Each of these six sects was subdivided into twelve, whence seventy and two sects arose.[539] All are in the fire of hell, by the precepts of the sayings of the prophet:
“My nation is divided into seventy and three sects, who are all in the fire of hell, except one.”
And those only who are without these seventy and two sects belong to the people of salvation, because they are of the true religion and upon the right road; but the true religion is that which is not to be found among the sects mentioned, and in which those six religions are not likely not to be, because these six religions did not exist in the time of the prophet and in the last will of the apostle. After him innovations took place, so that it is not unknown, in what time, and in what place or town, and by whom they became manifest, and from what cause they originated. By concordance of the people of Islam, the right road and the true religion is that which Muhammed (blessing be upon him!) and after him the noble companions professed, and this faith is that of the Sonnites and the Jamáât. This is in substance the creed of Shaíkh Mansúr, and of Hajet ul islám Abu Abd’ulla:[540] We are informed by the learned of the Hanefî persuasion, and by Mulla Yakúb Turkhanî, who was an assistant and companion of Mulla Adil, that the religion of the Sonnites and the Jamâát is divided into four branches, which are the four sides of the city of the law of Muhammed, namely, the Hanefîah, Málkîah, Sháfâya, Hambalîah,[541] and the wanderer in these four religions is liberated.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE UMAVIYAH AND YEZIDIAH CONNECTED WITH THE ALI-ILAHIAN.
In the east of Kohistan is a tract of country known by the name of Shekúnah, and the lord of it is Malek Yakúb, who boasts of having issued from the family of the lord of the believers, Mâaviah Ebn Abi Safîan. The inhabitants of that country are brave, warlike, pious, and abstemious. They have many commentaries, and knowledge of law and religion, and religious books. They acknowledge the divine mission of Muhammed (the blessing of God be upon him!) as well as the office of Imám and the khalifat of Abu-bekr and Omar, and of the lord of believers Mâaviah, and they revile Alî for having pretended to a divine rank. His belief was that they ought to possess all kinds of grain;[542] his followers worshipped him as divine; this he insinuated to them by this prayer, which he pronounced himself in the sermons, related as his saying:
“I am God; I am the merciful; I am the bountiful; I am the high; I am the creator; I am the provider of the necessaries of life; I am the most compassionate; I am the most propitious; I am he who bestows a form to the drop of the sperm in the wombs.”[543]
and the like; these words are of Pharâún and Nimrod,[544] and like these are many of their sayings. They are besides fond of bloodshed, and cruel. They say improper things about the prophet, as of one who did not always behave with decency. So it happened once, that eating dates in company with other persons, the prophet threw the stones of the dates towards Alí, and then said: “O Alí! thou hast eaten a great many dates, because all the stones are before thee;” Ali answered, “Thou hast swallowed them with the stones;” and they say this passage is in the sacred book:
“There are men whose speeches about the present life will astonish thee, and who will take God for witness of what is in their heart, whilst they are the most quarrelsome of adversaries.”
And they are approving Ebn Maljám,[545] and say Maljám is among them: