ted by the
Shiahs. The sect of the Khattabiyah worshipped the Imam Jafar Sadik as
God. Another sect believed that the Divine Spirit had descended upon
Abdallah Ibn Amr.

In Khorassan the opinion was widely spread that Abu Muslim, the great
general who overturned the dynasty of the Ommeyads and set up that of
the Abbasides, was an incarnation of the spirit of God. In the same
province under Al Mansur, the second Abbaside Caliph, a religious leader
named Ostasys professes to be an emanation of the Godhead. He collected
thousands of followers, and the movement was not suppressed without much
fighting. Under the Caliph Mahdi a self-styled Avatar named Ata arose,
who on account of a golden mask which he continually wore was called
_Mokanna_, or "the veiled prophet." He also had a numerous following,
and held the Caliph's armies in check for several years, till in 779
A.D., being closely invested in his castle, he, with his whole harem and
servants, put an end to themselves.

Towards the end of the second century after Muhammad, Babek in Persia
taught the transmigration of souls and communism. His followers, named
Khoramiyyah, long successfully resisted the Caliph's troops. He claimed
that the soul of an ancient law-giver named "Bod" had passed into him,
which meant perhaps that he wished to pass for a "Buddha."

It is well known that Shiite teachers were especially active in Persia.
In the apotheosis of Ali, as well as in the cases of Abu Muslim, we find
an assertion of the ideas peculiar to the Persians in pre-Islamic times.
The infusion or indwelling of the Godhead in man as with the Hindu
Avatars was also popular, and widely spread in Persia. In Bagdad, from
the time of the early Abbasides, the Persians had exercised great
influence. Shiahs were able to profess their views freely under the
tolerant or rather religiously indifferent Caliph Mamoun. Bagdad early
harboured within its walls a number of communities imbued with Shiah
doctrine, and the Persian conception of God silently, but widely
prevailed.

Hellaj, educated in the orthodox Sunni school of Junaid, which, through
its laying stress on the idea of love to God, possessed rather a mystic
than dogmatic character, allowed himself to be carried away by his
passionate temperament into not only preaching, but practically applying
to himself the above-mentioned doctrines, which though known to many,
had been discreetly veiled in reserve. When once the populace have be