Literary History of Persia

Mishkát V⁷⁰⁶ (pp. 71-85).

Beliefs connected with Death, Judgement and the Hereafter.
Section i. Death. The Angels, the Prophet and the Imáms are present at every death-bed, whether of a believer or an unbeliever. When the spirit leaves the body, it attaches itself to a subtle invisible body (qálib-i-mithálí-i-laṭíf) which is a simulacrum of the material body in the intermediate world or “World of the Barrier” (‘Álam-i-Barzakh). To believe, as do some of the common people, that these disembodied spirits enter the crops of green birds or lamps attached to the Throne of God (‘Arsh) is an error. This disembodied spirit watches the body it has quitted and the preparations for its burial, urging haste if it be a believing spirit, and delay if unbelieving, but none hears or heeds its appeal. It also sees its place in Heaven or Hell, as the case may be. A believer’s death is not always easy, nor an unbeliever’s hard. The Prophet’s description of the Angel of Death, whom he saw during his Night Ascent to Heaven.
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Section ii. The Questioning of the Tomb. When the body has been buried and the mourners have dispersed, the spirit returns to the body to undergo the Questioning of the Tomb (Su’ál-i-qabr) at the hands of the Angels Munkir and Nakír, whose terrible aspect is described. If the deceased is a believer and gives satisfactory answers to their questions on his beliefs, they leave him in peace, saying, “Sleep as the bride sleeps in her bridal chamber,” and they enlarge his Tomb as far as the eye can see, and open from it a door into Paradise, so that the air of Paradise enters it and gladdens the occupant. But if he is an unbeliever, they revile him and beat him with their clubs, and fill the tomb with fire; and he cries out in agony, so that if men and Jinn could hear, they would die of terror. But the animals hear, and that is why a sheep grazing or a bird gathering grain will suddenly stop and shiver and listen intently. Those of the Shí‘a who are buried at Karbalá are said to be exempt from this Questioning, and some believe that the whole plain of Karbalá, rid of all impurities, including the bodies of unbelievers and hypocrites, will be bodily transferred to Paradise. The good deeds and kindnesses of the dead may take the form of a beautiful companion who will bear them company in the tomb and dispel their loneliness⁷⁰⁷.

Section iii. The Squeezing of the Tomb. It is not certain whether all are subject to this, or only the unbelievers. This squeezing is not confined to those who are buried in the ground, for those who are hanged, drowned or eaten by wild beasts are equally subject to it. After the Questioning and the Squeezing, the spirit again leaves the material body and reunites with the subtle invisible body. Opinions differ as to whether this last always existed within the material body, or apart from
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it in the “World of Similitudes,” or is specially created for each spirit at the moment of dissolution.

Section iv⁷⁰⁸. Concerning the Intermediate World (‘Álam-i-Barzakh). Barzakh means something intermediate between two other things, in this case a state or world between this life and the next, more subtle than the former and more gross than the latter. Some identify it with the World of Similitudes (‘Álam-i-Mithál), others believe it to exist in this world, but in a Eighth Clime outside the Seven Climes, called Ard-i-Huwar-qilyá⁷⁰⁹. The Terrestrial Paradise is in the Wádí’s-Salám in the western part of this region, and the Terrestrial Hell in the Wádí Barahút⁷¹⁰, in the eastern part. In these places respectively the souls of the Blessed and the Lost congregate and experience pleasure or pain, and when a new spirit arrives they let it rest for a while to recover from the “Questioning” and the “Squeezing,” and then interrogate it as to the friends who survived them on earth, whether they be still living or dead.

Section v⁷¹¹. The departed spirits visit their former homes on earth to watch their families and friends, some daily, some weekly, some monthly, some yearly, some only once in several years. Some say they come in the form of green birds and perch on the roof or walls of the house and talk, but the living do not notice or attend to them because of their preoccupation with the things of this world. The spirits of the Blessed see only the
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good things which befall, or are wrought by, their families and friends. Some say that they come on a particular day, on Monday at noon, or on Thursday, or on Friday. If their friends remember them, offering good works, prayers or fasting as a present to them, they are pleased; the happiness of the Blessed is increased, and the torments of the Lost alleviated thereby. “Therefore, my dear friend,” says the author, “you must not forget the departed in this world, but must strive, so far as in you lies, to send presents to them.” The Earthly Paradise (Bihisht-i-Dunyá) is a place of rest and peace, there is no sorrow or weeping, nor any obligation to pray or fast.

Section vi⁷¹². On the spirits of the wicked. These are also permitted from time to time to visit their homes, but they see only the evil done by their friends, and strive warn them, but cannot, and return to the Earthly Hell more miserable than before. Discussion as to the state after death of the children of believers and unbelievers, the ignorant and feeble-minded, and the insane; and concerning the Recording Angels. According to some, the male children of believers are, after their death, committed to the care of Abraham, and the female children to that of the Virgin Mary.

Conclusion (Khátima)⁷¹³ (pp. 85-132).

Beliefs connected with the Return of the Twelfth Imám.
Section i. On his Occultation (Ghaybat). Three Occultations are distinguished, entitled “Lesser,” “Greater” and “Least.” The “Lesser Occultation” (Ghaybat-i-Ṣughrá) began on the 8th of Rabí‘ i, 260 (Jan. 1, 874), lasted 69 years, and ended with
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the death of the last of the four wakíls⁷¹⁴ who maintained communication between the Hidden Imám and his followers in 329/940-1. Then began the “Greater Occultation” (Ghaybat-i-Kubrá), wherein no one has direct access to the “Hidden Imám⁷¹⁵,” and wherein we are now living. The “Least Occultation” (Ghaybat-i-Aṣghar) will last only from noon on the Friday succeeding his “Return” (Raj‘at), when he will behead the preacher (Khaṭíb) at Mecca and forthwith disappear again, until the morning of the next day (Saturday). The time of the Advent or “Return” of the Imám is known to God alone, but it will be heralded by numerous signs, of which forty-eight or more are enumerated by our author, and of which the most celebrated are the coming of the wicked and hideous Sufyání, whose army the earth will finally swallow up; the appearance of a figure in the sun; the multiplication of misleading divines and lawyers and of poets; the abounding of tyranny and oppression; the appearance of Antichrist (Dajjál) riding on his Ass; the assembling of 313 chosen supporters of the Imám in Ṭáliqán of Khurásán, etc. After a “reign of the Saints” lasting seventy years, the Imám will die, poisoned by a woman named Malíḥa, and the Imám Ḥusayn will return to earth to read the Burial Service over him. This is the beginning of what is called the “Lesser Resurrection” (Qiyámat-i-Ṣughrá), when the
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Prophet and all the Imáms, as well as their chief antagonists, shall return to earth for a while, and fight their battles over again, but with a different result, since the unbelievers shall be uniformly defeated. In this first temporary Resurrection only those who are purely believers or unbelievers (Mú’min-i-Kháliṣ or Káfir-i-Kháliṣ) will come to life. Then they will again disappear from the face of the earth, and, after forty days’ anarchy and confusion, the tribes of Gog and Magog (Yájúj u Májúj) will burst through the Wall (Sadd) which keeps them back, and will overrun the earth, and eat up all the grass and herbs, and drink up the rivers.

The “Greater Resurrection” (Qiyámat-i-Kubrá), when all the dead shall be raised to life in the same bodies they had while on earth, re-created by God’s Power as a broken brick can be re-made from its original materials, will be inaugurated by the blast of Isráfíl’s trumpet, which shall draw into itself all the spirits of the quick and the dead, so that no living thing shall remain on earth save the “Fourteen Immaculate Ones” (Chahárdah Ma‘ṣúm)⁷¹⁶. Then, when their bodies have been re-created, Isráfíl will again blow his trumpet, and the spirits will emerge from it like a swarm of bees, and fly each one to its own body. All animals will also be raised to life to undergo the Reckoning and be judged for their acts of violence towards one another. Then the Balance (Mízán) will be set up for the weighing of the good and bad acts of each soul, and the scroll of each man’s deeds, written down by the Recording Angels Sá’iq and Shahíd, will be placed in his hand.

