The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 1 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Religion
The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 1 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Iran -- Religion; Religions
According to them, intercourse with daughters, sisters, mothers,
maternal aunts, and their children is allowable;[379] as there can
exist no antipathy between the source and what is derived from it: no
degree of relationship in their opinion should be a bar to the
intercourse of the sexes: nay, on the contrary, it is highly to be
commended, as the nearer the degree of consanguinity, the greater will
be the friendship between the parties.[380] They however regard
adultery as highly criminal, unless the husband should willingly
sacrifice his wife’s honor. They in fact maintain that marriage
between any two parties, however nearly related, is perfectly
allowable if the parties agree among themselves. They also regard the
ceremonial ablutions enjoined by the law as absurd and
unnecessary.[381] They also say, that men assume a particular nature
by means of laws and institutions, and on that account regard good as
evil, and evil as good. When they desire to make a sacrificial
offering, they kill some harmless animal and count it not a foul
crime. Nay, some religionists who partake of swine’s flesh,
scrupulously avoid that of cows, and _vice versâ_. Whoever shall
appeal to the intelligence, which is the gift of God, will be
convinced that our discourse is true; that is, all we have narrated
from the fifth chapter to the present. The professors of this belief
are mixed up with the Muhammedans, and travel about under that mask,
assuming the name of true believers, but having a distinct appellation
for their peculiar creed; they are scattered over Iran and Turan,
remote from and averse to the fire-worshippers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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