1870.] A Covenant of ' All, fourth Caliph of Baghdad. 63 



troubles ; and thus a good reward shall be given in heaven both to 

 me and to my nation which is scattered in different parts of the world. 



"And the scale of taxation fixed by me for these nobles should 

 be strictly adhered to. No demand should be made from them beyond 

 what has already been written down and sanctioned. They should 

 not be molested or oppressed. Their country should not be taken 

 from them. They should not be alienated from their country. The 

 priests should not be deprived of their holy calling. The Christians 

 should not be converted from Christianity. The monks and hermits 

 should not be disturbed in their solitudes, nor removed from their 

 monasteries. Their preachers should not be prohibited to preach. 

 Their habitations and their hereditary lands should not be devastated. 

 Their property should not be meddled with when they build Churches; 

 Nobodj'- should remove or to pull down the bells from the steeples of 

 their Churches. This is the law which I have made for them. But, 

 those who shall infringe my Covenant, by disobeying my behests, 

 shall be transgressors of the ordinance of God, and shall suffer severe 

 punishments and eternal penalties. 



" Let no crowned head or man of authority of the Musalmans or 

 believers, compel the Christians to profess the religion of Musal- 

 mans. Nor let them hold any controversies with them on matters 

 of religion, but let them treat them with kindness and tenderness ; 

 and, under the shadow of their mercy and clemency, protect them 

 from all sorts of oppression and tribulations, wherever they may 

 be found or wherever they may reside. And if the Christian people 

 be in want of money or in need of pecuniary help for the building of 

 Churches and monasteries, for their national and social assemblies, 

 and for their civil and domestic purposes, the Musalmans ought to 

 assist them and supply them with the necessary means, by grant- 

 ing them a portion of their superabundant and disowned property. 

 And this should be done not by granting them a loan, but by way of 

 charity. They .should also aid them by good advice and suggestions 

 in their transactions, because doing so is pleasing and acceptable in 

 the sight of God and his apostle. But, if any one should infringe 

 the contents of this my Covenant, he is an unbeliever and an apostate 

 from the divine prophet, and he will assuredly be deprived of his 

 merits, and the prophet shall look upon him with anger and 



