In the reign of al Mohdi, the third Khalîf of the race of al Abbâs, one Hakem Ebn Hâshem," originally of Merû in Khorasân, who had been an under-secretary to Abu Moslem, the governor of that province, and afterwards turned soldier, passed thence into Marwarâ'lnahr, where he gave himself out for a prophet. He is generally named by the Arab writers al Mokanna, and sometimes al Borkai, that is the veiled, because he used to cover his face with a veil, or a gilded mask, to conceal his deformity, having lost an eye in the wars, and being otherwise of a despicable appearance; though his followers pretended he did it for the same reason as Moses did, viz. lest the splendour of his countenance should dazzle the eyes of the beholders. He made a great many proselytes at Nakhshab and Kash, deluding the people with several juggling performances, which they swallowed for miracles, and particularly by causing the appearance of a moon to rise out of a well for many nights together; whence he was also called, in the Persian tongue, Sâzendeh mah, or the moon-maker. This impious impostor, not content with being reputed a prophet, arrogated divine honours to himself, pretending that the deity resided in his person: and the doctrine whereon he built this was the same with that of the Gholâïtes above-mentioned, who affirmed a transmigration or successive manifestation of the divinity, through and in certain prophets and holy men, from Adam to these latter days (of which opinion was also Abu Moslem himself); but the particular doctrine of al Mokanna was, that the person in whom the deity had last resided was the aforesaid Abu Moslem, and that the same had, since his death, passed into himself. The faction of al Mokanna, who had made himself master of several fortified places in the neighbourhood of the cities above-mentioned, growing daily more and more powerful, the Khalîf was at length obliged to send an army to reduce him; at the approach whereof al Mokanna retired into one of his strongest fortresses, which he had well provided for a siege, and sent his emissaries abroad to persuade people that he raised the dead to life, and knew future events. But being straitly besieged by the Khalif's forces, when he found there was no possibility for him to escape, he gave poison in wine to his whole family and all that were with him in the castle, and when they were dead he burnt their bodies, together with their clothes, and all the provisions, and cattle; and then, to prevent his own body being found, he threw himself into the flames, or, as others say, into a tub of aqua fortis, or some other preparation, which consumed every part of him, except only his hair: so that when the besiegers entered the place they found no creature in it, save one of al Mokanna's concubines, who, suspecting his design, had hid herself, and discovered the whole matter. This contrivance, however, failed not to produce the effect which the impostor designed among the remaining part of his followers; for he had promised them that his soul should transmigrate into the form of a grey-headed man, riding on a greyish beast, and that after so many years, he would return to them, and give them the earth for their possession; the expectation of which promise kept the sect in being for several ages after, under the name of Mobeyyidites, or, as the Persians call them, Sefid jâmehghiân, i. e. the clothed in white, because they wore their garments of that colour, in opposition, as is supposed, to the Khalifs of the family of Abbâs, whose banners and habits

* Or Ebn Atâ, according to Ebn Shohnah. This explains a doubt of Mr. Bayle concerning a passage of Elmacinus, as translated by Erpenius, and corrected by Bespier. Vide Bayle, Dict. Hist. Art. Abumuslimus, vers la fin, et Rem. B. They were a sect in the days of Abu'lfaragius, who lived about five hundred years after this extraordinary event; and may, for aught I know, be so still.

were black. The historians place the death of al Mokanna in the 162nd or 163rd year of the Hejra.'

In the year of the Hejra 201, Bâbec, surnamed al Khorremi and Khorremdîn either because he was of a certain district near Adherbijân, called Khorrem, or because he instituted a merry religion, which is the signification of the word in Persian, began to take on him the title of a prophet. I do not find what doctrine he taught; but it is said he professed none of the religions then known in Asia. He gained a great number of devotees in Adherbijân and the Persian Irak, and grew powerful enough to wage war with the Khalîf al Mámûn, whose troops he often beat, killing several of his generals, and one of them with his own hand; and by these victories he became so formidable that al Mótasem, the successor of al Mámûn, was obliged to employ the forces of the whole empire against him. The general sent to reduce Bâbec was Afshîd, who having overthrown him in battle, took his castles one after another with invincible patience, notwithstanding the rebels gave him great annoyance, and at last shut up the impostor in his principal fortress; which being taken, Bâbec found means to escape thence in disguise, with some of his family and principal followers; but taking refuge in the territories of the Greeks, was betrayed in the following manner. Sahel, an Armenian officer, happening to know Bâbec, enticed him, by offers of service and respect, into his power, and treated him as a mighty prince, till, when he sat down to eat, Sahel clapt himself down by him; at which Bâbec being surprised, asked him how he dared to take that liberty unasked? "It is true, great king," replied Sahel, "I have committed a fault; for who am I, that I should sit at your majesty's table." And immediately sending for a smith, he made use of this bitter sarcasm, "Stretch forth your legs, great king, that this man may put fetters on them." After this Sahel sent him to Afshîd, though he had offered a large sum for his liberty, having first served him in his own kind, by causing his mother, sister, and wife, to be ravished before his face; for so Bâbec used to treat his prisoners. Afshîd, having the arch-rebel in his power, conducted him to al Mótasem, by whose order he was put to an ignominious and cruel death. This man had maintained his ground against the power of the Khalifs for twenty years, and had cruelly put to death above two hundred and fifty thousand people; it being his custom never to spare man, woman, or child, either of the Mohammedans or their allies.2 The sectaries of Bâbec which remained after his death seem to have been entirely dispersed, there being little or no mention made of them by historians.

