The Baha'i Community of Arlington, Virginia

Category: Arlington Baha’is

Most Holy Religious Festival of the Bahá’í Year

The Bahá’ís of Arlington will celebrate the most holy religious festival of the Bahá’í year beginning Tuesday, April 20, at sunset. The community will gather together for a devotion service and will elect the Spiritual Assembly of Arlington County, the nine-member governing council that oversees the administrative and pastoral needs of the local religious community.

History and Significance of the Festival of Ridván.

From April 21 to May 2, Bahá’ís observe the Festival of Ridván This most holy day commemorates the anniversary of Bahá’u'lláh’s declaration in 1863 that He was the Promised One of all earlier religions.

Bahá’u'lláh’s declaration that He was “Him Whom God shall make manifest” and a Manifestation of God marks the beginning of the Bahá’í Faith .

Ridván (Rizwahn) was a bittersweet time, as Bahá’u'lláh was soon to be exiled to Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey). This was the latest in His series of exiles by the Persian government, which considered Him to be a heretic.

Bahá’u'lláh spent 12 days in a garden in Baghdad visiting with His followers. His followers named the garden Ridván, which means “Paradise” or “good pleasure” in Arabic. The exact circumstances of the Declaration are not known. According to Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Faith: ³The fragmentary description left to posterity by His chronicler Nabil is one of the very few authentic records we possess of the memorable days He spent in that garden. Every day, Nabil has related, ere the hour of dawn, the gardeners would pick the roses which lined the four avenues of the garden, and would pile them in the center of the floor of His blessed tent. So great would be the heap that when His companions gathered to drink their morning tea in His presence, they would be unable to see each other across it. All these roses Bahá’u'lláh would, with His own hands, entrust to those whom He dismissed from His presence every morning to be delivered, on His behalf, to His Arab and Persian friends in the city.²

Bahá’u'lláh called Ridván the Most Great Festival and the King of Festivals. He said:

Call ye to mind, O people, the bounty which God hath conferred upon you. Ye
were sunk in slumber, and lo! He aroused you by the reviving breezes of His
Revelation, and made known unto you His manifest and undeviating Path.

When He entered the garden, Bahá’u'lláh proclaimed the Festival of Ridván and made three announcements:

He forbade His followers to fight to advance or defend the Faith (religious war had been permitted under past religions).
He declared there would not be another prophet for another 1,000 years.
He proclaimed that all the names of God were inherent in all things at that moment.

Bahá’ís suspend work on the holiest days of Ridvan-the first (April 21), ninth (April 29) and twelfth (May 2). These mark the day of Bahá’u'lláh’s arrival in the garden, the arrival of His family and the group’s departure for Constantinople.

Throughout Ridván, Bahá’ís gather for devotions and attend social gatherings.

At Ridván, Bahá’ís annually elect members of local and national administrative bodies, called Spiritual Assemblies. Bahá’u'lláh taught that in an age of universal education, there was no longer a need for a special class of clergy. Instead, he provided a framework for administering the affairs of the Faith through a system of elected councils at the local, national and international levels. (International elections are held every five years.)

Bahá’í elections occur through secret ballot and plurality vote, without candidacies, nominations or campaigning.

Click here to read more.

Apr 18, 2010 | 0 comments View Post

Bahá’í Electoral Unit Convention

Please join us at the annual Unit Convention to elect a delegate to the 2010 National Convention, to consult on activities in our respective communities, and to enjoy the company of the Friends in our Electoral Unit. Sunday, October 4, 2009 – 2 – 5 p.m.

Please bring your Bahá’í ID card with you for registration!

Should you not be able to attend, please send your ballot to the Spiritual Assembly of Arlington, PO Box 100936, Arlington, VA 22210-3936

For further information about Unit Convention, please visit http://unitconvention.usbnc.org/.

The location is:

Kay Spiritual Life Center
American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20016

For a map view, click here.

