WITH THE AUTHOR'S COMPLDTEin THE HETERODOXIES OF THE SHIITES ACCORDING TO IBN HAZM. INTRODUCTION, TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY ISRAEL FRIEDLAENDER, Pn.D. NEW HAVEN 1909. PREFATORY NOTE. The present treatise was originally published in the Journal of the American Oriental Society. It consists of two parts, the first (covering 80 pages) and the second (covering 183 pages) having appeared respect- ively in vol. xxviii. and in vol. xxix. of the above-named Journal. Of the first part, pp. 1-28 contain the Introduction, pp. 28-80 the transla- tion of Ibn Hazm's texts, with the critical apparatus in the shape of footnotes. Of the second part, pp. 1-6 record the sources used in this treatise ; pp. 6-136 contain a running commentary on the texts trans- lated in Part I.: pp. 138-159 deal with the term Ratndfid; p. 160 gives a genealogical list of the Alids mentioned in the treatise ; pp. 161-183 are occupied by indexes. Some remarks of a prefatory nature will be found in Part I. on pp. 23-28 and in Part II. on p. 1 f. and on p. 6. A few corrections have been collected on p. 136 (Part II.). Others have been embodied in the Commentary. In the following, I enumerate the passages (all in Part II.) containing such corrections: 6 f., 10 n. 1, 13 10 , 47- 6 , 48 15 , 55 16 , 63 10 , 76 3 , 79", 86", 94-*, 98 13 , 103", 127", 132 s4 , 136 5 , 150 n. 2, 160 n. 4. I also wish to correct Part I. p. 13 1. 3 from below : Samuel for Joseph and Part II. p. 93 n. 1 : Ibrahim b. al-Ashtar. To Part II. p. 82 n. 2 compare al-Kirkisani (a Karaite writer of the first half of the tenth century), ed. Harkavy, Petersburg, 1894, p. 305 : ' they (the Rabbanites) admit that he (Jesus) performed miracles, and they maintain that this was possible for him by means of sorcery and the Hidden Name (of God)." Cf. Talmud Babli Sanhedrin fol. 103 b . On the name Ndnd (Part II. p. 10 n. 3) see also Harkavy in his Intro- duction to al-Kirkisani, ibidem p. 259 n. 3 and p. 320. Al-Warrdk ( Part II. p. 15 n. 3, cf . p. 136) is also quoted by al-Biruni. Lastly, I beg to acknowledge my indebtedness to Professor Torrey and Professor Jewett for the patient and considerate manner in which they discharged their wearisome editorial duties in connection with this treatise. I. F. Jewish Theological Seminary. New York April 1909. 2094373 INTRODUCTION. " BECAUSE of thee "with these words Muhammed is reported to have addressed once his nephew and son-in-law Ali " because of thee two parties will come to ruin : thy overzealous admirers and thy passionate haters." 1 In this short sentence, put into the mouth of the Prophet by a retrospective consideration of history, is clearly indicated the main source of the decompo- sition of Islam in the past and present. For endless woe has been inflicted upon the professors of Islam by Ali and his descendants, the Alids. In the first battle, in which, betraying the principle of " jihad," Muhammedans fought against Muham- medans, it was the name of Ali that served as the war-cry, and his name is still the watchword which splits the Muhammedan world into two hostile fractions. Streams of blood and, what is perhaps more important, streams of ink, representing the mental energy of the best and noblest in Islam, were shed to defend or to reject the claims of the Alids. But their claims are not yet settled, the minds by no means pacified, and the cry' of revenge "Hasan! Husein!" sounds with undiminished vio- lence through the lands of the Shi'a, arousing hatred and enmity in the hearts of its believers. 2 1 Shahrastani, ed. Cureton, i, p. 15. 2 On the Shiitic Muharram festival see Dozy, Essai sur Vhistoire de rislamisme, p. 449 sq. An extremely graphic description of an eye- witness may be found in Horn, Geschichte der persischen Litteratur, 1901, p. 209 sq. VOL. XXVIII. 1 2 I. Friedh tender, [1907. But more, perhaps, than to the outward destinies of Islam has the influence of Ali and the Alids proved pernicious to its inner development. With no merit, nay, with no intention on their part, but merely as the result of a tragic constellation of historical events, did the ill-fated Alids become the figure-heads of certain movements within Islam which ultimately aimed at undermining its foundations and giving it an entirely new appearance. For Islam, represented by the Arabs, had subju- gated not only countries and nations, but also religions and cul- tures. The non- Arabic races of the conquered countries who mostly for political reasons to get the full measure of the benefits equally accorded by Islam to all its adherents became converts to the new faith, could hardly find their spiritual satis- faction in a religion which was so entirely different from their own and in many respects decidedly inferior to it. Their dis- appointment in finding their religious demands unsatisfied must have been as keen as their disappointment in finding that their hopes for political equality were unfulfilled. No wonder then that under the guise of the new faith these converts persistently clung to their old beliefs and even endeavored to smuggle into Islam some of their most cherished ideas which were esseitf ially un-Islamic and for the most part even anti-Islamic. The result of these endeavors was the formation of a large number of sects with a peculiar, often grotesque mixture of extremely hetero- geneous elements. The Caliphs as the official heads of orthodox Islam were no less hateful to these non- Arabic sectarians than they were to them in their capacity as representatives of the Arabic political supremacy. Under these circumstances the "House of the Prophet" as Ali and his descendants were commonly called which itself had been wronged, or had been considered wronged, by the ruling powers, became the natural center of all dissatisfaction economic, political, religious that had been rapidly accumulating in Islam after its glorious inception. The heterodox sects which arose in the first century of the Ilijra, in themselves a violent, though veiled, protest against victorious Islam, were thus driven towards Shiism, i. e. towards Ali and his dynasty as the representatives of the opposition; with the result, not less tragic than paradoxical, that the-" Mouse of the Prophet," which derived its claim exclusively from its connec- tion with the founder of Islam, was chiefly instrumental in destroying or disfiguring his life-work. Vol. xxviii.] The, Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 3 This remarkable process, which under the name of " Shiism " has powerfully influenced the destinies of Islam, is known to us but in the roughest outlines. The political tendencies in early Islam are becoming more and more transparent, owing to recent important investigations in this field. We are now able clearly to pursue the rise and development of political parties within Islam and the manifold tendencies that were working under the surface. As far as the political aspect of Shiism is con- cerned, it fully participates in the increase of our knowledge of Muhammedan history. But we have a very imperfect notion of the rise and development of the religious tendencies in Shiism and the sources from which thev were derived. 1 1 The origin of Shiism is still a problem which is as little settled, or perhaps less settled, than it was scores of years ago. Formerly the influence of Persian ideas on the rise of the Shi'a was advocated as a matter of course by men like Kremer, Dozy, 'August Milller, and recently (although in contradiction with his sound remarks in the introduction) by Blochet (le Messianisme dans I'heterodoxie Musulmane, Paris 1903). This assumption is apparently based on two arguments: (1) on the adherence of modern Persia to Shiism, and (2) on the resemblance between the doctrine of incarnation taught by Shiism and a similar conception current in Central Asia (cf. Kremer, Geschichte der herr- schenden Ideen des Mams, pp. 14, 361, 377). But the former argument is refuted by the fact that as late as 1500 A.D. Persia was in great part Sunnite (Noldeke, Sketches from Eastern History, p. 101). As for the latter argument, one does not see why the doctrine of incarnation should not rather be attributed, as was already suggested by the great Ibn Khaldun and even earlier Muhammedan writers, to the influence of Christianity. Wellhausen (Die religios-politischen Oppositionsparteien im alien Islam, Berlin 1901, p. 91) pointed to a certain heterodox doc- trine of Judaism as the probable source of Shiism. But his view is based upon the report of Tabari. which essentially contradicts that of Shahrastani and similar writers (contrary to note 1 on p. 91) and deserves as little credit as the information of Tabari about the political role of the founders of Shiism disproved by Wellhausen himself (in his Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, vi, p. 124). Again, van Vloten, as already de Sacy, laid, among other things, great stress on the Messianic tendencies in early Islam as the main source of Shiism (see van Vloten, Recherch.es sur la domination arabe, le Cliiitisme et les croyances messianiques sous le Khali- fat des Omayades, Amsterdam, 1894, p. 54 sq. and de Sacy, Expose de la religion des Druses, I. xxxi sq. ). But they both erred in putting too much confidence in the accounts of the Arabic writers on 'Abdallah ibn Saba, the enigmatic founder of Shiism, accounts which can be easily proved to be apocryphal (see the index to this treatise, s.v. 'Abdallah ibn Saba). 4 Z Friedlaender, [1907. Nearly three score and ten years have passed since Silvestre de Sacv, the originator of modern Arabic scholarship, attempted to give a systematic presentation of Shiism in the introductory chapters of his Expose de la religion des Druses (two volumes, 1838). Almost a whole literature has since been rescued from oblivion and access has been given to historical sources then scarcely dreamt of. Yet a pragmatic history of Shiism which would reveal to us the inner workings and the organic develop- ment of this movement is still ^a desideratum, and will probably remain a desideratum for a long time to come. This peculiar condition is by no means due to a lack of zeal on the part of modern Arabists. It can and must be primarily attributed to a twofold circumstance: to the nature of the problem itst-1 f, and to the character of the historical material dealing with it. One of the main obstacles that prevent a proper understanding of the Shiitic movement lies in the nature of the problem, i. e. in the extremely heterogeneous character of its constituent ele- ments. Possibly the rise, but certainly the development of Shiism took place in 'Irak, in the province of ancient Babylonia shortly before wrested from the Persians, in a country when-, as perhaps in no other, different and even conflicting civilizations succeeded and penetrated one another. For thousands of years 'Irak had been saturated with the overwhelming Babylonian culture which, though in other forms and through other channels, as, e. g., the movement of Mani or the peculiar sect of the Maudaeans, exerted its influence centuries after it had disap- peared from the surface. It passed through the hands of the Seleucids and was for nearly eight centuries the seat of the powerful civilization of Iran as represented by the Arsarids and Sassanids. It sheltered for a long period a large Christian pop- ulation which took an active, if not a leading, part in the spiritual life of the country, serving as a medium not only for The writer himself ventured to suggest (in his inaugural lecture on " Die Messiasidee im Islam." printed in Festschrift zum siebzigsten Geburtstage A. Berliner's, Frankfurt a. M., 1903, pp. 116-130) as the germ of Shiism a combination of the Jewish belief in the advent of the Messiah with the Christian heterodox doctrine of Docetism, so widely spread in early Islam. This is not the place to enter into details. But the variety of suggestions undoubtedly proves the uncertainty still besetting this fundamental question of Shiism. Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 5 the doctrines of Christianity, but also for various phases of Greek thought. 'Irak was for many centuries the numerical and spiritual center of the Jewish nation, and on its soil Talmudic Judaism grew up and matured as a leading force in Jewish life. All these so very heterogeneous influences came to bear upon young Islam, and the latter, unsettled as yet, was not able to resist this manifold pressure. Since the bearers of these cultures were the non-Arabic races, and the latter, deceived in their political expectations, joined the political opposition, these new influences also came to be associated with this oppo- sition, i. e. Shiism, and the foreign elements in consequence found their first and foremost representatives in the sects of the Shiites. In order therefore to gain a clear conception of the elements of Shiism and of its subsequent .development amidst foreign cultures, it will first be necessary to gain a clear concep- tion of these foreign cultures themselves and of their condition at the time when they came in contact with Islam ; a difficult and complicated task which practically lies beyond the province of Muhammedan historiography. Another equally important drawback is to be found in the character of the historical material dealing with Shiism. The main source of our knowledge of Shiitic as well as Muhamme- dan sects in general are the numerous books on " Religions and Sects," mostly belonging to the third and fourth century of the Hijra, of which the book of Shahrastani is the chief and best known specimen. We certainly owe a debt of gratitude and admiration to the authors of this " Milal wa?n-Nihal" litera- ture; doubly so when we remember that they were orthodox Muhammedans who firmly believed themselves to be the sole possessors of divine truth and consequently must have consid- ered it a mere luxury to describe and refute doctrines branded beforehand as falsehoods and heresies. At the same time we must not forget that it is the very same belief which greatly detracts from the value of their historical endeavors. The cer- titude with which they regarded their opponents as a host of heretics who had forfeited their salvation and deserved physical and spiritual extermination, was by no means conducive to his- torical objectiveness. It was, on the contrary, likely to have the reverse effect in inducing them to ascribe to these heretics tenets which they never held, and to give to the tenets actually 6 Z Jfriedlaender, [1907. held by them such interpretations as would disgust and deter the orthodox reader. This difficulty is seriously aggravated by another circum- stance ^which has had disastrous consequences for the whole field of Muhammedan history of religion. Owing to a lin- guistic misunderstanding of an old tradition, 1 probably also under the influence of astrological ideas, 2 the Prophet was credited with a saying according to which Islam will be divided into 73 sects, of which 72 will be doomed and only a single one will be saved. This hadith received its final shape in a com- paratively late age. For the well-known traveller Mukaddasi (wrote about 373/985), who displays so vivid an interest in all matters theological, is still acquainted with another more toler- ant, but to the Muhammedans, so jealous of their Paradise, extremely painful form of the hadith, according to which only a 'single sect will be doomed, while the remaining 72 will be saved. 3 However this may be, the fact remains that the former less tolerant variant gained the victory and "this hadith, which, with very slight variations, soon came to be generally known, formed the basis of the history of religions and sects in Muham- medan literature."* Muhammedan writers on dogmatic history start from this hadith as an indisputable fact and make convul- sive endeavors to squeeze out the required number. As early a historian as Mas'udi (died 345/956) considers himself bound by this hadith. 5 'Abd al-Kahir al-Bagdadi (died 429/1038), the author of a comprehensive description of Muhammedan sects, 8 presents in the introduction to his book an itemized, almost businesslike, account of the 73 sects. Shahrastani (died 545/1153) bases upon this hadith his account of Muhammedan as well as Jewish, Christian and Zoroastrian sects. The same 1 Goldziher, " Beitrage zur Litteraturgeschichte der Schia," in Sitz- ungsberichte der philos.-histor. Classe der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Wien, vol. 78 (1874), p. 445. The same writer in his article ' ' le denombrement des sectes Mohametanes " in Revue de rhis- toire des Religions, vol. 26 (1892), p. 129 sq. 2 See Steinschneider, "Die kanonische Zah.1 der muhammedanischen Secten " in ZDMG. iv, p. 145 sq. 3 Mukaddasi, ed. de Goeje, p. 39. Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi, died 6()6 h , is still acquainted with this variant, Goldziher, le denombrement, etc., p. 132. 6 MurtiJ ad-Dahab, v, 475. 4 Goldziher, ibid., p. 131. 6 See later, p. 26 sq. Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 7 holds good in the case of other contemporaneous historians. Later writers go even further. The principle " ikhtilaf al-um- mati rahmatun " "the difference of opinion in the community (of Islam) is an act of (Divine) mercy '" which was laid down to serve as an extenuating circumstance for the existence of different legalistic sects in Islam, was, of course, not extended to the heterodox sects. Here, on the contrary, the differences and contradictions had to be regarded as a sign of warning, indicating the perilous nature of these sects. The more numer- ous and the more contradictory these differences appeared, the more likely was the faithful Muslim to be deterred from any connivance to their heresies. L#ter writers yield to this ten- dency and, in consequence, widely exceed the number of 72, claimed by the saying of the Prophet for the heterodox sects. To satisfy their religious conscience, these writers interpret this number as representing the principal non-orthodox sects and, thus freed from the restraint of tradition, enumerate such a motley multitude of sects and sections that the " ahl as-Sunna wa'1-jama'a" cannot help recognizing the enormous superiority of their own firmly established creed over the fluctuating false- hoods of their opponents. Makrizi's account> of heterodox sects 2 may be taken as a typical specimen of this artificial enu- meration of sects. "The Rawafid (or Shiites), says Makrizi (died 845/1442) who largely draws from old sources, number tli >< i: Imndred sects, of which twenty are well-known." 3 "The KhatTaniwa (a small faction of the Shi 'a) are divided into . . * \ / fifty s t'Cts." 4 Many other examples of this kind can easily be quoted. This tendency toward multiplying the number of heterodox sects is unhappily strengthened by a peculiar feature of the Arabic language, I mean the pliability of the nisba ending. For by far more readily than any modern language with its borrowed "isms" is the Arabic language able to handle its ending " iyya" appending it with wonderful ease not only to all kinds of nouns, either designating things, or persons, coun- tries and the like, but practically to every part of speech. This linguistic contrivance enables the theologians to manufac- 1 Cf. Goldziher, Zahiriten, p. 94 sq. - Khitat, ii, p. 344 sq. 3 Ibid., p. 351. 4 Ibid., p. 352. 8 I. Friedlaender, [1907. ture any number of sects required for special purposes. Their descriptions, in consequence, offer an artificial system of names which for the most part lack all historical significance, being nothing but variations of real names, and the identification of the sects thus becomes a matter of utmost difficulty. 1 Before we shall be able to get at the historical kernel and disentangle it from the chaos piled up around it by pious men- dacity, the compulsion of a religious tradition and the deceptive use of a pliable language, a long series of preliminary investi- gations will have to be undertaken and concluded. As -for Shiism in particular, the first thing to be done will be to make accessible all the available material bearing on this important section of Islam. This new material, together with that already known, should then be carefully sifted and their respective data critically weighed against each other. ' The results thus arrived at, presenting, as they would, the actual, not the imaginary, tenets of the Shiites, ought to be compared with and verified by what we know of the cultures that might be thought of as the possible sources of these tenets. Only then, when this pre- liminary work will have been done, shall we be able to attain to what is nothing perhaps in the eyes of Muhammedan theolo- 1 A few examples will suffice to illustrate the assertions made in the text. They can be multiplied ad libitum. A part of the Keisaniyya believed in the "bada"(see the index to this treatise s.h.v.). Incon- sequence a special sect of Badaiyya figures in tji's Mawdkif (p. 848). Some of the Shiites held the belief in the advent of the Mahdi (raj 'a) or in the transmigration of souls (tanasukh). Makrizi therefore records two new sects : the Raj'iyya and Tanasukhiyya (Khifat ii, 354). The followers of Muhammed b. Nu'tnan with the nickname Shaitan at-Tak are called the Nu'maniyya or Shaitaniyya (see index s.h.v.). But it would not appear in any way strange, were this sect to be designated as the Muhammadiyya (after his first name), the Ja'fariyya (after his kunya Abu Ja'far), al-Ahwaliyya (after his by-name, al-Ahwal), or were this sect to derive its name from the Mahdis worshipped or the tenets professed by it. It will be seen in the course of this treatise, to what extent the recognition of the actual relations between Shiitic sects is hampered by this artificial variety of names. It may be mentioned in this connection that the same tendency with the same disastrous results prevails in Makrlzi's account on the sects of Judaism (Khitat, ii, 476-480). Dozy(Essaisur Fhistoire de T Islamisme, p. 197) and Kremer (Culturge- schichte ii, 400) have already pointed to the pernicious effect of the hadith in the number of sects. Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 9 gians, but is everything to us : a history of the development of Shiism in connection with the history of Muharamedan culture. In this light, as a contribution towards the building material for a pragmatic history of the Shi 'a, this treatise is herewith pre- sented, centering, as it does, around an account on Shiitic sects by an Arabic writer who preceded Shahrastani by a full century. This account, however, considerably increases in value and interest when we think of the man from whose pen it came. For 'All b. Ahmed ibn Hazm is one of those sharply marked individualities who are so exceedingly rare in ijmd '-ridden Islam, despite its enormous store of mental energy. Ibn Hazm was not a pet of destiny. His greatness was neither recognized by his jealous contemporaries nor duly appreciated by a narrow- minded posterity. But should the mental products of Ibn Hazm be rescued from the oblivion to which fanatical zeal and unreasonable neglect had doomed them, he will be acknowledged not only as the unrivalled representative of literary Spain, but as one of the greatest men in the whole dominion of Islam. 'All b. Ahmad b. Sa'id b. Hazm b. Galib b. Salih 1 Aba Mohammed was born in Cordova in the year 384/994, as the son of Ahmad b. Sa'id, who occupied a prominent official posi- tion under the famous Almansor and his successor. Ibn Hazm's early life thus coincided with the most stirring period in the history of Muhammedan Spain, when the mighty edifice of the Omeyyad caliphate began to totter and in a series of terrible shocks broke up into a number of petty states. Owing to the position occupied by his father, Ibn Hazm could not and would not stand aside, but took an immediate and prominent part in the political vicissitudes of his country. It was however a for- tunate circumstance for him, and still more so for Arabic litera- ture, that the constellation of events put an early end to his political career and, as it were, by force made of the brilliant statesman a brilliant scholar. 1 This genealogy is recorded by al-Kifti, see Catalogus Codicum Ara- bicorum Bibliothecae Academiae Lugdimo-Batavae^, i (1888), p. 269. A short biography of Ibn Hazm is given by Wiistenfeld, Geschichtschrei- ber der Araber. No. 202, and by Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabi- schen Litteratur, i, 400. But some of their statements are erroneous, at least misleading, as can easily be seen from a comparison of their data with those given above. The sources for Ibn Hazm's biography are quoted by Brockelmann. 10 I. Friedlaender, [1907. The ancestors of Ibn Hazm appear to have been Christians who lived in the district of Niebla. His great-grandfather Hazm is said to have been converted to the faith of Islam. 1 But this origin apparently possessed little attraction for a mem- ber of the Moorish aristocracy who was -besides a passionate hater of Christianity. He was therefore anxious to improve his pedigree and followed the example of his father, who,, being an Omeyyad official, shrewdly claimed as his progenitor a cer- tain Persian who enjoyed the clientship of Yazid, a brother of Mu'awiya, the founder of the Omeyyad dynasty. 5 Whether this claim was the cause or the effect, Ibn Hazm at any rate always remained an ardent partisan of the Omeyyads, and in the terrible struggle that was raging around this dynasty gal- lantly fought and staunchly suffered in their behalf. In 1013, when the Berbers captured Cordova and gave full vent to their wild passions, Ibn Hazm's beautiful palace in Balat Mugith, the eastern suburb of Cordova, 3 fell a prey to the flames. 4 In 1016 Kheiran, the leader of the Slavs, having raised the Berber 'Ali b. Hammud to the throne, sent Ibn Hazm to prison for his allegiance to the Omeyyad cause, and later banished him to Azna'l-Kazar, near Seville. 5 Again in 1018, when the unscru- pulous Kheiran, who had become tired of the independent Hammudite, proclaimed 'Abdarrahman IV. al-Murtadha calif in Valencia, Ibn Hazm hastened to join the Omeyyad prince, and bravely fought on his side against the Berbers. 'Abdarrahman, betrayed by Kheiran, was defeated and slain and his partisan Ibn Hazm was captured by the victorious Berbers and kept in prison for. some length of time. Once more was Ibn Ila/nu's star to rise, but only to disappear speedily and forever. By a desperate effort the Cordovans succeeded in ridding themselves of their Berber oppressors, and on December 1, 1023, 'Abdar- rahman V., al-Mustazhir, son of the murdered 'Abdurrahman IV, was proclaimed by a plebiscit in the Mosque Caliph of Spain. Ibn Hazm was soon near his youthful sovereign, who was also his friend, and was at once raised by him to the dignity of vizier. But in less than seven weeks 'Abdarrahman was 1 Dozy, Geschichte der Mauren in Spanien (1874), ii, 210. 2 Ibidem. 3 Catalogue, Leyden, i, 267. 4 Dozy, ib. p. 190. 5 Catal.' p. 268. Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 11 attacked and slain by the treacherous mob of Cordova and Ibn Hazm was once more taken prisoner. 1 When at last released, he was unable to find a resting-place for himself. The hatred of narrow-minded theologians pursued him wherever he went and the rulers of the various states were induced by his enemies to refuse him their hospitality. Finally he settled on his estate Mant Lishfirn, near Labla, and there spent the rest of his life. Cured of his political ambitions, he devoted himself exclusively to literary activity, surrounded by a number of young students, who were courageous enough to seek the company of the unpop- ular and generally persecuted man. 2 He died -in the solitude of his estate in the year 456/1064. The leisure thus forced upon Ibn Hazm by adverse political circumstances was utilized by him to its utmost limits. Ibn Hazm became an author of that stupendous productivity which we find so characteristically represented in Arabic literature. The Arabic bibliographers who measure a man's greatness by the size and weight of his wastepaper basket faithfully report that Ibn Hazm's works amounted to "a camel's load," and we are reliably told on the authority of his son that their number reached the formidable sum of four hundred. 3 To be sure, Arabic bibliography, ' as bibliography in general, is more con- cerned with the title-page of a literary work than with its con- tents, and is prone to confer the honorific title of a book where one would rather speak of a pamphlet or even a circular. Yet with all these limitations, Ibn Hazm's productivity lays claim to our unreserved admiration. We must, however, be careful not to become prejudiced against Ibn Hazm's writings because of their quantity. We would do the man gross injustice, were we to put him on the same plane with some of the Arabic polygraphs, those living writing-machines whose activity, is more a matter of persever- ance than of ability. On the contrary, the trait that strikes one in Ibn Hazm first is his originality and its outward Complement, brilliancy. It is this originality, coupled with truthfulness and fearlessness, which stamps Ibn Hazm as a really great man. His originality is perhaps best testified by the fact that, though he 1 Dozy, ib. p. 205 sq. Catalogue Leyden (first edition), i, 230. 3 Ibidem. 12 I. Friedlaender, [1907. himself was more orthodox than the orthodox, his writings were accorded the honor of a public auto-da-fe in his lifetime 1 and were pursued by prohibitions long after his death. 3 The light in which posterity judged this originality is strikingly illustrated by the protest of the famous mystic Ibn 'Arabi (died 634/1240), who emphatically denies to be one of those who constantly repeat: "Thus saith Ibn Hazm.' 13 As to the brilliancy of his style, it is charmingly displayed in the graceful description of his early love, which won for him the distinction, conferred upon him by the best judge of Moorish culture, himself a brilliant writer, of being the most thoughtful poet of Spain, 4 and it mani- fests itself with equal power in the violent sarcasm of his polem- ics, which originated the later phrase designating the tongue of Ibn Hazm as a twin-brother of the bloody sword of the famous general Hajjaj b. Yusuf. 6 One of the chief products of Ibn Hazm's literary activity is the work to which this treatise is mainly devoted: his " Kit<'il> al-Milal i0a'-n-JY7//a/," the "Book on Religions and Sort*."* The originality of his mind shows itself in the very design of the book, which is the first attempt termed "genius-like " by the foremost authority on the religion of Islam 7 to extend the legalistic system of the Zahirite school over the whole field of Muhammedan dogmatics. As for the brilliancy of his style, it is perhaps nowhere shown to better advantage than in the chap- ters directed against Judaism and Chi'istianity, which are an inimitable specimen of the Arabic art of " mujadala," and, despite the abusive and sometimes even vulgar language, are a delightful example of Arabic scientific prose. This work moreover bears witness to other qualities of Ibn Hazm which mark him as the most eminent historian of religion in Arabic litterature and attach to his information exceptional value and importance. One is struck at the outset with the !/&. 230, 234. * Haji Chalfa vi, 115. Ibn Chaldun, Mtikaddima, ed. Quatremere, i, p. 4. 3 ZDMG. 52, 516. 4 Dozy, Geschichte, p. 211. 5 Ibn Khallikan, g.v. 6 On the variations in the title of the book see my article " Zur Kom- position von Ibn Hazm's Milal wa'n-Nihal " in Orientalische Studien, i, (1896), p. 267, n. 1. 1 Goldziher, Zahiriten, p. 136.- Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 13 wide outlook of the author, which comprises within its compass not only the whole of the Muhammedan world, but extends a vast deal beyond it. It is not mere boasting on his part when he occasionally remarks: 1 " We have come in contact with, and received information from, people of distant countries, and have always been anxious to enquire into things that were unknown to us. We have had at our disposal numerous historical works containing the records of many nations, both Arabs and non-Arabs. We have also received information about the kingdoms of the Christians, as far as the country of Rum (Byzantium), also about the kingdoms of the Slavs, 2 Turks, Hindus and Negros, both of ancient and modern times." The work, written at the height of Moorish culture, displays that broad universal istic spirit by which nothing human is deemed foreign, and his arraignment of Judaism and Christianitv reveals an intimate knowledge of other religions which is quite unique during the middle ages and very rare even in modern days. But though a scholar of vast erudition, Ibn Ila/m was'by no means a book-worm.' Ibn Hazm learned from men as much as, or even more than, he learned from books. A vizier, the son of a vizier, he was in early life involved in the vicissitudes of a stirring revolutionary period. He saw a good deal of the world and came in contact with all sorts and con- ditions of men, turning this living experience into excellent account in his literary work. This breath of life is the most refreshing and at the same time the most valuable feature of Ibn Hazm's standard work. He enjoyed the personal acquain- tance not only of representatives of various shades of Muhamme- dan thought and dogma, but also of the foremost champions of the two other religions of Spain, of Judaism and Christianitv. When still in Cordova at the age of twenty, he discussed Bibli- cal passages with the famous Jewish statesman and scholar Joseph ibn Nagdela, 3 and the Bishop 4 as well as the Dayyan 5 of Cordova were counted among his friends. References to Christian and more so to Jewish contemporaries are very fre- '' Milal wa'n-Nihal, ed. Cairo, i, 175. 2 The Vienna manuscript adds ' Khazars." 8 M. wa'n-N., i, 152 and 135. 4 Ib. ii, 108. 5 M. wa'n-N., codex Vienna, fol. 100 b . 14 I. Friedlaender, [1907. quent in his book, 1 and, while adding considerable weight to his information, they also bear splendid evidence as to Ibn Hazm's many-sidedness and thirst for knowledge. Another striking trait of Ibn Hazm's personality as displayed in this book is his critical acumen and his keen power of obser- vation. Ibn Hazm keeps an open eye on the world around him and perceives things, and details of things, which would escape a less keen observer. His statements are never blurred, but always definite and admirably accurate.' Though a thinker of no mean order, he never seeks refuge in ambiguous abstractions but always carries the analysis of things down to their minute details. Many an interesting specimen of this thoroughness can be found in the j\Iilal wcCn-N'ihal. Discussing the passage Matthew xiii, 31-32, he polemically remarks that the author must have been completely ignorant of agriculture. "We s;i\\ the mustard plant ourselves, we also knew others who had seen it in distant countries. Yet we never saw nor were we told by those who had seen anything of the plant that a bird could dwell on it." 2 Referring to a wide-spread Jewish legend 3 which told of a Jewish sage of Bagdad who miraculously came over to Cordova 4 to punish a certain Ibn al-Iskenderani for having oppressed the Jews of the latter city, he at once plunges into a description of the man and his family and the place where they lived, so as to prove the absurdity of the legend and the men- dacity of the Jews. His lucid and scholarly expositions on chro- nological, geographical and similar complicated questions of Biblical criticism bear witness to the same effect. 6 But the characteristic which constitutes the real greatness of Ibn Hazm and is of paramount importance for the subject dealt with in this treatise is his truthfulness. " With reference to the dogmas (of the Shiites), Abu Muhammed Ibn Hazm's l\it,'ih ..^ % which may only be a misprint. The manuscripts of Leyden and Vienna have the correct reading. s Cmp. his lengthy discussion of the number of the Jewish military recruits, i, 165 sq., or his geographical explanations, i, 166. Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 15 scrutiny certainly is an excellent source. He, too, is polemical in the course of the whole work, and not without passion. Nevertheless he is of sufficient historical fidelity." 1 Ibn Hazm's truthfulness is of the right sort, being as anxious to say the truth as to avoid an untruth. He is always ready to call a spade a spade and to shower upon his opponents the inexhaustible stream of Arabic invectives. His attacks, e. g., on al-Ash'ari, the patron-saint of orthodox Islam, whom he stigmatizes as an infidel, are of an incredibly violent nature, and they were proba- bly the cause of the persecutions to which his writings were subjected. But at the same time Ibn Hazm is ready to do jus- tice to people with different and even opposite opinions. In his attacks on Jews and Christians he is always anxious not to mis- judge things, and he often quotes and carefully considers their counter-arguments. '"We have already mentioned," remarks Ibn Hazm in the ctfurse of his polemics, "that we shall not use against them any quotation from their Torah which is not clear in its meaning, since the opponent might reply by saying that the Lord meant by it anything he likes." 2 In the same spirit he solemnly pledges himself, in the introduction to his treatise on the " depravities " of the extreme heterodox sects, a subject which invites inispresentations, that he will never charge an opponent \vith a heterodox view unless he can justify it by a verbal quotation from the opponent's own writings, "be he an unbeliever, a heretic or a mere sinner, since lying is not permissi- ble against anybody."" This attitude raises Ibn Hazm far above the level of other Muhammedan writers on similar subjects and renders his statements singularly trustworthy. Last, but certainly not least, Ibn Hazm's report on the sects of Islam is of exceptional value because of its being, as far as we know, the only one which is not fettered by the tradition on the 73 sects. In consequence of his rigid conception of Muham- medan tradition, 4 Ibn Hazm completely ignores this hadith, which is neither recorded by Bukhari nor by Muslim, and 'no mention of it is made throughout the bulky work. The effect is ,. at once evident in a more logical division of Muhammedan sects 1 Goldziher. Beitrage zur Litteraturgesvhichte der Schi'a. p. 443. 2 Milnl, i, 165. 3 Milal, iv, 178. 4 Cmp. Kremer, herrschende Ideen, p. 138 sq. 16 I. Friedlaender, [1907. (see later) and in a considerably reduced number of sect names. We may safely assume that each name recorded in the 31 Hal wa'n-Nihal represents a historical fact and nojt, as in the case of all other writers, a mere product of imagination. Having allotted so much space to the merits of Ibn Ha/m's work, we would appear not quite unbiassed were we to suppress all mention of its shortcomings. As early as in the fourteenth century a well-known Mohammedan theologian emphasized the superiority of Shahrastani's book over that of Ibn Hazm on the ground that the latter was "scattered and without proper dis- position." 1 Though the reproach expressed in these \\ords loses much of its force when the history of the book is more closely considered, yet it must be admitted that this criticism strikingly characterizes the book of Ibn Hazm in distinction from that of Shahrastani. Ibn Hazm with his agile mind and fiery tempera- ment certainly did not possess the academic fishblood of the scholar and systematize!- Shahrastani. Ibn Ha/nf s MHal 100*11- Xihal, particularly the sections dealt with in the present treatise, indisputably lack the systematic roundness and scientific classi- fication, so conspicuous in the rival work. More especially the account on the Shiites is quite unmethodical and often very abrupt. But all these shortcomings fade into insignificance before the great characteristics of Ibn Hazm's personality : his breadth of outlook, his power of observation and, above all, his fairness of judgment* The Kitab al-Milal wd'n-Nilial is not a work of a uniform and harmonious construction. Its composite nature can be easily traced and demonstrated. On another occasion 2 1 endeavored to disclose the original plan of the book and the way it was carried out. Here it will suffice to state the results arrived at. Origin- ally the JJffal n-fCn-Nihal was conceived as a mainly dogmatic composition. The description of the religions and sects proper occupied but a fourth of the work, while the rest scrutinized the Muhammedan dogmas from the point of view of Zahirite doc- trine. Subsequently, however, the author tried to do more jus- tice to the title of the book by incorporating with it two large 1 as-Subki, quoted by Haji-Chalfa, vi, 116. - In Orientalische Studien, 1906, published on the seventieth birthday of Prof. Noldeke, pp. 267-277. Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 17 monographs written previously, one consisting of a polemical treatise directed against Judaism and Christianity, the other being an account of the tenets of the extreme heterodox sects of Islam. Ibn Hazm's Milal wa'n-Nihal is preserved in five manuscripts which may here be enumerated in chronological order: 1) A manuscript of the University Library of Leyden (henceforward designated as L) in two volumes, the first dated 722 h , the second 734' 1 . 1 2) A codex in the British Museum (=Br) consisting of two volumes both written in 734 h . 2 3) An incomplete manu- script of the Hofbibliothek in Vienna ( = V) dated 109 1 1 '. 3 4) A manuscript in Cairo of the year 1271 h (see later). 5) A manuscript in three volumes in the library of Yale University (=Y) written in 1298 1 '. 4 The Cairo manuscript was recently reproduced in a printed edition (henceforward designated as Ed) which appeared in Cairo in five parts in 1317-1321' 1 . A glance at the various manuscripts reveals the existence of systematic divergencies between them which can only be explained as repre- senting various stages in the composition of the book. Fliigel, 6 \vlio only saw the Vienna manuscript, already observed that the words" Says Abti. Muhammed," by which almost every para- graph of the book is introduced, point to the fact that the book was, from dictation or otherwise, written down and edited by a strange hand. This observation seems to gain support from the discrepancies in the dates mentioned in various sections of the book. Thus at the beginning of his work Ibn Hazm speaks of the reign of Hisham al-Mu'tadd (418-422 1 ') 8 as being contempo- raneous. On the other hand, at the end of his polemics against Judaism and Christianity he refers to the year 450 h 'and in a passage shortly before to 450 and odd years. Again in a later section of the book the year 440 is to be inferred as the date of composition. 7 A more minute scrutiny disclosed the fact 1 Catalogue Leyden (1866), iv, 230 sq. 5 Rieu, Catalogus codicum mannscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur, London 1871, ii, p. 726. 3 Fliigel, Catalogue Vienna (1865), ii, No. 975. 4 See later, p. 24. 6 Ibidem, p. 198 Anm. 1. 6 Milal, i, p. 16. The Edition has Jc+JCjLjJI. See Lane-Poole, Muham- medan Dynasties (1894), p. 21, and Makkari i, 191, note c, and 282, note c. Milal, iv, 94, 1. 2. VOL. XXVIII. 2 18 I. Friedlaender, [1907. that the five manuscripts go back to two distinctly marked recen- sions. The exact relationship between these two recensions can, of course, be determined only by means of a careful collation which would include all manuscripts and extend over the whole book, a task which, in consideration of the size of the Milal wotn-Nihal, would demand an enormous amount of time and patience. Personally I have been able to collate all manuscripts extant (with the exception of the Cairo manuscript, which is reproduced in the printed edition) only for the portions trans- lated in this treatise. I have also consulted the manuscripts of Ley den and Vienna for many a passage in the earlier part of the work, especially in the chapters bearing on Judaism and Christianity, occasionally also in the latter sections. These col- lations form the basis of the following observations, which, because of the fragmentary character of the former, do not in any way pretend to be exhaustive or definitive. The relation- ship between the various codes seems to differ in the different sections of the book. In the earlier part, the two oldest contem- poraneous codices, L. and Br., belong to different categories, the latter forming one group with V., the former siding with Y. and Ed. The affinity between Br. and V. is here of so close a nature that it can be explained only by assigning a common original to both, or by regarding the one as the copy of the other. L. and Y. as well as Ed. go, as a rule, together. But they also show slight variations and in some important instances correspond with Br. and V. The latter part of the work presents quite a different aspect. Eliminating V. , which is defective, we can see at a glance that L. and Br. on one hand and Y. and Ed. on the other present two sharply marked types. The resemblance between the manuscripts of each group is so striking that no doubt is left as to the identity of their respective originals. The observations just offered necessarily remain fragmentary and uncertain, owing to the incompleteness of the evidence upon which they are based. A closer investigation will no doubt bring out more clearly the evidently complicated relations between the various manuscripts. One fact, however, must be noticed right here-. In the chapter bearing on Shiism, which originally formed a part of a monograph on heterodox sects, 1 Zur Komposition, etc., p. 272 sq. Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 19 the differences between the two recensions are not mere variants, but frequently affect the contents to a considerable extent. The group consisting of L.-Br. offers many an additional read- ing which is of historical importance. Some variants directly contradict one another. It is therefore important to establish the relative age of the recensions. Happily there is one pas- sage in the book which gives us an important hint in this direc- tion. Speaking of the Mahdi of the Shiites, who was born about '2 GO 1 ', 1 he slightingly remarks: " And they (the Shiites) are still waiting fora lost object since 180 years." 2 L.-Br. read "180 and odd years." This group would thus appear to be later by a feAV years than the recension represented by Y. and Ed. It must however be admitted that in face of the divergencies in the "/. The first piece is composed of Ibn Hazm's general account of the sects of Islam and serves as an introduction to his elaborate examination of the Muhammedan dogmas to which the book is in main devoted. This account is very brief, quite in accordance with its introductory character. It does not limit itself to the Shiites, but presents a brief survey of all Muham- medan sects. Since the description of Shiism is interwoven with that of other sects, the piece had to be given in extenso; a limitation to Shiism would have resulted in a motley number of fragmentary passages. The second piece in this treatise is represented by the chapter on Shiism taken from the originally independent monograph on the extreme heterodox sects, which is now incorporated with the Milal wd?n-Nihal. The third piece gives an extract from the chapter on the Imamate, as far as it has an immediate bearing on the tenets of Shiism. The fourth, and last, piece gives a brief synopsis of Shiism which is 1 Or rather who was supposed to have been born. Ibn Haztn denies his existence altogether ; see later, pp. 48 and 76. I take the date of his father's death. The officially recognized date of the Mahdi's birth is 255 1 '. 3 Milal, iv, 94, 1. 2. 20 I. Friedlaender, [1907. extant only in the manuscripts of Leyden and the British .Museum, and is therefore presented both in text and translation. The reader will see at a glance that the second piece contain- ing the chapter on Shiism is both in size and contents the most important of the texts published below. It is, in fact, the backbone of this treatise. To be sure, the chapter in question, as has already been hinted at, is very far from being an exhaust i ve or even comprehensive presentation of Shiism. As far as this chapter is concerned, its incompleteness may be explained by the fact that the monograph, of which it originally formed a part, limited itself by the very title to the "depravities," i. e. the extreme sects of the Shi'a. But it must also be admitted -that even the description of the extreme sects is fragmentary and abrupt, and that the same abruptness is to be noticed in the other texts. Yet, in spite of this defect, Ibn Hazm's account is of great historical value. It contains a number of facts which have hitherto not been known at all, or been knoAvn only in part or in different form. It also reveals a clear and original conception of the nature of Shiism and of the development of its sects. Apart from the general merits characterizing the lit- erary activity of Ibn Hazm, we may conscientiously assert that the information contained in the texts given below contributes a considerable aiid valuable material,. towards the history of this important religious movement. The disconnected and abrupt character of the texts makes a synopsis of their contents almost impossible. On the other hand, this very same circumstance renders a synopsis unnecessary. I will therefore limit myself to a few remarks on Ibn Ila/.in's division of the sects of the Shi'a, which underlies his whole account. The division of the sects of Islam in general is, mainly because of the baneful hadith, a matter of extreme difficulty and discussion. Shahrastani, in the introduction to his Milal VDcfn-Nihcil, justly remarks that he has not found two writers who agreed on this question, and an examination of other Muhammedan histories of religion only confirms this observa- tion. A similar confusion prevails in the division of Shiitic sects in particular. A few examples will suffice to illustrate the infirmity and arbitrariness of all such divisions. 'Abd-al-Kahir al-Bagdadi (d. 429/1038), a contemporary of Ibn Hazm, 1 who 1 See later, p. 26. Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 21 bestows great pains on a precise classification of the 72 heterodox sects, counts twenty of these to the Shi 'a. He dis- tributes these twenty over three main sects: the Zeidiyya (4), the Keisaniyya (1), and the Imamiyya (15). The Gulat ("Ex- tremists") are not reckoned to Islam at all. Shahrastani (d. 548/1153), on the cqntrary, counts the Gulat (or Galiya) to the Muhammedan sects, and enumerates five Shiitic sects: the Keisaniyya, Zeidiyya, Imamiyya, Galiya, and Isma'iliyya. Mak- rizi, again, (d. 845/1442) who knows Ibn Hazm's work and fre- quently plagiarizes it, follows in the division of sects a system of his own which is highly artificial. All the sects of Islam deviat- ing from the Sunna are considered and called by him Gulat, "Ex- tremists," i. e. driving to an extreme the moderate principles of orthodox Islam. These Gulat, and with them all heterodox sects, are divided into ten principal categories. The ninth is occupied by the Shiites or, as Makrizi prefers to call them, the Rawafid. 1 Twenty sects are numbered under this heading, among them the Imamiyya, Keisaniyya and Zeidiyya, but also many small and insignificant factions. At the end of his classi- fication, Makrizi, stimulated by the tendency outlined above, pours out a vast number of other heterodox sects which scarcely have any reality beyond their names. Ibn Hazm, who rejects the hadith in question, and is in con- sequence not bound to any number, makes no attempt at an elaborate enumeration of the sects of Islam. In spite of it, or in ore- probably because of it, his division of Muhammedan sects in general and of Shiitic sects in particular is the most natural and logical. Islam is accordingly divided into five sects, or, as the Sunna, properly speaking, is no sect, into four sects: the Mu'tazila, Murji'a, Khawarij, and Shi'a, the two former representing the dogmatic side, the two latter representing the political side of Islam. Kremer, in his " History of the Leading Ideas of Islam" (p. 16 sq.), rightly makes this division of Ibn II a /,iu the point of departure for his consideration of Muhamme- dan dogmas. As regards Shiism, Ibn Hazm shows the clearest conception of the problem by laying down the question of the Imamate as principium divisions. The whole Shi'a accordingly appears divided into two large sections: on the one hand the 1 See the index to this treatise, s.v. Rawafid. 22 Z Friedlaender, L 1907 - Zeidiyya and on the other the Imaniiyya, or, to use the nomen odiosum by which Ibn Hazm as well as other writers often designate the latter, the Rawafid. Both sections agree in the con- ception of the Imamate as the exclusive privilege of the descend- ants of 'Ali. But they differ in their attitude toward the claims of 'Ali himself, and consequently in their, judgment of 'All's opponents. In the opinion of the Imamiyya, 'Ali was entitled to the caliphate by virtue of a written will of the Prophet. The " Companions," however, maliciously made this will disappear. The first caliphs were consequently usurpers and, acting, as they did, against the express wish of the Prophet, must be considered infidels.- As such, they cannot be considered the bearers of Muhammedan tradition, and thus, with the exception of the Koran, a complete reorganization of Islam becomes necessary. The Zeidiyya deny the existence of a written will. 'All's claims to the Imamate merely lay in his superior qualities. His rejection on the part of the "Companions" was not prompted by any premeditated malice but solely due to an unintentional lack of appreciation. The first caliphs consequently were legit- imate rulers, and they as well as the other "Companions" must be acknowledged as the rightful bearers of Muhammedan tradi- tion. Thus the whole difference between the two sections of Shiism reduces itself to their attitude toward the "Compan- ions" as the bearers of Islam. It is evident that the Zeidiyya are closely related to the Sunna, especially so when we remember that the Sunna itself yielded more and more to the Alidic ten- dencies prevalent among the masses of the Faithful, whereas the very basis of the Imamiyya is a protest against orthodox Islam as handed down by the "Companions." In a survev which confines itself to the "depravities" of the Shiites there is consequently little room for the Zeidiyya. Only one section of them, the Jarudiyya, is quoted at the beginning of the chap- ter on Shiitism (part B. of our text). But it is left unexplained whether they owe this distinction to their belief that the rejec- tion of 'All was an intentional act of treachery and that the Companions were consequently infidels, or whether it is due to their belief in the second advent of certain Mahdis, a belief which they largely share with the Imamiyya. The tenets of the latter, of course, occupy a much more prominent place among the "depravities" of the Shiites, and the bulk of the chapter Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 23 is devoted to them. The Gulat on this point Ibn Hazm agrees with al-Bagdadi are no Muslims at all. Only inasmuch as their tenets are bound up with the personality of 'All, they are counted among the extreme sects of Shiism. Between these two well-defined parties the sect of the Keisa- niyya, which in early Islam played so important a role, occupies a somewhat ambiguous position. All other historians who regard as the basis of Shiism common both to the Zeidiyya and the Imamiyya the restriction of the Imamate to the descendants of l-'i'iti inn, necessarily place the Keisaniyya, who believe in the Imamate of Muhammed ibn-al-Hanafiyya, 'All's son by another wife, in a separate category. Ibn Hazm, however, who con- siders the underlying principle of Shiism the recognition of the Imamate of the descendants of 'Alt, obviously makes the ques- tion of a written will the point of departure, and, since the Keisaniyya on this cardinal point agree with the Zeidiyya, expressly coimts them among the sects of the latter. But our author is not consistent. For in the course of the chapter he reckons the Keisaniyya, on account of some peculiar tenets held by them, among the Imamiyya. On the whole, it must be said that Ibn Hazm's description betrays a painful lack of disposition. The chapter on Shiism suffers particularly from this defect. The various parts of the account cannot be, easily distinguished. It is quite difficult to state where the report on the Zeidiyya ends and that on the Imamiyya begins. Nor does the description of the individual sects within this range show any proper order. The value of Ibn Hazm's account on Shiism is not to be attri- buted to its stylistic merits but principally to the facts it com- municates and the historical material it contributes towards a better knowledge of the sects of the Shi 'a. The present treatise is based on a monograph by .the same author written some five years ago in German. It reproduced the texts now offered in English translation in the original Arabic, as the Milal wtfn-Nihal had not yet appeared in print and was only accessible in manuscripts. The first manuscripts I was able to peruse were those of Leyden and Vienna, which by the courtesy of the respective libraries were sent to me at Strassburg (Germany), where I lived at that time. The text of 24 I- Friedlaender, [1907. the piece which appears here as part A. was based on these two manuscripts. For the second piece, the chapter on Shiism, I was limited to the Codex of Ley den, the Vienna manuscript being defective in this place. The contents of the chapter, which teems with proper names, and the character of the manu- script, which is practically void of all diacritical points, made it impossible to construct any reasonable text on so inadequate a basis. It was then that Professor Goldziher with characteristic kindness offered me his copy of this chapter made by him in 1878 from two twin-manuscripts belonging to Count Landberg one of which is now in the possession of the library of Yale Uni- versity. 1 This copy presented a different recension of the J///*'/ ica > )i-Xihal, but it was nevertheless of incalculable value for the establishing of a critical text, and without it any attempt at publication would have proved a failure. As for the last two pieces, given here as C. and D., they were reproduced from the Leyden manuscript only, since their contents on the whole offered no unsurmountable difficulties. The texts constructed in the described manner and accompanied by introduction and notes constituted the said monograph, which was presented to and accepted by the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Strassburg as " Habilitationschrift " preliminary to the author's admission as "Privatdozent." Subsequently, during several visits to London, I was able to consult the codex of the British Museum and, having settled in this country, I also had a<-cess to the manuscript stored in the library of Yale University. In the meantime, Ibn Hazm's MilaJ n-Ls?! "and the adherents of." 4 Br. V. + " and the adherents of." 5 In Eastern Iran. Br. V. om. 6 L. Y. .tJfcij o^faJCifljL} "some of these maintain." This is a later correction. See Comm. Instead of ,.jJ,Jij in Ed. read . as in Br. V. 7 L. Y. om. 8 L. Y. .Jjij (ace. after Ls .jVU "and others maintain.' 9 Br. V. JoLX^L (V. corrected on the margin JJ&ct 1 10 Br. om. through homoioteleuton. 30 I. Friedlaender, [1907. Dirar b. 'Amr. The farthest among them are the followers of Abu'l-Hudeil. 1 Among the schools of the Shi*"ites the nearest to the Sunnites O , are those who count themselves among the followers of the Fakih al-Hasan b. Salih b. Hayy 2 of the Banu Hamdan 3 who main- tain that the Imamate is confined to the descendants of 'Ali. 4 It is, however, an established fact that al-Hasan b. Sulih may Allah have mercy on him ! was of the same opinion as we are, viz., that the Imamate extends to the whole of the Kureish, and that he maintained a friendly attitude towards all 5 the Compan- ions (of the Prophet), the only exception being that he gave 'Ali the preference over all of them. 6 The farthest among them are the Imamites. Among the sects of the Khdrijites the nearest to the Sunnites are the followers of 'Abdallah b. Yazid al-Ibadi, 7 of Kut'a. The farthest among them are the 'Azrakites. As to the followei-s of Ahmad b. Ha'it, 8 Ahmad b. Yanush," al-Fadl of Harran, 10 the extremists *among the Rawatid, the Sufi's, 11 the Bittikhiyya," the followers of Abu Isma'il al-Bit- 1 Ed. misprint Joy^J! (with y ). L. Br. V. + " al-' Allaf ." See Comm V. the whole passage mu .Jt J^et ^t xx^A-li V. the whole passage mutilated aLLwJ! J^o! ,J! J vo v 2 L. c JLa>. , Br. V. -x^ . See Comm. 4 Ed. incorrectly ^ily^JI (with O ; Y. ^>o^ "alone." 5 Br. om. See next note. 6 V. marginal gloss by another hand ^c xJLdjL) ,j^ ao! boi ^jL^jLc " It is assumed that he gave him the preference over 'Othrnan only." ' Y. ^oLVf . 8 Ed. Y. Jojla. , V. Jajl^. (sic), L. JajU* , Br. iajLi. . See Comm. 9 Ed. (jw-JLo , L. (jwa-iU , Y. (j*-.jL> , V. j*-J.Lj , Br. (j*jl3 . See Comm. 10 ^ &>^ - L - Br - Y - > v - 11 L. Y. Om. 15 Ed. ixsxLJt and sVJaxJ! with soft -, . Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 31 tikhi. those of the 'Ajarida who deny the "Ijrna'" and others, they do not belong to the Muslims, but are unbelievers in the common opinion of the whole Muhammedan nation. Let us seek refuge in Allah, when we are forsaken ! sition of the fundamental tenets of each of these sects^ being the characteristics by which they are distinguished. Says Abu Muhammed : As to the Murjfites, the pillar which they hold fast is the question as to the nature of Faith and Apos- t:i-y and the proper application of these terms, and Punish- ment. 1 Outside of this they differ in their opinions as much as the others. A- :> the IhctazillteSi the pillar which they hold fast is the question of Unity and the Divine Attributes. *Some of them also add 2 the problem of Free Will, the application of the terms Wickedness and Faith, and Punishment. In the question of Divine Attributes the Mu'tazilites are joined by Jahm b. Safwan, Mukatil b. Suleiman, the Ash'arites and other Murji'ites, as well as by Hisham b. al-Hakam, Sheitan at-Tak whose proper name was Muhammed b. Ja'far, of Kufa, 1 and Dawud al- Hawari, who are all Shi'ites. 4 [113] Yet we mentioned this root as a specific characteristic of the Mu'tazilites, because those who speculate about it do not (eo ipso) renounce the doctrine of the Sunnites or* that of the Mu'tazilites, while the Murji'ites and Shi'ites. mentioned above, are discriminated by special teachings which actually stand outside the doctrine of the Sunnites and Mu'tazilites. Ac T. the Shi'ites, the pillar of their speculation is the ques- tion of the Imamate and the Degrees.of excellence of the Com- panions of the Prophet. Outside of this they differ as much as the others. As to the KhdrijiteS) the pillar of their school is the question as to the nature of Faith and Apostasy and the proper applica- 1 Br. Ju^L (sic). The original reading possibly was fkXH _.xi *xLcl " when he refused to prostrate himself before Adam." See Comm. 2 V + (gap of one word) ---- xJU! ^b ^ auJLfr " nor that Allah honored Adam more than him, nor that Allah . . . . " 3 Ed. erroneously LJLjtii instead of IJLxJ . 4 Ed. erroneously om. V^'AAj'. ; V. sjj. 5 Ed. and Codd. + Abi. See Comm. 6 Ed. xJLsi misprint for k 1 L. -*J>-5 , Ed. .fcJyJ , V. dLsyj (on the margin corrected by another hand L. ,oUj . See Comm. Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 35 refused to believe in the open meaning of the Koran, asserting that the open meaning should be interpreted allegorically. Thus they maintained that "the Sky" was Muhammed and "the Earth" 1 his Companions. (In the verse) " Behold, Allah commandeth you to slaughter a cow" 2 "a cow" means N.N., i. e., the Mother of the Faithful. They equally maintained that "Justice "and "Charity" 3 referred to 'All and that "Jibt" and "Tagut" 4 were N.N. and X.X., alluding to Abu Bekr and 'Omar. They simi- larly maintained that "salat" (obligatory prayer) meant suppli- cation to the Imam, " zakat " (alms) donations to the Imair and "hajj" (pilgrimage) going to the Imam. There were among them stranglers and skull-breakers. None of these sects cares in the least for logical demonstra- tion. The only proof they possess is the claim of inspiration, impudence and the capacity to lie openly. [115] They pay no attention 5 to any argumentation. But it suffices to refute them by saying: " What is the difference between you and those who claim that they were informed by way of inspiration of the absurdity of your belief ?" There is no way to extricate one- self from this (reply). Besides, all the sections of Islam hold themselves aloof from them, regarding them as apostates and unanimously agreeing that their belief is not that of Islam. Let us seek refuge in Allah, when we are forsaken ! Says Abu Muhammed: The reason why most of these sects deserted 6 the religion 7 of Islam is, at bottom, this. The Per- sians originally were the masters of a large kingdom and had the upper hand over all the nations. They were in consequence possessed with such mighty self-esteem 8 that they called them- selves "nobles" and " sons," while the rest of mankind were 1 Koran XXX, 24. 2 Koran II, 68. 3 Koran XVI, 72. 4 Koran IV, 54 (the names of two idols). For " Jibt" Ed. L. errone- ously o^Ar^l " abomination." 5 Ed. ^.JCftjUL} : L. Y. ,j,_sJiiAj ("to be amended''; Lane, s. v.) V. Read Ji5| _._&. as in L. V. Y. om. J&| " most of." 1 V. jjjjlj " the circle.'' / 8 Ed. _Ala=i.j . read 3(j /. Friecllaender, [1907. regarded by them as slaves. But when they were visited (by God) and their empire was taken away from them by the Arabs, the same Arabs who in the estimation of the Persians pos- sessed the least dignity of all nations, the matter weighed much more heavily upon them and the calamity assumed double pro- portions in their eyes, and thus they made up their mind to beguile Islam by attacking it at different periods. But in all this Allah makes Truth come to light. Among their rebels were Sunbeld, 1 UsteLdsis," al-Mukanna', Babak and others. Previous 3 to these appeared with the same intention 'Ammar, with the nickname Khidash, 4 and Abu Muslim* as-Siraj. s When they saw that to entrap Islam by trickery was more profit- able, some of them outwardly professed Islam and won the sympathies of the people with Shi'itic inclinations, by feigning affection for the members of the prophetic family and by con- demning the injustice done to 'All. Thus they led them about on various paths, till at last they carried them away from Islam. Some people among them lured them into the belief that ;i man by the name of " al-Mahdi" (the rightly Guided) was to be expected, who was the only one in possession of true 7 religion, since religion could not be accepted from those " Apostates," the companions of the Prophet being accused by them of apostasy. Some went as far as to believe in" the prophecy of those for whom they claimed prophecy, and some of them, as already mentioned, led them astray on the path leading to the belief in 1 Ed. ol&u , V. oUu^w , L. Y. (3&u* ' Makrizi, Khitat , 362 (quo- tation from Ibn Hazm) jLftJui , Mas'udi, Murtij ad-Dahab (vi, 188) . The correct reading Tabari, Annales III, 119. 