[3] مشهد, _Mashhad_, signifies properly any place where a martyr has been buried, and is particularly applied to the burying places of Imáms, such as that of Kerbela, near Kufa, before mentioned. But the town of Tús, in Khorassan, has almost exchanged its proper name for that of _Mashhad_, “sepulchre,” because the Imám Risa, son of Mussa al Khadem, was buried near that place. Is it that which is meant above? Although the author says (Vol. II. p. 364), that he was in 1053 (1643) in Lahore, which is about 1200 miles distant from Tús, his visiting, the same year, both towns, is far from impossible. In the same year, we find him in Kirtpúr, in the mountainous part of the Panjab (_ibid._, p. 416), and in Kabul, which is on the road from Lahore to Tus. [4] The moon acts a conspicuous part in the prestigious exhibitions of magicians. There appeared during the reign of Muhammed Mahadi, the third khalif of the Abbasides, from the year of the Hejira 158 to 169 (A. D. 774-785), in the town of Nekhshab, in Khorassan, an impostor, called _Hakem ben Hasham_, whose surname was _Sazindah mah_, “moon-maker.” Having but one eye, he used to hide his deformity under a silver veil, or mask, whence he was called _al Mokanna_, “covered by a veil.” So concealed, he pretended nobody could bear the effulgence of his face, like that of God himself. At the head of a numerous party, he was not without difficulty reduced by the ruling Khalif. Hakem’s particular mode of suicide will be adverted to in a note at the end of chapter VIII. [5] Muhammed died on the 8th June, A. D. 632; Musaylima did not long survive him. He was killed, with ten thousand of his soldiers, under the reign of Abu-bekr, in A. D. 632, in a battle against Khaled, the son of Valid, who was sent with an army against him. Although the party of the new prophet appeared then crushed, yet we see by the account of the Dabistán, that its doctrine maintained itself as late as the seventeenth century of our era. [6] _Furkán_, separating, discriminating, is another name for the Koran; and signifies any sacred book discriminating the right from wrong. [7] Thomas Erpenius, the translator of Elmacin, calls her Thegjazis (_Hist. Saracenica_, p. 19); her true name was _Sijah_, the daughter of Haret, of the tribe of the Tamimites, or Taalabites, according to Elmacin (loco citato). She declared herself a prophetess, and gained ascendancy in the country of Bahrein, along the south-western shores of the Persian gulf, and in almost the whole tract between Mecca and Bassora. She offered herself as wife to the new prophet, in Yamáma, who married her, but she soon abandoned him.――(See _Abulfeda_, vol. I. pp. 208, 209.)