The first principal divisions of the Shía'h sect are the Ismá'ílians and the Imámites. The latter believe in twelve Imáms, reckoning 'Alí as the first. The last of the twelve Abu 'l-Qásim, is supposed to be alive still, though hidden in some secret place. He bears the name of Al-Mahdí," the guided." It is expected that he will reappear at the second advent of Christ. They say that he was born near Baghdad in the year 258 A.H. He afterwards mysteriously disappeared. When he was born the words, "Say: 'truth is come and falsehood is vanished: Verily falsehood is a thing that vanisheth,'" (Súra xvii. 83) were found written on his right arm. When he came into the world, he pointed with his fingers to heaven, sneezed, and said: 'Praise be to God, the Lord of the world.' A person one day visited Imám Hasan 'Askarí (the eleventh Imám) and said: 'O son of the Prophet who will be Khalíf and Imám after thee?' He brought out a child and said: 'if thou hadst not found favour in the eyes of God, He would not have shown thee this child; his name is that of the Prophet, and so is his patronymic.' (Abu 'l-Qásim). The sect who believe Mahdí to be alive at present, say that he rules over cities in the far west, and he is even said to have children. God alone knows the truth."2

The other large division, the Ismá'ílians, agree with the Imámites in all particulars save one. They hold that after Sádiq, the sixth Imám, commenced what is called the succession of the "concealed Imáms." They believe that there never can be a time when there shall be no Imám, but that he is now in seclusion. This idea has given rise to all sorts of secret societies, and has paved the way for a mystical religion, which often lands its votaries in atheism.3

1. The names are 'Alí, Hasan, Husain, Zain-ul-'Abid-dín, Muhammad Báqr, Ja'far Sadiq, Musa Kázim, 'Alí Músa Razá, Muhammad Taqí, Muhammad Naqí, Hasan 'Askarí, Abu 'l-Qásim (or Imám Mahdí).

2. Rauzat-ul-Aimmah by Sayyid 'Izzat 'Alí.

3. For a good account of this movement see, Osborn's Islám under the Araba, pp. 168-184.

The Ghair-i-Mahdí (literally "without Mahdi") are a small sect who believe that Al-Mahdi will not reappear. They say that one Syed Muhammad of Jeypore was the real Mahdi, the twelfth Imám, and that he has now gone never more to return. They venerate him as highly as they do the Prophet, and consider all other Musalmáns to be unbelievers. On the night called Lailat-ul-Qadr, in the month of Ramazán, they meet and repeat two rak'at prayers. After that act of devotion is over, they say: "God is Almighty, Muhammad is our Prophet, the Qurán and Mahdí are just and true. Imám Mahdí is come and gone. Whosoever disbelieves this is an infidel." They are a very fanatical sect.

There is another small community of Ghair-i-Mahdís called the Dá,irí, settled in the province of Mysore, who hold peculiar views on this point. About four hundred years ago, a man named Syed Ahmad collected some followers in the dominions of the Nizám of Hyderabad. He called himself the Imam Mahdí, and said that he was superior to any prophet. He and his disciples, being bitterly persecuted by the orthodox Musalmáns, fled to a village in the adjoining district of Mysore where their descendants, fifteen hundred in number, now reside. It is said that they do not intermarry with other Musalmáns. The usual Friday service in the mosque is ended by the leader saying: "Imam Mahdí came and went away," to which the people respond: "He who does not believe this is a Káfir" (infidel).

There are several Traditions which refer to the latter days. "When of time one day shall be left, God shall raise up a man from among my descendants, who shall fill the world with justice, just as before him the world was full of oppression." And again: "The world shall not come to an end till the king of the earth shall appear, who is a man of my family, and whose name is the same as mine." When Islám entered upon the tenth century of its existence, there was throughout Persia and India a millenarian movement. Men

and various persons I have already men

declared that the end was drawing near,
arose who claimed to be Al-Mahdí.
tioned two. Amongst others was Shaikh 'Aláí of Agra.
(956 A.H.) Shaikh Mubarak, the father of Abu'l-Fazl-the
Emperor Akbar's famous vizier, was a disciple of Shaikh
'Aláí and from him imbibed Mahdaví ideas. This brought
upon him the wrath of the 'Ulamá who, however, were finally
overcome by the free-thinking and heretical Emperor and
his vizier. There never was a better ruler in India than
Akbar, and never a more heretical one as far as orthodox
Islám is concerned. The Emperor delighted in the contro-
versies of the age. The Súfís and Mahdavís were in favour
at Court. The orthodox 'Ulamá were treated with contempt.
Akbar fully believed that the millennium had come.
He
started a new era, and a new religion called the 'Divine
Faith.' There was toleration for all except the bigoted
orthodox Muslims. Abu'l-Fazl and others like him, who
professed to reflect Akbar's religious views, held that all
religions contained truth. Thus :-

"O God, in every temple I see people that seek Thee, and in every language I hear spoken, people praise Thee!

