Muntakhab al-tawarikh 91.1

91.1

Verily the religion which is approved by God is Islam. Verse. Salutations to those who walk round the Ka‘bah, By the circumambulation of which the pilgrimage of noble men is consummated, Salutations to those who dwell in a place, In which he who surpassed all men lodgeth. I present the duties of prayers, the breezes of the sweet odours of which perfume the cells of the gathering places of holiness, and I send pages of greetings, the sweet odours of the waftings of which scent the meetings of the caravans of kindly fellowship. (These I send) to that high presence and to that exalted throne, the place of prostration for the foreheads of the great kings of the age—the spot to be kissed by the lips of the emperors of the cycle—the titles of which the imagination cannot comprehend by its intelligence, before the door of which titles are cast down—the high presence of the sun, which stands in need of neither praise nor description—that is, to the presence of the pattern for men, of him who is followed at this time, the Shaikh-’l-Islám, may his shadow be ever extended over the heads of all creatures in general, and over the foreheads of the bands of feeble seekers after knowledge in particular. And since they (scil. my prayers and greetings) spring from sincerity of intention and proceed from singleness of heart, I hope that they will meet with the honour of acceptance, and the attainment of everything that is hoped for and prayed for is from God.