'Abdu'l-Bahá in the Garden of Riḍván

*A retelling based on **The Chosen Highway** by Lady Blomfield, which includes her paraphrase of Munírih Khánum's recollections of the early life of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. The details of the crossing into the garden are from **The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh** by Adib Taherzadeh. Words in quotation marks are from those books.*

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'Abdu'l-Bahá was eight years old when Bahá'u'lláh was imprisoned in Ṭihrán in 1852. The Chosen Highway records that He was "broken-hearted at the ruthless treatment of His adored Father." The family lost its home and its wealth: "All the former luxury of the family was at an end." Yet these hardships, the account says, "counted not at all whilst He was with His Father," and the exile and the early days in Baghdád were happy for Him.

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When Bahá'u'lláh withdrew into the wilderness of Sulaymáníyyih, the child was "beside Himself with grief." He occupied Himself with copying the Tablets of the Báb that the family still had, and tried to help His mother, Ásíyih Khánum. His uncle, Mírzá Músá, took Him to meetings of the believers, where, at eleven or twelve, He spoke "with a marvellous eloquence," and the friends wondered at His wisdom.

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After Bahá'u'lláh returned, He took His son with Him to gatherings of the friends on the banks of the Tigris. 'Abdu'l-Bahá grew, in Lady Blomfield's words, "into a beautiful youth, beloved by all who knew Him."

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In 1863 a decree of the Sultan ordered Bahá'u'lláh and His family into a new exile. The preparations for the journey were hard. The Chosen Highway continues: "The Master, as He was now called, shielded His adored Father in all ways that lay in His power from undesirable intruders, from the world's insistence, and from those who merely wanted idly to see and to hear something new." It was He who made the arrangements for Bahá'u'lláh to go to the Garden of Riḍván and stay there until the family was ready to leave.

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On the afternoon of 22 April 1863 Bahá'u'lláh was ferried across the Tigris to the garden. Adib Taherzadeh records that three of His sons went with Him, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, then eighteen, among them, together with His amanuensis, Mírzá Áqá Ján. The rest of the family joined Him there on the ninth day.

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In the garden, The Chosen Highway relates, Bahá'u'lláh "confided to the eldest son, 'Abbás, the Master, that He Himself was 'He Whom God shall make Manifest,' heralded by the Forerunner, the Báb." From then on, the account says, "a new joy and increased devotion to His Father" took possession of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and "He consecrated Himself, body and soul and spirit, to the sacred work of the Bahá'í Cause."

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*This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see **The Chosen Highway** by Lady Blomfield.*

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