Polytheism and Islám feel after Thee,

Each religion says, 'Thou art one, without equal.'

If it be a mosque, people murmur the holy prayer, and if it be a
Christian Church, people ring the bell from love to Thee,

Sometimes I frequent the Christian cloister, and sometimes
the mosque,

But it is Thou whom I search from temple to temple."

In this reign one Mír Sharíf was promoted to the rank of a Commander of a thousand, and to an appointment in Bengal. His chief merit in Akbar's eyes was that he taught the doctrine of the transmigration of souls and the close advent of the millennium. He was a disciple of Mahmúd of Busakhwán, the founder of the Nuqtawiah sect. As this is another offshoot of the Shía'hs I give a brief account of them here. Mahmúd lived in the reign of Timur and

.

professed to be Al-Mahdí. He also Shakhs-i-Wáhíd-the Individual one.

called himself the He used to quote

the verse, "It may be that thy Lord will raise thee up to a glorious (mahmúd) station." (Súra xvii. 81). From this he argued that the body of man had been advancing in purity since the creation, and that on its reaching to a certain degree, one Mahmúd (glorious) would arise, and that then the dispensation of Muhammad would come to an end. He claimed to be the Mahmúd. He also taught the doctrine of transmigration, and that the beginning of everything was the Nuqtah-i-khák-earth atom. It is on this account that they are called the Nuqtawiah sect. They are also known by the names Mahmúdiah and Wáhídiah. Shah 'Abbás king of Persia expelled them from his dominions, but Akbar received the fugitives kindly and promoted some amongst them to high offices of State.

This Mahdaví movement, arising as it did out of the Shía'h doctrine of the Imámat, is a very striking fact. That imposters should arise and claim the name and office of Al-Mahdí is not to be wondered at, but that large bodies of men should follow them shows the unrest which dwelt in men's hearts, and how they longed for a personal leader and guide.

The whole of the Shía'h doctrine on this point seems to show that there is in the human heart a natural desire for some Mediator-some Word of the Father, who shall reveal Him to His children. At first sight it would seem, as if the doctrine of the Imámat might to some extent reconcile the thoughtful Shía'h to the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation and Mediation of Jesus Christ, to His office as the perfect revealer of God's will, and as our Guide in life; but alas! it is not so. The mystic lore connected with Shía'h doctrine has sapped the foundation of moral life and vigour. A system of religious reservation, too, is a fundamental part of the system in its mystical developments, whilst all Shía'hs may lawfully practise "takía," or religious com

promise in their daily lives. It thus becomes impossible to place dependence on what a Shía'h may profess, as pious frauds are legalised by his system of religion. If he becomes. a mystic, he looks upon the ceremonial and the moral law as restrictions imposed by an Almighty Power. The omission of the one is a sin almost, if not quite, as bad as a breach of the other. The advent of Mahdí is the good time when all such restrictions shall be removed, when the utmost freedom shall be allowed. Thus the moral sense, in many cases, becomes deadened to an extent such as those who are not in daily contact with these people can hardly credit. The practice of “takía,” religious compromise, and the legality of " muta'h" or temporary marriages, have done much to demoralise the Shía'h community. The following words of a recent author descriptive of the Shía'h system are in the main true, though they do not apply to each individual in that system:

"There can be no stronger testimony of the corrupting power and the hard and hopeless bondage of the orthodox creed, than that men should escape from it into a system which established falsehood as the supreme law of conduct, and regarded the reduction of men to the level of swine as the goal of human existence." 1

An

The Mutazilites, or Seceders, were once an influential body. They do not exist as a separate sect now. account of them will be given in the next chapter.

In the doctrine of the Imámat, common to all the offshoots of the Shía'h sect, is to be found the chief point of difference between the Sunní and the Shía'h, a difference so great that there is no danger of even a political union between these two great branches of Islám. I have already described, too, how the Shía'hs reject the Sunnat, though they do not reject Tradition. A good deal of ill-blood is still kept up by the recollection-a recollection kept alive by the annual recurrence of the Muharram fast-of the sad

1. Islám under the Khalífs, p. 139.