2 Ed. Y. u^x.fcuUuJ , V. ^u*,UuJ , L. ^j^^LcuJ , Makrizi, ib. U.XAXW! . The correct reading Tab. Ill, 354. 3 Ed. misprint Juu> for J.AJJ . 4 Ed. and Makrizi ^\ &~> , Y. ilcXs* , V. \i\si , L. unpointed. 5 Ed. misprint V. j^! , Makr. _.^ww! . See Comm. V. om..xjUJi^. . 8 L. V. Y. + .x) LJJ J> Lo "what we mentioned of. Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 37 incarnation and exemption from religious ceremonies. Some again made fun (of them) 1 by imposing upon them fifty obliga- tory prayers 2 every day and night, while others reduced them to seventeen 3 obligatory prayers, with fifteen 4 "bows" in each, the latter being the opinion of 'Abdallah b. 'Amr b. al-Harith, 5 before he became a Kharijite of Sufritic persuasion. On the same road also went the Jew 'Abdallah b. Saba, the Himyarite. For he, too, Allah curse him ! outwardly professed Islam in order to beguile 6 its adherents. He also was the main factor in instigating the people against 'Othman. 'All b. Abi Talib burned certain groups 7 of them who publicly proclaimed his divinity. From [116] these baneful roots sprang up the Ismail- ites and Karmatians, two sections who publicly renounce Islam altogether and profess not only the purest Magism but also the doctrine' of Mazdak 9 the Mobad 10 who lived at the time of Amlshirwun b. Kabad," the king of the Persians, and who advocated the necessity of communism regarding women and property. Says Abu Muhammed: When they had brought 12 the people 13 as far as these two narrow passes, they turned them 14 away from Islam, as they pleased, which in fact was their only intention. Here Br. begins again (fol. 137"). 3 Ed. Br. Y. 17 ; L. V. 19. See Comm. 4 Ed. L. incorrectly ^&. jLv+i*. ; Br. V. s" xkc 5 Y. al-Harb. See Comm. 6 Ed. JyJU ; Codd. more smoothly " Br. V. sing. s V. more explicitly (^tftX+j . L. Y. Ed. Y. Jox. " Ed. Y. 11 Ed. jjU>' . Y - *>' - V. <>o , L. unp. 12 Ed. iJLj . Codd. correctly IjjJL} . 13 Y. |jw.jLJI " the unfortunate one," see next note ; V. on the margin and the women." 14 Ed. L. Y. s_=> v :=-' " him," supporting the reading of Y. ; see preced- ing note. 38 L Friedlaender, By Allah, "by Allah, ye servants of Allah ! Fear ye Allah in your souls and be not by any means seduced by adherents of unbelief and heterodoxy or by those who embellish their words not with logical proof, but with mere forgeries, 1 who advise (you) contrary to the messages of the Book of your Lord and of the woi-ds of your Prophet: for there is no good in anything besides these two. Know ye that the religion of Allah is open, with no hidden' meaning in it, public, with no secret behind it, all of it logical demonstration, with no laxity about it. Suspect ve everyone who calls on you to follow him without proof and everyone who claims for religion secrecy and a hidden meaning, for (all such claims) are nothing but presumptions and lit-s. Know ye that the Apostle of Allah did not conceal even a much as a single word of the Law, nor did he allow even those who were nearest to him, viz., his wife, daughter, uncle or cousin on his father's side, or any of his companions, as much as a glimpse into anything appertaining to the Law, which he should have kept back from the Red and Black and the humblest shepherds. The Prophet did not keep to himself any secret or allusion or any hidden explanation, besides the message which he brought to the whole of mankind. Had he withheld from them anything, then he would not have delivered (his message) 3 as he was commanded. He who holds such an opinion 4 is an apostate. Be ye on your guard against any opinion whose way is not clear and whose proof is not distinct. Do not swerve 5 in the slightest from the views held by your Prophet and his Companions ! Says Abu Muhammed: We have already set forth the dis- graceful tenets of all these sects in a short book of ours, entitled:" 1 Ed. yyLg_}*-JCj the only correct reading. L. i_<-l a y Br. cuol+J, V. tfyjUj , Y. ^L*xj . 9 Br. V. JJflb " absurd." 8 Br. V. [V^iJl? + " to them." * Br. V. I jijC Y$. " another opinion." 6 Ed. L^aJJ*'- Codd. better !.=>...*:> ; Y. L^-ju in a similar meaning. 6 Ed. x+M/1 Codd. &4^*/ " designated as." Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 39 "The saving advices against the disgusting infamies and per- nicious depravities contained in the beliefs of the adherents of heresy among the four sects: the Mu'tazilites, the Murji'ites, the Kharijites and the Shi'ites." We subsequently appended it at the end of our exposition on the sects in this work. 1 The consummation of all good 2 is that you should cling to the text which your Lord wrote down 3 in the Koran in Arabic language, making clear, with no negligence whatever as regards clearness, everything as well as the words which are firmly established as those of your Prophet through the traditions of the reliable authorities 4 among the Imams (leaders) of 5 the mas- ters of the Hadith, * in a chain leading up to the Prophet : 8 both ways [117] will enable you to attain the satisfaction of your Lord. We shall forthwith proceed [to discuss] 7 the topics which are the pillar concerning which the Muslims are divided in their opinions, i. e., Unity, Free Will, Faith, Punishment, thelmamate and the Degrees of excellence (of the Companions) and then fin- ish with those matters which the Mutakallimun call "latfi'if" (subtleties). We shall set forth all *the proofs they adduce 8 and expound with convincing arguments the points of truth in all this, in the same way as we proceeded previously, 9 with Allah's assistance unto us and his support. There is no assist- ance nor strength except in Allah, the Exalted, the Almighty. 1 L. Y. om. this sentence. See my essay : " Zur Komposition von Ibn Hazm's Milal wan-Nihal" in Noldeke's Jtibelschrift, i, p. 273. 2 Br. V. -ArL! "information." 3 L. Br. V. XjuLc .Ed. Y. *XjJ.. is not as good. 4 Ed. erroneously spelt sl&j| . 5 Br. V. om. k 6 L. Y. om. 1 Codd. f^LO! (Br. *^jOU). Ed. om. probably owing to homoio- teleuton. 8 Br. V, *-gjuo XftjLb Jo 2U 2s-a.t " every party of them adduces." 9 Br. V. instead JULJ! " with the religions." 40 I. Friedlaender, [1907. B. The Heterodoxies of the Shi'ites. [Printed Edition (= Ed.) IV pp. 178-188; Codex Leyden (-L.) II fol. 135" ff.; Codex British Museum ( = Br.) Ill fol. 87 a ff.; Codex A III fol. 105" ff.; Cod. Yale ( = Y.) Ill fol. 70" ff. The variants quoted anony- mously are taken from L. and Br. and, if not otherwise stated, are identical in both Codices. The readings of Y. are, if not otherwise stated, identical with those in A. On Codex A and the other codices see Introduction, pp. 17 and 24.] 1 Description of *the grave errors* leading to apostasy or absurdity contained in *the views of the adherents of heresy: the Mu'tazilites, the Khdrijites, the Murji'ites and the Shi'ttes. 3 Says Abu Muhammed : 4 We have already described in this work the infamies of the religions opposed to Islam [and the lies] 5 which are found in their Scriptures, viz., those of the Jews, Christians and Magicians, besides which nothing remains" for them, 7 so that nobody who becomes acquainted with them (their Scriptures) 8 will doubt that those people are engrossed in error. Now let us proceed with these four sects and describe their detestable tenets so that this work may render clear to every reader that they are engrossed in error and absurdity, and may thus prevent those whom Allah wishes to guide the right **w &A.?. a!.). See " Zur Komposition von Ibn Hazm's Milal wan-Nihal," p. 272, n. 2. ^ *** 2 *A*wJI ''the depravities." iLaj! Jt cjo "the heresies of the Rawafid, the Kharijites, the Mu'tazilites and the Mnrji'ites." See " Zur Komposition, etc." p. 274, n. I/ See Comm. 4 Y. (also later) + x*o. Ed. Y. om. i^j^Xdl. which is indispensable. ' Ed. Y. &ub ; L. Br. &XAJ " proof." See Commentary. >. aJU (Xfr^t. "Praise unto Allah, the Lord of all Created Beings !"-also V Ux> instead of Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 41 way from joining them or from continuing [to be] 1 with them. There is no assistance nor strength except in Allah the Exalted, the Almighty. \\ C wish, however, the reader of this our book 1 to under- stand that we do not consider permissible as do those in whom there is no good to quote in anyone's 3 name any statement which lie 4 did not make verbatim, though the (general) view (conveyed by the quotation) may go back to him (the quoted person). For the latter may not always cling to the conse- quences following from 5 his (general) view and thus a contra- diction may appear (between the quotation and the actual opinions of the quoted writer). You must know that quoting in anyone's name be he an infidel, a heretic or a (mere) sinner a statement Avhich he did not make verbatim is equal to tell- ing lies about him, and lying is not allowed against anybody. "On the other hand, they sometimes hide detestable ideas behind ambiguous expressions, so as to make them more attractive to ignorant people and to those of their followers who think well of them 7 and to make it difficult for the bulk [179] of their opponents' to grasp 8 (the full significance of) the heresy in ques- tion. Thus when certain sections among the adherents of > Ed. oni. ^ 8 Luo^^ " our words." 3 + (juc*j*a.s. ^.jc " anyone of our opponents." \v. 4 aJLftJ ' ' we " which makes no sense. 5 ^jj II conclure, tirer des consequences (Dozy). Cf . also I. Fried- laender, Sprachgebrauch des Maimonides I (1902) sub voce. Y. ^AXJ " permitted b}'." C- 6 L. + "He says"; Br. + " Says Abu Muhammed." ^ ci ** ' I follow the reading of L. Br. .^j \ fc> It .w^sJ .^x* -JLc. . Ed. Y. *_j -iixJ! ^**.s! is against the construction, both of the phrase and the verb ( U j in this meaning being followed by ^i). . Ed. Y. incorrectly Om. 42 , I. Friedlaender, [1907. heterodoxy and fallacy 1 say 2 : God cannot be described as hav- ing the power to do something absurd, or unjust, or false, 3 or any- thing of which he does not know beforehand that it will happen, 4 they (deliberately) conceal the gravest heresy in this proposition, in order to mollify" the illiterate among their adherents 6 and appease the crowd of their opponents. (They do so), because they are afraid of openly declaring 7 their belief which in fact means that the Almighty has no power over injustice, nor strength over falsehood, nor might over absurdity. We are necessarily compelled to disclose forgeries of this kind and expose them in the clearest possible terms. We thus hope to get near Allah by rending asunder their veils and disclosing their secrets. 8 " Allah is sufficient for us. He is an excellent Protector!" 9 Description of the Depravities of the Shi'ites. Says Abu Muhammed : The adherents of depravities (hetero- doxies) belonging to this sect are divided into three sections. I. The first of them is the Jdrtidiyya, a part of the Zeidiyya. II. Then the Imdmiyya^ belonging to the Rawufid, and finally III. the Extremists. "those who go astray from the religion of Allah." 2 +>! " since " which makes no sense. It is probably to be corrected " 1 in ^J " that." < 3 + JJ0LJ! ^1 .>LfcjJ! J^c. Vj "or to call (mankind) to anything nonsensical." 4 &JlxjL> " that he will do it." 6 Y. (LwwoLi' (L. Br. unpointed) ''to bring into despair" which makes no sense. 6 + A ^Vlp^n- "and their imitators." o ' 1 +vxxi. " the ugliness of." 8 +*^jJ^Lo .j-c. uwLJt ,xaxi'. "and to make people flee from their fallacy." 9 Koran III, 167. Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 43 I. As to the .TCtriidiyya, a part of them believed in Muham- medb. 'Abdallah b. al-Hasan b. al-Hasan' b. 'Ali b. Abf Talib, the same 2 who rose in Medina against Abu Ja'far al-Mansur. The latter dispatched against him 3 'Isa b. Musa b. Muhammed *b. 'Alt b. 'Abdallah 4 b. al-' Abbas, who killed Muhammed b. 'Abdallah *b. al-Hasan, Allah have mercy on him! 6 This sec- tion then believed that the said Muhammed was alive, 8 that he was never killed, that he never died 7 nor will ever die until he has filled the earth with justice as it is filled with iniquity. Another section of them believed in Yahya b. 'Omar *b. Yahya 8 b. al- Husein 9 b. Zeid d. -Ali b. al-Husein b. 'Ali b. Abi Talib, who rose in Kufa *in the days of 10 al-Musta'in. Muhammed b. 'Abdallah b. Tahir b. al-Husein b. Mus' ab, the wali of Bag-- dad for al-Musta'in, disDatched against him the son of his paternal uncle al-Husein b. Isma'il b. Ibrahim b. Mus'ab, the nephew of Ishak b. Ibrahim b. Mus'ab, 11 who killed Yahya b. 'Omar, Allah have mercy on him! The said section then believed that this Yahya b. 'Omar was alive, 12 that he was never killed, *that he never died 13 nor will ever die until he has filled the earth with justice as it is filled with 'iniquity. 1 Ed. and Codd. al-Husein. 2 +.JO . " the son of his brother." 4 Om. 5 Om. 6 + |~JIJ,t " until this day." ,-j.x! -^.Ls-Lj ^a> xjL " and that he lived in Hdjir in the mountain of Radwd." 8 Om. 9 Al-Hasan. 10 Jet " against" instead of *L>t (also later). 11 I follow the reading of L. Br. yOtJiwL+JU jt Jou J>Lb o'L^fl .c^' Ed - . otXu^ -jo (sic) jL*.. ^jj "by order of al-Musta'in the son of his paternal uncle (read ^p' ) al-Hasan (sic) b. Ismd'il b. al-Husein, the son of the brother of Tahir b. al-Husein." See Comm. 12 + *JI J,! " until this day." 13 Om. 44 I. Friedlaender, [1907. Another section believed that Muharamed b. al-Kasim b. 'All b. 'Omar b. 'Ali b. al-Husein b. 'Ali b. Abi Talib, who rose in Talikan 1 in the days of al-Mu'tasira, was alive, that he never died, *nor was ever killed" nor will ever die until he has filled the earth with justice as it is filled with inquity. The Keisdniyya, the followers [of Keisan Abu 'Omra, one of the followers] 3 of al-Mukhtar b. Abi 'Ubeid 4 they are in our opinion a branch 5 of the Zeidiyya in their tendency" that Muhammed b. Ali b. Abi Talib i. e., Ibn al-Hanafiyya was (still) alive in the mountains 7 of Radwa, having on his right a lion and on his left a leopard, conversing with angels, his su>- tenance coming to him in the morning and in the evening, that he never died, nor will ever die until he has filled the earth with justice as it is filled with iniquity. II. *Some of the Imamitic Rawafid I refer to the sect 8 called a.\-Mamttira believed that Musa b. Ja'far b. Muhammed b. 'Ali b. al-Husein b. 'Ali b. Abi Talib was alive, that he never died [180] nor will ever die until he has filled the earth with justice as it is filled with iniquity. Another group of them, viz, the N&wusiyya, the followers of 9 Xawus 10 of Basra, 11 believed *the same of his father Ja 'far b. Muhammed. 1S Another group believed wx> " in the lands of Khordsdn." Om. 3 Supplied from L. Br. >_i *a^l +jo ,.\\* XT* ^ >| , .Lw^xJ . Ed. CT~ c; ^ /^ i5' ^ Y. om. through homoioteleuton. AftxJ! " of the Banu Taklfa." * Ed. correctly JUJLW , Br. juuni . L. J Lit.: " path." L. Br. *-gJU~ plural. 7 Sing. 8 Merely auajf Jl o xio c^Jlj " a section of the Rawafid." See Introduction, pp. 22 and 23. 9 L. Br. A. + Ibn. "> ^ J . 11 Ed. Y. _*nJ! " from Egypt." See Comm. j |J lx^>. " that Ja'far b. Muh. b. 'Ali b. al-Hus. b. 'Ali b. A. T. was alive, )' that he never died nor will ever die until, etc." The same elaborate formula instead of uLo also later. Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 45 the same of his brother Isma'il b. Ja'far. The Saba'iyya, 1 the followers of the Jew" 'Abdallah ibn Saba the Himyarite, believed the same of 'Alt b. Abi Talib, adding 3 that he was in the clouds. But I wish I knew in what particular cloud he is to be found, there being so many clouds in the different zones of the earth "that are compelled to do service between heaven and earth," as Allah the Almighty said. 4 *The said 'Abdallah ibn Saba, having received the news of 'All's murder, 5 expressed himself in these terms: " Even if you had brought us his brains in seventy bags, 6 we would not be convinced of his death. He will surely not die until he has filled the earth with justice as it is filled with iniquity." Some of the Keisaniyya *believed that Abii Muslim as-Siraj was alive and has not died, and that he will undoubtedly appear again. Others of the Keisaniyya 7 believed that 'Abdallah b. Mu'awiya b. 'Abdallah b. Ja'far b. Abi Talib was alive in the mountains of Isbahan until this day and will undoubtedly appear again. This /Abdallah is the same who rose in Faris in the days of Merwan b. Muhammed and was killed by Abu Muslim, after the latter had kept him in prison for a long time. 8 This 'Abdallah held detestable 9 opinions in religious matters, being a Xihilist and seeking the company of the Dahriyya. 1 Ed. Y. Sababiyya. Br. unpointed ; L. as above. See Comm. ,^L*wVt g^l ? l_}J_2j iv)li "fo was a J cw &*** outwardly pro- fessed Islam." Cf. p. 37. 3 tJLs. " maintaining." 4 Koran II, 159. x> Jo- &*s . JjCi' i>j j! AAW ^-?V Joo j "When it was said to Ibn Saba, after the murder of 'All had taken place: 'All has died." 6 1 follow the reading of A. 5^0 ^.AJtAvA , see Comm. Ed. Y. SV^^WAJUUA; "70 times." L. Br. So^o ^Br. unp.) "70 blows" which makes no sense. 7 L. om. through homoioteleuton. 8 5 Joo " a while." i "corrupt." 46 I. Friedlaender, [1907. Says Abu Muhammed : These people only follow in the foot- steps of the Jews who believe that *Malkizedek [b. Falig] b. ' Abir [b. Shalih] b. Arphakhshad b. Sam b. Nuh 1 and the servant whom Ibrahim dispatched to woo Ribket," the daughter of Bethu'ar b. Nakhur 4 b. Tarikh for his son Ishak, and Ilyas (Elijah) and Phinhas b. Al'azar 5 b. Harun are alive until this day. 6 The same direction is also taken, by some silly 7 Sufis, who affirm that Ilyas and al-Khadir are both alive until this day, some of them even claiming that they 8 met Ilyas in des- erts 9 and al-Khadir on lanes and meadows, 1 " and that the latter, whenever called, instantly appears 11 before the man who has called him. Says Abu Muhammed: How does al-Khadir accomplish it, *if he is called in the East, the West, the North and the South 12 and 13 1 Ed. Y. J| Juo^s? ,jj (Y. L. Br. also add Methusalem. but the reading is corrupt : ^^ r 3 ^- (J"? ( Br - _jj wj ("Br. ,Lfr) r*^ t-J 1 ^ n the readings adopted in the text see Commentary. 2 Ed. Y. LAJ^ , L. Br. L*^ . 3 Ed. Y. Jlpo . 4 y*\ . 5 Algazar. 6 +*JC ^j! ( M.>cX.j ^5 LxJjJt 3 "on earth, but it is not known where they are.' 9 7 Ed. Y. C^Y^ makes no sense. L. Br. ^+* (L. under it in tiny let- ters ^wuJlie. ^.. t /^)= ^ plural of the elativ 8 Ed. Y. singular ( ^.iLL: aol), taking the preceding (jdju as " one." The singular, however, contradicts the statement in the next paragraph. ' j.jJLj &XwL*.4Jt " lonely (deserts) and met." 10 + -LgjVtj ,M.jotJf Lg^o aLyoLcV! ..^x *JC^ LgJlS' iLuL*iaJiJ! oJUj. *Jfe^*JUOu p-g^ij (^*J' xxii! J! " All the K. they now belong to the Imamiyya of the Rawafid and among them are their dogmatists and thinkers as well as their center of gravity believe." u Om. 15 Ed. Y. om. 48 I. Friedlaender, [1907. 'Ali b. Abt Talib is alive, that he never died nor will ever die until he will appear and fill the earth with justice as it is filled with iniquity. He is in their opinion the Mahdi, the Expected. 1 A section of them maintains 2 that *the birth of this one who (in reality) was never created took place 3 in the year 260 *the year when his father died. 4 Another section, however, main- tains that he was born some time after his father's death. Still another section maintains that he was, on the contrary, born during the lifetime of his father. They report this in the name of flukeima, 6 the daughter of Muhammed b. 'Ali b. Mfisa. 6 *(They also report) that she was present at his birth and heard him speak and recite the Koran the moment he fell out of the womb of his mother, and that his mother was Narjis and that she herself (Hukeima) was his nurse. 7 The majority 3 of them, however, say that his mother was Sakil and a part of them say that his mother was Sausan. "But all this is humbug, 10 for the above-mentioned al-Hasan left no children," neither male nor female. Such is the first folly 1 " of the Shi'ites and the key to ! . * Ed. misprint J*AJ. . " his birthdate (was)." jt &j! (Br. Sy&o , L. S^Jo) 5^5jo ^ jJ! yyo * _=*.! " This is the year of death of him whom (that section) mentions as being (Br. whom we deny to be) his father. He is the last of their Imams." 5 Xjt~&. viLfj t.x "they report about this a silly story." Instead of SUjOC=. ..^. there is a blank both in L. and Br. 6 -f- -mS<+$\ ,-yAw.t &+ ^t o^=*l "the sister of 'Ali and the aunt of the above-mentioned al-Hasan." awl (jlj (jUiJ! ^ cub!. Ed. Y. A. ooLT^ L^! 5 . 8 aLftjLb "a part." 9 +Says Abu Muhammed. fabricated lie." $, 11 ^Lo! " at all." '2 J.j> "belief." Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 49 their grave errors 1 of which this one is the least grave, though (sufficient) to lead to perdition. All these, 2 when 1 " asked to prove what they say, reply : Our proof is Inspiration, and he who contradicts us is of illegitimate birth. 4 This is strange 5 indeed ! I wish I knew the dif- ference between them and the opposite attitude 6 of those who claim Inspiration while proving the absurdity of their assump- tions and (maintaining) that the Shi'ites 7 are of illegitimate birth 9 , or that they are idiots 9 , or that they all have forking pro- jections 10 on their heads. *What would they say of one who had belonged to them but then went over to the others, or one who had belonged to the others and then went over to them ? Do you believe that he is transferred 11 from an illegitimate birth 1 (v4.-L^ which evidently stands for ^ g>*U -^ " their curiosities." - IjJls xX^ viXJO 3 JLsXrLt . . . jv^3l (sic) |4jL^ ^jjO) . 3 Ed. and Codd. j! " since." Read I jl . s 4 + Says Abu Muhammed. '> Ed. and Codd. Lib _b . I read LOJ Jc " strange" (Lane). 6 Ed. Y. -LxC from ^xc III " to equalize, adjust," which conveys no proper sense. L. t>xc (Br. uncertain). I read oxfr from JoLc III " to oppose, contradict." I . 8 Ed. jjjui-, .Read 5 l J6 "he also was one of the leaders of the Mu'tazilites." 