﻿540 ON THE ORIGIN AND PECULIAR TENETf 



employing incantations. The king cast his eyes 

 towards the corner of the apartment, and it so h^ip- 

 pened that there he saw a serpent; the minister's 

 excuse appeared credible, and the kiny,'s suspicions 

 were lulled. 



" After a time, the king himself secretly became 

 a convert to the Mualeman faith ; but dissemliled 

 the state of his mind, for reasons of state. Yet, at 

 the point of death, he ordered, by his will, that his 

 corpse should not be burnt according to the customs 

 of the pagans. 



" Subsequently to his decease, when Sulta'n 

 Zefer, one of. the trusty nobles of Sultan Fi'ru'z 

 Shah, sovereign of Dehli, conquered the pro\'ince 

 of Gujj^at ; some learned men, who accompanied 

 him, used arguments to make the people embrace the 

 faith, according to the doctrines of such as revere 

 the traditions *. Hence it happened, that some of 

 the tribe of Bohrahs became members of the sect of 

 the Sunnet. 



" The party which retains the Jmmm\)eh tenets, 

 comprehends nearly two thousand fauiilies. They 

 always have a pious learned man amongst them, Mho 

 expounds cases of law according to the doctrines of 

 the Imamiyehs I^Jost of tliem subsist by commerce 

 and mechanical trades; as is indicated by the name 

 of -So//;y//?, Vnich signiiies merchant, in the dialect 

 of Giijrat. They transmit the fifth part of their gains 

 to the Sayyads of Alcd'uieh ; and pay their regular 

 eleemosynary contributions to the chief of their 

 learned, v.ho distributes the alms among the poor of 

 the sect. These people, great and small, are honest, 

 pious, and temperate. They always suffer much 

 persecution (for the crime of bearing affection to- 

 wards the holy family) from the wicked murderers f, 

 who are invested with public authority ; and they 

 are ever involved in the difficulties of concealment. 



" The 



* The Sunnti, or orthodox seft. 

 ^ The orthedwx. 



