Firishta's History (Gulshan-i Ibrāhīmī) 324.6

324.6

In the reign of Futteh Shah, King of Kashmeer, one Shums-ood-Deen arrived from Irak, and began to disseminate doctrines different from those of any other known sect. His followers assumed the title of Noorbukhsh (Illuminati), but the holy men of the Mahomedan faith succeeded in putting down these sectarians; so that at the present period, the author of this history, Mahomed Kasim Ferishta, having been at some pains to ascertain what religion the inhabitants of Kashmeer now profess, has reason to think that the common people are Mahomedans of the Hunefy persuasion, though the soldiery are commonly Sheeas, as well as some few of the learned men. The King of Little Thibet, contiguous to Kashmeer, is so prejudiced in favour of Sheeas that he allows no man of any other faith to enter his towns. The tribe of Chuk, in Kashmeer, contends, that Meer Shums-ood-Deen of Irak was a Sheea, and that he converted many thousands of people, after which he was crowned in the name of the twelve Imams; and that the Ahowita, the book containing the tenets of the Noorbukhsh religion, is not the composition of that venerable personage, but the production of some ignorant infidel. God only knows on whom we are to depend.