V.—Prayers.
All Muslims must say five prayers every day, and the following six things should be observed before the prayers are acceptable to God: (1) wuzú’h or tyammom, (2) putting off dirty clothes, (3) covering one’s body and head and doffing the shoes, (4) keeping the appointed time, (5) determining the exact position of Mecca, and (6) assuring one’s self as to the purity of the place in which the prayers are said. Before beginning one must say within one’s self what prayers one is about to recite, and for what purpose one is going to recite them, and at the end one must raise the hands to Heaven, saying, “May peace be with Muhammad and with his disciples.” For prayer was by Muhammad deemed so urgent an act of reverence that he used to call it the pillar of religion and the key of paradise, declaring “that there could be no good in that religion wherein was no prayer.” It behoves every pilgrim, therefore, in his sacred habit, to pray at least five times every twenty-four hours; (1) in the morning before sunrise, (2) when noon is past and the sun begins to decline from the meridian, (3) in the afternoon before sunset, (4) in the evening after sunset and before day be shut in, and (5) after the day is shut in and before the first watch of the night. Besides these, there are certain other prayers which, though not expressly enjoined, are commended as a special act of grace, more particularly perhaps to the pilgrims in ihrám. Among these may be mentioned the separate prayers generally said at night (i.e., the namáz-i-tahajjud and the vitr), and the extra prayers not prescribed by law, the naváfil and the namáz-i-mustahabb. The positions of the body are as follows: (1) kiyám, that is, standing erect, with the hands down by the sides; (2) takbírguftán, declaring God’s greatness, on raising the hands on either side of the face, with the thumbs under the lobes of the ears, and the fingers extended; (3) rukú, inclining the body from the waist and placing the hands on the knees; (4) kunút, standing with the head inclined forward and the hands on either side of the face; (5) dú zánúnishastán, kneeling, the hands lying flat on the thighs; and (6) sijdah, prostration, in which the forehead must touch the ground, or the lump of unbaked clay that is known by the name of “mohre.” A full prayer is made up of five “rakats” or prostrations, during which not a word save the prayer as prescribed should be uttered. Part of the prayer is said aloud and part in a whispering tone. The greatest care should be taken to pronounce each word with the correct Arabic accent, since ill-pronounced words, unless the result of a natural defect, are said to be unacceptable to the Creator. The pilgrim should say special prayers on Friday, and every time he has recourse to the Kurán before deciding on any course of action whatsoever. A special prayer is said by the devout about one hour after midnight. This is called the midnight prayer, and is, of course, a tedious task. Hence it is sometimes said sarcastically of a man with a loose belief in the Faith: “He says midnight prayers!” The prayers most readily answered are the prayers said in Mecca. Thus when a pilgrim sets out on his journey he is requested by his friends to pray for them at the House of God. The name of the person for whom one prays should be uttered, otherwise the prayer will have no effect. Every pilgrim must take with him a rosary, the square piece of unbaked clay called “mohre,” and a copy of the Kurán, for a passage of the Kurán must be read after every prayer.
VI.—Aspects of Social Islám.
It is now time to give the reader, in as terse and as condensed a form as possible, a general idea of the part played by religion in the workaday lives of the children of the Faith, beginning with their toilet, that is, with their dressing and bathing, with the combing of their hair and the cutting of their nails.
A pious Persian Muslim, before wearing any new article of clothing, performs his ablutions and prostrates himself twice in prayer. A man of a less devout, but a more superstitious, trend of mind contents himself with consulting the taghvím or the estakhhareh[1] muttering to himself, ere he dons the garment, “In the name of God the Merciful and Clement!” His friends on seeing the new apparel cry out, “May it be auspicious!” The rewards of a man who says his prayers before putting on a new suit of clothes will be in proportion to the number of threads in the cloth. Hence it has come to be a practice to preserve the material from the blight of the Evil Eye by besprinkling it with pure water over which a prescribed passage of the Kurán has been read.
[1] For fuller particulars of the taghvím and the estakhhareh, see [page 289] “Healing by Faith.”
It is unlucky for a Muslim to sit down before taking off his shoes. When drawing them on it is equally unlucky for him to stand up. The custom, in the first instance, is to rise, doffing first the left shoe and then the right one. The procedure must be reversed in every particular when putting them on. The universal belief in omens is traditional, and extends, among other things, to precious stones. By far the luckiest of these is the flesh-coloured cornelian, which is a great favourite with the men. It owes its popularity to the fact that the Prophet himself is said to have worn a cornelian ring set in silver on the little finger of his right hand. It grew still more in favour at a later period, because Jafar, the famous Imám, declared that the desires of every man who wore it would be gratified. And thenceforward its property to bless has been regarded as axiomatic by the superstitious to whom I am referring.
COPIES OF THE KURÁN WORN EN BANDOULIÈRE BY MUSLIMS WHEN TRAVELLING OR ON PILGRIMAGE.
The Shiahs have the name of one of the twelve Imáms engraved on the stone; others make use of it as a seal bearing their own names. Hardly less lucky are the turquoise and the ruby, which are believed to have the effect of warding off poverty from those who are fortunate enough to possess them. This is why they are treasured by the fair sex, the ruby being, perhaps, the more dearly loved of the two.