Rá‘íná

Used respectfully, means “Please attend to us”.

When spoken “with a twist of" the “tongue” (as described in Qur’án 4:46), the word takes on an insulting meaning, such as (for example, in Hebrew) “Our bad one”.

Raka‘át

Prostrations.

The term generally refers to one complete Muslim devotional unit, which includes standing upright, bowing, prostrating, and sitting. The unit is a basic element of Muslim prayer.

A-Z : Rak‘ah(s) | Rak‘at(s) | Rik‘at(s)

Ransom-Kehler, Keith

See   Keith Ransom-Kehler

Ráshidún Caliphs

Title blasphemously assumed by the first leaders of Islám after Muḥammad; Arabic for Righteous Successors

See also : Caliphs

Rasht

A city in the province of Gilán in northern Persia.

Rayy

An ancient city near which Ṭihrán was built.

A-Z : Rayy

Regional Bahá’í Council

A Bahá’í Institution which operates at a level between the National Spiritual Assembly, and the Local Spiritual Assemblies of a specified region. The members of a Regional Bahá’í Council are elected each year on the Day of the Covenant by the members of the Local Spiritual Assemblies for that region.

Regional Committees

A series of committees, each corresponding to one of the regions of the Tablets of the Divine Plan, appointed by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Untied States and Canada for the purposes of coordinating inter-community conferences, cooperating with Local Assemblies to organize teaching circuits, routing traveling teachers, assisting and preparing Bahá’í groups to achieve Assembly status, encouraging and stimulating the teaching activities of isolated believers, and extending the teaching work to areas within their regions that lacked Assemblies or groups.

Regional Spiritual Assembly

See   Spiritual Assemblies

Remnant of God

See   Baqíyyatu’lláh

Remote Prison

The city of Adrianople (now Edirne, Turkey), to which Bahá’u’lláh was banished from 12 December 1863 through 12 August 1868. Adrianople is in western Turkey, on its border with Greece and Bulgaria.

Resurrection, Day of

See   Day of Judgement

Revelation

The conveying of truth from God to humanity.

The word is used to refer to the process of divine communication from God to His Manifestation and from the Manifestation to His people; to the words and acts of such communication themselves; and to the entire body of teachings given by a Prophet of God.

A-Z : Revelation(s)

Revelation, Dawning Place of

See   Dawning Place of Revelation

Riḍván

The Islamic name of the gardener and custodian of Paradise.

In Bahá’í terminology the word denotes both “garden”, and “paradise”; however, it has also been used to denote God’s good-pleasure and His divine acceptance. Bahá’u’lláh uses it to denote Paradise itself.

The Riḍván Festival, the holiest and most significant of all Bahá’í festivals, commemorates Bahá’u’lláh’s declaration of His mission to His companions in the Garden of Riḍván in Baghdád in 1863. It is a twelve-day period celebrated annually, 13 Jalál to 5 Jamál. It is also called the Most Great Festival.

During each Riḍván Festival Local and National Spiritual Assemblies are elected, and, once every five years, the Universal House of Justice is elected.

See also : Bahá’í Calendar;   Holy Day.

A-Z : Riḍván

Riḍván, Garden of

See   Garden of Riḍván

Root, Martha

See   Martha Root

Rúḥíyyih Khánum, Amatu’l-Bahá

See   Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum Rabbani

Rúz-bih

Salmán

A Persian who embraced Christianity and, being told a Prophet was about to arise in Arabia, journeyed thither and, meeting Muḥammad at Koba in His flight to Medina, recognized His station and became a Muslim.

A-Z : Rúz-bih;   Salmán