Chapter XXIV: Section II: An Account of the Second Sect of the People of Islam, (4)

Halagú, after the overthrow of the Ismâilahs, marched
towards Baghdád, it is said, at the instigation of
Nassir-eddin. The celebrated seat of the khalifs was taken
and destroyed in the year of the Hejira 656 (A. D. 1258),
without the required efforts to defend it having been made
by the thirty-seventh and last khalif of the Abbasides. This
inglorious prince, fallen into the hands of his barbarous
enemies, met with a cruel death, being packed up in a piece
of felt, and dragged through the streets of his capital.
With him perished the khalifate, a dominion once the most
powerful and absolute of the world. It began with Abu Bekr
in the eleventh year of the Hejira (A. D. 632), and lasted
645 lunar, or 625 solar years, during 520 of which it
remained in the house of the Abbasides. The khalifate of the
Fatimites in Egypt had ceased to exist in the year of the
Hejirah 567 (A. D. 1171). All attempts to raise another
khalifate in Asia and Africa had but a short and confined
success, or none at all.

[670] In the seventh vol. of the Asiatic Researches (p. 338,
edit. of Calcutta), we find an article by T. H. Colebrooke,
Esq., _On the Origin and peculiar Tenets of certain
Muhammedan Sects_. It is there stated that: “The Ali
Ilahiyahs are become numerous in India. This sect is
mentioned by the author of the Dabistán, as prevalent in his
time only at _Uzbil_, or _Azbal_, in the mountainous tract
near _Khata_. It now prevails, according to the information
which I have received, in a part of the dominion of Nawab
Nizamu ’l mulk.” The Calcutta edition of the Dabistán reads
as above, _Arnil_, _Armál_, and _Bakhta_: the manuscript of
Oude agrees with Colebrooke’s reading, _Azbíl_, but has
بخطا, _bakhtá_, and زبال, _zebál_, for the two other names.
The celebrated Orientalist gives an abstract of the doctrine
of this sect according to the Dabistán, joined to an account
of the _Borahs_, according to the _Mejálîsu ’l múmínin_,
composed by _Núrallah of Shoster_, a zealous Shiâh. The
Bóhrahs are described by this author as natives of Guzerat,
converted to the Muhammedan religion about three hundred
years before his time, now 542 years ago. Their converter
was _Mullah Ali_, whose tomb is still seen at the city of
Combáyat. Some of this tribe are Sunnites. The party who
profess the Imámiah tenets comprehended, in the year 1800,
nearly two thousand families. They are chiefly occupied in
trade, and transmit the fifth part of their gains to the
Sayyads of Medina: they are honest, pious, and temperate.

[671] We find in the Dictionary دحيه الكلبى _dihyat ol
kalbi_, interpreted “the ape-dog; the shape in which the
Muhammedans believe the angel Jabriel to have appeared to
their prophet.” This is not mentioned in the Koran. We read
in a note of Sale’s Koran, vol. II. p. 401: It is said that
Jabril appeared in his proper shape to none of the prophets
except Muhammed, and to him only twice: once when he
received the first revelation of the Koran, and a second
time when he took his night-journey to heaven. According to
the nineteenth chapter of the Koran, Jabril appeared to the
Virgin Mary in the shape of a man, like a full grown but
beardless youth, and caused her to conceive.

[672] امي _ámí_, “illiterate,” was the epithet which
Muhammed was pleased to give to himself, not without the
intention of rendering it so much more probable that the
writing, which he produced as revelations from God, could
not possibly be a forgery of his own; because it was not
conceivable that a person who could neither read nor write
should be able to compose a book of such excellent doctrine,
and in so elegant a style. It was as “the illiterate” that
in the 155th verse of the VIIth chapter of the Koran he
causes himself to be announced by God, who is introduced
speaking to Moses about the punishment deserved by the Jews
for their iniquities; and says (ibid., v. 154): “My mercy
extendeth over all things, and I will write down good unto
those who shall fear me, and give alms, and who shall
believe our signs――(v. 155): who shall follow the apostle,
the _illiterate prophet_, whom they shall find written down
(i. e. both foretold by name and certain description), with
them in the law and the gospel: he will command them that
which is just, and will forbid them that which is evil,”
etc., etc. We can, however, scarcely doubt that Muhammed,
belonging to the family of Hashem, the most illustrious
tribe of the Koreish, the hereditary guardians of the temple
of Mecca, and himself skilful in commerce, was not more
illiterate than the Arabs of his class: he certainly proved
himself a man of a lofty genius, and, although he wrote not
in verse, a sublime poet.

[673] We read above the account of sectaries who deified
Alí. So much is certain, that, from his most tender youth,
he was the most zealous, courageous, and intelligent
supporter of Muhammed. The prophet gave him the surname of
“the lion of God:” he said to him: “Thou art my vizir, and
my brother in this and the other world. Thou standest by me
as Aaron stood by Moses; except that no prophet will come
after me, I have no advantage over thee. I am the town of
knowledge, and Alí the gate to it.” Alí was a poet; we have
but half a dozen of his poems and one hundred of his
sayings.――(See the above-quoted work of Baron Hammer,
_Gemäldesaal Mosl. Herrscher, I^{ter} Band_. pp. 321-323.)

[674] _Ahmed_, “most laudable,” is one of the names of
Muhammed. According to the Commentators of the Koran and the
Traditionists, _Muhammed_ is the name for men: _Ahmed_ that
with which the prophet was greeted by the angels; and
_Mahmud_ that which the inhabitants of hell gave him. He has
a thousand names by means of his attributes.

[675] _Ulvíahs_, or _Alííades_, are called the descendants
of Alí, the two principal branches of whom were those of his
sons, Husseim and Hassan. In the first continued the twelve
Imáms; in the second, several leaders rose, with unequal
success, in different times and places, against the
government of the Ommiades and Abbasides.

[676] So is called Muhammed’s mule; also Ali’s horse.

[677] Shedád is a fabulous personage, said to have lived in
the times of Jemshid, and to have been sent by Zohak to
destroy Jemshid, who made war upon him. The fabulists give
two hundred and sixty years to the reign of Shedád, and
three hundred to that of his brother Shadid. Both these
personages are also said to have lived in the time of the
Hebrew prophet Heber.――(See Herbelot.)

END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

CONTENTS

OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

Page
THE SECOND CHAPTER OF THE DABISTAN

Describes, in twelve Sections, the religious system of
the Hindus 1

Section I.――Concerning the orthodox Hindu system 2

Summary of the doctrines contained in the Budah
Mimansa 3

Section II.――Of certain opinions entertained by this sect
concerning the creation 9

Section III.――Concerning the religious observances and
ceremonies of the Smartas, or orthodox of the
Hindus 53