ely to the entire company of
the monarchs of East and West, and in which the Sultan of Turkey, and his
ministers, the kings of Christendom, the French and Persian Ambassadors
accredited to the Sublime Porte, the Muslim ecclesiastical leaders in
Constantinople, its wise men and inhabitants, the people of Persia and the
philosophers of the world are separately addressed; the Kitab-i-Badi', His
apologia, written to refute the accusations levelled against Him by Mirza
Mihdiy-i-Ra_sh_ti, corresponding to the Kitab-i-Iqan, revealed in defense
of the Babi Revelation; the Munajathay-i-Siyam (Prayers for Fasting),
written in anticipation of the Book of His Laws; the first Tablet to
Napoleon III, in which the Emperor of the French is addressed and the
sincerity of his professions put to the test; the Lawh-i-Sultan, His
detailed epistle to Nasiri'd-Din _Sh_ah, in which the aims, purposes and
principles of His Faith are expounded and the validity of His Mission
demonstrated; the Suriy-i-Ra'is, begun in the village of Ka_sh_anih on His
way to Gallipoli, and completed shortly after at Gyawur-Kyuy--these may be
regarded not only as the most outstanding among the innumerable Tablets
revealed in Adrianople, but as occupying a foremost position among all the
writings of the Author of the Baha'i Revelation.

In His message to the kings of the earth, Baha'u'llah, in the
Suriy-i-Muluk, discloses the character of His Mission; exhorts them to
embrace His Message; affirms the validity of the Bab's Revelation;
reproves them for their indifference to His Cause; enjoins them to be just
and vigilant, to compose their differences and reduce their armaments;
expatiates on His afflictions; commends the poor to their care; warns them
that "Divine chastisement" will "assail" them "from every direction," if
they refuse to heed His counsels, and prophesies His "triumph upon earth"
though no king be found who would turn his face towards Him.

The kings of Christendom, more specifically, Baha'u'llah, in that same
Tablet, censures for having failed to "welcome" and "draw nigh" unto Him
Who is the "Spirit of Truth," and for having persisted in "disporting"
themselves with their "pastimes and fancies," and declares to them that
they "shall be called to account" for their doings, "in the presence of
Him Who shall gather together the entire creation."

He bids Sultan 'Abdu'l-'Aziz "hearken to the speech ... of Him Who
unerringly treadeth the Straight Path"; ex