Such is the way of peace!
UK BAHÁ'Í NEWS
Bahá'í News UK
Baha'is celebrate Ridvan at House of Commons
Posted: 26 Apr 2013 08:16 AM PDT
LONDON –
Ridvan guests at the House of Commons
The reception, which was hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Friends of the Baha'is at the House of Commons, was an opportunity for the Baha'i community to share in this festive period with its friends and collaborators from across the country. Faith leaders, Members of Parliament, civil society activists, diplomats and others all gathered to celebrate the festival.
Louise Ellman MP, chair of the all-party group, welcomed the assembled guests.
Ridvan marks the time when the Founder of the Baha'i Faith, Baha'u'llah, announced that He was the Manifestation of God for today, the latest in an eternal series of Godʼs messengers, and had brought teachings which would ultimately transform and unify the whole world. It is this act, 150 years ago in April 1863, which marks the beginnings of the Bahaʼi Faith, as we know it today. Baha'u'llah, describes that day as ʻthe Day of Supreme Felicityʼ, a day when ʻall created beings are immersed in the sea of purificationʼ.
For Baha'is, the festival of Ridvan – which lasts twelve days, from 21 April to 2 May – is a time of great celebration.
But the festival also marks the painful history of the Baha'i Faith. Baha'u'llah had, in 1863, already been living in Baghdad for ten years, exiled from His native Iranian and a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire.
Baha'u'llah had become extraordinarily popular with the people of Baghdad because of His magnetic personality and His spiritual teachings. The Iranian and Ottoman authorities had decided to banish him still further – and over the next 30 years Baha'u'llah travelled from Baghdad to Constantinople (now Istanbul), Adrianople (now Edirne) and finally the prison-city of Akka on the Bay of Haifa in the Holy Land.
The tragic circumstances of a fresh exile saw thousands of well-wishers pay their respects to the departing Baha'u'llah in a garden on an island in the Tigris river, later called the garden of Ridvan. And it was into this atmosphere of uncertainty that Baha'u'llah declared His mission to His followers – transforming a moment of tragedy into one of joy.
