Francis Parkman, Jr. - "Pioneers Of France In The New World"

E. P. Roe - "His Sombre Rivals"

Eva Stern - "The Little Immigrant"

A. H. Leahy - "Heroic Romances of Ireland Volumes 1 and 2 Combined"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The Koran (without footnotes)

U >> Unknown >> The Koran (without footnotes)








_______


SECTION VII.

OF THE MONTHS COMMANDED BY THE KORAN TO BE KEPT SACRED; AND
OF THE SETTING APART OF FRIDAY FOR THE ESPECIAL SERVICE OF
GOD.

IT was a custom among the ancient Arabs to observe four months in the year
as sacred, during which they held it unlawful to wage war, and took off the
heads from their spears, ceasing from incursions and other hostilities. During
those months whoever was in fear of his enemy lived in full security; so that
if a man met the murderer of his father or his brother, he durst not offer
him any violence: A great argument," says a learned writer, "of a humane
disposition in that nation; who being by reason of the independent
governments of their several tribes, and for the preservation of their just
rights, exposed to frequent quarrels with one another, had yet learned to
cool their inflamed breasts with moderation, and restrain the rage of war by
stated times of truce."
This institution obtained among all the Arabian tribes, except only those
of Tay and Khathaam, and some of the descendants of Al Hareth Ebn Caab
(who distinguished no time or place as sacred), and was so religiously
observed, that there are but few instances in history (four, say some, six,
say others), of its having been transgressed; the wars which were carried
on without regard thereto being therefore termed impious. One of those
instances was in the war between the tribes of Koreish and Kais Ailân, wherein
Mohammed himself served under his uncles, being then fourteen, or, as others
say, twenty years old.
The months which the Arabs held sacred were al Moharram, Rajeb.
Dhu'lkaada, and Dhu'lhajja; the first, the seventh, the eleventh, and the
twelfth in the year. Dhu'lhajja being the month wherein they performed the
pilgrimage to Mecca, not only that month, but also the preceding and the
following, were for that reason kept inviolable, that every one might safely
and without interruption pass and repass to and from the festival. Rajeb
is said to have been more strictly observed than any of the other three,
probably because in that month the pagan Arabs used to fast; Ramadân,
which was afterwards set apart by Mohammed for that purpose, being in
the time of ignorance dedicated to drinking in excess. By reason of the
profound peace and security enjoyed in this month, one part of the provisions
brought by the caravans of purveyors annually set out by the Koreish for the
supply of Mecca, was distributed among the people; the other part being, for
the like reason, distributed at the pilgrimage.
The observance of the aforesaid months seemed so reasonable to
Mohammed, that it met with his approbation; and the same is accordingly
confirmed and enforced by several passages of the Koran, which forbid war
to be waged during those months against such as acknowledge them to be
sacred, but grant, at the same time, full permission to attack those who
make no such distinction, in the sacred months as well as in the profane.
One practice, however, of the pagan Arabs, in relation to these sacred
months, Mohammed thought proper to reform: for some of them, weary of
sitting quiet for three months together, and eager to make their accustomed
incursions for plunder, used, by way of expedient, whenever it suited their
inclinations or conveniency, to put off the observing of al Moharram to the
following month Safar, thereby avoiding to keep the former, which they
supposed it lawful for them to profane, provided they sanctified another
month in lieu of it, and gave public notice thereof at the preceding pilgrimage.
This transferring the observation of a sacred month to a profane month, is
what is truly meant by the Arabic word al Nasi, and is absolutely condemned,
and declared to be an impious innovation, in a passage of the Koran which Dr.
Prideaux, misled by Golius, imagines to relate to the prolonging of the year,
by adding an intercalary month thereto. It is true, the Arabs, who imitated
the Jews in their manner of computing by lunar years, had also learned their
method of reducing them to solar years, by intercalating a month sometimes
in the third, and sometimes in the second year; by which means they fixed the
pilgrimage of Mecca (contrary to the original institution) to a certain season
of the year, viz., to autumn, as most convenient for the pilgrims, by reason
of the temperateness of the weather, and the plenty of provisions; and it is
also true that Mohammed forbade such intercalation by a passage in the same
chapter of the Koran; but then it is not the passage above mentioned, which
prohibits a different thing, but one a little before it, wherein the number of
months in the year, according to the ordinance of GOD, is declared to be
twelve; whereas, if the intercalation of a month were allowed, every third
or second year would consist of thirteen, contrary to GOD'S appointment.
The setting apart of one day in the week for the more peculiar attendance
on GOD'S worship, so strictly required by the Jewish and Christian religions,
appeared to Mohammed to be so proper an institution, that he could not but
imitate the professors thereof in that particular; though, for the sake of
distinction, he might think himself obliged to order his followers to observe
a different day form either. Several reasons are given why the sixth day of
the week was pitched on for this purpose; but Mohammed seems to have
preferred that day chiefly because it was the day on which the people used to
be assembled long before his time, though such assemblies were had, perhaps,
rather on a civil than a religious account. However it be, the Mohammedan
writers bestow very extraordinary encomiums on this day, calling it the prince
of day, and the most excellent day on which the sun rises; pretending also
that it will be the day whereon the last judgment will be solemnized; and
they esteem it a peculiar honour to Islâm, that GOD has been pleased to
appoint this day to be the feast-day of the Moslems, and granted them the
advantage of having first observed it.
Though the Mohammedans do not think themselves bound to keep their day
of public worship so holy as the Jews and Christians are certainly obliged to
keep theirs, there being a permission, as is generally supposed, in the Koran,
allowing them to return to their employments or diversion after divine service
is over; yet the more devout disapprove the applying of any part of that day
to worldly affairs, and require it to be wholly dedicated to the business of the
life to come.
Since I have mentioned the Mohammedan weekly feast, I beg leave just
to take notice of their two Beirâms, or principal annual feasts. The first
of them is called, in Arabic, Id al fetr, i.e., The feast of breaking the fast,
and begins the first of Shawâl, immediately succeeding the fast of Ramadân;
and the other is called Id al korbân, or Id al adhâ, i.e., The feast of the
sacrifice, and begins on the tenth of Dhu'lhajja, when the victims are slain
at the pilgrimage of Mecca. The former of these feasts is properly the
lesser Beirâm, and the latter, the greater Beirâm: but the vulgar, and
most authors who have written of the Mohammedan affairs, exchange
the epithets, and call that which follows Ramadân the greater Beirâm, because
it is observed in an extraordinary manner, and kept for three days together
at Constantinople and in other parts of Turkey, and in Persia for five or six
days, by the common people, at least, with great demonstrations of public
joy, to make themselves amends, as it were, for the mortification of the
preceding month; whereas, the feast of sacrifices, though it be also kept for
three days, and the first of them be the most solemn day of the pilgrimage,
the principal act of devotion among the Mohammedans is taken much less
notice of by the generality of people, who are not struck therewith, because
the ceremonies with which the same is observed are performed at Mecca,
the only scene of that solemnity.





_______


SECTION VIII.

OF THE PRINCIPAL SECTS AMONG THE MOHAMMEDANS; AND OF THOSE
WHO HAVE PRETENDED TO PROPHECY AMONG THE ARABS, IN OR
SINCE THE TIME OF MOHAMMED.

BEFORE we take a view of the sects of the Mohammedans, it will be necessary
to say something of the two sciences by which all disputed questions among
them are determined, viz., their Scholastic and Practical Divinity.
Their scholastic divinity is a mongrel science, consisting of logical,
metaphysical, theological, and philosophical disquisitions, and built on
principles and methods of reasoning very different from what are used by
those who pass among the Mohammedans themselves for the sounder divines
or more able philosophers, and, therefore, in the partition of the sciences
this is generally left out, as unworthy a place among them. The learned
Maimonides has laboured to expose the principles and systems of the
scholastic divines, as frequently repugnant to the nature of the world and
the order of the creation, and intolerably absurd.
This art of handling religious disputes was not known in the infancy of
Mohammedism, but was brought in when sects sprang up, and articles of
religion began to be called in question, and was at first made use of to defend
the truth o those articles against innovators; and while it keeps within those
bounds is allowed to be a commendable study, being necessary for the
defence of the faith: but when it proceeds farther, out of an itch of
disputation, it is judged worthy of censure.
This is the opinion of al Ghazâli, who observes a medium between those who
have too high a value for this science, and those who absolutely reject it.
Among the latter was al Shâfei, who declared that, in his judgment, if any man
employed his time that way, he deserved to be fixed to a stake, and carried
about through all the Arab tribes, with the following proclamation to be made
before him: 'This is the reward of him who, leaving the Koran and the Sonna,
applied himself to the study of scholastic divinity." Al Ghazâli, on the other
hand, thinks that as it was introduced by the invasion of heresies, it is
necessary to be retained in order to quell them: but then in the person who
studies this science he requires three things, diligence, acuteness of
judgment, and probity of manners; and is by no means for suffering the same
to be publicly explained. This science, therefore, among the Mohammedans, is
the art of controversy, by which they discuss points of faith concerning the
essence and attributes of GOD, and the conditions of all possible things,
either in respect to their creation, or final restoration, according to the
rules of the religion of Islâm.
The other science is practical divinity or jurisprudence, and is the
knowledge of the decisions of the law which regard practice, gathered from
distinct proofs.
