In the account of the Ḥurúfí heresy given in the last chapter (pp. 365-375 supra) incidental mention has been made of the principal books emanating from or connected with that strange sect. From the purely literary point of view most of these (with the exception of a few poems like the Iskandar-náma published and translated by M. Cl. Huart in vol. ix of the “E. J. W. Gibb Memorial” Series) are of little merit, * though to the student of religion and the psycho­logist they are deeply interesting. To the uninitiated reader Faḍlu'lláh's Jáwidán-náma, whatever esoteric mysteries it may contain, is a series of disconnected and almost un­intelligible ravings, and the only one of his extant writings which strikes anything approaching a human note is a letter addressed to one of his disciples on the eve of his execution. From this letter it appears that Faḍlu'lláh was put to death at Shírwán, which, in allusion to the scene of the Imám Ḥusayn's martyrdom, he speaks of as “my Karbalá.”*

In Persia, as already observed, the sect does not seem to have played an important rôle, or to have long survived Diffusion of the Ḥurúfí heresy in Turkey the death of its founder and his immediate successor. In Turkey, whither it soon spread, it was far otherwise. There, in spite of several severe persecutions recorded by the Turkish historians, it counted many adherents, amongst the most famous of whom was the poet Nasímí (Nesímí), who was skinned alive for his heterodoxy in 820/1417-8, in the city of Aleppo. An admirable account of him and the Ḥurúfí sect is given by the late Mr E. J. W. Gibb, * and also of his chief disciple, the Turkish poet Rafí'í, author of the Bashárat-náma. Here it may be observed that the titles of nearly all Ḥurúfí works are compounded with the word -náma, “book.” Thus in Persian we have the Ádam-náma (“Book of Adam,” or “Book of Man”), the 'Arsh-náma (“Book of God's Throne”), Hidáyat-náma (“Book of Guidance”), Istiwá-náma, Kursí-náma, Maḥabbat-náma, etc., and in Turkish, besides the above-mentioned Bashá-rat-náma (“Book of Good Tidings”), the Ákhirat-náma, Faḍílat-náma, Faqr-náma, Fayḍ-náma, Ganj-náma, Ḥaqí-qat-náma, 'Ishq-náma, and many others, of which the titles will be found in the Index appended to my second article on the Ḥurúfí Literature in the J. R. A. S. for July, 1907, where short descriptions of 45 Ḥurúfí MSS. are given. The list of works in that Index is undoubtedly far from complete, yet even these have for the most part received only the most cursory examination, so that there is plenty of scope for further research in this field. Ordinary curiosity about the sect and its history and literature will, however,

Accounts of the Ḥurúfí sect in English and French be amply satisfied by what has been already published about it in English and French: to wit, my account of the Jáwidán-i-Kabír * and my two papers in the J. R. A. S. (for 1898 and 1907); the chapter in Mr E. J. W. Gibb's History of Ottoman Poetry; and vol. ix of the Gibb memorial Series, published in 1909, entitled Textes Persans relatifs à la secte des Houroûfîs, publiés, traduits et annotés par M. Clément Huart, suivis d'une Étude sur la Religion des Houroûfîs, par le Docteur Riẓá Tevfíq, connu sous le nom de Feylesouf Riẓá.

Isḥáq Efendi's refutation of the Ḥurúfís, written in Turkish in 1288/1871-2, and published in 1291/1874, under Isháq Efendi's refutation of the Ḥurúfís the title of the Revealer of Mysteries and Repeller of Miscreants, * though very violent in tone, is fairly accurate in substance, and is the result of careful though prejudiced investigations. After a very brief doxology it begins as follows:

“Be it known that of all those sects which devote themselves to the misleading of the Muslims, the Bektáshís are the chief offenders, and that although it is evident both from their deeds and words that they are not truly Muslims, yet in the year 1288/1871-2 they made this fact perfectly plain. The books called by these people Jáwidán (‘Eternal’) are six in number, of which one was composed by their original mis­leader Faḍlu'lláh the Ḥurúfí, while the other five are the works of his Khalífas (successors). And since in these five books their heresies and blasphemies are very evident, they are accustomed to teach and study them secretly among themselves; but as Firishta-záda in his Jáwidán, entitled 'Ishq-náma (‘the Book of Love’), did in some degree veil his blasphemies, and as consequently in the year above-mentioned (1288/1871-2) his followers made so bold as to print and publish it, it has beyond question become a matter of urgent necessity that a treatise should be compiled to warn the faithful as to the true nature and blasphemous character of the doctrines contained in their books. Therefore, relying on God, I have ventured to write such a treatise, comprising three chapters, viz.:

“Chapter I.—Setting forth the origin of Faḍl the Ḥurúfí, and the principles and rules of certain of the Bektáshís.

“Chapter II.—Setting forth the blasphemies of Firishta-záda's Jáwidán.

“Chapter III.—Setting forth the blasphemies contained in the other Jáwidáns.”

