The Secret of Divine Civilization

So it was that Ḥanzalá drew out the white hand of guidance from the bosom of the love of God,1 and illumined the sight and the insight of the beholders with the Gospel light. After he had in bell-like accents recited some of the divine verses out of the Evangel, Nu’mán and all his ministers sickened of their idols and their idol-worship and were confirmed in the Faith of God. And they said, “Alas, a thousand times alas, that up to now we were careless of this infinite mercy and veiled away therefrom, and were bereft of this rain from the clouds of the grace of God.” Then straightway the king tore down the two monuments called the Smeared-With-Blood, and he repented of his tyranny and established justice in the land.

1 Cf. Qur’án 27:12, referring to Moses: “Put now thy hand into thy bosom: it shall come forth white ... one of nine signs to Pharaoh and his people....” Also Qur’án 7:105; 20:23; 26:32; 32. Also Exodus 4:6. See too Edward Fitzgerald’s The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:

Now the New Year reviving old Desires,
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,
Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.

The metaphors here refer to white blossoms and the perfumes of spring.