Chapter XXIII: Section II: An Account of the Second Sect of the People of Islam, (3)

[571] _Movákef_ means properly “stations,” such as those of
the Muselmans in their pilgrimages and visits to sacred
places; but this word serves as a title to several books or
treatises of metaphysics and scholastic theology.

[572] احاديث _ahádís_, means sometimes the tenets of the
Koran, at others, the sayings relative to Muhammed, five
thousand two hundred and sixty-six in number; according to
some writers, seven thousand, genuine and forged.

[573] The manuscript of Oude reads ابن بالونه _Ebn Balúnah_.
Want of accuracy in proper names is particularly to be
regretted in the historical part of any work; it prevents
me, particularly in this place, from giving a positive
notice of each of the persons introduced in the text.

[574] The two words in italic are not in the text of the
edition of Calcutta, nor in the manuscript of Oude. We find
here abruptly a passage, distinguished in the translation by
marks of quotation, which belongs to the author of the
_Faváid al madany_ (see p. 372), and makes, perhaps, a part
of the preface of this work.

[575] We have (see note 1, p. 367. 368) given the names of
the twelve Imáms. The tenth, Alí, born in the year of the
Hejira 212, A. D. 827, being kept a close prisoner all his
life in the city of _Askar_, called also _Sermenrai_, in
Syria, he devoted himself to study and religious exercises,
but did not succeed in calming the jealousy of the ruling
khalif, an Abbaside of the family of Motavakel, the mortal
enemy of the whole race of Alí, and was poisoned in 868 A. D.

The name “Askerite,” from the city of Askar, was also given
to his son Hasan, above-mentioned, the eleventh Imám, whose
son, Muhammed, born in 868 A. D., also called Abu ’l Cassem,
as the prophet Muhammed, was the last of the twelve Imáms.
He is distinguished by the surnames _Mantazar_, “the
expected;” _Kayim_, “the stable;” _Mahdi_, “the director,
guide;” and others. The followers of this Imám say, that in
his ninth year he was concealed by his mother in a cell or
grot, from which he had not returned in the year 899 A.
D.――(See _Abulfeda_, _Hist. Moslem._, vol. II. p. 223.) The
Sonnites say that he was drowned in the Tigris in 879 A. D.
Some Shiâhs maintain, he died in 941, in his seventy-fifth
year; other Shiâhs pretend that he is still living in the
grot where he was concealed; and all agree in the belief
that he will reappear in the world, immediately before the
second coming of the Messiah, for uniting all the Muselman
sects into one, and all the different religions in
Muhammedism. Several impostors assumed the name of _Mahdi_,
but in vain; nevertheless, two great dynasties were founded
under that name, viz.: the _Almohads_ and _Fatemites_.
――(_Herbelot._)

[576] According to the Shiâhs, Mahdi made two retreats or
eclipses, the great and the minor. The minor was that,
during which he now and then gave news of himself, and
decided all the questions which the Muselmans proposed, by
means of certain messengers who carried them to him very
secretly, succeeding each other without knowing each other.
This intercourse lasted until the year of the Hejira 326, A.
D. 937, in which year one of these messengers, called _Alí_,
died, after having brought a letter from Mahdi, by which
this Imám announced to him that he (Alí) would die in six
days, and forbade him to leave the commission of visiting
him to any other person. It is from this time that begins
“the great retreat or absence” of Mahdi: for, after the
death of this Alí, no information was received concerning
the Mahdi, if not by revelation. This statement, found in
Herbelot, is confirmed by that above.

[577] Mâtemed Abáśí, son of Motavakel, was the fifteenth
khalif of the Abbasides. He began to reign in the year of
the Hejira 256, A. D. 869, and died in 279, A. D. 892.

[578] Rás í, the son of Mukteder, was the twentieth khalif
of the Abbasides. His reign began in the year of the Hejira
322, A. D. 933, and ended in 329, A. D. 940. The period
included between the beginning of the reign of Mâtemed and
the end of that of Rási, is seventy-one years, differing by
two from the period above stated; the minor absence might
have begun two years before Mâtemed’s reign.

[579] See the preceding note 2, pp. 383. 384.

[580] معصوم means “defended, preserved (by God); innocent,
an infant;” it is the particular name given by the Imamíahs
to the twelfth Imám, Muhammed, the Askerite, who, as was
related in the foregoing note 1, p. 383, was in his infancy
concealed in a grot, from which he never came forth again,
and is still expected. It is an ideal Imám, believed by more
than one sect, and the name of _Mâśum_ was applied to more
than one individual, as will be seen hereafter.

[581] The author uses here and elsewhere the word _khabr_,
which answers to our _gospel_.

[582] Hassan al Baśri was the son of an affranchised man,
called Mulla Zaid ben Tabeth, and of a slave woman,
belonging to Omm Salmath, one of Muhammed the prophet’s
wives. Hassan acquired the reputation of the first
scholastic theologian among the Muselmans. He is surnamed al
Baśri, because his father was a slave in Maissan, a borough
of the dependencies of Baśra, or Bassora, and because he
kept his school in that town, where different sectaries
often came to dispute with him. Wassel Eben Ata, his
disciple, deviating from his opinions, became the chief of
the Mâtazalahs (see note 1, p. 325). Hassan al Baśri had
seen the khalif Osman, and Eben Abbas; on that account he
quotes in his works what he had learned from them. He died
in the year of the Hejira 110, A. D. 728, and left a work
entitled _Hadis sherif_, containing a collection of the
traditions which he knew relatively to each of the
fifty-four _feridhat_, or “obligatory precepts,” of the
Muselman law.

[583] The sixth Imám, of whom hereafter more will be said.

[584] _Karkh_ is the name of a part of the town of Baghdad
upon the western side of the Tigris, where the khalif Mansúr
built the town and his palace; this is the ancient Baghdad;
the actual town of Baghdad, upon the eastern side of the
river, has been built later. Karkh is chiefly inhabited by
Shiâhs, who had frequent quarrels with the Sonnites,
dwelling in the other part of the town. One of the most
serious tumults between the two parties took place under the
khalif Mostasem. Karkh is the actual suburb of Baghdad, in
which the tombs of Zobeidah, wife of Harun Rashid, and of
the pious Súfí Marúf Karkhí, above mentioned, are to be
seen. The latter died in the year of the Hejira 200, A. D.
815.――(See _Voyage en Arabie, par Niebuhr_, t. II. pp.
245-246, and _Chrestomathie arabe de Silvestre de Sacy_, t.
I. pp. 66-70).

