SECTION I. — OF THE RELIGION OF THE PHILOSOPHERS, AND OF SOME BRANCHES OF THEIR QUESTIONS.

The distinguished men of that class divide them­selves into two sorts: the one are the Oriental, the other the Occidental. As to the religious customs of the Orientals, let it be known, that they are also called Ravákín, and in Persian Keshísh, “the reli­gious,” Pertaví, “the splendent,” and Róshendil, “the enlightened,” and in Hindí Ner mel men and Jókísher: these names relate to sanctity. The Occi­dentals are called in Persian Rah berí, “way-guides,” and Joya, inquirers;” in Hindí Tárkek.

As to their tendency and opinions—whatever relates to the creed of the Orientals has already been stated in the chapter on the Yezdáníán, who are also entitled Azarhóshangían, but all that is attributed to the two sects is symbolical. The ancient philosophers of Greece, down to Aflátún (Plato), were Oriental; it was Araśtu (Aristotle), his disciple, who then took the lead in the doctrine, the centre of which with this class is the argumentative reason. Both sects, by means of their discussions, cannot explain the nature of the self-existing being; the essence, unity, particularity, and all attributes are inherent in his holy nature, as I have said in the account of the religion of the Hoshanganíans. They have said besides: God is the world in its univer­sality, but in its particularity mutable conformably with the whole, as it has been stated in the doctrine of the Yezdánían. They maintain, the work of God is according to his will; he does; if he wills not, he does not; but a good work is conformable to his nature: because all his attributes are perfection, in which sense they draw necessary conclusions with regard to the nature of God.

“The year of God is that which passeth away; and thou shalt not find a change in the years of God.”

Their creed is: God is not the immediate actor; as it would not be suitable to the dignity of royalty and sovereignty to perform himself every business; but it is proper that he should appoint some one of his servants who, on account of his great knowledge and power, is qualified for business, for the execu­tion of the royal orders and the protection of the subjects. The latter also may, by the Sultan's order, name another as Vizir or Nawab, for the affairs; every one of these chiefs may instal functionaries or agents; so that the whole administration may be firmly established according to the desire and the order of the sovereign. On that account, God created a first intellect, called in Persian Bahman, that is, “supreme soul,” or Barósú, or Ferósu, or Serósh seróshán, and “the science of truth;” he who pro­duced something “new;” he is also entitled “the true man: ‘God created man according to his image;” that is to say, pure, uncompounded, like reason, betwixt necessity and possibility,* in the centre between both; necessity is on his right side, possibility on his left; the perfect spirit rises from the left, which is the side of possibility. With respect to truth, the image of man is âkl,* “spirit of wisdom, the holy spirit, and the image of Eva a perfect spirit: on that account it was said that the forth­coming of Eva took place from Adam's left side. The Sofis also agree with this, as we find it explained by Shaikh Muhammed Láhají,* in his work Sharah-i-Gulshen, “the Commentary of the Rose-bower.” Jesus, the son of God, proceeds from this “holy spirit.” When wisdom manifests itself through somebody, it is called his “spirit of wisdom;” and when impressions of sciences in all creatures have penetrated through its mediation, it is named “arrow;” and as the perfection of the lord of the pro­phetic asylum is a ray of that jewel, it bears the name of “Muhammed's light.”

“If not for thee, I would not have created the worlds.”*

These are the attributes of its nature, and besides these it has many names. By the intervention of the first intelligence came forth the second intelli­gence, the spirit and body of “the crystalline heaven;” and the soul of the heaven above the crys­talline firmament is called “haváyi mânavi, “the true soul.” By the intervention of the second intelligence, the third, and the spirit and body of the heaven of the fixed stars were produced. In this wonderful way, intelligences and spirits were formed, until the spirits of the tenth class;* among these ten bringers of good news (Evangelists) are distinguished; likewise nine heavens were brought into existence, that they may correspond to nine prophets. From the tenth class of intelligences came forth the matter of the elements, and bodies, and the spirits of elemental existence. The philoso­phers said, that ten kinds of intelligences are enu­merated, not because there may not exist any more, but because these are required; and likewise we want the number of nine heavens, without its being prohibited to add any other. The Eastern philosophers however declare themselves against num­bering the kinds of intelligences, because, with them every kind of thing has its god, whom they call “the god of the species,” in Persian Dára, the angel of rains, the angel of rivers, to which the fol­lowing sentence relates:

“Each thing has its angel to whom it is confided, and an angel descends with every drop.”

The Oriental philosophers hold the bodies to be shadows of the uncompounded lights.

“Seest thou not that God has spread his shadow over me?”

