[142] In the seventh heaven, Muhammed saluted Abraham, as he saluted the holy persons before-named, who returned his salute.
[143] Jabrííl then conducted Muhammed to his own usual residence. There was the heavenly lotus tree (the tree of knowledge), around which a divine light was diffused, and legions of angels were ranged. Beneath the roots of the tree four sources were flowing: the first, Kawser, spirituous, like wine; the second, Selsebil, sweet, like clarified honey; the third, the source of mildness, like the purest milk; and the fourth, the source of mercy, like liquid crystal. Jabrííl offered to the prophet three cups, made of diamond, saphir, and ruby; the first filled with honey, the second with milk, the third with wine. The prophet tasted the first, drank the second, and declined the third, in which he was approved by the angel.
[144] I followed here the manuscript of Oude, which reads: و شناسد وحدت او چنانکہ دروی کثرت نکنجد
[145] From the mansion of Jabrííl they proceeded to the heavenly tabernacle, called baitúl mâmur, “the house of delightful culture,” and formed upon the model of the ancient Kâba, which, during the deluge, was carried by angels up to heaven and placed perpendicularly above the modern sanctuary of Mecca. Seventy thousand angels were always going out and in to worship. In entering it, Jabrííl gave the precedence to the prophet; they arrived at a golden veil, which the angel touched. Here the Angels sang: “There is no God but God; and from behind the veil the voice of God answered: “I am God, and no God exists but me.” The Angels added: “Muhammed is the prophet of God;” and God confirmed it by the words: “My servants say the truth; I have sent Muhammed as my apostle.” Now, Muhammed was raised up by angelic hands; Jabrííl remained behind. The prophet proceeded through seventy thousand veils of light and darkness; each veil had the opacity of a thousand years, and as many years separated the one from the other.
[146] Now he had attained the green rail with green cushions, illumed with a green light clearer than that of the sun. Muhammed was then called to approach; he adored; saw the Lord in the most beauteous form; and received the revelation of the Koran; before all three objects: 1. the five daily prayers; 2. the final verses of the second Sura of the Koran; 3. forgiveness of all sins, except that of idolatry, for his people. Here the Almighty pronounced the words: “If it had not been for thee, the world would never have been created.”—(See vol. I. pp. 2-3). A drop flowed from the throne into the mouth of the prophet, who by it imbibed all the knowledge of the anterior and posterior world. All the Angels joined in a chorus, singing: “There is no God but one God, and Muhammed is his prophet;” and the great concert terminated with the words of the Koran, (chap. II. v. 285): “The Apostle believeth in that which has been sent down unto him from his Lord, and the faithful also. Every one of them believeth in God and his Angels, and his Scriptures, and his Apostles. And they say: ‘We have heard and do obey; we implore thy mercy, O Lord! for unto thee must we return.’”
[147] See [page 143] of this volume.
Section III.—Of the Successors of these Philosophers, and the chief Followers of this Creed.
Of this class, several learned men were personally known to the author of this book, but he will give an account of those only who were well founded and skilled in this creed. First, the doctor in theology, Hírbed, whom the author visited in Lahore. This doctor was a descendant from the family of Zardúsht, the prophet of God; he was conversant with Persian, showed great proficiency in Arabic, and in other sciences, in Shiraz, and held intercourse with learned Frangis. At last he came to India; always devoted to austerity, he led a pure and holy life. He composed hymns in Persian, Hindi, and Arabic, to the majesty of the light of lights, the powerful luminaries, and the stars. He acknowledged as a Kiblah the splendor-shedding bodies, and made his own, in spirit and word, the work of the lord Shaikh Maktul. Secondly, the doctor Manír was met by the writer of this work, in the year of the Hejira 1053 (A. D. 1643-4), in Kabul; he was one of the Sáíds of Shiraz, but entered the elemental world in Irâk Ajem; he was skilful in sciences, and lived as a chaste independent and pious man; like Hirbed, he abstained from all sorts of animal food, and sang the hymns which go under the name of Shaikh Maktul, in praise of the luminaries, and venerated the stars; and both these persons paid homage with the sun, refulgent with light. The third was Hakím dostúr, who in 1054 of the Hejira (A. D. 1644-5) came to Lahore. He drew his origin from Ispáhan, but was born in Balkh; he studied in the service of the followers of Mulla Mírza Khan; then, having gone to Iran, he held intercourse with Mír Muhammed Báker dámád, with Shaikh Baháv-ed-din Muhammed, with Mír Abúl Kásem Kandersaki, and with other learned men and Ulamá of Shiraz, not without great profit to himself; he attached himself to the rule of the Masháyín, “peripatetics,” and repeated the prayers which