[585] The eighth Imám, son of Mussa.

[586] The Arabs divide in general the history of philosophy
into two great periods: the first comprises the _ancient
philosophers_, who are subdivided into those anterior, and
those posterior, to Aristotle; the second period is that of
the _Muselman philosophers_, who form two classes, those
before, and those after, Ebn Sina.

[587] This appears partly to contradict the view which a
recent judicious author, Doctor Schmolders (see his _Essai
sur les Écoles philosophiques des Arabes_, pp. 105. 106.
133. 139, Paris, 1842), takes of this sect. According to
him, the Motkalemins professed the creation from nothing;
they disputed about the reality or non-reality of general
notions; they endeavoured to adapt philosophy to the dogmas
of the Koran; in short, they were the philosophic
theologians of the orthodox sects, or dogmatic philosophers.

[588] See above, p. 381.

[589] مجتهيد _mujtahid_, is a doctor who exerts all the
faculties of his mind to find the truth in contested and
undecided matters; he is supposed to possess the science of
the Koran, and the traditions with their different meanings,
readings, and interpretations, and to be besides skilled in
the disquisition in which truth is sought by analogy and
comparison. (_Silvestre de Sacy, Chrestomathie arabe_, pp.
169. 170. 171). This term is also used “of one who strives
and contends, even to battle, in the cause of God;” and
expresses further the highest dignity in the Muhammedan
faith, equivalent to Bishop, or Archbishop with us.――(See
_the Life of Shaikh Muhammed Alí Hazin_, _translated by F.
C. Belfour, M. A. Oxon., F.R.A.S., LL.D._, p. 36.)

[590] تقيه _takíyat_, in the dictionary, “fear, caution,
piety.” I thought it more correctly translated, here and
elsewhere, by “religious zeal.”

[591] The obscurity which the reader may find in this
paragraph proceeds from the strangeness of the doctrine
itself, and can be cleared up only by bestowing upon it more
attentive study than it perhaps deserves.

[592] Upon _mâsum_, see note, p. 386.

[593] It is meant probably “two points of view,” and the
passage above relates to the 219th verse of the IInd chapter
of the Koran, which is as follows: “They will ask thee
concerning wine, and lots; answer: In both there is great
sin, and also some things of use unto men; but their
sinfulness is greater than their use.” And again, the 67th
verse of the XVIth sura: “And of the fruits of palm-trees
and grapes ye obtain inebriating drink, and also good
nourishment.” Yet the verses 92 and 93 of the Vth sura are
decidedly against wine, viz.: “O true believers, surely
wine, and lots, and images, and divining arrows, are an
abomination of the work of Satan; therefore avoid them, that
you may prosper.”――93. “Satan seeketh to sow discussion and
hatred among you, by means of wine and lots, and to divert
you from remembering God, and from prayer; will ye not,
therefore, abstain from them?”――(_Sale’s translation._)

[594] _Jâfer_, surnamed _S adik_, “the Just,” was the eldest
son of Muhammed Baker, the fifth Imám. Jâfer was born in
Medina, in the year of the Hejira 83, A. D. 702; he is
acknowledged the síxth Imám, and of great authority in
religious matters among the Muselmans. He died in his native
town, under the khalifate of Abú Jâfer Almansor, the second
khalif of the Abbasides, in the year of the Hejira 148, A.
D. 764, in his sixty-second year.

The two eldest of his seven sons were Ismâil and Mussa.
Ismâil, the elder of the two, having died during his
father’s life, the latter appointed Mussa his successor,
which gave rise to the contest above mentioned, and to
several sects, as well as to two great dynasties. The
Fatimite khalifs in Egypt are considered as descendants of
the branch of Ismáil, called Ismâilahs, of Africa, but the
Suffavean monarchs of Asia claim to derive their origin from
Mussa, and strenuously support his title to the seventh
Imám.

[595] Muhammed had, during twenty years of wedlock with
Khádija, never another wife; nor gave Alí a partner to his
spouse Fatimá, the prophet’s daughter, during her life.

[596] All those who believe that the Imamate passed
legitimately from Jâfer to his son Ismáil, and to Ismâil’s
posterity, are called _Ismâilahs_: but their opinions are
not uniform. Some maintain that to Muhammed,
above-mentioned, surnamed _Mectúm_, “the concealed,”
succeeded his son, Jâfer Mosuddek, whose successor was
Muhammed Habib. This last is expected to return in order to
found a new dynasty. The Ismâilahs carry to excess the
prerogatives which they attribute to their Imáms.――(_Makrisi
in Chrest. arabe_, vol. II. p. 92.)

[597] The number _seven_ acts a great part in the system of
the Ismâilahs. All things, after having attained the
septenary number, are at their end, must undergo a change,
and be succeeded by other things. To the septenaries above
mentioned, I shall add seven palms, of which the height of a
man is said to consist, seven climates, and seven seas,
according to the Koran (Sura XXXI. v. 26): “If all the trees
on the earth were pens, and God should after that swell the
sea into seven seas of ink, the words of God would not be
exhausted.” We know how generally in the world such a belief
with respect to seven existed and still exists.

[598] “The Batenian, ‘interior,’” says Silvestre de Sacy,
“are so called, because they establish an interior sense of
the Scripture besides the exterior; they say, whoever
attaches himself to the exterior, fatigues himself with vain
practices, whilst he, who follows tho interior, may dispense
with all actions; they give to faith a preference over
Islamism, undoubtedly,” founded upon the authority of the
Koran, where it “is to be found” (Sura XLIX. v. 14): “The
Arabs of the desert say: ‘We believe;’ answer: ‘Ye do by no
means believe; but say: ‘We have embraced Islam;’ for the
faith hath not yet entered into your hearts.’”

