head. While he was despatching, he roared like a bull; at which his guards came to the chamber-door, but were sent away by his wife, who told them the prophet was only agitated by the divine inspiration. This was done the very night before Mohammed died. The next morning the conspirators caused the following proclamation to be made, viz. I bear witness that Mohammed is the apostle of GOD, and that Aihala is a liar; and letters were immediately sent away to Mohammed, with an account of what had been done: but a messenger from heaven out-stripped them, and acquainted the prophet with the news, which he imparted to his companions but a little before his death; the letters themselves not arriving till Abu Becr was chosen Khalif. It is said that Mohammed, on this occasion, told those who attended him, that, before the day of judgment, thirty more impostors, besides Moseilama and al Aswad, should appear, and every one of them set up for a prophet. The whole time, from the beginning of al Aswad's rebellion to his death, was about four months d.

In the same eleventh year of the Hejra, but after the death of Mohammed, as seems most probable, Toleiha Ebn Khowailed set up for a prophet, and Sejâj Bint al Mondar for a prophetess.

Toleiha was of the tribe of Aswad, which adhered to him, together with great numbers of the tribes. of Ghatfân and Tay. Against them likewise was Khâled sent, who engaged and put them to flight, obliging Toleila with his shattered troops to retire into Syria, where he staid till the death of Abu Becr: then he went to Omar, and embraced Mohammedism in his presence, and having taken the oath of fidelity to him, returned to his own country and people.

Sejaj, surnamed Omm Sâder, was of the tribe of Tamim and the wife of Abu Cahdala, a soothsayer of

d Abulfed. ubi sup. ibid. the daughter of al Hareth.

e Ebn Shohnah and Elmacinus call her f Elmac. p. 16. al Beidâwi, in Kor. c. 5.

Yamâma. She was followed not only by those of her own tribe, but by several others. Thinking a prophet the most proper husband for her, she went to Moseilama, and married him: but after she had staid with him three days, she left him, and returned home, What became of her afterwards I do not find. Ebn Shohnah has given us part of the conversation which passed at the interview between those two pretenders to inspiration; but the same is a little too immodest to be translated.

In succeeding ages several impostors from time to time started up, most of whom quickly came to nothing; but some made a considerable figure, and propagated sects which continued long after their decease. I shall give a brief account of the most remarkable of them, in order of time.

In the reign of al Mohdi, the third Khalif of the race of al Abbâs, one Hakem Ebn Hâshem", originally of Merû, in Khorasan, who had been an under secretary to Abu Moslem, the governor of that province, and afterwards turned soldier, passed thence into Mawarâ❜lnahr, where he gave himself out for a prophet. He is generally named by the Arab writers al Mokanna, and sometimes al Borkaí, that is the Veiled because he used to cover his face with a veil, or a gilded mask, to conceal his deformity, having lost an eye in the wars, and being otherwise of a despicable appearance; though his followers pretended he did it for the same reason as Moses did, viz. lest the splendour of his countenance should dazzle the eyes of the beholders. He made a great many proselytes at Nakhshab and Kash, deluding the people with several juggling performances, which they swallowed for miracles, and particularly by causing the appearance of a moon to rise out of a well for many nights together; whence he was also called, in the Persian tongue

Ebn. Shohnah. V. Elmac. p. 16. Shohnah.

VOL. I.

r

h Or Ebn. Atâ, according to Ebn

Sâzendeh mah, or the Moon-maker. This impious impostor, not content with being reputed a prophet, arrogated divine honours to himself, pretending that the deity resided in his person and the doctrine whereon he built this, was the same with that of the Gholaïtes above-mentioned, who affirmed a transmigration or successive manifestation of the divinity through and in certain prophets and holy men, from Adam to these latter days, (of which opinion was also Abu Moslem himself;) but the particular doctrine of al Mokanna was, that the person in whom the deity had last resided, was the aforesaid Abu Moslem, and that the same had, since his death, passed into himself. The faction of al Mokanna, who had made himself master of several fortified places in the neighbourhood of the cities above-mentioned, growing daily more and more powerful, the Khalif was at length obliged to send an army to reduce him; at the approach whereof al Mokanna retired into one of his strongest fortresses which he had well provided for a siege, and sent his emissaries abroad to persuade people that he raised the dead to life, and knew future events. But being straitly besieged by the Khalif's forces, when he found there was no possibility for him to escape, he gave poison in wine to his whole family, and all that were with him in the castle, and when they were dead, he burnt their bodies, together with their clothes, and all the provisions and cattle: and then, to prevent his own body's being found, he threw himself into the flames, or, as others say, into a tub of aqua-fortis, or some other preparation, which consumed every part of him, except only his hair; so that when the besiegers entered the place, they found no creature in it, save one of al Mokanna's concubines, who, suspecting his design, had hid herself, and discovered the whole matter. This contrivance, however, failed not

