[501] Jamaât signifies properly the _assembly_, or as we may say, the _church_ of Muselmans. This name is assumed by the Ashârian, who, as Sheheristâni contends (see Pococke, p. 211), were the sect whom the prophet indicated as selected for salvation.
[502] The Sonnites, just mentioned, are divided into four sects, the founders of which I shall mention, in the order as they occur, in the text of the Dabistán.
[503] The Sifátiah are one of the orthodox sects; they maintain the existence of the eternal attributes of God, and are on this account named _Sifátiah_, or “Attributists.”
[504] The _Mâtazalah_, or “Separatists,” were the followers of _Wasel Ebn Ata_. He was the disciple of Hassan al Baśri, of whom hereafter. When he separated from his master, the latter exclaimed: _Kad êttazal amma Wassel_, “Wassel separates from us:” hence is derived the name of his followers, _Mâtazalah_――(See Herbelot). They entirely rejected all eternal attributes of God, saying that eternity is the proper or formal attribute of his essence; that God knows by his _essence_, and not by his _knowledge_, and the same they affirmed of his other attributes, and hence this sect were also named _Mâtalah_, or _Mâtalites_, from their _divesting_ God of his attributes, in which they place the unity of God. They denied also all vision of God in paradise by the corporeal eye, and rejected all comparison or similitude applied to God. They established further, that the word of God is created; that God is necessarily holden to the observation of justice in his decrees, to the rewarding of good and the punishment of the wicked. Moreover they refuted the dogma of absolute predestination, maintaining that God was not the author of evil, but of good only, and that man was a free agent: on which account they are also called _Kadarian_, from _kadr_, “destiny.” They are subdivided into twenty sects, taxing each other with infidelity――(See _Sale’s Koran_, vol. I. Prelim. Discourse, pp. 211-212). The latter are to be particularly mentioned in these pages hereafter.
[505] There is a sect among the _Shiîtes_, or “the Dissidents,” called the _Gholats_, or “the Exaggerators.”
[506] متكلم _Matkallem_, according to Richardson’s Dictionary, Johnson’s edition, signifies “a speaker, orator, declaimer, advocate;” but, according to Pococke (_vide_ pp. 195, 198 1st edit.), _Al Motacalmín_ are those who investigate and dispute. _Al Kalem_ signifies “scholastic theology,” synonymous with _Al mantik_, “logic.” According to Eben al-Kossai, quoted by Pocock, _Al Kalem_ is a science by which disquisitions are made about the essence and attributes of God, and the condition of possible things, about creation and restitution, pursuant to the canons of Islamism. Others define it the science of legal principles which belong to the articles of faith, and are acquired by positive demonstrations. Further, conformably with the author of _Al Mawakef_, “stations, or rather theses of metaphysics,” who himself composed a system of this science, it is a doctrine by which one is rendered capable of confirming by demonstrations the articles of religion, and of solving doubts.