THE active life of the pre-Muslim creeds of Persia, as opposed to outwardly Muhammadan heresies embodying and reviving Bih-áfarídh. in new forms pre-Muslim and non-Muslim ideas, finds its latest expression in the Pseudo-Prophet Bih-áfarídh the son of Máhfurúdhín, of whom scanty Al-Bírúní's account of him. accounts are preserved to us in the Fihrist (p. 344) and in al-Bírúní's Chronology of Ancient Nations (Sachau's transl., pp. 193-4), whereof the latter is as follows:—

“In the days of Abú Muslim, the founder of the 'Abbásid dynasty, came forward a man called Bih-áfarídh the son of Máhfurúdhín in Khwáf, one of the districts of Níshápúr, in a place called Sírá-wand, he being a native of Zawzan. In the beginning of his career he disappeared and betook himself to China* for seven years. Then he returned, bringing with him amongst other Chinese curiosities a green shirt, which, when folded up, could be held in the grasp of a man's hand, so thin and flexible it was. He went up to a temple during the night, and on descending thence in the morning was observed by a peasant who was ploughing part of his field. He told this man that he had been in heaven during his absence from them, that heaven and hell had been shown unto him, that God had inspired him, had clothed him in that shirt, and had sent him down to earth in that same hour. The peasant believed his words, and told people that he had beheld him descending from heaven. So he found many adherents amongst the Magians when he came forward as a prophet and preached his new doctrine.

“He differed from the Magians in most rites, but believed in Zoroaster and claimed for his followers all the institutes of Zoroaster. He maintained that he secretly received divine revelations, and established seven prayers for his followers, one in praise of the one God, one relating to the creation of heaven and earth, one relating to the creation of the animals and their nourishment, one relating to death, one relating to the Resurrection and Last Judgment, one relating to those in heaven and hell and what is prepared for them, and one in praise of the people of Paradise.

“He composed for them a book in Persian. He ordered them to worship the substance of the Sun, kneeling on one knee, and in praying always to turn towards the Sun wherever it might be; to let their hair and locks grow; to give up the zamzama* at dinner; not to sacrifice small cattle unless they were already enfeebled; not to drink wine; not to eat the flesh of animals that have died a sudden death, as not having been killed according to prescription; not to marry their mothers, daughters, sisters, or nieces,* and not to exceed the sum of four hundred dirhams as dowry. Further, he ordered them to keep roads and bridges in good condition by means of the seventh part of their property and of the produce of their labour.

“When Abú Muslim came to Níshápúr, the múbadhs and herbadhs* assembled before him, telling him that this man had infected Islám as well as their own religion. So he sent 'Abdu'lláh b. Shu'ba to fetch him. He caught him in the mountains of Bádghís and brought him before Abú Muslim, who put him to death, together with such of his followers as he could capture.

“His followers, called Bih-áfarídhiyya, still keep the institutes of their founder, and strongly oppose the Zamzamís amongst the Magians. They maintain that the servant of their prophet had told them that the prophet had ascended into heaven on a common dark-brown horse, and that he will again descend unto them in the same way as he ascended, and will take vengeance on his enemies.”

According to the short account in the Fihrist (p. 344), Bih-áfarídh accepted Islám at the hands of two of Abú The Fihrist. Muslim's dá'ís named Shabíb b. Dáḥ and 'Ab du'lláh b. Sa'íd, and adopted the black raiment of the 'Abbásids; but afterwards apostatised and was slain. This account, which rests on the authority of Ibráhím b. al-'Abbás aṣ-Ṣúlí († A.D. 857-8), adds that “there are to this day in Khurásán a number of people who hold his doctrine.” The sect is also mentioned, with the alternative name of Saysániyya, by Shahristání (p. 187), who describes them as “the most hostile of God's creatures to the Zamzamí Magians,” adding that “they recognise the prophetic mission of Zoroaster, and honour those kings whom Zoroaster honours.”

The meagre information which we possess concerning Bih-áfarídh does not permit us to form a clear idea as to the Bih-áfarídh's doctrine. essential nature of his doctrine, of which the two most important features, perhaps, are the promi­nence accorded to the number seven, and the belief in the “occultation” and “return” of the founder. Of the importance attached to certain numbers (7, 12, 19, &c.) by various sects deriving from the extreme Shí'ites (Ghulát), and of the persistent recurrence of the belief in the “Return” (rij'at) of their heroes, we shall come across numerous examples from this epoch down to our own days. Concerning these Ghulát or extreme Shí'ites Shahristání says (p. 132):—

“They are such as hold extreme views (ghalaw) in respect to their Imáms, so that they raise them above the limits of created beings, The Ghulát or extreme Shí'ites. and ascribe to them Divine virtues, so that often they liken one of the Imáms to God, and often they liken God to mankind, thus falling into the two extremes of excess (ghuluww) and defect (taqṣír). These anthropomorphic tendencies of theirs are derived from the sects of the Ḥulúliyya [who believe that the Deity can pass into a human form], the Tanásukhiyya [who hold the doctrine of Metempsychosis], the Jews, and the Christians. For the Jews liken the Creator to the creature, while the Christians liken the creature to the Creator. And these anthropomorphic tendencies have so infected the minds of these ultra-Shí'ites that they ascribe Divine virtues to some of their Imáms. This anthropomorphism belongs primarily and essentially to the Shí'a, and only subsequently was adopted by certain of the Sunnís… The heretical doctrines of the ultra-Shí'ites are four:— Anthropomorphism (tashbíh), change of [Divine] Purpose (badá), return [of the Imám; rij'at], and Metempsychosis (tanásukh). In every land they bear different names; in Isfahán they are called Khurramiyya and Kúdiyya, in Ray Mazdakiyya and Sinbádiyya, in Ádharbayján Dhaqúliyya, in some places Muḥammira (wearing red as their badge), and in Transoxiana Mubayyiḍa (wearing white as their badge).”

