400 - . ; ON THE ROSHENIAH SECT 



Akhu'n Derwe'zeh resided in Banker among the Tiisefze'i; and succeed- 

 ed his Pir, Sheikh Ali Tirmizi, Though the most a6live opponent of 

 Ba YEZiD, little is known concerning him, excepting the facts which he 

 himself has mentioned. By his own account, it appears, that his endeav- 

 ,ours to preserve the Jfghdfis from the sedu(5]:ions of Ba'yezid, had a very 

 limited effe^; and if he afterwards acquired greater popularity, among the 

 Afghans, this seems to have proceeded , more from the resentment occasion- 

 ed by the attack of Sheikh Omar on the Tusefzei, than from any merit 

 of his own. Among the Tajtc, however, of whom he was descended, he 

 lias always been highly venerated. Mu'lla Asghar, the brother, and 

 Cerimda'd the son of Akhu'n Derwe'zeh, likewise acquired some cele- 

 brity in the same cause, and distinguished themselves, by the opposition, 

 which they offered to the progress of the heres-y. The tomb of Ceri'm^ 

 da'd, is still a place celebrated for the resort of the faithful, in the norths 

 ^rn parts of Sewdd. Fragments of both these authors^, are wrought up into 

 the composition of the Makhzan Afghdni^ 



One day, as I was .conversing with one of the adherents of Ba'yezid,. 

 says Akhu'n Derwe'zeh, he took occasion, in the course of conversation, 

 to recite one of that heretic's poems, in vituperation of learning and the 

 learned. My brother Mu li-a AsghAsR immediately took him up, and 

 offered to hear all th^it he h^d to say on the subject, provided that he would 

 listen to him in his turn. Tiie proposal haviiig been accepted, when the 

 Afghan had finished his .recitation, my brother repeated poetical invectives 

 against Ba'yezid, in the Afghan language, till his opponent was heartily 

 ashamed, and promised no more to derogate from the merit of the learned. 

 The following is a specimen of the invec.tives against Bayezjd, com- 

 posed by Mu'lla Asghar. 



