Nor was Írán on good terms with the Ottomans. Layard's book, _Early Adventures_, indicates the considerable extent of the incursions which the Turks had made into Iranian territory. The meeting between Layard and Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí in 1840 took place in Hamadán, not far from the frontier, where Muḥammad [_Sh_]áh was encamped with his army. The relations between the Ottoman and Iranian governments were further strained by the storming and sacking of Karbilá in January 1843, where the chief sufferers were Persian. We have seen how the Persian princes living in Karbilá at the time of its investment by the troops of Najíb Pá[_sh_]á took a hand in negotiations. They were exiles and fugitives who had contested with Muḥammad [_Sh_]áh and offended him, and senior among them was `Alí-[_Sh_]áh, the Ẓillu's-Sulṭán. Yet another issue reared its ugly head to exacerbate relations between Írán and the Ottoman Empire, that of [_Sh_]í`ah against Sunní. Sheil, the British Minister in Ṭihrán, reported to the Foreign Secretary, the Earl of Aberdeen: If the Moollahs, and in particular the chief priest of Ispahan, Hajee Syed Moollah Mahomed Baukir, whose religious influence in Persia is powerful, should use the present opportunity for regaining their former position by exerting their authority among the people, and preaching a crusade against the rival branch of Mahommedanism, it is not easy to foresee the consequences.[11] Indeed, reported Sheil, the Persian Foreign Minister and Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí were considering the possibility of war.[12] This chief priest of Iṣfahán, mentioned by Sheil, was the same divine from whom Mullá Ḥusayn-i-Bu[_sh_]rú'í obtained unqualified support for Siyyid Káẓim-i-Ra[_sh_]tí. It is helpful to compare the authority of the divines of these two great branches of Islám. The [_Sh_]í`ah divine in contradistinction to the Sunní has the power of 'Ijtihád', that is, issuing _ex cathedra_ decrees and judgments. His position is, in a sense, analogous to that of the English judge who can, within the boundaries of equity and common law, establish precedents. The Sunní divine belongs to one of the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence: the Ḥanafí, the [_Sh_]áfi`í, the Málikí and the Ḥanbalí. The jurisconsults, who founded these four schools or rites, which are named after them, set certain standards from which the Sunní divine cannot deviate. The [_Sh_]í`ah divine, on the other hand, relies exclusively on the text of the Qur'án and the Traditions ascribed to the Prophet and the Imáms, all of which are wide open to interpretation. Moreover, the [_Sh_]í`ah mujtahid--the divine who pronounces _ex cathedra_--does so, it is understood, as the deputy of the Ṣáḥibu'z-Zamán, the Lord of the Age. CHAPTER I ALL HAIL [_SH_]ÍRÁZ