Festival of Ridvan

Right now, all around the world, members of the Baha'i Faith are celebrating the Festival of Ridvan. It is a period of 12 days that commemorates the time when Baha'u'llah, the Founder of the Baha'i Faith, proclaimed to be the Promised One of all ages, the Messenger of God that all previous Prophets had predicted. It happened in a garden in Baghdad in 1863. He wrote, "The time foreordained unto the peoples and kindreds of the earth is now come. The promises of God, as recorded in the holy Scriptures, have all been fulfilled."

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Baha'u'llah claimed to speak with the same divine authority as Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. He taught that the time was now ripe for the coming of age of the human race and the beginning of its conscious unity. To achieve this, He urged the abolition of racial, religious, political, and economic prejudices, the adoption of an international auxiliary language, equal opportunities and privileges for men and women, a universal system of education, the independent investigation of truth (clergy was abolished), the adoption of a world code of human rights, and responsibilities, and the creation of a world federal government.

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This is what Baha'u'llah wrote about this age we live in: "This is the Day in which God's most excellent favors have been poured out upon men, the Day in which His most mighty grace hath been infused into all created things. It is incumbent upon all the peoples of the world to reconcile their differences, and, with perfect unity and peace, abide beneath the shadow of the Tree of His care and loving-kindness...Soon will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead."

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See the Baha'i links on the side of our blog for more...