SECTION IV. ON CERTAIN CUSTOMS, FORMS OF SPEECH, AND TRADITIONS OF THIS SECT.—Mahmúd has treatises and rules conformable to the law of the prophet; but he interpreted the Koran according to his own creed. Of his established customs are the following: One living in solitude is called váhed, “recluse.”* Praises are due to the man devoted to this state, whose whole life is spent in holiness, poverty, and retirement; who feels no inclination for connexion; takes little, and no more than necessary, food; such a man will rise to perfection, and become a “váhed,” attaining the divine dignity which leads to that of a “teacher.” If the pious person feels himself inclined to connexion with a woman, let him enjoy her once in his whole life; if he cannot otherwise, once in one year; if he requires more, once in forty days; if this be not enough, once in a month; if still more, once in a week.

A váhed is reported to have given the following information: When one descends from the state of a man to the state of an irrational animal, or from that to a vegetable, or from a vegetable becomes a mineral; in this manner, by reaction of impressions and dispositions, he receives in each state a mark (mahs), which he bears from formation to forma­tion:

“Fear the intelligence of the believer, because he sees by the light of God.”

Mahs* in the dictionary is interpreted “a com­puter,” but in the idiom of this tribe it signifies (as just said) that every individual, in his disposition and action, bears a vestige of the disposition of a former state. It is a part of their persuasion, that, when an individual enters for the first time in a society, the name of whatever in the three kingdoms of nature he first brings upon his tongue, is sup­posed to be the ihśa, or “mark,” that in a former state he had been the very thing the name of which had fallen from his tongue.

These sectaries hold, that pilgrims exercise the profession of cheats, wearing a garment marked with stripes, which they call the vest of Kerbála; and that they practise but hypocrisy and deceit. When, according to their low disposition, they descend to the state of brutes, they become animals, which the Hindus call Galharí, “squirrel;” and when transformed into vegetables, they become striped pumpkins, or weak jujube-trees; when they undergo the transformation into minerals, they are onyxes. In this sense this sect interprets the mahs, or “mark.” Lawyers and governors, who wash hands and mouth, friends of white garments, become geese, which at every moment plunge their head into water; in the state of vegetables, they assume the form of sticks for rubbing teeth, of reading-sticks, and of mats to cover the place of prayer; and in the state of minerals, they figure as hard stones, stones of sepulchres, and magnets. The glow-worms are torch-bearers, who, descending by degrees, came to take this shape. A dog, having been in his former state a Turk of the tribe Kazel­básh ,* and his crooked sword having become his tail, betrays his Turkish origin by coming forth at the call khach: which in Turkish means “forth.” These sectaries further say, that the iron by which a prophet or a saint has been killed, is that which acquires excellence.

“Saints, when they desire the voyage to the eternal kingdom,

Desire from the edge of thy blade the takbír,* ‘magnifying exclamation,’ of death.”

They also hold, that the Imám Hossain from state to state descended from Moses, and that Yezíd (his murderer) descended from Pharaoh. Moses, in his time, drowned Pharaoh in the waters of the Nile, and obtained the victory over him; but in the latter state Moses, having become Hossain, and Pha­raoh, Yezíd, the latter did not give to Hossain the water of the Ferát, “Euphrates,” but with the water of the sharp steel, deprived his body of life.

These men further assert that, whatever sorts of minerals, vegetables, and animals are black, were formerly black-faced men, and whatever are white, were men with a white skin.

These sectaries all venerate the sun, and profess that he is the Kíblah; and the door of the Kâbah facing the sun refers to this meaning, that the sun is the true Kíblah; they have a prayer which they chant with their face turned towards the sun.

They maintain that, when the period of Ajem takes place, men will direct their road to God, and they venerate these men, and hold human nature to be divine. Their salutation is: Alla, alla. When the period of Ajem is completed, men will remain, and they think that the men whom we venerate were superior in rank to those who now exist; on which account the latter continue to form idols similar to men, and worship them. The worship of idols will prevail, until the period of Ajem returns, and this will be its mode of continuance.

Mahmúd called himself a Váhed, and declared himself to be the Mahdy promised, whose appear­ance was predicted by the prophet; he said, that the religion of Muhammed is cancelled, and that now the true faith is that of Mahmúd: as was said:

“The time is come; the accomplishment of sayings is Mahmúd;

Whatever reproach the Arab threw upon Ajem, it is over.”

His disciples are dispersed in the four quarters of the world, and in the whole country of Iran a great number of them resides, but they dare not make themselves known, because the King, now the inhabitant of heaven, Shah Abás, son of Shah Khodábendah Sáfaví, put many of them to death. The belief of the Mahmúdíán is, that Shah Abás, when he had met Taráb and Kamál, who were per­fect Váhadis, and taken information from them, wanted to publish them as his own, and on that account killed them both. They subjoin that, although he had great pretensions, yet he never attained perfection; because, on account of the world and ostentation, he had destroyed the perfect. The author of this work heard from an Amín: “Shah Abás was a perfect Amín, and killed whom­ever he did not find well founded in this creed. Thus, he admitted me to his society, and desired me to remain in Iśfahán; when I did not consent to it, he granted me the expenses of my journey to India.” It is said, that in these times Shah Abás came on foot to visit the place of Hossein's martyr­dom, that is, Kerhála, where he said to Taráb: “I feel pain from my foot journey.” Taráb answered: “This is owing to the inconsistency of thy natural intellect; for if the Imám for whose sake thou hast performed the journey joined God, why seekest thou the nether place of his martyr­dom; and if he has not joined God, what hast thou to hope from him? Find thou a living Imám.” The Shah asked: “Who is the living Imám?” The saint answered: “I.” The king replied: “Well, I shall fire a ball from a gun upon thee; if it takes no effect, I will follow thee.” Taráb gave this answer: “Your Imám, Rizá, died by the grain of a grape; how shall I resist the ball of a gun?” At last the Shah fired upon and killed him. As Kamál openly professed the creed of Taráb, the king associated him with the latter.*

It is reported, that one of the Imanás came to Hosséin Khan, of Shám, and having converted him to his creed, he heard the following speech from him: “One day, when during the Maheram they read the history of the martyrdom of Hossein, and he too (Hossein Khan) was weeping, Shah Abás said: ‘You, why do you cry, as if it were the Shámlús (that is to say, the natives of Shám) who did the action?’ The answer was: ‘We do not cry on account of Hossein: but because from our number also fine youths were killed.’”

“With the same eyes with which you look on us,

With the same eyes is it, that we look on you.”

The Duníahs, a particular sect, so called in the language of the Imanahs, think slightly of Hossein. On account of their meanness, they made no progress in the religion of Mahmúd. Azízí, one of the Muselmáns of Shiráz, told the author of this book in Lahore: “I once reviled Mahmúd; at night I saw him in a dream; he approached me with a light­ning-flashing face, and said: ‘Hast thou perused my works?’ I answered, ‘I have.’ He sub­joined: ‘Why dost thou speak abusively of me? If thou perseverest in this manner, I will chas­tise thee.’”

It is reported by the Váhadís, that Khajah Háfiz of Shíráz professed also this creed. As Mahmúd dwelt a long time upon the border of the river Rúdáres, the Khájah said:

“O zephir! when thou passest over the border of Rúdáres,

Imprint kisses upon the ground of that river, and perfume the air with musk.”

A person called Fakher eddin, who was one of this sect, gave the information that, according to the report of the Duníah, Mahmud threw himself into aqua fortis;* but this rumor is false, and proceeded from rancor. A great number of learned and pious persons, who were contemporaries of the founder of this sect, or lived soon after him, followed and professed his doctrine.