My object in writing this treatise and in setting forth this discourse is not to make mention of my merits or to show forth my services, but rather to guide the beginner, and to glorify my Lord, the learned and just King, Ḥusámu'd-Dawla wa'd-Dín, Helper of Islám and the Muslims, Pride of monarchs and kings, noblest of mankind, Shamsu'l-Ma'álí, Maliku'l-Umará, Abu'l-Ḥasan 'Alí b. Mas'úd b. al-Ḥusayn, Nuṣratu Amíri'l-Mú'minín (may God perpetuate his glory!), by whose high station the Kingly Office is magnified. May God (blessed and glorious is He!) continue to embellish it by his Beauty, and may the Divine Protection and Heavenly Grace be a buckler over the form and stature of both, and may the heart of my Lord and Benefactor Fakhru'd-Dawla wa'd-Dín, Bahá'u'l-Islám wa'l-Muslimín, King of the kings of the mountains, be rejoiced, not for a while but for ever, by the continuance of both!