Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1882-12-20
xssIam Parms ana Ceremonies.

II
The life u q good Mesien seems all
interviewer with fOnas and ceIeiaO-
nies, and tbs law Of the Koran o. SONS
such sacred words seems forever on
his lips. miSing most freely with all
secular matters, No action, however
trivial, may bs commenced wilhOul
commanding Il 10 Allah, 4 M0hamr
medan will not even light q lamp
without blessing the nalae Of Tbs
prophet, Eyen the cries 1t the street.
hawkers bring IN frequent illusions 10
a spiritual market, as Wien the pOOr
water-earTler Offers a cup 0f cool, r.
freshiag water 70 all passeTsby, cry
ing alold, "Oh ! may God reward
mel" Whatever DO tie matter Ia
hand, One of tho company viii eeT'
tainiy utter SONS such remainder As
"aemmOO," and his friends will reply
"iilsmillah," meaning IN The name VI
lOd, In truth, tho fatallsn u which
We hear 50 much seems little else than
4 strong faith a power Of living eallnly
as IN the presence ~ u0d Just
as tbs strongest practical characteristics
OF a poor iiind0o's faith seems 10 DO u
simple submission 10 tbs will Of tho
Almighty, under whatever name he
may recognize HIM, No faith ~ IL
tallsm seems we'll nigh ~ merge, and
our own Scotch expression Of "it
was been 10 be" seems tOlerably akin
10 the "kismet" Of the East, iremem-
Der an old hOusemald beiRg sOrely per-
turbed at having knocked over and
smashed a valuable china yasel but u
few minutes later she recovered her
cquahimity and exclaimed, "Weel,
wecl II had been langF the family,
and II was been Obe broke !" 10 laying
this hattcring junction 10 her soul she
went calmly on with her busting,
Lane, speaking Of this continual allu.
sion to the providence Of God, men'
tiOns that no MOSlem will speak " any
future event Of action without adding,
III II DO the will Of God" Ito eSplslhs
theories Of the night Waterman, whose
decp'tOncd voice resound through the
dark hours, one man cries, "Oh,
Lord Oh, RycrlaSllngW Another
says, III estol tho perfection OF tho
living king, who sleepeth not, nor
dieth," lilo tells, too, Of u mode Of
entertaining u party Of guests In Cairo
ny the recital Of u khatmeh, which
means tho whole Of the Koran chantod
by men hired for the occasion. Just
Imagine inviting u party In London
10 hear the whole Bible ehantcd ~ u
pastlme, with an accompaniment OF
pipes and coffee. Mr., Lane also speaks
of the reverence with which the holy
book IL trcatcd-alwayS placed on some
high. clean place, whore no other book
or anything else may DO laid above II,
lIe attributes the Mohanmedan's dis
like printing their sacred books to the
dread lest impurlty should attach to the
Ink, thepapcr, or, above all, lest the Ink
should DO applied to the holy name with
u brush made of hog briStles, Worse
than all, the book, becoming thus COM
mon, Is In double danger Of being
touched by lnildels. This dread Of dis
honoring sacred names extends even
TO the ninety-nine titles Of the Prophet
and the names Of those near Of kin 10
him. Thus one man will refuse to
stamp his name upon his pipc-howls
because u bears one Of tho names OF
the Prophet, which will thus be
made to pass through the fire. An
other man, less scrupulous, Is blamed
because he has branded his name,
which Is also u sacred name,
on certain camels and horses. The
sin thus committed Is three-fold: First,
the iron brand Is put In the fire, which
Is horrible sacrilege; secondly, It Is APP
piled to the neck Of the camel, causing
blood to flow and pollute the sacred
name; thirdly, the camel Is certain
some day, in lying down, to rest his
neck on something unclean. This
dread of casting holy things into the
fire does not, however, seem to apply
to such as can be consumed. A Mo
hammedan, finding fragment of
paper covered with writing, will burn
1t so that IL holy words should be
thereon inscribed, the flames may bear
them up and the angels carry them to
Observation-Disclosures Magazine.