m his fellow-villagers who have gone away to avoid molestation."

Elsewhere he says, "We Sufis have entered into an engagement not to buy
merchandises, gardens or water-wheels, for in our time the taxes on
these are so heavy that no one can afford to possess them. Let him who
listens not to our counsel and acquires such property, blame himself if
he has to undergo all kinds of humiliations; if, in order that the
Government may pay for naval expeditions, it demands of him in advance a
year's taxes on his houses, his merchandise or his lands. Then he will
say with a sigh, 'How happy are they who possess nothing.'"

It is not difficult to see in these passages a profound dissatisfaction,
not only with the ruling class, but with the Government itself.
Notwithstanding this, Sharani enjoins his disciples to respect the
temporal authority and to submit to the laws. Passive obedience has
always characterised the Oriental.

We do not know precisely whether Sharani had in view a veritable reform
of Muhammadan society. Probably the contrary. He felt deeply the
general uneasiness of the time; he understood that Islam was entering a
period of decadence, but he had, as far as we can see, no clear plan for
its regeneration. Mysticism, in which he was such a fervent adept, here
hindered him. But this mystical tendency, which was in one respect his
weakness, was his glory in another. A tone of high moral purity marks
his utterances on the social and religious state of his time, and, led
rather by instinct than by philosophical considerations, he hits the
blot on Muhammadan society--polygamy. We may judge by the following
extract: "We Sufis have entered into an engagement to espouse only one
wife, and not to associate others with her.

"The man who has only one wife is happy; his means are sufficient to
support his home; but as soon as he takes a second wife, the prosperity
of his house decreases, and when he opens his money-box he finds it
empty. A pure-hearted wife is a great happiness in the house. Oh, how
often while I was weaving[59] have I stolen a glance at my wife, the
mother of my son Abdurahman, sewing garments for the poor. I understood
then that I had happiness in my house. Often she opened her larder which
sufficed us for whole months, and distributed the contents to the poor,
who quickly emptied it. May God be merciful to her."

As a religious reformer, Sharani endeavoured to restore Islam to its
primitive unity. Many s