The Nosairi have a double set, the prophet and his attendant; their asas (bases) are Abel, Seth, Joseph, Joshua, Asaph, Peter (?) and Ali, the natiqs (utterers) Adam, Noah, Jacob, Moses, Solomon, Christ, Mahomet.[1] We notice the influence of the solar cult of Emesa wherein Helios and El were confused: from this place issued the peculiar dynasty of the later Severians who brought Solarism into Rome (218-235 a.d.). The true prophet always disappears (as the reigning monarch among the Ismailians) and leaves a grand vizier to administer as deputy till he comes back again. One Nosairi sect is called the Ghaibi; for the present time is that of God's absence (ghaibah) or invisibility; it is the Absent who is true God, and this is equated with the air, or, as some say, with the sky. Another sect is still more interesting; the Kalazi hold that the moon, not the sun, is Ali's abode, and that by drinking wine one reaches a closer relation with the moon—a curious parallel to the Soma-draught and the identification of the moon with Soma. The moon too may be the great lunar goddess Astarte, and the real background (as in Gnosticism) of the whole theology; the transient vehicles being (like Attis or Tammuz) her ministers or theophanies.
15. The last sect to be named is the Kizil Bash, a tribe or race spreading from Siva and Angora to Erzerum: they are crypto-pagans and only conform to Islam when it is unsafe to deny it. God is one in three; the second person of the Trinity is Ali, the third Christ. Like orthodox Shi'ites they bewail the death of Hasan and Hosein (a relic of the Tammuz-cult): in the Muharram festival, the celebrant chants hymns in honour of Moses and David, Ali and Christ: lights are extinguished and in the dark they lament their sins; when they are rekindled the priest gives absolution and administers the sacrament, bread
- ↑ It is clear that the exact arrangement and names of the vehicles vary indefinitely. We note that the Shamali sect also bears the name Shamsi (from Shamash the ancient sun-god).
