Mahmúd called himself a _Váhed_, and declared himself to be the _Mahdy_ promised, whose appearance was predicted by the prophet; he said, that the religion of Muhammed is cancelled, and that now the true faith is that of _Mahmúd_: as was said: “The time is come; the accomplishment of sayings is Mahmúd: Whatever reproach the Arab threw upon Ajem, it is over.” His disciples are dispersed in the four quarters the world, and in the whole country of Iran a great number of them resides, but they dare not make themselves known, because the King, now the inhabitant of heaven, Shah Abás, son of Shah Khodábendah Sáfaví, put many of them to death. The belief of the Mahmúdíán is, that Shah Abás, when he had met Taráb and Kamál, who were perfect Váhadis, and taken information from them, wanted to publish them as his own, and on that account killed them both. They subjoin that, although he had great pretensions, yet he never attained perfection; because, on account of the world and ostentation, he had destroyed the perfect. The author of this work heard from an Amín: “Shah Abás was a perfect Amín, and killed whomever he did not find well founded in this creed. Thus, he admitted me to his society, and desired me to remain in Iśfahán; when I did not consent to it, he granted me the expenses of my journey to India.” It is said, that in these times Shah Abás came on foot to visit the place of _Hossein’s_ martyrdom, _that is, Kerhála_, where he said to Taráb: “I feel pain from my foot journey.” Taráb answered: “This is owing to the inconsistency of thy natural intellect; for if the Imám for whose sake thou hast performed the journey joined God, why seekest thou the nether place of his martyrdom; and if he has not joined God, what hast thou to hope from him? Find thou a living Imám.” The Shah asked: “Who is the living Imám?” The saint answered: “I.” The king replied: “Well, I shall fire a ball from a gun upon thee; if it takes no effect, I will follow thee.” Taráb gave this answer: “Your Imám, Rizá, died by the grain of a grape; how shall I resist the ball of a gun?” At last the Shah fired upon and killed him. As Kamál openly professed the creed of Taráb, the king associated him with the latter.[19] It is reported, that one of the Imanás came to Hosséin Khan, of Shám, and having converted him to his creed, he heard the following speech from him: “One day, when during the Maheram they read the history of the martyrdom _of Hossein_, and he too (Hossein Khan) was weeping, Shah Abás said: ‘You, why do you cry, as if it were the _Shámlús_ (that is to say, the natives of Shám) who did the action?’ The answer was: ‘We do not cry on account of Hossein: but because from our number also fine youths were killed.’” “With the same eyes with which you look on us, With the same eyes is it, that we look on you.”