‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎242v] (491/722)

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He ridicules the importance which the Sunni divines have given to the
term‘companion/which Muhammad used to Abubakr when he was con
cealed with him in the cave. fC The obvious signification of the word is,”
he observes, “the best refutation of such an argument. It merely means
the person that is with another, and has no relation to their virtue or reli
gion.^ And, to prove this, he asserts that “ the most learned commentators
have declared that the Prophet, on this occasion, quoted the very expression
used by Joseph when he was imprisoned in Egypt ; and the companions,^
he adds, “who were addressed by the son of Jacob were both idola-
tors/”
In answer to the accusation that Ah, submitting to the elevation of the
other khalifahs, has acknowledged their right, he replies—“that the num
ber of followers they had collected, and the measures which they had adopted
while Ah was occupied with the obsequies of the Prophet, made it impos
sible for him to assert his right without a civil war, which, whatever had
been its issue, would have caused great bloodshed. This forbearance/’ he
adds, “ can never be adduced as an argument against his right; for Ah,
though brave, was certainly exceeded in courage by his uncle, Muhammad,
who, when surrounded by the first heroes of the Faithful, fled before the
infidels of the tribe of Kuraish, and after a long period was rejoiced to
obtain a truce. Yet this event never led to a conclusion that the Kuraish
were right, or that the Prophet, by making peace with them, admitted them
to be so. But it is evident/’ says our author, “ that God himself has
often shown forbearance towards infirm mortals, who have aspired to his
throne; and if the Almighty,” he concludes, “ clothed in all this power, has,
for inscrutable causes, acted in this manner to the wicked, who shall dare to
arraign the conduct of Murtaza All upon this occasion ?”
Though Muhammadans are generally agreed that power can neither
descend to, nor be transmitted by, females, the Shiah labour to prove that
Fatimah, the only offspring of Muhammad, was an exception to this rule;
and that All had an additional claim to succeed his uncle, from having
married her; while the right of his descendants to inherit the throne was
still stronger, from their being the only race who could boast the blood of
the Prophet. But they refuse that respect for the wives which they claim
for the daughter of Muhammad, and justify the abuse of Ayishah, with
which the Sunnis charge them, by urging that she not only joined Muawiah
in making war upon AK, whom she knew to be the appointed successor of
her husband, but departed, by appearing at the head of an army, from the
law which the Prophet had laid down regarding that privacy in which it
was the duty of the female sex to live. The author here followed supports
this latter accusation against Ayishah, by asserting that it is written in one
of the most authentic books of tradition that, when a blind man was sit
ting with the Prophet, one of his wives passed through the room. The
lady, on being reproved, observed that the man was blind. “ But thou
seest ” was the answer of Muhammad, which to those who believe in this
tradition is received as a law, which prohibits a female from gazing on the
form of any man but her husband or nearest male kindred. The same
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. repels the attack made upon his sect, of including the sacred char
acter of the Prophet in the reproaches they have thrown upon Ayishah. “ If
you were to establish,” he tells his opponents, “a necessary connection of
character between a man and his wife, the conclusion would not only prove
fatal to the reputation of Muhammad, but to the good prophets Noah and