A literary history of Persia

THE MANICHAEANS 163Progress of \.(A.D. 775-785), the father of Harunu 'r-Rashid,_Manichzanism they were so numerous that a special Inquisitorlin the East. .was appointed to detect and destroy them. Theauthor of the Fihrlst (A.D. 988) knew 300 professed ManichasansatBaghdad alone, and al-Birum (A.D. 1000) wasfamiliar with their books, especially the Shdburqdn (the onebook composed by Manes in Persian, i.e. Pahlawi for the other;six of his principal writings were in Syriac) which he cites inseveral places, including the opening words (Sachau's translation,p. 190),which run thus :" Wisdom and deeds have always jrom time to time been broughtto mankind by the messengers of God. So in one age they have beenCitation fromone of the booksbrought by the messenger of God called Buddha to India,jn another by Zoroaster to Persia, in another by Jesus tothe West.Thereafter this revelation has come do-van, thisprophecy in this last age, through me, Mdni, the Messenger of theGod of Truth to Babylonia."The migrations of the Manichaeans are thus described in theFihrist :" The Manichaeans were the first religious community to enterthe lands of Transoxiana beside the Shamanists. The reason ofthis was that when the Kisra (Bahrain) slew Maniand crucified him >and forbade the people of hisKingdom to dispute about religion, he took to killingthe followers of Mani wherever he found them, wherefore theycontinued to flee before him until they crossed the river of Balkhand entered the dominions of the Khaqan (or Khan), with whomthey abode. Now Khaqan (or Khan) in their tongueis a titleconferred by them on the King of the Turks. So the Manichaeanssettled in Transoxiaua until such time as the power of the Persianswas broken and that of the Arabs waxed strong, whereupon theyreturned to these lands ('Iraq, or Babylonia), especially during thebreak up of the Persian Empire and the days of the Umayyad kings.Khalid b. 'Abdu'llah al-Qasri took them under his protection, but1A powerful protector of the Manichaeans, put to death by the Caliphal-Walid in A.D. 743. See Flugel's Mdni, pp. 320-322.