The Reconciliation of Races and Religions | Page 8

Arabians, I should be most unwilling to deny. I am also heartily of
opinion that a Christian may well strengthen his own faith by the
example of the fervour of many of the Muslims. But to say that the
Kur'an is superior to either the Old Testament or the New is, surely, an
error, only excusable on the ground of ignorance. It is true, neither of
Judaism nor of Christianity were the representatives in Muhammad's
time such as we should have desired; ignorance on Muhammad's part
was unavoidable. But unavoidable also was the anti-Islamic reaction, as
represented especially by the Order of the Sufis. One may hope that
both action and reaction may one day become unnecessary. That will
depend largely on the Bahais.
It is time, however, to pass on to those precursors of Babism who were
neither Sufites nor Zoroastrians, but who none the less continued the
line of the national religious development. The majority of Persians
were Shi'ites; they regarded Ali and the 'Imams' as virtually divine
manifestations. This at least was their point of union; otherwise they
fell into two great divisions, known as the 'Sect of the Seven' and the
'Sect of the Twelve' respectively. Mirza Ali Muhammad belonged by
birth to the latter, which now forms the State-religion of Persia, but
there are several points in his doctrine which he held in common with
the former (i.e. the Ishma'ilis). These are--'the successive incarnations
of the Universal Reason, the allegorical interpretation of Scripture, and
the symbolism of every ritual form and every natural phenomenon.
[Footnote: NH, introd. p. xiii.] The doctrine of the impermanence of all
that is not God, and that love between two human hearts is but a type of
the love between God and his human creatures, and the bliss of
self-annihilation, had long been inculcated in the most winning manner
by the Sufis.

SHEYKH AHMAD
Yet they were no Sufis, but precursors of Babism in a more thorough
and special sense, and both were Muslims. The first was Sheykh
Ahmad of Ahsa, in the province of Bahrein. He knew full well that he
was chosen of God to prepare men's hearts for the reception of the
more complete truth shortly to be revealed, and that through him the
way of access to the hidden twelfth Imam Mahdi was reopened. But he
did not set this forth in clear and unmistakable terms, lest 'the
unregenerate' should turn again and rend him. According to a Shi'ite
authority he paid two visits to Persia, in one of which he was in high
favour with the Court, and received as a yearly subsidy from the Shah's
son the sum of 700 tumans, and in the other, owing chiefly to a
malicious colleague, his theological doctrines brought him into much
disrepute. Yet he lived as a pious Muslim, and died in the odour of
sanctity, as a pilgrim to Mecca. [Footnote: See AMB (Nicolas), pp.
264-272; NH, pp. 235, 236.]
One of his opponents (Mulla 'Ali) said of him that he was 'an ignorant
man with a pure heart.' Well, ignorant we dare not call him, except with
a big qualification, for his aim required great knowledge; it was nothing
less than the reconciliation of all truth, both metaphysical and scientific.
Now he had certainly taken much trouble about truth, and had written
many books on philosophy and the sciences as understood in Islamic
countries. We can only qualify our eulogy by admitting that he was
unaware of the limitations of human nature, and of the weakness of
Persian science. Pure in heart, however, he was; no qualification is
needed here, except it be one which Mulla 'Ali would not have
regarded as requiring any excuse. For purity he (like many others)
understood in a large sense. It was the reward of courageous 'buffeting'
and enslaving of the body; he was an austere ascetic.
He had a special devotion to Ja'far-i-Sadik, [Footnote: TN, p. 297.] the
sixth Imam, whose guidance he believed himself to enjoy in dreams,
and whose words he delighted to quote. Of course, 'Ali was the director
of the council of the Imams, but the councillors were not much less,
and were equally faithful as mirrors of the Supreme. This remains true,

even if 'Ali be regarded as himself the Supreme God [Footnote: The
Sheykh certainly tended in the direction of the sect of the 'Ali-Ilabis
(NH, p. 142; Kremer, Herrschende Ideen des Islams, p. 31), who
belonged to the ghulat or extreme Shi'ites (Browne, _Lit. Hist. of
Persia_, p. 310).] identical with Allah or with the Ormazd
(Ahura-Mazda) of the Zoroastrians. For the twelve Imams were all of
the rank of divinities. Not that they were 'partners' with God; they were
simply manifestations of the Invisible God. But they were utterly
veracious Manifestations; in