h and
glisteneth before all religions. Purge and sanctify your breasts, and your
hearts, and your ears, and your eyes with the living waters of the
utterance of the All-Merciful, and set, then, your faces towards Him. By
the righteousness of God! Ye shall hear all things proclaim: 'Verily, He
the True One is come. Blessed are they that judge with fairness, and
blessed they that turn towards Him!'"

Among the things they have imputed to the Divine Lote-Tree (Moses) are
charges to the falsity of which every discerning man of knowledge, and
every wise and understanding heart, will witness. Thou must, no doubt,
have read and considered the verses which have been sent down concerning
Him Who conversed with God. He--may He be blessed and glorified--saith: "He
said: 'Did We not rear thee among us when a child? And hast thou not
passed years of thy life among us? And yet what a deed is that which thou
hast done! Thou art one of the ungrateful.' He said: 'I did it indeed, and
I was one of those who erred. And I fled from you because I feared you;
but My Lord hath given Me wisdom and hath made Me one of His Apostles.'"
And elsewhere He--may He be blessed and exalted--saith: "And He entered a
city at the time when its inhabitants would not observe Him, and found
therein two men fighting, the one, of His own people; the other, of His
enemies. And he who was of His own people asked His help against him who
was of His enemies. And Moses smote him with His fist and slew him. Said
He: 'This is a work of Satan; for he is an enemy, a manifest misleader.'
He said: 'O my Lord! I have sinned to mine own hurt, forgive me.' So God
forgave Him; for He is the Forgiving, the Merciful. He said: 'Lord!
because Thou hast showed me this grace, I will never again be the helper
of the wicked.' And in the city at noon He was full of fear, casting
furtive glances round Him, and lo, the man whom He had helped the day
before, cried out to Him again for help. Said Moses to him: 'Thou art
plainly a most depraved person.' And when He would have laid violent hands
on him who was their common foe, he said to Him: 'O Moses! Dost Thou
desire to slay me, as thou slewest a man yesterday? Thou desirest only to
become a tyrant in this land, and desirest not to become a peacemaker.'"
Thine ears and thine eyes must needs now be cleansed and sanctified, that
thou mayest be able to judge with fairness and justice. Moses Himself,
moreover, acknowledged His injustice and w