be found to befriend or help you. Ye shall, of a truth, be asked of
your doings, shall be called to account for your failure in duty with
regard to the Cause of God, and for having disdainfully rejected His loved
ones who, with manifest sincerity, have come unto you.

28 It is ye who have taken counsel together regarding them, ye that have
preferred to follow the promptings of your own desires, and forsaken the
commandment of God, the Help in Peril, the Almighty.

29 Say: What! Cleave ye to your own devices, and cast behind your backs
the precepts of God? Ye, indeed, have wronged your own selves and others.
Would that ye could perceive it! Say: If your rules and principles be
founded on justice, why is it, then, that ye follow those which accord
with your corrupt inclinations and reject such as conflict with your
desires? By what right claim ye, then, to judge fairly between men? Are
your rules and principles such as to justify your persecution of Him Who,
at your bidding, hath presented Himself before you, your rejection of Him,
and your infliction on Him every day of grievous injury? Hath He ever,
though it be for one short moment, disobeyed you? All the inhabitants of
'Iraq, and beyond them every discerning observer, will bear witness to the
truth of My words.

30 Be fair in your judgement, O ye Ministers of State! What is it that We
have committed that could justify Our banishment? What is the offence that
hath warranted Our expulsion? It is We Who have sought you, and yet,
behold how ye refused to receive Us! By God! This is a sore injustice that
ye have perpetrated--an injustice with which no earthly injustice can
measure. To this the Almighty is Himself a witness.

31 Have I at any time transgressed your laws, or disobeyed any of your
ministers in 'Iraq? Inquire of them, that ye may act with discernment
towards Us and be numbered with those who are well-informed. Hath anyone
ever brought before them a plaint against Us? Hath anyone amongst them
ever heard from Us a word contrary to that which God hath revealed in His
Book? Bring forth, then, your evidence, that We may approve your actions
and acknowledge your claims!

32 Had ye wished to deal with Us in accordance with your principles and
standards, it would have behoved you to respect and honour Us for
complying with your commands and following that which ye have pleased to
ordain. Likewise, it would have beseemed you to repay the debts which We
incurred in