Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/716

698 MOHAMMEDANISM who, having refused to pay homage to Adam, was rejected by God, and wanders over the earth until the resurrection. These genii have various names, as peri, fairies; div, giants, fates, &c. In regard to the state of man during the time between death and the resurrection, many different opinions prevail. There are also different views as to the last judgment, but the essential point agreed upon by all is that men will have awarded to them that con- dition of happiness or misery to which God shall judge them entitled by their conduct and belief during this life. The time of the resur- rection is known only to God; its approach will be indicated by certain signs, among which will be the decay of faith among men, wars, seditions, tumults, the advancement of the meanest men to the highest dignities, an eclipse, the rising of the sun in the west, and numerous other portents. After the judgment all must pass over the bridge Al-Sirat, which is finer than a hair, sharper than a sword, and beset on either side with thorns. The good will pass over easily and speedily ; the wicked will fall headlong into hell. The delights of heaven are for the most part sensual, made up of plea- sures especially suited to each of the senses, while the torments of hell consist chiefly in the extremes of heat and cold. For those who wish more of detail as to their views of the future state, the preliminary discourse to Sale's translation of the Koran is the most accessible work. The Moslems hold that all who believe in the unity of God will finally be released from punishment and enter paradise. Those who deny the absolute unity of God, idolaters, and hypocrites will suffer eternally. To hypo- crites they assign the lowest place in hell. They believe in the absolute foreknowledge and predestination of all things by God, and at the same time in the responsibility of man for his conduct and belief. Their practical religion, which they call din, chiefly insists upon four things : 1, purification and prayer, which they regard as together making one rite; 2, almsgiving; 3, fasting; 4, the pilgrimage to Mecca. Prayer must be preceded by ablu- tion ; cleanliness is regarded as a religious duty, without which prayer would be ineffectual. The Moslems pray five times each day, soon after sunset (not exactly at sunset, for fear they should be considered sun worshippers), at nightfall (generally about an hour and a quar- ter after sunset), at daybreak, near noon, and in the afternoon. The times of prayer are announced by the muezzins (mueddzins) from the minarets of the mosques. In praying, the believer must turn his face toward Mecca, and the wall of the mosque nearest that city is marked by a niche. Twice during the night the muezzins also call to prayer, for those who wish to perform extra devotions. Prayers may be said in any clean place, but on Friday they must be said in the mosque. The regu- larity and devotion with which the Moslems perform this duty are testified to by all who have visited the East. Women are not forbid- den to enter the mosque, but they never do so when the men are at their devotions. Before prayer all costly and sumptuous apparel must be laid aside. Almsgiving was formerly of two kinds : legal, called tzekah, and voluntary, called sadakah. The former was in reality a tax paid to the sovereign, and by him distrib- uted as he saw fit ; it has long since fallen into disuse. The sadakah consists of cattle, money, corn, fruits, and wares sold. It is given once a year, and generally amounts to about 2 per cent, of the stock on hand ; but no alms are due unless the stock amounts to a certain quantity, nor unless the articles have been in the owner's possession for eleven months. At the end of the fast of Ramadan every Moslem is expected to give alms if he is able, for him- self and each member of his family a mea- sure of wheat, rice, or other provisions. The Moslems also lay great stress upon fasting. During the whole of the month Ramadan they fast from the rising to the setting of the sun ; they neither eat nor drink nor indulge in any other physical gratification. They observe this fast with great rigor, but certain classes of persons to whom the fast would be physi- cally injurious are excused from its observance. There are other days during which fasting is regarded as specially meritorious though not obligatory, and fasting at any time is regarded as peculiarly acceptable to God. The pilgrim- age to Mecca, called hadj, is a relic of the ancient idolatrous religion which Mohammed desired to do away with, but which was too deeply rooted in the habits and interests of the people to be abolished. Hence he sanc- tioned it and made it obligatory, having first destroyed the idols in the temple and intro- duced new regulations. All Moslems, men or women, should at least once during their lives, provided they are able, make the pilgrimage to Mecca. The duty may be performed by a substitute, in which case the whole merit re- dounds to the principal. He who has performed this pilgrimage is entitled to prefix to his name the word hadji. Of late years the number of pilgrims has greatly fallen off. The Moslems regard the Koran not only as the rule of their religious but also of their civil and social life. Before the time of Mohammed it was not un- common among the Arabs to put to death their female children. This practice was forbidden by him. The following things are also forbid- den in the Koran : eating of blood, or the flesh of swine, or of any animal that dies of itself, or has been strangled or killed by accident or by another beast, or has been slain as a sacrifice to an idol ; playing games of chance, whether with or without a wager ; the drinking of wine or of any inebriating liquor, but some construe this prohibition as only applicable to their excessive use, while a few of the very strict construe it as applying to opium, bang, and even coffee and tobacco; the taking of in- terest upon money lent, even when the loan is