These ultra-Shí'ite sects, then, which we have now to con­sider, and which, under the leadership of Sinbádh the Magian, al-Muqanna' “the Veiled Prophet of Khurásán,” Bábak, and others, caused such commotion in Persia during this period, do but reassert, like the later Isma'ílís, Báṭinís, Carmathians, Assassins, and Ḥurúfís, the same essential doctrines of Anthro­pomorphism, Incarnation, Re-incarnation or “Return,” and Metempsychosis; which doctrines appear to be endemic in Persia, and always ready to become epidemic under a suitable stimulus. In our own days they appeared again in the Bábí movement, of which, especially in its earlier form (A.D. 1844-1852), they constituted the essential kernel; though in later time, under the guidance of Bahá'u'lláh († A.D. 1892) and now of his son 'Abbás Efendí “the Most Great Branch” (who appears to be regarded by his followers as a “Return” of Jesus Christ, and is so considered by the now fairly numerous adherents of this doctrine in America), they have been relegated to a subordinate, or at least a less conspicuous, position. The resemblance between these numerous sects, whose history can be clearly traced through the last eleven centuries and a half, is most remarkable, and extends even to minute details of terminology, and to the choice of particular colours (especially red and white) as badges. Thus the early Bábís, like the Mubayyiḍa of the period now under discussion, wore white apparel,* while they imitated the Muḥammira in their fondness for red by their choice of ink of that colour in transcribing their books. An interesting question, for the final solution of which material is still wanting, is the extent to which these ideas prevailed in other forms in pre-Muhammadan Persia. The various ultra-Shí'ite risings of which we shall have to speak are commonly regarded, alike by the oldest and the most modern Muham­madan historians, as recrudescences of the doctrines of Mazdak, of whom we have already spoken in the chapter on the Sásánians (pp. 168-172 supra). This is probable enough, but unfortunately our knowledge of the principles on which the system of Mazdak reposed is too meagre to enable us to prove it. It is, however, the view of well-informed writers like the author of the Fihrist (pp. 342-345), who wrote in A.D. 987; Shahristání (pp. 193-194), who wrote in A.D. 1127; the celebrated minister of the Seljúqs, Nidhamu'l-Mulk (Siyásat-náma , ed. Schefer, pp. 182-183), who was assassinated in A.D. 1092 by an emissary of those very Isma'ílís whom he so fiercely denounced in his book as the renovators of the heresy of Mazdak, and others; while the modern Bábís have been similarly affiliated both by the historians Lisánu'l-Mulk and Riḍá-qulí Khán in Persia, and by Lady Sheil* and Professor Nöldeke* in Europe. In the Fihrist the section dealing with the movements of which we are about to speak is entitled (p. 342) “the Sect of the Khurramiyya and Mazdakiyya,” these being regarded as identical with one another, and with the Muḥammira (“those who made red their badge”), the followers of Bábak “al-Khurramí,” and, apparently, the Muslimiyya, or sects who believed that Abú Muslim was the Imám, or even an incarnation of the Deity, amongst whom Sinbádh the Magian and Isḥáq “the Turk” (so called, we are told, not because he was of Turkish race, but because “he entered the lands of the Turks and summoned them to believe in the Apostolic Mission of Abú Muslim”) are included. Similarly of al-Muqanna' al-Bírúní says (op. laud., p. 194) that “he made obligatory for them (i.e., his followers) all the laws and institutes which Mazhdak had established,” while Shahristání, as we have already seen, regards the terms Mazdakí, Sinbádí, Khurramí, Mubayyiḍa, and Muḥammira as synonymous. The Nidhámu'l-Mulk, in chap. xlv of his Siyásat-náma (ed. Schefer, pp. 182-183, French translation, pp. 265-268)* is more explicit. According to him, after Mazdak's execution his wife, named Khurrama, fled from Ctesiphon to Ray with two of her husband's adherents, and continued to carry on a successful propaganda in that province. The converts to her doctrine were called either Mazdakites (after her husband) or Khurramites (Khurram-dínán or Khurramiyya) after her. The sect continued to flourish in Ázarbayján, Armenia, Daylam, Hamadán, Dínawar, Isfahán, and Ahwáz—in other words, throughout the north and west of Persia (Fihrist, p. 342)—until the days of Abú Muslim, and was amongst the disaffected elements whose support and sympathy he succeeded in enlisting in his successful attempt to overthrow the Umayyad Caliphate.