The Garden Full of Roses
Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, (1944), Bahá'í Publishing Trust · Read original
When in Bahá'í history
A retelling for children, based on Nabíl's account of the Riḍván garden as quoted in God Passes By (Chapter IX).
In the spring of 1863, Bahá'u'lláh was living in the city of Baghdád. He had been told that He must leave and go far away to the city of Constantinople. Before He left, He crossed the river to a garden and stayed there for twelve days. His friends later called it the Garden of Riḍván, which means Paradise. There Bahá'u'lláh told His companions that He was the Promised One the Báb had spoken of.
A friend named Nabíl was there, and he wrote down what he saw.
Every day, before the sun came up, the gardeners picked the roses that grew along the four paths of the garden. They carried them to Bahá'u'lláh's tent and piled them in the middle of the floor. The pile was so big that when the friends sat down to drink their morning tea with Bahá'u'lláh, they could not see one another across it.
Each morning, as the friends left Him, Bahá'u'lláh gave them the roses with His own hands. They carried the roses into the city as gifts from Him to His Arab and Persian friends.
One night, Nabíl was keeping watch beside the tent. Near midnight he saw Bahá'u'lláh come out and walk along the moonlit paths. The nightingales were singing so loudly that only the people close to Him could hear His voice. Bahá'u'lláh stopped and said that the nightingales loved the roses so much that they stayed awake singing from dusk till dawn. How then, He asked, could those who loved the Beloved choose to sleep?
For three nights Nabíl watched, and every time he passed the tent he found Bahá'u'lláh awake. And every day, from morning until evening, Bahá'u'lláh talked with the many visitors who came out from the city to see Him.
Today Bahá'ís celebrate those twelve days as the Festival of Riḍván.
This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "The Roses of Riḍván".
Cite this story
Effendi, S.. (1944). *God Passes By*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/shoghi-effendi/god-passes-by/
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The Roses of Riḍván
During Bahá'u'lláh's twelve days in the Garden of Riḍván in 1863, roses were heaped so high in His tent that the companions could not see one another across them, and at night He spoke of the sleepless nightingales.
The Declaration in the Garden of Riḍván
On 22 April 1863, on the eve of His exile to Constantinople, Bahá'u'lláh crossed the Tigris to the Najíbíyyih Garden. During the twelve days He spent there He declared His mission to His companions.
Joy, Dignity and Power in the Garden
When Bahá'u'lláh was summoned from Baghdád in 1863, His followers were dismayed. Esslemont records that during the twelve days in the Garden of Riḍván He showed the greatest joy, dignity and power, and His followers became happy and enthusiastic.
The Nightingales of Riḍván
Nabíl-i-A'ẓam, who was in the Garden of Riḍván in 1863, recalled the roses heaped each morning in Bahá'u'lláh's tent and the night Bahá'u'lláh spoke of the nightingales.