_Sixth Grade._ The missionary did not admit the postulant to this grade until he was perfectly assured as to his discretion and secrecy. In it the teaching that the ritual precepts of Islam as generally understood, were abrogated, was carried to its logical conclusion, and the convert was instructed to abandon the observance of prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, and all the other external practices of religion; or at least to observe them only in so far as they served as a bond of social usage or as expedient as a concession to their uninstructed companions. At the same time the teacher professed the utmost veneration for the men who had established these practices, and for the wisdom which had led them to do so. The _daʿi_ then described to his pupil the doctrines of Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and other philosophers, and exhorted them not to follow the traditions of religion which have been passed down as mere hear-say, but to test them by the methods of philosophy and to accept only those things which are endorsed by reason. Changing his former attitude, he then began to criticize the Imams unfavourably, and to contrast them with the philosophers to their disadvantage. _Seventh Grade._ Some of the missionaries were not themselves instructed in the doctrines of the highest grades, and only a select number were able to initiate converts into this seventh stage. This serves as the probable explanation of some events in the history of the sect which appear strange at first sight such, for example, as the estrangement of the most faithful and successful missionary Abu ʿAbdullah who, no doubt, revolted when he found the difference between the actual beliefs of the Mahdi ʿUbayd allah, and the doctrine which he himself had learned and taught. In initiating a disciple into this highest grade the _daʿi_ first pointed out that there are in this world always correlatives, of which one is the cause, the other the result, as giver and recipient, teacher and taught, etc. Thus the Qurʾan tells us of God that “when he decreeth a thing he only saith ‘be’ and it ‘is’” (Qur., 3, 42), in which God, the First Cause, is the greater, the thing created only derives its being from him: and again, “all things have we created after a fixed decree” (Qur., 54, 49), and again, “he who is God in the heavens is God in earth also” (Qur., 43, 84). Hence, following a teaching of the philosophers, it is clear that from a Being who is only One, only one thing can proceed: but the world contains many things, so it cannot be the work of the One, but needs at least two Beings. Moreover, creation is not the bringing into being that which did not previously exist, but only the arrangement and disposing of things. At bottom this was intended to be a statement of the Aristotelian doctrine of the eternity of matter, and shows striking resemblances with the speculations of the Muʿtazilites. Thus Abu Hudhayl (d. circ. 226) held that before the creation the world existed, but in a