“There are some men who rescue their soul, desiring in this manner to perform the will of God.”
They assert that the two Hasáîn are not of the family of the prophet, according to this verse of the Koran:
“Muhammed is not any thing else but one of us; he is yet the prophet of God, and the seal of the Apostles.”
They say that Yazîd killed Hasan, the son of Alí, in his house, and did not bring him forth from the corner where he was concealed.[546] He was come for subduing the country of Bîrak; on that account he was put to death. On the tenth day of the Moheram, they go on horseback upon a wide field which is before their town; there they make, of earth, an image of Hosain who was killed; against him they dash their horses, and think fortunate those who can say, that they have been riding against the bodies of the martyrs of Kerbala;[547] this they call a day of victory, and on this day they make a greater show of festivity and rejoicing, because the Imám of the time, that is, Yazîd, was upon the field of victory. And on Fridays and festivals they revile from their pulpits the lord Alí and his offspring. Among them is one sect in particular which act in this manner, and, with their swords drawn, curse Alí and his sons, and in this way they pass one day: they are called Sîáf, “fencers.”
The same say that the prophet and his offspring, and particularly their prophet, had the power of recalling to life and putting to death, of creating and annihilating any being; and that they did whatever they wished. But this mode of acting was no more allowable to their successors, such as that of the prophets to destroy the living, which power they possessed on account of their having also that of recalling to life; but it is not one of our attributes to render lifeless the living, because we have not the power of restoring them to life; also because the creatures have not been made on our account; besides, the prophet took whatever mate he liked, because the world was his share, whilst it is not permitted to us to take the woman of another man. It is however right, making it our profession, to wage war against the opposers of faith, and to fight the enemies of religion for the protection of the law. This people kill no living beings in the country of Shekúnah. Their usual food is animal juice, such as honey, butter, and the like; they use no intoxicating liquors, nor that prepared from the palm-tree, nor opium.
Among the Maksud chep, who are a more intelligent people, the author of this book found himself in the house of one of them. There a man called Hushíar Refik Nikarindah, asked him: “If it were not permitted to drink intoxicating liquors, how was it that the former prophets, and some of the khalifs, the sons of Ommiah,[548] drank wine?” He answered: “The wine could not overcome their understanding; with us, it is not so.” Hushiar said again to the author of this work: “If the khalifs, after the prophet, possessed the power to create and to annihilate lives, why did they not render the heretics dumb?” The answer was: “A king sent a phial of deadly poison to the Amir of the believers, Omar (the grace of God be with him!) that he may give it to an enemy; the khalif said: ‘I have no greater enemy than my own spirit,’ and he drank the whole phial, from which however his sacred body received no harm; now, the gentle-minded personage, who could drink poison, how would he not hear the abuse of mistaken men? So represent to thyself the other khalifs.” The Cheps are a tribe of the people of Shekunah.
[498] Sheheristâni is the surname of Al Fath Mohammed Ben Abdalkerim, one of the most celebrated doctors of the Ashârian sect, an account of which is to follow. He died in the year of the Hejira 548 (A. D. 1153). He composed several works upon metaphysics and the scholastic theology of the Muselmans, and among others that which is entitled Nehajat alekdam fi êlm al Kelam, and on account of which he is entitled Mâtakellam al-Ashari, “the scholastic of the Ashârian.” We have also from him a book called Al Melal u alnahal, “the means of curing wearisomeness and melancholy.”—(Herbelot.)
[499] According to Sheheristani, quoted by Pococke (p. 211, 1st edit.), the Magians were divided into seventy sects; the Jews into seventy-one; the Christians into seventy-two; and the Moslem into seventy-three. Among the sects there was always one to be saved.
The baron de Hammer says (Journ. As., juin 1825, p. 321, Tableau généalogique des soixante-treize sectes de Islam): “The best information which we have yet upon the sects and the heresies of Islam are those given by Pococke, Marraccius, and Sale, according to Sheheristânî, and the Commentary of Mewakif. Pococke (Specimen historiæ Arabum, Oxoniæ, 1650, pp. 194 and 210), Marraccius (Prodromus), and Sale (Engl. transl. of the Koran) trace the principal classes of the genealogical table of the heresies; but their catalogue is not quite exact, and still less complete. This subject, interesting for the history of religions, and above all for that of the Islamitic heresies, is treated fundamentally in the Commentary of the great scholar Jorjani upon the Mewakif, that is to say, the metaphysics of Adhad eddin al Ijí, a valuable work in more than one respect, which work was printed in Constantinople” (in folio, of 635 pages, in the year of the Hejirah 1039, A. D. 1824). The baron de Hammer treated this subject summarily in the number of the journal quoted, pp. 321-335, and in the subsequent number for July, 1825, pp. 32-46.
[500] The points of faith in dispute among the schoolmen are reducible to four general heads, called the four bases or great fundamental articles. The first relates to the attributes of God, and his unity consistent therewith; the second regards predestination and the justice thereof; the third concerns the promises and threats; the fourth treats history and reason, and also the mission of prophets, and the office of Imâm, or chief pontiff. About all these heads the Muhammedans are divided into different sects, which may be classed under two principal sorts: the orthodox and the heretical; the former, by a general name, are called Sonnites, or “Traditionists:” the latter Shiâts (see note, vol. I. p. 101).