ent and presented it to
the Seat of the Sultanate, bringing consternation to the authorities.
Among the many slanderous charges was this, that this hapless one had
raised up a standard of revolt, a flag bearing the words Ya Baha'u'l-Abha;
that I had paraded this throughout the countryside, to every city, town
and village, and even among the desert tribes, and had summoned all the
inhabitants to unite under this flag.

O my Lord, verily I seek refuge with Thee from the very thought of such an
act, which is contrary to all the commandments of Baha'u'llah, and which
would indeed be a mighty wrong that none but a grievous sinner would ever
perpetrate. For Thou hast made it incumbent upon us to obey the rulers and
kings.

Another of his slanders was that the Shrine on Mount Carmel was a fortress
that I had built strong and impregnable--this when the building under
construction compriseth six rooms--and that I had named it Medina the
Resplendent, while I had named the Holy Tomb(56) Mecca the Glorified. Yet
another of his calumnies was that I had established an independent
sovereignty, and that--God forbid! God forbid! God forbid!--I had summoned
all the believers to join me in this massive wrongdoing. How dire, O my
Lord, is his slander!

Yet again, he claimeth that since the Holy Shrine hath become a point
visited by pilgrims from all over the world, great damage will accrue to
this Government and people. He, the Centre of Sedition, averreth that he
himself hath had no hand in all these matters, that he is a Sunni of the
Sunnites and a devoted follower of Abu-Bakr and Umar, and regardeth
Baha'u'llah as only a pious man and a mystic; all these things, he saith,
were set afoot by this wronged one.

To be brief, a Commission of Investigation was appointed by the Sultan,
may the glory of his reign endure. The Commission journeyed hither and
immediately upon arrival betook themselves to the house of one of the
accusers. They then summoned the group who, working with my brother, had
prepared the accusatory document and asked them whether it was true. The
group explained the contents of the document, stated that everything they
had reported therein was nothing but the truth, and added further
accusations. Thus they functioned at one and the same time as plaintiffs,
witnesses, and judge.

The Commission hath now returned to the seat of the Caliphate, and reports
of a most frightful nature are coming in daily from that city. How