About the year 235, one Mahmûd Ebn Faraj pretended to be Moses resuscitated, and played his part so well that several people believed in him, and attended him when he was brought before the Khalif al Motawakkel. That prince, having been an ear-witness of his extravagant discourses, condemned him to receive ten buffets from every one of his followers, and then to be drubbed to death; which was accordingly executed; and his disciples were imprisoned till they came to their right minds.

The Karmatians, a sect which bore an inveterate malice against the Mohammedans, began first to raise disturbances in the year of the Hejra 278, and the latter end of the reign of al Mótamed. Their origin is not well known; but the common tradition is, that a poor fellow, whom some call

Ex Abu'lfarag. Hist. Dyn. p. 226. Lobb al Tawârikh, Ebn Shohnah, al Tabari, et Khondamir. Vide D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient. Art. Hakem Ben Haschem. 2 Ex Abu'lfarag. p. 252, &c. Elmacin. p. 141, &c. and Khondamir. Vide D'Herbel. Art. Bâbec. Ebn Shohnah. Vide D'Herbel. p. 537.

Karmata, came from Khûzistân to the villages near Cûfa, and there feigned great sanctity and strictness of life, and that God had enjoined him to pray fifty times a day, pretending also to invite people to the obedience of a certain Imam of the family of Mohammed: and this way of life he continued till he had made a very great party, out of whom he chose twelve, as his apostles, to govern the rest, and to propagate his doctrines. But the governor of the province, finding men neglected their work, and their husbandry in particular, to say those fifty prayers a day, seized the fellow, and having put him in prison, swore that he should die; which being overheard by a girl belonging to the governor, she, pitying the man, at night took the key of the dungeon from under her master's head as he slept, and having let the prisoner out, returned the key to the place whence she had it. The next morning the governor found the bird flown; and the accident being publicly known raised great admiration, his adherents giving it out that God had taken him into heaven. Afterwards he appeared in another province, and declared to a great number of people he had got about him, that it was not in the power of any to do him hurt; notwithstanding which, his courage failing him, he retired into Syria, and was not heard of any more. His sect, however, continued and increased, pretending that their master had manifested himself to be a true prophet, and had left them a new law, wherein he had changed the ceremonies and form of prayer used by the Moslems, and introduced a new kind of fast; and that he had also allowed them to drink wine, and dispensed with several things commanded in the Korân. They also turned the precepts of that book into allegory; teaching that prayer was the symbol of obedience to their Imâm, and fasting that of silence, or concealing their dogmas from strangers: they also believed fornication to be the sin of infidelity; and the guilt thereof to be incurred by those who revealed the nysteries of their religion, or paid not a blind obedience to their chief. They are said to have produced a book, wherein was written (among other things), "In the name of the most merciful God. Al Faraj Ebn Othmân, of the town of Nasrâna, saith, that Christ appeared unto him in a human form, and said, Thou art the invitation: thou art the demonstration: thou art the camel: thou art the beast: thou art John the son of Zacharias: thou art the Holy Ghost." From the year above-mentioned the Karmatians, under several leaders, gave almost continual disturbance to the Khalifs and their Mohammedan subjects for several years; committing great disorders and outrages in Chaldea, Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia, and at length establishing a considerable principality, the power whereof was in its meridian in the reign of Abu Dhâher, famous for his taking of Mecca, and the indignities by him offered to the temple there, but which declined soon after his time, and came to nothing.5

To the Karmatians the Ismaelians of Asia were very near of kin, if they were not a branch of them: for these, who were also called al Molâhedah, or the Impious, and by the writers of the history of the holy wars, Assas sins, agreed with the former in many respects; such as their inveterate malice against those of other religions, and especially the Mohammedan; their unlimited obedience to their prince, at whose command they were ready for assassinations, or any other bloody and dangerous enterprise; their pretended attachment to a certain Imam of the house of Ali, &c. These Ismaelians, in the year 488, possessed themselves of al Jebâl, in the Persian Irak, under the conduct of Hasan Sabah; and that prince and his Apud Abulfar. p, 275. Ex Abulfar. ibid. Elmacino, p. 174, &c. Ebn Shohnah, Khondamir. Vide D'Herbel. Art. Carmath.

descendants enjoyed the same for a hundred and seventy-one years, till the whole race of them was destroyed by Holagu the Tartar.

The Bâtenites, which name is also given to the Ismaelians by some authors, and likewise to the Karmatians, were a sect which professed the same abominable principles, and were dispersed over several parts of the East. The word signifies Esoterics, or people of inward or hidden light or knowledge.

