A literary history of Persia

408 THE ISMAIL! SECT("owing allegiance to the descendants of Fatima," the Prophet'sdaughter and 'All's wife) ; Airmail or Carmathian, after thedfri Hamdan Oarmat already mentioned. By their foes,especially in Persia, they were very commonly called simplyMalahida ("impious heretics"), and later, after the NewPropaganda of Hasan-i-Sabbah (of whom we shall speak in alater chapter), Hashlshi (" hashish-eaters ").Their doctrine, as already indicated, and as will shortlyappear more plainly, hinges to a large extent on the numberseven, and, to a less degree, on the number twelve ;numberswhich are written plain in the universe and in the body ofman. Thus there are seven Planets and twelve ZodiacalSigns; seven, daysin the week and twelve months in theyear ; seven cervical vertebrae and twelve dorsal, and so on :while the number seven appears in the Heavens, the Earths, theClimes, and the apertures of the face and head (two ears, twoeyes, two nostrils, and the mouth).Intermediate between God and Man are the Five Principlesor Emanations (the Universal Reason, the Universal Soul,Primal Matter, Pleroma or Space, and Kenoma or Time x ),makingin all Seven Grades of Existence.Man cannot attain to the Truth by his unaided endeavours,but stands in need of the teaching (ta^llm) of the UniversalReason, which from time to time becomes incarnate in theform of a Prophet or " Speaker " (Natiq]^ and teaches, morefully and completely in each successive Manifestation, accordingto the evolution of the Human Understanding, the spiritualtruths necessary for his guidance. Six great Prophetic cycleshave passed (those of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus,and Muhammad), and the last and seventh cycle,in which forthe first time the Esoteric Doctrine, the true inwardness of theLaw and the Prophets,is made clear, was inaugurated byMuhammad b. Isma'il, the ^a'im (" He who ariseth ") orSahibuz-Zaman ("Lord of the Time"). Each Prophet or1See the footnote on p. n of Guyard's Grand Maitre ties Assassins.