to
‘Akká. It was eventually delivered to the monarch by
Badí‘, a youth of seventeen, who had entreated
Bahá’u’lláh for the honor of rendering some service. His efforts won him the crown of martyrdom and immortalized his name. The
Tablet contains the celebrated passage describing the circumstances in which the divine call was communicated to Bahá’u’lláh and the effect it produced. Here, too, we find His unequivocal offer to meet with the Muslim clergy, in the presence of the
Sháh, and to provide whatever proofs of the new
Revelation they might consider to be definitive, a test of spiritual integrity significantly failed by those who claimed to be the authoritative trustees of the message of the
Qur’án.
Included in this collection, as well, is the first full translation of the Súriy-i-Mulúk or Súrih of the Kings, which
Shoghi Effendi described as “
the most momentous Tablet revealed by Bahá’u’lláh in which He, for the first time, directs His words collectively to the entire company of the monarchs of East and West.” It sets forth both the character of His mission and the standard of justice that must govern the exercise of their rule in this Day of God:
Lay not aside the fear of God, O kings of the earth, and beware that ye transgress not the bounds which the Almighty hath fixed. Observe the injunctions laid upon you in His Book, and take good heed not to overstep their limits. Be vigilant, that ye may not do injustice to anyone, be it to the