Sep 29, 2009 | 0 comments View Post

Come Learn About the Bahá’í Faith!

Tonight, June 25th, the Bahá’ís of Arlington will be hosting a discussion about the Bahá’í Faith in Ballston. If you have questions regarding the Bahá’í Faith or would just like to meet some of the Bahá’ís in Arlington, we encourage your to attend. The discussion will take place from 7:30pm – 9:30pm and is metro accessible from the orange line. For more information please contact us.

Jun 25, 2009 | 0 comments View Post

Arlington Bahá’ís Elect Local Spiritual Assembly

Bahá’ís in Arlington and across the world are preparing for the election of their Local Spiritual Assembly (LSA). In every locality where 9 or more Bahá’í adults live, on the April 20th the Local Spiritual Assembly is elected. The only communities where Local Spiritual Assemblies will not be elected are in Iran, since the government of Iran in 1983 called for the dismantling of the Bahá’í administrative structure. Therefore in 1983 the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran dissolved itself and the rest of the Bahá’í administrative structure in the country as a demonstration of goodwill towards the government.

There is no clergy in the Bahá’í Faith, rather the LSA is the elected administrative body that provides pastoral care and coordinates the affairs of the community at the local level. The institutions of a National Spiritual Assembly (NSA) and the Universal House of Justice coordinate the affairs of the Bahá’í community at a national and the international level respectively. Therefore the Local Spiritual Assembly in addition to providing guidance for the Bahá’í community at a local level, is the grassroots centerpiece of a democratic local, national, and international election processes.

The secret ballot election takes place in a prayerful atmosphere, void of nominations or campaigning. All Bahá’ís over the age of 21 who reside with in the particular geographic jurisdiction are eligible to vote and to be elected to serve. Individual elected members have no special authority, status, or power outside the Assembly itself.

To find out more about the Bahá’í electoral process please read this article or watch this video on YouTube.

Apr 20, 2009 | 0 comments View Post

History of the Bahá’í Faith in DC

On April 4th, a group of Bahá’ís from Arlington and DC and their friends got together for a bus tour of some of the places that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá visited on his trip to the United States in 1912. `Abdu’l-Bahá made three visits to Washington, DC in 1912: from April 20 to 28, from May 8 to 11, and from November 6 to 11. There are other tours being planned for May and November of this year, so if you are interested please contact Lex Musta at 202-253-6899 for more details or to reserve a seat on the bus for those trips.

Below are a list of the places we visited:

The Metropolitan African Methodists Episcopal Church (the AME Church) located on M street NW. It was here that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke to the Bethel Literary Society. You can read the entire speech here. The Bethel Literary and Historical Society was established in 1881, and was the first national association of Africa-American intellectual leaders. Frederick Douglass spoke on a variety of occasion to this group, and past presidents of this society include Mary Church Terrell and Louis Gregory.
Arlington National Cemetery. While ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was in DC, he went with Agnes Parsons to pray at the grave of her father William B Royall. Mrs. Parsons is best known for organizing the first Race Amity Conference in 1921. She was a member of the national Race Amity Committees from 1924 through 1930, and was the chair from 1925 – 1928.
1832 26th St, NW. This is currently a private residence owned by Mr. and Mrs. Boyle. In 1912 it was the home of Mírzá Ali-Kuli Khan and Madame Khan. Mr. Khan, a Bahá’í, was at that time Charge d’Affaires of the Persian Legation, and he hosted a luncheon for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at this townhome. Louis Gregory had been speaking with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, but left before the luncheon began, as it was still uncommon to have interracial gatherings in DC in 1912. When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá learned he had left, he sent for Mr. Gregory immediately and gave him the seat of honor on his right.
Mr. James Ryan of the Esperanto Society of Washington spoke to our group in front of the German Marshall Fund Building. In 1912 this was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Parsons, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave many talks here including to the Theosophical Society and the Esperantists.