[146] Now he had attained the green rail with green cushions, illumed with a green light clearer than that of the sun. Muhammed was then called to approach; he adored; saw the Lord in the most beauteous form; and received the revelation of the Koran; before all three objects: 1. the five daily prayers; 2. the final verses of the second Sura of the Koran; 3. forgiveness of all sins, except that of idolatry, for his people. Here the Almighty pronounced the words: “If it had not been for thee, the world would never have been created.”――(See vol. I. pp. 2-3). A drop flowed from the throne into the mouth of the prophet, who by it imbibed all the knowledge of the anterior and posterior world. All the Angels joined in a chorus, singing: “There is no God but one God, and Muhammed is his prophet;” and the great concert terminated with the words of the Koran, (chap. II. v. 285): “The Apostle believeth in that which has been sent down unto him from his Lord, and the faithful also. Every one of them believeth in God and his Angels, and his Scriptures, and his Apostles. And they say: ‘We have heard and do obey; we implore thy mercy, O Lord! for unto thee must we return.’” [147] See page 143 of this volume. SECTION III.――OF THE SUCCESSORS OF THESE PHILOSOPHERS, AND THE CHIEF FOLLOWERS OF THIS CREED. Of this class, several learned men were personally known to the author of this book, but he will give an account of those only who were well founded and skilled in this creed. First, the doctor in theology, Hírbed, whom the author visited in Lahore. This doctor was a descendant from the family of Zardúsht, the prophet of God; he was conversant with Persian, showed great proficiency in Arabic, and in other sciences, in Shiraz, and held intercourse with learned Frangis. At last he came to India; always devoted to austerity, he led a pure and holy life. He composed hymns in Persian, Hindi, and Arabic, to the majesty of the light of lights, the powerful luminaries, and the stars. He acknowledged as a Kiblah the splendor-shedding bodies, and made his own, in spirit and word, the work of the lord Shaikh Maktul. Secondly, the doctor Manír was met by the writer of this work, in the year of the Hejira 1053 (A. D. 1643-4), in Kabul; he was one of the Sáíds of Shiraz, but entered the elemental world in Irâk Ajem; he was skilful in sciences, and lived as a chaste independent and pious man; like Hirbed, he abstained from all sorts of animal food, and sang the hymns which go under the name of Shaikh Maktul, in praise of the luminaries, and venerated the stars; and both these persons paid homage with the sun, refulgent with light. The third was _Hakím dostúr_, who in 1054 of the Hejira (A. D. 1644-5) came to Lahore. He drew his origin from Ispáhan, but was born in Balkh; he studied in the service of the followers of Mulla Mírza Khan; then, having gone to