Abd ullah, one of them so named, reported, that among his relations was a man called Azíz, upon whom, when he pronounced with fervour Alí allah, and gave himself up to an ecstatical song or dance, no sword could take effect. Thus, when one of the incredulous denied this, Azíz became warm, and took to calling out “Alí allah” in such a manner that foam settled upon his lips, and he cried to the denier: “Strike, O accursed!” The latter aimed several blows with a sword at him, but effected nothing. This person has now joined Alí allah in the other world.
Among these sectaries it is not permitted to kill any living being, nor to eat any flesh, as Alí allah said:
“Make not of your bellies the tombs of living beings.”
And the animals which the Koran permits to be killed, and the flesh which he allows to be eaten, is that of Abu bekr, of Omar, and Osman, and of their followers, and all prohibited things, they say, have reference to these three persons. With them, Iblis, the serpent, and the peacock are symbols of these three, and likewise Shedád,[677] Nimród, and Phárâún are they. These sectaries admit prostration before the image of Alí allah; the breaking and worshipping of idols relates, according to them, to the said three individuals, as Alí allah called the Shaikhs the idols of the Korêsh. They agree upon transmigration, and say, that when Alí appeared in former times in the form of a prophet, those three also made their appearance in the shape of deniers, and after them many others will come.
[549] The Zaydíyat derive their name from Záíd, son of Alí, son of Záín el-abeddin. They are subdivided into three branches, according to others into five, under as many chiefs. I shall only mention three. The first, the Jarudíyat, think that the Imámate was destined by the prophet to Alí, but that after the two sons of the latter, Hasan and Hosain, the sacred office was uncertain in their children, and that those only who rose, sword in hand, were Imáms; they do not agree upon the last Imám, still expected. The second branch, the Salaimaniyat, admit the right of Abubekr and Omar to the Imámate, but declare as infidels Osman, Zobeir, and Aisha. The third branch, the Báíteriyat, are for the most part in accordance with the second, as to what regards Osman. These three branches are heretics in the dogmas only, but, in jurisprudence, they follow almost all the orthodox doctrine of Abú Hanifáh.—(See Journal asiatique, 1825, tome VII. p. 32. Art. de M. de Hammer.)
[550] Túsí is the name of several celebrated men from the town of Tús. There are two towns of that name: the one in Transoxana, in the domain of Bochára; the other in Khorasan; the latter consists of two towns, one is called Tabaran, the other Núkan.—(Abulfeda, Annales Moslemica, vol. III. p. 375.) We know several authors named Abú Jâfar, to whom the words above quoted may be attributed, none with the surname Túsí. The author above meant is perhaps Abú Jâfar al Tabarî, celebrated historian, born in the year of the Hejira 224 (A. D. 838), deceased in 310 (A. D. 922).
[551] The twelve Imáms are as follow:
I. Alí, khalif and Imám, was murdered A. D. 661.
II. Hasan, eldest son of Alî, khalif and Imám, poisoned A. D. 669.
III. Hosain, the second son of Alí, killed in battle A. D. 680.