I’ll never forget, when I was a child... I had just overheard Nabil telling one of the members of the Blessed family how he observed Baha’u’llah at midnight on the Ninth Day of Ridvan. I jotted it down so I wouldn’t forget his words. I’ve saved the account all these years and want to share them with you now.

Nabil said:

“Last night, I happened to be one of those who watched beside Baha’u’llah’s blessed tent. As the hour of midnight approached, I saw Him issue from His tent, pass by the places where some of His companions were sleeping, and began to pace up and down the moonlit, flower-bordered avenues of the garden. So loud was the singing of the nightingales on every side that only those who were near Him could hear distinctly His voice. He continued to walk until, pausing in the midst of one of these avenues, He observed: ‘Consider these nightingales. So great is their love for these roses, that sleepless from dusk till dawn, they warble their melodies and commune with burning passion with the object of their adoration. How then can those who claim to be afire with the rose-like beauty of the Beloved choose to sleep?' Nabil said he wanted to jump out and throw Himself at the Beloved’s feet and say, “I am awake, I am here”, but the glow of light and power emanating from His countenance prevented any mortal man from doing so. So, he just listened. For three successive nights Nabil watched and circled round His blessed tent. Every time he passed by the couch whereon Baha’u’llah lay, he would find Baha’u’llah wakeful.”

You know that every day there in the original Garden of Ridvan, from morn till eventide, Baha’u’llah would ceaselessly engage in conversing with a stream of visitors who kept flowing in from Baghdad! It was a marvelous sight!