There were two mausoleums similar to that of 'Ali's, in Karbala. One of them belonged to Husain and the other belonged to his brother Abbas, who had been martyred with him in Karbala. In Karbala the Shiites repeated the same practices as they did in Najaf. The climate of Karbala was better than that of Najaf. It was surrounded with graceful orchards and lovely brooks.

During my mission to Iraq I met with a scene that gave relief to my heart. Some events heralded the end of the Ottoman Empire. For one thing, the governor appointed by the administration in Istanbul was an uneducated and cruel person. He acted as he wished. The people did not like him. The Sunnites were uneasy because the governor restricted their freedom and did not value them, and the Shiites felt indignant over being governed by a Turk while among them there were Sayyids and Sharifs, the Prophet's descendants, who would have been a much better choice for governorship.

The Shiites were in an utterly woebegone situation. They lived in squalid and dilapidated environments. The roads were not safe. Highwaymen always awaited caravans, and attacked whenever they saw that there were no soldiers escorting them. For this reason, convoys would not set out unless the government would appoint a detachment to escort them. The Shiite tribes were mostly warlike with one another. They killed and plundered one another daily. Ignorance and illiteracy were dreadfully widespread. This state of the Shiites reminded me of the time when Europe had been under an ecclesiastical invasion. With the exclusion of the religious leaders living in Najaf and Karbala and a small minority, who were their votaries, not even one out of every thousand Shiites knew how to read or write.

The economy had collapsed entirely, and the people were suffering utter poverty. The administrative system was quite out of order. The Shiites committed treasons against the government.

The State and the people viewed each other with suspicion. As a result, there was no mutual aid between them. The Shiite religious leaders, totally given to vituperating the Sunnites, had already relinquished knowledge; business, religious and worldly alike.

[At the beginning of his confessions, the spy spoke of a method for pressuring those whom they have wished to suppress, he said: "… we were designing long term plans to wage discord, ignorance, poverty, and even diseases in these countries."; such methods have always been used by oppressors, and the British surely have studied Europe's history very carefully and have learned from their predecessors, the Roman and … kings, Caesars, Emperors and …; and the Sunni oppressive Ottoman Empire and … were no exception in this matter; as the spy said himself: "This state of the Shiites reminded me of the time when Europe had been under an ecclesiastical invasion", yes as a matter of fact, it was as if the Shi'ah were under a Sunni invasion! They have always tried to undermine the Shi'ah in this manner, but the Shi'ah have always overcome all that, and today Allah-Willing, their number is growing day by day; and finally with the Ever-Promised Appearance of Hadrat Mahdi (PBUH) -who is guiding the sincere Believers, and protecting the Truth right now- , the Truth shall be known to all.

What the spy, very possibly intentionally, referred to as "vituperating", is actually a very profound and farsighted Allah-Commanded Qur'anic concept; from one aspect, perhaps it is to keep the Truth alive in the hearts, minds and actions of humankind, and thus to keep human from falling in the dark abyss of indifference which, slowly but surely, results into further and further separation of humankind from the True Religion of Allah, and from the Anticipation for the Appearance of Imam Mahdi (PBUH) and the Truth, and therefore from Eternal Salvation; it is noteworthy to mention that the adherents to the Bible are quite familiar with this concept themselves, as one sample, in the gospel of Matthew chapter 23, Jesus (PBUH) addressing the wrongdoers is quoted to have said: " therefore ye shall receive the greater Damnation"; for a better understanding of this concept which has nothing to do with "vituperating", we cordially invite you to read the articles: "'Eed of Zahra" and "La'n be upon them" in the 'Friday & occasion messages' section of this site, kindfather.com.]

I stayed in Karbala and in Najaf for four months. I suffered a very serious illness in Najaf. I felt so bad that I completely gave up hope of recovery. My illness lasted three weeks. I went to a doctor. He gave me a prescription. Using the medicine, I began to recover. Throughout my illness I stayed in an underground room. Because I was ill, my host prepared my medicine and food in return for an insignificant sum of money and expected great thawab (spiritual rewards) for serving me. For I was, so to speak, a visitor of 'Ali the Amir-ul-Muminin. [This is a sample of the Shi'ah morals and manners.] The doctor advised me to have only chicken broth during the first few days. Later on he permitted me to eat chicken as well. The third week I had rice soup. After becoming well again I left for Baghdad. I prepared a report of one hundred pages on my observations in Najaf, Hulla, and Baghdad and while on the way. I submitted the report to the Baghdad representative of the Ministry of Colonies. I waited for the Ministry's order on whether I should remain in Iraq or return to London.

