Conclusion (Khátima)¹

(pp. 132-138).

[Section ii.] On the meaning of Unbelief (Kufr) and Belief (Ímán). Five meanings of Kufr in the Qur'án are distinguished, and three chief kinds in ordinary life, namely spiritual (qalbí), verbal (qawlí), and actual (fi'lí). Three Belief and unbelief. kinds of Ímán are also distinguished, and Ímán is distinguished from Islám. Sunnís and Shí'a not of the “Sect of the Twelve” are believers (mú'min), but not Muslims; they are not unclean, but will remain for ever in Hell-fire. The apostate (murtadd) from Islám is deserving of death, nor is his repentance accepted in this world, though, according to some theologians, it may be accepted in the next. But from the convert to Islám who reverts to his original faith repentance may be accepted; and a woman who apostasizes should not be killed, but imprisoned and beaten until she repents or dies in prison. The book ends with a description of five kinds of Faith and six kinds of Repentance.

Such in outline is the Shí'a creed of contemporary Persia in its crudest and most popular form. It would be interesting to trace the evolution of that creed from the earliest times of Islám, to compare (so far as the available materials allow) the historical with the legendary Imáms, and to contrast in detail the beliefs, both doctrinal and eschatological, of the Shí'a and the Sunnís. This, however, transcends the scope of this book, even had the preliminary work indispensable to such a study been adequately done. Even amongst the orthodox and formal (qishrí) mujtahids and mullás these doctrines must often have been held in a form less crude and childish than that outlined above, though they may have deemed it wiser to leave the popular beliefs undisturbed, and to discourage speculations which might become dangerous amongst a people only too prone Broad divisions of religious thought in Persia. to scepticism and heresy. Taking only the broad divisions of theological and philosophical thought in Persia, we may distinguish in each field three main types; amongst the theologians the Akhbárís, the Uṣúlís (or Mujtahidís), and the Shaykhís; amongst the philosophers the Mutakallimún or School-men,

Autograph of Mullá Muḥammad Báqir-i-Majlisí
Or. 4937 (Brit. Mus.), p. 105
To face p. 404

the Falásifa or Ḥukamá (Philosophers pure and simple),

Gobineau's classification. and the philosophical Ṣúfís. Of all these Gobi-neau's account is still the most clear, lively and concise which I have met with in any European language, though it cannot be certainly affirmed that its accuracy is equal to its clarity. Thus he credits the Akhbárís, generally regarded as the straitest sect of the Shí'a, with a certain latitudinarianism to which they can hardly lay claim; and describes the Shaykhís as “not altogether rejecting the idea of the Resurrection of the Body,” when it was precisely their doctrine of the “subtle body” (or Jism-i-Huwarqilyá) which especially laid them under suspicion of heresy. The doctrines of the Shaykhís, moreover, definitely prepared the way for the still more heretical doctrines of the Bábís, who were outside the pale of Islám while the Shaykhís were just within it and counted many influential followers in high places. Of the Philosophers and Ṣúfís more will be said in another chapter, but as to the theologians we shall do well to bear in mind Gobineau's dictum: “Il ne faut pas perdre de vue que si l'on peut, approximativement, classer les trois opinions ainsi que je le fais, il est nécessaire pourtant d'ajouter qu'il est rare que, dans le cours de sa vie, un Persan n'ait point passé de l'une à l'autre et ne les ait point toutes les trois The Majlisís. professées.” Mullá Muḥammad Báqir-i-Majlisí, one of the greatest, most powerful and most fanatical mujtahids of the Ṣafawí period, found it necessary to apologize for the tolerant and even sympathetic attitude assumed by his father Mullá Muḥammad Taqí-i-Majlisí, not less distinguished than himself as a theologian, towards the Ṣúfís. “Let none think so ill of my father,” he says, “as to imagine that he was of the Ṣúfís. Nay, it was not so, for I was intimately associated with my father in private and in public, and was thoroughly conversant with his beliefs. My father thought ill of the Ṣúfís, but at the beginning of his career, when they were extremely powerful and active, my father entered their ranks, so that by this means he might repel, remove, eradicate and extirpate the roots of this foul and hellish growth (ín Shajara-i-Khabíthai-Zaqqúmiyya ). But when he had extinguished the flames of their infamy, then he made known his inner feelings, for he was a man of the utmost virtue and piety, ascetic and devout in his life,” etc.

