It devolves, then, upon modern civilization to establish corporate and organized charitable bodies in Turkey, and to initiate the simple Mussulmans into the self satisfaction which is awakened by public meetings, and the parade of printed records.
Fasting.—We live to eat, or we eat to live—therefore when we are denied the great business and aim of life, we undergo a very palpable kind of mortification. The dainty epicurean seldom conforms to any regulations for extra abstemiousness, while others, more superstitious, merely vary the hours of their repast—merging the substantial meal into those which have not the nomenclature, but yet become the reality of a good dinner. Again, the pleasant variety of fish for fowl, or of oil for butter, does not leave any sensation of emptiness, or mortification of the appetite. But there is a sort of genuineness in the Mohammedan style of observing a fast—when, for fourteen consecutive hours, absolutely nothing passes the lips—not a drop of water, not even the homemade saliva is swallowed—no hunger-easing pipe is smoked, nor anything indulged in to palliate the gnawings of hunger and thirst. The laborer toils under a summer sun—the weary hammal climbs the towering hills under an incredible load—the athletic boatman for many hours pulls the oars; work, toil, labor cease not, but the wonted sustenance is utterly withheld.
It is wonderful to see this part of the Mussulman population during the fasting season—bodily strength and vigor exuding in profuse perspiration from every pore, while steady persistence in utter abstinence from all refreshment is persevered in.
This great monthly fast occurs once in every year—
“The month of Ramazan shall ye fast, in which the Koran was sent down.”
As they observe the lunar year, it falls in all seasons—and when it occurs during the dog-days, the sufferings of the faithful are truly great and distressing. Not only are they forbidden all lusts of the belly and the flesh, such as may be committed by the eye, ear, tongue, hand, feet and other members, but the heart must be abstracted as much as possible from the world, and turned only to God and paradise—thus, a season of holy rest is instituted.
Among the many idlers who can afford to loiter away the day, some assume an appearance of unusual sanctimoniousness, whose peculiarly long faces and abstracted airs, most effectually ward off any attempts to recall them to the realities of life.
They listlessly toy with their chaplets, gazing into vacancy as polished bead after bead slips through their fingers, and seemingly are as divested of thought, as the unmeaning, but apparently, absorbing playthings they ever dangle. These beads have no such significance as the Catholic rosaries, but are always in the hand of the Oriental gentlemen and ladies, and are often of great value, being composed of large pearls and other precious gems, though the ordinary style is to make them of cocoa shells, whale teeth, ivory or amber.
During this fast the faithful are at the gate of religion, and the very odor of their breath is considered to be sweeter than musk to the olfactories of Allah!
Some of them observe the fast in its true spirit and letter, and all externally conform to its regulations. No doubt to those who are incapable of religious ecstasies, who cannot transport themselves out of the world, while clogged with their human tenements, who relish not the unsubstantial viands of a superstitious faith, the hours drag very heavily on from sunrise to sunset.