Caschiri

, or Cascheri, is the surname of Imam Abul Hassan, who wrote the lives of the mussulman saint*. Yafei makes mention of this book in the work he composed on the same subject: he is likewise author of the book entitled “Lathaif,” which is highly esteemed for its ingenious fictions and its spiritual allegories. On the words that Mohammed puts into the mouth of Pharaoh, in the

| Chapter of the Koran entitled Nazeat: “I am thy master and thy God,” he says that the devil, having heard them, complained, that for having only tempted Adam with the desire of a knowledge equal to that of God, he was plunged into his present unhappy condition; and that Pharaoh, who wanted to pass himself for God, had only incurred the same punishment. This Imam is in universal esteem as one of the greatest divines of Mohammedanism; it is he who explains the right way, spoken of in the first chapter of the Koran in these terms: “That man walks in the right way who never stops till he is arrived at the end of his journey, which is the union with God.” He likewise makes this reflection on the chapter in the same book, entitled Anaam, where it is said that we must avoid both inward and outward sins: the reason, he says, is presently subjoined in these words: “God has loaded you with benefits both within and without: therefore, adds he, these benefits ought to be not only the motive to the keeping of the commandments and the avoiding of sin, but they should teach us also that the best means of obtaining the pardon of our transgressions is to be continually thanking God for his favours.” This Imam has made an abridgement of the book of Takieddin, entitled “Sahih.” There is another Caschiri, whose proper name is Mossalem ben Hegiage al Nischaburi, a native of Nischabur, a city of Khorassan, who died in the year of the hegira 261. ¹