IMAN OR FAITH.
The great article of Faith is called Salavat, and is expressed in these words:
“La-Illah, Ill-Allah, Mohammed Ressoul-Ullah.” There is no God, but God, and Mohammed is the Apostle of God.
They deny the doctrine of the Trinity, although they acknowledge the attributes of God, his greatness, goodness, justice, omnipresence, omniscience, and incomprehensibility. Christ is acknowledged to have been a prophet greater than Moses, but inferior to Mohammed. He is styled the Word of God, Kelam-Ullah, in their writings, supposed to have been miraculously conceived by the Virgin Mary, but not of divine origin. The crucifixion they regard as inconsistent with the justice of God; to yield up so mighty a prophet, endowed with power to work miracles, and raise the dead, a victim to the unbelieving Jews, they deem incompatible with divine supremacy, and even say, that when Christ was led out to die, he was, invisibly to his persecutors, transported into heaven, Judas the betrayer being substituted in his stead. No terrors of eternal punishment in a future state distract the unfaithful Moslems, all of whom will, in due time, expiate their offences and be admitted to happiness. Two angels are supposed to attend them through life and in death. One white, glorious and commiserate; the other black, severe, and cruel.
There will also be a last judgment, when a tremendous trumpet will shake the earth to atoms. God will judge all men. Moses, Christ, and Mohammed, will appear at the head of their respective followers, as intercessors. And Cain will lead the immense multitude of the damned, who are doomed to suffer till their sins are cancelled, when they will take their seats in Paradise; while Hell, the Devil, and his wicked angels, will be suddenly annihilated.
A narrow bridge, fine as a hair, called Surat, lies over the region of the damned. The righteous, upheld by their guardian angels, pass over safely; while the guilty fall down into awful flames and torture, doomed to quaff nothing but “boiling water, until their bowels burst.”
Paradise is above the seventh heaven, near the throne of God. A vast and beautiful region, with palaces of gold and gardens of perpetual delight, in the midst of which is the tree of happiness, Tuba, whose roots are in the palace of the Prophet, but whose branches, loaded with luscious fruits and all kinds of meats prepared for food, silken robes and caparisoned steeds, will extend to the dwelling of every true believer. Softly murmuring fountains, cooling shades and grottoes, mountains of sparkling diamonds, and golden trees, will adorn the gardens of delight, while the ravishing houris of these enchanting regions, will be blessed with perpetual youth and virginity.
The most insignificant of the Faithful will have a retinue of 80,000 servants and 72 wives, of the sweetly odoriferous damsels, created of pure musk, in addition to the companions of his earthly sojourn. Delicious streams of wine, milk, and honey, will flow on perpetually; balmy zephyrs will pervade the atmosphere; the very physical excretions of the true believers will be but odoriferous exhalations.
While the senses are thus ravished with delights, the most excelling of all their beatific visions will be the presence of Allah, which is beyond the power of language to describe.
Fatalism is a characteristic item in the Mohammedan creed.
They believe that whatever happens is pre-ordained by the Omniscient, which article of faith is designated Kader or predestination. But the doctrine of “free-agency” the Iradeyi-Jüseeyé or the “lesser will,” is also in their creed. Hence every one is bound to exert himself to his utmost; and it is only when he fails, that he resigns himself calmly and philosophically to his disappointment, saying kader, or it is my fate.
The following legend may perhaps serve to illustrate the spirit of Oriental Fatalism:
Half-way across the Bosphorus, and between Seraglio Point and Scutari, in Asia, is the renowned Kiz-Koulessi, or the Maiden’s Tower. It was predicted that the beautiful daughter of a certain sultan would meet with an early death, from the bite of a serpent. Contrary to prediction, her father hoped to avert her fate, by placing her in a situation inaccessible to those reptiles. As he revolved the subject in his mind, from the windows of the Seraglio, his eye rested on the rock in the stream, where he immediately ordered a tower to be erected, and thither the unhappy princess was conveyed and immured in her island home.
But who can resist the decrees of Fate?
Bin djahd etsen na-muradé
Olmaz moukadderden ziyadé.
