75 When they expelled Us from thy city, they placed Us in such conveyances
as the people use to carry baggage and the like. Such was the treatment We
received at their hands, shouldst thou wish to know the truth. Thus were
We sent away, and thus were We brought to the city which they regard as
the abode of rebels. Upon our arrival, We could find no house in which to
dwell, and perforce resided in a place where none would enter save the
most indigent stranger. There We lodged for a time, after which, suffering
increasingly from the confined space, We sought and rented houses which by
reason of the extreme cold had been vacated by their occupants. Thus in
the depth of winter we were constrained to make our abode in houses
wherein none dwell except in the heat of summer. Neither My family, nor
those who accompanied Me, had the necessary raiment to protect them from
the cold in that freezing weather.
76 Would that thy ministers had dealt with Us according to the principles
they uphold amongst themselves! For, by God, they dealt with Us neither in
accordance with the commandments of God, nor with the practices they
uphold, nor with the standards current amongst men, nor even with the
manner in which the destitute of the earth receive a wayfarer. Such is the
account of what We suffered at their hands, and which We have related unto
thee in a language of truthfulness and sincerity.
77 All this befell Me, though I had come unto them at their own behest and
did not oppose their authority, which deriveth from thine own. Thus did We
accept and observe their bidding. They, however, appear to have forgotten
that which God hath commanded. He saith, and His Word is the truth: “Act
with humility towards the believers.”(96) Methinks that their only concern
was their own comfort and repose, and that their ears were deaf to the
sighs of the poor and the cries of the oppressed. They seem to imagine
that they have been created from pure light, while others have been
fashioned out of dust. How wretched are their imaginings! We have all been
created from a sorry germ.(97)
78 I swear by God, O King! It is not My wish to make My plaint to thee
against them that persecute Me. I only plead My grief and My sorrow to
God, Who hath created Me and them, Who well knoweth our state and Who
watcheth over all things. My wish is to warn them of the consequences of
their actions, if perchance they might desist from treating others as they
have treated Me, and be of them that heed My warning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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