1832.] the followers of Syed Ahmed. 485 



port him, and on the absence of opposing circumstances ?" (These 

 questions need no explanation, though the remark obviously occurs, 

 that they suggest very convenient excuses for declining to give support 

 to the enterprise of a mere fanatic ad venturer.) 



Queries 8 and 9. " Is it a violation of the Unity* of the Godhead 

 to add to the true believer's profession of faith, " There is no God 

 but God," the further declaration that " Mahommed is the prophet of 

 God." 



Is this giving a companion to God, or is it the very essence of 

 the true faith ? And is it unlawful to invoke the Prophet by the 

 words, " Ya Rasiil Alia," or « Oh ! Prophet of God." (These 

 relate to branches of the Syed Ahmedi doctrine, of avoiding every 

 thing which may bear the appearance of a departure from a pure be- 

 lief in the Unity of God. It seems however questionable, whether the 

 opinion implied in the first query is fairly imputed to the sect. Re- 

 garding the subject of the last question, the writer of the tract 

 maintains, that to invoke the Prophet as an intercessor only is perfectly 

 allowable. The point is not minutely dwelt upon in the Sirat-ul 

 Mustaqim, but in another printed treatise, by the same author, in 

 the Hindustani dialect, named the " Taqwiat-ul-lmam" the opinion 

 animadverted upon is supported by a little refinement in argument. 

 There is, it is admitted, nothing heretical in supposing, that departed 

 Prophets and Saints may be able to intercede, but the faculty of hear- 

 ing at the distance at which they are now removed from this nether 

 world belongs to God alone.) 



Queries 10 and 11. " Is it not lawful to make pilgrimage to the 

 tombs of Prophets and Saints (Ambid wa Aulid), or of Mahommedans 

 generally, repeating on such occasions texts and prayers from the 

 Qoran, and avoiding what are notoriously abusive innovations? ' k And 

 is the practice of performing the ceremony of the Fatiha in honor 

 of the Prophet, of his companions, (the Sahaba,) of Saints, or of any 

 Mahommedan without distinction, by reading, at stated periods and 

 anniversaries, sentences of the Qoran, and then conferring the blessing 

 annexed to them, and to the food distributed at such times, on those 

 exalted spirits — an innovation to be received as acceptable and praise- 

 worthy, or is it to be rejected ?" 



(The practices here referred to are among the most obviously pro- 

 minent of those in which the members of Syed Ahmed's sect have 



* It is not easy to find any single English word which shall convey the meaning 

 of " Ishrak" (^^ ,£,!)» or the giving or attributing a companion to God. It has 

 been rendered, as here, a violation of the Divine Unity throughout this paper. 



