system of exegesis. To an orthodox Muslim the Book and the
Sunnat, God's word direct and God's word through the mind of the Prophet,
are the foundation and sum of Islam, a fact not always taken into account
by modern panegyrists of the system.

{73}

* * * * *

CHAPTER III.

THE SECTS OF ISLAM.

It is a commonly received but nevertheless an erroneous opinion, that the
Muhammadan religion is one remarkable for the absence of dogma and the
unanimity of its professors. In this chapter I propose to show how the
great sects differ in some very important principles of the faith, and
their consequent divergence in practice. There is much that is common
ground to all, and of that some account was given in the first chapter on
the "Foundations of Islam."

It was there shown that all Muslim sects are not agreed as to the essential
foundations of the Faith. The Sunnis recognise four foundations, the
Wahhabis two; whilst the Shia'hs reject altogether the Traditions held
sacred by both Sunni and Wahhabi. The next chapter will contain a full
account of the doctrines held by the Sunnis, and so no account of this, the
orthodox sect, is given in this chapter.

The first breach in Islam arose out of a civil war. The story has been so
often told that it need not be reproduced here at any length. 'Ali, the
son-in-law of Muhammad, was the fourth Khalif of Islam. He is described as
"the last and worthiest of the primitive Musalmans who imbibed his
religious enthusiasm from companionship with the Prophet himself, and who
followed to the last the simplicity of his character." He was a man
calculated by his earnest devotion to the Prophet and his own natural
graces to win, as he has done, the admiration of succeeding generations. A
strong opposition, however, arose, and 'Ali was assassinated in a mosque at
Kufa. It is not easy, amid the conflicting statements of historians of the
rival sects, to arrive at the truth in all the details of the events which
happened then; {74} but the generally received opinion is, that after the
assassination of 'Ali, Hasan, his son, renounced his claim to the Khalifate
in favour of his father's rival, Muavia. Hasan was ultimately poisoned by
his wife, who, it is said, was instigated by Muavia to do the deed, in
order to leave the coast clear for his son Yezid. The most tragic event has
yet to come. Yezid, who succeeded his father, was a very licentious and
irreligious man