ar, they saw it was none other.

Nu'man was sorely displeased. He said, "Thou fool! Thou didst slip away
once from the clutching fingers of death; must thou provoke him now a
second time?"

And Hanzala answered, "Sweet in my mouth and pleasant on my tongue is the
poison of death, at the thought of redeeming my pledge."

Nu'man asked, "What could be the reason for this trustworthiness, this
regard for thine obligation and this concern for thine oath?" And Hanzala
answered, "It is my faith in the one God and in the Books that have come
down from heaven." Nu'man asked, "What Faith dost thou profess?" And
Hanzala said, "It was the holy breaths of Jesus that brought me to life. I
follow the straight pathway of Christ, the Spirit of God." Nu'man said,
"Let me inhale these sweet aromas of the Spirit."

So it was that Hanzala drew out the white hand of guidance from the bosom
of the love of God,(30) and illumined the sight and the insight of the
beholders with the Gospel light. After he had in bell-like accents recited
some of the divine verses out of the Evangel, Nu'man and all his ministers
sickened of their idols and their idol-worship and were confirmed in the
Faith of God. And they said, "Alas, a thousand times alas, that up to now
we were careless of this infinite mercy and veiled away therefrom, and
were bereft of this rain from the clouds of the grace of God." Then
straightway the king tore down the two monuments called the
Smeared-With-Blood, and he repented of his tyranny and established justice
in the land.

Observe how one individual, and he a man of the desert, to outward seeming
unknown and of no station--because he showed forth one of the qualities of
the pure in heart, was able to deliver this proud sovereign and a great
company of others from the dark night of unbelief and guide them into the
morning of salvation; to save them from the perdition of idolatry and
bring them to the shores of the oneness of God, and to put an end to
practices of the sort which blight a whole society and reduce the peoples
to barbarism. One must think deeply over this, and grasp its meaning.

My heart aches, for I note with intense regret that the attention of the
people is nowhere directed toward that which is worthy of this day and
time. The Sun of Truth has risen above the world but we are ensnared in
the dark of our imaginings. The waters of the Most Great Sea are surging
all around us, while we are parched and weak with th