The Ismâilahs are often confounded with the Batenian. The
first who maintained this doctrine of mystic interpretation
was Marzaban, ben Abdullah, ben Maimun al Kadah. He was the
servant of Imám Jâfer Sadík, and also served Jâfer’s son
Ismâil, after whose death he attended Muhammed, the son of
the latter. When Jâfer was poisoned, Abdullah carried off
Jâfer’s grandson, from Medina to Misr (Egypt). When Muhammed
died, he left a concubine pregnant, and Abdullah, having put
her to death, substituted a woman of his own in her room.
This woman brought forth a son, whom Abdullah asserted to be
Muhammed’s son; and when this son had grown up, he succeeded
in making him acknowledged as the Imám by many. Some of this
person’s descendants attained the rank of sovereigns, and
the doctrine of the Batenian spread afar. The first of these
who sat on the throne of the khalifat was Sáid, under the
name of Abu-Muhammed Obaid-alla, the founder of the Fatimite
khalifs, in Africa, in the year of the Hejira 296, A. D.
908. He took the title of _Al Mahdi_, “the Director.”――(See,
upon this sect, _Asiatic Researches_, vol. II. p. 424.)

The Fatimites claim their descent from _Alí_, the fourth
legitimate khalif, and from _Fatima_, the daughter of the
prophet; but their adversaries give an account of their
origin similar to that just stated: the opinions of
historians are divided about this fact.

[599] The manuscript of Oude reads here _âkl_ instead of
_fêz_, which the edition of Calcutta repeats twice; I
adopted the first.

[600] This part of the doctrine reminds us of the sentiments
expressed in Plato’s Symposion, by Agathon, one of the
interlocutors in this admirable dialogue upon love and the
beautiful.

[601] According to the Ismàilahs, each speaker or legislator
is associated with a vicar, whom they call _śamet_,
“silent,” because he has nothing new to teach; and of these
vicars he who assisted the legislator, and succeeded
immediately to him, receives the name of _asás_,
“fundamental,” or _sús_, “root, source.” The seven _natíks_,
or “legislators of the revolution, past,” and their vicars,
are as follow: I. Adam and Seth; II. Noah and Sem; III.
Abraham and Ismâil; IV. Moses and Aarún, replaced afterwards
by Joshua; V. Jesus and Simon Kefas; VI. Muhammed and Alí;
VII. Muhammed, son of Jsmâil, who is designated by the title
قايم الزمان _Kaím al zemán_, or صاحب الزمان _śáheb al
zeman_, “the chief, the lord of the age;” in him all the
doctrines of the ancients are terminated.――(See _Journal
asiatique_, 1824, t. IV. p. 298 _et seq._; _Recherches sur
l’initiation à la secte des Ismaéliens. Par Silvestre de
Sacy_.)

[602] “There are twenty-nine chapters of the Koran, which
have this peculiarity, that they begin with certain letters
of the alphabet, some with a single one, others with more.
These letters the Muhammedans believe to be the peculiar
marks of the Koran, and to conceal several profound
mysteries; the certain understanding of which the more
intelligent confess, has not been communicated to any
mortal, their prophet only excepted. Notwithstanding which,
some will take the liberty of guessing at their meaning, by
that species of _cabala_ called by the Jews _Notarikon_, and
suppose the letters to stand for as many words, expressing
the names and attributes of God, his works, ordinances, and
decrees: and therefore these mysterious letters, as well as
the verses themselves, seem in the Koran to be called
_signs_. Others explain the intent of these letters from
their nature or organ, or else from their value in numbers,
according to another species of the Jewish _cabbala_, called
_gematria_; the uncertainty of which conjectures
sufficiently appears from their disagreement.”――(_Sale’s
Koran_, Preliminary Discourse, pp. 78-79.)

[603] The questions asked for perplexing the neophyte are of
various natures; for instance, What signifies the throwing
of stones by the pilgrims at Mecca, whilst running between
the hills of Merva and Safa?――Why did God create the world
in six days, when one moment might have sufficed for
it?――What mean the eight angels, bearers of God’s
throne?――What the seven gates of hell, and the eight gates
of paradise?――Further, what is the difference between the
life of a vegetable and that of a man?――Why has a man ten
toes, ten fingers, and why in each three joints, but only
two in the thumb?――Why has a man at the head seven orifices
(eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth), and only two for the rest
of his body? Why twelve dorsal, and only seven vertical
vertebras? etc., etc.――(See _Journal asiatique_, 1824, tome
IV. p. 309; and _Gemäldesaal moslimisher Heersher_.
_III^{ter} Band_, 1837, _Seite_ 237.)

[604] See upon this subject, the _Journal Asiatique_, tome
VI. 1825. pp. 334-335.

The above account of the proceeding by which the Ismâilahs
made proselytes to their creed exhibits one of the most
insidious systems that has ever been invented to ensnare
men. Silvestre de Sacy, in the Memoir quoted, note 2, p.
405, enumerates nine degrees of initiation by which a
neophyte, under the direction of a _Dâí_, or “teacher,” was
to pass, to be made a perfect Ismâilah. The first degree is
to perplex the disciple by difficult questions; the second
degree is to fix that the Imáms only have received the
divine mission to instruct Muselmans; the third, establishes
the series of seven Imáms, beginning at Alí and terminating
at Ismâil, son of Jâfer; the fourth makes known the seven
periods of prophets (as shown in note 1, p. 407); the fifth,
conducts to contempt of the traditions and of the literal
sense of the Koran, and is connected with some principles of
philosophy and mathematics, or rather with fantastic notions
on the power of particular numbers, such as seven, twelve,
etc., applied to some phenomena of nature; the sixth degree
imposes an entire submission to the Imám, and reveals that
all legal and religious ordinances are nothing else but
political contrivances, for keeping the vulgar in necessary
dependence and subordination. At this degree the initiation
stops for the greatest number of the candidates, and even of
the Dáis. The seventh degree shows two principles in the
organization of the universe: the one gives, the other
receives; the one male, the other female: thus is duality
substituted for the unity of the Divine nature; the eighth
degree is consecrated to the development of the above
mentioned notions; two beings are supposed to exist: the one
_sabik_, “the antecedent;” the other, _larik_, “the
subsequent.” Some of the Ismâilahs, however, admit a being
not to be defined, without name and attributes, above the
“antecedent.” To this degree is subjoined the dogma of a
possible ascension, from the undermost stage of hierarchy to
the highest being, by an endless series of periods and
revolutions; a new religion is established upon the ruins of
the former; the resurrection, the end of the world, the last
judgment, the rewards and punishments, are only emblematic
expressions of the successive periodical revolutions of the
stars and of the universe, of the destruction and renovation
of all beings, produced by the disposition and combination
of the elements. Arrived at the ninth degree, the proselyte
knows of no religion, nor submission to any other authority
but his own, and is left to himself for choosing among the
systems of philosophy the one he likes best.