Al Ghazâli declares that he had much the same opinion of this science as of
the former, its original being owing to the corruption of religion and morality;
and therefore judged both sciences to be necessary, not in themselves, but
by accident only, to curb the irregular imaginations and passions of mankind
(as guards become necessary in the highways by reason of robbers), the end
of the first being the suppressing of heresies, and of the other the decision
of legal controversies, for the quiet and peaceable living of mankind in this
world, and for the preserving the rule by which the magistrate may prevent
one man from injuring another, by declaring what is lawful and what is
unlawful, by determining the satisfaction to be given, or punishment to be
inflicted, and by regulating other outward actions; and not only so, but to
decide of religion itself, and its conditions, so far as relates to the profession
made by the mouth, it not being the business of the civilian to inquire into the
heart: the depravity of men's manners, however, has made this knowledge of
the laws so very requisite, that it is usually called the Science, by way of
excellence, nor is any man reckoned learned who has not applied himself
thereto.
The points of faith, subject to the examination and discussion of the
scholastic divines, are reduced to four general heads, which they call the
four bases, or great fundamental articles.
The first basis relates to the attributes of GOD, and his unity consistent
therewith. Under this head are comprehended the questions concerning the
eternal attributes, which are asserted by some, and denied by others; and
also the explication of the essential attributes, and attributes of action;
what is proper for GOD to do, and what may be affirmed of him, and what it
is impossible for him to do. These things are controverted between the
Asharians, the Kerâmians, the Mojassemians or Corporalists, and the
Mutazalites.
The second basis regards predestination, and the justice thereof: which
comprises the questions concerning GOD'S purpose and decree, man's
compulsion or necessity to act, and his co-operation in producing actions,
by which he may gain to himself good or evil; and also those which concern
GOD'S willing good and evil, and what things are subject to his power, and
what to his knowledge; some maintaining the affirmative, and others the
negative. These points are disputed among the Kadarians, the Najarians,
the Jabarians, the Asharians, and the Kerâmians.
The third basis concerns the promises and threats, the precise acceptation
of names used in divinity, and the divine decisions; and comprehends questions
relating to faith, repentance, promises, threats, forbearance, infidelity, and
error. The controversies under this head are on foot between the Morgians,
the Waidians, the Mutazalites, the Asharians, and the Kerâmians.
The fourth basis regards history and reason, that is, the just weight they
ought to have in matters belonging to faith and religion; and also the mission
of prophets, and the office of Imâm, or chief pontiff. Under this head are
comprised all casuistical questions relating to the moral beauty or turpitude
of actions; inquiring whether things are allowed or forbidden by reason of
their own nature, or by the positive law; and also questions concerning the
preference of actions, the favour or grace of GOD, the innocence which ought
to attend the prophetical office, and the conditions requisite in the office
of Imâm; some asserting it depends on right of succession, others on the
consent of the faithful; and also the method of transferring it with the
former, and of confirming it with the latter. These matters are the subjects
of dispute between the Shiites, the Mutazalites, the Kerâmians, and the
Asharians.
The different sects of Mohammedans may be distinguished into two sorts;
those generally esteemed orthodox, and those which are esteemed heretical.
The former, by a general name, are called Sonnites or Traditionists;
because they acknowledge the authority of the Sonna, or collection of moral
traditions of the sayings and actions of their prophet, which is a sort of
supplement to the Koran, directing the observance of several things omitted
in that book, and in name, as well as design, answering to the Mishna of the
Jews.
The Sonnites are subdivided into four chief sects, which, notwithstanding
some differences as to legal conclusions in their interpretation of the Koran,
and matters of practice, are generally acknowledge to be orthodox in radicals,
or matters of faith, and capable of salvation, and have each of them their
several stations or oratories in the temple of Mecca. The founders of these
sects are looked upon as the great masters of jurisprudence, and are said to
have been men of great devotion and self-denial, well versed in the knowledge
of those things which belong to the next life and to man's right conduct here,
and directing all their knowledge to the glory of GOD. This is al Ghazâli's
encomium of them, who thinks it derogatory to their honour that their names
should be used by those who, neglecting to imitate the other virtues which
make up their character, apply themselves only to attain their skill, and
follow their opinions in matters of legal practice.
The first of the four orthodox sects is that of the Hanefites, so named
from their founder, Abu Hanifa al Numân Ebn Thâbet, who was born at Cufa,
in the 80th year of the Hejra, and died in the 150th, according to the more
preferable opinion as to the time. He ended his life in prison at Baghdâd,
where he had been confined because he refused to be made Kâdi or judge; on
which account he was very hardly dealt with by his superiors, yet could not
be prevailed on, either by threats or ill-treatment, to undertake the charge,
"choosing rather to be punished by them than by GOD," says Al Ghazâli; who
adds, that when he excused himself from accepting the office by alleging that
he was unfit for it, being asked the reason, he replied, "If I speak the truth,
I am unfit; but if I tell a lie, a liar is not fit to be a judge." It is said that he
read the Koran in the prison where he died, no less than 7,000 times.
The Hanefites are called by an Arabian writer the followers of reason, and
those of the three other sects, followers of tradition; the former being
principally guided by their own judgment in their decisions, and the latter
adhering more tenaciously to the traditions of Mohammed.
The sect of Abu Hanifa heretofore obtained chiefly in Irâk, but now generally
prevails among the Turks and Tartars: his doctrine was brought into great
credit by Abu Yusof, chief justice under the Khalifs al Hâdi and Harun al Rashid.
The second orthodox sect is that of Mâlec Ebn Ans, who was born at Medina,
in the year of the Hejra 90, 93, 94, or 95, and died there in 177, 178, or
179 (for so much do authors differ). This doctor is said to have paid great
regard to the traditions of Mohammed. In his last illness, a friend going to
visit him found him in tears, and asking him the reason of it, he answered,
"How should I not weep? and who has more reason to weep than I? Would to
GOD that for every question decided by me according to my own opinion, I had
received so many stripes! then would my accounts be easier. Would to GOD
I had never given any decision of my own!" Al Ghazâli thinks it a sufficient
proof of Malec's directing his knowledge to the glory of GOD, that being once
asked his opinion as to forty-eight questions, his answer to thirty-two of
them was, that he did not know; it being no easy matter for one who has any
other view than GOD's glory to make so frank a confession of his ignorance.
The doctrine of Malec is chiefly followed in Barbary and other parts of
Africa.
The author of the third orthodox sect was Mohammed Ebn Edris al Shâfei,
born either at Gaza or Ascalon, in Palestine, in the year of the Hejra 150,
the same day (as some will have it) that Abu Hanifa died, and was carried to
Mecca at two years of age, and there educated. He died in 204, in Egypt,
whither he went about five years before. This doctor is celebrated for his
excellency in all parts of learning, and was much esteemed by Ebn Hanbal his
contemporary, who used to say that "he was as the sun to the world, and as
health to the body." Ebn Hanbal, however, had so ill an opinion of al Shâfei
at first, that he forbad his scholars to go near him; but some time after one
of them, meeting his master trudging on foot after al Shâfei, who rode on a
mule, asked him how it came about that he forbad them to follow him, and did
it himself? to which Ebn Hanbal replied, "Hold thy peace; if thou but attend
his mule thou wilt profit thereby."
Al Shâfei is said to have been the first who discoursed of jurisprudence,
and reduced that science into a method; one wittily saying, that the relators
of the traditions of Mohammed were asleep till al Shâfei came and waked them.
He was a great enemy to the scholastic divines, as has been already observed.
Al Ghazâli tells us that al Shâfei used to divide the night into three parts, one
for study, another for prayer, and the third for sleep. It is also related of
him that he never so much as once swore by GOD, either to confirm a truth,
or to affirm a falsehood; and that being once asked his opinion, he remained
silent for some time, and when the reason of his silence was demanded, he
answered, "I am considering first whether it be better to speak or to hold my
tongue." The following saying is also recorded of him, viz., "Whoever pretends
to love the world and its Creator at the same time, is a liar." The followers
of this doctor are from him called Shâfeites, and were formerly spread into
Mâwara'lnahr and other parts eastward, but are now Ahmed Ebn Hanbal, the
founder of the fourth sect, was born in the year of the Hejra 164; but as to
the place of his birth there are two traditions: some say he was born at Meru
in Khorasân, of which city his parents were, and that his mother brought him
from thence to Baghdâd at her breast; while others assure us that she was
with child of him when she came to Baghdâd, and that he was born there.
Ebn Hanbal in process of time attained a great reputation on account of his
virtue and knowledge; being so well versed in the traditions of Mohammed,
in particular, that it is said he could repeat no less than a million of them.
He was very intimate with al Shâfei, from whom he received most of his
traditionary knowledge, being his constant attendant till his departure for
Egypt. Refusing to acknowledge the Koran to be created, he was, by order
of the Khalif al Mutasem, severely scourged and imprisoned. Ebn Hanbal died
at Baghdâd, in the year 241, and was followed to his grave by eight hundred
thousand men, and sixty thousand women. It is relate, as something very
extraordinary, if not miraculous, that on the day of his death no less than
twenty thousand Christians, Jews, and Magians, embraced the Mohammedan
faith. This sect increased so fast, and became so powerful and bold, that
in the year 323, in the Khalifat of al Râdi, they raised a great commotion in
Baghdâd, entering people's houses, and spilling their wine, if they found any,
and beating the singing-women they met with, and breaking their instruments;
and a severe edict was published against them, before they could be reduced
to their duty: but the Hanbalites at present are not very numerous, few of
them being to be met with out of the limits of Arabia.
