ABDALS, in the Eastern countries, a kind of saints supposed to be inspired to a degree of madness. The word comes, perhaps, from the Arabic, Abdal-lab, the servant of God. The Persians call them devaneh khoda, similar to the Latins way of speaking of their prophets and sibyls, q. d. farentes deo, raging with the god. They are often carried by excess of zeal, especially in the Indies, to run about the streets, and kill all they meet of a different religion; of which travellers furnish many instances. The English call this, running a mak, from the name of the instrument, a sort of poignard, which they employ on those desperate occasions. If they are killed, as it commonly happens, before they have done much mischief, they reckon it highly meritorious; and are esteemed, by the vulgar, martyrs for their faith.