I wished to go back to London. For I had been abroad for a long time. I missed my homeland and my family. Especially, I wanted to see my son Rasputin, who had been born after my departure. For this reason, I appended to my report a petition for permission to return to London for a short time at least. I wanted to give an oral report of impressions about my three years' mission in Iraq and to get some rest in the meantime.

The Iraq representative of the Ministry advised me not to call on him often lest I should arouse suspicion. He also advised to rent a room in one of the inns alongside the Tigris River, and said, "I shall inform you of the Ministry's answer when we receive the mail from London." During my stay in Baghdad I observed the spiritual distance between Istanbul, the capital of the caliphate, and Baghdad.

When I left Basra for Karbala and Najaf, I was very much anxious that Muhammad of Najd would swerve from the direction I had led him. For he was an extremely unstable and nervous person. I feared that the aims I had built upon him might be spoilt. As I left him he was thinking of going to Istanbul. I did my best to dissuade him from the notion. I said, "I am very anxious that when you go there you may make a statement whereby they will pronounce you a heretic and kill you."

My apprehension was quite the other way round. I was anxious that upon going there he should meet profound scholars capable of setting his fallacies right and converting him to the Sunni creed and thus all my dreams should come to naught. For there was knowledge and Islam's beautiful morality in Istanbul.

When I found out that Muhammad of Najd did not want to stay in Basra, I recommended that he go to Isfahan and Shiraz. For these two cities were lovely. And their inhabitants were Shiites. And Shiites, in their turn, could not possibly influence Muhammad of Najd. For Shiites were inefficient in knowledge and ethics. Thus I made it certain that he would not change the course I had charted for him.

As we parted I said to him, "Do you believe in Taqiyya?" "Yes, I do," he replied. "The unbelievers arrested one of the Sahaba and tormented him and killed his parents. Upon this he made Taqiyya, that is, he said openly that he was a polytheist. (When he came back and said what had happened), the Prophet did not reproach him at all." I advised him, "When you live among the Shiites, make Taqiyya; do not tell them that you are Sunni lest they become a nuisance for you. Utilize their country and scholars. Learn their customs and traditions. For they are ignorant and stubborn people."

[Although by Allah's Will, some rays of the light of Islamic teachings still shine in certain Sunni Documents, and therefore those who have not been exposed to the brilliant Knowledge of Muhammad and his AhlulBayt (PBUT) and have not experienced the spiritual guidance of the infallible Imam of the time (PBUH) -i.e. the living Hojjat and Proof of Allah on earth- may be impressed by those rays of light, and as a result they may think that the misleading statements of AbuBakr, 'Omar and … and their followers, are also Islamic knowledge, but the Divinely Bestowed Knowledge of the Prophet Muhammad and his AhlulBayt (PBUT) is the True Knowledge which, IF SINCERELY STUDIED, RESEARCHED AND SPIRITUALLY SOUGHT, its truthfulness and superiority would become apparent and undeniable for any fair minded person; familiarization with such Knowledge by the Shi'ah whom the spy had met, was actually that which had made it difficult for the spy to influence the Shi'ah, and as a result, had upset him enough to cause him to unfairly insult the Shi'ah; BUT OF COURSE, THE SHI'AH MUST ALSO ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND THAT, STAYING AWAY FROM LEARNING AND LIVING BASED UPON THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF MOHAMMAD AND HIS PURE AHLOLBAYT (PBUT), AND THE CONSTANT SEEKING OF GUIDANCE AND REFUGE WITH THE IMAM OF THE TIME, HADRAT MAHDI (PBUH), CAN EXPOSE THEM TO DANGER. For a brief and fair comparison between the Shi'ah and Sunni beliefs, we cordially invite you to read the book: "Then I was guided" written by a Sunni scholar -who through research, has seen the light of the Truth- which a link for it is provided on the home page of this site: kindfather.com]

As I left, I gave him some money as zakat. Zakat is an Islamic tax collected in order to be dealt out to the needy people. In addition, I gave him a saddled animal as a present. So we parted.

After my departure I lost contact with him. This made me utterly uneasy. When we parted we decided that both of us were to return to Basra and whichever party was back first and did not find the other party was to write a letter and leave it with Abd-ur-Rida.

To be continued …