The Koran (Al-Qur'an). Anonymous
del demonio la comida prohibida por Dios en el parayso, se le rebelò su carne à su espiritu; por lo qual jurò diziendo, Por Dios que yo te quiero cortar; y rompiendo una piedra tomò su carne para cortarla con el corte de la piedra. Por loqual fue reprehendido del angel Gabriel, y el le dixo; Yo he jurado por Dios que lo he de cortar, y mentiroso no lo serè jamas. Ala hora el angel le enseño la superfluidad de su earne, y a quella cortò. De manera que ansi como todo hombre toma carne de Adam, ansi esta obligado a complir aquello que Adam con juramento prometiò. 2 Shalshel. hakkabala. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 320; Gagnier not. in Abulfed. Vit. Moh. p. 2. 3 Vide Poc. Spec. p. 304. 4 See before, p. 14. 5 Abulfed. Vit. Moh. p. 127
That so important a duty, therefore, might not be neglected, Mohammed obliged his followers to pray five times every twenty-four hours, at certain state times; viz., I. In the morning, before sunrise; 2. When noon is past, and the sun begins to decline form the meridian; 3. In the afternoon, before sunset; 4. In the evening, after sunset, and before day be shut in; and 5. After the day is shut in, and before the first watch of the night.6 For this institution he pretended to have received the divine command from the throne of GOD himself, when he took his night journey to heaven; and the observing of the stated times of prayer is frequently insisted on in the Korân, though they be not particularly prescribed therein. Accordingly, at the aforesaid times, of which public notice is given by the Muedhdhins, or Criers, from the steeples of their mosques (for they use no bell), every conscientious Moslem prepares himself for prayer, which he performs either in the mosque or any other place, provided it be clean, after a prescribed form, and with a certain number of phrases or ejaculations (which the more scrupulous count by a string of beads) and using certain postures of worship; all which have been particularly set down and described, though with some few mistakes, by other writers,1 and ought not to be abridged, unless in some special cases; as on a journey, on preparing for battle, &c. For the regular performance of the duty of prayer among the Mohammedans, besides the particulars above mentioned, it is also requisite that they turn their faces, while they pray, towards the temple of Mecca;2 the quarter where the same is situate being, for that reason, pointed out within their mosques by a niche, which they call al Mehrâb, and without, by the situation of the doors opening into the galleries of the steeples: there are also tables calculated for the ready finding out their Kebla, or part towards which they ought to pray, in places where they have no other direction.3 But what is principally to be regarded in the discharge of this duty, say the Moslem doctors, is the inward disposition of the heart, which is the life and spirit of prayer;4 the most punctual observance of the external rites and ceremonies before mentioned being of little or no avail, if performed without due attention, reverence, devotion, and hope:5 so that we must not think the Mohammedans, or the considerate part of them at least, content themselves with the mere opu. operatum, or imagine their whole religion to be placed therein.6 I had like to have omitted two things which in my mind deserve mention on this head, and may, perhaps, be better defended than our contrary practice. One is, that the Mohammedans never address themselves to GOD in sumptuous apparel, though they are obliged to be decently clothed; but lay aside their costly habits and pompous ornaments, if they wear any, when they approach the divine presence, lest they should seem proud and arrogant.7 The other is, that they admit not their women to pray with them in public; that sex being
6 Vide Ibid. p. 38, 39. 1 Vide Hotting. Hist. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 470–529; Bobov. in Liturg. Turcic p. I, &c.; Grelot, Voyage de Constant. p. 253–264; Chardin, Voy. de Perse, tom. ii. p. 388, &c.; and Smith, de Moribus ac Instit. Turcar. Ep. I, p. 33, &c. 2 Kor. c. 2, p. 16. See the notes there. 3 Vide Hyde, de Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 8, 9, and 126. 4 Al Ghazâli. 5 Vide Poc. Spec. p. 305. 6 Vide Smith, ubi sup. p. 40. 7 Reland. de Rel. Moh. p. 96. See Kor. c.7. p. 107.
