e to see".
This was done and the blind man was restored to his sight. This,
however, is to be attributed to his knowledge of the properties of the
herb and so it is in no wise a miracle. (Here Gotthiel omits one section
on the Saisaniya and the Bihafridiya[1]).

[Footnote 1: The Bihafridiya formed a heresy from Zoroastrianism in the
time of the Moslems. The sect furnishes the strongest proof that there
was no persecution worth the name in Persia at the time. Not only in
those days were the Zoroastrians permitted to follow their own faith but
here is a curious pars from Al Biruni which proves that both the
original Zoroastrians and the heresy were permitted to flourish side by
side under the Khalifs:--"When Abu Moslem came to Nishapur the _mobeds_
and _herbeds_ assembled before him telling him that this man [the
founder of the Bihafridi sect] had infected Islam as well as their own
[Zoroastrian] religion. So he sent Abdalla to fetch him. He met him in
the mountain at Badjeh and brought him before Abu Moslem to put him to
death together with such of his followers as he could capture. His
followers called the Bihafridians still keep the institutes of their
founder and strongly resemble the Zam-Zamis among the Magians."
Shaharastani adds that they were the most hostile of God's creatures to
the Zamzami Magians. The entire chapter on the Iranian sects in
Shaharastani is worthy of careful and deep study. It explains the
divergence between the prescriptions of the _Vendidad_ and the practice
of the bulk of the Iranians. The _Vendidad_ was, it would appear, the
authoritative scripture of one of the sects of Zoroastrianism. At any
rate it is not too extravagant to deduce from the careful studies of the
Iranian religion by Arab writers that as the teachings of Sakya Muni
developed into more Buddhisms than one so there were several creeds with
the common designation of Zoroastrianism.]

[Sidenote: The dignity of Mobedan Mobed.]

The Magians and the followers of the Two Principles and the followers of
Mani and the other sects which are related to the Magians are known as
the adherents of the Great creed or the Great religion. All the kings of
Persia were the followers of the religion of Ibrahim, subjects and all
those who belonged to the country among them during the reign of each of
them followed the religion of their rulers. But these latter relied upon
the chief of the ecclesiastics, _Mobed Mobedan_, the sage of sages, and
th