[605] Koran, chap. XXIX. v. 44.

[606] This word is also interpreted, in the Dictionary, by
“dreaming, reaching the age of puberty.” The meaning of the
above passage is obscure.

[607] The Muselmans are enjoined to give the tenth part of
their property to the poor. In general, to understand the
religion of the Ismâilahs, above exhibited, it is required
to be acquainted with that of the Muselmans, which they have
modified according to their own particular views.

[608] The Kâbah of Mecca has been several times mentioned.
The building of this temple is traced back by the devotees
to Adam and his son Seth; after its destruction by the
universal deluge, it was constructed by Abraham and his son
Ismâil. We may believe that a sacred building existed at
Mecca long before Muhammed, during the prevalence of the
Sabean religion: it is held to have been the temple of
Saturn. After Muhammed it was renewed by Ebn Zobair, and
finally made such as it is by Hejaz, in the year of the
Hejira 74, A. D. 693.――(See Pococke, p. 115.)

[609] The pilgrims, who crowd to Mecca from the most distant
countries, think to sanctify themselves by the performance
of a series of rites and ceremonies, such as their prophet
himself, at his last visit to this place, fixed by his
example; viz.: he purified himself by bathing; he then went
to the eastern gate of the temple; there he kissed the black
stone, upon which Abraham, so the Muhammedans believe,
conversed with Agar, to which he tied his camels, and upon
which the traces of his feet are still seen; further, the
prophet made the seven circuits of the Kâbah, running round
it three times, and four times marching with a grave and
measured pace. He afterwards proceeded to the two stones,
_Sáfá_ and _Marvah_; the first at the foot of mount Abi
Kobaisi, the second at that of Koaikaban, distant 780 cubits
from each other. These stones are supposed to have been once
two idols, Asaph and Nayelah; or two persons, a man and a
woman, who, for having committed stupration in the temple,
were changed into stones. At each of them he recited with a
loud voice the (since formulary) praise of God. Finally,
having proclaimed his last revelation, by which he declared
his religion to be perfected, he sacrificed sixty-three
camels, one for each year of his then closing age: he
returned to Medina, and soon after died.

[610] _Tanzíl_ is the literal Muhammedism, or the literal
interpretation of what is revealed.

[611] _Táwil_ is the allegorical sense of the doctrine. We
have, upon the meaning of _tanzîl_ and _táwîl_, a
Dissertation written by Silvestre de Sacy: _Commentatio de
notione vocum_ Tánzîl _et_ Táwîl, _in libris qui ad Druzorum
religionem pertinent_, in the XVIth vol. of _Comment. Soc.
Reg. Scient. Götting., class. hist. et phil._, p. 3 and seq.

[612] See a detailed account of him hereafter.

[613] صادق, _sadik_ is known to be the epithet of Joseph,
Abu bekr, Jesus, and Jâfer, the sixth Imám; it appears to
designate the Imám, the Dái, or the acknowledged spiritual
guide among the Ismâilahs; I shall therefore retaîn the term
in the translation.

[614] The celebrated Ghazáli composed among a hundred works,
thirty-three of which are enumerated by the baron
Hammer-Purgstall, two with the titles القسطاس _alkistas_,
“the balance,” and مزان الاعمال _mízan olâamál_, “the
balance of actions.”

[615] The attribute of God and the name of the prophet are,
not without intention, confounded.

[616] _Khájah_ signifies “lord, professor, man of
distinction” (and also a eunuch). Khájah is the title
commonly prefixed to _Naśir-eddin_, “the defender of the
faith,” which is the surname of Muhammed ben Hassan or Ben
Muhammed al Túsi, born in Tús, in the year of the Hejira
597, A. D. 1200. He is acknowledged to have been the doctor
who acquired among Muselmans the highest reputation in all
sorts of sciences; he was a commentator of Euclid, and of
the spherics of Theodosius and Menelaus. He left scientific
works, duly admired, and was an astronomer, lawyer,
theologian, and statesman. We shall have to touch upon the
part which he took in the great events of his days. He died
in the year of the Hejira 672, or, according to some, 687
(A. D. 1273 or 1285).

[617] See our note 2, p. 400-401, relative to Sáid, under
the name of Muhammed Obaid-alla, Mahdi. The friends and
enemies of the Fatemites concur in the account, that he
descended from Maimún, surnamed _Kaddah_, “the oculist,”
whom some make a descendant of Ali, whilst others say that
he was the son of _Daísan_, “the dualist,” so called because
he ascribed the good to God and the evil to man, and some
attribute to him an origin, not only foreign to the race of
the prophet, but even connected with a Magian and Jewish
lineage. Obaid-allah made Kairwan or Kurm (the ancient
Cyrene) the capital of his dominion, but at the same time he
laid the foundation of a new capital, which he called
_Mahedia_, from his assumed surname _Mahdi_. Abu Tamim Moadd
Moezzledin allah, the fourth in descent from Obaid allah,
but the first acknowledged Fatimite khalif removed his seat
to Cairo in Egypt: this town became then the rival of
Baghdad, which continued to be the residence of the ancient
line of khalifs. Moezz died in the year of the Hejira 365,
A. D. 975.

[618] Abu Yazid, according to Abulfeda (_Annal. Mosl._, vol.
II. p. 240), was a barbarian of the tribe of Zenata (one of
the Berbers), son of Condad and an Ethiopian mother. He
feigned sanctity, and belonged to a sect inimical to the
Muselmans, whom he persecuted with relentless fury. Herbelot
says, he was a chancellor of Abúl-Kasem Muhammed Kayem, the
second khalif of the Fatimites, who succeeded his father
Obaid-alla, in the year of the Hejira 322 (A. D. 933). Abu
Yazid rose in rebellion against his master, and brought the
empire to the greatest peril; but, after many successes and
conquests, he was defeated, taken prisoner, and died of his
wounds, in the year of the Hejira 336 (A. D. 947).

