1 1
2 ( 200 )
3 CHAP. V.
4 EELIGION, SECTS, MUOLLAIIS, StPCRSTlTIONS,
5 THE Mahoinmedan religion is so well known, and all details re-
6 garding it are to be found in so many books, that it is quite .
7 unnecessary to mention any of its forms or tenets, except sucli as are
8 pfirticnlarlyobservcMl hv the nation which lam descrihin;:!;. llu" Af^diauns
9 are all of the sect called ^^oonnee, which acknowledo-es the tliree first
10 caliphs as tlie lawful successors of Mahomet, and admits their inter-
11 pretation of the law, and their traditions of the Prophet's precepts.
12 They are op^wsed to the Sheeahs, who reject the three first caliphs,
13 as rebels and usurpers of an office which belonged of right to Ali, the
14 nephew of Mabomet, and the fturtli of bit successQn. Him laat sec*
15 is confined to tlie Bonlana and tibeir deseendiiiCs s all tbs otiier Mm*
16 bometans being Soonneea. The diflhtence between them, though I
17 da not bdieve it is kifficient to afiect any aerious part of Iheb con-
18 dnct, is enpai^ to craate a bitter enmity between the two aecta. The
19 mdeamedpart of the A%haun nadon certalnlycoaaidecaSSieeahaamoffe
20 an infidd than a Hindoo, and have a greater aversion to the ^niana
21 for their reUgioa, than for all the mjuries the oomitry has auflbred at
22 their hands. The feelings of the A^hauna towards people, of a reli-
23 gion atfMy di^rent ikmi their own, ia however firee fiw^
24 as long as they are not at war. They hold, like all other Mussulman^
25 that no infidel will be saved, that it ia lawful, and even meritorious to
26 make war on unbelievers } and to convert them to the Mmwmlnlan
27 fiuth, or impose tribute on them ; «id, I imagine, to put them to
28 death, if they refiise both of those conditions. It is true, that Shauh
29 Zemaun, in his two conqueats o£ the Fkmjaub, allowed die Siks entire
30 li
31 Digitized by Google