were written by the chief of this persuasion in praise of the self-existent Being, the intelligences, and spirits, and stars; and he was very zealously addicted to the worship of the heavenly bodies; although without pious austerity, yet he abstained from wickedness, and kept the way of moderation; according to the custom of merchants, he travelled a great deal. A fourth was Kámrán, of Shíraz. He also followed the creed of the Masháyín; he possessed the natural and revealed sciences; and after having acquired excellence, he happened to find himself at the mountain which is near the sea-ports of the Frangis; he took a great liking to their society, and was attracted by the religion of the Nasáreans: on that account he studied the Gospel, and derived great profit from their doctrines. Afterwards he went to India, where he contracted friendship with some Rájas; he became fond of their religion; read, with learned Brahmans, the sástras of the Hindús, that is, their scientific books, and in these also he became a master of art among the learned of India. Although ostensibly he adopted the said faith, yet he remained attached to the religion of the ancient philosophers. He showed great aversion to lying, thieving, debauchery, and unnatural love; and, according to the custom of the wise, forbore from killing animals; but now and then he indulged in a draught of wine, saying that it is very salutary. He was wont to sing hymns, which are in use among the Yúnian philosophers, and are now translated, in praise of God, the high intelligences and spirits, and the stars. He accepted no gift from any body; he was employed in trade, but he contented himself with a competent capital. Mír Abú ’l Kásem Kandarsakí called him “a brother dear as life,” nay, wrote to him as to an “elder brother.” In the year of the Hejira 1050 (A. D. 1640-1) he retired to solitude at the Serai Fargh, “the fortunate palace,” near the heaven-built town of Akbarabad. It is said that, in his malady, he bestowed all he possessed in gift upon the Durvishes, and the ready money upon the Brahmans of Vichnu, and the like, who never hurt a living being. He delivered garments into the care of one named Muhammed, that this man might distribute them among the poor upon the road of Kachmir and Kabul, where the cold is severe, which Muhammed did; he there collected forage and provisions, which were given to cows, asses, to travellers, and the indigent, because they carry loads; he also confided scientific books to one called Húshíar, that he might give them to doctors devoted to science, and Húshíar so disposed in Agra of the works which he had received, and sent them to his friends. During his mortal malady he was constantly engaged in reading the Alhíyát shafá, “the hymns of recovery,” and in translating the Asúlújía,[148] “Theologia,” and he sang cheerfully: “I believe in the divinity of the most high Creator, the prophecy of intelligence, the Imámet of the spirit, the heaven as a Kiblah, and the liberation of philosophy, and I detest the free-thinkers, and other religions.” At the moment of death, he pronounced the names of the self-existent Being, of the intelligence and spirit, and of the stars, and the by-standers also joined him in chorus, until he had left the mortal garment. His life exceeded one hundred years, and he had preserved his strength and his faculties entire. He gave these directions to Húshíar, that after death to be burnt would be preferable, but, if the people prevented it, Húshíar should bury him with his feet to the West, as all distinguished personages, such as Aristotle and his followers, repose in the same way. Húshíar executed his will, and also, according to his direction, burnt at the head of his tomb, during a whole week, every day and every night, a lamp to the honor of the star which at that time ruled over him, and distributed the food and raiment which are appropriated to that star among the Brahmans and necessitous, who all prayed to render the star propitious, in order that the soul of Hakím Kámrán might be united with the pure spirits. Húshíar went afterwards to Agra, and I saw a book in the hand-writing of Húshíár, in which was stated, that he, after Kámrán’s death, saw him in a dream clothed in a fine garment, and sitting by the side of the lord Mashterí, “Jupiter.” Húshíar asked him: “How camest thou to this place?” He answered: “The pure spirits, when they saw me free from worldly desires, drew me to them, and by the aid of their intercession, I was made one of the angels.”
The creed of the Hakíms Hírbed and Manír, with regard to the reality of inspired persons, was, that these celebrated men were perfect sages, and masters of an excellent condition; by their words and deeds they reached the state of perfection, on which account they treated mysterious questions relative to theoretical and practical wisdom with the confidence of pure truth; but for the sake of the vulgar, they used a typical and allegorical language, leaving it to other sages, the able chiefs and saints of their persuasion, to explain the law and the religion: this is the creed of philosophers.