T hus early divided on a fubjed which involved at once the interefts
of individuals, and the prejudices of fuperftition, it Was not to be ex-
peded that the followers of Mohammed ftiould long continue to obferve
an uniformity of pradice or of dodrine.— The firft controverfies be^an,
o f courfe, between the retainers of A lee and-their opponents. When
the contending parties proceeded openly to anathematize each other, the
mutual change of heterodoxy was not confined merely to the appointment
of an Imam, but foon advanced to comprehend the expofitions of the
L aw in other matters both o f fpiritual and temporal concern. Each
fadion reproached the other with difbelieving, perverting or mifunder-
ftanding, the facred text of the Koran.— Notwithftanding the pious
attempt of the K hà lif O thman to reftore a literal uniformity in the
feveral copies of this work, (as already noticed,) ftil], from the nature o f
the compofition, as well as from the charader in which it was pre-
ferved, there was abundance of room in many places for a variety of
conftrudions, independant of any particular intereft which might miflead
the underftanding, or at leaft the inclinations, of mankind.— Its contents
are diftinguiihed under two heads, the or perfpicuous,
and the or enigmatical, the latter o f which each commentator
might explain in the way moft agreeable to himfelf, or beft
coinciding with the tenets of his particular fe d— T h e whole was, moreover,
committed to writing in the Koreijh charader, the Arabic, into
which it was afterwards tranfcribed, being of later invention ; and as this
laft was deftitute of vowels, the fenfe of courfe depended much on the
pronunciation of the Mokris, or readers, whence, upon the ihtrodudion
o f the vocal points, a variation took place in the copies, according to the
manner of the reader upon whofe authority thefe were inferted.
T he traditions alfo opened a copious field for difputation. No authentic
colledions o f them having been compiled until all or moft of
the Prophet’s companions were dead, they exifted, for above a century,
merely in the memories of the Arabians. Thoufands were of courfe promulgated
by their leaders as the occafion or the paffion of the moment
happened
-happened to didate : they fwelled into a number exceeding all poffibility of
belief* : every colledor affirmed the right of ereding to himfelf a ftandard
of feledion: none would or could believe in all; and fome boldly difre-
garded or rejeded them in toto, as affording no authentick rules for faith
or condud.
F rom' thefe circumftances attending their authorities, the difputants
found an ample field on which to exercife their polemical talents.— This
literary warfare was indeed, for Tome time, confined to the original
caufes of their difagreement; and, excepting thofe, they touched merely
on points of a fpeculative defcription.— T his , however, opened the way to
the various heterodoxies of the Icholaftic divines. Abftraded fubtleties and
metaphyfical diftindions were, by degrees, fubftituted for the precepts of
the L aw ; and the controverfial fadions became divided and fubdivided
into parties innumerable.'
I t is proper, however, to remark, that a difference of tenets did not
enter into judicial decifions until upwards of a century after the death
o f A lee, when it was occafioned by the defedion of H aneefa from
the party of the Shiyas, of which more ftiall be faid when we come to
fpeak of that dodor.
In ftating thus much, we have endeavoured to give a fummary view
of the firft great fchifms in IJIamifm; but we have only ventured to Iketch
an outline o f the pidure, without any reference to collateral events, the
recital of which is more properly the province of the hiftorian.— Having
difmiffed this topic, we proceed to give fome account of thofe eminent
perfons whofe difcuflions occupy a confiderable portion of this work, and
whofe dodrines and opinions are generally admitted as of binding authority
at the prefent day.
* A bi D aood has left a feledtion of 40,000 out o f500,000 j and Ibn Hanbal gives us, in
his Moftuimd, 37,000 otit of 750,000 Of thofe real or pretended precepts of the Prophet.
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