and in His signs, and in His Prophets and in His angels.
My tongue, and My heart, and My inner and My outer being testify that
there is no God but Him, that all others have been created by His behest,
and been fashioned through the operation of His Will. There is none other
God but Him, the Creator, the Raiser from the dead, the Quickener, the
Slayer. I am He that telleth abroad the favors with which God hath,
through His bounty, favored Me. If this be My transgression, then I am
truly the first of the transgressors. I and My kindred are at your mercy.
Do ye as ye please, and be not of them that hesitate, that I might return
to God My Lord, and reach the place where I can no longer behold your
faces. This, indeed, is My dearest wish, My most ardent desire. Of My
state God is, verily, sufficiently informed, observant.

Imagine thyself to be under the eye of God, O Minister! If thou seest Him
not, He, in truth, clearly seeth thee. Observe, and judge fairly Our
Cause. What is it that We have committed that could have induced thee to
rise up against Us, and to slander Us to the people, if thou be of them
who are just? We departed out of Tihran, at the bidding of the King, and,
by his leave, transferred Our residence to 'Iraq. If I had transgressed
against him, why, then, did he release Me? And if I were innocent of
guilt, wherefore did ye afflict Us with such tribulation as none among
them that profess your faith hath suffered? Hath any of Mine acts, after
Mine arrival in 'Iraq, been such as to subvert the authority of the
government? Who is it that can be said to have detected any thing
reprehensible in Our behavior? Enquire for thyself of its people, that
thou mayest be of them who have discerned the truth.

For eleven years We dwelt in that land, until the Minister representing
thy government arrived, whose name Our pen is loth to mention, who was
given to wine, who followed his lusts, and committed wickedness, and was
corrupt and corrupted 'Iraq. To this will bear witness most of the
inhabitants of Ba_gh_dad, wert thou to inquire of them, and be of such as
seek the truth. He it was who wrongfully seized the substance of his
fellow-men, who forsook all the commandments of God, and perpetrated
whatever God had forbidden. Eventually, he, following his desires, rose up
against Us, and walked in the ways of the unjust. He accused Us, in his
letter to thee, and thou didst believe him and followed in his way,
without seeking a