We have announced to thee a progeny of just men,[557] who will not oppose my commands. My bounty and mercy are upon them, living or dead,[558] until the day of resurrection. My anger is against those who act tyrannically towards thy posterity; wicked men who shall suffer the pain which they deserve.
As to those who walked upon the road of thy posterity, my mercy is granted to them, and they shall be safe in the kiosques of paradise. Glory to God, King of the creatures.
THE RELIGION OF THE AKHBÁRIN.[559]
Mulla Muhammed Amîn, of Asterabád,[560] gave currency in this time to this religion: they say, after having acquired the natural and revealed sciences, he made a pilgrimage to the temple of Mecca, and after having critically examined the sacred sayings, he adhered to what he thought the right sense, and composed the work Fava-íd Madaníy, “Useful Notes, by a Citizen of Medina.” In the book Danish nameh, Káteb Sháhî, which was written for the use of Dáráí Sekander Dostgáh Muhammed Kalí Kateb Shah, it is stated, that the exalted wish and furthermost intent is the knowledge of what is particular to the origin and end, and the explanation of this meaning is contained in the verse of the merciful:
“The faith in God, and in the day of eternal life.”
And the tradition of the noble Amír of the believers and the adored Imám (the blessing of God and peace be upon them and upon their holy descendants):
“God take compassion upon the man of whom I know from whence he came, where he is, and whither he goes,”
entered into this meaning. The learned, in the maintenance of this station, divided into several sects. The one sect established this station by investigation and evidence; then a division of this sect rendered it obligatory not to say any thing contrary to the possessors of revelation, and these are called Matkalmin,[561] “scholastics,” for the reason that they have composed the science of scholastic theology, on account of rational considerations, and have enlarged argumentation in the science of scholastic dialectics and theological questions.
Another sect did not bind themselves in their reasoning; they are called Hukmá másháyîn,[562] “the walking philosophers,” because their first founders followed the stirrup of Arastu (Aristotle),[563] and at the time when Arastu, as Vizir of Iskander (Alexander) was walking to and from the palace of this king; they took the opportunity of being instructed in science by this philosopher.