The heretical sects among the Mohammedans are those which hold
heterodox opinions in fundamental, or matters of faith.
The first controversies relating to fundamentals began when most of the
companions of Mohammed were dead: for in their days was no dispute, unless
about things of small moment, if we except only the dissensions concerning
the Imâms, or rightful successors of their prophet, which were stirred up and
fomented by interest and ambition; the Arabs' continual employment in the
wars, during that time, allowing them little or no leisure to enter into nice
inquiries and subtle distinctions: but no sooner was the ardour of conquest a
little abated than they began to examine the Koran more nearly; whereupon
differences in opinion became unavoidable, and at length so greatly multiplied,
that the number of their sects, according to the common opinion, are
seventy-three. For the Mohammedans seem ambitious that their religion
should exceed others even in this respect; saying, that the Magians are
divided into seventy sects, the Jews into seventy-one, the Christians into
seventy-two, and the Moslems into seventy-three, as Mohammed had
foretold; of which sects they reckon one to be always orthodox, and entitled
to salvation.
The first heresy was that of the Khârejites, who revolted from Ali in the
thirty-seventh year of the Hejra; and not long after, Mabad a. Johni, Ghailân
of Damascus, and Jonas al Aswâri broached heterodox opinions concerning
predestination, and the ascribing of good and evil unto GOD; whose opinions
were followed by Wâsel Ebn Atâ. This latter was the scholar of Hasan of
Basra, in whose school a question being proposed, whether he who had
committed a grievous sin was to be deemed an infidel or not, the Khârejites
(who used to come and dispute there) maintaining the affirmative, and the
orthodox the negative, Wâsel, without waiting his master's decision, withdrew
abruptly, and began to publish among his fellow-scholars a new opinion of his
own, to wit, that such a sinner was in a middle state; and he was thereupon
expelled the school; he and his followers being thenceforth called Mutazalites,
or Separatists.
The several sects which have arisen since this time are variously
compounded and decompounded of the opinions of four chief sects, the
Mutazalites, the Sefâtians, the Khârejites, and the Shiites.
I. The Mutazalites were the followers of the before-mentioned Wâsel
Ebn Atâ. As to their chief and general tenets, I. They entirely rejected all
eternal attributes of GOD, to avoid the distinction of persons made by the
Christians; saying that eternity is the proper or formal attribute of his
essence; that GOD knows by his essence, and not by his knowledge; and the
same they affirmed of his other attributes (though all the Mutazalites do not
understand these words in one sense); and hence this sect were also named
Moattatlites, from their divesting GOD of his attributes: and they went so
far as to say, that to affirm these attributes is the same thing as to make
more eternals than one, and that the unity of GOD is inconsistent with such
an opinion; and this was the true doctrine of Wâsel their master, who declared
that whoever asserted an eternal attribute, asserted there were two GODS.
This point of speculation concerning the divine attributes was not ripe at
first, but was at length brought to maturity by Wâsel's followers, after they
had read the books of the philosophers. 2. They believed the word of GOD to
have been created in subjecto (as the schoolmen term it), and to consist of
letters and sound; copies thereof being written in books to express or imitate
the original. They also went farther, and affirmed that whatever is created
in subjecto is also an accident, and liable to perish. 3. They denied absolute
predestination, holding that GOD was not the author of evil, but of good only;
and that man was a free agent: which being properly the opinion of the
Kadarians, we defer what may be farther said thereof till we come to speak
of that sect. On account of this tenet and the first, the Mutazalites look on
themselves as the defenders of the unity and justice of GOD. 4. They held
that if a professor of the true religion be guilty of a grievous sin, and die
without repentance, he will be eternally damned, though his punishment
will be lighter than that of the infidels. 5. They denied all vision of GOD in
paradise by the corporeal eye, and rejected all comparisons or similitudes
applied to GOD.
This sect are said to have been the first inventors of scholastic divinity,
and are subdivided into several inferior sects, amounting, as some reckon,
to twenty, which mutually brand one another with infidelity: the most
remarkable of them are:--
I. The Hodeilians, or followers of Hamdân Abu Hodeil, a Mutazalite doctor,
who differed something from the common form of expression used by this
sect, saying that GOD knew by his knowledge, but that his knowledge was
his essence; and so of the other attributes: which opinion he took from the
philosophers, who affirm the essence of GOD to be simple and without
multiplicity, and that his attributes are not posterior or accessory to his
essence, or subsisting therein, but are his essence itself: and this the more
orthodox take to be next kin to making distinctions in the deity, which is the
thing they so much abhor in the Christians. As to the Koran's being created,
he made some distinction; holding the word of GOD to be partly not in subjecto
(and therefore uncreated), as when he spake the word Kun, i.e., Fiat, at the
creation, and partly in subjecto, as the precepts, prohibitions, &c. Marracci
mentions an opinion of Abu Hodeil's concerning predestination, from an Arab
writer, which being by him expressed in a manner not very intelligible, I choose
to omit.
2. The Jobbâians, or followers of Abu Ali Mohammed Ebn Abd al Wahhâb,
surnamed al Jobbâi, whose meaning when he made use of the common
expression of the Mutazalites, that "GOD knows by his essence," &c., was,
that GOD'S being knowing is not an attribute, the same with knowledge, nor
such a state as rendered his being knowing necessary. He held GOD'S word
to be created in subjecto, as in the preserved table, for example, the memory
of Gabriel, Mohammed, &c. This sect, if Marracci has given the true sense of
his author, denied that GOD could be seen in paradise without the assistance
of corporeal eyes; and held that man produced his acts by a power superadded
to health of body and soundness of limbs; that he who was guilty of a mortal
sin was neither a believer nor an infidel, but a transgressor (which was the
original opinion of Wâsel), and if he died in his sins, would be doomed to hell
for eternity; and that GOD conceals nothing of whatever he knows from his
servants.
3. The Hashemians, who were so named from their master Abu Hâshem
Abd al Salâm, the son of Abu Ali al Jabbâi, and whose tenets nearly agreed
with those of the preceding sect. Abu Hâshem took the Mutazalite form of
expression, that "GOD knows by his essence," in a different sense from
others, supposing it to mean that GOD hath or is endued with a disposition,
which is a known property, or quality, posterior or accessory to his existence.
His followers were so much afraid of making GOD the author of evil that they
would not allow him to be said to create an infidel; because, according to their
way of arguing, an infidel is a compound of infidelity and man, and GOD is not
the creator of infidelity. Abu Hâshem, and his father Abu Ali al Jobbâi, were
both celebrated for their skill in scholastic divinity.
4. The Nodhâmians, or followers of Ibrahim al Nodhâm, who having read
books of philosophy, set up a new sect, and imagining he could not sufficiently
remove GOD from being the author of evil, without divesting him of his power
in respect thereto, taught that no power ought to be ascribed to GOD
concerning evil and rebellious actions: but this he affirmed against the opinion
of his own disciples, who allowed that GOD could do evil, but did not, because
of its turpitude. Of his opinion as to the Koran's being created we have
spoken elsewhere.
5. The Hâyetians, so named from Ahmed Ebn Hâyet, who had been of the
sect of the Nodhâmians, but broached some new notions on reading the
philosophers. His peculiar opinions were--I. That Christ was the eternal Word
incarnate, and took a true and real body, and will judge all creatures in the life
to come: he also farther asserted that there are two GODS or Creators--the
one eternal, viz., the most high GOD, and the other not eternal, viz., Christ--
which opinion, though Dr. Pocock urges the same as an argument that he did
not rightly understand the Christian mysteries is not much different from
that of the Arians and Socinians. 2. That there is successive transmigration
of the soul from one body into another; and that the last body will enjoy the
reward or suffer the punishment due to each soul: and, 3. That GOD will
be seen at the resurrection, not with the bodily eyes, but those of the
understanding.
6. The Jâhedhians, or followers of Amru Ebn Bahr, surnamed al Jâhedh,
a great doctor of the Mutazalites, and very much admired for the elegance
of his composures; who differed from his brethren in that he imagined the
damned would not be eternally tormented in hell, but would be changed into
the nature of fire, and that the fire would of itself attract them, without
any necessity of their going into it. He also taught that if a man believed
GOD to be his Lord, and Mohammed the apostle of GOD, he became one of
the faithful, and was obliged to nothing farther. His peculiar opinion as to
the Koran has been taken notice of before.
7. The Mozdârians, who embraced the opinions of Isa Ebn Sobeih al Mozdâr,
and those very absurd ones: for, besides his notions relating to the Koran,
he went so directly counter to the opinion of those who abridged GOD of the
power to do evil, that he affirmed it possible for GOD to be a liar and unjust.
He also pronounced him to be an infidel who thrust himself into the supreme
government: nay, he went so far as to assert men to be infidels while they
said "There is no GOD but GOD," and even condemned all the rest of mankind
as guilty of infidelity; upon which Ibrahim Ebn al Sendi asked him whether
paradise, whose breadth equals that of heaven and earth, was created only
for him and two or three more who thought as he did? to which it is said he
could return no answer.
8. The Basharians, who maintained the tenets of Bashar Ebn Mutamer, the
master of al Mozdâr, and a principal man among the Mutazalites. He differed
in some things from the general opinion of that sect, carrying man's free
agency to a great excess, making it even independent: and yet he thought God
might doom an infant to eternal punishment, but granted he would be unjust in
so doing. He taught that God is not always obliged to do that which is best,
for, if he pleased, he could make all men true believers. These sectaries
also held that if a man repent of a mortal sin, and afterwards return to it,
he will be liable to suffer the punishment due to the former transgression.
