In the east of Kohistan, not far from Bakhtá, is a place called Arníl,* and also Armal; the king is there entitled Abáb. They say: as it is evident to the swimmer in the sea of the realities of events, that the door of intercourse is closed between the beings below and those above, and no intercourse is opened between the elemental and the heavenly beings, so are the temporal beings and those of eternity des­titute of the bonds of relationship, and no connexion exists between those confined, and those unconfined, by space; therefore they are ordered to know God by investigation of wisdom and of the divine law, and to worship the divinity. The angels on high and the prophets below have the faculty of knowing the substance of the blessed verses, but not the divine Being itself:

This is what the crier proclaims. On that account it is necessary to the Almighty God and eter­nal Lord that he should descend from the dignity of purity and from the station of unity and absolute­ness, and that, according to the abundance of his clemency, he should, in every period and revolu­tion of time, unite his spirit with a bodily frame, in order that his creatures may behold this holy and exalted Lord, and, in whatever manner he ordains, acknowledge and reverence him; the precepts and traditions of history are published to that effect. As the manifestation of a spirit in a bodily form is a possible fact, and the learned agree upon it, and as it is stated in the account of the travellers upon the road of salvation to the city of the true faith, so is it determined that a pure spirit may assume a bodily likeness; thus is the appearance of Jabrîl in the form of an ape-dog* an instance of it, and thus, on the occasions of wickedness, is the appearance of Satan, or a demon in a human form. Besides, it is in the power of the Almighty to manifest himself in the best, the most perfect body.

The individuals among men are, during the business of life, formed dependent on their mutual wants. To this sect it is an indispensable rule to associate all together, in order that no oppression may take place towards each other in their commu­nities, and that the order of the world may remain upheld. It is indispensable that this great rule be derived from God, the Lord of glory, in order that all men may adopt it. On that account, the govern­ment of the supreme Judge has found necessary that, by power of his perfection, a canon, having been revealed among the different classes of mankind, should be agreed upon for the regulation of the creatures, in consequence of which the purpose of the conditions in the affairs of the world might be settled. Further, by the assistance of reason and instruction, there is in this age no other moon or sun in the sphere of perfection but ALI MURTAZA, “the chosen.” Truly, the illiterate prophet* (Muham­med) esteemed this blessed personage equal to several learned apostles, and saw praiseworthy quali­ties of a prophet united in that virtuous existence. Hence it follows, that men possessed of sight behold him sometimes come down from heaven in the shape of the father of mankind (Adam), and reckon his time to be that of one who inhabited the floating ship of Noah, and place him as far back as that age when a martyr, in the garment of Ibrahim, he was playing with the fire into which Nimrod had thrown him; another time they find him in the dress of the speaker with God, Moses, and the words of that Lord:

confirm that the pure spirit of that embodied soul, and wisdom, represented in a person, is the Creator of the world, worthy of praise. And the sen­tence:

relates to the same, as Adam, the holy father of mankind, the Just, is nobody else but Alí Murtazi. And the saying:

refers to that eternal being, merging into a body, as he has manifested himself in the prophet's visible form under the shape a powerful man; and the honor of the prophet's presenting his shoulder by the assistance of the divine grace to the foot of that leader, relates but to this, that reverence is due to him, as that truth-speaking and truth-singing poet sung:

* These sectaries also say, that in every revolution of time, the Lord God was united to the body of a prophet or saint, namely, from Adam down to Ahmed* and Alí, in which manner they explain the transmigration of the divine light. And some of them say, that the manifestation of God in this age took place in Aly alah, and after him in his descen­dants, and they acknowledge Muhammed and Alí as prophets and the mission of Alí alah. They assert, that when God saw that the business did not go on well by the prophet, he came to his assistance, as it were, by way of zeal. The author of this book saw a person from among them, called Ahmed, who said, that the Koran which is among them does not deserve confidence, as it is not the book which Alí Alah had given to Muhammed; but is the composi­tion of Abu bekr, of Omar, and Osman. The author saw also one named Shams-eddin, who said: Cer­tainly the Koran is the word of Alí alah, but having been collected by Osman, it ought not to be read. Some were seen among them who asserted that the verse and prose, ascribed to the Amir of the believers, Omar, were collected by Alí, and inserted in the Koran, and to these they attach a superiority over the Koran, inasmuch as they came from Alí allah to the creatures without foreign intervention, whilst the Farkan, Koran, was delivered into the hands of men by means of Muhammed.

There is besides a sect among them which is called the Ulvíahs.* They themselves derive their origin from Alí allah, and in their creed participate with that of the just mentioned sect: they say, that the Koran which is now among men, is not the word of Alí allah, because the shaiks (Abu bekr and Omar) employed themselves in its transposition, and at last Osman cast the whole away; as he possessed eloquence, he composed a book in his own way, and burnt the original Koran, wherefore these sec­taries, wherever they find this book, consign it to the flames. Their belief is, that when Alí allah left the body, he was united with the sun; that he is now the sun; and having also been the sun before, he was for some days joined to an elemental body. They further maintain, that on this account the sun was moving by his order, inasmuch as he is the real sun; wherefore they call the sun Alí allah, and the fourth heaven Daldal.* They are worshippers of the sun, whom they hold to be God Almighty. They are a respectable tribe, and a division of them pre­tend that they can call upon the sun, who answers them, and affords them protection in their affairs.

Abd ullah, one of them so named, reported, that among his relations was a man called Azíz, upon whom, when he pronounced with fervour Alí allah, and gave himself up to an ecstatical song or dance, no sword could take effect. Thus, when one of the incredulous denied this; Azíz became warm, and took to calling out “Alí allah” in such a manner that foam settled upon his lips, and he cried to the denier: “Strike, O accursed!” The latter aimed several blows with a sword at him, but effected nothing. This person has now joined Alí allah in the other world.

Among these sectaries it is not permitted to kill any living being, nor to eat any flesh, as Alí allah said:

And the animals which the Koran permits to be killed, and the flesh which he allows to be eaten, is that of Abu bekr, of Omar, and Osman, and of their followers, and all prohibited things, they say, have reference to these three persons. With them, Iblis, the serpent, and the peacock are symbols of these three, and likewise Shedád,* Nimród, and Phárâún are they. These sectaries admit prostration before the image of Alí allah; the breaking and worship­ping of idols relates, according to them, to the said three individuals, as Alí allah called the Shaikhs the idols of the Korêsh. They agree upon transmigra­tion, and say, that when Alí appeared in former times in the form of a prophet, those three also made their appearance in the shape of deniers, and after them many others will come.