Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-03-07

TO go TO the battle and every male
over thirteen years Of age must fol-
low. These who are left behind,
old men, women and sick persons,
must supply the soldiers with all
their necessities. Everything that
n MOsiem Possesses, even the
mosques, can be taken and used for
the furtherance of the war. Even
the precepts Of Koran can, IL neces-
sary, be rendered temporarily void,
and the war is not considered ended
until the foe is entirely conquered.
The soldiers receive as their mate
rial reward all the goods Of the enc
my, and eventually his wives, too.
CEREMONIAL LAW OF ISLAM.
The most important part Of the
ceremonial code is the precept con-
corning daily prayers. Five times
day Waterman from the tower
proclaims the hour Of prayer, and as
many times a day the MOslem is ex-
pected to give himself up to "a de-
vOtiOnal exercise. The hours Of
prayer are: At the dawn Of day,
noon, two hours before sunset, i'm
mediately after sunset, and at night
when dark. At all Of these hours
the Waterman calls out: "God is
great three time; 1 testify that
there is no divinity except God
twice; testify that hIOhammed
Is the messenger Of God (twicel:
come to prayer (twicel; come to sal
walton twice; and God is great
ltwiceG there Is no divinity except
God. -
When a Moslem prays he takes
his shoes Off his feet, spreads a car
pet or his coat on the ground and
turns his face towards Mecca. The
prayer consists OF a certain set Of
passages from the Koran, the creed,
and situations TO AIahOmmed and
the angels, all repeated IN certain
positions. a praying Moslem some
times stands on his feet, sometimes
Sneels, sometimes touches the
ground with his forehead. When
ne goes to pray he must be clean.
There is, therefore, in every mosque
water for washing purposes.
The idea Of Islam is that the Mos
lens shall join in prayer whenever
possible. In the mosques the pray
ers are conducted by the Imam who
stands before the altar, and the ranks
Of Moslems are arranged in the
strietest order, something like
soldiers. Everybody follows the
movements Of the Imam, and the
wholeperfOrmancem makes the impress
sion OF the exercises Of well drilled
soldiers. Amen is by all pronounced
loud as the closing word; also in
private houses and public offices the
Moslems have joint worship under
the guidance Of improvised Imans.
IL is prohibited while praying to
bend the arms, or to lin eyes or
hands towards heaven, TO uncover
the head, TO pat one foot before an
other, and 20 on. A praying Mos
lem is therefore in his personal ap-
pearauce 4 pattern OF personified
stagnatiOn, and il is only his fire.
quent change from standing to
kneeling that brings relief in the
monotOny.
FRIDAY PRAYER.
Friday is the Sabbath OF the
MOslems. 1t IS supposed that Mo-
manned chose this day rs the Sab
bath simply in opposition to the
Jews and the Christians; and that
may be. His mission was TO oppose
them, as a scOurge. On this day
the Moslems are expected t.
attend an extra service in the
mosques. To attend this service is.
strangely enough, particularly in
cumbeut upon the Sultan, who is the
guardian Of the faith. And il is so
important that the Sultans, even
when sick, try to appear in the
mosque ut the Friday service.
Mahommed I.died on the way from
the mosque TO the palace after having
attended the service. He left his
palace sick, drove TO the mosque and
returned home a cOrps.
EATING AND DRINKING.
To eat pork and to drink wine is
prohibited very strongly. Against
the last mentioned prohibition very
many sin, however, particularly
since European Immigration
brought with it some Of the con-
comitants Of European civilization.
IL a MOslem has TO undertake a 4
Journey he can receive from one Of |
the ecclesiastical authorities a
license that entities him TO partake /
OF unclean food without |
SHINING. Sometimes little /
logic helps conscientious Mos
lens out Of n dilemma, as was
the case with n Turkish officer
who in company with some English |
officers saw them having a nice
lunch on eggs and ham. The Turk
wanted very much to have some,
but could not, as it was pork, to |
which objection his English friends
made the remark that it was not
pork, 1t was ham; and the Turk,
being convinced by this undisput-
able argument that the food was
clean, as there was no prohibition in
the Koran to eat ham, he partook Of
II, to the satisfaction of himself and
the merriment Of his friends.
Once a year the Moslems must
last, and the fast reaches a whole
month. This is the ninth month Of
The year and is called Ramathan. In
his month no Moslem is permitted
10 taste food or drink, not even
water, from sunrise to sunset. This
s very hard way OF serving the
Lord. IL is true, during the night
my amount can be eaten and drunk,
nut this turning day to night and
light to day is after all a violation 1
II nature, and the consequences al
ways follow in the form Of various I
icknesses.
The holy night is the eth Of
On this night innu- 4
nerable miracles are performed, and
o pray during this night is par
icularly meritOrious. For on this I
light the Koran was sent from (
!eaven to the prophet Mohammed. I
That Is to say, in this night its :
were so impressed upon his
ieart and laid there. that he could 1
eel 1t Ike book lying on his l
cart. S
When the Ramathan is over n l
eneral rejoicing follows, and the r
rst three days Of the following o
lonth are devoted to festivities. h
his is the so-called Little Festival v
the Moslems. :
ITO be eontinuedJ h