9. The Thamamians, who follow Thamâma Ebn Bashar, a chief Mutazalite.
Their peculiar opinions were--I. That sinners should remain in hell for ever.
2. That free actions have no producing author. 3. That at the resurrection
all infidels, idolaters, atheists, Jews, Christians, Magians, and heretics
shall be reduced to dust.
10. The Kadarians, which is really a more ancient name than that of
Mutazalites, Mabad al Johni and his adherents being so called, who disputed
the doctrine of predestination before Wâsel quitted his master: for which
reason some use the denomination of Kadarians as more extensive than the
other, and comprehend all the Mutazalites under it. This sect deny absolute
predestination, saying that evil and injustice ought not to be attributed to
GOD, but to man, who is a free agent, and may therefore be rewarded or
punished for his actions, which GOD has granted him power either to do or to
be let alone. And hence it is said they are called Kadarians, because they
deny al Kadr, or GOD'S absolute decree; though others, thinking it not so
proper to come from Kadr, or Kodrat, i.e., power, because they assert man's
power to act freely. Those, however, who give the name of Kadarians to the
Mutazalites are their enemies, for they disclaim it, and give it to their
antagonists the Jabarians, who likewise refuse it as an infamous appellation,
because Mohammed is said to have declared the Kadarians to be the Magians
of his followers. But what the opinion of these Kadarians in Mohammed's time
was, is very uncertain: the Mutazalites say the name belongs to those who
assert predestination, and make GOD the author of good and evil, viz., the
Jabarians; but all the other Mohammedan sects agree to fix it on the
Mutazalites, who, they say, are like the Magians in establishing two
principles, light, or GOD, the author of good; and darkness, or the devil, the
author of evil: but this cannot absolutely be said of the Mutazalites,
for they (at least the generality of them) ascribe men's good deeds to GOD,
but their evil deeds to themselves; meaning thereby that man has a free
liberty and power to do either good or evil, and is master of his actions; and
for this reason it is that the other Mohammedans call them Magians, because
they assert another author of actions besides GOD. And, indeed, it is a
difficult matter to say what Mohammed's own opinion was in this matter; for
on the one side the Koran itself is pretty plain for absolute predestination,
and many sayings of Mohammed are recorded to that purpose, and one in
particular, wherein he introduces Adam and Moses disputing before GOD in
this manner: "Thou," says Moses, "art Adam; whom GOD created, and animated
with the breath of life, and caused to be worshipped by the angels, and placed
in paradise, from whence mankind have been expelled for thy fault:" whereto
Adam answered, "Thou art Moses; whom GOD chose for his apostle, and
entrusted with his word, by giving thee the tables of the law, and whom he
vouchsafed to admit to discourse with himself: how many years dost thou
find the law was written before I was created?" Says Moses, "Forty." "And
dost thou not find," replied Adam, "these words therein: 'And Adam rebelled
against his Lord and transgressed'?" which Moses confessing, "Dost thou
therefore blame me," continued he, "for doing that which GOD wrote of me
that I should do forty years before I was created? nay, for what was decreed
concerning me fifty thousand years before the creation of heaven and earth?"
In the conclusion of which dispute Mohammed declared that Adam had the
better of Moses. On the other side, it is urged in the behalf of the
Mutazalites, that Mohammed declaring that the Kadarians and Morgians had
been cursed by the tongues of seventy prophets, and being asked who the
Kadarians were, answered, "Those who assert that GOD predestinated them
to be guilty of rebellion, and yet punishes them for it:" al Hasan is also said
to have declared, that GOD sent Mohammed to the Arabs while they were
Kadarians, or Jabarians, and laid their sins upon GOD: and to confirm the
matter, this sentence of the Koran is quoted: "When they commit a filthy
action, they say, We found our fathers practising the same, and GOD hath
commanded us so to do: Say, Verily GOD commandeth not filthy actions."
11. The Sefâtians held the opposite opinion to the Mutazalites in respect
to the eternal attributes of GOD, which they affirmed; making no distinction
between the essential attributes and those of operation: and hence they
were named Sefâtians, or Attributists. Their doctrine was that of the first
Mohammedans, who were not yet acquainted with these nice distinctions: but
this sect afterwards introduced another species of declarative attributes,
or such as were necessarily used in historical narration, as hands, face,
eyes, &c., which they did not offer to explain, but contented themselves with
saying they were in the law, and that they called them declarative attributes.
However, at length, by giving various explications and interpretations of
these attributes they divided into many different opinions: some, by taking
the words in the literal sense, fell into the notion of a likeness or similitude
between GOD and created beings; to which it is said the karaites among the
Jews, who are for the literal interpretation of Moses's law, had shown them
the way: others explained them in another manner, saying that no creature
was like GOD, but that they neither understood nor thought it necessary to
explain the precise signification of the words which seem to affirm the same
of both; it being sufficient to believe that GOD hath no companion or similitude.
Of this opinion was Malec Ebn Ans, who declared as to the expression of GOD'S
sitting on his throne, in particular, that though the meaning is known, yet the
manner is unknown; and that it is necessary to believe it, but heresy to make
any questions about it.
The sects of the Sefâtians are:
I. The Asharians, the followers of Abu'l Hasan al Ashari, who was first a
Mutazalite, and the scholar of Abu Ali al Jobbâi, but disagreeing from his
master in opinion as to GOD'S being bound (as the Mutazalites assert) to do
always that which is best or most expedient, left him, and set up a new sect
of himself. The occasion of this difference was the putting a case concerning
three brothers, the first of whom lived in obedience to GOD, the second in
rebellion against him, and the third died an infant. Al Jobbâi being asked
what he thought would become of them, answered, that the first would be
rewarded in paradise, the second punished in hell, and the third neither
rewarded nor punished: "But what," objected al Ashari, "if the third say, O
LORD, if thou hadst given me longer life, that I might have entered paradise
with my believing brother, it would have been better for me?" to which al
Jobbâi replied, "That GOD would answer, I knew that if thou hadst lived
longer, thou wouldst have been a wicked person, and therefore cast into hell."
"Then," retorted al Ashari, "the second will say, O LORD, why didst thou not
take me away while I was an infant, as thou didst my brother, that I might not
have deserved to be punished for my sins, nor to be cast into hell?" To which
al Jobbâi could return no other answer than that GOD prolonged his life to
give him an opportunity of obtaining the highest degree of perfection, which
was best for him: but al Ashari demanding farther, why he did not for the
same reason grant the other a longer life, to whom it would have been equally
advantageous, al Jobbâi was so put to it, that he asked whether the devil
possessed him? "No," says al Ashari, "but the master's ass will not pass the
bridge;" i.e., he is posed.
The opinions of the Asharians were--I. That they allowed the attributes of
GOD to be distinct from his essence, yet so as to forbid any comparison to be
made between GOD and his creatures. This was also the opinion of Ahmed Ebn
Hanbal, and David al Ispahâni, and others, who herein followed Malec Ebn Ans,
and were so cautious of any assimilation of GOD to created beings, that they
declared whoever moved his hand while he read these words, "I have created
with my hand," or "stretched forth his finger," in repeating this saying
of Mohammed, "The heart of the believer is between two fingers of the
Merciful," ought to have his hand and finger cut off; and the reasons they
gave for not explaining any such words were, that it is forbidden in the
Koran, and that such explications were necessarily founded on conjecture
and opinion, from which no man ought to speak of the attributes of GOD,
because the words of the Koran might by that means come to be understood
differently form the author's meaning: nay, some have been so superstitiously
scrupulous in this matter as not to allow the words hand, face, and the like,
when they occur in the Koran, to be rendered into Persian or any other
language, but require them to be read in the very original words, and this
they call the safe way. 2. As to predestination, they held that GOD hath
one eternal will which is applied to whatsoever he willeth, both of his own
actions and, those of men, so far as they are created by him, but not as
they are acquired or gained by them; that he willeth both their good and their
evil, their profit and their hurt, and as he willeth and knoweth, he willeth
concerning men that which he knoweth, and hath commanded the pen to write
the same in the preserved table: and this is his decree, and eternal immutable
counsel and purpose. They also went so far as to say, that it may be
agreeable to the way of GOD that man should be commanded what he is
not able to perform. But while they allow man some power, they seem to
restrain it to such a power as cannot produce anything new; only GOD, say
they, so orders his providence that he creates, after, or under, and together
with every created or new power, an action which is ready whenever a man
will sit, and sets about it: and this action is called Casb, i.e., Acquisition,
being in respect to its creation, from GOD, but in respect to its being
produced, employed, and acquired, from man. And this being generally
esteemed the orthodox opinion, it may not be improper farther to explain
the same in the words of some other writers. The elective actions of men,
says one, fall under the power of GOD alone; nor is their own power effectual
thereto; but GOD causeth to exist in man power and choice; and if there be
no impediment, he causeth his action to exist also, subject to his power, and
joined with that and his choice; which action, as created, is to be ascribed
to GOD, but as produced, employed, or acquired, to man. So that by the
acquisition of an action is properly meant a man's joining or connecting
the same with his power and will, yet allowing herein no impression or
influence on the existence thereof, save only that it is subject to his power.