The Seven Hells (Jihannam, Sa‘ír, Saqar, Jaḥím, Laẓẓá, Ḥutama and Háwiya) are next enumerated, whereof the first is for Muslims who died in sin without repenting, and who will be released when adequately punished; the second for the Jews;
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the third for the Christians; the fourth for the Sabaeans; the fifth for the Magians; the sixth for the idolatrous Arabs; and the seventh for the hypocrites. Unbelievers will remain in Hell for ever, but some, on account of their virtues, will remain there without suffering torment, as, for example, Khusraw Anúsharwán on account of his justice, and Ḥátim of Ṭayy on account of his generosity.

Next follows a description of the Bridge of Ṣiráṭ, “finer than a hair, sharper than a sword, and hotter than fire,” which spans Hell, and over which everyone must pass, even the Prophets and Imáms and Saints, to reach Paradise. A detailed description of a very material Paradise succeeds, which in turn is followed by an account of the Purgatory or intermediate state called al-A‘ráf. This is said to be a beautiful meadow or high ground situated on the Bridge of Ṣiráṭ, and peopled by the spirits of the feeble-minded, illegitimate children, and those who are neither good enough for Heaven nor bad enough for Hell. By the intercession of the Prophet or the Imáms some of these will be subsequently admitted to Heaven. Other heavenly delights described, such as the Water of Kawthar, the “Lote-tree of the Limit” (Sidratu’l-Muntahá), and the Ṭúbá-tree. When every soul has been assigned its place in Heaven, Hell or al-A‘ráf, Death will be led forth in the form of a black sheep and slain, to show that henceforth there is neither fear nor hope of death.

Conclusion (Khátima)⁷¹⁷ (pp. 132-138).
[Section ii.] On the meaning of Unbelief (Kufr) and Belief (Ímán). Five meanings of Kufr in the Qur’án are distinguished, and three chief kinds in ordinary life, namely
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spiritual (qalbí), verbal (qawlí), and actual (fi‘lí). Three kinds of Ímán are also distinguished, and Ímán is distinguished from Islám. Sunnís and Shí‘a not of the “Sect of the Twelve” are believers (mú’min), but not Muslims; they are not unclean, but will remain for ever in Hell-fire. The apostate (murtadd) from Islám is deserving of death, nor is his repentance accepted in this world, though, according to some theologians, it may be accepted in the next. But from the convert to Islám who reverts to his original faith repentance may be accepted; and a woman who apostasizes should not be killed, but imprisoned and beaten until she repents or dies in prison. The book ends with a description of five kinds of

Faith and six kinds of Repentance.

Such in outline is the Shí‘a creed of contemporary Persia in its crudest and most popular form. It would be interesting to trace the evolution of that creed from the earliest times of Islám, to compare (so far as the available materials allow) the historical with the legendary Imáms, and to contrast in detail the beliefs, both doctrinal and eschatological, of the Shí‘a and the Sunnís. This, however, transcends the scope of this book, even had the preliminary work indispensable to such a study been adequately done. Even amongst the orthodox and formal (qishrí) mujtahids and mullás these doctrines must often have been held in a form less crude and childish than that outlined above, though they may have deemed it wiser to leave the popular beliefs undisturbed, and to discourage speculations which might become dangerous amongst a people only too prone to scepticism and heresy. Taking only the broad divisions of theological and philosophical thought in Persia, we may distinguish in each field three main types; amongst the theologians the Akhbárís, the Uṣúlís (or Mujtahidís), and the Shaykhís; amongst the philosophers the Mutakallimún or School-men,
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the Falásifa or Ḥukamá (Philosophers pure and simple), and the philosophical Ṣúfís. Of all these Gobineau’s⁷¹⁸ account is still the most clear, lively and concise which I have met with in any European language, though it cannot be certainly affirmed that its accuracy is equal to its clarity. Thus he credits the Akhbárís, generally regarded as the straitest sect of the Shí‘a, with a certain latitudinarianism to which they can hardly lay claim; and describes the Shaykhís as “not altogether rejecting the idea of the Resurrection of the Body,” when it was precisely their doctrine of the “subtle body” (or Jism-i-Huwarqilyá)⁷¹⁹ which especially laid them under suspicion of heresy. The doctrines of the Shaykhís, moreover, definitely prepared the way for the still more heretical doctrines of the Bábís, who were outside the pale of Islám while the Shaykhís were just within it and counted many influential followers in high places. Of the Philosophers and Ṣúfís more will be said in another chapter, but as to the theologians we shall do well to bear in mind Gobineau’s dictum⁷²⁰: “Il ne faut pas perdre de vue que si l’on peut, approximativement, classer les trois opinions ainsi que je le fais, il est nécessaire pourtant d’ajouter qu’il est rare que, dans le cours de sa vie, un Persan n’ait point passé de l’une à l’autre et ne les ait point toutes les trois professées.” Mullá Muḥammad Báqir-i-Majlisí, one of the greatest, most powerful and most fanatical mujtahids of the Ṣafawí period, found it necessary to apologize for the tolerant and even sympathetic attitude assumed by his father Mullá Muḥammad Taqí-i-Majlisí, not less distinguished than himself as a theologian, towards
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the Ṣúfís. “Let none think so ill of my father,” he says⁷²¹, “as to imagine that he was of the Ṣúfís. Nay, it was not so, for I was intimately associated with my father in private and in public, and was thoroughly conversant with his beliefs. My father thought ill of the Ṣúfís, but at the beginning of his career, when they were extremely powerful and active, my father entered their ranks, so that by this means he might repel, remove, eradicate and extirpate the roots of this foul and hellish growth (ín Shajara-i-Khabítha-i-Zaqqúmiyya). But when he had extinguished the flames of their infamy, then he made known his inner feelings, for he was a man of the utmost virtue and piety, ascetic and devout in his life,” etc.

