8.  Iran

8.1  Epistle to the Shah
The Sura-al-Muluk is addressed to sovereigns and leading men of the world collectively. The portion of it addressed to the Shah of Iran is entirely in Arabic “the tone it adopts towards the Shah is one of fierce recrimination. After upholding him for putting the BÁB to death, it sums as follows:

‘And would that you had slain him as men slay one another, but you slew him in such wise that the eyes of men has not seen the like thereof, and Heaven wept over him, and the hearts of those men (to god) cried out. Was he not the son of your prophet, and was not his relationship to the prophet well known amongst you? How then did you do unto him that which none of the former ones have done? By god! The eye of existence hath not beheld the like of you; you slay the son of your prophet and then rejoice in your palace, and are of those who are joyful, and you curse those who were aforetime, who did the like what ye have done, which ye are creatures of yourselves… and when ye slew him, and from amongst his friends arose in retaliation, and none knew him, and his purpose was concealed from whatever hath life …. Then it is not meet that you shall blame anyone for this, but rather blame yourself for what you have done, if you be just.;” J.R.A.S October 1889, PP. 954-958; J.R.A.S April 1892; PP. 273-274; “A Traveller’s Narrative; English Translation, Vol. III. Prof. Browne’s footnote 1, PP. 108-109. Prof. Browne’s notice

This portion was never sent to its addressee and remains buried in the Sura-al-Muluk, of which it forms an integral part.
The epistle to the Shah (Lawh-i-Sultan), intended for Nasir-al-Din Shah, is partly in Arabic, and partly in Persian. It is preceded by an exordium. It is reproduced in Sir Abbas Effendi’s ‘Traveller’s Narrative’, English Translation, Vol. II. PP. 108-151; PP. 390-400.

“It is characterized by extreme moderation of tone. The blame of persecuting the BÁBis is chiefly laid on the ‘Ulama’, who, it is alleged, have instigated and maintained these persecutions by false representation to the Shah. Baha declares that he has been a loyal subject of the Shah, obedient to his commands, and desirous of his welfare, in proof of which he points out that since he was released from his imprisonment at Tehran on the establishment of his innocence of any complicity in the attempt on the Shah’s life (which attempt Baha, in all his writings where he alludes to it, strongly condemns), no act of sedition has emanated from the BÁBis and that this submissiveness on their part, contrasting strongly with their former conduct, is in great measure done to his [i.e. Baha’s] influence” Prof. Browne’s note, J.R.A.S October 1889, P. 955.

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