Wert thou [the Ottoman emperor] to incline thine ear unto My
speech and observe My counsel, God would exalt thee to so eminent a position
that the designs of no man on the whole earth could ever touch or hurt thee.
Observe, O king, with thine inmost heart and with thy whole being, the precepts
of God, and walk not in the paths of the oppressor. Seize thou, and hold firmly
within the grasp of thy might, the reins of the affairs of thy people, and
examine in person whatever pertaineth unto them. Let nothing escape thee, for
therein lieth the highest good.
- Baha’u’llah (Súriy-i-Mulúk Sulṭán, addressed
to Ottoman Emperor ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz, quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Promised Day
Is Come’)
