Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/236

Rh 6. Jáfir Sádiq.

7. Músa Kázim.

8. ʾAli Músa Razá.

9. Muhammad Taqí.

10. Muhammad Naqí.

11. Hasan ʾAskarí.

12. Abu Qásim (or Imám Mahdí).

The last Imám, Abu Qásim, is supposed by the Shíaʾhs to be still alive and concealed in some secret place; and that he is the same Mahdí, or director, concerning whom Muhammad prophesied that the world should not have an end until one of his own descendants should govern the Arabians, and whose coming in the last days is expected by all Muslims.

During the absence of the Imám, the Shíaʾhs appeal to the Mujtahids, or enlightened doctors of the law, for direction in all matters both temporal and spiritual. Since the accession of Ismaíl, the first of the Sufí dynasty, 1499, the Shíaʾh faith has been the national religion of Persia. The enmity which exists between Sunní and Shíaʾh Muhammadans is, perhaps, hardly equalled by the mutual animosity which too often exists between Romanists and Protestants.