The Book of Akbar 243.2

243.2

And inasmuch as the Divine Wisdom watched over that exhibition of hidden lights and kept him in the shelter of guardianship and the shadow of protection from evils and perils, and was surety for the safety of that Unique of the Age, it did not bring those wicked tyrants in a moment to the punishment of their deeds. Rather the design and intent of Providence with regard to those regardless ones had predetermined that they should be tossed about in the world and cast into the ashes of calamity and contempt, and by the revolutions of Time, degree by degree, and step by step, be brought into dissolution (gudāzish), and that the wicked actions of that oppressor should be flung gradually into the bosom of retribution, so that by beholding the final retribution other wrong-doers might take warning. Assuredly, when such things are looked upon with a purged vision, the recompense and retribution which comes into evidence by degrees and step by step is severer and more fatal in its exhaustive torments! When the evil act (the exposure of Akbar) of this unspeakable crew was executed, the hands of the marksmen trembled, the arrows flew crooked, and the lintstocks congealed. Sumbul Khan, the master fireworker, felt his ardent soul grow cold, and thought within himself, “What can have happened”? God be praised! What evil-thoughted ones imagine to be failure and so press on in their wickedness becomes a means of perfection and an adminicle of security! This was instanced here.