Others, however, who are also on the side of al Ashari, and reputed orthodox,
explain the matter in a different manner, and grant the impression or
influence of the created power of man on his action, and that this power is
what is called Acquisition. But the point will be still clearer if we hear a third
author, who rehearses the various opinions, or explications of the opinion of
this sect, in the following words, viz.: Abu'l Hasan al Ashari asserts all the
actions of men to be subject to the power of GOD, being created by him, and
that the power of man hath no influence at all on that which he is empowered
to do; but that both the power, and what is subject thereto, fall under the
power of GOD:al Kâdi Abu Becr says that the essence or substance of the
action is the effect of the power of GOD, but its being either an action
of obedience, as prayer, or an action of disobedience, as fornication, are
qualities of the action, which proceed from the power of man: Abd'almalec,
known by the title of Imâm al Haramein, Abu'l Hosein of Basra, and other
learned men, held that the actions of men are effected by the power which
GOD hath created in man, and that GOD causeth to exist in man both power
and will, and that this power and will do necessarily produce that which man
is empowered to do: and Abu Ishâk al Isfarâyeni taught that that which maketh
impression, or hath influence on an action, is a compound of the power of
GOD and the power of man. The same author observes that their ancestors,
perceiving a manifest difference between those things which are the effects
of the election of man and those things which are the necessary effects of
inanimate agents, destitute both of knowledge and choice, and being at the
same time pressed by the arguments which prove that GOD is the Creator
of all things, and consequently of those things which are done by men, to
conciliate the matter, chose the middle way, asserting actions to proceed
from the power of GOD, and the acquisition of man; GOD'S way of dealing with
his servants being, that when man intendeth obedience, GOD createth in him
an action of obedience, and when he intendeth disobedience, he createth in
him an action of disobedience; so that man seemeth to be the effective
producer of his action, though he really be not. But this, proceeds the same
writer, is again pressed with its difficulties, because the very intention of the
mind is the work of GOD, so that no oman hath any share in the production
of his own actions; for which reason the ancients disapproved of too nice an
inquiry into this point, the end of the dispute concerning the same being,
for the most part, either the taking away of all precepts positive as well as
negative, or else the associating of a companion with GOD, by introducing
some other independent agent besides him. Those, therefore, who would
speak more accurately, use this form: there is neither compulsion nor free
liberty, but the way lies between the two; the power and will in man being both
created by GOD, though the merit or guilt be imputed unto man. Yet, after all,
it is judged the safest way to follow the steps of the primitive Moslems, and,
avoiding subtle disputations and too curious inquiries, to leave the knowledge
of this matter wholly unto GOD. 3. As to mortal sin, the Asharians taught,
that if a believer guilty of such sin die without repentance, his sentence is to
be left with GOD, whether he pardon him out of mercy, or whether the prophet
intercede for him (according to that saying recorded of him, "My intercession
shall be employed for those among my people who shall have been guilty of
grievous crimes"), or whether he punish him in proportion to his demerit, and
afterwards, through his mercy, admit him into paradise: but that it is not to
be supposed he will remain for ever in hell with the infidels, seeing it is declared
that whoever shall have faith in his heart but of the weight of an ant, shall
be delivered from hell fire. And this is generally received for the orthodox
doctrine in this point, and is diametrically opposite to that of the Mutazalites.
These were the more rational Sefâtians, but the ignorant part of them, not
knowing how otherwise to explain the expressions of the Koran relating to the
declarative attributes, fell into most gross and absurd opinions, making GOD
corporeal, and like created beings. Such were--
2. The Moshabbehites, or Assimilators; who allowed a resemblance between
GOD and his creatures, supposing him to be a figure composed of members or
parts, either spiritual or corporeal, and capable of local motion, of ascent
and descent, &c. Some of this sect inclined to the opinion of the Holulians,
who believed that the divine nature might be united with the human in the
same person; for they granted it possible that GOD might appear in a human
form, as Gabriel did: and to confirm their opinion they allege Mohammed's
words, that he saw his LORD in a most beautiful form, and Moses talking with
GOD face to face. And--
3. The Kerâmians, or followers of Mohammed Ebn Kerâm, called also
Mojassemians, or Corporalists; who not only admitted a resemblance between
GOD and created beings, but declared GOD to be corporeal. The more sober
among them, indeed, when they applied the word body to GOD, would be
understood to mean, that he is a self-subsisting being, which with them is
the definition of body: but yet some of them affirmed him to be finite, and
circumscribed, either on all sides, or on some only (as beneath, for example),
according to different opinions; and others allowed that he might be felt by
the hand, and seen by the eye. Nay, one David al Jawâri went so far as to
say, that his deity was body composed of flesh and blood, and that he had
members, as hands, feet, a head, a tongue, eyes, and ears; but that he was
a body, however, not like other bodies, neither was he like to any created
being: he is also said farther to have affirmed that from the crown of the
head to the breast he was hollow, and from the breast downward solid, and
that he had black curled hair. These most blasphemous and monstrous
notions were the consequence of the literal acceptation of those passages
in the Koran which figuratively attribute corporeal actions to GOD, and of the
words of Mohammed, when he said, that GOD created man in his own image,
and that himself had felt the fingers of GOD, which he laid on his back, to be
cold: besides which, this sect are charged with fathering on their prophet a
great number of spurious and forged traditions to support their opinion, the
greater part whereof they borrowed from the Jews, who are accused as
naturally prone to assimilate GOD to men, so that they describe him as
weeping for Noah's flood till his eyes were sore. And, indeed, though we
grant the Jews may have imposed on Mohammed and his followers in many
instances, and told them as solemn truths things which themselves believed
not or had invented, yet many expressions of this kind are to be found in
their writings; as when they introduce GOD roaring like a lion at every watch
of the night, and crying, "Alas! that I have laid waste my house, and suffered
my temple to be burnt, and sent my children into banishment among the
heathen," &c.
4. The Jabarians--who are the direct opponents of the Kadarians--denying
free agency in man, and ascribing his actions wholly unto GOD. They take
their denomination from al Jabr, which signifies necessity, or compulsion;
because they hold man to be necessarily and inevitably constrained to act
as he does, by force of GOD'S eternal and immutable decree. This sect is
distinguished into several species; some being more rigid and extreme in
their opinion, who are thence called pure Jabarians, and others more
moderate, who are therefore called middle Jabarians. The former will
not allow men to be said either to act, or to have any power at all, either
operative or acquiring; asserting that man can do nothing, but produces
all his actions by necessity, having neither power, nor will, nor choice, any
more than an inanimate agent: they also declare that rewarding and punishing
are also the effects of necessity; and the same they say of the imposing of
commands. This was the doctrine of the Jahmians, the followers of Jahm Ebn
Safwân, who likewise held that paradise and hell will vanish, or be annihilated,
after those who are destined thereto respectively shall have entered them,
so that at last there will remain no existing being besides GOD; supposing
those words of the Koran which declare that the inhabitants of paradise and
of hell shall remain therein for ever, to be hyperbolical only, and intended for
corroboration, and not to denote an eternal duration in reality. The moderate
Jabarians are those who ascribe some power to man, but such a power as
hath no influence on the action: for as to those who grant the power of man
to have a certain influence on the action, which influence is called Acquisition,
some will not admit them to be called Jabarians; though others reckon those
also to be called middle Jabarians, and to contend for the middle opinion
between absolute necessity and absolute liberty, who attribute to man
acquisition, or concurrence in producing the action, whereby he gaineth
commendation or blame (yet without admitting it to have any influence on the
action), and, therefore, make the Asharians a branch of this sect. Having
again mentioned the term Acquisition, we may, perhaps, have a clearer idea of
what the Mohammedans mean thereby, when told, that it is defined to be an
action directed to the obtaining of profit, or the removing of hurt, and for
that reason never applied to any action of GOD, who acquireth to himself
neither profit nor hurt. Of the middle or moderate Jabarians were the
Najârians and the Derârians. The Najârians were the adherents of al Hasan Ebn
Mohammed al Najâr, who taught that GOD was he who created the actions of
men, both good and bad, and that man acquired them, and also that man's
power had an influence on the action, or a certain co-operation, which he
called acquisition; and herein he agreed with al Ashari. The Derârians were
the disciples of Derâr Ebn Amru, who held also that men's actions are really
created by GOD, and that man really acquired them. The Jabarians also say,
that GOD is absolute Lord of his creatures, and may deal with them according
to his own pleasure, without rendering account to any, and that if he should
admit all men, without distinction, into paradise, it would be no impartiality,
or if he should cast them all into hell it would be no injustice. And in this
particular, likewise, they agree with the Asharians, who assert the same,
and say that reward is a favour from GOD, and punishment a piece of justice;
obedience being by them considered as a sign only of future reward, and
transgression as a sign of future punishment.
5. The Morgians; who are said to be derived from the Jabarians. These
teach that the judgment of every true believer, who hath been guilty of a
grievous sin, will be deferred till the resurrection; for which reason they
pass no sentence on him in this world, either of absolution or condemnation.
They also hold that disobedience with faith hurteth not; and that, on the
other hand, obedience with infidelity profiteth not. As to the reason of
their name the learned differ, because of the different significations of its
root, each of which they accommodate to some opinion of the sect. Some
think them so called because they postpone works to intention, that is,
esteem works to be inferior in degree to intention and profession of the
faith; others, because they allow hope, by asserting that disobedience with
faith hurteth not, &c.; others take the reason of the name to be, their
deferring the sentence of the heinous sinner till the resurrection; and others,
their degrading of Ali, or removing him from the first degree to the fourth:
for the Morgians, in some points relating to the office of Imâm, agree with the
Khârejites, the Kadarians, or the Jabarians, are distinguished as Morgians of
those sects, and the fourth is that of the pure Morgians; which last species
is again subdivided into five others. The opinions of Mokâtel and Bashar,
both of a sect of the Morgians called Thaubanians, should not be omitted.
