"If we are to believe in the inerrability of a person, or a body of persons, because it is, forsooth, necessary for the full preservation of the truth, we must then also believe in all besides that can be shown to be needful for the perfect attainment of that end. Now, the conservation of all spiritual truth is not a mere operation of the intellect. It requires the faultless action of the perceiving power of the spirit. That is to say, it requires the exclusion of sin; and the man or body that is to be infallible, must also be a sinless organ. It is necessary that the tainting, blinding, distorting power of sin should be shut out from the spiritual eye of the infallible judge." Gladstone's _Gleanings_, vol. iii. p. 260. [71] It is a common Musalman belief that the body of a prophet casts no shadow. A similar idea regarding necromancers was widely spread over Northern Europe. It is alluded to by Scott in the "Lay of the Last Minstrel," where speaking of the father of the Ladye, who in Padua, "had learned the art that none might name," he says:-- "His form no darkening shadow traced Upon the sunny wall." It is said that at a certain stage of initiation candidates for magical honours were in danger of being caught by the devil. Now if the devil could only catch the shadow, and the man escaped, though so nearly captured, he became a great magician. This is evidently a legend to explain a previous belief. Muhammadan ideas in the middle ages were prevalent in the Universities of Southern Europe, and Salamanca and Padua were the universities, in which it was supposed that the greatest proficiency in magic was obtained. The superstition has evidently some connection with the Musalman belief regarding the shadows of prophets. [72] The Sunnis esteem and respect the Imams, as Ahl-i-Beit--men of the House, (of the Prophet); but do not give them precedence over the duly appointed Khalifs. [73] The names are 'Ali, Hasan, Husain, Zain-ul-'Abid-din, Muhammad Baqr, Ja'far Sadiq, Musa Kazim, 'Ali Musa Raza, Muhammad Taqi, Muhammad Naqi, Hasan 'Askari, Abu 'l-Qasim (or Imam Mahdi). [74] Rauzat-ul-Aimmah by Sayyid 'Izzat 'Ali. [75] For a good account of this movement see, Osborn's Islam under the Arabs, pp. 168-184. [76] Islam under the Khalifs, p. 139. [77] Miskat-ul-Musabih. [78] Hujjat-ullah-ul-Balaghah.