After a brief account of the Carmathians and other early heretics, and of Faḍlu'lláh of Astarábád, the founder of the Ḥurúfí sect, the author describes how “the son of Tímúr” (Mírán-sháh) caused him to be put to death, “after which he tied a rope to his legs, dragged him publicly through the streets and bázárs, and removed his foul existence from this nether world.” Thereupon his nine Khalífas or “Vicars” dispersed through the lands of Islám, and he who was en­titled al-'Aliyyu'l-A'lá (“the High, the Supreme”) * came to the monastery of Ḥájji Bektásh in Anatolia, and, having won the confidence of its inmates, began secretly to teach the doctrines of the Jáwidán, pretending that they repre­sented the esoteric doctrine of Ḥájji Bektásh, and naming them “the Secret,” to divulge which was death. For the understanding of certain obscure symbols and passages in the Jáwidán, a key entitled “the Key of Life” (Miftáḥu'l-Ḥayát ) * was compiled. “Should one possess this,” adds the author, “he will understand the Jáwidán, which, without this aid, is incomprehensible.”

In spite of all their precautions, however, several severe persecutions of the Ḥurúfís and Bektáshís took place in Persecutions of the Ḥurúfís in Turkey Turkey, one of the latest of which was in 1240/1824-5, in the reign of Sulṭán Maḥmúd, who killed many of them, destroyed their monasteries, and made over their property to the Naqsh-bandí order of dervishes. Many of their surviving Shaykhs and ordinary members took refuge amongst the Naqshbandí, Qádirí, Rufá'í and Sa'dí orders of dervishes, and cautiously carried on their propaganda in these new environments. The order, however, speedily revived, and is still widely spread in Turkey, to which country rather than to Persia the later history of the Ḥurúfí sect belongs. Of the con­tinued existence of the sect in Persia there appears to be no evidence, though doubtless many of their doctrines and ideas are still current amongst the dervish “gnostics” ('urafá) of that unforgetting land, while some of their peculiar views and terminology have been assimilated by such later heretical sects as the Bábís, who will be discussed in the concluding volume of this work.

The principle has been repeatedly laid down in this book that the literary history of a people in the wider Claims of Turkí literature to some considera­tion even in a Literary History of Persia sense should not be confined to what they wrote in their own language, and for this reason Arabic books written by Persians have been included in our survey. The case for saying something about the considerable Turkí literature produced at the Tímúrid courts, especially at Herát during the reign of Sulṭán Abu'l-Ghází Ḥusayn (A.H. 878-912 = A.D. 1473-1506), is not quite so strong, because those who produced it were for the most part, if not wholly, of Turkish race; though since in Transoxiana and Turkistán the two languages flourished (and, indeed, still flourish) side by side, the number of bilinguals must always have been considerable. The Persian, as being the more polished idiom, was more generally used, even by princes of the House of Tímúr like Ulugh Beg, Báysunqur, Mírzá Ḥaydar Dughlát and Sulṭán Ḥusayn himself, for Services of Mír 'Alí Shír Nawá'í to the Turkí language and literature literary purposes; but the great Mír 'Alí Shír Nawá'í, who did more than any other man to raise the Chaghatáy Turkí to the dignity of a literary language, actually maintained its superiority to Persian in a treatise entitled Muḥákamatu'l-Lughatayn (“the Arbitration between the two languages”). Of some of Mír 'Alí Shír's numerous works something has been already said, and those who desire fuller information can find it in M. Belin's monograph in the Journal Asiatique for 1861, already mentioned, and in another monograph of his on the Maḥbúbu'l-Qulúb * (“Hearts' Darling”) published in the same periodical in 1866 under the title of Caractères, Maximes et Pensées de Mîr Alî Chîr Névâïi. Dawlatsháh also in the Conclusion (Khátima) of his Memoirs of the Poets mentions several other eminent Turkí poets amongst his contemporaries, while numerous other works in this tongue, both in prose and verse, will be found mentioned in Rieu's Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the British Museum. Yet, save to the student of Turkish in its wider sense, it is doubtful if the interest of this literature would be commensurate with the trouble of learning this particular dialect of Turkí, were it not for the sake of reading in its Unique character of Bábur's Memoirs original form that unique work, the Bábur­náma , or Memoirs of the Emperor Bábur, of which at any rate the French or the English translation should be read by every student of Persian or Indian history. * Enthusiastic as are the praises lavished Eulogies on the Memoirs by all who have made use of them on this most remarkable book, “singular in its own nature, and perfectly so if we consider the circumstances of the writer,” by Erskine, * Pavet de Courteille, * and all others who have worked at it, no one who has perused its pages will deem them exaggerated. It is impossible to better the description of it given by Elphinstone, * who describes it as containing “a minute account of the life of a great Tartar monarch, along with a natural effusion of his opinions and feelings free from disguise and reserve, and no less free from all affectation of extreme frankness and candour. The style is plain and manly, as well as lively and picturesque; it presents his countrymen and contemporaries in their ap­pearance, manners, pursuits and actions as clearly as in a mirror. In this respect it is almost the only specimen of real history in Asia; for the ordinary writers, though they give pompous accounts of the deeds and ceremonies of the great, are apt to omit the lives and manners even of that class; while everything beneath their level is left entirely out of sight. In Báber the figures, dress, tastes and habits of each individual introduced are described with such minuteness and reality that we seem to live among them, and to know their persons as well as we do their characters. His descriptions of the countries he visited, their scenery, climate, productions, and works of art and industry are more full and accurate than will, perhaps, be found in equal space in any modern traveller; and, con­sidering the circumstances in which they were compiled, are truly surprising.”