I put my trust in our Lord, the truthful God who judges with truth and is worshipped in the tongues of all creation. From the acquired servant who speaks clearly and brings truthful good news, the possession of the Guardian of the Age through disclosure and the absence of testing; the Guardian who stands for the guidance of the party of truth, and whose proof opens the clearest road to tawḥīd: to the rightly directed shaykh, refuge of the Unitarians, the well-guided and generous one, the wise man granted assistance and success in speech and action, Ibn Sūmar Rājpāl.
Peace upon you and the company of guidance gathered around you: the Unitarians in the land of India and Hindustan, who await the rising of the banner of truth and the manifestation of the Qāʾim of the Age, who offer their very lives in the struggle against the people of falsehood and the Iblīses of religions. The exception among them is ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Layth, who has cut the bonds connecting him with his pure Unitarian ancestors and, in folly and opposition, set himself against the command of our Lord, the God of the worlds.
Now then: praise belongs to our Lord, the God who alone possesses the meaning of divine manifestations, above what minds can encompass or logical expressions delimit. Nonexistence is the opposite of existence, and it is a path that draws people toward rejection, the abolition of reality, and denial.
Exalted is our Lord, the God al-Ḥākim, greater than spouses and children, unlike shapes and rivals, existing beyond the conjectures of absence and above the expression of eternity or primordial antiquity. He made His Guardian, the Qāʾim of Truth, a beacon revealing tawḥīd, guiding those illumined by the light of his wisdom toward transcendence and abstraction, and preserving through his proofs those who are sincere from denial and imitation.
Our Lord's mercy and blessings are upon whoever lifts his eyes to the heaven of realities, furnished with constellations, raises his sight toward the exalted assembly, and trusts the one who announces the true emergence. Such a person has attained the furthest reach of origination, realized the stations of the bounds of nobility in honor, exaltation, and elevation, and recognized the true nature of that union, arrives in understanding at the end of numbers, and renounces the filth of opponents and enemies for the sake of his Guardian.
You are the worthy successor of the men of ancient distinction, the one who carries forward the reality of the trust held by pure, glorious predecessors. I mean Abāyā, your grandfather, after Dāwūd the Elder; then Hūjayda, eldest of the sons, Hurayṭa, Abū ʿAlī, and Kaysā, the last of the individuals.
Awaken your Unitarian people, eminent Rājpāl, and treat the condition of Dāwūd the Younger, whom the fortunate one has released from imprisonment and confinement, following your establishment of proof against his nephew ʿAbd Allāh and against all the people of Multān. Let those who profess divine transcendence, tawḥīd, and certainty distinguish themselves from the faction of delusion, opposition, licentiousness, and rebellion. Success for you and through you in this undertaking comes only from obedience to the Guardian of Truth, the one who abrogates religious laws. I ask his mercy for whatever shortcomings or weakness have occurred, seeking pardon, forgiveness, and remission.
Bring them to repentance, rightly guided and assisted shaykh, and wake them! The call to declare the unity and transcendence of our Lord, the God al-Ḥākim, has spread abroad. What you were promised has become known across the horizons. What your ancestors believed would take place has passed from possibility into actuality; all the adherents of truth were awaiting its arrival.
The Guide of Truth has come, his signs have appeared, and his proofs and tokens have spread through the world. Do not be deceived by the ornamented language and opposition of the failed Ibn al-Layth. He has stripped off the religion of his fathers and ancestors and stands upon the brink of the collapsing bank of Gehenna, clothed in conspicuous shame and a contemptible disposition.
Awaken him, excellent and successful wise man, and establish the proof against him by the message that has reached you and continues to reach you. The pillars and foundations of the earth have already shaken before the manifestation; its winds shift between blowing and stillness. Say to his followers, the people of error: How long will you remain deaf and mute? Graves have been overturned and what hearts and breasts concealed is now obtained and brought to light. Yet you play in the darkness of your ignorance, rebel in the concealment of your delusion, and never turn away from the destructive errors of your beliefs. Do you think you will be neglected? How evil your supposition! You have banded together in doubt, associationism, and unbelief, and joined hands in negligence, deception, and stubbornness.
