or Separatists, a religious sect amongst the Turks, who deny all forms and qualities in the Divine Being, and divest God of his attributes.

Amongst the Turkish divines two opinions are entertained concerning God. The first admits metaphysical forms or attributes, as, that God has wisdom, by which he is wise; power, by which he is powerful; eternity, by which he is eternal; and so of the rest. The second allows God to be wise, powerful, eternal; but does not admit any form or quality in God, for fear of admitting a multiplicity. Those who hold the latter opinion are called Montazalites; they who adopt the former, are denominated Sephatites. This sect is said to have first invented the scholastic divinity: it is subdivided into no less than twenty inferior sects, which mutually brand one another with infidelity.