The points of faith, subject to the examination and discussion of the scholastic divines, are reduced to four general heads, which they call the four bases, or great fundamental articles. The first basis relates to the attributes of God, and his unity consistent therewith. Under this head are comprehended the questions concerning the eternal attributes, which are asserted by some, and denied by others and also the explication of the essential attributes, and attributes of ac tion; what is proper for God to do, and what may be affirmed of him, and what it is impossible for him to do. These things are controverted between the Ashárians, the Kerâmians, the Mojassemians or Corporealists and the Mótazalites. The second basis regards predestination, and the justice thereof: which comprises the questions concerning God's purpose and decree, man's com pulsion or necessity to act, and his co-operation in producing actions, by which he may gain to himself good or evil; and also those which concern God's willing good and evil, and what things are subject to his power, and what to his knowledge; some maintaining the affirmative, and others the negative. These points are disputed among the Kadarians, the Najarians, the Jabarians, the Ashárians, and the Kerámians.' The third basis concerns the promises and threats, the precise acceptation of names used in divinity, and the divine decisions; and comprehends questions relating to faith, repentance, promises, threats, forbearance, infidelity, and error. The controversies under this head are on foot between the Morgians, the Waïdians, the Mótazalites, the Ashárians, and the Kerámians. The fourth basis regards history and reason, that is, the just weight they ought to have in matters belonging to faith and religion; and also the mission of prophets, and the office of Imâm, or chief pontiff. Under this head are comprised all casuistical questions relating to the moral beauty or turpitude of actions; inquiring whether things are allowed or forbidden by reason of their own nature, or by the positive law; and also questions concerning the preference of actions, the favour or grace of God, the innocence which ought to attend the prophetical office, and the conditions requisite in the office of Imâm; some asserting it depends on right of suc cession, others on the consent of the faithful, and also the method of trans. ferring it, with the former, and of confirming it, with the latter. These matters are the subjects of dispute between the Shiites, the Mótazalites, the Kerámians, and the Ashárians." The different sects of Mohammedans may be distinguished into two sorts; those generally esteemed orthodox, and those which are esteemed heretical. The former, by a general name, are called Sonnites or Traditionists; because they acknowledge the authority of the Sonna, or collection of moral traditions of the sayings and actions of their prophet, which is a sort of supplement to the Korân, directing the observance of several things omitted in that book, and in name, as well as design, answering to the Mishna of the Jews." The Sonnites are subdivided into four chief sects, which, notwithstanding some differences as to legal conclusions in their interpretation of the Korân, and matters of practice, are generally acknowledged to be orthodox in 4 'Vide Abu'lfarag. Hist. Dynast. p. 166. • Al Shahrestâni, apud Poc. ubi sup 0. 204, &c. Idem, ibid. p. 205. Idem, ibid. p. 206. • Vide ' Idem, ibid. Poc Spec. p. 298. Prid. Life of Moham. p. 51. &c. Reland. de Rel. Motam. p. 68. & Millium, de Mohammedismo, ante Moham. p. 368, 369. radicals, or matters of faith, and capable of salvation, and have each af them their several stations or oratories in the temple of Mecca. The founders of these sects are looked upon as the great masters of jurisprudence, and are said to have been men of great devotion and self-denial, well versed in the knowledge of those things which belong to the next life and to man's right conduct here, and directing all their knowledge to the glory of God. This is al Ghazâli's encomium of them, who thinks it derogatory to their honour that their names should be used by those who, neglecting to imitate the other virtues which make up their character, apply themselves only to attain their skill, and follow their opinions in matters of legal practice. The first of the four orthodox sects is that of the Hanefites, so named from their founder, Abu Hanîfa al Nómân Ebn Thâbet, who was born at Cufà, in the eightieth year of the Hejra, and died in the one hundred and fiftieth, according to the more preferable opinion as to the time. He ended his life in prison at Baghdâd, where he had been confined because he refused to be made Kâdi or judge; on which account