A Conversation with Abu'l Qasim, the Gardener of the Ridvan, September, 1901
This conversation took place in the general reception room of our Lord's House, in the Holy city of Akka, Syria.
Abu'l Qasim came in, bringing to us three pilgrims (Herbert Hopper of Paris, Thomas Breakwell of England, and Isabella D. Brittingham of America) many beautiful flowers from the Ridvan. The Ridvan is a beautiful Garden situated on the outskirts of Akka, and which has been made sacred by the frequent Visits of the Blessed Perfection, Bahá'u'lláh. (Ridvan means Paradise.) In the Garden there is a little house where Abu'l Qasim lives, and where Bahá'u'lláh often went to rest and to commune. He used to occupy a small cane seat chair by a window in the upper room of the house. Since His Departure that chair has been covered with flowers, and pilgrims coming to the Master, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, visit - by His Direction - that Holy Garden, and bear those flowers away to all parts of the world.
The following are the incidents which Abu'l Qasim related concerning the Visits of the Blessed Perfection to the Ridvan:
At one time when the Blessed Perfection, Baha'o'llah, was in His little room at the Ridvan, a swarm of locusts filled the Garden. This troubled Abu'l Qasim and he sought the Presence of the Blessed Perfection and told Him of their being there. The Blessed Perfection replied: "Go and entertain them. They are our guests." Abu'l Qasim obeyed, gathering all the fruits and vegetables he could find, and placed them in the Garden. the locusts rapidly devoured these and then flew up and settled upon all the trees, shrubs and flowers, and upon every part of the Garden.
Again the gardener sought the Blessed Perfection, and expressed his fear that the insects would destroy everything, and especially the mulberry trees. The Blessed Perfection replied: "This is well. Let them devour them." The gardener supplicated: "This will not be good, for there will be no shade trees for Thee under which to sit." The Blessed Perfection replied: "Because you not wish them to remain, every well." And He then went down into the middle of the Garden, took the hem of His garment in His Hand, and, waving it, uttered thrice, these words: "Abu'l Qasim does not want you! God Protect you!" Immediately, upon His uttering these words, the locusts arose in a body and flew away. There were many hundreds of them.
At another time Abu'l Qasim was trying to beautify the fountain in the Garden, and he placed a tube in its apex to add to the grace of its flow. He also arranged some candles so that they would illuminate the spray of the fountain at nightfall. Then He sought the Blessed Perfection and supplicated Him to visit the Garden and see the fountain.
The Blessed Perfection replied: "It is well. Ask the man to make ready the horses and I will go." When all was ready and they had started for the Ridvan, Abu'l Qasim plead(ed) to be permitted to go
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on before Him and put the fountain in running order, the Blessed Perfection replied: "No, you have already walked here from the Garden." When about half way there Abu'l Qasim renewed his entreaty, and this time the Blessed Perfection granted it. In the twinkling of an eye the gardener found himself in the Garden, but was unable to explain how he arrived there. He turned on the water and, when the Blessed Perfection appeared in the Garden, He said to the one who attended to the horses: "Abu'l Qasim does not understand how he reached the Garden so quickly. He does not know whether he flew, or walked, or ran."
After seeing the improved flow of the fountain, the Blessed Perfection was about to depart, but Abu'l Qasim supplicated that He would remain and see the illuminating effect of the candles. The Blessed Perfection said to him: "O Abu'l Qasim! Know, verily, that it was prophesied and foretold that the fire would be conflagrating amidst the waters; and this is the time and now here is the fulfillment of that prophecy." (N.B. - A deeper meaning is involved.)
Once, when the Blessed Perfection was sitting in His room in the Ridvan, and Abu'l Qasim was in the lower room with `Abdu'l Sali (the uncle of the Master, 'Abdu'l-Bahá) who had also come to the Ridvan, - a man named Mirza Musa knocked for admittance. The gardener went to the door, and then came in to the Blessed Perfection reporting: "It is the Master, Mirza Musa." The Blessed Perfection replied, looking intently at Abu'l Qasim:
"The Master is One, and only One. Everyone else has his own name; but the Master is One. The Master is the Greatest branch. The Master is the Greatest Mystery of God. The Master is THE MASTER!"
At another time the Blessed Perfection instructed the gardener, Abu'l Qasim, to attend to some business for Him, He and the Master both being in the Ridvan. The Master, meeting Abu'l Qasim just afterward, instructed him to go in to Akka and bring them some food for supper.