The former asserted that disobedience hurts not him who professes the unity
of GOD, and is endued with faith; and that no true believer shall be cast into
hell: he also taught that GOD will surely forgive all crimes besides infidelity;
and that a disobedient believer will be punished, at the day of resurrection, on
the bridge laid over the midst of hell, where the flames of hell fire shall catch
hold on him, and torment him in proportion to his disobedience, and that he
shall then be admitted into paradise. The latter held that if GOD do cast the
believers guilty of grievous sins into hell, yet they will be delivered thence
after they shall have been sufficiently punished; but that it is neither
possible nor consistent with justice that they should remain therein for ever;
which, as has been observed, was the opinion of al Ashari.
III. The Khârejites are they who depart or revolt from the lawful prince
established by public consent; and thence comes their name, which signifies
revolters or rebels. The first who were so called were twelve thousand men
who revolted from Ali, after they had fought under him at the battle of
Seffein, taking offence at his submitting the decision of his right to the
Khalifat, which Moâwiyah disputed with him, to arbitration, though they
themselves had first obliged him to it. These were also called Mohakkemites,
or Judiciarians; because the reason which they gave for their revolt was, that
Ali had referred a matter concerning the religion of GOD to the judgment of
men, whereas the judgment, in such case, belonged only unto GOD. The heresy
of the Khârejites consisted chiefly in two things. I. In that they affirmed
a man might be promoted to the dignity of the Imâm, or prince, though he was
not of the tribe of Koreish, nor even a freeman, provided he was a just and
pious person, and endued with the other requisite qualifications; and also
held that if the Imâm turned aside from the truth, he might be put to death or
deposed; and that there was no absolute necessity for any Imâm at all in the
world. 2. In that they charged Ali with sin, for having left an affair to
the judgment of men, which ought to have been determined by GOD alone; and
went so far as to declare him guilty of infidelity, and to curse him on that
account. In the 38th year of the Hejra, which was the year following the
revolt, all these Khârejites who persisted in their rebellion, to the number
of four thousand, were cut to pieces by Ali, and, as several historians
write, even to a man: but others say nine of them escaped, and that two fled
into Omân, two into Kermân, two into Sejestân, two into Mesopotamia, and one
to Tel Mawrun; and that these propagated their heresy in those places, the
same remaining there to this day. The principal sects of the Khârejites,
besides the Mohakkemites above mentioned, are six; which, though they greatly
differ among themselves in other matters, yet agree in these, viz., that they
absolutely reject Othmân and Ali, preferring the doing of this to the greatest
obedience, and allowing marriages to be contracted on no other terms; that
they account those who are guilty of grievous sins to be infidels; and that
they hold it necessary to resist the Imâm when he transgresses the law. One
sect of them deserves more particular notice, viz.--
The Waidians, so called from al Waid, which signifies the threats denounced
by GOD against the wicked. These are the antagonists of the Morgians, and
assert that he who is guilty of a grievous sin ought to be declared an infidel
or apostate, and will be eternally punished in hell, though he were a true
believer: which opinion of theirs, as has been observed, occasioned the first
rise of the Mutazalites. One Jaafar Ebn Mobashshar, of the sect of the
Nodhâmians, was yet more severe than the Waidians, pronouncing him to be
a reprobate and an apostate who steals but a grain of corn.
IV. The Shiites are the opponents of the Khârejites: their name properly
signifies sectaries or adherents in general, but is peculiarly used to denote
those of Ali Ebn Tâleb; who maintain him to be lawful Khalif and Imâm, and
that the supreme authority, both in spirituals and temporals, of right belongs
to his descendants, notwithstanding they may be deprived of it by the
injustice of others, or their own fear. They also teach that the office of
Imâm is not a common thing, depending on the will of the vulgar, so that they
may set up whom they please; but a fundamental affair of religion, and an
article which the prophet could not have neglected, or left to the fancy of
the common people: nay, some, thence called Imâmians, go so far as to
assert, that religion consists solely in the knowledge of the true Imâm. The
principal sects of the Shiites are five, which are subdivided into an almost
innumerable number; so that some understand Mohammed's prophecy of the
seventy odd sects, of the Shiites only. Their general opinions are--I. That
the peculiar designation of the Imâm, and the testimonies of the Koran and
Mohammed concerning him, are necessary points. 2. That the Imâms ought
necessarily to keep themselves free from light sins as well as more grievous.
3. That every one ought publicly to declare who it is that he adheres to, and
from whom he separates himself, by word, deed, and engagement; and that
herein there should be no dissimulation. But in this last point some of the
Zeidians, a sect so named from Zeid, the son of Ali surnamed Zein al âbedin,
and great-grandson of Ali, dissented from the rest of the Shiites. As to
other articles, wherein they agreed not, some of them came pretty near to
the notions of the Mutazalites, others to those of the Moshabbehites, and
others to those of the Sonnites. Among the latter of these Mohammed al
Bâker, another son of Zein al âbedin's, seems to claim a place: for his opinion
as to the will of GOD was, that GOD willeth something in us, and something
from us, and that what he willeth from us he hath revealed to us; for which
reason he thought it preposterous that we should employ our thoughts about
those things which GOD willeth in us, and neglect those which he willeth from
us: and as to GOD'S decree, he held that the way lay in the middle, and that
there was neither compulsion nor free liberty. A tenet of the Khattâbians,
or disciples of one Abu'l Khattab, is too peculiar to be omitted. These
maintained paradise to be no other than the pleasures of this world, and
hell fire to be the pains thereof, and that the world will never decay: which
proposition being first laid down, it is no wonder they went farther, and
declared it lawful to indulge themselves in drinking wine and whoring, and to
do other things forbidden by the law, and also to omit doing the things
commanded by the law.
Many of the Shiites carried their veneration for Ali and his descendants so
far, that they transgressed all bounds of reason and decency; though some
of them were less extravagant than others. The Gholâites, who had their
name from their excessive zeal for their Imâms, were so highly transported
therewith, that they raised them above the degree of created beings, and
attributed divine properties to them; transgressing on either hand, by deifying
of mortal men, and by making GOD corporeal: for one while they liken one of
their Imâms to GOD, and another while they liken GOD to a creature. The sects
of these are various, and have various appellations in different countries.
Abd'allah Ebn Saba (who had been a Jew, and had asserted the same thing of
Joshua the son of Nun) was the ringleader of one of them. This man gave
the following salutation to Ali, viz., "Thou art Thou," i.e., Thou art GOD: and
hereupon the Gholâites became divided into several species; some maintaining
the same thing, or something like it, of Ali, and others of some of one of his
descendants; affirming that he was not dead, but would return again in the
clouds, and fill the earth with justice. But howmuchsoever they disagreed in
other things, they unanimously held a metempsychosis, and what they call
al Holul, or the descent of GOD on his creatures; meaning thereby that GOD
is present in every place, and speaks with every tongue, and appears in
some individual person: and hence some of them asserted their Imâms to be
prophets, and at length gods. The Nosairians and the Ishâkians taught that
spiritual substances appear in grosser bodies; and that the angels and the
devil have appeared in this manner. They also assert that GOD hath appeared
in this manner. They also assert that GOD hath appeared in the form of
certain men; and since, after Mohammed, there hath been no man more
excellent than Ali, and, after him, his sons have excelled all other men, that
GOD hath appeared in their form, spoken with their tongue, and made use of
their hands; for which reason, say they, we attribute divinity to them. And
to support these blasphemies, they tell several miraculous things of Ali, as
his moving the gates of Khaibar, which they urge as a plain proof that he was
endued with a particle of divinity and with sovereign power, and that he was
the person in whose form GOD appeared, with whose hands he created all
things, and with whose tongue he published his commands; and therefore
they say he was in being before the creation of heaven and earth. In so
impious a manner do they seem to wrest those things which are said in
scripture of CHRIST by applying them to Ali. These extravagant fancies of
the Shiites, however, in making their Imâms in laying claim thereto, are so
far from being peculiar to this sect, that most of the other Mohammedan
sects are tainted with the same madness; there being many found among
them, and among the Sufis especially, who pretend to be nearly related to
heaven, and who boast of strange revelations before the credulous people.
It may not be amiss to hear what al Ghazâli has written on this occasion.
"Matters are come to that pass," says he, "that some boast of an union with
GOD, and of discoursing familiarly with him, without the interposition of a veil,
saying, 'It hath been thus said to us,' and 'We have thus spoken;' affecting to
imitate Hosein al Hallâj, who was put to death for some words of this kind
uttered by him, he having said (as was proved by credible witnesses), 'I am
the Truth,' or Abu Yazid al Bastâmi, of whom it is related that he often used
the expression, 'Sobhâni,' i.e., 'Praise be unto me!' But this way of talking is
the cause of great mischief among the common people; insomuch that
husbandmen, neglecting the tillage of their land, have pretended to the like
privileges; nature being tickled with discourses of this kind, which furnish men
with an excuse for leaving their occupations, under pretence of purifying their
souls, and attaining I know not what degrees and conditions. Nor is there
anything to hinder the most stupid fellows from forming the like pretensions
and catching at such vain expressions: for whenever what they say is denied
to be true, they fail not to reply that our unbelief proceeds from learning
and logic; affirming learning to be a veil, and logic the work of the mind;
wherein what they tell us appears only within, being discovered by the light
of truth. But this is that truth the sparks whereof have flown into several
countries and occasioned great mischiefs; so that it is more for the
advantage of GOD'S true religion to put to death one of those who utter
such things than to bestow life on ten others."