he was very hardly dealt with by his superiors, yet could not be prevailed on, either by threats or ill treatment, to undertake the charge, choosing rather to be punished by them than by God, says al Ghazâli; who adds, that when he excused himself from accepting the office by alleging that he was unfit for it, being asked the reason, he replied, "If I speak the truth, I am unfit; but if I tell a lie, a liar is not fit to be a judge." It is said that he read over the Korân in the prison where he died, no less than seven thou sand times." The Hanefites are called by an Arabian writer1 the followers of reason, and those of the three other sects, followers of tradition; the former being principally guided by their own judgment in their decisions, and the lat ter adhering more tenaciously to the traditions of Mohammed. The sect of Abu Hanifa heretofore obtained chiefly in Irâk, but now generally prevails among the Turks and Tartars: his doctrine was brought into great credit by Abu Yusof, chief justice under the Khalifs al Hadi and Harûn al Rashid.3 The second orthodox sect is that of Mâlec Ebn Ans, who was born at Medina, in the year of the Hejra, 90, 93, 94, or 95,' and died there in 177,° 178,7 or 1798 (for so much do authors differ). This doctor is said to have paid great regard to the traditions of Mohammed. In his last illness a friend going to visit him found him in tears, and asking him the reason of it, he answered, "How should I not weep? and who has more reason to weep than I? Would to God that for every question decided by me according to my own opinion I had received so many stripes! then would my accounts be easier. Would to God I had never given any decision of my own!" Al Ghazâli thinks it a sufficient proof of Mâlec's directing his knowledge to the glory of God, that being once asked his opinion as to forty-eight questions, his answer to thirty-two of them was, that he did not Vide Poc. Spec. p. 293. Ebn Khalecân. • This was See before. p. 82. the true cause of his imprisonment and death, and not his refusing to subscribe to the opinion of absolute predestination, as D'Herbelot writes (Bibl. Orient. p. 21), misled by the dubious acceptation of the word Kadâ, which signifies not only God's decree in particular, but also the giving sentence as a judge in general: nor could Abu Hanifa have been reckoned orthodox had he denied one of the principal articles of faith. ⚫ Poc. Spec. p. 297, 298. Al Shahrestâni. ibid. 2 Idem. 3 Vide D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient. p 21. 22. • Abulfeda. Ebn Khalecân. • Idem. Elmacinus, P. 114. Ebn Khalec. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 294. Abulfeda. ' Iiden.. know; it being no easy matter for one who has any other view that God's glory to make so frank a confession of his ignorance. The doctrine of Mâlec is chiefly followed in Barbary and other parts of Africa. The author of the third orthodox sect was Mohammed Ebn Edrîs a. Shâfei, born either at Gaza or Ascalon in Palestine, in the year of the Hejra one hundred and fifty, the same day (as some will have it), that Abu Hanifa died, and was carried to Mecca at two years of age, and there educated. He died in two hundred and four, in Egypt, whither he went about five years before." This doctor is celebrated for his excellency in all parts of learning, and was much esteemed by Ebn Hanbal his contemporary, who used to say that "he was as the sun to the world, and as health to the body." Ebn Hanbal, however, had so ill an opinion of al Shâfeï, at first, that he forbade his scholars to go near him; but some time after one of them, meeting his master trudging on foot after al Shâfeï, who rode on a mule, asked him how it came about that he forbade them to follow him, and did it himself? to which Ebn Hanbal replied, "Hold thy peace; if thou but attend his mule, thou wilt profit thereby." 996 Al Shâfeï is said to have been the first who discoursed of jurisprudence, and reduced that science into a method; one wittily saying, that the relators of the traditions of Mohammed were asleep till al Shâfeï came and waked them. He was a great enemy to the scholastic divines, as has been already observed. Al Ghazâli tells us that al Shâfeï used to divide the night into three parts, one for study, another for prayer, and the third for sleep. It is also related of him that he never so much as once swore by God, either to confirm a truth, or to affirm a falsehood; and that being once asked his opinion, he remained silent for some time, and when the reason of his silence was demanded he answered, "I am considering first whether it be better to speak or to hold my tongue." The following saying is also recorded of him, viz. "Whoever pretends to love the world