Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1891-05-02

!.lee - s mudA beetsr knov3eAee -
~ btb1o than have our uresiScSS =
the kings Of Europe q tn eer;r1,,.,..
The churches Of the MohsUmea,.,.
.nown . mosques, are The finest builde
mes Of the East, ana they rank amou1
the great architectural structures q the
world There IS . mosque in Cs;m
which covers moro than an acre vh;.h
y made entirely Of alabaster. no.t Of
which Is IS beautifully veined mi a
transparent as Mexican onyr Tha
floor of this mosque is carpeted 18th
elegant Turkish rugs, and 1 attended, r.
one night when the khedive was among
Its worshippers. il is one of the most
beautiful mosques in the world and Il
Is fair representative of a great Mo.
hammedan place of worship.
There are different sects among the
Mohammedans, but they are mora lib
eral In their treatment of each other
than are the Christians. In this ALA
bsster mosque q half-dozen different
sects were worshippirg, and in one part
OF 1t the dancing deryishes were whirl-
ing through their religious gymnastics,
These men and boys had dark yellow
faces, worn thin by fasting. They were
dressed in long white skirts, fastened in
at the waist with black belts, and on
their heads were high sugar-loaf hats.
One OF them played the flute, another
the tambourine, and the others after
kissing the hem of the robe of the chief,
held out their arms and began to whirl
slowly around to the music. As thev
continued to whirl one of them sang
verses from the koran, and at intervals
there were prayers by the chief. After
the prayers were over the whirling be-.
came more rapid until they at last went
around at the rate of sixty revolutions
q minute. At this time their skirts
stood out like those Of ballet dancer.
they became red in the face, and noted
that one of the boys fell to the ground
and was carried off in o fit. The howl
ing dervishes are even more horrible,
and there is great society of them at
Constantinople. I cannotdescribe their
religious gymnastics, but they work
themselves into frenzy, and in the in
:erior Of Turkey where they are away
from the restraint of western civiliza-
ton they often take knives and cut
themselves and each other in their re-
ligious ecstacy. They often go into epi-
leptic fits and foam at the mouth, and
they are as dirty set of long-haired
heathens as you will find in the world.
They are, however, the cranks of Mo-
hammedanism and are not fair sample
of the Mohammedan world,
The Mohammedans believe in God
and the prophets. They look upon
Christ as great prophet and believe
that Mohammed and Christ will act to-
gether as the judges of all mankind at
the last day. One of the minarets of
the noted mosque at Damascus was
built in memory of Christ. and Damas-
Gus is one of the fauatical of NOLAN.
medan cities. They look upon Adam
as pattern of human perfection and
they believe that the Garden of Eden
was originally located in Heaven.
When Eve seduced Adam in eating
the apple our parents were cast out Of
the Garden of Eden and fell to the
earth. Adam landed on mountain
in Ceylon and Eve dropped down near
Mecca. Adam for his sin spent 200
years in looking for Eve, and at last he
found her in Arabia, and the two lived
in mountain there together until they
died. This mountain is still known as
Adams Mount. The Mohammedans
consider Abraham great profit. He
is called in the koran the friend of God.
They call Moses the speaker of God.
and they have. all told, $4,000 proph-
cts. The greatest of these are Adam,
Abraham, Jesus, and Mohammed. The
koran includes charity and brotherly
love. It prohibits lending money at
interest, and it fixes he general laws of
the Mohammedan world. 1t inculcates
belief in future state in the heaven of
which each devout believer shall have
four beautiful and ever young maidens
to wait upon him and to administer to
his wants. It is in many of its chap
tiers so much like the Bible that it is
believed that Mohammed got large
part of its teachings from the scriptures
and from the Jews with whom he was
acquainted.-FranE G. Carpenter.