The Shiites have special observances, ceremonies, and rites, as well as particular dogmas of their own. They believe in metempsychosis and the descent of God upon his creatures, inasmuch as he, omnipresent, sometimes appears iii some individual person, such as their imams. They are subdivided into five sects, to one of which, that of Haidar, the Persians belong — the present dynasty of Persia deriving its descent from Hai- dar. Their five subdivisions they compare to five trees, with seventy branches: for their minor divisions of opinions, on matters of comparatively unimportant points of dogma, are endless. The Shiites and Smmites are, then, represented respectivelj' by the two great Moham- medan powers, the former being upheld by the Persian dynasty, the latter by the Ottomans. This division be- tween Turk and Persian on doctrine dates chiefly from the calipliate of IMothi Lilla, the Abbasside, in 363 of the Hegira, when political dissensions, which ended in the destruction of Bagdad and the loss of the caliphate of the jMoslems, assumed the character of a religious war. But it may be stated here also that the Shiites are by no means confined to Persia. They have indeed, in greater or lesser numbers, been dispersed throughout all the countries of the empire of the Mussulmans. They have possessed several kingdoms both in Asia and Africa. They are now dominant, outside of Persia, in half the territory' ruled over by the princes of the Uzbecks, and situated beyond the river Gihon; and there are some Mohammedan kings of the Indies who make profession of the Shiite faith. Jloharamed's life, as represented by Shiite tradition, has been furnished in an English dress bj' the Rev. James L. Merrick (Bost. 1850).
V. It remains now only to mention a few of the more prominent of the mau}^ pseudo-prophets who have arisen in the bosom of Islam, drawing a certain number of ad- herents around them, and, as it would appear to us " out- siders," threatening by this decentralization the verj' life of Mohammedanism, but by the Moslems them- selves alleged as a sign of the purity of their creed. Christianity, they say, an improvement on Judaism, can boast of more sects than Judaism ; Islam, an im- provement on Christianitj', can boast of more sects than Christianity.
The pseudo-prophets who have arisen have invaria- bly either declared themselves the great Prophet's legal successors, or, utterly renouncing his doctrines, have sought to build up on the ruins of Islam. The first and most prominent among these was Mosaylima (i. e. little IMoslem), who was a rival of the Prophet in his life- time. Mosaylima belonged to the clan Dul, a division of the tribe of the Bani Hanifah, of Yamama in Nejed. The traditions about his life and age appear to be ex- tremely legendary. It is, however, tolerably clear that he had risen to a certain eminence in his tribe as a relig- ious teacher before IMohammed assumed his prophetical office. The name he was known by among his friends was Rahman, the Benignant or INIerciful ; a term which Mohammed adopted as a designation of God himself. This word, which is Aramaic, was a common divine epi- thet among the Jews, from whom Mohammed took it,
together with a vast bulk of dogmas and ceremonies and legends. If, however, as is supposed by some, ]\Io- saylima assumed that name in the meaning of Messiah, Saviour, it would prove that he had anticipated Mo- hammed in the apostleship, which is commonly denied. It was in the ninth year of the Hegira that, at the head of an embassy sent by his tribe, he appeared before Mo- hammed, in order to settle certain points of dispute. The traditions are very contradictory on the circum- stance whether or not Mosaylima was then already the recognised spiritual leader of his tribe. When they were introduced to Mohammed in the mosque, they greeted him with the orthodox salutation of Moslems, "Salam alayk" (Peace upon thee), and, after a brief parley, recited the confession of faith. Shortly after this event, Mosaylima openly professed himself "to be a prophet, like Mohammed. The latter sent a messenger to him, as soon as he heard of this, to request him to re- iterate publicly his profession of Islam. Mosaylima's answer was a request that INIohammed should share his power with him. "From Mosaylima, the apostle of God," he wrote, according to Abulfeda, " to Mohammed, the apostle of God. Now let the earth be half mine, and half thine." Mohammed speedily replied : " From Mohammed, the apostle of God, to MosayUma, the liar. The earth is God's : he giveth the same for inheritance unto such of his servants as he pleases, and the happy issue shall attend those who fear him." Yet notwith- standing these testimonies, of probably late dates, it seems, on the other hand, quite certain that Mohammed made very great concessions to his rival — concessions that point to his having secretly nominated IMosaylima his successor, and that he bj' this means bought Jlosay- lima's open allegiance during his lifetime. It was not a question of dogmas, though they each had special revelations, but a question of supremacy, which was thus settled amicably. "jMohammed," Mosaylima said, •'is appointed by God to settle the principal points of faith, and I to supplement them." He further had a revelation, in accordance with Mohammed's : " We have sent to every nation its own prophet," to the ef- fect: "AVe have given unto thee [Mosaylima] a num- ber of people ; keep them to thyself, and advance. But be cautious, and desire not too much ; and do not enter into rival fights." When Mohammed was at the point of death, he desired to write his will. Whatever he may have wished to ordain is uncertain ; it is well known, at all events, that his friends did not obey his order, and refused to furnish him with writing mate- rials, very probably because they did not like to be bound by his last injunctions. Sprenger supposes that he wished formally to appoint Mosaylima his successor, and that it was just this which his surrounding rela- tions feared. Mosaylima then openly declared against Islam, and many parodies of the Koran sprang up in the Nejed, ascribed to him. In the eleventh year of the Hegira it at last came to an open breach between the two rival powers. Abu Bekr, the caliph, sent Khalid, "the Sword of the Faith," with a number of clioice troops, to compel Mosaylima to submission. Mosaylima awaited the enemy at Rowdah, a village in the Wadi Hanifah. So formidable indeed was Mosaylima's force that Khalid is said to have hesitated for a whole day and night before he undertook an assault unanimously disapproved of by his council. On the second morning, however, he advanced, and, in a battle which lasted un- til the evening, contrived, with fearful losses of his own, to gain the victory. Mosajdima fell by the hands of a negro slave, and his head was cut off by the conqueror, and placed at the head of a spear, to convince both friends and foes of his death. Khalid then advanced to the slain prophet's birthplace, in order to slay all its inhabitants. They, however, by a clever stratagem, contrived to conclude an honorable peace, and embraced Islam. The Mosayliman "heresy" was thus stamped out, and only a few scattered remnants of the new faith contrived to escape to Hasa and Basrah, where they