9 Om. ^*j yfc Koran IX, 40. aJUf oJut Lo! " doest thou not fear Allah?" Vol. xxviii.J Th e Heterodoxies of the Shiites, ete. 51 broke forth into a 1 long laughter so that 2 (we felt) as had we been the evildoers." An-Nazzam narrates: "We often spoke with 3 'Ali b. Mitam 4 as-Sabuni (the soapboiler) he was one of the doctors of the Rawafid and one of their dogmatists and we would occasionally ask him [for some information, which he would give us. When we asked him] : 6 ' Is it (i. e., your informa- tion) an opinion (of your own) or an oral information 6 (coming) from the Imams ?" he would deny that he gave it of his own opinion. We then reminded him 8 of what he had said about the same thing on a previous [182] occasion." He (an-Nazzam) continues : ' 'By Allah, I never saw him blush for it or feel ashamed of having done it." One of the tenets of the Imamites both ancient and modern is that the Koran was interpolated by adding passages that were not in it, by removing a great number (of verses) from it and altering a great number (of verses) in it. The only excep- tion is 'Ali b. al-Husein 9 b. Musa *b. Muhammed 10 b. Ibrahim b. Musa b. Ja'far b. Muhammed b. 'Ali b. al-Husein 11 b. 'Ali b. Abi Talib, who was 12 an Imamite, yet at the same time openly declared his schism (in this question). He always denied this belief *and declared those who entertained it apostates. 13 Of the same opinion (with him) were his two followers Abu Ya'la 14 1 +!w3Le "sudden, unexpected." Originally said of an arrow of which the shooter is not known. See Lane s.v. L*J. " we had to blush and." L-V *. ,j&5 "('All b. Mitam) often spoke with us." 4 Ed. Y. *JUx> , Br. *AAXI , L. unp. See Comm. 5 Ed. Y. om. aJLwwJLs ^xSXJ kjlLw^A) ^s. owing to homoioteleuton. 6 SoUs " oral tradition." 7 Sing. 8 Ed. misprint S ,.x^Li . 9 Ed. Y. al-Hasan. 10 Om. Ed. Y. al-Hasan. . j " one of the heads of the Imdmites and one of their dogma- tists. Yet, at the same time he openly and publicly declared his schism." 13 Only xj _RXJ which is probably a mistake for xj jljj vx -AJo. 14 Ed. Y. L. jou. Br. ^. is probably a correction. 52 I. Friedlaender, [1907, Sabalan (?)' of Tusand Abu'l-Kasim ar-Razi (of Rai-Teheran). Says Abu Muhammed : The belief that there are interpolations between the two covers (of the Koran) is pure 5 apostasy and 3 equal to declaring the Apostle of Allah a liar. A section of the Keisdniyya believed in the Transmigration of Souls and this belief was upheld by the poet as-Sayyid al- Himyari, Allah curse him! Those who believed in it were so possessed with this idea 4 that one of them would take a mule or a donkey and hit it and torture it and withhold from it drink and food, on the ground that it bears the spirit of Abu Bekr and 'Omar. 5 Marvel at this folly, 8 which has no parallel to it! 'For by what right has this miserable mule or unlucky donkey been distinguished by transferring to it the spirit (of Abu Bekr and 'Omar), more than all other mules and donkeys? They do the same thing to a she-goat, on the ground that she bears the spirit of the Mother of the Faithful. 8 The bulk of their 9 dogmatists like Hisham b. al-Hakam of Kufa, 10 his pupil 11 Abu 'All ash-Shakkak 12 and others maintain that God's knowledge is created and that he knew nothing until he created knowledge for himself: 13 this is pure apostasy. 14 1 L. ^^**u , Br. unp. Ed. Y. J^yo . See Comm. " unadulterated" (the. same variant also later). 3 xiV " because it is." * Ed. Y. tf jo +J \ ilo ; L. Br. "frenzy." 5 4- or 'Othmdn. See Comm. 7 + Lo^jjUu ouJ L> " I wish I knew." 8 +Says Abu Muhammed. + J^tt "early." 10 + ! ; Codd. Plural. Plural. "life," which makes no sense. J^e. " to stupefy all the peo- ' / / pie of the earth with lies." 9 + ^j9\\ viXJj ^i .^ ..MJO "to those who lived in that generation.' 1 '' L. Br. om. 10 L. Br. om. the whole paragraph. " + " Says Abu Muhammed. " i\Yt "hare." 16 +Says Abu Muhammed. 16 ..JL& " lack" (of shame). 17 Om. I I tX ,CW ^J " a large number at the time of Ignorance." 18 54 7. Friedlaender, [1907. who were called by this name, like 'All b. Bekr b. Wa'il, to whom every Bekrite in the world traces his origin. 1 *There was an 'Ali among the Azd and an 'All among the Bajila as well as in other (tribes). Every one of these was well-known in the time of Ignorance. 2 Nearer than 3 this was 'Amir b. at-Tufeil with the Kunya Abu 'Ali. Their public assertions 4 are, however, more numerous than those mentioned. There is a section among them maintaining that Paradise and Hell will decay. On the other hand, there are some among the Keisaniyya who maintain that this world 6 will never decay. There was one section among them called al-Bajaliyya fi [183] tracing its origin to *al-Hasan b. 7 'Alt b. "Warsand al-Bajali. 8 He belonged to the people of Nafta," of the district of Kafsa 10 in Kastilia," of the lands of Ifrikiya. Then this infidel started for as-Sus at the extreme end of the lands of the Masamida, whom he led astray, also leading astray the Amir of as-Sus Ahmad b. Idris b. Yahya b. Idris b. 'Abdallah b. al-Hasan 12 b. al-Hasan 13 b. 'Ali b. Abi Talib. They are very numerous 1 Om. au-wuj ,i . + iaJii Jo ..vj jCio -AJ _^iUk. . See Comm. j w / (S 13 I ' o - 8 L. Br. instead : x e *n S. ^j V;*-^ cH r-"*-^ \J~? \i" ^ / ^^^ \J"? u^^ ^ ( Codd - Uxi Lfl_s! . See Comm. 3 Om. x : "the nearest." 4 x-aiUt s^?!.joL^? "the publ. ass. of the Rawafid." 5 L. *.t " Paradise." Br. as Ed. 8 Ed. iUJLadJ! , Y. &JU>Jt , L. xJlJj , A. auJLsJf , Br. See Comm. "> Om. Ed. J^sUi , Y. J^aJt ; L. Br. unp. ' A. x|^fl> ; L. Br. unp. 10 Br. &^OAJ . 11 Om. Ed. Y. Rx^Lk^ .I read XjJLJxwwJ: iuoAi' " Kafsa in K." '- Ed. Y. al-Husein. 'L. Br. al-Husein. Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shtites, etc. 55 there, dwelling iu the environments of the city of as-Sus, openly professing their unbelief. Their prayers are different from those of the Muslims. They eat no fruit whatever whose root has been manured. They maintain that the Imamate is confined to the descendants of al-Hasan, *to the exclusion of the descend- ants of al-Husein. 1 To them also belonged the followers of AbH Kdmil. One of their beliefs was that all the Companions became apostates after the death of the Prophet by disclaiming the Imamate of 'All, and that the latter, too, became an apostate by conceding the rule first to Abu Bekr, then to 'Omar, then to 'Othman. The bulk of them, however, add that 'All and those that followed him returned to Islam, having asserted his rights *after the death of 'Othman 2 , by uncovering 3 his face and unsheathing 4 his sword, while before this they had drifted away from Islam and had become apostates and polytheists. Among them there were also some who put the whole blame in this matter on the Prophet, because he did not explain the question in a manner removing all doubt. Says Abu Muhammed: All this is pure apostasy and no hiding of it is possible. These are the doctrines 5 of the Imamites, who among the sects of the Shi 'a are *moderate as regards 6 "Extremism." III. As to the Extremists among the Shi'ites, they are divided into two parties: 1. one attributing prophecy after the Prophet to some other person, 7 2. the other attributing divinity to any- one beside Allah, thus joining the Christians and the Jews 8 and betraying religion in a most detestable manner. Merely aL*. "alone" + ^^1.3 ^ #t>lj! xLu/j "and therest of thelnfidels." 56 I. Friedlaender, [1907. 1. The party which admits prophecy after the Prophet is divided into various sects. To these belonged the Gurdbiyya.* Their opinion was that Muhammed resembled 'All more closely than one raven the other and that Allah had dispatched Jibril with a revelation 2 to 'All, but Jibril mistook Muhammed for him. 3 Yet 4 Jibril is not to be blamed as he (only) made a mistake/ There was, however, a section among them who said that Jibril did it purposely and they declared him an apostate and cursed him, may Allah curse them! Says Abu Muhammed : Did anyone ever hear of more weak-minded people and more finished idiots than these here 6 who assume that Muhammed resembled 'All ? For Heaven's sake ! *How could there exist a resemblance between a man of forty and a boy of eleven years, so that Jibril should have mistaken him ? 7 Besides, Muhammed was" above middle-size (tending) towards tallness, 9 erect 10 like a spear, with a thick beard, big black 11 eyes, full thighs, with little hair on his body, 1ml rich 1 L. auiUJI , Br. x 2 +&JL* J! " and a message." * ' 3 Instead of jLt^V+j more explicitly cV t

. " then a beardless boy. When he had grown up, he was." 3 +(_>.j'! (-^flJL'tJ,!) " nearer " (to shortness). i " ' 4 + Xx^Jf xx, ic vJW " with an exceedingly rich beard." 5 Om. 6 +LJ8wXx5' " both big." 7 $e,Juo " exceedingly." s . S w 8 sLftJs ,i oLyfl o-o W "except a tuft on his occiput." Lit., " a tuft which was tufted." I owe this explanation to Professor Torrey. 9 Ed. Y. JLys^JI "beard," which makes no sense. L. Br. "body." 10 IsLsV " at the exaggeration." u xajUaJ! " party." 12 Om. 13 14 Om. I5 16 + VA&! ..w+J SvAJtJ ^ fl't^ ^ (jj. " Verily, in their stupidity there is a warning for those who accept a warning I" 'I Ed. o*Ji! . I read o^bf . See p. 49, n. 5. vile." 58 I. Friedlaender, [1907. curse 1 , and the curse of the whole of mankind 2 so long as human beings will last before Allah in his world ! One section believed in the prophecy of 'All. 3 Another sec- tion believed that 'Ali b. Abi Talib, al-Hasan, al-Husein, 4 'All b. al-Husein 5 , Muhammedb. 'All, Ja'farb. Muhammed, Musa b. Ja'far, 'Ali b. Musa, Muhammed b. 'Ali, ['Ali b. Muhammed], 7 al-Hasan b. 'Ali 8 and the Expected, 9 the son of al-Hasan, were all prophets. 10 Another section believed in the prophecy of Muhammed b. Isma'il b. Ja'far only. This is the party of the Karmatians. Another section believed only in the prophecy of 'Ali and his three sons: al-Hasan, al-Husein and Muhammed b. al-Hanafiyya. This is the party of 11 the Keisdniyya. Al- Mukhtar 12 was constantly attempting 13 to claim prophecy for himself: he spoke in rhymes 14 and warned them against turning aside from Allah, several groups 15 of the cursed Shi'ites follow- ing him in 16 this belief. He 17 advocated the Imamate of Muham- med b. al-Hanafiyya. 1 Cf. Koran II, 154; L. Br. + xJo^Jt. "and of the angels." 8 The following om. 3 + 5 aLftSUfl erroneously .jLx 18 +xJUt &JLxJ (Br. only aO*J) "Allah curse him!" 13 Ed. correctly fLa. ; Y. |*.cs , see Dozy s.v. Lit.: "turning around." 14 L. erroneously 16 JlftjLb "a group." 14 +i_ajo " at the same time." Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 59 One section believed in the prophecy of al-Muyirb, b. Sa l id, a client of the Banu Bajila in Kufa, the same whom Khalid b. 'Abdallah al-Kasri burned at the stake. This Mugira may Allah curse him ! used to maintain that *the object of his wor- ship 1 had the shape of a man with a crown on his head and that his limbs were according to the number of the letters of the alphabet, the Alif, for instance, corresponding with the thighs, *and similar things, for which no tongue of one who belongs to any branch of religion will ever loosen itself. 2 Allah is mightily exalted above the assumptions of the Unbelievers ! He Allah curse him ! also maintained that *the object of his worship, 3 when intending to create the world/ uttered his Greatest Name which 5 fell down on his crown. Then he wrote down with his finger [on his palm] 6 the actions of men, both the good and the bad ones. But when he beheld the bad actions, sweat trickled down from him on account of it. 7 From this sweat two lakes were gathered: one salty and dark, the other light and sweet. Then he looked into the lake and beheld his shadow. 8 *He started to catch it,' but it flew away. *At last he caught it. 10 He plucked out the eyes 11 of his shadow and, grinding them, created out of them the sun 12 and another sun. He created the Infidels out of the salty lake and the Faithful out of the sweet lake, with an ample mixture of both. One of his beliefs also 1 a!J% " his Lord." See Comm. 2 ^Lol KAjUCs! ,jLJ LJ yjJLkJLj V Lo JLJ3 JULJ. "and besides 'this (things) which to record no tongue will loosen itself for us in any way." 3 SJ\ " his Lord." 4 Ed. Y. (JjJLiLl , lit. "the creation." L. Br. kLit " Paradise." 6 + sbj "flew and." 6 L. Br. +ja l *. ; Ed. Y. om. ' Om. xj . 8 Ed. aLjLb "darkness." Y. x^JLJC, L. Br. (and Ed. next line) cor- rectly &JLib . 9 Br. om., apparently through oversight. 10 5tXiU &$N 3(j . u Incorrectly ^jyLxC . 13 + ^fljL " and the moon." See Comm. 60 I. Friedlaender, [1907. was that the prophets never differed in anything concerning the religious laws. It has been assumed that Jabir b. Yazid al- Ju'fi, the same who received traditions from ash-Shu 'bl, was the successor of al-Mugira b. Sa'id, 1 when Khalid *b. 'Abdallah al-Kasri 2 had burned him. When Jabir died, he was succeeded* by Bekr al-A'war (the Blind) al-Hijri, and when he (too) died, they transferred the leadership to 'Abdallah, the son of al- Mugira, their above-mentioned head. 4 They existed in Kufa in compact numbers. The last opinions at which al-Mugira b. Sa'id arrived were his belief in the Imamate of Muhammed b. [185] 'Abdallah b. al-Hasan b. al-Hasan 5 and the prohibition of the water of the Euphrates and of any 6 river, well 7 or cistern, into which, anything unclean has fallen. Under these circum- stances those who advocated 8 the Imamate of the descendants of al-Husein 9 held themselves aloof from him. One section believed in the prophecy of Baydn b. >' '-Le. J^XioiJl v?"9 *oL& " who then was alive, a youth of a little over twenty. Al-Mugira advocated the pro- hibition." 6 Ed. Y. +*\uo "water of." It is most probably a repetition of the word before. 7 Om. Ji s* ^ ** JL> ..wo Jo aJL* ^VAAJ . 9 Al-Hasan. reed." + \^aJuo Lcy> V "and was exceedingly terrified." their." Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 61 fool. 1 Bayan b. Sam'an, Allah 3 curse him, maintained that God would entirely decay, excepting only his countenance. This lunatic actually thought that he was supported in this his heresy by the saying of Allah: "Every creation that is on it is subject to decay, and remain will only the countenance of your Lord." 3 But had he only possessed an ounce of reason or understanding, then he would have known that Allah's statement about decay only refers to the things on earth, *in agreement with the text of the truthful saying: 4 "Every creation that is on it is subject to decay." But Allah does not attribute decay to *that which is not on earth. 5 Allah's countenance is surely Allah, 6 not a thing different from him. 7 *Far be it from Allah that division and fraction should be attributed to him. 8 This is only the attribute of the created, limited beings, but not the attribute of one who is not 9 limited 10 and has no equal. 11 He Allah curse him ! also maintained that it was he 13 who was meant by the saying of Allah: " This is an illustration (bayan) for mankind." 13 *He also adhered to the doctrine 14 that the Imam was [Abu] 15 Hashim 'Abdallah b. Muhammed *b. al-Hanafiyya 16 and that then it (the Imamate) passed over to all the other descendants of 'All. 17 1 L. J^cLftJ! (Br. JuLfcJt) "coward." 2 L. om. 3 "glorious and honorable." Koran LV, 26-27. ; JlJj wxc.. 6 + au*J "himself." ' -i- \'-*g fr ^/. x^.vl^. V. J^*-; yfc " nor an organ, or a limb." "olv^^j (j^-AJujJU oL^jJ ,jl (Br. +,j-c) jL*3'- 9 Y. om. 10 L. Ji^. , Br. ^A~>. " concealed "? f- ' 11 + ..aS^ 3. " and no match." 14 +^ * ' - 13 +/5cX#5 "and guidance." Koran III, 132. 14 Jjb jjtf. . 15 Ed. Y. om. 16 b. 'Ali b. A. T. 11 4- ,v4.Juo LgJ ^>JLo .^.A " those of them who were fit for it." . 62 I. Friedlaender, [1907. A section of them believed in the prophecy of Manstir al-Mustanir'al-'Ijli (of the Banu 'Ijl) 3 , the same whose nickname was "al-Kisf" 4 (the Fragment). He claimed 5 that he was meant by the saying of Allah : "If they should see a fragment of the heaven falling down." 6 He was crucified by Yusuf b. 'Omar in Kufa. He also Allah 7 curse him! pre- tended that he was lifted up to heaven and that Allah, patting him on his head with his hand, said to him: " Go forth, [o] my child, 8 and deliver (a message) from me." 9 The oath of his followers was : " No, by the Word !" He also Allah curst- him ! maintained that the first beings 10 created by Allah were 'Isa b. Haryam and 'Ali b. Abi Talib. He held the belief in the unin- terrupted succession of apostles. He permitted forbidden things, viz. adultery, wine, (the eating of) dead animals, 11 swine and blood, maintaining that they were nothing but proper names of men, the bulk of the Rawafid are still of the same opinion to-day. He abolished the obligatory prayei-s, alms, fasts" and pilgrimage. His followers were all stranglers and skull breakers, just as were the followers of al-Mugira b. Sa'id. Their reason for this was that they did not permit the iise of arms before he whom they expected would come forth. They consequently killed the people only by means of strangling and breaking the skull, 1 Ed. Y. om. 9 Ed. r*Z~*J\ . 3 L. + auj-Lo ; Br. auxxJ-o = ixjuLfl or aJuuJLo by (his) descent. 4 Br. oLciJOL? . 8 Ed. erroneously JUb instead of J*Jb . 6 _ 5 I * . 6 +*j w>L^ '~VV. "tbey would say: it is a thick cloud." Koran LII, 44. I Br. om. 55 "^ 9 I I 8 o L> , probably more correct than Ed. Y. Li! . 9 Cf. Koran V, 71. 10 Ed. Y. ^o ; L. Br. Lo " things." II +*^} ' the meat of." 15 Sing. Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 63 while the Khashabiyya confined themselves to wooden arms. 1 Hisham b. al-Hakam the Rafidite* in his book, known under the title " al-Mizan " (the Balance), he knew them better than anyone else, because he was their neighbor in Kufa and their *associate in doctrine 3 mentions that the Kisfiyya particularly 4 kill *both their adherents 5 and opponents saying: "We (only) hurry 6 the Faithful to Paradise and 7 the Infidels to Hell." After the death of *Abti Mansur 8 they used to deliver a fifth of the goods taken away from those [186] they killed by strangling [or breaking their skulls] 9 to al-Husein, I0 the son of Abu Mansur. 1 The last two sentences more explicit in L. Br. |V#sL*iAJ>l ,1 . v>~0jj!j (Br. * jJi - ^J5 *^* '*-^ ^ ^Lo! j " The reason for their confining themselves to strangling and skull breaking and the Keisaniyya confining themselves to fighting with wooden arms only, is that they do not allow to carry any iron weapon whatsoever, even if they be killed, until he whom they expect will come forth, when they will again carry arms. They therefore kill only by means of strangling and breaking the skull with stones and wooden arms." 3 Ed. Y. ^JC tX 3 f*;^ L - Br - " and their twinbrother as regards the pretensions of the Shi'ites" 4 +ab^.-v3-A-JI *JC " they are the Manstiriyya." 6 +*_$ AX aJUcis ^c NtXJs' "f* JL^!^ J^" "every one whom they are able to kill, (both those belonging) to them." ^ri "it is necessary that we should hurry." " and that we should hurry." 8 Y. aZ-Mansur. L. Br. +aUxJ " (Allah) curse him !" ! om. in Ed. Y. > 10 Ed. Y. al-Hasan. 64 Z Friedlaender, [1907. His followers were divided into two sections: 1 one maintaining that after 5 Muhamrned b. 'Alt b. al-Husein 3 the Iniamate 4 passed over to Muhammed b. 'Abdallahb. al-Hasanb. al-Hasan; b the other maintaining (that it passed over) to *Abu Mansur 6 al- Kisf and would never return to the descendants of 'Ali. One section 7 believed in the prophecy of Jiazig,* the weaver, in Kufa. That this claim (to prophecy) should have been raised 9 by them in favor of a weaver is strange 10 uideed! *Another section believed in the prophecy of Jfu'ammar, the corndealer, in Kufa. 11 Another section believed in the prophecy of ' Omeir at-Tabban 12 (the strawdealer) in Kufa. He was Allah 13 curse him in the habit of saying to his followers: " If I wanted to turn this straw into pure gold, I could do it." He presented himself before Khalid 14 b. 'Abdallah al-Kasri and courageously 15 > " the death of." 3 Ed. Y. al-Hasan. 4 Ed. Y. erroneously *LoVI instead of x/ 6 Ed. al-Husein. 6 L. Br. al-M.; Ed. Y. Abu al-M. 1 +"o/ the Khattdbiyya." 8 L. Joj jo ; Br. 9 Ed. Y. >. . L. Br. i_4.wX? = ^-i^Jo " revealed itself." 10 Ed. ioj^kJ; Br. aub^iiJt, L. &AJ.kJ; Y. XftJ^ioJ . oL: \Je " strange" (Lane). See p. 57, note 17. 11 Only in Ed. and A. Y. om. L. Br. instead -. ^ JLaSb onlJ9 " another group of the Khatjdbiyya believed in the prophecy of Sari al-Aksam in Kufa." See Comm. 14 ^jUcxJl . 1S Om. 14 +b. al-Walid, apparently owing to a confusion with Khalid b. al- Walid, "the sword of Allah," the famous general under the first caliphs. 15 Om. jJLsii. Vol. xxviii.J The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 65 denounced him. Khalid then gave orders to execute him and he was killed, in addition to the curse of Allah. 1 *These five sects all belong to the sects of the Khattabiyya. 3 A section of (our) ancients, 3 the partisans of the Abbasides, believed in the prophecy of 'Ammar, *with the nickname Khiddsh." Asad b. 'Abdallah, the brother of Khalid b. 'Abdal- lah *al-Kasri, 6 got hold of him and killed him, in addition to the curse of Allah. 6 2. The second party among the sects of the Extremists is that which attributes divinity to anyone beside Allah. The first of them were certain people among the adherents of 'Abdallah b. Sabd the Himyarite, may Allah curse him! 7 They came to 'All b. Abi Talib and said 8 in his face: " Thou ' ^ 1 +k>L.J! (jw-AJ} "and an unhappy couch shall it be." Koran II, 202. 2 aJU! xAxJ ^UasLl jl v Lsft ^ p^Is" *Vjl# ^jl^ 'fall these belong to the followers of Abu'l-Kha^tab, Allah curse him ! L. Br. + " Among those who imitated his example in claiming prophecy was the scoundrel who arose among the Banu 'l- l Uleis b. Dam- dam b. 'Adi b. Jandb of the Kelb (and) who was burned in his battle with (?) Tugj, also the leader of the Zenj who rose in Kufa,Allah curse him ! They both pretended to be 'Alides and they were both liars in this claim." See Comm. 3 L. Br. JotjV! "the ancients." Ed. Y. viJLS "those," does not seem to convey a proper meaning. 4 , !*.=. jU _AJC*J! " with the Kunya AbH Khirdsh." u ^y (S~ ' o 5 Om. here and add after "Asad b. 'Abdallah." \-"in KhordsAn.' 1 J,^ j-C "and his anger." * w * 7 L. om. " Allah." L. Br. -faLoL*-wwJ! ^.^ujJ^i X^JI. " t o whom the Sabd'iyya trace their origin." 8 +xJ "to him." VOL. xxvm. 5 66 I. Friedlaender, [1907. art he!" He asked them "Who is he?" and they answered " Thou art Allah." 'All, however, took the matter very seriously and gave orders to kindle a fire and he burned them in it. While they were being thrown into the fire, they started shout- ing: "Now we feel certain that he is 'Allah. For none but Allah punishes by fire." 2 Regarding this (incident) he 3 said: [Rajaz] "When I saw that the matter became an illegal matter, I kindled a fire and called Kanbar." By Kanbar he refers to his slave, the same who was charged with throwing them* into the fire. 4 Let us seek refuge in Allah from being led into temptation through a created being and a created being from being led into temptation through us, be it in a great or small (thing). For the temptation of Abu '1-Hasan (i. e. 