Minor points of their theology have been from time to time disputed, but these may be regarded as generally settled. Predestination is one of the chief dogmas on which the faith of the Turk is as firmly fixed as on the most momentous article in his creed. Fatalism was the great engine employed by Mohammed in establishing his religion; and among the Turks this doctrine is received as regulating their destiny, controlling all events, and determining the results of every individual's actions; thus unnerving the soul for generous and manly enterprise, and casting a lethargy on the whole nation. In everything the operations of reason are checked, and even made to wait for the imagined manifestations of Deity. According to the creed of the Turks, not only is everything foreknown to God, but everything is predetermined, and brought about by his direct and immediate agency.

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The Turk is keen and wise in his ordinary transactions: in promoting his own interests, he knows how to exercise the powers of his mind, but, when difficulty or doubt overtakes him, he makes no effort. The thick cloud of his misfortunes is suffered to remain; his troubles are yielded to with sullen indifference; he considers it impious to oppose the determinations of the Most High. To all improvement, such a doctrine is a decided and invincible foe; in some circumstances, however, it appears to have its advantages. Does a Mohammedan suffer by calamity? Is he plundered or ruined? He does not fruitlessly bewail his lot. His answer to all murmuring suggestions is, "It was written;" and to the most unexpected transition from opulence to poverty, he submits without a sigh. The approach of death does not disturb his tranquillity; he makes his ablution, repeats his prayers, professes his belief in God and his Prophet, and in a last appeal to the aid of affection, he says to his child, "turn my head towards Mecca," and calmly expires.

A people's religion is traced in their established and common forms of devotion, and none are more attentive to these than the Turks. To neglect any ceremony which their religion prescribes, is deemed a mark either of inferior understanding or of depraved character. Public decorum is {271} everywhere observed; and though both moral and religious precepts are violated with impunity and without remorse, they are always spoken of with great respect. A Mohammedan is never ashamed to defend his faith; and of his sincerity and firmness, the earnestness of his vindication may be taken as sufficient proof: he not unfrequently interrupts the progress of conversation by repeating his religious formula. In the Turkish towns, travellers are incessantly met with the cry of Allah Ackbar; and by Mussulmans, who would be esteemed pious, the divine name is as frequently repeated as if reverent and devout thoughts were habitually uppermost in their minds.

Purifications are constantly, and with great strictness, performed by the Mussulmans of every country, but especially by those of Turkey. Their professed object is to render the body fit for the decorous performance of religious duties; no act being praiseworthy or acceptable, in their estimation, unless the person of the performer be in a condition of purity. Some have thought, but without sufficient grounds, that these external purifications are believed to supersede an inward cleansing of the heart. Fountains placed round their mosques, and numerous baths in every city, enable the devout to perform their five prayers daily, during which, if they chance to receive pollution {272} from anything accidentally coming in contact with them, their devotions are suspended till the offensive inconvenience is removed by water or other means.

At the appointed hour, the Maazeens or criers, with their faces towards Mecca, their eyes closed, and their hands upraised, pace the little galleries of the minarets or towers of the mosques, and proclaim in Arabic, the Moslem language of devotion, that the season of prayer has arrived. Instantly, every one, whatever may be his rank or employment, gives himself up to it. Ministers of state suspend the most important affairs, and prostrate themselves on the floor; the tradesman forgets his dealings, and transforms his shop into a place of devotion; and the student lays aside his books, to go through his accustomed supplications. "Never to fail in his prayers" is the highest commendation a Turk can receive; and so prejudicial is the suspicion of irreligion, that even libertines dare not disregard the notices of the Maazeen. The mosques, like chapels in Catholic countries, are always open, and two or three times every day prayers are offered within their walls. It has often been remarked, that the devotions of Christians might acquire something valuable from the gravity, the decorum, and the apparently intense occupation of mind in Turkish worship. The Jews trod {273} their holy place barefoot: the Turks, on the contrary, keep on their boots and shoes. Christians uncover their heads in prayer; the Moslems seldom lay aside their turbans; but for hours they will remain prostrate, or standing in one position, as if absorbed in the most intense abstraction. They have neither altars, pictures, nor statues in their places of worship. Verses of the Koran, the names and personal descriptions of their Prophet, of Ali and his two sons, Hassan and Hosein, with other Moslem saints, are sometimes inscribed in letters of gold on their walls. All distinctions of rank and profession are forgotten when they pray. Persons of every class, on the first sound of the accustomed cry, cast themselves on the ground, and thus declare their belief in the equality of mankind, in the sight of the great Father of all.

