. 4ND ITS FOUNDEK. '42':/ 



tO' certain descriptions of persons, whom they are ordered to hate, and 

 avoid, and on whom they are bound to invoke curses. Farz, or necessary 

 duty, they interpret, as friendship to those whom it is necessary to love. 

 They alledge, that the sacred texts, " mankind are great unbelievers," 



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is to be applied to- Abu-becar and Omar ; and that wherever Pharaoh^ 

 and Haman are mentioned in the i^Tori?/, these persons are intended. 

 In this manner, they interpret the whole Koran and Hadis. They say 

 that God sent one of their chiefs, as a prophet, to mankind, before Islam ; 

 and that he was named Shardin ; and that he was the highest of the apos- 

 tles, and prophets. They say, that waz>i means the foundations of religious 

 truth,, which they have estabhshed,and iVizmis; signifies eloquent discourse; 

 and the sound of Namdz and kdmet, denotes a person that exerts him- 

 self to bring mankind to an eloquent spiritual guide. They alledge that 

 when God says, " that JSTamdz restrains from uncleanness and denial^ 

 of truth," the meaning is eloquence, which restrains men from wick- 

 edness ; for Mamdz is an open act, and prohibition- cannot arise from an 

 act, but from an agent. 



The first who maintained the doctrine of Bateniat, or mystic inter- 



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pretation, was Marzaban-beni-Abdullah-beni-Maimu'n-al-Kadah, 

 who lived in the time of Mamu'n. Hamada'n Karmati was the head 

 of this se61^. 



The Bj'r^'w/^A sect, assert that tliere are seven T?ndms ; Ali, Hasan, 



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HusAiN, Ali-beni-al-Hosain, Mah'ummed-beni-Ali, Jafar-eeni-Ma- 



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h'ummed, and Ismail-ben i-J afar. They also say that Ismaij. is still 

 alive, and that in the latter days, he shall return, and be Mehedi. This 

 sect neither believe in the examination of the tomb, in the last judgment, 

 nor in hell. They say, the state of man is like grass, which withers and 



