It is, then, most erroneous to suppose that the doctrine of Fatalism is so antagonistic to civilization in the East, as it implies resignation to the Divine will, and by no means impedes active personal exertion. But in reality it is the seeming propriety of human imperfection, in contradistinction to the Divine excellence, which has hitherto maintained a spirit of indifference to progressive improvement. While an entire submission to the course of events, as preordained and predestined by the Omniscient, prevents all restless anxiety, and calms the repinings of the heart-broken and weary, this more truly fatal and false notion of inferiority, only leaves the immortal mind in a sort of embryo state, lest, perchance, there should be any assimilation to the great Supreme Essence, from which it is but an emanation, or the spark should glow with the brightness of the fire from which it has been wafted.
CHAPTER IV.
SECTARIANISM.
Besides the Koran, there are other sacred and traditional books called the Sonnah, the productions of Abubekir, Omer, and Osman, the successors of the Prophet. The ancient caliphs of Egypt and Babylon have also added their own. These books have numerous commentaries upon them, which constitute the principal part of the Mohammedan literature, and have been the source of much dissension. Sectarianism, therefore, prevails among the Mussulmans as in every part of the world. We will only mention those sects with whom the traveller in the East is apt to come in contact.
The principal schism which divides the Mohammedan nation is that of the Sünnees and the Sheyees.
The Sünnees are the orthodox party, and believe in the traditions attributed to the Prophet and his successors, and are strict in all their observances. Whereas the Sheyees reject all traditions and are strict legitimists, adhering to Aali, who married the Prophet’s daughter, as the rightful successor, and rendering their homage to his descendants.
The Turks are all Sünnees, and the Persians Sheyees, the one is more fanatical, the other more superstitious, and as the difference between them is small, so is their mutual hatred proportionably intense.
The Sünnees repudiate Aali, the infallible director of the Sheyees, who, in their turn, decapitate the representatives of the Prophet, Abubekir, Omer, and Osman in effigy. For they erect these persons in sugar at their festivals, and when merry over their wine, cut the respected friends of Mohammed into pieces and actually drink them in solution.
The Turks elevate the sacred color, green, to their heads and turbans with the greatest respect, but in contradistinction, the Persians choose this hue for their shoes, trowsers, and every other disrespectful use their ingenuity can devise. When the one shaves, the other does not, and scorns the thorough ablutions of his rival. Indeed no matter how or what, so it be vice versâ.