The gardener sought the Blessed Perfection and supplicated that he might tell Him of the Master's Command. The Blessed Perfection, Bahá'u'lláh, said in reply to Abu'l Qasim:
"That is very well. You must go. You must do everything that the Master says. Everything the Master says is just the same as if I said it. He is ME, and I am HE. There is no difference between My Commands and the Commands of the Master."
When the Blessed Perfection first reached Akka, He was confined in prison. Later on, after His release, He went immediately to the Ridvan, remaining there twelve days, and having all the believers with Him. After those twelve days, He returned to His abode. But coming or going, He would always visit the Ridvan.
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At another time Abu'l Qasim came, in the early morning, to the Blessed Perfection, bearing to Him a bouquet of roses. When the Blessed Perfection inquired of him concerning the Garden, the gardener supplicated His Presence there, in the afternoon, saying: "You will see it when you come and bless it." The Blessed Perfection then said: "We have much work to do." The gardener replied: "Your work is never finished. But mine, in the Garden - if my work amounts to anything - will be finished by noon." The Blessed Perfection then promised to visit the Garden in the afternoon, and permitted Abu'l Qasim to leave.
In the Afternoon a severe storm arose. Abu'l Qasim prepared the samovar with its little charcoal fire, and placed it in the room of the Blessed Perfection, awaiting His arrival, in order to prepare some tea for Him. Then he climbed on to the roof of the house in order to command a wider outlook, and sat there a long time drenched to the skin from the rain, watching for the approach of the Blessed Perfection. After a time he saw the carriage looming up in the distance, and hastened down to make all things ready. And then he met the Blessed Perfection at the entrance to the Garden, with an umbrella, and walked by His side holding it over Him. The Blessed Perfection turned to Abu'l Qasim and said:
"All the Household begged of Me to remain at home in this storm, but I said: 'No, I must go because I have promised.'"
Then the Blessed Perfection ascended the steps to His room. But before He reached the room the storm suddenly ceased.
Once the Blessed Perfection, Bahá'u'lláh, and the Master, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, were both in the Ridvan. Abu'l Qasim brought a chair and gave it to the Blessed Perfection, and the Master turned and went up stairs to the room of the Blessed Perfection.
Turning to Abu'l Qasim, the Blessed Perfection said: "Know thou, verily! All are creatures, - but the MASTER IS NOT."
Once the Blessed Perfection said: "If any one offers a cup of water, in the Day of God, for My sake, it will be greater than future offerings of mountains of diamonds and gold."
The Blessed Perfection, Bahá'u'lláh, said at one time when in the Ridvan: "This Garden is like the Garden of the Martyrs."
Abu'l Qasim said that sometimes Bahá'u'lláh slept in His room at the Ridvan. At such times Abu'l Qasim never slept, but, in his devotion, remained watching.
One night, sitting thus before the door of the room of the Blessed Perfection, being weary, sleep overpowered him. He was awakened by a touch upon his neck, and beheld the Blessed Perfection standing beside him, Who said to him: "You were sleeping and I awakened you." He told the gardener to come into the room, and then He said to him: "Do you see this Garden? Do you see all these stones? All will be destroyed. But the time will come when these will be renewed, and then they will be fixed for all
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time. But the people will not be satisfied, but will bring marble. even this will not satisfy them. They will bring one brick of silver and one brick of gold. But these stones, in My Eyes, are greater than gold or silver the people will bring. And in that time the people will weep and cry, and will say: 'What a great time was that when Abu'l Qasim used to serve in this Garden!' and they will beg to be permitted to visit this Place.
One day the Blessed Perfection said to Abu'l Qasim: "All the trees in the Garden are mentioning thee, are saying that thou art doing thy best to serve them."
The next day He again visited the Ridvan, and while there He said: "I have never enjoyed being in any Garden as much as in this one, and I have never seen so beautiful a Garden."
This was the last time before His Ascension that the Blessed Perfection, Bahá'u'lláh, ever visited the Garden.
Abu'l Qasim said to us: "It seems to me that my inmost heart is melting when I am stating these incidents.
"None of the believers realize the greatness of these days, and that this is THE DAY for which the world was created. If the people will cut themselves from self and from the world, they will realize it; but, on account of their materiality, they are veiled from realization of it."
He said the Blessed Perfection said, and the Master says: "Know the greatness of these days."
Abu'l Qasim also said that he could not possibly relate or convey the wonderfulness of the many events, or the power of the many experiences, which occurred in the Ridvan.
Scanned and spellchecked by Robert Stauffer, 1999;
proofread and formatted by Bruce Tutcher-Oakland;
formatted for the web by Jonah Winters, 10/01.
Notes likely prepared and written by Isabella Brittingham. -R.S
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