Excerpt from The Life and Religion of Mohammed: As Contained in the Sheea?h Traditions of the Hya?t-Ul-Kuloob
A long residence in different parts of Persia, with many and various opportunities to become acquainted with the religious opinions and feelings of its inhabitants, and considerable knowledge of the Turks, has convinced me that Christian nations entertain very imperfect views of the Mohammedan system, especially as embraced by the Sheeahs or Persians. My inquires on the subject of their faith, with long study of their religious books, have led to the conclusion that a work exhibiting their doctrines would not be unacceptable, particularly to those who cherish a sincere interest in the temporal and eternal welfare of their fellow men.
The Hyat-ul-Kuloob, perhaps the most popular standard of the kind among the Persians, supplies this desideratum. The first volume of the work relates to the prophets and times preceding Mohammed; the third volume, which is incomplete, is a treatise on the Imamate, or the establishment of religious guides after him; while in the second volume - the subject of the following translation - we have in Sheeah lights a full view of his life and religion, with sketches of his ancestors, companions and times, blended with maxims and legends illustrative of oriental manners. This volume contains 894 printed quarto pages filled with traditions, which, in the following abridgment, must be left to speak for themselves, as a controversy of such magnitude as that between Christians and Mohammedans, would be misplaced in this translation.
My object has been to give a fair and concise view of the original work, without extenuating or condemning its sentiments and assertions. This rule has required me to insert some things in my translation which, though offensive to a refined taste, not to say a Christian sentiment, are part and parcel of the work, and therefore the entire omission of them would have been the concealment of a feature that is left unveiled by those who have arrayed the character. Due allowance should certainly be made for oriental license of custom and description, and matters of this kind, where fidelity as a translator would permit it, have been omitted, or studiously set in the deeper shades of a western sky.
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