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CHAPTER VII.

THE SHIAS.

THE second great division of the Muslim faith is known as the "Shia" creed, which, supplanting the religion founded by Zoroaster, who is generally supposed to have

ZOROASTER.

flourished from B.C. 521 to B.C. 485, became the national doctrine of the Persian Monarchy. The main tenets of the faith thus banished from Iran's shores are a belief in the All-Good, whose habitation is the Kingdom of Light, and in an evil Being, who dwells in a region of darkness. The names of these two powers are respectively Ormazd and Ahriman, and the true believer is instructed so to conduct himself that he may be eternally happy hereafter with the Prince of Light, instead of inhabiting the Kingdom of the Ruler of Darkness. Fire-light, and the sun are reverenced, if not worshipped as symbols of the Divine nature, hence the term "fire

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worshippers" by which this sect are not infrequently designated. Prayer is also a duty most strongly enjoined, it being the prerogative of the priest to intercede alike for himself, and the whole of his brethren.

At death the materials of the body are supposed by the Zoroastrians to rejoin their respective elements, earth to earth, water to water, fire to fire, and the life to the viewless air. For three days after dissolution the soul is supposed to flit round its tenement of clay in hopes of a reunion. On the fourth an angel appears who conducts it to a structure connecting heaven and earth, whereon sits the angel of Justice to weigh the actions of mortals: according to his decision the heavenly dog either permits the departed spirit to cross and join the souls of its ancestors in heaven, or precipitates it into the gulf of torment, which yawns below. When the good deeds prevail, the soul is met on the bridge in question by a dazzling figure which says: “I am thy good angel: I was pure originally, but thy good deeds have rendered me purer;" thereupon passing its hand over the neck of the blessed soul, it leads the latter to Paradise. If on the other hand iniquities preponderate, the doomed spirit is met by a hideous spectre, which howls out, "I am thy evil angel: impure myself, thy sins have rendered me more foul. Through thee shall we become miserable until the resurrection ;" on which it drags the sinning spirit to hell, where Ahriman is waiting to taunt it with its folly and crimes. The judgment and resurrection of mankind occupy, according to the tenets of this faith, a space of fiftyseven years; at the expiration of which the elements, which have received in deposit the various substances of the body, must render up their trust, the soul will recognize its earthly companion and re-enter it, while life will be restored to man, who then becomes immortal. Then takes place the final separation of the good and the evil. Sinners who have not in the intermediate state expiated their faults, are again sent to Hades: but not for eternal punishment. The tortures of three

awful days and nights, equal to an agony of 3,000 years, suffice for the purification of the most wicked. The voice of the Lost ascending to heaven, finding mercy in the soul of Ormazd, he will withdraw them from the place of torment. The world will melt with fervent heat, and the liquid and glossy metals will purify the universe, and fit all beings for everlasting felicity. To the just this ordeal is destined to prove pleasant and agreeable, while the wicked on the other hand are doomed to suffer excruciating agonies, after which they will be freed from their troubles. The abode of misery itself and all its demons will be cleansed, Ahriman, no longer irreclaimable, will be converted to goodness, and become a ministering spirit to the Most High God.

The whole fabric of this belief is based upon the three virtues of purity of speech, purity of action, and purity of thought. Truth is deemed the basis of all excellence, while virtue alone is happiness in this world, and its path the way of peace. Good actions are considered most acceptable sacrifices to God: industry is deemed a guard to innocence and a bar to temptation. Hospitality, philanthropy and benevolence are strongly inculcated, while untruth is paraded as the worst of sins, wickedness as the garment of shame, and idleness as the parent of want.

King Darius (B.C. 518-485) adopted the Zoroastrian religion with great ardour, and caused 12,000 cowhides to be tanned, upon which he had the doctrines of the new faith written. This collection, which bore the name of "Zandavesta," was then deposited in a rock hewn chamber at Persepolis, and to keep alive the faith, a priest was ordered to read the volume to the people, and expound its precepts. The followers of Zoroaster profess to suppose that the soul of the founder of their religion was created by God, and placed upon the tree from which all that is celestial has been produced. They would also have it believed that Zoroaster was permitted to visit the realms of bliss, on which occasion the good spirit gave him the "Zandavesta" for the direction

of mankind; commanding him at the same time not "to soil the earth with carcases;" for this reason it is enjoined that the corpses of the dead shall be placed on the top of towers, in such a manner, that when the flesh has been eaten by birds, the bones will fall into the interior of the building. The priests of this religion were called "Magi," and hence the votaries are sometimes, even to this day, styled "Magians." During the rule of the Parthian kings of Persia the Zoroastrians were held in little respect; but in A.D. 226, on the commencement of the Sassanian dynasty, the Magian faith became firmly established as the national religion of the country, a state of things which continued till the time of the Saracens, when after the battle of Qadisiya (A.H. 15-A.D. 636) the Muhammadans ruthlessly, but effectually, stamped out the Zoroastrian creed, leaving isolated individuals to follow the belief of their ancestors, but at the risk, or rather the certainty, of having to endure persecutions and suffer hardships, if not cruelties of every description; the flame of discord. then created, continues to the present day, with scarce abated violence, and the Sunnis exclude fire-worshippers from the list of the "people of the book," which honour is confined to Jesus, Christians and Muslims; in this respect other sects amongst the Muhammadans are more liberal-minded, in that they include the Zoroastrians in the privileged category of those who will inherit Eternal Salvation.

The Shias, who are computed by Mr. Blunt to amount to 15,000,000 souls, derive their name from a word which signifies a "party" or "sect," though some are of opinion that the term takes its origin from an Arabic root indicating "disgraceful; " the epithet having in the first instance been given as a mark of reproach. These sectaries maintain that Ali was the earliest convert to Islam, and consequently the eldest in the faith; while his nearness of kin to Muhammad, of whom he was the cousin, and his marriage with Fatima, the Prophet's only daughter, gave him, they consider, an

indefeasible right to succeed to the Khalifat; added to which, the same temporal and spiritual powers which they conceive should have descended to him on the death of the Lawgiver of Arabia, ought, in their opinion, to have been transmitted to his lineal descendants, and not to have formed the subject of election or choice, depending on the will of the populace, or the caprice of the people; hence they reject as usurpers the three first Khalifs, Abu Bakr, Omar, and Othman, and consider Ali and his eleven descendants to be the true successors of the Prophet. To such an extent indeed do the Shias carry their veneration for the twelve Imams, that it is an article of their faith that no one can be saved who does not admit that, after Muhammad, the most excellent of men was Ali, then Hasan, &c., and that the former of these two is endowed with the power of creation in the same manner as if he were the Almighty himself! Strange as it may seem, this doctrine is most implicitly carried into practice, for not only do the Shias assign to the Hierarchy in question the attributes of the Divine Being, deeming it blasphemy to utter a word against the holy men of which it is composed, but they exalt Ali to a pitch of glory, little, if any, less, than that assigned to the Prophet of Arabia; the beloved " Hand of God" is not only their idol but their Deity; "Muhammad is a city of learning, Ali is the gate thereof," is a comparison which accurately gauges the comparative merits of these two pillars of faith. The traditions regarding the husband of Fatima are, as might be expected in such circumstances, innumerable, all tending to glorify the hero of the Shia doctrines. Thus it is said that he never died, but was taken up alive into heaven, whence he will return in the fulness of time to fill the earth with his tenets; to some he will appear in the shape of an angel, to others in the likeness of Satan, according as the individual's actions in this world may have been good or evil. Again, as it is undeniable, so run the traditions, that there never has been a human creature more perfect than Ali, so it