ABSTRACT
When ambassadors come from foreign countries nobody is aware of their movements until they actually arrive at the city gates; and nobody makes any preparation for them or gives them anything; and they will surely attribute this to our negligence and indifference. So officers at the frontiers must be told that whenever anyone approaches their stations they should at once despatch a rider [to the capital] and report who it is who is coming, how many men there are with him, mounted and unmounted, how much baggage and equipment he has, and what is his business. A trustworthy person must be appointed to accompany them and conduct them to the nearest big city; there he will hand them over to another agent who will likewise go with them to the next city or district, and so on until they reach the court. Whenever they arrive at a place where there is cultivation, it must be a standing order that officers, tax-collectors and assignees should give them hospitality at every stopping place and entertain them well so that they depart satisfied. When they return, the same procedure is to be followed. Whatever treatment is given to an ambassador, whether good or bad, it is as if it were done to the very king who sent him; and Icings have always shewn the greatest respect to one another and treated envoys well, for by this their own dignity has been enhanced not diminished. And if at any time there has been disagreement or estrangement between kings, ambassadors have still come and gone as occasion requires, and discharged their missions according to their instructions; never have they been molested or treated with less than usual courtesy. Such a thing would be disgraceful, as God (to Him be power and glory) says in His incontrovertible book [Qur’an 24. 53], ‘The messenger has only to deliver the message plainly.’ (This means that the messenger has only to convey the outward purport.)
