A literary history of Persia

130 THE SASANIAN PERIODFor myself, I believe that Gobineau isright in assertingthat this doctrine of the Divine Right of the House of Sasan hashad an immense influence on all subsequent PersianInfluence of this , n i_ tdoctrine in later history,more especially on the tenacity withwhich the Persians have clung to the doctrine ofthe Shi'a or sect of 'Ali. To them the idea of electingaCaliph, or spiritual successor to the Prophet, natural enoughto the democratic Arabs, could not appear otherwise thanrevolting and 'unnatural, and in the case of Umar, the secondorthodox Caliph, there was also an element of personal hatredagainst the destroyer of the Persian Empire, which, thoughdisguised under a is religious garb, nevertheless unmistakable.Husayn, on the other hand, the younger son of the Prophet'sdaughter Fatima, and of his cousin 'All, was believed by themto have married Shahr-banu, the daughter ofdaughter'" Ribi Yazdigird III, the last Sasanian king and hence;Shahr-banu." the , . .T , c . , ni ,.. cremaining Imams or both great Shrite factions(the " Sect of the Twelve " now prevalent in Persia, and the"Sect of the Seven," or Isma'ilis) represent not only theProphetic but the Kingly right and virtue, being at the sametime descended from the Prophet Muhammad and from theHouse of Sasan. Hence the political doctrine to whichGobineau (Re!,et philos. dans r Asie Centrale, p. 275) alludes inthe following passage:" C'est un point de doctrine politique inconteste en Perse que lesAlides seuls ont le droit a porter legitimement la couronne, et celaen leur double qualite d'heritiers des Sassanides, parBaS ' tepoMc^leur m ere> Bibi-Sheher-banou, fille du dernier roiYezdedjerd, et d'Imams, chefs de la religion vraie.Tous les princes non Alides sont des souverains de fait ;aux yeuxdes gens severes, ce sont meme des tyrans ;dans aucun cas,personne ne les considere comme detenteurs de 1'empire a titreregulier. Je ne m'etendrai pas ici sur cette opinion absolue,tranchante, qui n'a jamais admis la prescription ; j'en ai assezlonguement parle dans un autre ouvrage. Ce fut sur cette base queles politiques babys eleverent tout leur edifice."