THE DESCENT OF BOLSHEVISM
to fight against all Muslem power and authority.
For since Islam combined the spiritual and civil power in one ruler called khalif and imam, these secret societies were origginally a protest against one or more of its tenets as well as against its established governments. And since it was founded as much on the sword as on the Koran, and united in the person of the khalif the functions of pontiff and sovereign, almost in all the sects, secret or otherwise, the chief ground of the schism is the contested succession to the throne. And the Karmathians, who secretly coveted the throne, made certain concessions at first to religion. But while they adopted the two fundamental doctrines of Islam, that is, the omnipotence of God and the fixedness of Fate, they declared all the others, even as the Wahhabys of today, vain and futile. Nay, they are snares contrived to exalt a certain portion of mankind at the expense of the vast majority. And they the Karmathians would free the majority from
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