Your natures have mingled with the nature of the failed man and fallen into a corrupted condition. Their spirits have mixed with his in the filth of denying divinity. They reject the truth by fleeing from servitude, and turn away from the Middle Servant, the center of praise and virtues. They attach themselves instead to the two condemned roads, the home of opposition and disgrace. Their original disposition has departed from the path of divine origination, and the corrupted element draws them back from the truth into doubt and relapse. Their souls have become ready for the furthest reaches of evil, weakened by disease and its misery, unable to receive intelligible forms or to clarify meanings and recognize the true natures of things.
They deny the tawḥīd of our Lord, the Almighty God al-Ḥākim, and despise the favors of His Guardian, the Qāʾim of Truth, shown in the earlier ages. Our Lord appointed that Guardian to abrogate the statutes of the Iblīses and overthrow the embellished falsehoods by which they deceived the nations. He unbinds the knots of unbelief, exposes the magical traps they whisper into people's ears, demolishes the buildings of their lies erected upon false doctrines, and conquers the doctrines and schools through tawḥīd.
Wake your people, wise shaykh, and present clear proof to them that they may recognize the Qāʾim of Truth, the Guide to the straight road. The herald of Resurrection has cried out, the branches of the tree of Imamate have begun to turn green. Grief and remorse have overtaken the contentious and those who neglected their duty; the men of the Heights, witnesses of religion and masters of the nations, have answered the call of truth, proceeding according to their ancient virtues. Their buildings of tawḥīd have risen above every signal and banner; the connections of mere ancestry have been severed by truth. The faction of the false Messiah has grown rebellious in impurity and obstinacy; through its evil deeds it has been brought to wretchedness, hardship, and punishment, and is barred by denunciation and curse from the Messiah of Truth, holder of honor and master of necks.
By the truth, it is as though the great event with which creation has been threatened had already descended; the concealed has been revealed. We take refuge in our Lord and hold fast, in confidence, to the Imam of the Age, the true Messiah, against the terror of a Day beyond comparison with ordinary days and beyond what disputants can encompass in speech. On that Day hearts and eyes tremble and our Lord, the God al-Ḥākim, discloses Himself to His creatures through His own creatures. Intellects and souls lose their composure before His holy majesty; the veils consist of pure spiritual angels and companies of cherubim possessed of wings and lights. Among them stands the noble lord, Imam of nations in every cycle and age, before whom the regions and horizons have submitted; the created substances acknowledge his Lord’s sovereignty and their own incapacity.
A caller will proclaim, “To whom does sovereignty belong today?” and authority will return to al-Ḥākim, exalted beyond age and slumber. The scales will be set for the reckoning, deeds will be judged, the connections of lying claimants will be severed, and their wishes will come to an end. The hidden causes of their disgrace will become visible to the eye. The Qāʾim, the true Messiah, will recompense each soul according to what it has earned. The truthful will succeed through the works of their faith; the doubters and slanderers will regret the things they fabricated against the possessors of sound knowledge.
Bring them, excellent and discerning lord, to the truth. Draw the people of unity, belief, and certainty near, and explain to everyone the true foundations of divine transcendence and faith. What was in possibility has now appeared in action, plainly before the eyes. Truth has become established, creation has been separated into its proper classes, and the days of the interruption are over. Those who uphold the truth must now hasten and make the migration toward al-Quds.
Come forward, excellent shaykh, with what you have so long deferred. Reveal what you have concealed and kept back. The conscientious messenger is obliged only to deliver his message clearly. Peace upon you and all who are with you—every Unitarian who holds to religion. Praise belongs to our existent Lord al-Ḥākim, and thanks to His Guardian, the guiding Qāʾim and Imam.
Written in the seventeenth year of the manifestation of the Qāʾim of religion, who takes vengeance upon associators, unjust men, apostates, and rebels by the sword of our Lord al-Ḥākim, God of the worlds. The Letter to India is completed through the favor and blessing of our Lord.