–73; G27–35; GBP153–5.
  • This initiated the holy day of the First Day of Ridván, to be celebrated on 21 April. [BBD196]
  • This marked the end of the dispensation of the Báb and of the first epoch of the Heroic or Apostolic Age of the Bahá'í dispensation. [BBD72, 79]
  • On the same day Bahá'u'lláh made three important statements to His followers:
    1. He forbade the use of the sword.
    2. He stated that no other Manifestations will appear before one thousand years. This was later reiterated in the Kitáb-i-Badí' and in The Kitáb-i-Aqdas.
    3. He stated that, as from that moment, all the names and attributes of God were manifested within all created things, implying the advent of a new Day. [RB1:278–80]

    During the 12 days in the Ridván Garden Bahá'u'lláh confided to 'Abdu'l-Bahá that He was 'Him Whom God shall make manifest'. [CH82]

  • See CH82–3 for the effect of this announcement on 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
  • * Bahá'u'lláh, Writings of; Ridvan; Naw-Ruz; Bahá'u'lláh, Life of; Bahá'u'lláh, Declaration of; Ridvan garden; Najibiyyih Garden; Ages and Epochs; Heroic age; Lawh-i-Ayyub; Hájí Muhammad-i-Taqiy-i-Nayrizi; `Abdu'l-Bahá, Life of (chronology); - Basic timeline, Condensed; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Bahá'u'lláh, Basic timeline; Firsts, other; Taj; Holy days; Baghdad, Iraq; Iraq First time Bahá'u'lláh wears tall táj as symbol of His station; First Day of Ridván; first epoch of Heroic or Apostolic Age
    1863 22 Apr - 3 May Declaration of Bahá'u'lláh in the Garden of Ridván.

    The garden was located in a large agricultural area immediately north of the walls of the city of Baghdad, about 450 metres (1,480 ft) from the city's northern Mu'azzam gate. Located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River in what is now the Bab al-Mu'azzam neighbourhood of Baghdad's Rusafa District, it was directly opposite the district in which Bahá'u'lláh lived during his stay in the city, on the river's western bank. [Wikipedia]

    Extract from a Tablet of Baha'u'llah-Khadimu'llah. (Edited provisional translation below)

      "On the first day that the Ancient Beauty occupied the Most Great Throne in a Garden which hath been designated Ridván, the Tongue of Grandeur uttered three blessed verses.
      [1] The first of them was that in this Manifestation the use of the sword in holy war is put aside.
      [2] Secondly, prior to the completion of a millennium any theophanological claim put forward by any person must be considered baseless. In this respect the year should be considered a complete year.
      [3] Thirdly, the True One, exalted be His Glory, at that time manifested all the Divine Names upon all things.
        "Verily, all created things were immersed in the sea of purification when, on that first day of Ridván, We shed upon the whole of creation the splendours of Our most excellent Names and Our most exalted Attributes". [Kitab-i-Aqdas para75 p47]

      And the following choice verse was subsequently revealed but has been ordained to be of the same rank as the preceding three; namely, whatever personal designations are mentioned before the Face, whether living or dead, such have thereby attained the Presence of God by virtue of being mentioned by the King of Pre-Existence. [UCMERCED site]
    Ridvan; Bahá'u'lláh, Declaration of; Ridvan garden; Najibiyyih Garden; Gardens; Holy days; Bahá'u'lláh, Life of; - Basic timeline, Condensed; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Bahá'u'lláh, Basic timeline; Baghdad, Iraq; Iraq
    1863 (Prior to the Declaration) See Bibliography for the Tablets of Baha'u'llah: List of citations and resources for Tablets revealed 1853-1863 compiled by Jonah Winters.
  • See also Notes and Commentary on the Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh: Wilmette Institute study materials by Jonah Winters.
  • * Bahá'u'lláh, Writings of; Baghdad, Iraq; Iraq
    1863 Between 1857 - 1863 Bahá'u'lláh revealed Lawh-i-Fitnih, "Tablet of the Test". The Tablet, as its title indicates, is about tests and trials which are associated with the Day of God. In it Bahá'u'lláh alludes to His own Revelation and states that through His advent the whole creation will be tried; no soul will be exempt. All those who are the embodiments of piety and wisdom, of knowledge and virtue, every accomplished man of learning, the servants of God and His sincere lovers, the angels that enjoy near access to God, the Concourse on high, every righteous man of discernment, every mature embodiment of wisdom, even the realities of the Prophets and Messengers of God -- all will be tested. [CoCp35]
    • There is a tradition in Islam quoted by Shoghi Effendi in his Persian writings which sets forth the difficulties and perils encountered by man on his journey to God. It describes how all men will perish and die except the believers; all the believers will perish and die except those who are tested, all who are tested will perish and die except those who are sincere, and those who are sincere will be in great danger. [CoCp35]
    * Bahá'u'lláh, Writings of; Lawh-i-Fitnih (Tablet of the Test); Bahá'u'lláh, Life of; Baghdad, Iraq; Iraq
    1863 18 Apr Birth of William Henry (Harry) Randall, Disciple of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, in Boston. William Harry Randall; Disciples of `Abdu'l-Bahá; Births and deaths; Boston, MA; Massachusetts, USA; USA

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