III. The Ghoollat (Ultra»), so named from the

extravagance of iheir doctrines, which, passing all bounds of common sense, were held in equal abomi- nation by the other Sheahs and by the Soonees. This sect is said to have existed as early as the time of All himself, who is related to have burnt some of them on account of their impious and extrav^ant
of the Prophet. They obtained poBEeasion of the khali&t k.D. ^50, and retained it through aa heceditary luccegiiun of princes fur 500 yetua. Ai-M.msooi, the iccond khalit' of thii (lyaaity, traasfcired the royal tesideiice from Damascii), where th« OmiuiadHB had dwelt, to Bagdad, which he ToUDded on tho banks of the Tigris. This city, also named the City of TiMce. the Vale of Peace, the Bouse of Peace, baa acqiured, bejnnd what any other town can claim, a degree of [omaotio - ' ■ "y by means of the iuimitatile Thomund Bad On« Svichis tbu enaoblingpower of genius!
I
30 SECRET SOCIETIES.
opinions. They held, as we are told, that there was but one imam, and they ascribed the qualities of flivinity to Ali. Some maintained that there were two natures (the divine and the human) in him, others that the last alone was his. Some a^n said that this perfect nature of Ali passed by transmigration through his descendants, and would continue so to do till the end of all thing;s; others that the trans- mission stopped with Moliammed Bakir, the son of Zein-al-Aliedeen, who still abode on earth, but un- seen, like Khizer, the Guardian of the Well of Life, according to the beautifid eastern legend*. Others, still more bold, denied the transmission, and asserted that the divine Ali sat enthroned in the clouds, where the thunder was the voice and the lightning- the scourge wherewith he terrified and chastised the wicked. This sect presents the first (though a very early) instance of the introduction into Islam of that mysticism which appears to have had its original
■ Kliiier, by sdhib auppoied, but perhaps erroneously, to be the prophet Hias, ia legacdecl by the Al ubammediiai la the light of a beneficent geaius. He is the giver of yuuth tu the animal and the vegetable world. He ia dad in gannenti of the Digit biilliant green, and he staudi as keeper of the Well aC Life in the Land of Darkness. Accoiding to the romancea of the liost, Jskander, that in, Alexander the Great, lesulvifd to march into the We9t, to the Land oE Da'kneaB, that he might drink ol the water of immortality. During s«ien entire days he and his followers journeyed through dark and dismal deserts. At leogth Ihey fninll; discerned in the dis- tance the green lightwbichshune from the raiment of Khiier. As they advanced it became more and more resplendeut, like the brightest and purest emeralds. Ai the monarch ap- proached, Khiner dipped a cup in the verdant Water of Lite, ' reacheil it to him ; but the impatient^e of Iskander wna ao I that be gpilf the contents of the cup, and the Uvnf fate not permit the guardian of the fount to fill it for him •gain. _ The mora! of this tale is evident. Its h
' I the jauiney of the Macedonian to the temple
THE ASSASSINS,
31 n
birtli-place Jn the dreamy groves of India, As a political party the Ghoollat never seem to have been formidable,