iThis explains a doubt of Mr. Bayle concerning a passage of Elmacinus, as translated by Erpenius, and corrected by Bespier. V. Bayle, Dict. Hist. Art. Abumuslimus, vers la fin, & Rem. B.

to produce the effect which the impostor designed among the remaining part of his followers; for he had promised them that his soul should transmigrate into the form of a grey-headed man, riding on a greyish beast, and that after so many years he would return to them, and give them the earth for their possession: the expectation of which promise kept the sect in being for several ages after*, under the name of Mobeyyidites, or, as the Persians call them, Sefid jâmehghiân, i. e. The clothed in white, because they wore their garments of that colour, in opposition, as is supposed, to the Khalifs of the family of Abbâs, whose banners and habits were black. The historians place the death of al Mokanna in the 162d or 163d year of the Hejra'.

In the year of the Hejra 201, Bâbec, surnamed al Khorremi, and Khorremdîn, either because he was of a certain district near Ardebîl, in Adherbijân called Khorrem, or because he instituted a merry religion, which is the signification of the word in Persian, began to take on him the title of a prophet. I do not find what doctrine he taught, but it is said, he professed none of the religions then known in Asia. He gained a great number of devotees in Adherbijân, and the Persian Irâk, and grew powerful enough to wage war with the Khalîf al Mámûn, whose troops he often beat, killing several of his generals, and one of them with his own hand; and by these victories he became so formidable, that al Mótasem, the successor of al Mámûn, was obliged to employ the forces of the whole empire against him. The general sent to reduce Bâbec was Afshîd, who having overthrown him in battle, took his castles one after another with invincible patience, notwithstanding the rebels gave him great annoyance, and at last shut up the impostor

k They were a sect in the days of Abu'lfaragius, who lived above five hundred years after this extraordinary event; and may, for aught I know, be so still. Ex Abu'lfarag. Hist. Dyn. p. 226. Lobb. al Tawarikh, Ebn Shohnah, al Tabari, & Khondamir. V, D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient. Art. Hakem Ben Haschem.

in his principal fortress; which being taken, Bâbec found means to escape thence in disguise, with some of his family and principal followers; but taking a refuge in the territories of the Greeks, was betrayed in the following manner. Sahel, an Armenian officer, happening to know Bâbec, enticed him, by offers of services and respect, into his power, and treated him as a mighty prince, till, when he sat down to eat, Sahel clapt himself down by him; at which Bâbec being surprised, asked how he dared to take that liberty unasked? It is true, great king, replied Sahel, I have committed a fault; for who am I, that I should sit at your majesty's table? And immediately sending for a smith, he made use of this bitter sarcasm, Stretch forth your legs, great king, that this man may put fetters on them. After this Sahel sent him to Afshîd; though he had offered a large sum for his liberty, having first served him in his own kind, by causing his mother, sister, and wife, to be ravished before his face; for so Bâbec used to treat his prisoners. Afshîd, having the arch-rebel in his power, conducted him to al Mótasem, by whose order he was put to an ignominious and cruel death.

This man had maintained his ground against the power of the Khalifs for twenty years, and had cruelly put to death above two hundred and fifty thousand people; it being his custom never to spare man, woman, or child, either of the Mohammedans or their allies. The sectaries of Bâbec which remained after his death, seem to have been entirely dispersed, there being little or no mention made of them by historians.

About the year 235, one Mahmûd Ebn Faraj pretended to be Moses resuscitated, and played his part so well that several people believed on him, and attended him when he was brought before the Khalif al Motawakkel. That prince, having been an ear witness of his extravagant discourses, condemned him to

m Ex Abu'lfarag. p. 252, &c. Elmacin. p. 141, &c. & Khondamir. V. D'Herbel. Art. Babec.