The Mohammedans of Turkey have a Sabbath, for which the Jewish or Christian may be supposed to have furnished the model. Friday is their day of rest, which commences on the preceding evening, when the illuminated minarets and colonnades of the mosques give to their cities the appearance of a festival. At noon, on Friday, all business is suspended, the mosques are filled, and prayers are read by the appointed officers, accompanied by the prostrations of the people. Discourses are likewise frequently delivered on {274} practical points in their theology; and sometimes, in the ardour of excitement, political corruption and courtly depravity are fiercely assailed. A voluptuous sultan has been known, under the effect of these discourses, to tear himself from the soft indulgences of his harem and court, to lead his martial subjects to war and victory on the plains of their enemies. As soon as the public religious services are concluded, all return to their ordinary pursuits; the day, however, is strictly observed by all classes in the manner prescribed by law, it being a received maxim that he who, without legitimate cause, absents himself from public devotion on three successive Fridays, abjures his religion. It is worthy of observation, that the prayers of the Turks consist chiefly of adoration, of confessions of the Divine attributes and the nothingness of man, and of homage and gratitude to the Supreme Being. A Turk must not pray for the frail and perishable blessings of this life; the health of the sultan, the prosperity of his country, and divisions and wars among the Christians alone excepted. The legitimate object of prayer they hold to be spiritual gifts, and happiness in a future state of being.

No one of their religious institutions is more strictly observed by the Turks than the fast of Ramadan. He who violates it is reckoned either {275} an infidel or an apostate; and if two witnesses establish his offence, he is deemed to have incurred the severest penalty of the law. Abstinence from food, and even from the use of perfumes, from sunrise to sunset, is enjoined. The rich pass the hours in meditation and prayer, the grandees sleep away their time, but the labouring man, pursuing his daily toil, most heavily feels its rigour. "When the month of Ramadan happens in the extremities of the seasons, the prescribed abstinence is almost intolerable, and is more severe than the practice of any moral duty, even to the most vicious and depraved of mankind." During the day all traffic is suspended; but in the evening, and till late at night, it is actively carried on in the streets, shops, and bazars, most splendidly illuminated. From sunset to sunrise, revelry and excess are indulged in. Every night there is a feast among the great officers of the court: the reserve of the Turkish character is laid aside, and friends and relations cement their union by mutual intercourse. Sumptuous banquets and convivial hilarity are universal; and, were not women everywhere excluded from the tables of the men, the pleasure of the festivals would amply compensate the rigorous self-denial of their fasts.

The pilgrimage to Mecca is with the Turks more a matter of form than of reality. Its {276} importance as a part of the Moslem ritual is admitted, and apparently felt, but the number of pilgrims annually decreases. The sultan, having dominion over the country through which the pilgrims must pass, preserves the public ways leading to the venerated city; the best soldiers of his empire are charged with the protection of the caravans, which are sometimes numerous; but of his own subjects, properly so called, few comparatively accompany them; they are made up of devotees from a greater distance. The sultan, no doubt, encourages the pilgrimage as much on commercial as on religious grounds. The Koran has determined it to be very proper to intermingle commerce and religion: "It shall be no crime in you," it says, "if ye seek an increase from your Lord by trading during the pilgrimage." Accordingly, articles of easy carriage and ready sale are brought by the pilgrims from every country. The productions and manufactures of India thus find their way into other parts of Asia and throughout Africa. The muslins and chintses of Bengal and the Deccan, the shawls of Cashmere, the pepper of Malabar, the diamonds of Golconda, the pearls of Kilkau, the cinnamon of Ceylon, and the spices of the Moluccas, are made to yield advantage to the Ottoman empire, and the luxury of its subjects is sustained by contributions from the most distant nations.

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