Yet Mullá Muḥammad Báqir, in spite of his formalism and fanaticism, his incredible industry in writing books in simple and easily intelligible Persian in order to popularize the Shí'a doctrines, and his ruthless persecution of the Ṣúfís, is credited with posthumous gleams of a higher humanity. * One saw him in a dream after his death and asked of him, “How fares it with you in that world, and how have they dealt with you?” He answered, “None of my actions profited me at all, except that one day I gave an apple to a Jew, and that saved me.”

The Qiṣaṣu'l-'Ulamá contains 153 biographies of eminent divines, of whom the following twenty-five appear to me the most interesting and important. They are here arranged, as far as possible, chronologically, the serial number of each biography in the book being indicated in brackets after the name.*

I. Pre-Ṣafawí divines.

1. Muḥammad ibn Ya'qúb al-Kulayní (No. 96), entitled Ten great divines of the pre-Ṣafawí period. Thiqatu'l-Islám, author of the Káfí, d. 329/941.

2. Muḥammad ibn 'Alí ibn Ḥusayn ibn Músà ibn Bábawayhi of Qum, called Ṣadúq (No. 95), d. 381/991-2. Of his works 189 are enumerated in the Qiṣaṣu'l-'Ulamá, the most important being that entitled Man lá yaḥḍuruhu'l-Faqíh, which, like the Káfí mentioned in the last paragraph, is one of the “Four Books.”

3. Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Nu'mán ibn 'Abdu's-Salám al-Ḥárithí, commonly called Shaykh-i-Mufíd (No. 97), d. 413/1022. The Qiṣaṣ enumerates 171 of his works.

4. Sayyid Murtaḍà, entitled 'Alamu'l-Hudà (No. 98), d. 436/1044. He was the great-great-grandson of the Seventh Imám, Músà al-Káẓim.

5. Aḥmad ibn 'Alí an-Najjáshí (No. 132), d. 455/1063. He was a disciple of the Shaykh-i-Mufíd, and the author of the well-known Kitábu'r-Rijál.

6. Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan ibn 'Alí aṭ-Ṭúsí, called Shay-khu'ṭ-Ṭá'ifa (No. 100), d. 460/1067. He was the third of the older “three Muḥammads” (the others being Nos. 1 and 2 supra), and the author of two of the “Four Books,” the Tahdhíbu'l-Aḥkám and the Istibṣár, and of the wellknown Fihrist, or Index of Shí'a books.

7. Naṣíru'd-Dín-i-Ṭúsí, entitled Muḥaqqiq (“the Investigator”), even more celebrated as a philosopher and man of science than as a theologian (No. 90), d. 672/1274. His most famous works are the Akhláq-i-Náṣirí on Ethics, the Astronomical Tables called Zíj-i-Ilkhání, compiled for Húlágú Khán the Mongol, and the Tajríd on Scholastic Philosophy, a favourite text for the countless host of commentators and writers of notes and glosses.

8. Najmu'd-Dín Ja'far ibn Yaḥya, known as Muḥaqqiq-i-Awwal (“the First Investigator”), author of the Shará-yi'u'l-Islám (No. 89), born 638/1240-1, died Muḥarram 726/Dec. 1325. As a youth he showed some poetic talent, which was, however, sternly repressed by his father, who told him that poets were accursed and poetry incompatible with a devout life.

9. Ḥasan ibn Yúsuf ibn 'Alí ibnu'l-Muṭahhar al-Ḥillí, commonly called 'Alláma-i-Ḥillí (“the Sage of Ḥilla”) (No. 83), died in the same month and year as the above-mentioned Muḥaqqiq-i-Awwal, who was ten years his senior. Of his works 75 are enumerated in the Qiṣaṣ. 'Alláma-i-Ḥillí came of a great family of theologians, which produced in a comparatively short period ten mujtahids. His father was one, and his son, entitled Fakhru'l-Muḥaqqiqín (No. 86), another.

10. Shaykh Shamsu'd-Dín Muḥammad ibn Makkí ??. al-'Ámilí, called Shahíd-i-Awwal (“the First Martyr”) (No. 82), was put to death at Damascus about midsummer 786/1384 * by judgement of the two Qáḍís Burhánu'd-Dín the Málikí and Ibn Jamá'a the Sháfi'í.