up against Him with sharpened swords, and committed
that which caused the Faithful Spirit to lament, until in the end they
imprisoned Him in the most desolate of cities, and broke the grasp of the
faithful upon the hem of His robe. Were anyone to tell them: 'The World
Reformer is come,' they would answer and say: 'Indeed it is proven that He
is a fomenter of discord!', and this notwithstanding that they have never
associated with Him, and have perceived that He did not seek, for one
moment, to protect Himself. At all times He was at the mercy of the wicked
doers. At one time they cast Him into prison, at another they banished
Him, and at yet another hurried Him from land to land. Thus have they
pronounced judgment against Us, and God, truly, is aware of what I say."

This charge of fomenting discord is the same as that imputed aforetime by
the Pharaohs of Egypt to Him Who conversed with God (Moses). Read thou
what the All-Merciful hath revealed in the Qur'an. He--may He be blessed
and glorified--saith: "Moreover We had sent Moses of old with Our signs and
with clear authority to Pharaoh, and Haman, and Qarun: and they said:
'Sorcerer, impostor!' And when He came to them from Our presence with the
truth, they said: 'Slay the sons of those who believe as He doth, and save
their females alive,' but the stratagem of the unbelievers issued only in
failure. And Pharaoh said: 'Let me alone, that I may kill Moses; and let
him call upon his Lord: I fear lest he change your religion, or cause
disorder to show itself in the land.' And Moses said: 'I take refuge with
my Lord, and your Lord from every proud one who believeth not in the Day
of Reckoning.'"

Men have, at all times, considered every World Reformer a fomenter of
discord, and have referred unto Him in terms with which all are familiar.
Each time the Daystar of Divine Revelation shed its radiance from the
horizon of God's Will a great number of men denied Him, others turned
aside from Him, and still others calumniated Him, and thereby withheld the
servants of God from the river of loving providence of Him Who is the King
of creation. In like manner, they who, in this day, have neither met this
Wronged One nor associated with Him have said, and even now continue to
say, the things thou hast heard and hearest still. Say: "O people! The Sun
of Utterance beameth forth in this day, above the horizon of bounty, and
the radiance of the Revelation of Him Who spoke on Sinai flashet