Another important work, composed in the same year as that last mentioned (1286/1869-70) but in Persian, is The Nujúmu's­Samá entitled Nujúmu's-Samá (“Stars of Heaven”). * It deals with Shí'a theologians of the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries of the hijra (A.D. 1592-1882), and the biographies are arranged on the whole chronologically. The author was Muḥammad ibn Ṣádiq ibn Mahdi. Like most of these books its utility is impaired by the lack of an Index or even a Table of Contents, but it contains a great deal of useful information.

The third work of which I desire to make special mention here is primarily a bibliography, though it also contains a The Kashfu'l­Ḥujub. good deal of biographical matter. It is entitled Kashfu'l-Ḥujub wa'l-Astár 'an Asmá'i'l-Kutub wa'l-Asfár (“the Removal of Veils and Curtains from the Names of Books and Treatises”), contains notices of 3414 Shí'a books arranged alphabetically, and was com­posed in Arabic by Sayyid I'jáz Ḥusayn, who was born in 1240/1825, and died in 1286/1870. The editor, Muḥammad Hidáyat Ḥusayn, discovered the manuscript in the excellent Bankipore Library, and, encouraged by Sir E. Denison Ross, prepared the text for publication at the expense of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.*

Mention must also be made of another Arabic work on Shí'a poets entitled Nasimatu's-Saḥar fí-man tashayya'a

An anthology of Shí'a poets. wa sha'ar (“the Morning Breeze, on those who held the Shí'a faith and composed poetry”), compiled by Yúsuf ibn Yaḥyá al-Yamaní aṣ-Ṣan'ání, a rare book, hitherto, so far as I know, unpublished, of which I am fortunate enough to possess a manuscript of the second half, containing the letters <text in Arabic script omitted>. * Only poets who wrote in Arabic are noticed.

Of these books the Rawḍátu'l-Jannát is the most scholarly and comprehensive, but those who read Persian only will Comparison of these works. derive much instruction and some amusement from the Majálisu'l-Mú'minín, Nujúmu's-Samá, and Qiṣaṣu'l-'Ulamá. The older “Books of the Men,” such as the works of aṭ-Ṭúsí and an-Najáshí, are generally very jejune, and suited for reference rather than reading. As it is with the theologians of the Ṣafawí and subsequent periods that we are chiefly concerned here, a very few words about the older 'ulamá of the Shí'a will suffice, though with their names, titles and approximate dates the student should be familiar. The most important The founders of Shí'a theology: the “three Muḥammads” and the “four Books.” of these earlier divines are “the three Muḥam-mads ,” * al-Kulayní (Muḥammad ibn Ya'qúb, d. 329/941), Ibn Bábawayhi (Muḥammad ibn 'Alí ibn Músá, d. 381/991-2), and the already-mentioned Ṭúsí (Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan, d. 460/ 1067). Of these the first composed the Káfí, the second Man lá yaḥḍuru-hu'l-Faqíh (a title which approximates in sense to our familiar “Every man his own Lawyer”), and the third the Istibṣár and the Tahdhíbu'l-Aḥkám, which are known collectively amongst the Shí'a as “the Four Books” (al-Kutubu'l-arba'a), * and of which full particulars will be found in the above-mentioned Kashfu'l-Ḥujub.

The “three Muḥammads” of later days. More modern times also produced their “three Muḥammads,” namely Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan ibn 'Alí…al-Ḥurr al-'Ámilí (author of the above­mentioned Amalu'l-Ámil); Muḥammad ibnu'l-Murtaḍá, commonly known as Mullá Muḥsin-i-Fayẓ (Fayḍ), who died about 1090/1679; and Muḥammad Báqir-i-Majlisí (d. 1111/1699-1700). * Each of these also produced a great book, the first the Wasá'il, the second the Wáfí, and the third the Biḥáru'l-Anwár (“Oceans of Light”), which con­stitute the “Three Books” of the later time. These seven great works on Shí'a theology, jurisprudence and tradition Arabic the usual medium of theological works. are, of course, like the great bulk of the works of the Muhammadan Doctors and Divines. written in Arabic, which language occupies no less a position in Islám than does Latin in the theological literature of the Church of Rome. Of them space will not permit me to speak further; it is the more Persian theo­logical works of the later period. popular Persian manuals of doctrine, whereby the great theologians of the Ṣafawí period sought so successfully to diffuse their religious teachings, which must chiefly concern us here, and even of these it will be impossible to give an adequate account. According to the Rawḍátu'l-Jannát, * Kamálu'd-Dín Ḥusayn of Ardabíl, called “the Divine Doctor” (al-Iláhí), a contemporary of Sháh Isma'íl I, “was the first to compose books in Persian on matters connected with the Holy Law according to the doctrine of the Shí'a”:

<text in Arabic script omitted> We have already seen * what difficulty Sháh Isma'íl ex­perienced on his capture of Tabríz in finding teachers or Scarcity of works of Shí'a theology in early Ṣafawí days. books to inclucate the doctrines of the creed which he was determined to impose throughout his dominions, and it is not strange, though the fact is often overlooked, that it became necessary to introduce into Persia learned Arabs of the Importation to Persia of Shí'a doctors from Arabia. Shí'a persuasion, where such were obtainable. Two districts furnished the bulk of these: Baḥ-rayn, across the Persian Gulf, and Jabal 'Ámil in Syria. * To the divines furnished by each of these two localities a special biographical work has, as we have seen, been devoted, namely the Lú'lú'atu'l-Baḥrayn and the Amalu'l-Ámil. Some of them came to Persia totally ignorant of the Persian language, like Sayyid Ni-'matu'lláh al-Jazá'irí, who, on reaching Shíráz with his brother, had to obtain from a Persian acquaintance the sentence “Madrasa-i-Manṣúriyya-rá mi-khwáhím” (“We want the Manṣúriyya College”), and even then each learned only half of this simple phrase and spoke alternately.*

It is the autobiography of this same Sayyid Ni'matu'lláh, as given in the Qiṣaṣu'l-'Ulamá, which furnishes us with Autobiography of a student of theology. so unusually vivid a picture of the privations and hardships experienced by a poor student of Divinity. He was born in 1050/1640-1 and wrote this narrative when he was thirty-nine years of age, * “in which brief life,” he adds, “what afflictions have befallen me!” These afflictions began when he was only five years old, when, while he was at play with his little companions,

First steps in learning. his father appeared, saying, “Come with me, my little son, that we may go to the school­master, so that thou mayst learn to read and write, in order that thou mayst attain to a high degree.” In spite of tears, protests, and appeals to his mother he had to go to school, where, in order the sooner to escape and return to his games, he applied himself diligently to his lessons, so that by the time he was aged five years and a half he had finished the Qur'án, besides learning many poems. This, however, brought him no relief and no return to his childish games, for he was now committed to the care of a blind Tyranny of teachers. grammarian to study the Arabic paradigms and the grammar of Zanjání. For this blind teacher he had to act as guide, while his next preceptor compelled him to cut and carry fodder for his beasts and mulberry-leaves for his silk-worms. He then sought another teacher with whom to study the Káfiya of Ibnu'l-Ḥájib,

An ignorant Professor. and found an imposing personage dressed in white with an enormous turban “like a small cupola,” who, however, was unable to answer his questions. “If you don't know enough grammar to answer these questions, why do you wear this great load on your head?” enquired the boy; whereupon the audience laughed, and the teacher rose up ashamed and departed. “This led me to exert myself to master the paradigms of grammar,” says the writer; “but I now ask pardon of God for my question to that believing man, while thanking Him that this incident happened before I had attained maturity and become fully responsible for my actions.”