¹ The political history (Sprenger adds in a note) developed itself in this wise: "First came the civil contests, which maintained the warlike spirit of the nation in its integrity, and the party leaders were forced to follow the people's will. In the end, that party gained the ascendancy which was the most unscrupulous, but the one which knew best how to administer the finances,—namely, the descendants of Abu Sofiân, the once arch-enemy of Islam. At the conclusion of the civil wars, the object of the rulers was to break the arrogance of the people. The grand instrument for that was Hajjâj. This man, from A.H. 75 to 95, ruled from Babylonia to Scind, and in that interval massacred 120,000 persons. Simultaneously, the court entered on a course of boundless extravagance with all it usual consequences.
"I have elsewhere (Asiatic Society, vol. xxv., p. cxxxiii.) shown that this oppression and extravagance precipitated the new direction which the Moslem mind was under any circumstances destined to take. Already before the end of the first century, the ascetic turn and the theosophy inseparable therefrom, a combination styled among the Arabs Sufieism, had arisen. This made rapid strides; and in the end of the third century was already itself the subject of learned works. As might have been anticipated, the Moslem world has carried this system to the utmost extreme. Their Sûfies outstrip in every point of view both the Indian Jogies and our own Monks. The asceticism of the Sufies is more systematic, their pantheistic teaching deeper and more consistent, and their vices more enormous, than those of any other people. Spinoza and Schelling are left far behind by Ibn Araby. But we must not be deceived by appearances. It requires small advancement to found a deep metaphysical system. Captain Latter was once telling me of the Burmese literature and theosophy, when I expressed my astonishment at the latter. He remarked:—`The same is found in all rude nations; for the supernaturalist has no need of learning; dreams suffice for him'" (p. xxix.).
No one is better qualified than Sprenger himself to trace the history of Mahometan philosophy, and especially its Sûfieism. It would be a subject worthy of his pen.