"Your messenger, Nuḳla,[1] came lo me and my companions 'the Believers' saying on your behalf that we are a nation whom Allah has honored and given superiority, which Allah did, great praise be to Allah, and prayer and peace be on Muḥammad his Prophet and noblest creature! Ye also stated that ye would like to make peace with us. As for your present, I have estimated its value and considered it a part of your tax. I have made a treaty of peace with you and inserted one condition in it. If ye accept the condition and live up to it, well and good. Otherwise 'announce ye a war waged by Allah and his Prophet[2]'. Peace be to those who follow the proper guidance."
The treaty with the people of Taflîs. Ḥabîb thence proceeded to Taflîs [Tiflis] and made the following statement of peace to its people:—
"In the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful. This is a statement from Ḥabîb ibn-Maslamah to the inhabitants of Taflîs which lies in Manjalîs[3] at Jurzân al-Hurmuz,[4] securing them safety for their lives, churches, convents, religious services and faith, provided they acknowledge their humiliation and pay tax to the amount of one dînâr on every household. Ye are not to combine more than one household into one in order to reduce the tax, nor are we to divide the same household into more than one in order to increase it. Ye owe us counsel and support against the enemies of Allah and his Prophet to the utmost of your ability, and are bound to entertain the needy Moslem for one night and provide him with that food used by 'the people of the Book' and which it is legal for us to partake of.
