Some Answered Questions

country of Ḥijáz; and that was three years after His mission, because in the beginning the prophethood of Muḥammad was kept secret, and no one knew it save Khadíjah and Ibn Nawfal.1 After three years it was announced. And Bahá’u’lláh, in the year 1290 from the proclamation of the mission of Muḥammad, caused His manifestation to be known.2

1 Varaqat-Ibn-Nawfal, Khadíjah’s cousin.

2 The year 1290 from the proclamation of the mission of Muḥammad was the year 1280 of the Hejira, or 1863–64 of our era. It was at this epoch (April 1863) that Bahá’u’lláh, on leaving Baghdád for Constantinople, declared to those who surrounded Him that He was the Manifestation announced by the Báb.

It is this declaration which the Bahá’ís celebrate by the Feast of Riḍván, this name being that of the garden at the entrance of the city, where Bahá’u’lláh stayed during twelve days, and where He made the declaration.