THE DABISTÁN, OR, SCHOOL OF MANNERS.

* In the name of the bountiful and merciful God.

Verse.*
 
“O Thou, whose name is the beginning of the book of the chil­dren of the school,
Thy remembrance is to the adult amongst the Sages the torch of their nightly retirement;
Without thy name the tongue fails the palate of the barbarians,
Although they know the language of Arabia;*
Having the heart in the body full of thy remembrance, the novice, as well as the adept, in contemplation
Becomes a supreme king of beatitude, and the throne of the kingdom of gladness.
Whatever road I took, it joined the street which leads to Thee;
The desire to know thy being is also the life of the meditators;
He who found that there is nothing but Thee, has found the final knowledge;
The móbed is the teacher of thy truth, and the world a school.”

Blessing without limit to the mighty Being, the Lord of existence, the rider upon the sun of the celestial sphere which is the eye-witness of his glory; to Him whose servant is Saturn, Baharam (Mars) the messenger, Jupiter the star, the herald of good for­tune , Venus the slave; to Him who is the ornament of the throne of the empire of the faith, and the crown of divinity of the kingdom of truth.”

Masnavi.*
 
“The being to whom the holy God said:
If not thee, I would not have created the worlds;* That primitive wisdom and that soul of the world;
That man of spirit, and that spirit of man.
Blessing be also to the Khalifs of the faithful, and to the Lords of the Imáns of the faith.”*

Rabaâí (quatrain).

“The world is a book full of knowledge and of justice,
The binder of which book is destiny, and the binding the beginning and the end;
The suture of it is the law, and the leaves are the religious per­suasions;
The whole nation is formed of its disciples, and the apostle is the teacher.”

In this book, called “The Dabistan,” is contained something of the knowledge and faith of past nations, of the speeches and actions of modern people, as it has been reported by those who know what is mani­fest, and see what is concealed; as well as by those who are attached to exterior forms, and by those who discern the inward meaning, without omission, and diminution, without hatred, envy and scorn, and without taking a part for the one, or against the other side of the question.

This work is composed of several chapters.

CHAPT. I. treats of the religion of the Pársián.
CHAPT. II. of the religion of the Hindus.
CHAPT. III. of the religion of the Tabitían.
CHAPT. IV. of the religion of the Yahud (Jews).
CHAPT. V. of the religion of the Tarasás (Christians).
CHAPT. VI. of the religion of the Muselmáns.
CHAPT. VII. of the religion of the Sádakíah.
CHAPT. VIII. of the religion of the Váhadiáh (Unitarians).
CHAPT. IX. of the religion of the Rósheníán.
CHAPT. X. of the religion of the Ilahíah.
CHAPT. XI. of the religion of the Wise (Philoso­phers).
CHAPT. XII. of the religion of the Súfíah.