Riḍvān

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Riḍvān (Paradise). Place outside Baghdād of great holiness to Bahāʾīs. In 1863, Bahāʾuʾllāh was summoned (at the instigation of the Persian government) to Constantinople. Bahāʾuʾllāh moved to the garden of Najīb Pāsha to prepare for the journey, and on 21 Apr. announced that he was the one whose coming had been foretold by the Bāb (see BĀBĪS). The garden was named Riḍvān, and the twelve days spent there are commemorated in the feast of Riḍvān.