The Dabistan

24

" sake thou hast performed the journey joined God,
" why seekest thou the nether place of his rnartyr-
ct doin; and if he has not joined God, what hast thou
" to hope from him? Find thou a living Imam."
The Shah asked: " Who is the living Imam?" The
saint answered : '' I." The king replied : " Well,
*• I shall fire a ball from a gun upon thee; if it
^ takes no effect, I will follow thee." Tarab gave
this answer : *' Your Imam, Riza, died by the grain
" of a grape; how shall I resist the ball of a gun?"
At last the Shah fired upon and killed him. As
Kamal openly professed the creed.of Tarab, the
king associated him with the latter.'

It is reported, that one of the Imanas came to
Hossein Khan, of Sham,<nnd having converted him

1 Shah Abbas 1. has been already mentioned in a note (vol. II. p. 146),
where, according to sir John Malcolm's History of Persia, the duration of
his reign is stated to have been forty-three years; his age seventy; and
the date of his death A. D. 1628; somewhat differently from Herbelot,
who makes his reign forty-five, his age sixty-three, and the date of his
de.Uh A. D. 1629. Abbas I , called the Great, on account of his mag-
nificent buildings, and his skilful interior policy, was very much at-
tached to the religion of Ali, which was always, until our days, domi-
nant in Persia; his taking possession of Baghdad, Nudjef, Kerbelah,
Kasmin, and Samerah, where the remains of Ali and his descendants are
buried, was more agreeable to the Persians than the whole of his other
conquests; dressed with the mantle of the saints of Arbeli, that is of
Sofi and Haidar, ancestors of the present Persian kings, Abbas was almost
adored by his subjects. This renders the recital above, respecting his
religious zeal, very probable, It will be remembered that this Shah sent
sir George Shirley as his ambassador to England; and that king James J.
dispatched sir Drodmore Cotton on an embassy to Persia, in 1626.