You may do your utmost,
But you cannot conquer Fate.
Scutari, fruitful in vineyards, and far-famed for its delicious grapes, was destined to furnish the venom, which poisoned the crimson tide in the veins of the beautiful sultana; for a basket of Scutari grapes concealed the viper, which was the instrument in the hand of Fate, and the fulfillment of the prophecy.
It is, doubtless, in the recollection of many of the citizens of New York, that a short time ago an individual passing by Wallack’s Theatre was suddenly killed by the falling of the flag-staff from the top of the building. This sad occurrence was not the result of carelessness or temerity, but purely accidental; and would also be termed in Turkey kaza or accident. Yet why the accident should have happened to this individual more than to any other of the hundreds of persons who passed the same spot—Mohammedan doctrine would simply answer, “it was his kader or predestination.” To mourn, therefore, for the dead, or complain against misfortune, would by them be esteemed a grievous sin, as though censuring the Almighty, without whose knowledge “not a sparrow falleth to the ground.”
It is not Fatalism that makes the Mohammedan indifferent to casualties, but his exaggerated and misconceived ideas of his religious obligations; for human imperfectibility is as prominent an article of their creed as Fatalism, and even induces a disposition to avoid self-improvement either intellectually or externally. Perfection being the attribute of the Deity, it is unbecoming in his creatures to assert, in any form whatever, their capabilities of approximation to such a condition. While, then, their minds repose in the simplicity of innate ideas, they even seek imperfection in the investiture of their bodies. They will rend their garments so as to mar their completeness, assume an air of general slovenliness, or studiously clip the corner of a sheet of paper to destroy its regular uniformity.
It is, then, most erroneous to suppose that the doctrine of Fatalism is so antagonistic to civilization in the East, as it implies resignation to the Divine will, and by no means impedes active personal exertion. But in reality it is the seeming propriety of human imperfection, in contradistinction to the Divine excellence, which has hitherto maintained a spirit of indifference to progressive improvement. While an entire submission to the course of events, as preordained and predestined by the Omniscient, prevents all restless anxiety, and calms the repinings of the heart-broken and weary, this more truly fatal and false notion of inferiority, only leaves the immortal mind in a sort of embryo state, lest, perchance, there should be any assimilation to the great Supreme Essence, from which it is but an emanation, or the spark should glow with the brightness of the fire from which it has been wafted.
CHAPTER IV.
SECTARIANISM.
Besides the Koran, there are other sacred and traditional books called the Sonnah, the productions of Abubekir, Omer, and Osman, the successors of the Prophet. The ancient caliphs of Egypt and Babylon have also added their own. These books have numerous commentaries upon them, which constitute the principal part of the Mohammedan literature, and have been the source of much dissension. Sectarianism, therefore, prevails among the Mussulmans as in every part of the world. We will only mention those sects with whom the traveller in the East is apt to come in contact.
The principal schism which divides the Mohammedan nation is that of the Sünnees and the Sheyees.
The Sünnees are the orthodox party, and believe in the traditions attributed to the Prophet and his successors, and are strict in all their observances. Whereas the Sheyees reject all traditions and are strict legitimists, adhering to Aali, who married the Prophet’s daughter, as the rightful successor, and rendering their homage to his descendants.
The Turks are all Sünnees, and the Persians Sheyees, the one is more fanatical, the other more superstitious, and as the difference between them is small, so is their mutual hatred proportionably intense.
The Sünnees repudiate Aali, the infallible director of the Sheyees, who, in their turn, decapitate the representatives of the Prophet, Abubekir, Omer, and Osman in effigy. For they erect these persons in sugar at their festivals, and when merry over their wine, cut the respected friends of Mohammed into pieces and actually drink them in solution.
The Turks elevate the sacred color, green, to their heads and turbans with the greatest respect, but in contradistinction, the Persians choose this hue for their shoes, trowsers, and every other disrespectful use their ingenuity can devise. When the one shaves, the other does not, and scorns the thorough ablutions of his rival. Indeed no matter how or what, so it be vice versâ.
