On this subject they have composed various works, the most celebrated of which is, the “Testament of Jamshid addressed to Abtin,” compiled by Farhang Dostoor. Shídah, Suhráb, Mízan, and Jamshásp, who, under the profession of mercantile pursuits, travelled along with Shídósh, the son of Anósh, were of the Yekanah Binan sect.
The fifth section of the Dabistan describes the Samrádián sect.—In common language Samrád means imagination and thought; and the sects thus named are of many descriptions; the first is that of the followers of Fartósh, who lived about the commencement of the Serpent-shouldered Zohak’s reign: Fartósh followed mercantile pursuits, and his faith was as follows: this elemental world is merely idea; the remainder, the heavens, the stars, and the simple uncompounded beings actually exist. The holders of this opinion are called the Fartoshíán.
The second are the Farshídíyah, so called from Farshíd, the son of Fartósh: he asserted that the heavens and the stars are also ideal, and that the simple uncompounded beings only have actual existence.
The next are the Farírajíyah, so called from Faríraj, the son of Farshid: his opinion was that the simple uncompounded beings, that is, intelligences and souls, also have no existence, which is the attribute of the necessarily self-existent God alone, and that all besides is ideal, appearing only to exist in consequence of the essence of that sole existence.
The next are the Faramandíyah, thus named from Faramand, the disciple of Faríraj: he says, if any person exists, that person knows that the elements, heavens, stars, intelligences, and souls are the Almighty; and what people call the necessarily self-existent God has no being, although we, through imagination (idea), suppose him to exist; which he certainly does not. According to the testimony of the sage Amr Khaiam:
“The Creator in this aged world is as a vase,
Which is internally water and externally ice;
Resign to children this trifling about infidelity and faith;
Remove from the place where God is only a letter.”
They said to him: “How dost thou prove this idea?” he answered: