'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎87] (134/905)

CHAP. IV.]
HERESIES IN PERSIA.
87
for advancement; but a greater number are nominally attached
to colleges, and live by the practice of astrology, fortune-tell
ing, the sale of charms, talismans, &c. They who are not
possessed of the requisite ingenuity to subsist by the credulity
of others, take charge of an inferior school, or write letters,
and draw up marriage, and other engagements, for those who
are unequal to the task; they mix at the same time largely in
the domestic concerns of families. But in addition to these
and other vocations, a considerable number of the lowest
priests derive a scanty support from that charity which no
one denies to the true believer. These men wander as fakirs
from place to place; carrying news, and repeating poems,
tales, &c., mixed with verses from the Koran. The heterodox
religions are very numerous; nor is Iran without her free- Freethinkers
thinkers, as the Kaimurs and Mu'tazelis (Mitaulis), who and Heretics -
deny everything which they cannot prove by natural reason.
A third sect, the Mahadelis, or Molochadis, still maintain
the Magian belief, that the stars and the planets govern all
things. 1 Another, the Ehl el Tabkwid (men of truth), hold
that there is no God except the four elements, and no rational
soul, or life, after this one: they maintain also, that all living
bodies, being mixtures of the elements, will after death return
to their first principles. They also affirm that paradise and
hell belong to this world, into which every man returns in
the form of a beast, a plant, or again as a man; and that in
this second state he is great, powerful, and happy, or poor,
despicable, and unhappy, according to his former merits or
demerits. In practice they inculcate kindness to, and respect
for each other, with implicit obedience to their chiefs, who
are called Pir (old men), and are furnished with all kinds of
provisions for their subsistence. This sect is found in the
provinces of 'Irak and Fars. 2
The Tarikh Zenadikah (way of the covetous) are directly
opposed to the last on the subject of transmigration; and they
believe that God is in all places, and performs all things.
They likewise maintain, that the whole visible universe is
only a manifestation of the Supreme Being; the soul itself
1 Ogilby's Asia, p. 70. 2 Ibid., p. 71.