and its Creator at the same time is a liar." The followers of this doctor are from him called Shâfeïtes, and were formerly spread into Mawara'lnahr and other parts eastward, but are now chiefly of Arabia and Persia. Ahmed Ebn Hanbal, the founder of the fourth sect, was born in the year of the Hejra one hundred and sixty-four; but as to the place of his birth there are two traditions: some say he was born at Merû in Khorasan, of which city his parents were, and that his mother brought him from thence to Baghdad at her breast; while others assure us that she was with child of him when she came to Baghdâd, and that he was born there. Ebn Hanbal in process of time attained a great reputation on account of his virtue and knowledge; being so well versed in the traditions of Mohammed. in particular, that it is said he could repeat no less than a million of them.3 He was very intimate with al Shâfeï, from whom he received most of his traditionary knowledge, being his constant attendant till bis departure for Egypt. Refusing to acknowledge the Korân to be created, he was, by order of the Khalif al Mótasem, severely scourged and imprisoned. Ebr. Hanbal died at Baghdâd, in the year two hundred and forty-one, and was followed to his grave by eight hundred thousand men, and sixty thousand women. It is related, as something very extraordinary, if not miraculous, ⚫ Al Ghazâli. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 294. he lived fifty-eight years. apud Poc. Spec. p. 296. 4 Ebn Khalecân. Yet Abulfeda says Ebn Khalecân. • Idem. ' Idem. Al Záfarâni, 'See before, p. 109. ' Vide Poc. Spec. p. 295-297. See before, sect. iii p. 48, Ebn. • Eba Ebn Khalecân. ' Idem. • Idem. Khalecân, Abu'lfarag. Hist. Dyn. p. 252, &c. that on the day of his death no less than twenty thousand Christians, Jews, and Magians, embraced the Mohammedan faith. This sect increased so fast, and became so powerful and bold, that in the year three hundred and twenty-three, in the Khalifat of al Râdi, they raised a great commotion in Baghdad, entering people's houses, and spilling their wine, if they found any, and beating the singing women they met with, and breaking their instruments; and a severe edict was published against them, before they could be reduced to their duty: but the Hanbalites at present are not very numerous, few of them being to be met with out of the limits of Arabia. The heretical sects among the Mohammedans are those which hold heterodox opinions in fundamentals or matters of faith. The first controversies relating to fundamentals began when most of the companions of Mohammed were dead : for in their days was no dispute, unless about things of small moment, if we except only the dissensions concerning the Imâms, or rightful successors of their prophet, which were stirred up and fomented by interest and ambition; the Arabs' continual employment in the wars, during that time, allowing them little or no leisure to enter into nice inquiries and subtle distinctions: but no sooner was the ardour of conquest a little abated than they began to examine the Korán more nearly; whereupon differences in opinion became unavoidable, and at length so greatly multiplied, that the number of their sects, according to the common opinion, are seventy-three. For the Mohammedans seem ambitious that their religion should exceed others even in this respect; saying, that the Magians are divided into seventy sects, the Jews into seventy-one, the Christians into seventy-two, and the Moslems into seventy-three, as Mohammed had foretold: of which sects they reckon one to be always orthodox, and entitled to salvation.2 The first heresy was that of the Khârejites, who revolted from Ali in the thirty-seventh year of the Hejra; and not long after, Mábad al Johni, Ghailân of Damascus, and Jonas al Aswari broached heterodox opinions concerning predestination, and the ascribing of good and evil unto God; whose opinions were followed by Wâsel Ebn Atâ. This latter was the scholar of Hasan of Basra, in whose school a question being proposed, whether he who had committed a grievous sin was to be deemed an infidel or not, the Khârejites (who used to come and dispute there) maintaining the affirmative, and the orthodox the negative, Wâsel, without waiting his master's decision, withdrew abruptly, and began to publish among his fellow-scholars a new opinion of his own, to wit, that such a sinner was in a middle state; and he was thereupon expelled the school; he and his followers being thenceforth called Mótazalites, or Separatists.* The several sects which have arisen since this time are variously compounded and decompounded of the opinions of four chief sects, the Mótazalites, the Sefâtians, the Khârejites, and the Shiites. sup. 1. The Mótazalites were the followers of the before-mentioned Wâsel Ebn Khalecân. Abu'lfar. ubi sup. p. 301, &c. Al Shahrestâni, apud Poc. Spec. p. 194, Auctor Sharh al Mawâkef. apud eund. p. 210. 