We cannot in this place enlarge upon the different schools founded by the ;\rotazilitts, nor upon their sub- seijuent fate (see for details, Steiner, Mntazilitm ; Weil, Gesc/i. (I. Islam. Vulker, and his Gesch. d. KhaUfai). The vast cyclopsedic developmeut.however, which their doc- trines begot, and which resulted in the encyclopiedic labors called "The Treatises of the Sincere Brethren and True Friends," will be considered in the article SiN- CEUn Bhetiiken (q. v.).
2. We now come to the second great heretical group, the Sefatians, or attril)iitionists, who held a precisely contrary view to that of the Mot.izilitcs. With them God's attributes, whether essential or operative, or what they in more recent times have called declarative or historical, i. e. used in liistorical narration (eyes, face, hand), antliropomorphisms, in fact, were considered eternal. But here, again, lay the germs for more dis- sensions and more sects in tlieir own midst. Some, tak-
I ing this notion of God's attributes in a strictly literal sense, assumed a likeness between God and created things ; others gave it a more allegorical interpreta-
t tion, without, however, entering hito any particidars beyond the reiterated doctrine that God had no com-
I panion or similitude. («) The different sects into which they split were, first, the Asharians, so called from Abul Hasan al-Ashari, who, at first a Motazilite, disa- greed with his masters on the point of (iod's being bound to do always that which is best. He became the founder of a new school, which held (1) that God's at- tributes are to be held distinct from his essence, and that any literal understanding of the words that stand for God's limbs in the Koran is reprehensible. ("2) That predestination must be taken in its most literal meaning, i. e. that God preordains everything. The opinions on this point of man's free will are, however, much divided, as indeed to combine a predestination which ordains every act with man's free choice is not easy; and the old authors hold that it is well not to inquire too minutely into these things, lest all jirecepts, both positive and negative, be argued away. The mid- dle path, adopted by the greater number of the doctors, is expressed in this formula : There is neither compul- sion nor free liberty, but the way lies between the two; the power and will being both created by God, though the merit or guilt be imputed to man. Itegarding mor- tal sin, it was held by this sect that if a believer die guilty of it without repentance, he will not, for all that, always remain a denizen of hell. God will either par- don him, or the Prophet will intercede on his behalf, as he says in the Koran : " My intercession shall be em- ployed for those among my people who shall have been guilty of grievous crimes;" and further, that he in whose heart there is faith but of the weight of an ant shall be delivered from hell-fire, (b) From tliis more philosophical opinion, however, departed a number of other Sefatian sects, who, taking the Koranic words more literally, transformed God's attributes into grossly corporeal things, like the Mosshahehites, or assimilators, who conceived God to be a figure composed of limbs like those of created beings, either of a bodily or spirit- ual nature, capable of local motion, ascent or descent, etc. The notions of some actually went so far as to declare God to be " hollow from the crown of the head to the breast, and solid from the breast downward ; he also had black curled hair." (e) Another subdivision of this sect were the Jaharians, who deny to man all free agency, and make all his deeds dependent on God. Their name indicates their religious tendency suffi- ciently, meaning " Necessitarians."
HI. The third principal division of "heretical sects" is formed by the Kharerjites, or " rebels" from the law- ful prince — i. e. ^Vli — the first of whom were the 12,000 men who fell away from him after having fought under him at the battle of Seffein, taking offence at his sub- mitting the decision of his right to the caliphate (.against Moawiyyah) to arbitration. Their "heresy" consisted, first, in their holding that any man might be called to the Imamat though he did not belong to the Koreish, nor was even a freeman, provided he was a just and pious man. and fit in every other respect. It also fol- lowed that an unrighteous imam might be deposed, or even put to death; and further, that there was no ab- solute necessity for any imam in the world.
IV. The fourth jjrincipal sect arc the ShUli.t. or sec- taries, so called by the .Sunnites, or orthodox ^Moslems, because of their heretical tendencies. The Shiitos, as they are now generjilly called, were origiuatcd by Ali Ibn Abi Talob, and prefer to call themselves Al-Adeliat, .Sect of the Just Ones, or familiarly, "Followers of Ali," because they believe that the Imamat, or supremo rule, both spiritual and temiioral, over all Mohammedans was originally vested in him whom they acknowledge as their founder, and that the Imamat now of right be- longs to his descendants. In the opinion of the Shiites, the vicarship of the Prophet was not to be, like an
MOHAMMEDAN SECTS
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MOHAI^OIEDAN SECTS
earthly kingdom, the mere prize of craft or of valor. It was the inalienable heritage of the sacred descendants of the Prophet himself. They therefore consider the caliphs Abu Bekr, Omar, and Othman, the first three incumbents of the caliphate after Mohammed, unright- eous pretenders and usurpers of the sovereign power, which properly ought to have gone to Ali direct from the Prophet. For the same reason the Shiites abom- inate the memory of the Ommayad caliph who executed Hossein, a son of Ali, and still mourn his death at its anniversar}-. (This most pathetic story is perhaps gen- erally remembered from the pages of Gibbon ; it should be read in its full detail in those of Ockley and Price.) The Shiites likewise reject the Abbasside caliphs, not- withstanding their descent from jNIohammed, because they did not belong to All's line. See Kaliph.