According to the sages, the kinds of intelligences and spirits of heaven are the heavenly angels, who have no body nor any thing corporeal, neither feathers nor wings. When an effulgence of the lumi­nous attributes of the self-existing Being falls upon them, it is by the mediating power of this ray, that deeds of wonderful purity proceed from them; and in this production there is no need of a motion, nor of an instrument, in like manner as in the forth­coming of a work of God his will is sufficient. This meaning has been made intelligible to the under­standing of the vulgar by saying, that an angel with feathered wings traversed the distance of a road which could not be travelled over in a thousand years. They say also that Isráfíl is one of the powers of the sun; the angel of death proceeds from Saturn; Míkáil from the moon; and Jebríil emanated from the tenth power of intelligence. As often as, on account of the revolution of the heavens or the motion of the stars, something suitable manifests itself in the elemental matter, compounded and uncom­pounded, it issues into existence by way of emana­tion from the superior wisdom; and the revelation of the prophet, and the instruction of the perfect to mankind, takes place by the intervention of the last-mentioned angel. On that account there is an intrinsic connexion between the souls of the prophets and this by-standing angel. According to the Eastern philosophers, Jabrííl is a god of a kind similar to human nature, and called in Persian Wakhshur, “prophet,” and Serósh pajám sipár, “Serosh, the message-bringer.” In the opinion of the philosophers, the crystalline heaven is the ninth heaven, and the heaven of the fixed stars the throne of God. The exalted rational spirit is without an habitation, and, without being in the body, is connected with it, in a manner similar to that of a lover with his mis­tress. This doctrine is very ancient with the Orien­tals, as has been stated in the account about the Azar Hóshangían, but with the first master among the learned, Aristotle and his followers, it is a tradition. According to general consent, the soul is eternal.

“Believe not that those who were killed in the way of God are dead; on the contrary, they are living and nourished at the side of their Lord.”*

To unite the soul with the body is as much as to drive Adam from heaven; to long for the body is to bear the commands of Eva; and to perform bad actions is to eat of the forbidden tree; anger is the serpent; lust is the peacock. They hold that Iblis represents the power of imagination which guides us, and the sensual influence which denies the knowledge of words and things consentient with reason, and contends with the power of rea­son; that what is stated in the law, that all angels prostrated themselves before Adam, except Iblis, signifies that all bodily powers, which are the angels of the earth, are obedient to the soul of Adam, except the po er of imagination, that is Iblis, which is rebellious, and sometimes gets the better of judgment. Reason says, that a corpse is to be accounted a mineral, and no wise to be feared; but imagination says: “this is true; nevertheless we must fear;” and when one finds himself in a house alone with a dead man, it may happen that his mind experiences an agitation of terror. The Súfis too agree with this, as we find it expressed by the venerable Shaikh Mahmúd Shósterí* in a chapter of the Merát ul Mohakakín, “the mirror of the investi­gators of truth.” It is stated in the Akhván ús afá, “the companions of purity,” of Mullá Alí, that there were intelligences and spirits which were not ordered to adore Adam, as being of a higher rank, as it is written in the Koran, that God, the All-just, addressed this speech to Iblis:

“Thou art proud; believest thou thyself to be one of the more exalted beings?”*

And this was the occasion on which the angels of the earth were ordered to adore Adam.

The Orientals maintain that when the soul real­ises, as it ought to do, the conditions of its primitive origin, it obtains emancipation from the bodily bonds, and joins the intelligences and spirits: this exalted dignity is Paradise.

“O peaceful soul, return to thy lord willingly and readily; and who­ever desires to meet his lord, let him perform good works.”

In this high state it is possible to behold the face of God. There is another sect which asserts, that the All-Just is visible; they say right; because the rational soul sees with interior eyes: another sect which denies the seeing of God is also right; because he cannot be seen with bodily eyes,

“The eyes attain him, and attain him not.”

But the soul which has left the narrow prison of the body, but has not attained the field of its beati­fying residence, unites, for taking a seat, with the body of any one of the celestial spheres with which it has some relation; it finds rest in the higher or lower heavens, according to order and distinction; it is engaged in the contemplation of beauteous forms, and the noble endowments of one who praises God in the delight of that sphere, which, with some, means the fancy of a particular kind, and is blessed by the enjoyment of delightful imaginations and representations. What is stated in the code of law, that the souls of the vulgar among the believers are in the first heaven; this is founded upon the words of the prophet.

“His acquisition is but a known place.”

The meaning of this relates to the different degrees of merit.

