A great number of learned men are followers of the Ismâílíah: such was _Amír Náśer Khusró_, from among all learned poets, the contemporary of Ismâíl, surnamed _Montáser_, “the victorious.”[619] Amir Naser[620] was born in the year of the Hejira 359 (A. D. 969). When he arrived at the age of discernment and rectitude, he heard the voice of Hassen, _teaching_ the morals of the Ismâílíah, in the time of the khalifat of the legitimate Imám Montáser;[621] he hastened from Khorassan to Egypt, where he dwelt seven years; every year he made a pilgrimage to Mecca, and returned from thence; he was exceedingly devoted to the practice of the law. At last he went to Mecca, and returning by the way of Baśra (Bussora) he was disposed to go to Khorassan. Having fixed himself in Sabakh, he invited mankind to the khalifat of Manteśer, and to the religion of the Ismâíliah, and showed the way to it. Hence, a number of the enemies of the prophet’s descendants wished to destroy Amír Nás r Khusró. A prey to fear and terror, he concealed himself from mountain to mountain in Badakhshan,[622] and lived twenty years upon water and grass in inaccessible places. Some of the ignorant reckoned him a companion among the Ismâíliah Almutíah; others of the uninformed composed a book of regret on the subject of his alliance with the Almutíah which they supposed: the fact is that he, following the Ismâílíah of the West, kept no communication nor society with the Almútíah. This is what we have heard from the Ismâílíah with regard to Nás r, and what is also recorded in historical books.[623] The Imáms of the Ismâílíah showed themselves very kind to all creatures. Thus Manśur, the son of Azíz, known under the name of Alhákem ba amra allah, an Ismáílah, ordered in Egypt that, for the convenience of purchase and sale, the doors of the shops should be kept open at night, and the windows of Cairo not shut, that besides torches should be lighted in the narrow streets the whole night, and the people freely move in the market places and squares. This lord was skilful in all sciences, and powerful in prodigies, like his glorious ancestor Muhammed Mokhtar. Thus he said: “in such a night, a misfortune will befall me:” and so it happened.[624] The Imáms of the western Ismâílíah were all zealous in the practices of exterior worship, and an account of them is published in the historical books. The Ismâílíah of Iran are celebrated with the Ismâílíah of Kohistán and Rúdbár.[625] The first of the former was _Hassan_, son of _Sábáh_. As the account of him in the histories has been traced with the pen of partiality, therefore I shall endeavor to make a statement such as obtains credit among the Ismâílíah concerning him.[626]