'All) in the midst of his followers is like the temptation of 'Isa 5 in the midst of his followers, the Apostles. "This sect still subsists today, (nay), is even increasing and embraces large numbers. They are called the 'Ulydniyya.' One of them was Ishak b. Muhammed an-Nakha'i (of the Band an-Nakha'), al-Ahmar (the Red), of Kufa, who was one of their dogmatists. He wrote a book on this subject under 'the title "as-Sirat" (the Path). He was refuted 8 by al-Bhnki (?) 9 and al-Fayyad *as regards (his views) mentioned above. 10 *They maintain that Muhammed is the Apostle of 'Ali. ; L. oo! viLt " thatthou art." ,... xJLM ^Lxi' "Allah is exalted above their unbelief ." yb '"All." 4 Om. 5 Ed. Y. + ivA-*'} ^^-^ *-Ut (J^ > the formula otherwise used only after the mention of the Prophet. L. Br. the same formula after " the Apostles." 6 + Says Abu Muhammed. " Br. auoLuLxJI . See Comm. 8 Ed. Y. *jJ*e (jdAJ (refuter, Dozy). L. JUOAJ , Br. auoib , probably ' ^ ^ meant i<^ajfc . 9 Ed. Y. here and later -.O- g-A.M ; Br. twice jjCx^xJI , L. here ^Xx^xJ! , later jCi^xJI . Mas'udi, Murtijad-Dahab, iii, 265 10 Om. + b. 'AH. Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 67 A group of Shi'ites, known as the Muhammadiyya, main- tains 1 that Muhammad is Allah, but Allah is exalted above their unbelief. To these belonged al-Bhnki and al-Fayyad * b. 'All. 2 The latter composed a book on this topic, which he called "al-Kustas" 3 (the Balance). His father was the well- known Katib, who first occupied this post under ' Abdallah b. Kandaj, when the latter was Wali, 4 then 5 under the Commander of the Faithful, al-Mu'tadid. 6 It was with reference to him that al-Buhturi composed the well-known 7 poem, of which the beginning runs thus: [Khafif] Far from the inhabitant 8 of Guweir 9 is [his (present) place of visitation 10 . The (long) travels have emaciated him. But 11 [Allah is his patron. 12 [187] The said al-Fayyad, Allah curse him! was killed by al- Kasim b. 'Abdallah 13 b. Suleiman b. Wahb, because he was among those who denounced the latter in the days of al-Mu'ta- did. The story* is well known. 1 In L. Br. corrupt probably owing to a homoioteleuton : ,.J,JLj IcX+iS? (jl (J.?V^ ^^ ***"-N ( Br - " Read Vy**) '. - Om. + ^j tX*^? jj-? (^t ^.J u^^ 1 ^' yj wl b^5J ^j JJU! ..oLxAJ! " mentioned just now. It is al-Fayydd b. 'Att b. Muhammed b. al-Fayy&d." 3 Ed. Br. ^Ik-wJiJ! ; Y. ^lU^bM' ; L. .JflkujJ! (sic). * +5 r .5' r 4.| " over Mesopotamia." he was Katib." 6 L. om. " Om. 8 L. Br. -JL^nw "inhabitants." Buhturi, Divan (ed. Constantinople, 1300 H.) ii, 86 as Ed. 9 Ed. Y. L. /JjJi-M . Br. and Buhturi as above. 10 Ed. Y. SstyX ; L. Br. and Buht. styo (pronounce 5fCo) . 11 Ed. and Codd. ; Buht. o . 15 Ed. Y. jj.la. ; L. Br. and Buht. s.U* (=L 'Ubeidallah. 68 Z Friedlaender, [1907. Another section believed in the divinity of Adam and the prophets 1 after him, prophet after prophet, down to Muhammed, then in the divinity of 'All, then in the divinity of al-Hasan, then 3 al-Husein, [then 'All b. al-Husein] ; 3 then Muhammed b. 'All, then Ja'far b. Muhammed, and here they stopped. The Khattabiyya one day publicly proclaimed this belief in Kufa, when 'Isab. Musab. Muhammed b. Alib. 'Abdallah b. al-'Abbas was Wali. 4 They came out in the middle of the day in large crowds, attired in belts and cloaks like pilgrims, and shouting at the top of their voices: "With thee, o Ja'far! with thee, o Ja'far! " 6 Ibn 'Ayash and others say: "It is, as if I saw them (as they were) that day." Isa b. Musa encountered them and they fought against him. But he killed them and exterminated them. Then another section enlarged upon the above-mentioned doctrine and believed in the divinity of Muhammed b. IsmtVil b. Ja'far b. Muhammed. These were the KarmaticDt*. Anion<; the latter were some who believed in the divinity of *Aln"i Sa'&l al-Hasan b. Bahrdm al-Jannabi 6 and his sons after him. *Some of them believed in the divinity 7 of Abti, '/-A'//'*//// - X.JU-H " known as Ibn al-Fardkid." See Comm. 70 I. Friedlaender, [1907. the days of ar-Radi. *He ordered those of his followers who were of higher attainments to have criminal intercourse with him, 1 so as to make the Light penetrate into him. All these sects advocate the communism of wives. 3 Another group of them believed in the divinity of X/iff>-^? (jb KJ&Lo! -x>Lj (jL$j " Be used to order his followers that the more excellent one of them should have crim- inal intercourse with the inferior one." This is most probably correct. Jydl J^c. Ja (Codd. JUlt) J (Br. i Jl .L. Br., kjjojj. See Comm. 10 + " the Commander of the Faithful." 11 xJJ) JUxJ ! virtixki 1 -xl au*AJo " he himself came out and ordered to kill them. They were all killed, in addition to the curse of Allah." Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 71 Another group of them believed in the divinity of 'Abdallah b. al-Harith 1 of the Band Kinda 2 in Kufa, whom they wor- shipped. He believed in the Transmigration of Souls. He imposed upon them 3 seventeen 4 prayers (every) day and night, b each prayer having fifteen 8 "bows." Later, hoAvever, [188], one of the dogmatists of the Sufriyya having argued with him and having clearly put forth the arguments for the (true) religion, 7 he became a Muslim 8 and his Islam was sound. He renounced all the beliefs he had held previously. He informed his followers of it *and openly showed his repentance. 9 There- upon all his followers *who had worshipped him and had pro- fessed his divinity withdrew from him. They cursed him and deserted him, 10 and they all returned to the belief in the Imamate of 'Abdallah b. Mu'awiya b. 'Abdallah b. Ja'far b. Abi Talib. 'Abdallah b. al-Harith, however, persevered *in Islam and 11 in the doctrine of the Sufriyya till he died. * His party is still known today as the Kharbiyya. 1 * To the Saba'iyya, 18 who profess the divinity of 'Ali, belongs a party' 4 known as the Nuseiriyya. lf ' They got hold in our own 1 L. and Ed. ii, 115 - . 7 " the religion of Islam." 8 -t-SvlxX^lj " by his own free will." 9 Om. 10 Differently worded a.j jjCr XxAicVLj , i vAJ. xj . JCAJU Ljl > l '.77 > >/ j 11 Om. probably owing to homoioteleuton. 19 (sic) &JO.J.L (jjivAJ j^jJ! J! |v#j after "Ja'far b. Abi Talib." 13 Ed. Y. x.xjL*J! ; L. Br. aujL^JI . See Comm. 14 Ed. misprint iLajLb. instead of aLaS 15 Ed. Y. RjaJI ; L. xj-o-J! ; Br. A. jbaxjf . See Comm. 72 Z Friedlaender, [1907. time *of the army of Urdunn in Palestine and especially of the city of Tiberias. ' It is one of their tenets to curse 2 Fatima, the daughter of the Apostle of Allah, and to curse al-Hasan and al- Husein, the sons of 'All, to denounce them in a most detestable manner, 3 to charge them with every possible calamity and to assert positively that she and her two sons may Allah be pleased with them and curse their haters ! were devils who assumed the shape of human beings. 4 As regards their opinion about 'Abderrahman 5 b. Muljam al-Muradi (of the Bantl Murad), 6 the murderer of 'All may Allah be pleased with him 7 and may the curse of Allah (rest) upon Ibn Muljam J^these (people) maintain *that 'Abderrahman b. Muljam al-Muradi 8 is the most excellent of all the people of the earth and the most honored 9 of them in the future world, because he purified 10 the spirit of the Deity from what had stuck to it of the darkness and turbidity 11 of the body. Marvel ye at this madness and ask ye of Allah deliverance from the affliction of this and the future world, for it is in his hands, not in anyone else's. May Allah make our portion of it most plentiful ! *Know ye that among all those that count themselves to the relig- ion of Islam, while adhering to these abominable heterodoxies, '* J c^ ? "one of their disgraceful tenets is the denouncing." Instead of aJj' /.wo* (,jk>)VI L- blank. 4 Instead of (jujI L- ^.A*! . Br. ( j>t . ', L. 'Abdallah. Om. 7 Ed. Y. + l> . (.W.C "with 'Ali." It is a gloss to aLLft which crept into the text. 8 Only j! "that he." 9 A. jV^J6^5 | "the most repugnant." Y. 5 scratched out and . sub- stituted. 10 (_>oXiOo (imperfect form). 11 Br. erroneously 5.jJOo ( = *J iXCi) instead of S>tX5^ ^ L> erroneousl y om. ^jf) ^j! 1,-fJLttj " Know ye that all those who reckon these abominable heterodoxies men- tioned before, viz., the claim of Divinity, to the religion of Islam." Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 73 that their (vivifying) element are only the Shi'ltes 1 and Sufis." For there are people among the Sufis who maintain 3 that he who has attained the knowledge of God is exempt from the (religious) precepts. 4 Some of them add 5 : "and becomes united with the Almighty." We have been told that there is now in Nisabur in our own age a man, whose Kunya is Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Kheir thus (two Kunyas) together 6 belonging to the Sufis. Sometime he dresses himself in wool 7 , another time he dresses himself in silk 8 which is forbidden to men. Now he prays thousand " bows" on one day, now 9 he recites neither the obligatory nor the voluntary prayer. This is pure apostasy. Let us seek refuge in Allah from error ! C. The Imamate of the 'Alides. [Printed Edition (=Ed.) IV, pp. 92-94 ; Codex Leyden(=L.) II, fol. 87aff. Codex British Museum (=Br.) II, fol. 22 b ff. The variants quoted anonymously are taken from L. and Br. and, if not otherwise stated, identical in both.] Those who maintain that the Imamate is only permissible in the descendants of 'All are divided into two parties. One party maintains that the Apostle of Allah put down a written statement concerning 'All, viz. that he was to be -the j the detestable." Read *juxJvJ! " Shi'ism." the doctrine of the Sufis." +l/:Jo j ^! JiM j*\lb j K (instead of j|. ). 6 Lx/o (L. (jLcj^s?) (jU-Cj-*^? ^IjifjS' ! jjC$e " thus two Kunyas joined together." + V _ - JB JLwii!JI tWc. jvX^I jjj pULtf ^ "for Hisham b. al-Hakam, the pillar of the Rawafi wxj _AA^^ "inmany of his religious responsa." 3 Singular. 4 cyLftxJf cyL>!,.J " through the traditions of reliable authorities." 5 + Says Abu Muhammed. 6 Ed. Jw^s*.. . L. Jj6.&. (sic). Br. i^a^S. _ ;,^- I cannot make out what this reading means. I propose JL*^.. "and carry." 7 Om. s Koran VIII, 76. L. Br. oin. aJUf . 9 L. al-Hasan. w Ed. om. ' 12 Ed- *" See Comm - 13 Ed. Br. lSLJ! . See Comm. 14 Om. + ^j ^j.wX^J! " known as." 15 Ed. and Codd. written 76 1. Friedlaender, [1907. The Rawafid then disagreed after the death of those ('Alides) mentioned above, (especially) after the death of Ja'far b. Muhammed. One party assigned the Imamate to his son Isma'il b. Ja'far. 1 Another party assigned the Imamate to his son Muhammed b. Ja'far. *But these are few. 2 *Still another party maintained that Ja'far was alive and that he has not died. 3 The bulk of the Rawafid, however, assign the Imamate to his son Musa b. Ja'far, then 'Ali b. Musa, then Muhammed b. 'All b. Musa, *then 'All b. Muhammed b. 'Ali b. Musa, 4 then Al-Hasan b. 'All. * This al-Hasan died without offspring and they were (consequently) divided into several sections. The bulk of them firmly assert that a male child was born to al-Hasan *b. 'Ali, 6 but he hid him. Other people, however, maintain that he was born after al-Hasan's death from a slave girl of his by the name of Sakil, *and this is the view most commonly accepted.' Some of them however say: no, from a slave girl of his by the name of Narjis. Still others say : no, but from a slave girl of his by the name of Sausan. But the most probable 8 is that her name was Sakll. For this Sakil pretended *to be with child after al-Hasan b. 'All her master," and his estate remained for this reason unsettled for seven years, being contested by his brother Ja'far b. 'All. 10 A number of leading statesmen took her part, while others took Ja'far's part. Then her pretension* of pregnancy 11 exploded and was annihilated, and Ja'far his brother took possession of the estate. *The death of this al-Hasan took ^ 5-^5 &*^ (Codd. cylxa.) " They claimed that he was alive, and that he never died. But there is no doubt that he died during the lifetime of his father. He was his eldest son." 2 Br. om. 3 L. om. owing to homoioteleuton. 4 Om. 5 Muhammed. 6 Om. i Om. j^-.VI. " and the most commonly accepted among them." Lo j! JucLa. /-"*? "The death of this al-Hasan took place in 260 in Surr man Ra'a." Lx . Vol. xxviii.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 77 place in 260. ' But the contest of the Rawafid about this Sakil and her claims still grew (worse), until al-Mu'tadid imprisoned her, 2 twenty-odd years after the death of her master. She had been accused 3 of living in the house of al-Hasan b. Ja'far an- Nubakhti* [94], the Katib, 5 and she was (actually) found there and then transported to the castle of al-Mu'tadid, where she remained until she died in the days of al-Muktadir. But they (the Rawafid) are still waiting for a lost object" since ISO 7 years. There existed in oldeh times a party which is now extinct, whose head was al-Mukhtar b. Abi 'Ubeid, 8 (also) Keisan Abu 'Omra 9 and others. They were of the opinion that after al- Husein 10 the Imam was his brother Muhammed, known as Ibn al-Hanafiyya. To this party 11 belonged as-Sayyid 13 al-Himyari and Kutayyir 'Azza, the two poets. They maintained that M uharnmed b. al-Ilanafiyya was alive in the mountains of Radwa. 1 Oru. here. '' acquired her." 3 Ed. _x. does not seem to convey a proper sense. L. Br. y^ . See Comm. 4 Unpointed. 5 +xJLcyj v^JiX^J! ' with the nickname Mizmala (?)." 6 Oni. yj(.*3 . ' LxLc ^xiL^J. oJ.o^ *'-fr X-jLo tXxi "since hundred and eighty- odd years." See Introduction, p. 19. + \J}f. oLuo ^! ^ LvJ?) 4 ^ 5 -^ " They do not know in ivhich privy he may have sunk." Ed. in all probability intentionally omitted. 8 + _AAxJ! " of the Bauu Takifa." o 9 Ed. incorrectly U! ; L. Br. - is a gloss to the first ^ i^o "clearly") \vhich crept into the text. |V$&wyC* instead of the dual is probably due to the ignorance of the copyist, who took the gloss for a new name. 10 L. al-Hasan. Br. JLc ,j.*^t (sic). 11 XAAk "lot." 14 +"b. Isma-il." 78 I. Friedlaender, [1907. They were addicted to eccentric ideas, for whose description 1 volumes would not suffice. 2 Says Abti Muhammed : The pillar of all these parties in their arguments are interpolated and forged traditions, the produc- tion of which is not beyond the reach of those who have neither religion nor shame. D. Synopsis of the Tenets of the Shi'ites. [Codex Leyden (=L.) II, fol. 162 b ; Codex British Museum (=Br.) II, 125 b .] <,- RXAXiJ' oJUs ' XXxXyJI Jlfci' J .fc. cVI 3U V^AX J^Us JU sii viJUj> JJii (*--^ <^j' -- xl Ia^ iu^. aJU! ^J4>j J^i V LJ tybJo Jl l^^j U J !tX5> ^ _ftJL5 NlJiJr ,j.. V^ o'UIo ,j..c 5 -2L*/ ^4^xil. L^.jLs?!^ \L*.AJI* /^r^ .xx) JoLs JU s.jijL2. dL'3 ,^t Lx^i LJLs aLx-yi "many." JLfti v^A-XCiX^I ItXJC "J< ^as been mentioned that at-Sayyid al-Himyari Allah curse him! was once asked: "who is thy associate in this doctrine ?" and he answered : " a cobbler in Rai (Tehe- ran).' 1 '' See Comm. Vol. xxviii.J The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. x> Jo Li' JUi^ x.i ^ jJiJI *iajij "VI ^^J Synopsis of the Tenets of the Shi'-ites. The Shi'ites say: 'All is the most excellent of the Companions of the Apostle of Allah and worthier of the Imamate than any of them. This having been settled and established, one of them said: If the matter be such, then the nation committed a sin by nominating Abu Bekr, then 'Omar, then 'Othman. Al- Ilasan b. Hayy 1 and the bulk of the Zeidiyya shrank from this (consequence) and turned aside from this narrow pass, while the rest of the Shi'ites rushed into it. The sinfulness of the whole nation having been established, 'one of them said: If so, then the}' (i. e. the Companions who submitted to those nominated) acted wrongly, and became irreligious and apostates, 2 since they professed something that is forbidden, and it is therefore not allowed to receive the religion of Allah from irreligious men or apostates. Suleiman b. Jai'ir 3 , at-Tammar* and their followers flee from this narrow pass, while the rest of the Shi'ites rush into it. This having been settled and established, one of them said: If this be so, then 'All also * became an apostate/ having assisted the adherents of apostasy and having contributed towards the annihilation of religion, since he did not uncover i Codd. -A^ . O ! Br. om. UyA$5 (purposely). 3 Codd. fif^A- 4 Codd. " Ibn at-Tammar." 5 Br. om. See p. 55. 80 I. Friedlaender, The Heterodoxies, etc. [1907. his face; lie and they are therefore alike. All the Shi'ites flee from this narrow pass, while Abu Kamil and those that follow him rush into it. This having been established, one of them said : *If the matter be such, then Muhammed is the guilty one who set free all these (contentions) by not having explained the matter (so as) to cut down all pretexts regarding it. 1 Another one of them said : Surely, Jibril alone is guilty, because he passed with the prophecy from All to Muhammed. Says Abu Muhammed: They do nothing but show contempt and make fun (of Allah). Let us seek refuge in Allah from error ! [The Commentary will follow in the next number of this Journal.] 1 L. om. owing to homoioteleuton. COMMENTARY. ' THE Commentary herewith presented follows Ibu Hazm's text published in Vol. xxviii of this Journal, pp. 28-80, by page and line. In marking the lines, I have counted every line on the page, including the superscriptions. The footnotes are not quoted by the line but by the number prefixed to them. In the case of some very long footnotes, I also added the line of the footnote referred to. I prefix a "List of Cited Works," giving all the authorities (with short biographical dates) regularly or frequently quoted in this treatise. The abbreviations under which they are quoted are made noticeable to the eye. 2 Books only incidentally referred to are omitted in this list. MS. before the title signi- fies that the book has not yet appeared in print and has been used in manuscript. In quoting from Arabic sources I have discriminated between printed works and manuscripts. The latter I quote in the original ; the former I give except in cases of necessity in 1 Continued from Vol. xxviii, pp. 1-80. 3 To simplify the abbreviations, I purposely neglect the rules of exact transliteration. 2 I. Friedlaender, [1908. translation, as the text itself is accessible to the specialist. In translating from the printed edition of Ibn Ilazm's Milal, I usually attach the important variants from the manuscripts at my disposal. I plead guilty to being inconsistent in transliterating the Arabic. Such inconsistencies are scarcely avoidable. The specialist will pardon them, the layman will hardly notice them. As regards the index to this treatise, I refer the reader to my remarks in Vol. xxviii of this Journal, p. 27. List of Cited Works. Abulfeda. Abu'1-Fida [d. 732/1331], Annales Moslemici, ed. Adler, Hafniae 1789-94. Abu'l-Maali. Abu'l-Ma'ali [wrote about 485/1092. Descend- ant of Ali. Imamite], Kitab bayan al-adyan (in Persian), printed in Schefer, Chrestomathie Persane, vol. I (Paris, 1883), pp. 132-171. The quotations refer to the Persian text. Agh. Abu'l-Faraj al-Isbahan! [d. 356/967], Kitab al-Agani, Bulak. Agh. Tables. I. Guidi, Tables alphabetiques du Kitab al- Agani. Leyden, 1895-1900. Anon. Sufi. MS. Anonymous work on Sufism. The author quotes Yafi'i, who died 768/1366. Cod. Berlin; Ahlwardt, Catalogue No. 3397. Bagd. MS. On Bagdad! [d. 429/1038] and his work, see Introduction to this treatise, p. 26. Blochet, Le Messianisme et 1'heterodoxie Musulmane. Paris, 1903. Draws largely on Persian (Shiitic) sources. de Boer, History of Philosophy in Islam. English transla- tion. London, 1903. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur. I-II. Leipzig, 1898-1902. Diyarbekri. Diyarbekri [died after 982/1574], Ta'rikh al- Khamls. Cairo, 1283 h . Dozy, Isl. Dozy, Essai sur I'histoire de 1'Islamisme, traduit du Hollandais par Victor Chauvin. Leyden-Paris, 1879. Fihr. Nadim [wrote 377/988]. Kitab al-Fihrist, ed. Flflgel. Leipzig, 1871-2. Vol. xxix.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 3 Gen. Leyd. MS. Kitab tahdib al-ansub wa-nihayat -al-a'kab. An anonymous genealogy of the Alides [fourth century H.]. Cod. Leyden (Warner 686). Not paginated. de Goeje, Carmathes. de Goeje, Memoire sur les Carmathes du Bahrain et les Fatimides [Memoires d'Histoire et de Geo- graphie orientales No. 1J. Second edition. Leyden, 1886. Goldziher, Muh. St. Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien I-II. Halle 1889-1890. Goldziher, Shi'a. Goldziher. Beitrage zur Litteraturge- schichte der Si 'a und der sunnitischen Polemik. Sitzungs- berichte der philosophisch-historischen Classe der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, vol. 78 (1874), p. 439 ff. Vienna. Haarbriicker. German translation of Shahrastani I II. Halle, 1850-51. Unless otherwise stated, quotations refer to vol. I. lAth. Ibn al-Athir [d. 630/1234]. Chronicon quod Per- fectissimum inscribitur, ed. C. J. Tornberg. Leyden, 185176. IBab., Ithbat. Ibn Babuye [d. 381/991. Imamite], Kitab fi ithbat al-gaiba wa-kashf al-haira, ed. Moller, Heidelberg, 1901. IBab., I'tikadat. MS. Ibn Babuye (see above), I'tikadat al-Imamiyya. Cod. British Museum (Add. 19,623). See de Rieu, Catalogue p. 385. I. H. Ibn Hazm [d. 456/1064], the author of our text. See Introduction, p. 9ff. IHaukal. Ibn Haukal [wrote 367/977], ed. de Goeje [Biblio- theca Geographorum Arabicorum II]. Leyden, 1873. Iji. Iji [d. 756/1355]. Mawakif, ed. Sorenson. Leipzig, 1848. Ikd. Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi [d. 328/940], al-'Ikd al-farid, I-III. Cairo, 1293. If not otherwise stated, quotations refer to vol. I. IKhald. Ibn Khaldun [d. 808/1406], Mukaddima, ed Qua- tremere I-III. [Notices et Extraits des manuscrits de la Biblio- theque Imperiale voll. 16-18] Paris, 1847-1858. IKhall. Ibn Khallikan [d. 681/1282], Kitab wafayat al- a'yao, ed. Wtistenfeld. Gottingen, 1835-43. IKot. Ibn Koteiba [d. 276/889], Kitab al-ma'arif, ed. Wiistenfeld. Gottingen, 1850. Isfr. MS. On Isfra'ini [d. 471/1078], see Introduction, p. 26. Istakhri [wrote 340/951], ed. de Goeje [Bibliotheca Geo- gi-aphorum Arabicorum I]. Leyden, 1870. 4 I. Friedlaender, [1908. Kashi. 1 Abu 'Amr Muhammed b. 'Omar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Kashshi (from Kashsh in Jurjan) [approximately 300 h . 