Most ingenious and vituperative are their mutual curses. “May your fatigued and hated soul, when damned to Berzak (purgatory), find no more rest than a Giavour’s hat enjoys upon earth.” Doubtless alluding to the peculiar custom of the Franks in uncovering their head in saluting, and the wear and tear that head-gear has to undergo. “May your transmuted soul become in hell a hackney ass, for the Jews themselves to ride about on,” and many such emphatic compliments are the height of fashion among the zealous adherents of each adverse party.
Not only in the West, but in the East,
“’Tis strange there should such difference be,
’Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee.”
Apart from the foregoing, the very meaning of the word Islam, or resignation to the service and commands of God, has been a source of much dissertation and dissension, and has produced a variety of sects, of which the Hanefees, Mevlevees, Rifayees, and Abdals, are the most noted in Turkey. The Hanefees are the contemplative philosophers, Oriental spiritualists or transcendentalists; and to this class the sultan and the principal part of the people belong. The Mevlevees are the dancing or whirling dervishes, and they may therefore be considered as the Oriental Shakers. Their object is practical resignation to God, which state of mind they think they attain, by whirling round and round until their senses are lost in the dizzy motion.
They conform to the general tenets and observances, but their form of worship is peculiar.
Their religious edifices are called Tekkés, which are open every Tuesday and Friday, and are frequently visited by the sultan and Europeans in general.
A large square space, which is surrounded by a circular railing, constitutes the scene of their ritual, or ceremonies. A gallery occupies three sides of the building, in which is the latticed apartment of the sultan, and the place for the Turkish ladies.
In every mosque, and here also, there is a niche opposite the entrance, called the Mihrab, which indicates the direction of Mecca. The walls are adorned with entablatures, ornamented with verses from the Koran, and with ciphers of sultans, and mottos in memory of other benevolent individuals, who have endowed the Tekké.
The Sheikh, or leader of the community, sits in front of the Mihrab, on an Angora goat-skin, or a carpet, attended by two of his disciples.
An attenuated old man, with a visage furrowed and withered by time, bronzed by many successive suns, his long and grizzly beard witnessing to the ravages of age, while his prominent eyes sparkling like lightnings amid the surrounding darkness, are the only symbols of animation or life, in his worn-out frame.
The dervishes, as they enter, make a low obeisance with folded hands to this patron saint, with an air of mystic veneration, and take their stand with their faces towards Mecca. The old sheikh arises, and presiding over the assembly commences the services.
Their peculiar head-gear, called sikké, of thick brown felt, in the shape of a sugar loaf, and long and flowing robes of varied hues, make them seem like fantastic representations of some other sphere, particularly, when they commence the slow and measured prostrations of Mussulman worship.
Prayers being over, each dervish doffs his mantle, and appears in a long white fustanella, trailing the polished floor, and of innumerable folds, with a tightly fitting vest of the same pure color.
They now defile two by two before the sheikh, who extending his hand towards them, seems to diffuse a sort of magnetism, which irradiates every countenance.
As they stand immovable, the wild and thrilling music slowly pervades every sense, until suddenly one of the number extends his arms, and begins to revolve noiselessly, with slow and measured step. The folds of his ample skirt now gradually open like the wings of a bird, and with the swiftness of his motion, expand, until the dervish only appears like the centre of a whirlwind. The rest are all alike in motion, arms extended, eyes half closed as in a dream, the head inclined on one side, they move round and round to the measured time of the music, as if floating in ecstasy.
The calm and unimpassioned chief, with slow and stealthy step, wanders among their evolutions. Suddenly they cease, and march around the circle. The music increases its measure, and the dervishes again commence their giddy motions; old and young seem to be in a visionary rhapsody. Perhaps transported in the bewildering whirl to the regions of the blest, they languish with rapture in the arms of the houris of Paradise; or lose their earthly senses amid the glories which surround the throne of Allah; till suddenly they stand transfixed, their outspread and snowy drapery folding around them like the marble investment of an antique statue.
They are all prostrated, exhausted by their ecstasies, and immovable, until the sheikh recalls them to the realities of time by his holy benediction, when they slowly rise again, compass the building, and enveloping themselves with their cast-off mantles, silently disappear.