rise of the Mótazalites. One Jaafar Ebn Mobashshar, of the sect of the Nodhâmians, was yet more severe than the Waïdians, pronouncing him to be a reprobate and an apostate who steals but a grain of corn.1 8 Idem, ibid. p. 269. 1 See Ockley's Hist. of the Sarac. vol. i. p. 60, &c. 2 Al Shahrest. ubi sup. p. 270. 3 Idem, ibid. 4 Abulfeda, al Jannâbi, Elmacinus, p. 40. 5 Al Shahrestani. See Ockley's Hist. of the Saracens, ubi sup. p. 63. 6 Abulfar. p. 169. Al Shahrest. apud Poc. Spec. p. 256. 1 Vide Poc. ibid. p. 257 IV. The Shiites are the opponents of the Khârejites: their name properly signifies sectaries or adherents in general, but is peculiarly used to denote those of Ali Ebn Tâleb; who maintain him to be lawful Khalîf and Imâm, and that the supreme authority, both in spirituals and temporals, of right belongs to his descendants, notwithstanding they may be deprived of it by the injustice of others, or their own fear. They also teach that the office of Imâm is not a common thing, depending on the will of the vulgar, so that they may set up whom they please; but a fundamental affair of religion, and an article which the prophet could not have neglected, or left to the fancy of the common people:2 nay, some, thence called Imâmians, go so far as to assert, that religion consists solely in the knowledge of the true Imâm.3 The principal sects of the Shiites are five, which are subdivided into an almost innumerable number; so that some understand Mohammed's prophecy of the seventy odd sects, of the Shiites only. Their general opinions are-I. That the peculiar designation of the Imâm, and the testimonies of the Korân and Mohammed concerning him, are necessary points. 2. That the Imâms ought necessarily to keep themselves free from light sins as well as more grievous. 3. That every one ought publicly to declare who it is that he adheres to, and from whom he separates himself, by word, deed, and engagement; and that herein there should be no dissimulation. But in this last point some of the Zeidians, a sect so named from Zeid, the son of Ali surnamed Zein al âbedîn, and great-grandson of Ali, dissented from the rest of the Shiites.4 As to other articles, wherein they agreed not, some of them came pretty near to the notions of the Mótazalites, others to those of the Moshabbehites, and others to those of the Sonnites.5 Among the latter of these Mohammed al Bâker, another son of Zein al âbedîn's, seems to claim a place: for his opinion as to the will of GOD was, that GOD willeth something in us, and something from us, and that what he willeth from us he hath revealed to us; for which reason he thought it preposterous that we should employ our thoughts about those things which GOD willeth in us, and neglect those which he willeth from us: and as to GOD'S decree, he held that the way lay in the middle, and that there was neither compulsion nor free liberty.1 A tenet of the Khattâbians, or