Baghdad

From Bahaikipedia

Contents 1 Baghdad 1.1 Banishment from Persia 1.2 Kurdistan 1.3 Return to Baghdad 1.4 Declaration in the Garden of Ridvan 2 References

[edit] Baghdad

[edit] Banishment from Persia

In 1853, with limited supplies and food, and through the cold of winter, Bahá'u'lláh and His family travelled from Persia to Baghdad.

Mírzá Yaḥyá had been appointed by the Báb to lead the Bábí community, and had been travelling around Persia in disguise. He decided to go to Baghdad and join the group using funds given to him by Bahá'u'lláh.

An increasing number of Bábí's considered Baghdad the new center for leadership of the Bábí religion, and a flow of pilgrims started coming there from Persia. However, as time went on, people began to look to Mírzá Yaḥyá for leadership less and less, and instead saw Bahá'u'lláh as their leader.^[1]

Mírzá Yaḥyá, as the appointed leader of the Bábís, started to try to discredit Bahá'u'lláh and further divided the community.^[1] The actions of Mírzá Yaḥyá drove many people away from the religion and allowed its enemies to continue their persecution.^[2]

[edit] Kurdistan

On April 10 1854 Bahá'u'lláh, without telling anyone His purpose or destination, left with one companion to the mountains of Kurdistan, north-east of Baghdad, near the city Sulaymaniyah.^[2] He later wrote that He left so as to avoid becoming the source of disagreement within the Bábí community.

For two years Bahá'u'lláh lived alone in the mountains of Kurdistan^[3] dressed like a dervish and using the name Darvish Muhammad-i-Irani. At one point someone noticed His remarkable penmanship, which brought the curiosity of the instructors of the local Sufi orders.^[2] As He began to take guests, He became noted for His learning and wisdom. Shaykh `Uthmán, Shaykh `Abdu'r-Rahmán, and Shaykh Ismá'íl, undisputed leaders of the Naqshbandíyyih, Qádiríyyih, and Khálidíyyih Orders respectively, began to seek His advice and admire Him. It was to the second of these that the Four Valleys was written. Several other notable books were also written during this time.^[3]

In Baghdad, given the lack of firm and public leadership by Mirza Yahya, the Babi community had fallen into disarray.^[2] Some Babis, including Bahá'u'lláh's family, thus searched for Bahá'u'lláh, and when news of a wise man living in the mountains under the name of Darvish Muhammad spread to neighbouring areas, Bahá'u'lláh's family pleaded with Him to come back to Baghdad, which He did.^[2]

[edit] Return to Baghdad

When Bahá'u'lláh returned to Baghdad He saw that the Bábí community had become disheartened and divided. In the time of Bahá'u'lláh's absence, the Baghdad community had become alienated with the religion since Mirza Yahya had proceeded to marry the widowed wife of the Báb against the clear instructions left to him ^[2] and dispatched followers to the province of Nur for the second attempt on the life of the Shah.^[4] A few Babis went so far as refuting Mirza Yahya's claims to successorship, advancing counter-claims, and disseminating their own writings.^[5]

Bahá'u'lláh remained in Baghdád for seven more years. During this time, while keeping His perceived station as the Manifestation of God hidden, He taught the Báb's teachings. He revealed many books and verses, including the Book of Certitude and the Hidden Words.

Bahá'u'lláh's rising influence in the city, and the revival of the Persian Bábí community gained the attention of his enemies in Islamic clergy and the Persian government. ^[6] They were eventually successful in having the Ottoman government exile Bahá'u'lláh from Baghdad to Constantinople.^[6]

[edit] Declaration in the Garden of Ridvan

On April 22 1863, Bahá'u'lláh left Baghdad and entered the Garden of Riḍván near Baghdad. Bahá'u'lláh and those accompanying him would stay in the garden for twelve days before departing for Constantinople. It was during his time in the Garden of Ridván that Bahá'u'lláh declared to his companions his perceived mission and station as a Messenger of God.^[3] Today Bahá'ís celebrate the twelve days that Bahá'u'lláh was in the Garden of Ridván as the festival of Ridván.

The eleven years of messianic secrecy that passed between when Bahá'u'lláh claimed to have seen the Maiden of Heaven in the Síyáh-Chál and this declaration are referred to by Bahá'í chroniclers and by Bahá'u'lláh himself as ayyam-i butun ("Days of Concealment"). Bahá'u'lláh stated that this period was a "set time of concealment".

[edit] References