them a never-failing source of bounty to
mankind. He will cause to issue from their lips and their pens what will
bless the people, so that every corner of this noble country of Iran will
be illumined with their justice and integrity and the rays of that light
will encompass the whole earth. "Neither will this be difficult with
God."(10)

Otherwise it is clear that the results will prove unacceptable. For it has
been directly witnessed in certain foreign countries that following on the
establishment of parliaments those bodies actually distressed and confused
the people and their well-meant reforms produced maleficent results. While
the setting up of parliaments, the organizing of assemblies of
consultation, constitutes the very foundation and bedrock of government,
there are several essential requirements which these institutions must
fulfill. First, the elected members must be righteous, God-fearing,
high-minded, incorruptible. Second, they must be fully cognizant, in every
particular, of the laws of God, informed as to the highest principles of
law, versed in the rules which govern the management of internal affairs
and the conduct of foreign relations, skilled in the useful arts of
civilization, and content with their lawful emoluments.

Let it not be imagined that members of this type would be impossible to
find. Through the grace of God and His chosen ones, and the high endeavors
of the devoted and the consecrated, every difficulty can be easily
resolved, every problem however complex will prove simpler than blinking
an eye.

If, however, the members of these consultative assemblies are inferior,
ignorant, uninformed of the laws of government and administration, unwise,
of low aim, indifferent, idle, self-seeking, no benefit will accrue from
the organizing of such bodies. Where, in the past, if a poor man wanted
his rights he had only to offer a gift to one individual, now he would
either have to renounce all hope of justice or else satisfy the entire
membership.

Close investigation will show that the primary cause of oppression and
injustice, of unrighteousness, irregularity and disorder, is the people's
lack of religious faith and the fact that they are uneducated. When, for
example, the people are genuinely religious and are literate and
well-schooled, and a difficulty presents itself, they can apply to the
local authorities; if they do not meet with justice and secure their
rights and if they see that th