[619] Abu Yazid’s conqueror was the above mentioned Abu
Teher Ismâil, son of Kayem, the third khalif of the
Fatimites, who succeeded his father in the year of the
Hejira 334 (A. D. 945). His surname was, besides the above
stated, _al Mansur ba kuvet allah_, “victorious by the power
of God,” to which is often substituted _Mostanser billah_,
as in Makrisi (see _Chrestom. arabe_, vol I. pp. 84-91). He
was succeeded by his son, in the year of the Hejira 341 (A.
D. 952).

[620] We find in Herbelot’s oriental library a notice of
Nasser Khosrú, an ancient Persian poet, whose animated and
pious verses are often quoted by persons of a contemplative
turn of mind. Baron von Hammer (Schöne Redekünste Persiens,
S. 43) adduces Nassir Khosru of Ispahan, who, famous as a
poet and philosopher, was persecuted on account of doubtful
orthodoxy in matters of faith, and who died in the year of
the Hejira 431 (A. D. 1039). A sect of Ismâilah is said
(_As. Res._, vol. XI. p. 425) to have been called Naśariah,
from Naśar, a poet and learned man.

[621] The mention made above of Hassan, and further of the
Almutiahs, points to the reign of Abu Tamim Moâd Mostanser
Billah, from the year of the Hejira 427 to 487, (A. D. 1035
to 1094). At the beginning of this reign, Amir Naśer Khusro,
if the date of his birth be right, would have been more than
sixty-six years old, and twenty years of concealment in
Badakhshan extend his age beyond eighty-six years.

[622] Badakhshan is the country situated towards the head of
the river Jihon, or Oxus, by which it is limited on its
eastern and northern side. Balkh is the capital of
Badakhshan.

[623] The author of the Dabistán has given a sufficiently
explicit account of the doctrine of the Ismâilahs, but
without separating the opinions belonging in particular to
each of the sects into which the Ismâilahs in the course of
time divided. We have already mentioned the _Batenian_.
Another division was that of the _Karmatians_, founded by
Hamadan, surnamed _Karmata_, “small and distorted,” son of
Ashath. He appeared first in the year of the Hejira 278 (A.
D. 891), as an adherent of Ahmed, son of Abdallah, son of
Maimun Kaddah, before mentioned (note 1, p. 418). This Ahmed
was an ancestor of Sáid, or Obaid-allah, the founder of the
Fatimite khalifs. Hamden Karmata recommended community of
women, and released men from all moral and religious duties.
In the year of the Hejira 286 (A. D. 899), Abu Sáid,
surnamed Habab, at the head of the Karmatians, waged war
upon the khalif Motadhet, in Syria; he took the town Hagiar,
the Petra deserti of the Romans, once the capital of Arabia,
and made it his residence. He was assassinated in the year
of the Hejira 301 (A. D. 913). He left six sons; after the
death of the last of them, Yusuf (Abu Yakub), in the year
366, (A. D. 976), the Karmatians confided their government
to six seids called _sadah_, “pure.” This sect, after many
combats, was dissipated towards the end of the tenth century
of our era.――(See _Chrestom. ar._, vol. II. p. 126.)

The Ismâilahs are also denominated _Talamites_,
_Khurramiah_, _Safiah_, _Babeciah_, _Majmirah_, _Maknâyah_,
etc.――(_As. Res._ vol. XI. p. 421, etc.) I have no room for
an account of each of them: I shall only add the name of the
_Druses_, a sect existing in our days, upon which Silvestre
de Sacy gave a particular notice drawn from their own
papers, in his _Chrestomathie arabe_, vol II. pp. 191, 227,
and undertook a detailed history of this sect. The name of
the Druses is derived from دروز _deroz_, or درزية,
_derziyet_, “juncture.” They are the disciples of Hamza, son
of Ali, and honor as a god _Hakem beamr allah_, “he who
governs by the order of God;” the sixth Fatimite khalif, in
descent from Obaid-allah. Hakem was born in the year of the
Hejira 375, A. D. 985; he was saluted khalif in 386 (A. D.
996); he disappeared, some say was assassinated, at the end
of 441, A. D. 1020. The Druses give the same dates of his
birth, reign, and death, but say he was the son of Ismâil, a
descendant of Ali, the son of Abu Taleb, and his mother was
of the race of Fatima, surnamed Zahra, the daughter of
Muhammed the prophet. In short, every division of the
Ismáilah appears to have its own _Mahdi_, “director,” but
always traces his origin to Ali and Fatima. The Druses
expect the return of Hakem; he is to reign over the whole
earth during centuries of centuries, and the unitarian
Druses with him: the other sects shall be obliged to pay
homage and tribute to him. The Druses esteem the Koran very
much, but the prophet not at all; they have rejected
circumcision, fasting, and prayer, and indulge in drinking
wine, eating pork, and marrying within the prohibited
degrees.

[624] The character and life of the khalif, mentioned above
and in the preceding note, exhibit a strange mixture of
intelligence and folly, superstition and incredulity,
simplicity and ostentation, abstemiousness and liberality,
intolerance and forbearance, cruelty and mildness; all his
good and bad actions were marked with something whimsical
and fantastical: still more――he wanted to be God: thus he
realized in himself the idea of a monstrous tyrant. To his
honor be it said that he founded in Cairo the first
university of the middle ages.――(See his _Life_, by Macrisi,
in the _Chrest. ar._, tom, I. p. 93 _et seq._, and
_Gemäldesaal mosl., Herrsher, Band III. Seite 226_, etc.)

[625] We observe two great divisions of the Ismâilahs;
namely, the _Western_, to whom alone, till now, the account
of the Dabistán referred, and the Ismâilah _of Iran_, that
is, those who established themselves in the strongholds of
_Kohistan_ (Khorassan), and in _Rúdbar_, which last is the
name of a fort in the province of _Jebál_, or Persian Irak.

[626] An excellent work to be consulted with respect to
Hassan, son of Sábáh, is the history concerning him
contained in روضة الصفا فى سيرة الانبيا والمولك ولخالفا
_Rúzat al sáfá fí sírat al anbía w’ al mulk w’ al khalifa_,
“the Garden of Purity, containing the history of prophets
and khalifs,” composed by _Muhammed_, son of _Khavendshah_,
known under the name of _Mirkhond_, born in the year of the
Hejira 837, or at the end of 836 (A. D. 1432 or 1433),
deceased in 903 (A. D. 1498). The Persian text of the part
of it here pointed out was published in Paris, 1812, by Am.
Jourdain, with a French translation and Notes, some of which
are by Silvestre de Sacy. I shall, in my quotations from it,
use only the name “Mirkhond.”