obliged to perform their devotions at home, or if they visit the mosques, it must be at a time when the men are not there: for the Moslems are of opinion that their presence inspires a different kind of devotion from that which is requisite in a place dedicated to the worship of GOD.8 The greater part of the particulars comprised in the Mohammedan institution of prayer, their prophet seems to have copied from others, and especially the Jews; exceeding their institutions only in the number of daily prayer.1 The Jews are directed to pray three times a day,2 in the morning, in the evening, and within night; in imitation of Abraham,3 Isaac,4 and Jacob;5 and the practice was as early, at least, as the time of Daniel.6 The several postures used by the Mohammedans in their prayers are also the same with those prescribed by the Jewish Rabbins, and particularly the most solemn act of adoration, by prostrating themselves so as to touch the ground with their forehead;7 notwithstanding, the latter pretend the practice of the former, in this respect, to be a relic of their ancient manner of paying their devotions to Baal-Peor.8 The Jews likewise constantly pray with their faces turned towards the temple of Jerusalem,9 which has been their Kebla from the time it was first dedicated by Solomon;10 for which reason Daniel, praying in Chaldea, had the windows of his chamber open towards that city:11 and the same was the Kebla of Mohammed and his followers for six or seven months,12 and till he found himself obliged to change it for the Caaba. The Jews, moreover, are obliged by the precepts of their religion to be careful that the place they pray in, and the garments they have on when they perform their duty, be clean:13 the men and women also among them pray apart (in which particular they were imitated by the eastern Christians); and several other conformities might be remarked between the Jewish public worship and that of the Mohammedans.14 The next point of the Mohammedan religion is the giving of alms, which are of two sorts, legal and voluntary. The legal alms are of indispensable obligation, being commanded by the law, which directs and determines both the portion which is to be given, and of what things it ought to be given; but the voluntary alms are left to every one's liberty, to give more or less, as he shall see fit. The former kind of alms some think to be properly called Zacât, and the latter Sadakat;
8 A Moor, named Ahmed Ebn Abdalla, in a Latin epistle by him, written to Maurice, Prince of Orange, and Emanuel, Prince of Portugal, containing a censure of the Christian religion (a copy of which, once belonging to Mr. Selden, who has thence transcribed a considerable passage in his treatise De Synedriis vett. Ebræor. l. I, c. 12, is now in the Bodleian Library), finds great fault with the unedifying manner in which mass is said among the Roman Catholics, for this very reason, among others. His words are: Ubicunque congregantur simul viri et fomino, ibi mens non est intenta et devota: nam inter celebrandum missam et sacrificia, fomino et viri mutuis aspectibus, signis, ac nutibus accendunt pravorum appetitum, et desideriorum suorum ignes: et quando hoc non fieret, saltem humana fragilitas delectatur mutuo et reciproco aspectu; et ita non potest esse mens quieta, attenta, et devota. 1 The Sabians, according to some, exceed the Mohammedans in this point, praying seven times a day. See before, p. 11. 2 Gemar. Berachoth. 3 Gen. xix. 27. 4 Gen. xxiv. 63. 5 Gen. xxviii. II, &c. 6 Dan. vi. 10. 7 Vide Millium, de Mohammedismo ante Moham. p. 427, &c., and Hyde, de Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 5, &c. 8 Maimonid. in Epist. ad Proselyt. Relig. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 306. 9 Gemar. Bava Bathra, and Berachoth. 10 I Kings viii. 29, &c. 11 Dan. vi. 10. 12 Some say eighteen months. Vide Abulfed. Vit. Moh. p. 54. 13 Maimon. in Halachoth Tephilla, c.9, § 8, 9. Menura hammeor, fol. 28, 2. 14 Vide Millium, ubi supra, p. 424, et seq.
though this name be also frequently given to the legal alms. They are called Zacât, either because they increase a man's store, by drawing down a blessing thereon, and produce in his soul the virtue of liberality,1 or because they purify the remaining part of one's substance from pollution, and the soul from the filth of avarice;2 and Sadakat, because they are a proof of a man's sincerity in the worship of GOD. Some writers have called the legal alms tithes, but improperly, since in some cases they fall short, and in others exceed that proportion. The giving of alms is frequently commanded in the Korân, and often recommended therein jointly with prayer; the former being held of great efficacy in causing the latter to be heard of GOD: for which reason the Khalîf Omar Ebn Abd'alaziz used to say, "that prayer and alms carries us half-way to GOD, fasting brings us to the door of his palace, and alms procures us admission."3 The Mohammedans, therefore, esteem almsdeeds to be highly meritorious, and many of them have been illustrious for the exercise thereof. Hasan, the son of Ali, and grandson of Mohammed, in particular is related to have thrice in his life divided his substance equally between himself and the poor, and twice to have given away all he had:4 and the generality are so addicted to the doing of good, that they extend their charity even to brutes.5 Alms, according to the prescriptions of the Mohammedan law, are to be