Thus far have we treated of the chief sects among the Mohammedans of
the first ages, omitting to say anything of the more modern sects, because
the same are taken little or no notice of by their own writers, and would be
of no use to our present design. It may be proper, however, to mention a
word or two of the great schism at this day subsisting between the Sonnites
and the Shiites, or partisans of Ali, and maintained on either side with
implacable hatred and furious zeal. Though the difference arose at first
on a political occasion, it has, notwithstanding, been so well improved by
additional circumstances and the spirit of contradiction, that each party
detest and anathematize the other as abominable heretics, and farther from
the truth than either the Christians or the Jews. The chief points wherein
they differ are--I. That the Shiites reject Abu Becr, Omar, and Othmân, the
three first Khalifs, as usurpers and intruders; whereas the Sonnites
acknowledge and respect them as rightful Imâms. 2. The Shiites prefer
Ali to Mohammed, or, at least, esteem them both equal; but the Sonnites
admit neither Ali nor any of the prophets to be equal to Mohammed. 3. The
Sonnites charge the Shiites with corrupting the Koran and neglecting its
precepts, and the Shiites retort the same charge on the Sonnites. 4. The
Sonnites receive the Sonna, or book of traditions of their prophet, as of
canonical authority; whereas the Shiites reject it as apocryphal and unworthy
of credit. And to these disputes, and some others of less moment, is
principally owing to the antipathy which has long reigned between the Turks,
who are Sunnites, and the Persians, who are of the sect of Ali. It seems
strange that Spinosa, had he known of no other schism among the
Mohammedans, should yet never have heard of one so publicly notorious
as this between the Turks and Persians; but it is plain he did not, or he would
never have assigned it as the reason of his preferring the order of the
Mohammedan church to that of the Roman, that there have arisen no
schisms in the former since its birth.
As success in any project seldom fails to draw in imitators, Mohammed's
having raised himself to such a degree of power and reputation by acting the
prophet, induced others to imagine they might arrive at the same height by
the same means. His most considerable competitors in the prophetic office
were Moseilama and al Aswad, whom the Mohammedans usually call the two
liars.
The former was of the tribe of Honeifa, who inhabited the province of
Yamâma, and a principal man among them. He headed an embassy sent by his
tribe to Mohammed in the ninth year of the Hejra, and professed himself a
Moslem: but on his return home, considering that he might possibly share with
Mohammed in his power, the next year he set up for a prophet also, pretending
to be joined with him the commission to recall mankind from idolatry to the
worship of the true GOD; and he published written revelations, in imitation
of the Koran, of which Abulfargius has preserved the following passage, viz.:
"now hath GOD been gracious unto her that was with child, and hath brought
forth from her the soul, which runneth between the peritonaeum and the
bowels." Moseilama, having formed a considerable party among those of
Honeifa, began to think himself upon equal terms with Mohammed, and sent
him a letter, offering to go halves with him, in these words: "From Moseilama
the apostle of GOD, to Mohammed the apostle of GOD. Now let the earth be
half mine, and half thine." But Mohammed, thinking himself too well
established to need a partner, wrote him this answer: "From Mohammed
the apostle of GOD, to Moseilama the liar. The earth is GOD'S: he giveth the
same for inheritance unto such of his servants as he pleaseth; and the happy
issue shall attend those who fear him." During the few months which
Mohammed lived after this revolt, Moseilama rather gained than lost ground,
and grew very formidable; but Abu Becr, his successor, in the eleventh year
of the Hejra, sent a great army against him, under the command of that
consummate general, Khâled Ebn al Walid, who engaged Moseilama in a bloody
battle, wherein the false prophet, happening to be slain by Wahsha, the negro
slave who had killed Hamza at Ohod, and by the same lance, the Moslems
gained an entire victory, ten thousand of the apostates being left dead on
the spot, and the rest returning to Mohammedism.
Al Aswad, whose name was Aihala, was of the tribe of Ans, and governed
that and the other tribes of Arabs descended from Madhhaj. This man was
likewise an apostate from Mohammedism, and set up for himself the very year
that Mohammed died. He was surnamed Dhu'lhemâr, or the master of the ass,
because he used frequently to say, "The master of the ass is coming unto
me;" and pretended to receive his revelations from two angels, named Sohaik
and Shoraik. Having a good hand at legerdemain, and a smooth tongue, he
gained mightily on the multitude by the strange feats which he showed them,
and the eloquence of his discourse: by these means he greatly increased his
power, and having made himself master of Najrân, and the territory of al
Tâyef, on the death of Badhân, the governor of Yaman for Mohammed, he
seized that province also, killing Shahr, the son of Badhân, and taking to wife
his widow, whose father, the uncle of Firuz the Deilamite, he had also slain.
These news being brought to Mohammed, he sent to his friends, and to those
of Hamdân, a party of whom, conspiring with Kais Ebn Abd'al Yaghuth, who bore
Al Aswad a grudge, and with Firuz, and al Aswad's wife, broke by night into his
house, where Firuz surprised him and cut off his head. While he was
dispatching he roared like a bull; at which his guards came to the chamber
door, but were sent away by his wife, who told them the prophet was only
agitated by the divine inspiration. This was done the very night before
Mohammed died. The next morning the conspirators caused the following
proclamation to be made, viz.: "I bear witness that Mohammed is the apostle
of GOD, and that Aihala is a liar;" and letters were immediately sent away to
Mohammed, with an account of what had been done: but a messenger from
heaven outstripped them, and acquainted the prophet with the news, which
he imparted to his companions but a little before his death; the letters
themselves not arriving till Abu Becr was chosen Khalif. It is said that
Mohammed, on this occasion, told those who attended him that before the
day of judgment thirty more impostors, besides Moseilama and al Aswad,
should appear, and every one of them set up for a prophet. The whole time,
from the beginning of al Aswad's rebellion to his death, was about four
months.
In the same eleventh year of the Hejra, but after the death of Mohammed,
as seems most probable, Toleiha Ebn Khowailed set up for a prophet, and Sejâj
Bint al Mondar for a prophetess.
Toleiha was of the tribe of Asad, which adhered to him, together with great
numbers of the tribes of Ghatfân and Tay. Against them likewise was Khâled
sent, who engaged and put them to flight, obliging Toleiha, with his shattered
troops, to retire into Syria, where he stayed till the death of Abu Becr: then
he went to Omar and embraced Mohammedism in his presence, and, having
taken the oath of fidelity to him, returned to his own country and people.
Sejâj, surnamed Omm Sâder, was of the tribe of Tamim, and the wife of Abu
Cahdala, a soothsayer of Yamâma. She was followed not only by those of her
own tribe, but by several others. Thinking a prophet the most proper husband
for her, she went to Moseilama, and married him; but after she had stayed
with him three days, she left him and returned home. What became of her
afterwards I do not find. Ebn Shohnah has given us part of the conversation
which passed at the interview between those two pretenders to inspiration;
but the same is a little too immodest to be translated.
In succeeding ages several impostors from time to time started up most
of whom quickly came to nothing: but some made a considerable figure, and
propagated sects which continued long after their decease. I shall give a brief
account of the most remarkable of them, in order of time.
In the reign of al Mohdi, the third Khalif of the race of al Abbâs, one
Hakem Ebn Hâshem, originally of Meru, in Khorasân, who had been an under-
secretary to Abu Moslem, the governor of that province, and afterwards
turned soldier, passed thence into Mawarâlnahr, where he gave himself out
for a prophet. He is generally named by the Arab writers al Mokanna, and
sometimes al Borkaí, that is, "the veiled," because he used to cover his face
with a veil, or a gilded mask, to conceal his deformity, having lost an eye in
the ward, and being otherwise of a despicable appearance; though his
followers pretended he did it for the same reasons as Moses did, viz., lest
the splendour of his countenance should dazzle the eyes of the beholders.
He made a great many proselytes at Nakhshab and Kash, deluding the people
with several juggling performances, which they swallowed for miracles, and
particularly by causing the appearance of a moon to rise out of a well, for
many nights together; whence he was also called, in the Persian tongue,
Sâzendeh mah, or the moonmaker. This impious impostor, not content with
being reputed a prophet, arrogated divine honours to himself, pretending
that the deity resided in his person: and the doctrine whereon he built this
was the same with that of the Gholâites above mentioned, who affirmed a
transmigration or successive manifestation of the divinity through and in
certain prophets and holy men, from Adam to these latter days (of which
opinion was also Abu Moslem himself); but the particular doctrine of al
Mokanna was, that the person in whom the deity had last resided was the
aforesaid Abu Moslem, and that the same had, since his death, passed into
himself. The faction of al Mokanna, who had made himself master of several
fortified places in the neighbourhood of the cities above mentioned, growing
daily more and more powerful, the Khalif was at length obliged to send an
army to reduce him; at the approach whereof al Mokanna retired into one of
his strongest fortresses, which he had well provided for a siege, and sent his
emissaries abroad to pursuade people that he raised the dead to life, and
knew future events. But, being straitly besieged by the Khalif's forces,
when he found there was no possibility for him to escape, he gave poison,
in wine, to his whole family, and all that were with him in the castle; and when
they were dead he burnt their bodies, together with their clothes, and all the
provisions and cattle; and then, to prevent his own body's being found, he
threw himself into the flames, or, as others say, into a tub of aqua fortis, or
some other preparation, which consumed every part of him, except only his
hair: so that when the besiegers entered the place, they found no creature
in it, save one of al Mokanna's concubines, who, suspecting his design, had hid
herself, and discovered the whole matter. This contrivance, however, failed
not to produce the effect which the impostor designed among the remaining
part of his followers; for he had promised them that his soul should
transmigrate into the form of a grey-headed man riding on a greyish beast,
and that after so many years he would return to them, and give them the
earth for their possession: the expectation of which promise kept the sect
in being for several ages after under the name of Mobeyyidites, or, as the
Persians call them, Sefid jâmehghiân, i.e., the clothed in white, because they
wore their garments of that colour, in opposition, as is supposed, to the
Khalifs of the family of Abbâs, whose banners and habits were black. The
historians place the death of al Mokanna in the 162nd or 163rd year of
the Hejra.
