480 Notice of the Tenets held by [Nov. 



knowledge of the hidden meaning and essence of the institutes of their 

 faith, to an intimate communion with the immediate presence of the 

 Divinity, and to the most exalted state of spiritual dignity and power. 

 The whole is written in a strain of what may most appropriately be 

 termed Orthodox Sufiism. Touching but little on the metaphysical 

 subtleties of the Sufi opinions, and utterly denouncing such of their 

 professors as are not strict believers, it is still devoted to an exposition 

 of many of the admitted Sufi tenets and practices, and is full of the 

 technicalities of Sufi phraseology. It makes reference especially, in 

 its explanations and allusions, to the peculiar divisions which prevail in 

 India, among those who aspire to the honours of religious initiation. 

 These are generally numbered as the followers of one or other of three 

 venerated Pirs, each of whom has given a name to a distinct school or 

 sect ; the first, the " Tariqa-i-Qadiria" which traces its origin to 

 Abdul Qddir* Miami, of Jilan, or Ghilan. Another, the " Tarzqa-i- 

 Chishita" so called from its founder Khwaja Muin-ud-din Chishti, 

 whose tomb + is at Ajmere ; the third, the " Tariqa-i-Nakshbandia" de- 

 rived from a KhwajaJ Baha-ud-din Nakshband, a native of Bokhara. 

 It was one of the peculiar pretensions of Syed Ahmed, that he held 

 himself privileged, instead of confining himself, as is usual, to giving 

 admission to one only of these schools, to receive followers at his pleasure 

 into any, or into all of them, and he aimed also at becoming the founder 

 of a school of his own, to which he gave the appellation of the " TWga-e- 

 Muhammedia." 



It was not, however, to exercises of speculative piety, that this 

 aspiring adventurer chiefly trusted to gain himself reputation and in- 

 fluence among his Mahommedan countrymen. The whole object of 

 his career was to rouse and unite Mahommedan feeling in support of 

 his own views of fanaticism and aggrandisement ; and he naturally em- 

 ployed for that purpose methods more likely to have a generally active 

 effect. The following sketch of the principal events of his career, 

 and of the means by which he sought to obtain distinction, taken from 

 the written or oral accounts generally current, may not be without in- 

 terest, before proceeding to the detailed description of the peculiarities 

 of belief and practice which his followers have adopted from him. 



He began life in an indifferent school for the character of re- 

 former and saint, which ha ultimately assumed, as a suwar serving 



* The name at full length, with all its titles, is Ghous-ul Azim Mahi-ud- 

 din Abdul Qidir Jilani. Born 471, Hijri. Died 561, Hijri. 

 f Died 633, Hijri. 

 + Born 718, Hijri. Died 791, Hijri. 