1 Vide Poc. Spec. p. 194. 2 Al Shahrestani, apud eund. p. 211. Idem, and Auctor Sharh al Mawâkef, ubi Iidem. ib. p. 211, 212. Et Ebn Khalecân, in Vita Waseli. Al Shahrestâni, who also reduces them to four chief sects, puts the Kadarians in the place of the Mótazalites. Abu'lfaragins (Hist. Dyn. p. 166), reckons six principal sects, adding the Jabarians and the Morgians; and the author of Sharh al Mawâkef, eight, viz. the Motaza ites, the Shiites, the Khârejites, the Morgians, the Najarians, the Jabarians, the Moshabbehites, and the sect which he calls al Najia. because that alone will be saved, being ac cording to him the sect of the Ashárians. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 209. Ebn Atâ. As to their chief and general tenets, 1. They entirely rejected all eternal attributes of God, to avoid the distinction of persons made by the Christians; saying that eternity is the proper or formal attribute of his essence; that God knows by his essence, and not by his knowledge; and the same they affirmed of his other attributes" (though all the Mótazalites do not understand these words in one sense); and hence this sect were also named Moattalites, from their divesting God of his attributes: and they went so far as to say, that to affirm these attributes is the same thing as to make more eternals than one, and that the unity of God is inconsistent with such an opinion; and this was the true doctrine of Wâsel their master, who declared that whoever asserted an eternal attribute asserted there were two gods. This point of speculation concerning the divine attributes was not ripe at first, but was at length brought to ma turity by Wâsel's followers, after they had read the books of the philosophers.2 2. They believed the word of God to have been created in subjecto (as the schoolmen term it), and to consist of letters and sound; copies thereof being written in books, to express or imitate the original. They also went farther, and affirmed that whatever was created in subjecto is also an accident, and liable to perish. They denied absolute predestination, holding that God was not the author of evil, but of good only; and that man was a free agent : which being properly the opinion of the Kadarians, we defer what may be farther said thereof till we come to speak of that sect. On account of this tenet and the first, the Mótazalites look on themselves as the defenders of the unity and justice of God. 4. They held that if a professor of the true religion be guilty of a grievous sin, and die without repentance, he will be eternally damned, though his punishment will be lighter than that of the infidels. 5. They denied all vision of God in paradise by the corporeal eye, and rejected all comparisons or similitudes applied to God." This sect are said to have been the first inventors of scholastic divinity, and are subdivided into several inferior sects, amounting, as some reckon to twenty, which mutually brand one another with infidelity; the most remarkable of them are:— 1. The Hodeilians, or followers of Hamdan Abu Hodeil, a Mótazalite doctor, who differed something from the common form of expression used by this sect, saying that God knew by his knowledge, but that his knowledge was his essence; and so of the other attributes: which opinion he took from the philosophers, who affirm the essence of God to be simple, and without multiplicity, and that his attributes are not posterior or accessory to his essence, or subsisting therein, but are his essence itself: and this the more orthodox take to be next kin to making distinctions in the deity, which is the thing they so much abhor in the Christians.' As to the Korân's being uncreated, he made some distinction; holding the word of God to be partly not in subjecto (and therefore uncreated), as when he spake the word Kûn, i. e. Fiat, at the creation, and partly in o 216. • Maimonides teaches the same, not as the doctrine of the Mótazalites, but his own. Vide More Nev. lib. 1, c. 57. Al Shahrestâni, apud Poc. Spec. p. 214. Abu'lfarag. ⚫. 167. • Vide Poc. Spec. p. 224. 'Sharh al Mawâkef, and al Shahrest. apud Por Maimonides (in Proleg. ad Pirke Aboth, sect. viii.) asserts the same thing. Al Shahrest. ib. p. 215. Abu'lfarag. and al Shahrest. ubi Spec. p. 240. Al Shahrest. Maracc. Prodr. ad Ref. Alcor ' Idem. ib. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 213, and D'Herbel. Art. Mota'Auctor al Mawâkef, apud Poc. ib. Al Shahrestani, apud Poc. Vide Poc. ibid. sup. p. 217. and Sharh al See before, sect. iii. p. 48. • Vide Poc. |