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.