‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎242r] (490/722)

declared in tlie Karan to be the chosen companions of the holy Prophet.
They are reminded that even All, the “ Lord of the Faithful/' whose
undaunted valour was never questioned, submitted to the rule of the three
first khalrfahs ; and that these cannot be accused of usurpation, without
implicating him in an act of base submission to illegal authority. The
Shiahs are upbraided in this letter with the calumnies they have uttered
against Ayishah, and are accused of having dishonoured the sacred name of
the Prophet by their abuse of his wife. They are, on the ground of these
and many other heresies, denounced by the writers of this anathema as
the worst of infidels. “ Your property/' they observe, “is legitimate
plunder for those who fight for the true faith ; and as to the fields and
gardens in the vicinity of Mashhad, which you inform us are the unalien
able property of the holy shrine of the Imam Raza, to which sacred
purpose they were consecrated by the ancestors of the present monarchs
of Persia, we can only reply that in a country which it is proper and
lawful to plunder, the army of the Faithful cannot stop to distinguish
the lands which have been appropriated for religious purposes from those
that belong to its profane inhabitants. But supposing the distinction
made, the revenues of this holy property would, after all, be expended
by true believers; and if it cannot, from the nature of circumstances, be
given to those who should receive it, it becomes the duty of our conquering
prince to divide it, in legal shares, among his brave warriors."
This anathema, the justice of which is supported by verses from the
Kuran, by traditions, and by stanzas from pious poets, breathes the same
spirit, and recapitulates the same arguments, which are to be found in the
declarations of all the Sunni princes, who have invaded Persia since the
Shiah doctrine was established as the national religion of that country.
This particular document has probably been preserved on account of the
eloquent answer which was sent to it by a Shiah priest, who was at this
period resident in the city of Mashhad.
This able divine, whose name was Mulla Muhammad, declares, in the
commencement of his letter, that he intends to oppose to the charges of
heresy which have been made against the Shiah no arguments but what
are taken from the Kuran, and from those traditions the authenticity of
which are acknowledged by the learned of both sects. He proceeds to prove,
from one of these authorities, that, when the Prophet was dying, he heard
disputes in his chamber and called for pen, ink, and paper, exclaiming to
those around him —“ I wish to write what will keep you in the true path
after my death." But Umar (the future khalifah) forbade it to be given,
observing that Muhammad was in a delirium. “ Have we not the Kuran,"
he added ; “ and what more can we want ? " The Prophet, enraged at these
words and at their disputes, commanded them to leave him. He adduces
other acts of disobedience in the three first khalifahs, and concludes—on the
authority of that verse of the Kuran which states, “ He who obeys not
the person I have sent, is an infidel"—that they were infidels, and ought to
have been excluded on that ground alone (even if they had possessed legal
claims) from succeeding to the high dignity of the khilafat.
The writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. of this letter denies the truth of that tradition, which has
been brought forward to prove that Muhammad praised the khalifahs, but
observes that, if admitted, it proves nothing ; for that his praise could only
have had relation to their past lives, and can never, therefore, be used as a
shield to cover those errors and crimes which they subsequently committed.