Secret Societies of the Middle AgesKeightley, Thomas
History
Secret Societies of the Middle Ages
Keightley, Thomas
Secret societies
Speculative tenets will continue and be propagated long after the sect
or society which holds them may have lost all temporal influence and
consideration. Accordingly, seventy years after the destruction of
Alamoot, in the reign of Aboo-Zeid, the eighth successor of Hoolagoo, it
was found that nearly all the people of Kuhistan were devoted to the
Ismaïlite opinions. The monarch, who was an orthodox Soonnee, advised
with the governor of the province, and it was resolved to send a
mission, composed of learned and zealous divines, for the conversion of
the heretics. At the head of the mission was placed the pious and
orthodox sheikh Emad-ed-deen of Bokhara; the other members of it were
the sheikh's two sons and four other learned ulemas (_Doctors of law_),
in all seven persons. Full of enthusiasm and zeal for the good cause
which they had in hand, the missionaries set forth. They arrived at
Kaïn, the chief place of the province, and found with grief and
indignation none of the ordinary testimonies of Moslem devotion. The
mosks were in ruins, no morning or evening call to prayer was to be
heard, no school or hospital was to be seen. Emad-ed-deen resolved to
commence his mission by the solemn call to prayer. Adopting the
precaution of arraying themselves in armour, he and his companions
ascended the terrace of the castle, and all at once from its different
sides shouted forth, "Say God is great! There is no god but God, and
Mohammed is his prophet. Up to prayer; to good works!" The inhabitants,
to whom these sounds were unusual and offensive, ran together,
determined to bestow the crown of martyrdom on the missionaries; but
these good men, whose zeal was of a prudent complexion, did not, though
armed, abide the encounter. They took refuge in an aqueduct, where they
concealed themselves till the people had dispersed, when they came forth
once more, ascended the terrace, and gave the call to prayer. The people
collected again, and again the missionaries sought their retreat. By
perseverance, however, and the powerful support of the governor of the
province, they gradually accustomed the ears of the people to the forms
of orthodoxy. Many years afterwards sultan Shahrokh, the son of Timoor,
resolved to send a commission to ascertain the state of religion in
Kohistan. At the head of it he placed Jelalee of Kaïn, the grandson of
Emad-ed-deen, a man of learning and talent and a distinguished writer.
Jelalee deemed himself especially selected by heaven for this purpose,
as his grandsire had headed the former mission, and the Prophet had
appeared to himself in a dream, and given to him a broom to sweep the
land, which he interpreted to be a commission to sweep away the impurity
of infidelity out of the country. He therefore entered on his office
with joy, and, after a peregrination of eleven months, reported
favourably of the faith of the people of Kohistan, with the exception of
some dervishes and others, who were addicted to _Soofeeism_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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