Yet Mullá Muḥammad Báqir, in spite of his formalism and fanaticism, his incredible industry in writing books in simple and easily intelligible Persian in order to popularize the Shí‘a doctrines, and his ruthless persecution of the Ṣúfís, is credited with posthumous gleams of a higher humanity⁷²². One saw him in a dream after his death and asked of him, “How fares it with you in that world, and how have they dealt with you?” He answered, “None of my actions profited me at all, except that one day I gave an apple to a Jew, and that saved me.”

The Qiṣaṣu’l-‘Ulamá contains 153 biographies of eminent divines, of whom the following twenty-five appear to me the most interesting and important. They are here arranged, as far as possible, chronologically, the serial number of each biography in the book being indicated in brackets after the name⁷²³.
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Autograph of Mullá Muḥammad Báqir-i-Majlisí
Or. 4937 (Brit. Mus.), p. 105
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I. Pre-Ṣafawí divines.
1. Muḥammad ibn Ya’qúb al-Kulayní (No. 96), entitled Thiqatu’l-Islám, author of the Káfí, d. 329/941.

2. Muḥammad ibn ‘Alí ibn Ḥusayn ibn Músá ibn Bábawayhi of Qum, called Ṣadúq (No. 95), d. 381/991-2. Of his works 189 are enumerated in the Qiṣaṣu’l-‘Ulamá, the most important being that entitled Man lá yaḥḍuruhu’l-Faqíh, which, like the Káfí mentioned in the last paragraph, is one of the “Four Books.”

3. Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Nu‘mán ibn ‘Abdu’s-Salám al-Ḥárithí commonly called Shaykh-i-Mufíd (No. 97), d. 413/1022. The Qiṣaṣ enumerates 171 of his works.

4. Sayyid Murtaḍá, entitled ‘Alamu’l-Hudá (No. 98), d. 436/1044. He was the great-great-grandson of the Seventh Imám, Músá al-Káẓim.

5. Aḥmad ibn ‘Alí an-Najjáshí (No. 132), d. 455/1063. He was a disciple of the Shaykh-i-Mufíd, and the author of the well-known Kitábu’r-Rijál.

6. Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan ibn ‘Alí at-Ṭúsí, called Shaykhu’ṭ-Ṭá’ifa (No. 100), d. 460/1067. He was the third of the older “three Muḥammads” (the others being Nos. 1 and 2 supra), and the author of two of the “Four Books,” the Tahdhíbu’l-Aḥkám and the Istibṣár, and of the well-known Fihrist, or Index of Shí‘a books.

