'History of the imâms and seyyids of 'Omân by Salîl-ibn-Razîk, from A.D. 661-1856; translated from the original Arabic, and edited with notes, appendices, and an introduction, continuing the history down to 1870, by George Percy Badger, F.R.G.S., late chaplain in the Presidency of Bombay.' [‎64] (97/612)

Ixiv
introduction
that beyond this utter exclusion of human merit, the formula,
as originally proclaimed by Muhammad, implied the doctrine
of the absolute sovereignty of God in a sense which reduced
all created beings to a mass of unconditional passiveness. 1
The great Wahhaby appears to have grasped this theory, but
it is highly probable that his efforts to explain it only added
to its abstruseness,thereby giving some colour to the charge
bi'ought against his writings by the orthodox, that they con
sisted chiefly of " sophisms and speculations/' It is equally
reasonable to suppose that a very limited number of his dis
ciples were capable of appreciating the more recondite views
which his power of abstraction enabled him individually to
entertain of the nature and attributes of the Supreme Being.
Less difficult of general comprehension, however, was that
part of his system which denounced all honours paid to saints
and tombs as heretical innovations, detracting from the wor
ship due solely to the Creator, and therefore to be regarded
and dealt with as idolatrous. To say nothing of Pagans and
Christians, whom all Muslims hold to be Polytheists, the
followers of the Prophet of Arabia have relaxed from the principles of
their religion, and have granted a species of adoration not only to him
and his immediate descendants, but to a number of learned or pious
men, who have been canonized as saints. The feelings of gratitude and
veneration which the conduct of individuals first created has grown—by
excessive indulgence and by the ardour of passions excited by contrary
opinions—into sacred reverence and devotion. Their very garments
have become relics of inestimable value; and in the course of time the
same properties have been assigned to them as are supposed to have be
longed to their possessors." From this common progress of superstition
hardly one of the numerous sects into which the Muhammedan religion is
divided can be deemed exempt. By way of illustration, the author in
an appended note refers to the "incredible veneration paid to the early
martyrs and confessors by their pious contemporaries" as having been
the cause of many evils in the Christian Church. The parallel holds
good still. History of Persia, vol. ii, pp. 377-8.
1 See page 248. For a splendid dissertation on the full import of
the symbol of Islam, see I'algrave's Cent, and East. Arabia, vol. i. pp.
365-373.