[627] Some people of Hassan’s sect established his genealogy
as follows: “Hassan, son of Ali, son of Jâfer, son of
Hassan, son of Muhammed, son of Sabah Homairi Yemini, but
Hassan, to whom it was presented, ordered it to be
cancelled, saying: ‘I prefer being a simple privileged
servant of the Imám to being his degenerated
son.’”――(_Mirkhond_, p. 39.)

[628] We shall have further to notice Nizam al mulk, and a
remarkable work which he left. From this work, Mirkhond (p.
31) quotes the following words respecting the Imám Movafek,
above mentioned: “The Imám, one of the most illustrious
among the learned men of Khorassan, was generally honored,
and his society sought after as a source of happiness. He
was then more than eighty-five years of age, and it was an
opinion generally received, that all young men who
instructed themselves under his direction in the science of
the Koran and prophetic traditions, obtained the favor of
fortune.”

[629] Mirkhond has _Hakim Omar Khayam_. Silvestre de Sacy
(p. 32, note) thought that it would perhaps be better to
translate “Hakim, son of Omar,” and _Khayam_ is a surname,
signifying “maker of tents.”

[630] Alp Arselan, son of Daud (or David), son of Mikail
(Michael), son of Seljuk was the second sultan of the family
and dynasty of the Seljucides. He succeeded to Togrul Bèg,
his uncle, who died without offspring in the year of the
Hejira 455 (A. D. 1063). At first called _Isrâil_, he took,
after his conversion to Muhammedism, the name of Muhammed
with the surname _Alp Arselan_, “the courageous lion” in the
Turkish language. His most memorable victory was that gained
with 12,000 men over 300,000 Greeks, whom he put to flight,
and took their emperor Romanus, surnamed Diogenes.

[631] Moez eddin (according to others _Jelal eddin_, or
_Jelal daulet_, “the glory of religion or of state”) Abu ’l
fetah Malic-shah, son of Alp Arslan, although not the
eldest, was declared by his father to be his successor, by
the counsel of the above mentioned Nizam ul mulk, and
mounted the throne after his father’s death, in the year of
the Hejira 465 (A. D. 1072). A reform of the Calendar made
under his reign was called _Tarikh Jelali_.

[632] Mirkhond (p. 37, French transl.) gives a clearer
account of the event, as follows: Nizam-ul-mulk, before the
presentation of the register to the Sultan, having met
Hassan’s servant outside the hall, requested of him to see
the register, in order that he might know the manner in
which it was made, and the servant not daring, out of
respect to the minister, refuse it to him, delivered the
register into the hands of Nizam-ul-mulk, who, having seen
the nicety of the statements, dropped the leaves in such a
manner as to disperse them, and said: “Many plunders are
written in this register.” The servant, on account of the
risk he ran if he avowed what had happened, said nothing of
the fact to Hassan. When the latter presented his
statements, he found them mutilated, and the leaves
confusedly mixed.

[633] Nizam-ul-mulk, who in the above related anecdote, does
not appear in an advantageous light, has nevertheless the
reputation of having been a most learned man, and a
protector of science. He left a work, called _vaśiyet
Nizam-ul-mulk_, “the testament of Nizam-ul-mulk,” from which
Mirkhond relates, partly in the same words as the author,
what had passed between Nizam-ul-mulk and Hassan; the
former, of course, endeavors to vindicate his conduct
towards the latter. Nizam-ul-mulk, after having rendered the
most eminent services to his Sultan, was discarded by him on
the suggestions of a Sultana, and assassinated, in the year
of the Hejira 485 (A. D. 1092), according to Herbelot (_art.
Malik-schah_), by the successor to his office; according to
our author (see hereafter) by an emissary of Hassan Sabah.

[634] See hereafter the notice of this fort, when the event
will be related in due order of time.

[635] This was Moadd, Mostanser Billah, who began to reign
(according to Abulfeda) in the year of the Hejira 427 (A. D.
1035), and died in 487 (A. D. 1094).

[636] This word means “the commander in chief of the
Egyptian troops;” his name was _Bedr al Jemalí_.――(See,
respecting him, _Les Mémoires géographiques et historiques
sur l’Egypte, par M. Etienne Quatremère_, t. II. p. 420 _et
seq._, note of Silvestre de Sacy.)

[637] Abu’l Kasem Ahmed al mistáli billah reigned from the
year of the Hejira 487 (A. D. 1094) to 495 (A. D. 1101).

[638] On account of their adherence to Nazár, the sect,
headed by Hassan Sabah, and the Ismâilah of Persia are
called also Nazárián, which is a more probable derivation
than that in note 4, p. 419.

[639] Haleb, a town in Syria, is said to be as ancient as
the dynasty of the Kayanian kings of Persia; it was in this
town, that Kushtasp received the royal crown sent him by his
father Lohrasp. It is the ancient Berrhœa.

[640] _Da âí_ appears to have been a particular and eminent
dignity among the Ismâílahs. It is said of Nazir-eddin, a
minister of Mostanser Billah, that he occupied at the same
time the places of great Kázi, of great _Dá âí_, and of
Vizir. According to Mokrizi (see _Chrestom. ar._, vol. I. p.
142) the Dáâi of the Dáâis follows in rank immediately the
Kází of Kázis, and wears the same costume. He teaches the
doctrine of his sect, and receives the engagement of all
those who renounce their former creed, adopting that of the
Fatimites.

[641] Mirkhond gives a more detailed account of Hassan’s
itinerary, as follows: Hassan went from Isfahan to Yezed,
and to Kirman; whence he returned to Isfahan, where he
resided four months; he departed again for Khozistan, staid
there three months, and then went to Damegan, in which town
and district he passed three years. After that he proceeded
to Jorjan, and using every caution for not falling into the
hands of his enemies, he went to Sari, from thence to
Damawend, whence, by the route of Kazwin, he entered Dilem;
from thence he passed into a town near Alamut, where he
devoted himself to a religious life. I have thus enumerated
the countries in which the doctrine of the Ismâilahs was
more or less spread, but not without opposition.

