Origin from 1863
On 22 April 1863, Baha'u'llah left his house in Baghdad, where he had lived since an earlier exile from Persia, and entered the Najibiyyih garden on the banks of the Tigris. Over the twelve days he stayed there he declared to his companions that he was the one God would make manifest, the founding claim of the Baha'i Faith, before leaving the garden on 3 May 1863 to begin a further Ottoman-ordered exile toward Constantinople. The garden and the declaration are commemorated annually as the festival of Ridvan.
Facts
Dates
Start YearSourced to the subject's own account22 April to 3 May 1863, the twelve days of the Ridvan declaration in Baghdad; both dates are stated by the source without qualification. StatusSourced to the subject's own account Learn More
How the Baha'i Faith Was Proclaimed in Baghdad
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
On 22 April 1863, Baha'u'llah left the house in Baghdad where he had lived since an earlier exile from Persia, and entered the Najibiyyih garden on the banks of the Tigris. He did not enter it as a private retreat; he entered it as the beginning of a fresh exile the Ottoman authorities had just ordered, one that would carry him further still, toward Constantinople.
Over the twelve days he remained in the garden before that onward journey began, Baha'u'llah declared to the companions gathered around him that he was the one God would make manifest, the figure earlier Babi teaching had long awaited. That declaration, made inside a garden he had entered as an exile rather than chosen as a pulpit, is the founding claim of the Baha'i Faith. He left the Najibiyyih garden on 3 May 1863 to continue the exile the declaration itself had been made under.
What this changed for the Baha'i Faith's spread was the creation of a fixed founding moment the religion could date and return to, even though the moment itself took place under Ottoman order rather than by any choice of timing or venue on Baha'u'llah's part. The garden and the twelve days spent in it are commemorated annually as the festival of Ridvan, the closest thing the faith has to a single point of origin, dated to an exile its founder did not choose rather than to a ministry begun in freedom.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Baghdad directly: "1863, Baha'u'llah left his house in Baghdad, where he had lived since an earlier exile from Persia, and entered the Najibiyyih garden on the banks of the Tigris."
This source names Baha'u'llah directly: "On 22 April 1863, Baha'u'llah left his house in Baghdad, where he had lived since an earlier exile from Persia, and entered the Najibiyyih garden on the banks of the Tigris."
This source names Constantinople directly: "a further Ottoman-ordered exile toward Constantinople."
Occurred In
The Najibiyyih garden, on the Tigris outside Baghdad.
Spread Event Of
Sources
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