The .31urjit. s, Hhsew i..c regarded as a sect of the Sifatites. are sometimes regarded as the rep resentatives of the whole sect, for their doctrines were widespread. and they counted among them such men as Said dm dubair. The sect arose in Syria or North Ambia. It is worthy of note that some of the Murjites hold views ap proaching closely not only to those of the Muta zilites and daharians. hut even, with reference to the imam, to those of the Kharijites, Aside from the sects which owed their rise to political or theological I litiorencc,;. there were others in Islam which sprang from mysticism and asceticism. It. is true that the secluded life of the monastery or hermitage was forbidden to Mohammedans by the Koran; nevertheless as early as the first and second centuries of the Ilejira a sect of mystics had come into existence the distinguishing external mark of whom was a garment of coarse wool (..pif). such as had been worn by the founder of the sect, Abu Said Dm Abi al-Khair Shi : they came therefore to be known as Suns. Their main idea was that to attain to a nearer friendship with God there was neeessary a certain course of life which, without demanding entire withdrawal from the world. insisted that religions la Ws he scrupu lously observed. and that. God being hived above all else, everything worldly be despised. :Merx has shown that this Oriental mysticism goes back finally to Palestine and Nen-Platonic philosophy, having come to the Mohammedans through the writings of S.trian philosophers. The main stronghold of the sect. however, was, like that of so many others, in Persia, where Sutiism made many converts from among the heterodox, and also gradually altered its original character. At first the Sufi had aimed by ascetic practices and religious contemplation to enter into a state of ecstasy in which he might attain to a real knowledge of the deity; but later Suliistu became in certain regards a real pantheism. and its ad herents in the ecstatic state felt themselves united with, and a part of. the Godhead. Sufi isin had its organization like other religious orders; the religious meetings were called dhikrs: novices ',lurid) were held to regular and exact ing, ditties, as well as to strict emnpliance with the commands of the sheikh.
A later development (twelfth and thirteenth centuries) of mysticism is represented by the various: orders of DEnvis ES—Kinliriyynh. 1:i fitiuyah, Maillairigyah. with its own garb and symbols, rule, of faith and praetice as determined by its founder. Their flhil,Ts take place (Mee or oftener 'very week in their reli gions houses (lokkillyol(). There are howling. whirling. and doming and in some orders the members become so insensible to phys ical sensation while in the state of ecstasy t hat t hey swallow glass or glowing 'oils. and often wound themselves severely in other ways. :Most dervishes follow a trick, and do not withdraw from the ?itrairs of life. There are also some no places and live entirely from a see The last of the Shiite religions is known as Ilvinsw lit the earlier Indf of the nineteenth century Mirza Ali Mohammed al ltab (gate) Made propaganda for a mixture of Salle and eabalistic doctrines which was soon aecepti.d by a large following. They even threat ened the Persian Government nt late time. and
had to be put down by force arms.
Such were the numerous sects against which orthodox Mohammedanism was forced to contend; but, although Shiite doctrines inure than once threatened to gain the ascendency, Sunnism re mained the victor in the end. The four sects into which the Sunnites are divided—the lqo1ih-ite.s, llanilites, and Shaii'iles—dilicr only in regard to a few points of minor importance connected with religious observances and civil and religious jurisprudence. These sects have remained almost without change since their foundation under the Abbasside dynasty. Never theless, certain innovations had crept into the life of orthodox Mohammedans, principally an exaggeration of the reverence paid to the numerous saints, which amounted often to actual worship. It was against such abuses. as well as against all forms of luxury in every-day life, tobacco-smoking. etc., that Ahd al-Vi ahhalt and his followers (the WAnAnts) arose in the latter half of the eighteenth century. From Nejd they carried on an iconoclastic warfare throughout the country; they conquered Mecca and Medina, and in destroying the ninny sanctu aries there did not even spare the grave of Mo hammed. Previous to this they had taken Kerhela, a holy city of the Shiites in Mesopo tamia. They were defeated finally by Egyptian troops, and driven back into the interior of the peninsula, and the Wahabis lost their im portance. They still exist, however, as a sect.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Consult : Shahrastani, Book of Bibliography. Consult : Shahrastani, Book of Sects, translated into German by liaarbriicker (Halle, 1850) ; Steiner. Die .11u'la.-.41iten (Leip zig, 1865) ; Brtinnow, Die Charidischten outer den erstcn Omaymelcm ( Leyden, 1884) ; Kremer, Gesehiehte der Ito-I-se/a-mien [(leen des Islam (Leipzig, 1868) ; Spitta, Zur Gcschiehte Abe 'Masan el As`uri's (ib., 1876) : Sehmolders, Essai sur les philosophiqucs chez. les Arabes (Paris, Krehl, Britrdge zur Charaktcristik der Lehre runt Glauben int Islam, (Leipzig, 1877) ; Tholuck, Su /ism es site Theosophia Persaruin Panthcistica (11erlin, 1821) : id., Bliith(Wrthinaung aus der morgen landisehen llystik (ib., 1825) ; Slerx, idec nod Grundlinicn einer allgemeinen Gem-1rie/11e der .11 yst 11: (italic, 1893) ; Goldziher. .1/011antinc thinische Studien (ib., 1889-90) ; id., Die Za hiriten (Leipzig, 1S84) : Dc Goeje, .1/(:moire sur les Cul-mollies de Bahrain et les Pr:amides (Leyden, 1886) Sylvestre de Saey, Expos(' dr le religion des Dru.;,es ( Paris, 1828) ; Goldziher, Bcitriige zur Littereturgeschiehte der Schi'a und der snanitischcn Polcmik (Vienna, 1874) ; Guy aid, Pragments relatifs it is doctrine des Is mellis (Paris, 1874) ; Burckhardt, _Votes on the Bedouins and (London, 1820) : Go bineau, Les religions rt les philosophies de r.l.qie eentrale (Paris. 1865) ; G. Ilrowne, !'ear :1 mow/ the Persia»s (London, 1893) ; id., .t Yew History of the limb (Cambridp'e. 18931 ; Chantepie de la Saussaye. 1.chrbuch der Mcli gionsersehichte, vol. i. Freiburg, 1887) : De Boer, Geschiehte der Philosophic in) Islam (Stuttgart, 1901) ; Dussaud. Thstoire des loseiris (Paris, 1900) ; Macdonald, Development of Muslin) Theology, Jurisprudenee, and Constitutimull Theory (New York. 1893).