2 Imamite\, Ma'rifat akhbar ar-rijal. Biographies of Shiitic worthies chronologically arranged. Bombay 1317 h . The author apparently draws on old and rare sources. Kremer, Ideen. Kremer, Geschichte der herrschenden Ideen des Islams. Leipzig, 1868. Lubb al-Lubab. Suyuti [d. 911/1505], Lubb al-lubab fi tahrir al-ansab, ed. P. J. Veth. Leyden, 1830-32. Makr. Makrizi [d. 845/1442], Kitab al-mawa'iz wa'1-i'tibar bi-dikri'1-khitat wa'1-athar, I-II. Bulak, 1270 h . Draws partly on very old sources. Unless otherwise stated, quotations refer to vol. II. Masudi. Mas'udi [d. 345/956]. Muruj ad-dahab, ed. Bar- bier de Meynard, I-IX. Paris, 1861-77. His information is incidental and brief, but extremely valuable. Mirza. MS. Mirza Makhdurn [about 1594], Risalat an-nawfi- kid fi-radd 'ala-r-Rawafid. A polemical treatise against Shiism. Cod. Berlin; Ahlwardt, Catalogue No. 2136. Nawawi, Tahdib. Nawawi [d. 676/1278], Tahdib al-asma wa'1-lugat, ed. Wtistenfeld. Gottingen, 1842-7. PRE 3 . Protestantische Realencyklopadie, ed. Herzog and Hauck. Third edition. de Sacy. Expose de la religion des Druzes, I-II. Paris, 1838. Quotations in Roman figures refer to vol. I. Shahr. Shahrastani [d. 548/1153], Kitab al-Milal wa'n- Nihal, ed. Cureton I-II. London, 1842-6. Quotations refer to vol. I. Sibt, Imams. MS. Sibt Ibn al-Jauzi [d. 654/1257], Kitab sirat maulana Amir al-Mu'minin al-Imam 'All . . wa-auladihi. 1 Mr. Ellis, of the British Museum, kindly called my attention to this work. - I have been unable to find any statement bearing on the age of this author. The date given in the text is based on the following calcula- tions. al-Kashshi was a pupil of al-' Ayyashi (edition of his work, p. 379). The latter is no doubt identical with Fihrist 195 14 , and Tusy, List of Shy'ah books, No. 690. Neither of these authors give his age. But according to Tusy, ib.., al-'Ayyashi " heard the disciples (ashab) of 'Ali h, al-Hasan b. Faddal " who died 224 h (Tusy, No. 191). This justifies the rough estimate given in the text. Vol. xxix.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 5 A biography of All and his successors in the Imamate. Cod. Ley den (Warner 915). Suyuti, Tarikh. Suyutl [d. 911/1505], Ta'rikh al-Khulafa, ed. Sprenger and Mawlawl 'Abd al-Hakk. Calcutta, 1857. ' - translated into English by H. S. Jarrett. Calcutta, 1881. Tab. Tabari [d. 309/921], Annales, ed. de Goeje. Tusy. Tusi [d. 459/1067. Imamite}. List of Shy 'ah books, ed. Sprenger and Mawlawl 'Abd al-Hakk. Calcutta, 1853-5. van Vloten, Chiitisme. van Vloten, Recherches sur la Domi- nation arabe, le Chiitisme et les Croyances messianiques dans le Khalifat des Omayyades. [Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam. Afdeeling Let- terkunde, Deel I, No. 3.] Amsterdam, 1894. van Vloten, Worgers. von Vloten, Worgers in Iraq [Feest- bundel . . . van zijn tachtigsten geboortedag aan Dr. P. J. Veth], Leyden, 1894. (See this volume, p. 92.) Wellhausen, Opp. Wellhausen, Die religios-politischen Oppositionsparteien im alten Islam. Berlin, 1901. [Abhand- lungen der koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen. Philologisch-historische Klasse. Neue Folge. Band V, Nro. 2]. Wolff, Drusen. Wolff, Die Drusen und ihre Vorlaufer. Leipzig, 1845. Based on de Sacy. Wiistenfeld, Register. Wtistenfeld, Register zu den gene- alogischen Tabellen. Gottingen, 1853. Wiistenfeld, Tabellen. Wtistenfeld, Genealogische Tabellen der arabischen Stamme und Familie-n. Gottingen, 1852. ZDMG. Zeitschrift der deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesell- schaft. Zeid. MS. al-Kasim .b. Ibrahim al-Hasani [d. 246/860. From Yemen. Zeidite], a volume containing miscellaneous Zeiditic writings (19 in number). Cod. Berlin; Ahlwardt, Catalogue No. 4876. Contains reliable and, in view of the early date of the author, extremely valuable information. Zeid. Mutaz. Ahmad b. Yahya b. '1-Murtada [d. 840 b . From Yemen. Zeidite], Kitab al-Milal wa'n-Nihal. Chap- ter on the Mu'tazila, ed. Arnold. Leipzig, 1902. Yakut. Yakut [d. 626/1229], Geographical Dictionary ed. Wiistenfeld I- VI. Leipzig, 1868-73. 6 I. Friedlaender, [1908. List of Abbreviations. Codd. = Codices : the manuscripts of Ibn Hazm's Milal wa'n- Nihal in distinction from the printed edition. Comm. = Commentary to Ibn Hazm's Milal published in this volume. Ed. = printed edition of Ibn Hazm's Milal wa'n-Nihal. Introd. = Introduction to this treatise in Vol. xxviii of this Journal, pp. 1-28. Milal = the manuscripts of Ibn Hazm's Milal wa'n-Nihal: Br = British Museum. L = Leyden. V = Vienna. Y = Yale. See Introd., p. 17. Note, with a number following, refers to the footnotes under the Text (see next). Text^Text of Ibn Hazm's Milal published in Vol. xxviii of this Journal, pp. 28-80. Small figures above large figures indicate the line on the page referred to. When underlined, the small figure indicates that the lines are to be counted from below. [28] P. 28, 1. 21 f. 1 I am not sure that I have correctly rendered the words of the original (Ed. II, 111 6 ): x^ ^JLi lx> .A (LVY read The meaning of the sentence is not quite clear. It largely 5 depends on the interpretation of the verb <^JL& . The latter, followed by (J^fr. , or ^ >, usually designates "to excite, stir up evil, mischief or discord, against or among people" (Lane). We have translated accordingly, taking au as referring to *^Lu*Xu, i. e., casuistry or sophistiy." I, 20 7 Jua*^vJ! ^> J . ' ' and nothing was 5 left to him except sophistic arguments." See also III, 214 12 , V, 79% 80 1 , 93 2 *-$x^kx>. Comp. Dozy sub voce "suppositions captieuses, sophismes " (from Makkari). The verb is applied by Ibn Hazm in the same sense and construed # with v-j rei. Ed. Y, 15* I tX* Lgj '^*^ x^? p-frf f^JJ U 10 ^.Ld! ^j-gJI " we know of no proof whatever which they could casuistically bring forward in favor of this nonsense." Ill, 203 s feUd! 1-o.J ow+Xt JJiJ oo yjj JbV! JJO ^;W *-g.^JtJ v_^ixi Jo^ " One of them sophistically assumes that the verse (Koran 17, 104) reads ''alimtu' with a 'damma' over the 'ta'." In 15 accordance with these quotations the sentence under considera- tion ought to be translated: " and to expound the sophisms that were brought forward by those of them who argue sophistically " &j would then be the tXSLc (Wright, 3 Arabic Grammar II, 320A) of lx> and the variant LJ would be an intentional cor- 20 rection. &XJ^ ..^x &o LtAj l+\ " to delay," the other from the root *z*-\ "to inspire hope." Comp. Shahr. 103, Makr. 349^, Goldziher, Muh. St. II, 90, note 1. - L. 10 f . For the better understanding of this paragraph I insert here the synopsis of Murji'ite doctrines given in Milal^o L II, 162 b : J^JLJ! ^ (jJ^OAJt .J* ^U->VI J^vJI oJU Z Friedlaender, [1908. [29] * JL JtX-flS i cX ^ & -3L*, .+sijs jtt oJLi dlJ j !A^ IZU See Ed. IV. 188 ff., Shahr. 100. 88 10 I. Friedlaender, [1908. [30] - L. 15. The Kharijite named here was an intimate friend of the extreme Shiite Hisham b. al-Hakam (p. 65"), Masudi V, 343. - L. 17 f. The names of these three heretics appear in so 5 manifold and puzzling variations that it is well-nigh impossible to arrive at any definite conclusion. The father's name of the first occurs in the following forms : 1) iaSU. (or JojU>) Milal V 50% L II, 145 b , Masudi III, 207, Shahr.18, 42, Makr. 347 14 , de Sacy XLII footnote, also in the 10 carefully printed manuscripts of Bagd. 49 b , 136 a and Isfr. 8% 62 b . We have adopted this reading in our text. 2) iajL^., very frequently: Ed Y in our passage. Ed. I, 78", 90 17 , Milal L I, 36% Iji 340, de Sacy, ibidem. 3) iajLa. L here (so probably also V, see note 8), Ed. IV, 197-198 (several is times). 4) iajU. Ed. Ill, 120 6 . 5) iojU* Br. here, L II, 162 b 1. 1 (iojU>). Still more numerous are the variations of the father's name of the second person. It is found written as follows 1 : 1) j^^JLx) Ed. here. 2) u-^b Masudi III, 267. 3) u-jjls Milal V, 2 <>50 a . 4) (j-jjL* Ed. IV, 198 18 . 5) (j-jjb Br. here (V (Jijjb). 6) (j"jjLc (,j? v_jjl (j-? \ ^ - Comp. also Ibn al-Athir's utterance p. 14 10 . One might think of reading xIi-*oJf instead of J^l &AAwJi (1. 8). But the author reviews the "exaggerations" of 25 each of the five sects of Islam (Text 28 ult.). The Sunnites in consequence cannot be missing (cf. p. 12 5 ff.). - L. 12. The belief in Incarnation (hulul) forms the basis of the cardinal ultra-Shiitic belief in the Divine nature of the Imams. Most historians of religion enumerate a special sect 30 called Hululiyya. See Index sub voce "Incarnation." 1 The change in gender because milk naturally refers to the female. 2 See p. 82". 14 Z Friedlaender, [1908. [34] L. 13. On Hallaj see Comm. to p. 69' 8 . Ibn Hazm effec- tively ridicules this belief in the divinity of Hallaj, Ed. V, 117. He repeatedly quotes Hallaj as the type of a (pseudo) miracle worker, e. g., Ed. I, 110 n and elsewhere. 5 - L. 16. See p. 78". - L. 18. On as-Sayyid, see passages specified in the Index. L. 20. See Text 69 6 and Comm. - L. 21. See p. 79". L. 22. On Abu Mansur, see p. 89 14 . 10 - L. 23. On Bazig, see p. 95 34 ; on Bayan, p. 88*. - L. 25. See p. 24 27 ff. [35] 35, 1. 1 ff. Comp. a similar utterance of Ibn al-Athir (VIII, 21). These heretics maintain "that all the religious precepts have an inner meaning, and that Allah has imposed upon his 15 saints and those that have perceived the Imams and the " Gates " (abwab, sufitic term) neither prayer nor alms nor anything else." Makr. 352 ' 8 quotes in the name of the Khattabiyya (Text 69) the same specimens of allegorical interpretation, with a few characteristic modifications. Thus " Jibt " and " Tagut " 20 (1. 7) are interpreted as referring to Abu Sufyan and 'Amr b. al-'As, while Abu Bekr and 'Omar are represented by "khamr" (wine) and "maysir" (a gambling game), Koran 2, 216; 5, 92. This is no doubt an attempt to soften somewhat the insult to "the two Sheikhs" implied in the original interpretation. 25 Interesting, because reflecting the attitude of official Shiism toward these exegetic endeavors, are the two anecdotes told Kashi 188. " Abu 'Abdallah (i. e., Ja'far as-Sadik, see Index) wrote to Abu'l-Khattab (Text 69 4 ) : 'It has come to my knowl- edge that thou assumest that "adultery" means a person, that so "wine," "prayer," "fasts" and "abominations" (fawahish, Koran 6, 152; 7, 31) mean certain persons. It is not as thou sayest.' Someone said to Ja'far: 'It is reported in thy name that "wine," "maysir," "images," and "arrows" (Koran 5, 92) stand for certain persons.' He replied: Allah would cer- 35 tainly not have told his people something that they could not know (i. e., understand by mere allusion)." - L. 12. See p. 92" ff. - L. 13 ff. See also Text 49 s . I. H. alludes to the same attitude of the Shiites, Milal L II, 82 b (Ed. IV, 83) : Jahm 40 b. Safwan and Abu'l-Hudeil, as well as certain Rawafid, deny the Vol. xxix.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 15 eternity of Paradise and Hell (comp. p. 74). He then pro- [35] ceeds to refute Jahm and Abu'l-Hudeil. As for the Rawafid, they deserve no refutation, as they do not rely on logical demon- stration (the last sentence missing in Ed.). In another passage (Ed. II, 94) I. H. elaborately argues against those of his co- 5 religionists who "take it for granted that religion cannot be accepted on the basis of logical demonstration, thus gladdening the hearts of the heretics and testifying that religion can be established by means of assumptions and by superior force." How deeply seated this aversion to argumentation was in Shi- 10 itic circles can be seen from the utterances of the famous Imamite Ibn Babuye (Ptikadat 6 & ), who devotes a whole chapter to this subject. I reproduce this interesting chapter in its essential parts: J..J9 CJt L > . i>^-- "> s >lt I "\ i si I AS J QvxaJ. &AAXCO *J -jLl? dLxAJ Jo) J *J' ^jt 13 and elsewhere. 3 It is worthy of notice that I. H. repeatedly quotes the latter view as being held by the Jews of his time. Vol. xxix.] TJie Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 17 behalf, in the same way as did the Saba'iyya 1 and the other sects [35] of the Galiya as regards Ali, or as the Khattabiyya believed in the divinity of Abu'l-Khattab (Text 69 4 ), the adherents of al-Hallaj (Text 69 1S ) in the divinity of al-Hallaj and the other infidels among the Batiniyya . . . , or they were seduced by the Jews, 5 as the latter claim, to corrupt the followers of Christ and lead them into error, in the same way as 'Abdallah b. Saba the Him- yarite, al-Mukhtar b. Abt 'Obeid, Abu 'Abdallah al-'Ajani, Abii Zakariya al-Khayyat, Ali an-Najjar, Ali b. al-Fadl al- Janadi 2 and the other emissaries of the Karmatians and Shiites 3 10 rose to lead into error the partisans (Shi 'a) of Ali." Xext to the Persians, the largest share in the importation of heterodox doctrines into Islam is attributed to the Jews, mainly on the ground that 'Abdallah b. Saba (p. 18 36 ff.), the founder of the first Shiitic sect, is said to have been a Jew. Thus I. H.,i5 in referring to the claim of the Jews regarding the apostle Paul, 4 thoughtfully adds (I, 222): "This is something which we do not consider improbable on their part. For they tried the same thing towards ourselves and our religion, although this time they failed to carry out their cunning. I refer to 'Abdallah b. 20 Saba known as Ibn as-Sauda, 5 the Jew, the Himyarite may Allah ciirse him! who embraced Islam in order to lead into error as many Muslims as possible. He assumed the leadership of an ignoble party, who stood on the side of Ali, so that they might profess the divinity of Ali, in the same way as Paul 25 became the leader 6 of the followers of Christ that they might believe his divinity. These are now the Batiniyya and Galiya, 1 Cod. L. (I, 105 s ) and V. (160") read Sababiyya, see p. 41". 2 See on most of these men the Index. 3 aLs \LcLfr.?!, "proprement les Orientaux, etait en Afrique le nom par lequel on designait les Chiites " (Dozy s. v.). 4 How widespread this belief was can be seen from the elaborate story, given by Isfr. (71 s ) and designated by him as generally known, how Paul at the instance of the Jews became a Christian, studied in the Christian monasteries and, having gained their confidence, smug- gled into Christianity the belief in the Trinity, etc. 5 Ed. I, 222 3 ^...^J! . The correct reading in Codd. See p. 18 36 . 6 Ed. 222- ^J) . L. V. correctly ^j ^- ' > ' VOL. XXIX. 2 18 I. Friedlaender, [1908. [35] and the least heretical among these are the Imamiyya." See more on the relation of Judaism to Shiism, p. 19 10 ff. L. 29. I owe the explanation of these two terms to a pri- vate communication of Professor Koldeke: " Ibn Hazm's state- i \tt i \it sment with reference to ^Lojl and y^al is not quite exact. frUuat are not the Persians as a whole, but those descendants of the Persians (mostly or wholly arabicized) who conquered Yemen at the time of the great Chosroes. In Yemen the ' Abna ' were prominent as a class during the time of Muhammed and 10 his immediate successors. The same name was afterwards (third century H.) applied in 'Irak to the descendants of the Khorasanian warriors who won the empire for the Abbasids. J v ^^| ('the free ones ') properly designates the Persian nobles, (the IXevOepoi of the Parthians). About 600 C. E. the poets 15 apply this name to the Persians in general, and later writers use the same appellation merely on the basis of a scholarly tradition." See N5ldeke, Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sassaniden, p. 225, n. 5 and 342, n. 7. [36] 36, 1. 9. On Sunbad (or Sinbad) see Blochet, 1. 44 f, 20 - Ibidem (note 2). "The form of the name is still very uncertain. I hardly believe that Ustadsis is correct. u^-A^^L^! may represent many different forms of an Iranian name " (Noldeke). - Ibidem. On al-Mukanna' see Comm. to p. 70". 25 - Ibidem. On Babak comp. Fihr. 343 f. and notes. He was crucified in Surra-man-ra'a in the year 223 h , Bagd. 107 b . - L. 11. On Khidash see p. 98 19 . On Abu Muslim, see Index. - L. 20-21. Comp. Introduction, p. 22" f. and Text, p. 79 20 . [37] 37, 1. 2 f. Fifty prayers are mentioned in connection with so the Karmatians and the Nuseiriyya, de Sacy CLIV ult. and footnote, CLXX. This is apparently based on the Mohammedan legend according to which Allah had originally prescribed fifty prayers, but, yielding to Muhammed's presentations, reduced them to five; comp. Goldziher, Jtfuh. St. I, 36. On 'Abdallah 35 (1. 5) see Comm. to p. 71 1 . L. 7. On 'Abdallah b. Saba, also known as Ibn as-Sauda, see Ibn Hazm's utterances pp. 16 30 , 17 17 and passages in Index. The identity of Ibn as-Saba and Ibn as-Sauda is assumed by all Vol. xxix.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 19 Muhammedan scholars, except Bagd. and Isf r. Tabarl's account [37] (I 2941 ; comp. Wellhausen, Opp. 91) differs in several essential points from the reports of the theological writers. Altogether the data on this enigmatic personality are as interesting as they are conflicting ; they deserve to be made the subject of special 5 investigation. He is generally considered the founder of Shi- ism, and this, in connection with his Jewish origin, sufficiently explains the endeavors of the Muhammedan theologians to charge him with many a heresy which developed in the later course of Shiism. His Jewish birth was a sufficient pretext forio the Sunnites to brin^ Shiism in connection with Judaism. We O saw Ibn Hazm's remarks p. 16 f. Kashi, in the biography of 'Abdallah b. Saba, p. 70, plainly says: "On account of this the opponents of the Shi 'a maintain that the root of Shiism and o -* Randism (g>oi Ju X,&.AJ! , see Appendix on Rawafid) was taken 15 over from Judaism." The famous theologian ash-Sha'bi (died 103) is reported to have drawn an elaborate and odious parallel between the Shiites and the Jews (Ikd 269). He says among other things, with special reference to Ibn Saba: "The Ran da are the Jews of this nation. They hate Islam as the Jews hate 20 Christianity. They embraced Islam, not because they longed for it or because they feared Allah, but because they detested the Muslims and intended to overpower them." On 'Abdallah's alleged participation in the uprising of 'Oth- man see Wellhausen, Skizzen und Vorarbeiten VI, 124 f. On 25 1. 11 see p. 100. - L. 12. On the Ismaelites see Shahr. 127, 145 f., Iji 349, IKhald. I, 362, Dozy, Isl. 259 f., Kremer, Ideen 196 f., Miiller, Islam I, 588 f., Blochet 54 ff. On the various appellations of the Isma'iliyya see Shahr. 147 7 ff. and Blochet 50, n. 1. See so also Text 73, note 1 and Comm. - L. 13. On the Karmatians see Dozy, Isl. 268 ff., Blochet 61 ff., de Boer 82 f. A succinct presentation of their doctrine, de Goeje, Carmathes 166 f. - L. 15. On Mazdak see' Noldeke, G-eschichte der Perserzs und Araber, p. 455 ff. Similarly I. H. expresses himself Ed. I, 34 17 : "As for the Mazdakiyya (written with (j>), they are the adherents of Mazdak the Mobad. They are those who believe in communism as to property and women. The Khur- 20 I. Friedlaender, t 1908 - [37] ramiyya, the adherents of Babak, are one of the sects of the Mazdakiyya. They are also the secret (basis) 1 of the doc- trine of the Isma'iliyya and their (vital) element, as well as of those who hold to the doctrine of the Karmatians and the Ban A 5'Obeid (mFatimides)." [38] 38, 1. 7 # The following-sentences give emphatic expression to the Zahirite conviction of the author; comp. Goldziher, Zahiriten, p. 202. _ L. 15. The author has apparently in view the belief held 10 in Shiitic, as well as in certain Sunnitic quarters, that the Prophet bequeathed to 'Aisha, Fatima, 'Abbas or 'Ali, respec- tively, some mystic lore; comp. Goldziher, Muh. St, II, 118. L. 18. Comp. Ed. V, 26 penult. : " It is firmly established regarding the prophet . . that he was sent to the red and the black." ' "' 15 Comp. Kdmil, ed. Wright, 264 7 iU J A^. Lo .. _ L. 23. "As he was commanded," see Koran 5, 71. I. H. uses the same argument Milal L II, 89 b (not found in Ed.) ft+JU Lx> 20 jy Lo y-LDJ ^Ipd 2 JUi- JU ^ U5" &JU! Jyj! Lo JJii |!AW * -f ^ ^ Lxi JJaxi KLg-s* u*-lAU (jLuJU a 25 . ^cJLjJ! I0v X-U 39, 1. 11. In accordance with his Zahirite conviction, which strictly and exclusively adheres to the bare text of the Koran and the Hadith, I. H. lays special emphasis on the reliability 1 Ed. f*H. L. and V. -co " the worst." 2 Koran 16, 46. Vol. xxix.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 21 of the traditionists ; comp. Ed. II, 76 20 ff . and Kremer, Ideen [39] 138 ff. 40, 1. 11. "The Mu'tazilites, the Kharijites, the Murji'ites [40] and the Shiites." The same enumeration of Muhammedan sects (comp. Introduction, p. 21) Ed. IV, 2 15 : - y^'j (read aus._Jtj) ibjLsUtj xLxjtj!^ JI*1M - L. 15 (note 6). The words b&Juu *-gJ XAAJ Y Lo I inter- pi-et in the sense that nothing remains to these infidels to boast of, beyond (= except) the infamies and lies to be found in their 10 Scriptures. The reading of L. and Br. LjCtXju &Lo V L* (with- out p-gJ) I would translate: "beyond which (sc. ^jUdjLH) %^ no proof (is needed)," i. e., the infamies in themselves are sufficient to impeach the infidels. On this meaning of tX*J see the glossary to Tabari, sub voce. 15 41, 1. 15. Characteristic of I. H.'s truthfulness (see Intro- [41] duction, p. 15) is another utterance of his, Ed. IV, 108 16 : "If we thought that dishonest quoting was permissible, we should use as an argument (against the Shiites) the words reported (in the name of the Prophet): 'Follow the example of those 20 after me, viz., Abft Bekr and 'Omar.' But this (tradition) is not true, and may Allah guard us from using as an argument anything that is not true." - L. 17 (note 7). Comp. Text 42, 1. 5 and note 8. I. H. uses a very similar phraseology Ed. IV, 207 19 : " We have here 25 set forth the depravities of the adherents of heresy (he refers to the Murji'ites) in order to cause people to flee from them and to frighten away the illiterate among the Muslims from becom- ing familiar with them and from thinking well of their corrupt words." 30 42, 1. 1 f. The heresies referred to are those of the Mu'tazi- [42] lites. They are quoted as such Ed. IV, 192 (in the chapter on the Mu'tazila). I. H. chooses them as specimens in his intro- duction because, in the original disposition of the pamphlet against the four heterodox sects, which is now incorporated 35 with his Milal^ the Mu'tazila occupied the first place. See my 22 I. friedlaender, [1908. [42] essay "Zur Komposition von Ibn Hazm's Milal wa'n-Nihal" in Orientalische Studien I, p. 274 f. L. 17. See Introduction, p. 22-23. L. 18. On " Rawafid " see Appendix A. 5 43, 1. 1. The founder of the Jarudiyya is called with his full [43] name Abu'1-Jarud Ziyad b. al-Mundir al-'Abdi, Masudi V, 474, Kashi 150, Tusy, p. 146 No. 308, Shahr. 