65

" Imam Jafr Sadik; at last he left him, and pro-
" fessed openly the religion of his fathers, who were
" Magi. A sign of the Magian creed was, that he
" thought it right to eat three times a-day,and to Jay
" aside all choice of diet, as well as not to reckon
66 the unbelievers impure,, saying that impurity
" resides in the interior, if any where, and the
" like.'7

TheSonniteremarked: "Thou thyselfagreest that
ci AbuHanifa was a follower of the Imam Jafr ,'there-
" fore he most likely practised what was conform-
" able to the religion of the Imam Jafr. We do
" not admit that your people are attached to the
c' religion of the Imam; we rather believe that they
c * are Magi; for when your ancestors were conquered
" and subjected, they, by necessity, joined the Is-
tc lamian, but mixed the right faith with the creed of
" the Magi: as it appears from the worship called
" nou TOZj which is a custom of the Magi; according
" to whom they likewise perform divine worship
" three times a day. They think it right to turn
" the head in praying to the left, which is turning
" off from the Kiblah (of Mecca); they assert that
" the five prayers every day are improper, as they
" are not able to perform them exactly; they main-
4' tain, however, as requisite those at midday, before
" sunset, and in the evening on going to sleep. In
" the same manner, they took the matdh, or tern-