ds bent, praying God to cover
their faults with the veil of his clemency, and not to expose them to
the scorn of others. These are the distinctive qualities of the truly
learned; for if learning does not increase the modesty of him who has
it, it is good for nothing."

These extracts make it sufficiently plain with what courage the daring
theosophist censured the most influential class of Moslem society in his
day. Sharani reproaches the Ulema, with their ambition, their cupidity,
their pride, their hypocrisy, and he advises them to confine themselves
in their sermons simply to dwelling on the precepts of the moral law and
to abstain from speaking of the recompenses and punishments of the
future life, since the destiny of souls after death depends on God, and
not on them.

As a natural consequence of these ideas, Sharani goes on to inveigh
against the Turkish Government, which, wishing to create for itself a
support in the powerful class of the Ulema, made them great concessions,
and by doing so annoyed their antagonists the Sufis. Thus Sharani does
not hesitate to say that since a.d. 1517 real learning had ceased to
exist, that being the date of the conquest of Egypt by the Sultan Selim.

The lot of the Egyptian fellahin or peasants has never been an enviable
one. Successive Roman and Arab dominations brought no change favourable
to them. Under the Mamelukes, when the country was parcelled out among
petty feudal lords ruling over their domains with absolute authority,
the condition of the peasants was one of extreme wretchedness. Sharani
finds that in his time the state of the agricultural class was worse
than formerly.

"In past times," he says, "when a peasant died, there was often found in
the corner of his house a jar, a pot or other vessel filled with pieces
of gold. It was what the poor man had saved from his harvests after
having paid his taxes and the daily expenses of his family and his
guests. But in our day, in order to pay his taxes, the peasant is often
obliged to sell the produce of his land, the ox with which he ploughs,
and the cow which gives him milk.

"If part of his tax is unpaid he is taken to prison, and often his wife
and children accompany him thither. Often the Kashif or governor
disposes of the hand of his daughter without consulting him, and her
dowry is kept back to pay the arrears of his tax. It sometimes happens
that the tax charged upon him is not really due from him at all, but
fro