By “Paradise” is understood one of the heavens, eight of which are counted, and these are beneath the ninth, which is the roof of the Paradise, as it is stated in the traditions. But, when the souls not yet come forth from the pit of the natural darkness of bodily matter, are nevertheless in a state of increasing improvement, then, in an ascending way, they migrate from body to body, each purer than the former one, until the time of climbing up to the steps of the wished-for perfection of mankind, yet according to possibility, after which, purified of the defilement of the body, they join the world of sanctity: and this final migration (death) is called nasikh, “obliteration.”

“The verses which we have abrogated, we have replaced by others.”

Some call this state Aâráf,* “boundary;” which means a wall between heaven and hell, behind which shall be those who in their conduct fell short of goodness, until the time of being permitted to enter into heaven. If the iniquities of the souls predominate, then, descending, they assume the forms of animals corresponding to their prevailing character: thus, the souls of the powerful malefac­tors and of the furious enter into the bodies of lions; the proud become tigers; the formidable, wolves; and the crafty and covetous appear as little ants; in this manner they are all ravenous, grazing, flying, creeping; and this state of things is called masakh, “metamorphosis.”

“As often as their skin is burnt we renew it with another, in order that they may taste punishment.”

“There is no kind of beast on earth, nor fowl which flieth with its wings, but the same is a people like unto you.*

Sometimes, descending, the souls are united with vegetable bodies; and this is entitled rasakh, “firm­ness.”

“Under the form which thy master wills.”

Sometimes they enter into mineral bodies, as for instance into metals; and this is named fasakh, “fracture.”

“We let you grow according to your acts.”

The learned Umer Khíyam says:

“Endeavor to acquire praise worthy qualities: for, in the field of destiny,
Thy resurrection shall be in conformity with thy qualities.”

This threefold division they call “hell.” The number of the stories of hell, according to the fol­lowers of the law, is seven; that of the simple ele­ments, four; and that of the compound elements, three: altogether seven. Every soul, on leaving the elemental world, enters into one of the stories of hell. According to the Masháyíns, “Peripatetics,” the human soul which, during its connection with the body has contracted bad habits, becomes afflicted and distressed by the impurity of such human attri­butes as are accounted defects of the mind: on account of the extinction of sensual pleasure which had grown into a fixed habit, the soul is bewildered, and its base customs and qualities bear manifestly upon it under the guise of a serpent, a scorpion, a burning fire, and by all the torments which are recorded in the law-book, whilst, on the contrary, the noble habits of the virtuous shine under the guise of Huris, Kásurs, sons, and youths, and in all the blessings of heaven.

Sirát, “the bridge of the last judgment,” signi­fies nothing else but the temperature of power; as it has been established in the doctrine of Ethics: for instance, the excess of courage is temerity, a deficiency in it is cowardice; a medium between both is valour; and, as to keep the middle tenor, is very difficult, this has been emblematized by some­thing which is finer than a hair and sharper than the edge of a sword, and by three arches, which indicate the due mixture of three powers, viz.: knowledge, courage, and lust. Under hell is meant elemental nature.

We shall pass to the interpretation of the gates of heaven, the number of which is eight; that of the gates of hell, seven. It is established that there are five external senses and five internal; but all of them are not apt to perceive without the assistance of inference and imagination; because it is imagi­nation which perceives the forms, and inference completes the perception of sensible things. The two internal with the five external senses, make seven. If they attend not to the commands of rea­son, each of them goes for imprisonment to that hell which is under the heaven of the moon, and if they listen to these commands, they reach with the ninth rank of intelligence the eight gates of heaven for salvation and emancipation, as well as enter the Paradise which is among the heavens.

“As to him who disobeyed, and preferred the worldly life, hell shall be his abode; and as to him who feared the being of the Lord and refused to give up his soul to concupiscence, Paradise shall be his abode.”

UPON THE ANGELS OF PUNISHMENT. — It is to be known, that there are seven rulers of the world over the seven stars which revolve within the twelve signs of the zodiac; seven and twelve make nineteen, and over these nineteen rulers, that is, managers of the world, are other nineteen inspectors. In the space of the nether earth are seven powers of vege­tation, viz.: that of nourishment, watering, birth, retention, attraction, mildness, and repulsion. There are twelve powers of animal life, viz.: five external, five internal senses, and two powers of movement, namely, lust and anger. Mankind, as long as they remain in prison beneath the heaven of the moon, and not severed from sensuality and its ties, is indispensably and continually subject to the impressions of the upper and nether rulers, and to sufferings; but if it rids itself of these conditions, it enjoys freedom in this and in the other world.

Nakir and Monkir point to our praise-worthy or blameable conduct. The body is a tomb, and so is the belly of the mother, and the interior part of the heaven of the moon.