Strangely enough they could not find anyone in the court of...

Strangely enough they could not find anyone in the court of the Shah of Iran who could translate the letter of Napoleon for the king. It was considered inadvisable to get it translated from the embassies of other countries. They were thus compelled to send that letter to the Iranian embassy in Baghdad where there was a French-knowing person who translated it. Such a dosing nation cannot preserve its political, economical and cultural independence and it has to live under the obligation of others.

A great Iranian poet has given vent to his burning feelings in this connection thus: We are the ones who had collected tax from kings, then we took away their belt and crown. We took their royal cap and their throne, which was decorated with pearls and ivory. We emptied their treasures. We did not fear storms and high-speed winds. We were a dreaded topic in China and other countries. Egypt and Oman were awed by our glory. Our power was obvious in Spain and Rome.

Granada and Ashbila used to obey us. Saqliya was under our flag. Royal decree was our sign, which used to cover everything under the sun. These couplets pertain to the era when Muslims and Iranians were awake. It can be said that the East was proud of the glorious past of the Islamic world. But what is our condition today? The same poet describes: Alas! This field has been destroyed by flood. The afflicted farmer went into deep sleep. The blood of our heart took the color of wine.

The heat of fever burnt down our body. The cool face turned into a burning one. The eyes of intelligence too got covered with blood. The wealth went away and health turned to illness. Institution of the Pope The Pope’s grand institution, after a long duration of oppressive rule, got disintegrated, because it had tried to remain in power by creating a cruel court called Inquisition. But it had erred seriously and was unaware of the changes, which had already taken place in the masses.

Those changes in the thoughts of the people tended to destroy the wrong thoughts of the clergy and the priests. The church took no notice of those changing trends at all. It was of the opinion that it would be able to stem the flood with the help of oppression, use of force and torture. But this thinking was merely the result of their ignorance of the change in winds.

If it had not, at the last moments of its life, prepared a new plan and had it not adapted itself to the new age, no sign of Christianity would have remained in the world today.