Abu'l Teyyeb Ahmed, surnamed al Motanabbi, of the tribe of Jófa, is too famous on another acconnt not to claim a place here. He was one of the most excellent poets among the Arabians, there being none besides Abu Temâm who can dispute the prize with him. His poetical inspiration was so warm and exalted, that he either mistook it, or thought he could persuade others to believe it to be prophetical, and therefore gave himself out to be a prophet indeed; and thence acquired his surname, by which he is generally known. His accomplishments were too great not to have some success; for several tribes of the Arabs of the deserts, particularly that of Kelâb, acknowledged him to be what he pretended. But Lûlû, governor of those parts for Akhshid king of Egypt and Syria, soon put a stop to the farther progress of this new sect, by imprisoning their prophet, and obliging him to renounce his chimerical dignity; which having done, he regained his liberty, and applied himself solely to his poetry, by means whereof he got very consi derable riches, being in high esteem at the courts of several princes. Al Motanabbi lost his life, together with his son, on the bank of the Tigris, in defending the money which had been given him by Adado'ddawla, soltân of Persia, against some Arabian robbers who demanded it of him; with which money he was returning to Cûfa, his native city. This accident happened in the year 354.9

The last pretender to prophecy I shall now take notice of is one who appeared in the city of Amasia, in Natolia, in the year 638, and by his wonderful feats seduced a great multitude of people there. He was by nation a Turkmân, and called himself Bâba, and had a disciple named Isaac, whom he sent about to invite those of his own nation to join him. Isaac accordingly, coming to the territory of Someisat, published his commission, and prevailed on many to embrace his master's sect, especially among the Turkmâns; so that at last he had six thousand horse at his heels, besides foot. With these Bâba and his disciples made open war on all who would not cry out with them, There is no God but God; Bâba is the apostle of God; and they put great numbers of Mohammedans, as well as Christians, to the sword in those parts; till at length both Mohammedans and Christians, joined together, gave them battle, and having entirely routed them, put them all to the sword, except their two chiefs, who being taken alive, had their heads struck off by the executioner. I could mention several other impostors of the same kind, which have arisen among the Mohammedans since their prophet's time, and very near enough to complete the number foretold by him: but I apprehend the reader is by this time tired as well as myself, and shall therefore here conclude this discourse, which may be thought already too long for an introduction.

10

• Vide Abulfar. p. 505, &c. D'Herbel. p. 104, 437, 505, 620, and 784. * Vide Elmacin. p. 174, and 286. D'Herbel. p. 194. Vide Abulfar. p. 361, 374, 380, 483. 10 Abulfar. p. 479,

• Præf. in Opera Motanabbis MS. Vide D'Herbel, p. 638, &c. Ebn Shohnah, D'Herbel. Art. Baba.

AL KORAN.

CHAPTER I.

INTITLED, THE PREFACE, OR INTRODUCTION; REVEALED AT MECCA.

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.*

PRAISE be to GOD, the LORD of all creatures; the most merciful, the king of the day of judgment. Thee do we worship, and of thee do we beg assistance. Direct us in the right way, in the way of those to whom thcu hast been gracious; not of those against whom thou art incensed, nor of those who go astray.

In Arabic al Fâtihat. This chapter is a prayer, and held in great veneration by the Mohammedans, who give it several other honourable titles; as the chapter of prayer, of praise, of thanksgiving, of treasure, &c. They esteem it as the quintessence of the whole Korân, and often repeat it in their devotions both public and private, as the Christians do the Lord's Prayer.'

"This formula is prefixed to all the chapters (with the exception of one). It is expressly recommended in the Korân. The Mohammedans pronounce it whenever they slaughter an animal, and at the commencement of their reading, and of all important actions. It is with them that which the sign of the cross is with Christians. Giaab, one of their celebrated authors, says, that when these words were sent down from heaven, the clouds fled on the side of the east, the winds were fulled, the sea was moved, the animals erected their ears to listen, the devils were precipitated from the celestial spheres," &c.-Savary.

The original words are Rabbi'lâlamîna, which literally signify, Lord of the worlds; but âlamina, in this and other places of the Korân, properly means the three species of rational creatures, men, genii, and angels. Father Maracci has endeavoured to prove from this passage that Mohammed believed a plurality of worlds, which he calls the error of the Manichees, &c.: but this imputation the learned Reland has shown to be entirely groundless. Savary translates it "Sovereign of the worlds."

This last sentence contains a petition, that God would lead the supplicants into the true religion, by which is meant the Mohammedan, in the Koran often called the right way; in this place more particularly defined to be, the way of those to whom God hath been gracious, that is, of the prophets and faithful who preceded Mohammed; under which appellations are also comprehended the Jews and Christians, such as they were in the times of their primitive purity, before they had deviated from their respective institutions, not the way

• Vide Bobovium de Precib. Mohammed. p. 3, et seq. In Prodromo ad Refut. Alcorani, part iv. p. 76, et in notis ad Alc. cap. 1. De Religione Mohammed. p. 862.