121 ; Fihr. 178" and Makr. 352" assign to him the additional Kunya Abu 'n-Najm. Muhammed al-Bakir (died 117) called him "Surhub," which is 10 said to designate "a blind devil dwelling in the sea" (Kashi, Shahr. 119), because he was born blind (Fihr., Kashi, Tusy). The sect was accordingly called also the Surhubiyya (Kashi). As regards their tenets, the Jarudiyya variously diff er from the bulk of the Zeidiyya, whom they regard as infidels. They share 15 with the latter the central doctrine that Muhammed appointed Ali as his successor, not, as the Imamiyya maintain, by means of a written will which the Companions maliciously set aside, but "by a description (of his qualities) without the mention of his name" (Shahr.: au+ ,j^J olo. But they differ 20 from them in that they regard the Companions as infidels because they did not endeavor to find out the man to whom the Prophet referred and chose a wrong one in his place. Accord- ing to Shahr. 118, Abu'l-Jarud went so far as even to deny the Imamate of Zeid b. Ali, the founder of the Zeidiyya, on the 25 ground that the latter considered Abu Bekr and 'Omar legi- timate rulers. Isfr., however, (9 a ult.) insists that the recogni- tion of Zeid as Imam is common to all Zeiditic sects without exception. It is strange that I. H. should omit the mention of this typical heterodoxy of the Jarudiyya: the "Takfir as- soSahaba." As to the succession in the Imamate, the Jarudiyya agree with the rest of the Zeidiyya that it is legitimate in the descend- ants both of Hasan and Husein, and in these exclusively, on condition that they are qualified for the Imamate and present 35 their claims with the sword in their hands. Of the three Imams quoted in our passage one is a Hasanide, the other two Huseinides. On the Jarudiyya compare also the account of Bagd. 9 b . Vol. xxix.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 23 - L. 2 (note 1). "al-Husein" is also found Shahr. 118, [43] Iji 352, Bagd. 17 b (also elsewhere) and Isfr. 12 a . It is known how frequently these two names are confounded. Muhammed died at the hands of 'Isa b. Musa, the governor of Kufa (died 167), in 145, IKot. 192, Tab. Ill, 189 ff. 5 - Note 7. On Radwa see p. 36 3 . Bagd. 17 b calls the locality tXsi xx^-U ^x> J-*s- (with soft- under the line) -=Li.. See further Text 60 10 and Comm. - L. 7-8. The belief that the Imams have not died and will reappear on earth is the central tenet of the Ultra-Shi 'a, andio occurs, as can be seen in this treatise, in connection with nearly every one of their sects. This belief is founded on two doctrines which must have gained wide currency in heterodox Islam at a very early period: the one is the Raj 'a doctrine, the other is a doctrine derived from heterodox Christian Docetism. It is 15 necessary to gain a clear view of these two doctrines in order to grasp in its full meaning the conception which practically lies at the bottom of all Shiitic movements. The doctrine designated as Raj^a l has apparently had its history and presents in consequence a complex appearance. 20 Kremer (Culturgeschichte unter den Chalifen II, 397), in speak- ing of this doctrine "which was widely current among the Shi- ites of the earliest period," gives the following definition of this belief: "For a man to believe in the 'Return' (Raj 'a) amounted to the conviction that Ali would rise from the dead, 25 and that he himself would, after a certain period of time (as a rule, after forty days), come to life again." According to the national dictionaries, Raj 'a signifies "the returning to the present state of existence after death, before the Day of Resur- rection." (See Lane, sub voce, and the authorities quoted so there.) It would thus appear that this belief in returning to life after death, which was known to the Arabs as early as in the time of Ignorance (Lane, ib.) applied to people in general, without reference to specific personalities. Jabir b. Yazid al- Ju'fi (died 128, see p. 86") believed in the Raj'a, Muslim, 35 S'thih (Cairo 1283) I, 51. This is more explicitly stated by 1 The pronunciation Rij-a is recorded, although not approved of, by Nawawi on Muslim's Sahih (Cairo 1283) I, 51. 24 Z Friedlaender, [1908. [43] Bagd. 18 a ,jl$j ^JCtXj! I jjc i <,: 0^| jooLuiJ! J^i' LojJI J! i>!jX>Vt xJt^vJ uJb. The poet al-Bash- shar b. Burd (died 167) held the same belief, Agh. Ill, 24', and this is again explained by Bagd. 17 a 5 auoLxaJI ^j JuJi Lo jJf J,! cyljxVI **-? (strike out similarl Isfr. 12 a J y ^. Kuthayyir (died 105) expressed on his death-bed the conviction that he would return to life after forty days on a 10 fine horse (Agh. VIII, 33). ' It seems, however, that this belief was, or became, mainly con- nected with certain prominent individuals who, by reason of their prominence, deserved a return to life. We find this belief repeatedly in connection with Muhammed. When Muhammed 15 had died, 'Omar violently rebuked those who believed that the Prophet was dead, and he gave emphatic expression to his belief that he would " return " after forty days, "just as Moses had done," Tab. I, 1815 f., IBab., Ithbat 31, Bagd. 5 a (here Muham- med is compared with Jesus). 'Abdallah b. Saba, the founder 20 of Shiism (p. 18 f.), is said to have believed in the "Return " of Muhammed. Referring to Koran 28, 85," he argued: "It is strange that people who assert that Jesus will return should deny that Muhammed will return, . . . Muhammed being worthier of returning than Jesus." "And he laid down for 25 them the Raj 'a." Tab. I, 2941. As a rule, the Raj 'a belief is found in connection with the Imams of the Shi 'a, in the first place, of course, with All. The 1 This form of Raj 'a is probably the real basis of the belief current among the Khattabiyya that they will never die (p. 72 29 ). An allusion to this belief is perhaps found Agh. XI, 75 6 : A friend of 'Abdallah b. wf . Mu'awiya(p. 44 11 ) was called al-Baklf (p. 46 5 ) * Hallaj composed a book bearing on this verse under the title ! J3U ^Lif! JLJU Jy! ^JJI ^f (Fihr. 192 13 ). Vol. xxix.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 25 idea that All was hidden in the clouds, whence he would return [43] on earth, was very common in Shiitic circles (see p. 42 15 ). The term Raj 'a /car' e^o^v very frequently designates this belief; comp. Lisdn and Tdj al-^Artis, sub voce, Nawawi on Muslim, "~ ~ ~ 1 1 Sahih I, 51, Kremer, Culturgeschichtefo. Makr. 354 11 : &xJL2..-M 5 5&tcXcl jj.x) p-aJ^oj ^.JUo g>\ jjj J^c. *^j*^i ^jjlSUJ! . The Muhammedan writers, with extremely few exceptions, ascribe the authorship of this belief to 'Abdallah b. Saba. 1 Apart from the ordinary sources, see also the interesting notice IKhall. Xo. 645 (p. 26 3 ) : al-Kalbi (died 146) "was one of the followers 10 of 'Abdallah b. Saba, who maintained that Ali had not died and would return on earth." To the references given in the course of this treatise (see p. 42 f.) may also be added Madaini (died about 225/840), who reports that al-Hasan, the son of Ali, pro- tested against the belief that God would bring Ali to life on 15 earth before the day of Resurrection (ZDMG. 38, 391). How deeply rooted this belief was in the masses may be seen from the curious anecdote narrated by 'Abdallah b. 'Abbas (Ikd 269). A man called on him at a very unusual hour and asked him: "When will this man be brought to life?" "Which 20 man?" "Ali b. Abi Talib." I said: "He will not be brought to life, until God brings to life those that are in the graves." He said: "You speak like one of these fools." I said: "Take him away from me, may Allah curse him!" Next to Ali the Raj 'a occurs in connection with his son 25 Muhammed b. al-Hanafiyya. It was the belief of the Keisa- niyya, and its famous champions were the poets Kuthayyir and as-Sayyid al-Himyari, Agh. VII, 24 18 , VIII-, 32 s , 33, 34, XI, 46"; see also Fawdt al-Wafaydt I, 24. 8 Ikd 268 designates 1 On Tabari's account see above. Makr. 356 ult., with characteristic eclecticism, combines both views. 'Abdallah b. Saba believed 9 They believed at the same time in theirown Raj 'a, pp. 24 8 and 26". Kuthayyir, who returns from a tour in the region between Mekka and Medina, reports that he has found everything absolutely unchanged x L xJ! 3 Zo. Xj Ij^C. "This will remain so till we return to it (after death)." Perhaps it would be more reasonable to read **-vJ and to translate " till he (Muh. b. al-Hanafiyya) returns to it." 26 I- Friedlaender, [1908. [43] the belief in the "Return" of Ibn al-Hanafiyya as the belief of the Rawafid in general. In the later development of the Shi'a we find the Raj 'a belief in connection with nearly every Shiitic Imam. Numerous 5 instances can be gleaned from Ibn Hazm's and Shahrastani's accounts on Shiism. It was the salient feature in the contro- versies of the Shi'a and the belief which characterized the Wakifiyya in distinction from the Kitti'iyya (p. 50). It now remains for us to state the relation of the Raj 'a doc- 10 trine to the belief in the Transmigration of Souls (Tanasukh al- Arwah). This relation is perhaps best illustrated by the amus- ing anecdote (told of as-Sayyid al-Himyari, who believed in Raj 'a as well as in Tanasukh, 1. 26 f. and p. 28"). A man asked as-Sayyid for a loan of a hundred dinars, promising to repay 15 them when he (the debtor) should return to life. As-Sayyid answered: "Yes, and even more than that, if you will give me a guarantee that you will return as a man." He said: "How else can I return " ? as-Sayyid said : "I am afraid that you will return as a dog or as a pig, and my money will be lost." {Ayh. 20 VII, 8. See the same anecdote with a few variations Fawdt al- Wafaydt I, 25). The former possibility is Raj 'a, the latter Tanasukh; in other words, Raj 'a signifies the return as the same person, Tanasukh the return as a different being. The two con- ceptions, though related to one another and, in consequence, 25 often found side by side, are by no means identical and are dis- tinctly kept asunder. Kuthayyir, as well as as-Sayyid, believed not only in Raj 'a but also in Tanasukh (Agh. VIII, 27'; he claims to be the Prophet Jona, ib. 34). But it is expressly stated that he believed "in Raj 'a and Tanasukh" (Agh. VIII, so 27-). In the same way both expressions are found side by side Shahr. 125 13 , 132". Makr. (354),. who enumerates a sect of Raj'iyya (see above), mentions in the same passage a UAJ fJtyW (jl (JJ-12L&M. Ibn Babuye, who staunchly defends Raj'a, 1 violently rejects Tanasukh (see p. 75 1 ). Only in In a special chapter on Raj 'a, I'tikadat 12 b : LJ! JUs>J! He promises to write a special book on the subject which may be identical with his Ithbat al-gaiba. Mirza 46 b makes the Imamites respon- Vol. xxix.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 27 a few isolated instances do the two terms seem to be used as syno- [43] nyms. Thus IKhald. (II, 164) says ^ auuLj ^ "in a kind of Trans- migration or in reality," i. e., returning in spirit as a different being, or as the same person. The same close contact between 5 the two conceptions is apparently assumed, ib. II, 169. * Makr. 357 4 contradicts his own previous statements when he says: "From him (i. e., 'Abdallah b. Saba) they also took over the belief in the concealment 2 of the Imam and the belief in his return after death on earth, in the same way as the Imamiyya 10 till this day believe it of "the man of the cellar," 3 and this is the belief in TandsuJch al-Arwdh." Apart from these instances, which are otherwise not very striking, the two ideas are clearly separated from one another. 4 sible for this attitude of Ibn Babuye : JyiJ! aLxJ ' ) ** &J*Aj ^jJ cX+J? jy^AA^V JULwj 1 The Prophet says to Ali : " Thou art its (this nation's) Du'1-Karnein (Alexander the Great)." See de Slane's translation, II, 196, note 4, and Comm. p. 28. note 1 towards the end. 8 1 read aUxxj instead of aujyb . 3 The twelfth Imam, the Mahdi. 4 We have dwelt on this point at some length because Wellhausen, Opp. 93, denies the explanation set forth above, and insists that Raj 'a is originally identical with Tanasukh, and that the meaning usually attached to it is a later development. His contention, however, practi- cally rests on a single passage (Agh. VIII, 34) which, even if taken in Wellhausen's interpretation, cannot stand against the numerous pas- sages to the contrary. But the passage in question does not necessarily prove Wellhausen's assertion. We are told that Kuthayyir used to give money to the little sons of Hasan b. Hasan (b. Ali ; not, as Wellhausen erroneously has it, "Hasan and Husein") and to call them "little prophets " : RJUS. Jb ,.v*J ) **=* Jb ,j"*>j ~U>t V;A> In cases the explanatory remark may simply mean to imply that the man in question was an abominable heretic, the belief in Raj 'a being * regarded as a sign of extreme heterodoxy (comp. Agh. Ill, 24 9 ). At any rate, the weight of the passage referred to by Wellhausen is largely counterbalanced by the statement, Agh VIII, 27 7 . that Kuthayyir believed in "Raj'a and Tanasukh," where the two ideas appear as dis- tinctly different. 1 By way of appendix a few isolated usages of the term Raj'a may find place here. Extremely interesting, but somewhat obscure, is the passage Agh. Ill, 188. Omayya b. AM Salt, who is anxious to become a prophet, goes to Syria and repeatedly enters a church, while his com- panions have to wait outside. A monk who lives in that church had told him that there were to be six Raj'at (see the remark on the margin of Agh.) after Jesus, of which five had already come to pass. When he comes another time, he is told by the monk : " The Raj'a has already come and a prophet has been sent from among the Arabs." Thereupon he gives up his prophetic ambitions. A very peculiar interpretation of the Raj'a belief is found Mirza 46 b , but, in view of the polemical tend- ency of his treatise, this interpretation may only reflect his own indi- vidual conception of the Shiitic doctrine. He says: .jo Vol. xxix.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 29 This conception, which regards the death of the Imams as a [43] mere disappearance, indispensably needs a complement which should account for the fact of their apparent death, the more so as the Imams of the Shi 'a, with scarcely any exception, all died an unnatural death. This complement is supplied by a 5 heterodox Christian doctrine borrowed from Docetism. 1 It can- not be our task here to trace the influence of Docetism on Islam. But it seems highly probable that- this doctrine came to the Muslims through the medium of Manichaeism, which adopted this belief and gave it a definite shape. "The Jesus of theio Manichaeans then had no objective reality as man. His whole human appearance, birth and baptism were a mere apparition, and so were his sufferings. For it was not he who was really crucified, but it was an emissary of the devil who tried to frus- trate the instructive activity of Jesus, and who, as a punish- is ment for his wickedness, was fastened to the cross by Jesus himself" (Kessler, Article "Manichaer," PRE 3 , XII, 218. Comp. Fliigel, Mani, 124, 336 f.). Jo [47-] j(3l5Vl stXJO ,i ab-oLlJ! v > "- -7 t. Jo U! . The word is used by lira Hazm (Ed. I, 139 5 ) to indicate the return (of a nation) to its former state of power and prosperity: 5*>Ji .wo *_g-k**.Aj! M.A4.j . But the word can scarcely be said to have the meaning of a technical term. Fictitious is the meaning ascribed to the word by de Slaue (Prolegomenes d'Ibn Khaldoun II, 196 note 5): a new period of time during which every past event will return, or repeat itself. The passage referred to proves nothing of the kind. It merely says c>jl^ Lx> J! )*x>VI p+?>) which has nothing to do with the term Raj'a. In Ibn Khaldun's text (II, 169) the meaning of the word is probably close to that of Transmigration of Souls, see p. 27 6 . 1 On Docetism see Harnack, Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte (2nd ed.) I, 164, and the passages specified there in the index. 30 I. Friedlaender, [1908. [43] This docetic belief, which afforded a satisfactory explanation of the alleged death of the Shiitic Imams, was readily adopted by the radical Shiites, and it often occurs in the very same form which Manichaeism had given it : that not the Imam was really / " G I t "- \ 5 killed, but a devil who assumed his shape (&i\j~oJ ^j-^- 5 (j^V**)- We find this belief in connection with nearly every Imam of the Ultra-Shiites. On its application to Ali, which is undoubtedly historical, see p. 43 f. Bagd. and Isfr. mention this theory in connection with the following Imams : Ali (in the name of 10 'Abdallah b. Saba) Bagd. 94% Isfr. 55 b f . ; Abu Muslim (see Index), Bagd. 100% Isfr. 59 a ; Muhammed b. 'Abdallah b. al- Hasan b. al-Hasan (p. 87), Bagd. 18 a f., 97 a ; Hallaj (Text69 18 ), who is said to have stamped his features on someone else, Bagd. 102% Isfr. 61 b . The Imamites who believe in the ' ' return " of the is twelfth Imam, the only one who was not murdered (at least according to the Imamitic belief), and therefore insist that the preceding Imams are really dead, have no room for this belief. But it can be seen from the polemics of Ibn Babuye that this docetic belief was widespread in Shiitic circles. After having 20 described the manner of (violent) death of the eleven Imams a favorite topic in Imamitic works IBab. thus sums up his O 55 o S position (I'tikadat 23 d *, in the chapter ija.)*JiXj\j -liJ! ^sj ^): Jo . owJ This docetic belief, in conjunction with the Raj 'a doctrine, enabled the Ultra-Shiites to assume a position which made them 30 practically invincible. The former made their Imams invulner- able: they were immune from death or murder. The latter made them immortal and carried over their living influence to posterity. - L. 9. \^ ox^Li 1*5" YiH~frJ instead of ^*J. One might think of a scribal error. But the following story (Bagd. 96 b ) makes this supposition impossible. Mugira b. Sa'id (p. 79 ff.) acknowledged Muhammed b. 'Abdallah as Imam. But when the latter was killed, Mugira was cursed by his followers, who maintained 10 au! j \jo See also fol. 9 b and Isfr. 12% who gives on the same page the conventional form of the Mahdi tradition. - L. 10. I have restored Yahya's genealogy with the help of 15 Gen. Leyd. Comp. Tab. Ill, 1515 16 note i^and 1403 16 (Addit.), where the editor equally substitutes Husein (not a/-Husein, as he expressly remarks). Iji 352 1 has Yahya b. 'Omeir. Yahya \\as killed during the reign of al-Musta'in in 250 h , Tab. Ill, 1515 ff., Shahr. 119. The general of the Zenj (p. 98) pre-20 tended to be this Yahya, Tab. Ill, 1745 s (anno 255). - L. 12 ff. The same fact is recorded Tab. Ill, 1518 s fci . ..^J J^tU.Aw! ^.j ^AA*s.f . Muhammed b. 'Abdallah was appointed Sahib ash-Shortah of Bagdad in 237 h , 25 Tab. Ill, 1410 8 , 2 IKhall. No. 366 (in the biography of his brother and successor 'Obeidallah). His pedigree, as given in our text and confirmed by Tab. and IKhall. (who deals bio- 1 Masudi V. 181 gives also the variant K...S.. 2 This Muhammed cannot very well be identical with the one men- tioned Tab. Ill, 1314" who died eleven years earlier. They are erro- neously identified in the Tabari index. In the last mentioned passage S-Ut tXc .j is to be struck out with Cod. C. 32 I. Friedlaender, [1908. [43 J graphically with everyone of his ancestors), is absolutely assured. Just as certain is the genealogy of Husein b. Isma'il, whose uncle, Ishak b. Ibrahim (1. 16), accepted a prominent post in the police of Bagdad in 207 h , Tab. Ill, 1062". ' Under these circum- 5 stances it is difficult to account for the apposition *+ ^-i! "the son of his paternal uncle" (1. 15). Perhaps our author confounds the fact mentioned here with the one recorded Tab. Ill, 1405 10 (anno 236), that Muhammed, the son of Ishak b. Ibrahim, dispatched Husein b. Isma'il, this time his real cousin, 10 to put down a rebellion in Faris. Another not impossible, though less probable, solution would be to explain *- ^-?' as a cousin of a remoter degree, in this case a third cousin. Thus Tab. I, 510 ( lAth. I, 142) Moses is called the '"amm" of Phinehas. So far the reading of L. Br. As for the genealogy is given in Ed. and the other codices, 2 it can scarcely be correct and seems to be an attempt to explain * ,-jJi [44] 44, 1. 1. The genealogy as given in our text is confirmed by Gen. Leyd., Ya'kubi II, 576, and Masudi, VII, 116. Elsewhere Muhammed's genealogy frequently appears in a 20 mutilated shape. IKhald. I, 361 (also de Slane's translation) has one link too much (Muh. b. Kasini b. AH b. Ali (sic) b. 'Omar). Tab. Ill, 1165 and lAth. VI, 312 have one link too little (Muh. b,Kasim b. 'Omar). Shahr. 118 penult, and Iji 352 even omit two links (Muh. b. K. b. Ali b. al-Husein b: Ali b. 25 A. T.). Muhammed was sent to prison by Mu'tasim in 219, ! The relation of the three men mentioned in our text presents itself as follows : Mus'ab al-Husein Ibrahim Tahir Isma'il Ish&k 'Abdallah al-Husein Muhammed I Muhammed al-Husein Tahir Isma'il I I 'Abdallah al- Hasan I (sic) Muhammed Vol. xxix.] The Heterodoxies of the Shiites, etc. 33 and he died there, Tab., Masudi, Shahr. According to Masudi [44] (VII, 117), there were many Zeidites at the time he was writ- ing his history (332 h ) who believed in the "return" (Raj 'a) of Muhammed. His followers were especially numerous in Kufa, Tabaristan and Deilam. 5 - L. 6 ff. Ibn Hazm's references to the Keisdniyya, which are frequent, though brief, substantially enrich our knowledge of this important sect. This at once shows itself in the explana- tion of the name, which is the only correct one among the numerous interpretations offered by other writers. The con-io ventional explanation derives the name from Keisan, which is declared to have been a nickname of Mukhtar (p. 79 17 ), so the Dictionaries: Jauhari (comp. IKhall. No. 570), Kamti,s, Lisdn and TCtj al- l Ards, sub voce ^L*^; IKot. 300, Ikd 269", Makr. 351^ (==de Sacy II, 592), Bagd. ll b . On the other is hand, endeavors were made to connect the founder of this sect in some way with Ali, or with his son Muhammed b. al-Hanafiyya, whom the Keisaniyya regard as his successor and the heir of his mystic knowledge (a point on which this sect lays great stress). As there was a maula of Ali named Keisan (he falls, 20 while defending his master, in the battle of Siffin, Tab. I, 3293 = IAth. Ill, 247), he was declared the founder of the Keisa- niyya and the disciple of Ali, or of Muhammed b. al-Hanafiyya, in the lore of mysticism, see Shahr. (who distinguishes between the Keisaniyya and the Mukhtariyya), similarly Abu'l-Maali 25 157, IKhall. ib. (who also quotes the preceding explanation, with the confession *-Le! *