"دليل بلاد فارس، المجلد I ويشمل محافظات أستراباد، شاهرود-بوستان، خراسان، وسيستان" [و‎‎٢‎٤‎٠] (٧٢٢/٤٨٦)

inhabitant?: united in proclaiming themselves of this sect, and who vowed
eternal hatred and war against those who professed the Sunni doctrine.
More than three centuries has elapsed since the Shiah faith has become the
adopted religion of that country ; and during the whole of that period a
regard for its tenets has either been the cause or the pretext of almost
every war in which it has been engaged. Surrounded by nations who pro
fess the Sunni doctrine, whether the Persian has been called upon to invade
the territories of the Turks, the Afghans, or the Tartars, or to repel the
attacks of these nations, he has been always summoned by the same watch
word ; and the belief that the Shiah faith was in danger has never failed to
rouse him to action. Nadir Shah, when at the summit of his power,
attempted to destroy a feeling of which he had proved the efficacy for the
purpose of defence, because it was likely (as it excited hatred in other
nations) to obstruct his ambitious plans of extended conquest; but the
attempt failed, and the attachment of the Persians to their faith continues
as decided as ever. It appears, therefore, of importance to understand the
character of those feelings which have had, and continue to have, so power
ful an influence upon a nation’s conduct; and we cannot obtain this
knowledge, except^ by a careful study of the tenets and dogmas which are
peculiar to the Shiah sect of Muhammadans.
The great and radical difference between the Sunni and Shiah doctrine
arises from the latter maintaining the divine and indefeasible right of AH
to have succeeded to the khildfot at the death of the Prophet. His claims
they assert, rested on his being the first convert, and consequently the eldest
in the faith,—on his nearness of kindred to Muhammad, of whom he was a
cousin, and on his having married Fatimah, the only offspring of that Pro
phet. They also affirm that he was expressly declared his successor; and that
those by whose intrigues he was deprived of his inheritance acted in direct
contradiction to the will of God as signified through the Prophet. The same
great temporal and spiritual power, which the adherents of AH conceive
should have immediately descended to him, ought, in their opinion, to have
been transmitted to his lineal descendants; and they consequently deem not
only the three first khalifahs,—Abubakr, Umar, and Usman,—but all the
khalffahs who took the title of “ Lord of the Faithful/'’ as illegal usurpers
of power. This belief is hostile to the whole fabric of the establishment of the
Sunnat, or traditions of the Sunni sect, as those who profess it deny all that
part of their traditions which rests upon the authority of the three first khali-
fahs, wdiose very names are abhorrent to them («.<?., the Shiahs). The Shiahs,
however, admit the legality of the Sunnat, or traditions, except where the
source from whence these are derived is contaminated by crime or dis
obedience of God. Their leading principle throughout is an adherence to the
relations and descendants of Muhammad, whom they deem to have partaken,
though in a lesser degree, of his sacred nature; and the title that Shiahs love
to be distinguished by, which is that of “the friends of the familv,”
strongly marks this feeling.
The Shiahs both disbelieve and condemn the dogmas of the four oreat
Imams, or saints, who may be termed the founders of the Sunni doctrine.
These learned doctors have, they affirm, propagated many erroneous and
impious doctrines, both in matters of faith and of practice; and they con
tend that the worldly policy, winch has led to the monstrous compound of
their contradictory tenets into one faith, must involve all those who adopt it
as a general belief in inexplicable difficulties. They argue in support of this
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