A Present to Kings — Page 1
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم نحمده و نصلی علی رسوله الكريم. A Present to Kings. (Being the translation of Tuhfatul Muluke, a letter from the Khalifatul Maseeh II to His Highness the Nizam). . In the name of God the Beneficent, the Merciful. . We praise Him and invoke His blessings upon His Prophet. . YOUR HIGHNESS,. Peace be on you and the mercy of God and His favours. . Before entering upon the main subject of the present letter,. I consider it necessary to explain that by reason of my being bred and brought up amidst surroundings, which, through the. Grace of God, have been permeated with Islamic manners and customs, I am by nature averse to those conventionalities of language which the passage of time has made current among the Mussalmans of India and Persia. So, if Your Highness should. happen to miss in this letter such terms of address as are commonly used by people when writing to royal personages or to rulers of states, I should beg to be excused. Their absence is not due to any lack of respect but to Islamic simplicity. For, as a matter of fact, agreeably to the dictates of the Holy Quran,. I honour with my heart and soul all those whom God has vested with honour and I consider such people as pervert whose minds are barren of respect for those to whom (lod has granted any kind of rank. Such conduct is not only an insult to the persons, * Translated by M. Abul Hasham Khan Chaudhry, M. A. , Assistant Inspector of Schools, Dacca Division, Bengal. to blow