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 Karmata, came from Khûzistân to the villages near Cúfa, 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 Imâm 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 into prison, swore 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, where

n Ebn Shohnah. V. D'Herbel. p. 537.

in he had changed the ceremonies and form of prayer used by the Moslems, and introduced a new kind of fast; and that he had 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 their 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 mysteries 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. ΑΙ 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".

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, Assassins, agreed with the former in many respects such as their inveterate malice against those of other religions, and especially the Mohammedan ;

• Apud Abulfar. p. 275.

P Ex. Abulfar. ibid. Elmacino. p. 174, &c. Ebn Shohnah, Khondamir, V. D'Herbel. Art. Carmath.

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 Imâm of the house of Ali, &c. These Ismaelians, in the year 483, possessed themselves of al Jebâl, in the Persian Irak, under the conduct of Hasan Sabah; and that prince and his descendants enjoyed the same for an 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 Montanabbi, of the tribe of Jófa, is too famous on another account not to claim a place here. He was one of the most excellent poets among the Arabians, there being none besides Abu Temâm who could dispute the prize with him. His poetical 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 desarts, particularly that of Kelâb, acknowledged him to be what he pretended. But Lulû, governor in those parts for Akhshid, king of Egypt and Syria, soon put a stop to the further 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 considerable riches, being in high esteem at the courts of several princes.

¶ V. Abulfar. p. 505, &c. D'Herbel. p. macin, p. 174, and 286. D'Herb. p. 194.

104,437, 505, 620, & 784. r V.ElV. Abulfar. p. 361. 374, 380, 483.

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'.

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 disciple 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, joining 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.

t Præf. in opera Motanabbis MS. V. D'Herbel. p. 638, &c. " Abulfar. p. 479. Ebn. Shohnah, D'Herb. Art. Baba.

AL

KORAN.

CHAP. 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 thou hast been gracious; not of those

2 The Preface, &c.] In Arabic al Fatihat. 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 (1).

b Lord of all creatures.] The

original words are, Rabbi 'lâlamîna, which literally signify Lord of the worlds; but âlamîna, in this and other places of the Korân, properly mean the three species of rational creatures, Men, Genii, and Angels. Father Marracci, has endeavoured to prove from this passage, that Mohammed believed a plurality of worlds, which he calls the error of the Manichees, &c. (2): but this imputation the learned Reland has shown to be entirely groundless (3).

(1) V. BOBOVIUM de precib. Mohammed. p. 3. & seq. dromo ad refut. Alcorani, Part IV. p. 76. & in Notis ad (3) De religion. Mohammed. p. 262.

(2) In ProAlc. cap. 1.