Nine years later, in the J.R.A.S. for 1907, I published another article on this subject entitled “Further Notes on the Literature of the Ḥurúfís and their connection with the Bektáshí Order of Dervishes,” in which I described 43 Ḥurúfí MSS. recently acquired by the British Museum, the Cambridge University Library, and myself. Concerning the manner in which these MSS. were obtained I then wrote as follows:
“The connection of the Ḥurúfís with the Bektáshís first became known to me in the following manner. About three years after the publication of the article to which I have referred above, a certain dealer in Oriental manuscripts in London, a native of Baghdád, from whom I had already purchased a number of MSS., invited me to furnish him with a list of my desiderata, in order that he might submit the same to his correspondents in the East. I did so, and mentioned in my list the Jáwidán-náma or any other Ḥurúfí books. Shortly afterwards (in Feb.-March, 1901) he forwarded to me a parcel of manuscripts in which was included a copy of this work (now in the British Museum, marked Or. 5957) besides some other books of the sort in question. The prices set on these MSS. were high, but some half-dozen were secured by the Cambridge University Library, while five or six more were purchased by the British Museum, and now bear the class-marks Or. 5957-Or. 5961.
“The comparatively high prices realized by these MSS. seem to have stimulated the search for other similar ones, and gradually, as the supply not only continued but increased, it became clear that these Ḥurúfí books existed in considerable quantities, and were still widely read and copied in the East, especially in Turkey. Prices consequently fell rapidly, and latterly few of these MSS. have fetched more than £2 or £3 in the limited market where the demand for them existed. Nor was it long before we discovered that it was from the Bektáshí dervishes that they were, in almost all cases, directly or indirectly derived, and that it is amongst the members of this Order that the Ḥurúfí doctrines flourish at the present day.”
Amongst the MSS. described in this article are two or three treatises dealing with the biography and teachings of Ḥájji Bektásh, from whom the Order in question derives its name, and who died in 738/1337-8, * two years before the birth of Faḍlu'lláh the Ḥurúfí. This latter date, with five others connected with the early history of the sect, is recorded on the fly-leaf of one of the British Museum MSS. (Or. 6381) as follows:
(1) Birth of Faḍlu'lláh, 740/1339-1340.
(2) Manifestation or annunciation of his doctrine, 788/ 1386-7.
(3) Martyrdom of Faḍlu'lláh, 796/1393-4, aged 56 lunar years.
(4) Death of his Khalífa “Ḥaḍrat-i-'Aliyyu'l-A'lá,” 822/1419.
(5) Death of Tímúr's son Míránsháh (whom the Ḥurúfís
called “Antichrist,” Dajjál, and “the King of Snakes,” Má-
From a verse on the same page it would appear that Faḍlu'lláh performed the pilgrimage to Mecca in 775/1373-4. On a page of another of these MSS. in the British Museum (Or. 6380, f. 24) is inscribed a curious document which appears to be Faḍlu'lláh's last Will and Testament. From this, of which the text and translation are printed in full in the article in question, * it would appear that he was put to death at Shírwán. The article concludes with a complete index of all the books and persons mentioned in it. The titles of most of the books, whether Persian or Turkish, end in náma; e.g. Ádam-náma (“the Book of Adam”), Ákhirat- náma (“the Book of the Hereafter”), 'Arsh-náma (“the Book of the Throne”), Bashárat-náma (“the Book of Good Tidings”), etc.
In 1909 there was published in the “E. J. W. Gibb Memorial” Series a volume (vol. ix) containing translations into French of several Ḥurúfí treatises, with explanatory notes, etc., by M. Clément Huart, followed by a study of the Ḥurúfí doctrines (also in French) by Dr Riẓá Tevfíq, commonly known in Turkey as “Feylesúf Riẓá” or “Riẓá the Philosopher,” a man remarkable for his attainments in the learning of both East and West, and an adept in all that appertains to the various Dervish Orders of Turkey, especially the Bektáshís. This volume, by far the most important independent work on the subject, is a rich mine of information on the strange and fantastic doctrines of a sect which, though its very name seems to have been unknown in Europe twenty years ago, played a not unimportant part in the history of Western Asia. Its characteristic doctrines, equally ingenious and grotesque, are pretty fully discussed in the books and articles mentioned above, to which such as desire fuller knowledge of them may be referred.