Page 111 - Gulf Precis (VI)_Neat

Chapter III-A. 89
(iv)._The sect of Ismailiana. Trial and conviction of some of tlieir members at
Damascus, 1903.
213. Within the Turkish Dominions the Ismailiang arc to ho found chiefly
in Syria. A few of them are to ho
Secret E, March 19J J. No*. 73-7*.
found in the vicinity of Baghdad and
Mosul. They aro of peculiar interest to us, inasmuch as they owe spiritual
allcgianoo to His Highness Aghn Khan, K.C.I.E. Fourteen of them were tried
at Damascus in 1903 on the following charges: —
1. The abandonment of Islam and n disavowal of its fcenots as laid down in the Koran and
the Hadcelh.
2. The non-recognition of tho Sultan as Caliph, the only person who in their eyes lias
a valid claim to that titlo being a certain "Sultan Mohaiucd Shah/' who is residing in
Bombay and who claims to be a lineal descendant from Fatima, the daughter of the prophet
and wife of Ali. This personage is held by them to bo an absolute and final judge in all
civil and religious matters, being even authorized by God to annul and repudiate tho existing
toxt of tho Koran and to promulgate now commandments whenever be thinks fit.
3. Tho levying of taxes amongst the members of their community, tho proceeds of whioh
are dispatched from time to time to the said Sultan Mohamed Shah in Bombay.
4. Tho belief in tho doctrine rigidly inculcated that injury done to non-believers, all
those who aro not Ismailich is not only permissible but praiseworthy, and 60 many crimes have
been oommitted by tho prisoners and their co-religionists as tho immediate outcome of such
teaching.
5. Their cstimalion of Mohamed Shah is far abovo the Sultan; for whereas the latter
is only Sovereign of this country and a mero terrestrial monarch, the former is an omnipotent
and omnipresent being whose "material envelope " only is to be found in Bombay, whereas
his "divine impalpable essence " pervades the whole universe.
214. The accused were convicted of treason and murder under the Otto­
man Penal Code, their treason consisting in their rejection of the Sultan’s
Caliphate and their alleged murderous acts of violence being ascribed to their
religious fanaticism (Letter from the Acting Consul Monahan, Damascus, to
Sir N. O’Couor, dated 7th October 1903)
215. The following memorandum by Consul Alvarez on the sect of
Ismailities will be read with interest :—
Memorandum by Consul Alvabbe.
Tho Iemailians or Ismailities (in Arabic Ismailia), otherwise known ns Bathcnia, those
who admit tho authority of the internal, hidden, or allegorical sense of the Koran and deny
that of the apparent and literal meaning of the text, constitute one of the Mahomedan
sects generally considered " Shiah/' or heretical, in opposition to the Sunnite or orthodox
Moslems.
They are to be found chiefly in Syria (although thcro are also a few in tho vicinity of
Baghdad and Mosul), in the districts and villages of Sclamia, at Massyad, and three or four
villages in its immediate vicinity, in the Sandjak of Hama, Killis on the borders of the
Provinces of Haleb and Hama, south of Schogher, on the Orontes, and at Keftun, Kadmos,
Kohf, Aleyka, and Mcrkab, in the Jebel lvulbie, in the Sandjak of Latakia.
There may also be a few in Homs, Hama, and Tripoli, although this cannot be asserted
with any certainty, as, owing to the disfavour, if not persecution, they meet with from Mus­
sulman authorities they carefully conceal their religious opinions and outwardly conform to the
precepts of Islam.
Massyad is apparently the chief 6cat of the sect from of old, the castle there having
been iu its possession from 1107, when tho followers of tho Ismailian day, Ha?san-ben-
Sabbah seized it. After the downfall of tho Hnschaschyn, better known in Europe as the
assassins, a branch of the sect, a number of Ismailitios appear to have been allowed to
remain.in their native villages by the Sultan of Egypt, Malek-cd-Daher.
In 1807 they were attacked in a most treacherous manner by a branch of the Ansarie
(with which sect they have always been at enmity on account of religious differences), but
who had been received with open arms by their Chief, Mustapha Loghcby-ben-Suleyraan,
and most hospitably treated for a period of three months ; 300 of the sect perished, and those
families which succeeded in making good their escape by the sacrifice of all their property fled
to Hama, Homs, and Tripoli. After sacking the town the Ansarie, who had received rein­
forcements, 8ucccs>f nlly attacked threo other Ismailian castles in the mountains. They were
in their turn attacked, routed, and driyon out in the same year by Jusuf Pasha, Vali of
Damascus, at the head of an array of 4,000 or 5,000 men, but the Pasha kept the ill-gotten
booty of the Ansarie for himself.
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