In the year of the Hejra 201, Bâbec, surnamed al Khorremi, and Khorremdin,
either because he was of a certain district near Ardebil in Adherbijân, called
Khorrem, or because he instituted a merry religion, which is the signification
of the word in Persian, began to take on him the title of a prophet. I do not
find what doctrine he taught; but it is said he professed none of the
religions then known in Asia. He gained a great number of devotees in
Adherbijân and the Persian Irâk, and grew powerful enough to wage war with the
Khalif al Mamún, whose troops he often beat, killing several of his generals,
and one of them with his own hand; and by these victories he became so
formidable that al Mutasem, the successor of al Mamun, was obliged to employ
the forces of the whole empire against him. The general sent to reduce Bâbec
was Afshid, who having overthrown him in battle, took his castles one after
another with invincible patience, notwithstanding the rebels gave him great
annoyance, and at last shut up the impostor in his principal fortress; which
being taken, Bâbec found means to escape thence in disguise, with some of his
family and principal followers; but taking refuge in the territories of the
Greeks, was betrayed in the following manner. Sahel, an Armenian officer,
happening to know Bâbec, enticed him, by offers of service and respect, into
his power, and treated him as a mighty prince, till, when he sat down to eat,
Sahel clapped himself down by him; at which Bâbec being surprised, asked him
how he dared to take that liberty unasked? "It is true, great king," replied
Sahel, "I have committed a fault; for who am I, that I should sit at your
majesty's table?" And immediately sending for a smith, he made use of this
bitter sarcasm, "Stretch forth your legs, great king, that this man may put
fetters on them." After this Sahel sent him to Afshid, though he had offered
a large sum for his liberty, having first served him in his own kind, by
causing his mother, sister, and wife to be ravished before his face; for so
Bâbec used to treat his prisoners. Afshid, having the arch-rebel in his
power, conducted him to al Mutasem, by whose order he was put to an
ignominious and cruel death. This man had maintained his ground against the
power of the Khalifs for twenty years, and had cruelly put to death above two
hundred and fifty thousand people; it being his custom never to spare man,
woman, or child, either of the Mohammedans or their allies. The sectaries of
Bâbec which remained after his death seem to have been entirely dispersed,
About the year 235, one Mahmud Ebn Faraj pretended to be Moses
resuscitated, and played his part so well that several people believed on him,
and attended him when he was brought before the Khalif al Motawakkel. That
prince, having been an ear-witness of his extravagant discourses, condemned
him to receive ten buffets from every one of his followers, and then to be
drubbed to death; which was accordingly executed; and his disciples were
imprisoned till they came to their right minds.
The Karmatians, a sect which bore an inveterate malice against the
Mohammedans, began first to raise disturbances in the year of the Hejra
278, and the latter end of the reign of al Mutamed. Their origin is not well
known; but the common tradition is, that poor fellow, whom some call
Karmata, came from Khuzistân to the villages near Cufa, and there feigned
great sanctity and strictness of life, and that GOD had enjoined him to pray
fifty times a day, pretending also to invite people to the obedience of a
certain Imâm of the family of Mohammed: and this way of life he continued
till he had made a very great party, out of whom he chose twelve, as his
apostles, to govern the rest, and to propagate his doctrines. But the
governor of the province, finding men neglected their work, and their
husbandry in particular, to say those fifty prayers a day, seized the fellow,
and having put him into prison, swore that he should die; which being overheard
by a girl belonging to the governor, she, pitying the man, at night took the key
of the dungeon from under her master's head as he slept, and having let the
prisoner out, returned the key to the place whence she had it. The next
morning the governor found the bird flown; and the accident being publicly
known, raised great admiration, his adherents giving it out that GOD had
taken him into heaven. Afterwards he appeared in another province, and
declared to a great number of people he had got about him that it was not
in the power of any to do him hurt; notwithstanding which, his courage failing
him, he retired into Syria, and was not heard of any more. His sect, however,
continued and increased, pretending that their master had manifested himself
to be a true prophet, and had left them a new law, wherein he had change the
ceremonies and form of prayer used by the Moslems, and introduced a new
kind of fast; and that he had also allowed them to drink wine, and dispensed
with several things commanded in the Koran. They also turned the precepts
of that book into allegory; teaching that prayer was the symbol of obedience
to their Imâm, and fasting that of silence, or concealing their dogmas from
strangers: they also believed fornication to be the sin of infidelity; and the
guilt thereof to be incurred by those who revealed the mysteries of their
religion, or paid not a blind obedience to their chief. They are said to have
produced a book, wherein was written (among other things), "In the name of
the most merciful GOD. Al Faraj Ebn Othmân of the town of Nasrâna, saith
that Christ appeared unto him in a human form, and said, 'Thou art the
invitation: thou art the demonstration: thou art the camel: thou art the
beast: thou art John the son of Zacharias: thou art the Holy Ghost.'" From
the year above mentioned the Karmatians, under several leaders, gave almost
continual disturbance to the Khalifs and their Mohammedan subjects for
several years; committing great disorders and outrages in Chaldea, Arabia,
Syria, and Mesopotamia, and at length establishing a considerable principality,
the power whereof was in its meridian in the reign of Abu Dhâher, famous
for his taking of Mecca, and the indignities by him offered to the temple
there, but which declined soon after his time and came to nothing.
To the Karmatians the Ismaelians of Asia were very near of kin, if they
were not a branch of them. For these, who were also called al Molâhedah, or
the Impious, and by the writers of the history of the holy wars, Assassins,
agreed with the former in many respects; such as their inveterate malice
against those of other religions, and especially the Mohammedan, their
unlimited obedience to their prince, at whose command they were ready for
assassinations, or any other bloody and dangerous enterprise, their pretended
attachment to a certain Imâm of the house of Ali, &c. These Ismaelians in
the year 483 possessed themselves of al Jebâl, in the Persian Irâk, under the
conduct of Hasan Sabah; and that prince and his descendants enjoyed the
same for a hundred and seventy-one years, till the whole race of them was
destroyed by Holagu the Tartar.
The Bâtenites, which name is also given to the Ismaelians by some authors,
and likewise to the Karmatians, were a sect which professed the same
abominable principles, and were dispersed over several parts of the east.
The word signifies Esoterics, or people of inward or hidden light or
knowledge.
Abu'l Teyyeb Ahmed, surnamed al Motanabbi, of the tribe of Jufa, is too
famous on another account not to claim a place here. He was one of the most
excellent poets among the Arabians, there being none besides Abu Temâm
who can dispute the prize with him. His poetical inspiration was so warm and
exalted that he either mistook it or thought he could persuade others to
believe it to be prophetical, and therefore gave himself out to be a prophet
indeed; and thence acquired his surname, by which he is generally known.
His accomplishments were too great not to have some success; for several
tribes of the Arabs of the deserts, particularly that of Kelâb, acknowledged
him to be what he pretended. But Lulu, governor in those parts for Akhshid
king of Egypt and Syria, soon put a stop to the further progress of this new
sect by imprisoning their prophet and obliging him to renounce his chimerical
dignity; which having done, he regained his liberty, and applied himself solely
to his poetry, by means whereof he got very considerable riches, being in
high esteem at the courts of several princes. Al Motanabbi lost his life,
together with his son, on the bank of the Tigris, in defending the money which
had been given him by Adado'ddawla, soltân of Persia, against some Arabian
robbers who demanded it of him, with which money he was returning to Cufa,
his native city. This accident happened in the year 354.
The last pretender to prophecy I shall now take notice of is one who
appeared in the city of Amasia, in Natolia, in the year 638, and by his
wonderful feats seduced a great multitude of people there. He was by nation
a Turkmân, and called himself Bâba, and had a disciple named Isaac, whom he
sent about to invite those of his own nation to join him. Isaac accordingly,
coming to the territory of Someisat, published his commission, and prevailed
on many to embrace his master's sect, especially among the Turkmâns; so
that at last he had six thousand horse at his heels, besides foot. With these
Baba and his disciple made open war on all who would not cry out with them,
"There is no GOD but GOD; Bâba is the apostle of GOD:" and they put great
numbers of Mohammedans, as well as Christians, to the sword in those parts;
till at length both Mohammedans and Christians, joining together, gave them
battle, and having entirely routed them, put them all to the sword, except
their two chiefs, who being taken alive, had their heads struck off by the
executioner.
I could mention several other impostors of the same kind, which have arisen
among the Mohammedans since their prophet's time, and very near enough to
complete the number foretold by him: but I apprehend the reader is by this
time tired as well as myself, and shall therefore here conclude this
discourse, which may be thought already too long for an introduction.