62 A Covenant of 'Alt, fourth Caliph of Baghdud. [No. 1, 



If they remain steadfast in the observance of this Covenant, they 

 shall resemble the Musalmans and the Mumins. 

 . u Moreover, I have convened together the grandees of the Musalmans 

 and the leading men of my elders and dignitaries, and in their pre- 

 sence have established my Covenant, which the Christian nation 

 requested of me and desired to possess. I have written down and 

 recorded for them conditions and stipulations, which are hereafter to 

 stand firm and remain in force. Should, in future, any monarch or 

 prince, or any person of rank and authority, oppress them and treat 

 them with cruelty, they should produce and present this record 

 of my Covenant, because it is incumbent on monarchs, and on 

 all Musalmans to act according to our behests ; but the Armenians 

 also, by acts of fidelity and loyalty, should comply with our 

 mandates and obey our will, in conformity with the contents of the 

 treaty which I have made and established with them. There shall 

 be no disobedience or opposition to my commands and wishes. 

 Moreover, it is politic and expedient, not to molest and oppress 

 the Christians, so that by the adoption of a conciliatory course, they 

 might be induced to comply with the stipulations contained in this my 

 Covenant. 



" This my Covenant is a burden and an obligation to its recipients, 

 and wearisome and irksome to maliciously disposed and evil-minded 

 persons, and I desire that there should be no contention between the 

 Christians and my exalted nation. But if any one shall act against all 

 that I have written concerning the Christians, who have proved them- 

 selves worthy of my favor and benevolence, such a person acts against 

 the will of God, who inspired me with grace to do this act of goodness 

 to that nation and to save them from troubles and vexations ; for 

 I have entered into a Covenant with them, because they requested 

 and solicited it from me and from all my friends. I have thus given 

 them a divine Covenant, a Covenant of patriarchs, of prophets and of 

 all holy men from the first to the last. And the word of God to the 

 holy prophets, which was brought down from heaven by the angel, 

 enjoins obedience to the laws and performance of duties, and also faith- 

 fulness to this my divine Covenant. Because the Christians under my 

 authority are my subjects, and I am ruler over them, it is my duty to 

 have a paternal eye over them, and to protect them from all evils and 



