The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 2 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Religion
The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 2 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Iran -- Religion; Religions
All that has been enumerated did not exist in the beginning; the
Almighty God created them without elementary matter by the action of
his wisdom and absolute power. When the day of resurrection arrives,
he shall fold together the heavens, and change the earth for another
earth, and plunge the heavenly sphere and the earth into nothing. The
earth of the resurrection will be like an earth of pure silver, and in
this earth nobody shall have committed a crime. As the happy Abd ullah
says:
“On the day when the earth shall be changed for another
earth, that is, shall be changed for an earth of white
silver, where no blood shall be shed, and no crimes shall be
committed.”
On the day of resurrection, heaven and hell shall be made ready; the
dispersed members shall again form their body and be reunited; and the
soul shall again take possession of them. Some shall be carried to
heaven, others to hell. The first of mankind who was created was Adam;
he was the father of men; his body was of earth; Adam was the father
of all bodies, and Muhammed the father of all spirits.
“I was a prophet and a man, between water and earth;”
and all existence was brought forth according to, and in dependance
upon, the existence of the prophet Muhammed.
The angels have wings to fly, with which they cross in one minute a
distance of one thousand years’ journey. Satan was brought forth from
fire, and was accursed on account of disobedience.[529]
This is the greatest part of the creed professed by the people of
Islam. They are divided into many sects. According to the account of
some belonging to the persuasion of the Sonna and the Jamáât, the
Mulla Muhammed Mâsúm, of Kashghar,[530] was a learned and virtuous
man, and one of those who followed the doctrine of Hanefí, to whom he
attached himself so much as to choose him for his master. His origin
was from Badkahshán, and his name Shaikh Hossan; he always studied the
Koran, the traditions, and other books of religion and law, and
regulated his conduct after them; in such way he passed the day; he
kept frequent fasts, never read poems nor listened to stories, and if
any body uttered before him speeches of worldly people, he became
angry. He was very cautious with the Shiâhs, and admitted them not to
his house. The author of this book asked him, in Lahore: “What is the
cause of the aversion which you always show to the Shiâhs.” He
replied: “I was originally a Shiâh, and therefore conformed myself to
that creed. One night I saw in a dream the lord Imâm Hossen, the son
of the lord Alí, the son of Abí Taleb, and asked him about the real
truth of religion; he enjoined me: ‘Be a Sonni, and keep away from the
inconstant, for they are heretics and idolators of my person, and then
utter unbecoming words against the heads of religion, Abubekr, Omar,
and Osman, and by such an illusion they lost the right way: the way of
truth is the doctrine of the Sonnites and the Jamáât.’”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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