In the name of Him who gave us sovereignty,
Who gave us a wise heart and a strong arm,
Who guided us in equity and justice,
Who put away from our heart aught but equity;
His praise is beyond the range of our thoughts,
Exalted be His Majesty, Allah Akbar.

Inasmuch as his thoughts were pure, he by heart-enlightening words made an impression on the good, and communicated Divine aid to them. There were wonderful awakenings. And since saline soil depraves good seed, the hearts of the entirely bad were made yet more puckered, and the dark mirror of the disordered in brain and blackguards in action was made yet more distorted.* As it is an old custom that the stupid denizens of the demon-haunted* land of ignorance indulge in foolish talk about the pious servants of God, and that they term potsherds valuable jewels, and reckon a broken stone as a mirror of Divinity and a night-gleaming radiancy, every faction went about in the streets of ignorance and the back-lanes of wickedness speaking foolishly and spreading calumnies. On every side there arose the dust of commotion and the black smoke of dark­ness. Assemblages of wickedness congregated together. One set of those base ones who are nocturnal animals and blind feelers with their feet (pāī kobān) in the day charged that Unique of God's servants, who is the glory of his race, with claiming the Godhead, and by such improper talk they fell into the pit of external ruin. Apparently this God-displeasing crew were led into error by the circumstances that some of the leading unionists* who were of the school of Nosair* and had the enthusiasm of Ḥusain* b. Manṣūr recognized and spoke of the Khedive of spirituality as the “Witness of God” (Muhir-i-Ḥaqq). The throne-occupant of Fortune on account of his principle of “Peace with all” did not severely rebuke the idle talkers* and distracted ones. The foolish ones lost the footing of bliss, and fell into the mire of futile ideas. There was a market-day for the liars and falsifiers. Some of the heated fanatics of the desert of destruction said that the Prince of the Age wished to claim to be the prophet of the incomparable Deity. The proof of this imagi­nation of the strife-mongers was that the Shāhinshāh was continually introducing noble laws, and making verdant the parterres of realm and religion, and pointing out the discrepancies in the doubtful ²⁷² expressions of the ancients. Bewildered hearts and short-sighted persons indulged in these thoughts, and the spectacle of his reciting the Khuba contrary to custom and his mounting the pulpit for the guidance of mankind helped the delusion. Many from acceptance* of hearsay and belief in idle words came to believe this. Thus there was a splendid market for strife-mongering and fabrication.

When the fact of the foolish talk of the wicked came to H.M.'s hearing, he, from his wide capacity and his contemplation of the wonders of creation, did not believe it, and said often “Good God.” “How could it enter into the narrow thoughts of the ignorant that recent creatures belonging to a dependent existence and of feeble intellect should ascribe to themselves a share in Divinity? And have the leaders of humanity who have by thousands of miracles expounded the prophetic office come into the world, and have cycles elapsed, that an opinion like this should be cherished and increase, and that the dust of unbelief be not yet laid? How could such a notion come into my mind? Why does such an evil thought bewilder the super­ficial and the worshippers of externals? Inasmuch as censure and reproach give a fresh lustre to hearts which are pure, it would be improper to reprove those black-thoughted ones who cause an increase of light.” A set of evil-thoughted, shameless ones imagined that the Prince of horizons regarded with disfavour the Muham madan religion (dīn i-Aḥmadī). The sole evidence which those wrong-headed wicked ones, whose understanding was rusted, had for this was that the wise sovereign out of his tolerant disposition and general benevolence, and extensive overshadowing, received all classes of mankind with affection. Especially did he search for evidence in religious matters from the sages of every religion and the ascetics of all faiths. Nor did he accept the replies of the head­strong and uninquiring. Above all, at this time Christian philosophers assailed the orthodox (matafiqqān, those in agreement) of the day in the sublime assemblies, and learned discussions were carried on. The calumniators* of the enlightened who by pretences had claimed for themselves a learning that did not exist, made a clamour in the court of sovereignty. They were put to shame in the daily market of justice and the heyday of discrimination, and lowered their heads into the folds of ignorance, but in the privy chambers of darkness they joined their confederates in the cry that they were mourning the loss of Faith, and that the king of the Age had, out of partiality, not accepted their replies. In their wickedness they cast suspicion upon that choice one of truth and that inwardly enlightened one. In their black-heartedness and shamelessness, they gave no heed to the fact that the honour and respect which this appreciative throne-occupant used to show to the family of the prophet had been rarely exhibited by other monarchs. Many good Saiyyids had been raised to dignities and high offices by the favour of H.M., and from time to time they were still farther promoted and the garden of their wishes kept watered and verdant. Nor did he permit that any member of this family should lay his head on the holy feet,* or rub ²⁷³ the forehead on the threshold of fortune. A set of squint-eyed, wicked people taxed him with Sh'iism; and so led astray simple-minded Sunnīs. The cause of the stumbling of this set was that in the sublime assemblies the proofs of those two sects, like those of other sects, were discussed, and that the Shāhinshāh from equity selected what was preferable.

When a statement is strong in argument,
It is unfortunate if you do not listen to it.

His likes or dislikes,* the greater or lesser numbers of the disputants, their being acquaintances or strangers, raised no dust of differ­ence. The short-sighted and irreflecting on seeing his fondness for discussion indulged in idle talk. The favour shown to Persians, most of whom belonged to that sect (the Sh'iā), increased the evil thoughts of the turbulent. Out of ignorance, and worship of routine, they did not remember the precept about accepting the explanation that was conformable to reason.* And either the promotion of Turanians was hidden from the bigoted eyes of this set, or they wilfully remained ignorant of it and sought for pretexts. An impure fac­tion reproached the caravan-leader of God-knowers with being of the Hindu (Brahman) religion. The ground for this improper notion was that the prince out of his wide tolerance received Hindu sages into his intimacy, and increased for administrative reasons the rank of Hindus, and for the good of the country showed them kindness. Three things supported the evil-minded gossips. First—The sages of different religions assembled at court, and as every religion has some good in it, each received some praise. From a spirit of justice, the badness of any sect could not weave a veil over its merits. Second—The season of “Peace with all” was honoured at the court of the Caliphate, and various tribes of mankind of various natures obtained spiritual and material success. Third—The evil nature and crooked ways of the base ones of the age.

By the right-thinking and truthful conduct of the world's lord, they were soon put to shame for their ignorance, and set about endeavouring to amend the days of their ignorance, but many as a retribution for their evil deeds descended into the tortures of failure.