[612] Soonnies (Sunnies) are those who acknowledge the authority of the Sunnat, or precedent established by the practice of Mahomet, and also admit the validity of the Caliphates of Abu Bekr, Omar, and Othmân, which the Shîyites deny.
[613] Their bigotry is conspicuous mostly in matters of purification, a remnant, probably, of their ancient faith. Baths and mosques are held polluted by the presence of an infidel. It is curious, also, that the Persians to this day curse the memory of Al Mâmûn, and accuse him of poisoning his Alyite son-in-law; curiously enough, using his name as a term of abuse.
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected silently.
2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the original.
3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have been retained as in the original.
4. Errata have been silently corrected.
5. A large version of the map of Arabia can be viewed by clicking the image at the beginning of the book. The large version is best viewed in a browser using the HTML version of this ebook.