7. Naṣíru’d-Dín-i-Ṭúsí, entitled Muḥaqqiq (“the Investigator”), even more celebrated as a philosopher and man of science than as a theologian (No. 90), d. 672/1274. His most famous works are the Akhláq-i-Náṣirí on Ethics, the Astronomical Tables called Zíj-i-Ilkhání, compiled for Húlágú Khán the Mongol, and the Tajríd on Scholastic Philosophy, a favourite text for the countless host of commentators and writers of notes and glosses.

8. Najmu’d-Dín Ja‘far ibn Yaḥyá, known as Muḥaqqiq-i-Awwal (“the First Investigator”), author of the Shará-

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yi‘u’l-Islám (No. 89), born 638/1240-1, died Muḥarram 726/Dec. 1325. As a youth he showed some poetic talent, which was, however, sternly repressed by his father, who told him that poets were accursed and poetry incompatible with a devout life.

9. Ḥasan ibn Yúsuf ibn ‘Alí ibnu’l-Muṭahhar al-Ḥillí, commonly called ‘Alláma-i-Ḥillí (“the Sage of Ḥilla”) (No. 83), died in the same month and year as the above-mentioned Muḥaqqiq-i-Awwal, who was ten years his senior. Of his works 75 are enumerated in the Qiṣaṣ. ‘Alláma-i-Ḥilli came of a great family of theologians, which produced in a comparatively short period ten mujtahids. His father was one, and his son, entitled Fakhru’l-Muḥaqqiqín (No. 86), another.

10. Shaykh Shamsu’d-Dín Muḥammad ibn Makkí … al-‘Ámilí, called Shahíd-i-Awwal (“the First Martyr”) (No. 82), was put to death at Damascus about midsummer 786/1384⁷²⁴ by judgement of the two Qáḍís Burhánu’d-Dín the Málikí and Ibn Jamá‘a the Sháfi‘í.

II. Ṣafawí and post-Ṣafawí divines.
11. Núru’d-Dín ‘Alí ibn ‘Abdu’l-‘Alí, known as Muḥaqqiq-i-Thání (“the Second Investigator”) (No. 84), came to Persia from Karak, his native place, and was highly honoured and esteemed by Sháh Ṭahmásp I. He died in 940/1533-4.

12. Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, called Muqaddas-i-Ardabílí “the Saint of Ardabil” (No. 83), was highly honoured by Sháh ‘Abbás the Great. He died in 993/1585.

13. Mír Muḥammad Báqir-i-Dámád (No. 77), the grandson of Muḥaqqiq-i- Thání (No. 11 supra), also stood high in the favour of Sháh ‘Abbás, and died in 1041/1631-2.
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Concerning his book the Ṣiráṭu’l-Mustaqím (“the Straight Path”) a Persian poet composed the following epigram:
⁷²⁵
He himself wrote poetry under the takhalluṣ, or pen-name, of Ishráq.

14. Shaykh Muḥammad Bahá’u’d-Dínal-‘Ámilí, commonly called Shaykh-i-Bahá’í (No. 37), was equal in fame, influence and honour with the above-mentioned Mír Dámád, these two being amongst the men of learning who gave most lustre to the court of Sháh ‘Abbás the Great. The literary activities of Shaykh-i-Bahá’í, who was born near Ba’labakk in 953/1546, and died in 1031/1622, were not confined to theology. In that subject his best-known work is the Jámí’-i-’Abbásí, a popular Persian manual of Shí‘a Law, which he did not live to complete. He also compiled a great collection of anecdotes in Arabic named the Kashkúl (“Alms-bowl”), a sequel to his earlier and less-known Mikhlát. He also wrote several treatises on Arithmetic and Astronomy, and composed the Persian mathnawí poem entitled Nán u Ḥalwá (“Bread and Sweetmeats”).

15. Muḥammad ibn Murtaḍá of Káshán, commonly known as Mullá Muḥsin-i-Fayḍ (No. 76), though reckoned “a pure Akhbárí” and detested by Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsá’í the founder of the Shaykhí sect, who used to call him Musí’ (“the Evil-doer”) instead of Muḥsin (“the Well-doer”), was in fact more of a mystic and a philosopher than a theologian. His best-known theological work is probably the Abwábu’l-Janán (“Gates of Paradise”), composed in 1055/1645. Ten years later he went from Káshán to Shíráz to study philosophy with Mullá Ṣadrá, whose daughter he married. He was also a poet, and in the
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Majma’u’l-Fuṣaḥá⁷²⁶ the number of his verses is said to amount to six or seven thousand.