[642] Alamut is a town and fort near Kazvin, in the Persian
province of _Ghilan_, on the western shore of the Caspian
sea. آِله اموت, _îlah amut_, means “nest of a vulture.” The
value of the numbers represented by the letters of these two
words make together the epoch of Hassan’s entering the fort,
viz.:

ا = 1
ل = 30
ه = 5
ا = 1
م = 40
و = 6
ت = 400
――――
483

483 of the Hejira (A. D. 1090), in the month of Rajeb, the
seventh of the Muhammedan year; Abulfeda (vol. III. p. 425)
says the eighth month of the year 483. This stronghold soon
became the capital of a formidable sovereign, known among
the European crusaders, under the name of _shaikh al Jebal_,
interpreted “the old man of the mountain.”

[643] The author neglects to mention the date from which he
begins his computation.

[644] Hassan Sabah, from the height of Alamut, commanded the
country around, and terrified the inhabitants, high and low,
by a set of devoted adherents, whom he sent about to
propagate his religion, and to execute his commands, which
were frequently the murder of his enemies.

[645] The edition of Calcutta has erroneously 508.

[646] Our author, regardless of order, reverts to events
which took place during the life of Hassan.

[647] _Refík_, in general acceptation, “follower,” is a
distinctive name given to the Ismâilahs, and particularly to
men carrying arms, in opposition to the class of dáâis, or
“missionaries,” and perhaps also to the fedáyis.――(Note of
_Silvestre de Sacy_, in _Jourdain’s French transl. of
Mirkhond_, p. 39).

[648] Mirkhond says the Amir Arslan-tash.

[649] Hassan, according to Mirkhond, had but seventy rafiks
with him.

[650] Barkíarok, son of Malik shah, was the fourth sultan of
the house of the Seljucides. He received at the circumcision
the Muselman name of Kassem, and the title of _Rokn-eddin_,
“the column of religion,” was given to him by Mectadi, the
khalif of Baghdad. Barkiarok was the eldest son of Malik
shah, whom he succeeded in the year of the Hejira 485 (A. D.
1092).

His stepmother, Turkan Khatun, had a son by Malik shah,
called Mahmúd. At the death of the Sultan, being in the town
of Baghdad, she obtained, by solicitations and presents,
from the khalif Mortadi, letters of investiture in favor of
her own son Mahmud, who, then only four years old, was
proclaimed the legitimate heir of his father’s empire,
whilst Barkiarok was at Ispahan, then the seat of the
Seljucides, recognised, by right of primogeniture, the only
legitimate successor of his father. But Turkan Khatun
marched to Ispahan with an army, surprised Barkiarok, and
seized the town, and the person of her step-son. The latter
however, aided by the faithful servants of his father,
escaped from her hands, and found a refuge at Shiraz, the
residence of _Takash-teghin_ the _Atabek_, or
“lieutenant-general” of Persia. With this chief’s
assistance, Barkiarok presented himself with an army of two
hundred thousand men before Ispahan, and besieged Mahmud and
his mother. A peace was concluded: the Sultana and her son
were to possess the town and dependencies of Ispahan, but to
divide Malik shah’s treasury with Barkiarok; he received
five hundred thousand gold dinars for his share, and, having
raised the siege, moved to Hamdan, where Ismâil, one of his
uncles, commanded.

Ismâil had declared himself for the Sultana: a battle was
fought in the plain of Hamdan, in the year of the Hejira 486
(A. D. 1093); Bakiàrok gained the victory: his uncle fell.

In the very same year, the victor was obliged by another
uncle of his, Takash, son of Aslan shah, to retire towards
Ispahan. He was kindly received by his brother Mahmud, then
free from the tutelage of his mother, who had died; both
brothers appeared linked in the bonds of perfect amity; but
the partizans of the younger seized the person of the elder,
and imprisoned him in the castle. It was the sudden death of
Mahmud by the small pox which liberated Barkiarok, and gave
him the possession of the empire. This was not left
undisturbed, but this is not the place to relate the events
of his agitated reign, of about thirteen years, which
terminated in the year of the Hejira 498 (A. D. 1104). I
have said enough to show how, among such disturbances, the
power of the Ismâilah could grow in the Persian provinces:
to this I shall add that during the reign of Barkiarok, the
European crusaders took Nicæa and Antiochia, and the cross
was fixed upon the walls of Jerusalem, Akka, and Edessa.

[651] This was in the year of the Hejira 495 (A. D. 1101-2).

[652] Son of Malik shah, the fifth Sultan of the Seljucides,
who reigned from the year of the Hejira 501 to 511 (A. D.
1107 to 1117).

[653] The edition of Calcutta reads erroneously 591.

[654] Mirkhond has Alabek Nushtékin Shergir.

[655] The sixth Sultan of the Seljucides, named Moezzeddin
Abu ’l Hareth Sinjar, son of Malik shah. He governed the
province Khorassan during twenty years, under the reigns of
his brothers Barkiárok and Muhammed; after the death of the
latter, he seized the whole empire, and, having overcome his
nephew Mahmud, son of Muhammed, reigned with various
vicissitudes of fortune during forty years and four months
(from 1117 to 1157 A. D).

[656] This peace, according to Mirkhond (_French transl._,
p. 48) was made under three conditions, to which the
Ismâlíahs were held:――1, not to add any new work to their
castles; 2, not to buy arms and warlike stores; 3, not to
make new proselytes. The Muhammedan doctors, not having
approved the treaty, the people suspected the Sultan of some
hankering for the sect of the Ismâilahs. Notwithstanding the
peace was concluded between Sinjar and them, who had even
the revenue of some districts assigned to them, and were in
others exempt from paying duties.

[657] Hossáin Fáni was the dáâi of Kohistan. Although,
according to Mirkhond, his death was also ascribed to
Hossáin Damawendi, we can but suppose that Hassan must, upon
very strong grounds, have condemned his own son to death.

[658] The edition of Calcutta reads erroneously 580.

[659] Mirkhond says, that these two personages were to
regulate the affairs of the state conjointly with Hossáin
Káini.

[660] According to Mirkhond, he reigned twenty-four years,
during which some memorable events took place (see _French
transl._, pp. 49-51) here omitted for want of room.

