484 Notice of the Tenets held by [Nov. 



one ever advanced such a claim ? And, shall a claim of the kind now 

 be recognized on the part of any one, who in these degenerate times, 

 because he has picked up more or less knowledge of the ordinary books 

 of commentaries and traditions, shall choose to set up a sect of his 

 own, differing in a minute point or two from the four established ones ? 

 Is it too permitted to an uninformed person of any of those sects, to 

 act on a tradition not recognized by his own sect, or by any of the 

 sects?" (These three questions have reference to one of Sved 

 Ahmed's opinions, which is asserted distinctly in the Sirat-ul Mus- 

 taqim, that it is improper to follow the authority of the four Miij- 

 tahids, or Imams, where an opposing tradition* of the Prophet's 

 precepts, or example, may be found of proved authenticity, and not 

 subsequently rescinded. The established opinion is, that the mere 

 fact of a tradition not having been received by one or other of the 

 Imams, shews it to be not authentic.) 



Queries 4 and 5. " Is it proper to found a new sect, and school, 

 (of Sufi, or enthusiastic devotion is meant,) and to give it the name 

 of the Prophet of God, in the sense in which the appellation of " Mii- 

 hammedia" has been given to the school of Syed Ahmed ? and is 

 it competent to any person not skilled in all branches of know- 

 ledge, external and spiritual, to claim to be a u Mujaddid," or Re- 

 novator of Religion ? (This last claim was advanced by Syed 

 Ahmed on the ground of a generally received tradition to the effect, 

 that after every hundred years, God will send forth a person to 

 renovate the faith. The objection to the term " Muhammedia," as 

 it was used by Syed Ahmed, is, that it implied an almost exclusive 

 claim to connection with the Prophet. Had " Muhammad" formed 

 a part of his own name, it might have been employed by him without 

 impropriety, to denote the connection of the school, or sect, with himself 

 personally. ) 



Queries 6 and 7. " Is it lawful for a person to assume the title of 

 u Amir-ulMominin," or Leader of the Faithful, who holds no sovereign- 

 ty, and cannot enforce his own orders ? And what is the true meaning 

 and application of the tradition which says, that he who does not 

 recognize the Imam of his age, dies the death of ignorance, (that is, 

 similar to that of the Arabs, in what was called their state of ignorance, 

 or before the time of Mahommed) ; and is it absolutely binding on 

 men to establish an Imam, or conditional only on their power to sup- 



* Such traditions, which, after the Qoran, are the standard authorities on all 

 questions of Mahoinmedan Religion or Law, are intended wherever the word is 

 used here. 