16. Mír Abu’l-Qásim-i-Findariskí though omitted from the Qiṣaṣu’l-‘Ulamá, was accounted “the most eminent philosopher and Ṣúfí of his time, and stood high in the estimation of Sháh ‘Abbás I, whom he is said, however, to have scandalized by his habit of mixing with the lowest orders and attending cock-fights⁷²⁷.” He spent some time in India in the reign of Sháh-Jahán and died in Iṣfahán about 1050/1640-1.

17. Mullá Ṣadru’d-Dín Muḥammad ibn Ibráhím of Shíráz, commonly called Mullá Ṣadrá, is unanimously accounted the greatest philosopher of modern times in Persia. That in the Qiṣaṣu’l-‘Ulamá no separate article should be devoted to one whose life was a constant conflict with the “clergy,” and whose clerical disguise was even more transparent than that of his teachers Mír Dámád and Shaykh-i-Bahá’í, is not surprising, but much incidental mention is made of him in this and other similar works, like the Lú’lú’atu’l-Baḥrayn, and his teaching affected theology, notably that of the Shaykhí school⁷²⁸, in no small degree. His death is placed by the Rawḍátu’l-Jannát about 1070/1660⁷²⁹, but by the Lú’lú’atu’l-Baḥrayn twenty years earlier.

18. ‘Abdu’r-Razzáq-i-Láhijí, like Mullá Muḥsin-i-Fayḍ, was a pupil of Mullá Ṣadrá. His two best-known works, both in Persian, are the Sar-máya-i-Ímán (“Substance of Belief”) and the Gawhar-i-Murád (“Pearl of Desire”). He

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Autograph of Mullá Ṣadrá of Shíráz, the Philosopher
Or. 4935 (Brit. Mus.), 1
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shared with Shaykh Ṭabarsí, the author of the Majma‘u’l-Bayán, the curious belief in the “essential meaning” of words, by which he meant that there existed a real relation between the sound and meaning of every word, so that having heard the sound of a strange word it was possible by reflection to conjecture the sense⁷³⁰.

The last six persons mentioned were all philosophers as well as, or even more than, theologians. The following, except the last, Ḥájji Mullá Hádí, are all Shí‘a divines of the strictest type.

19. Mullá Muḥammad Taqí-i-Majlisí (No. 36) is said to have been the first to compile and publish Shí‘a traditions, which he received from the Muḥaqqiq-i-thání, in the Ṣafawí period. Allusion has already been made to his alleged Ṣúfí proclivities. He died in 1070/1659-60, a date expressed by the ingenious chronogram⁷³¹:

“The crown of the Holy Law fell: scholarship become headless and footless.”
By removing the “crown,” i.e. the initial letter, of ع رﺸ, and the “head” and “foot,” i.e. the initial and final letters of ﻝﻀﻔ, we get the three letters ﺾ ر ع = 800 + 200 + 70 = 1070.

20. Mullá Muḥammad Báqir-i-Majlisí (No. 33), son of the above, who has been already mentioned repeatedly in this chapter, was even more famous than his father. His great work is the Biḥáru’l-Anwár (“Oceans of Light”), an immense compilation of Shí‘a traditions; but he composed many other works, of which the following are in Persian: ‘Aynu’l-Ḥayát (“the Fountain of Life”); Mishkátu’l-Anwár (“the Lamp of Lights”); Ḥilyatu’l-Muttaqín (“the Ornament of the Pious”); Ḥayátu’l-Qulúb (“Life of Hearts”),

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not completed; Tuḥfatu’z-Zá’irín (“the Pilgrims’ Present”); Jalá’u’l-‘Uyún (“the Clearing of the Eyes”)⁷³², etc. He died, as already stated, in 1111/ 1699-1700.

21. Sayyid Muḥammad Mahdí of Burújird, entitled