[661] The thirtieth khalif of the Abbasides; he who
assassinated in the Hejira 530 (A. D. 1135). His father,
Mostarshed, had met with the same fate by the hands of the
Fedayis, towards the end of Kia Buzurg’s reign. To exhibit
the long series of assassinations by which the Fedâyís
spread terror all over Asia, is a weighty task, which has
been recently performed by the master-hand of the Baron von
Hammer.――(See his _Geschichte der Assassinen_.)

Muhammed Buzerg died after a reign of twenty-five years.

[662] In the style of the Batenian and the Druses,
_resurrection_ signifies the day of the manifestation of the
Imám, his doctrine, the entire triumph of his religion and
the abolition of every other sect.――(Note of _Silvestre de
Sacy_, p. 54 of the work already quoted.)

[663] The edition of Calcutta has erroneously 541.

[664] Mirkhond says (_French transl._, p. 56): Hassan was
stabbed in the castle of Lamsir, by his wife’s brother, who
descended from the family of Baviah, and had preserved the
faith of, and attachment to, the ancient religion.

There is evidently an omission or hiatus at this place in
the edition of Calcutta. According to Mirkhond (pp. 57-59),
after the murder of Hassan, son of Muhammed, Hassan’s son
Muhammed, occupied the throne. He maintained the doctrine of
his father, and had great pretensions to learning. He
governed, from the age of nineteen, forty-six years with
great success; the _Molheds_ (so were called his adherents)
triumphed every where among rapine and bloodshed. He died in
the year of the Hejira 607 (A. D. 1210-1). He was succeeded
by his son Jelal eddin Hassan, ben Muhammed, ben Hassan, who
was born in the year of the Hejira 552 (A. D. 1157-8),
therefore fifty-three years old when he began to reign.
Mirkhond says, doubtingly, that according to some
historians, he poisoned his father, which is positively
asserted in the text of the Dabistán. He re-established the
Muslim religion, and acquired the name of Jelal-eddin _nóu
Muselman_, “new Muselman.”

[665] The edition of Calcutta has, most erroneously, 308.

[666] This is a treatise upon Morals, composed by Naśir
eddin Túsí, upon whom see our note 2, p. 417.

[667] Mirkhond places the assassination of Ala eddin in the
year of the Hejira 653 (A. D. 1255-6).

[668] Ruk neddin was the eldest son of Alá-eddin; as heir
presumptive he was much honored by the Ismâilahs, who made
no difference between his orders and those of his father.
The latter, irritated on that account, declared a younger
son his successor, in spite of the people’s attachment to
the eldest. Rukn-eddin, perpetually threatened by
Ala-eddin’s resentment, took refuge in a well defended
castle. He was suspected, and even accused by his own
mother, of having been privy to the murder of his father,
although he punished the murderer.

[669] Holagú was the grandson of _Jengish khan_. Born in
1127 A. D., Jengish khan, in the first moiety of the
thirteenth century, came with six hundred thousand Tartars
from the high lands between China, Siberia, and the Caspian
sea, to act his formidable part in the Southern countries,
already deluged with blood by the unceasing wars of the
Arabs, Persians, and Turks. The dominion of the Seljuk
dynasty, torn asunder by the dissensions of their members,
during forty years after Sinjar, their Sultan, last
mentioned in the Dabistán (p. 440), terminated with Toghrul
the Third, in 1193 A. D.; there remained still a vigorous
branch of it in Jelál-eddin, sultan of Khorazm, who retired
before the great conqueror towards India; he was overthrown
in a great battle on the Indus, in 1222 A. D. Jengishkhan
died in 1227, after having made a division of his immense
empire: he gave the kingdoms of Khorassan and Kabul to his
fourth son, Tuli khan, who died soon after his father,
leaving four sons, the two eldest of whom were the above
mentioned Maikú kán (Mangu khán), and Holagú khán. The
former ruled in Tartary, the second proceeded to the
conquest of Persia and the empire of the khalifs. It was
necessary first to subdue the Ismâilahs.

Rukn-eddin, according to Mirkhond, offered submission to
Holagú: it was by accident that an action took place between
the Ismâilahs and the troops sent by Holagú to take
possession of Alamút. Rukn-eddin, after some delay, during
which he had taken his residence in the fort Maimun-diz,
surrendered his person to Holagú, who had come to besiege
it. With Rukn-eddin was the celebrated astronomer
Nassir-eddin Túsí, who acted as ambassador and mediator; but
seeing the ruin of the Ismâilahs, not, as he pretended, in
the position of the heavenly bodies, but in the
circumstances, he is accused of betraying his master and
delivering him into the hands of the conqueror. More than
forty castles, full of the Molhuds’ treasures, were
destroyed in a short time; among the last were Lamsir and
Alamút; the inhabitants of the latter hesitated to
surrender, not being able to separate themselves at once
from their accustomed glory and independence, whilst their
sovereign acted as an instrument in the hands of the
conquerors for delivering up his own subjects, having lost,
with his good fortune, all firmness and nobleness of mind.

One of the forts only remained: it was _Kirdcoh_. The feeble
Rukn-eddin, on his way to Mangu khan, could not prevail upon
himself to give it up, and instead of ordering the garrison
to surrender, as he had promised, he sent them word to
resist. Proceeding towards Tartary, he was put to death by
the officers of his escort, who probably had received orders
to that effect from Mangú khán. A death-mandate was also
executed upon Rukn-eddin’s sons, daughters, relatives,
servants, and other followers all over the country;
thousands of the Ismâilahs fell under the sword of the
Tartars. Holagú completed the conquest of this powerful
sect, which had been formidable in Asia during one hundred
and sixty-six years, in the year of the Hejira 654, A. D.
1256.

But the Ismâilahs did not cease to exist in Persia, where,
even in our days, some remains of them are to be found. We
read in the Transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay
(vol. II. pp. 281-294), that the parents of a Muhammed
Mahdi, claiming descent from Ali, were inhabitants of
Júnpúr, a town near Benares. He was born in the year of the
Hejira 847 (A. D. 1443), declared himself a Mahdi, in Hejira
903 (A. D. 1491), first in Mecca, and then in Western India,
in Guzerat, and Ajmír; and died in Hejira 910 (A. D. 1504),
in Furuh, a city of Khorassan, not without leaving many
followers, communities of whom remain, even in our days,
most numerous in Sind, Guzerat, and the Deccan.