In the work before us we find it stated, that the belief of the pure Súfis was the same as that of the Ashrakians (Platonists): we know what the Muhammedans have made of it. According to the Imám Koshairi, quoted by Jâmi,[180] the Muselmans, after Muhammed’s death, distinguished the eminent men among them by no other title but that of “the companions of God’s apostle.” These were, in the second generation, called _Tábáyún_, “followers.” Afterwards the Islamites were divided into divers classes; those among them who particularly devoted themselves to the practice of religion, were named “servants of God,” which name was, after the rise of numerous sects, claimed by some from among all the different sectaries. It was then that the followers of the orthodox doctrine, in order to preserve the purity of their faith and the strength of their piety, assumed the name of _Súfis_, which name became celebrated before the end of the second century of the Hejira, that is, before the year 815 of our era. We may believe one of the greatest scholars of Muhammedism, _Ghazáli_, who ranged himself among the Súfis of his time towards the end of our eleventh century, when he declares that in their society he found rest in believing one God, the prophet, and the last judgment: this is the faith of the _orthodox Súfis_. The assumption of any particular name carries men, who so distinguish and separate themselves from their fellows, much further than they themselves at first intended, particularly when the distinction and separation are founded upon vague and indeterminate notions of metaphysics. Under the impression, that there are secrets upon which their salvation depends, they will stretch reason and imagination to penetrate them. The Súfis are divided, according to their own phraseology,[181] into three classes: “_the attracted_, _the travellers_,” and “_the attracted travellers_;” the last of whom combine the qualities of the two former. I will class them here, with respect to their doctrine and manners, into five orders. 1. The religious Súfis, in general, are occupied with something beyond the limits of our natural consciousness; they exercise to the utmost their inward organ or inner sense, and acquire a philosophic imagination―― “The vision and the faculty divine.”[182] Such was the prophetic gift of Muhammed, and as long as they adhere to his sayings, they are _the orthodox Súfis_, whom I have already mentioned.