SHIAHS. 



337 



Kazim, another son of Ja'afar el Sadik ; and the 

 founder of the Sophy (Safawi) dynasty, in the 

 tenth century of the Hijrah (a.d. 1501). They 

 have derived from the Batinis and Karmatis cer- 

 tain mystic and subversive tenets ; and they are 

 connected in history with Hasan Sabah (or Say- 

 yah, the travelling Darwaysh), our Yetulus de 

 montanis, or Old Man (Shaykh, i.e. chief) of the 

 Mountains, and with modern Freemasonry, 

 which begins to appear when the Crusaders had 

 settled in that home of heresies, Syria and Pal- 

 estine. Hence the tradition that the First Grand 

 Lodge was transferred to Lake Tiberias, after 

 the destruction of Jerusalem. They practise 

 the usual profound Takiyyah (concealment of 

 tenets), call themselves Sunnis, or Shiahs, as the 

 case may require, and assume Hindu as well as 

 Moslem names. The Imam to whom they now 

 pay annual tribute is one Agha Khan Mahallati, 

 a Persian rebel, formerly Governor of Kirman, 

 and afterwards notorious upon the Bombay turf. 

 This incarnation of the Deity is not intrusted 

 with any of the secrets of his sect. The Kho- 

 jahs have at Matrah, near Maskat, an enclosed 

 house, which the Arabs call Bayt el Luti. They 

 declare that both sexes meet in it, and that when 

 on a certain occasion it was broken open, a 



vol. i. 22 



