The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-30

, of pagans. Jews, Taoists, Shintoists and others.
 The Mohammedans are scattered all
 over North Africa. They form the bulk l of the population of Morocco, Algeria, l Tunisia, Tripoli and Egypt and there are
 millions of them in the Soudan. There are
 about fifty million Mohammedans in h. l dia. Arabia is populated by them They i form the predominating influence in Per , sia Asia Minor and Turkey, and there are millions of them in China and in the is- lands of the western Pacific ocean. We have a degraded Mohammed sect in the Sulu Islands and Mindanao, and there are
 many in Borneo, Java and in other parts of the Dutch East 1ndias. Jerusalem is now held by these people. Mussulmans guard the Church of the Holy Sepuleher, and the Mosque of Omar stands on the site of Solomons Temple. Mohammedan ism a religion is increasing rather than decreasing and whole tribes are now con
 verted at one time in this African con- | tinent.
 Religion of the Prophet.
 There is no doubt but that the Moham-
 medans believe in their religion. They teach charity and brotherly love. They preach against avarice and the lending of
 money at interest, and they do not drink intoxicating drinks. Their faith is quite as strong as ours, and they practice it
 
 ] prayers here every day; they pray in their shops or out in the fields; and in going through the bazaars one often observes the merchants studying their Koran. 1 Nearly every turbaned and gowned man l meet carries a rosary on which he counts his prayers as he goes over his
 beads, and five times every day I hear the shrlll cry of the muezzin or Moham medan priest as he stands on the minaret of a mosque, high oyer the city, and calls the people to come to prayers. The hours of prayer begin at daybreak. l The second call is at midday, and the
 third at about 3 o'clock There is a ] fourth call at sunset, and a fifth along in ] the evening. The call Is in Arabic, and 1 the words, translated, are somewhat like l these.
 Allah is great. l testify that there is
 no God but Allah, and Mohammed is the ] prophet of Allah. Come to prayer! Come I to worship! Allah is great! There is no i God but Allah!'
 l Another call is:
 Prayer Is better than sleep! Come to
 prayerl Come to prayern
 | As these calls ring out one sees the Mo i hammedan men on their way to the mosques. Some of them carry prayer rugs 1 under their arms, and others go without i them, relying on the mating or carpets l which are usually on the mosque floors
 
 | their shoes before they enter the mosque. i and generally lay down in front of them
 as they pray.
 1 In every mosque there is a fountain or
 washing place. and the Koran requires I that one wash himself before he goes in to | pray. He cleans his feet, hands and face,
 and other parts of his body, and he goes | through the motions of doing so, whether | he has water or not. It is often imposs- | ble to get water in the Sahara, and at | such times the faithful use sand. | As they pray the Mohammedans always :! face Mecca They have their fixed mo- 1 tions of praying, They begin by raising i their hands to the lobes of the ears; they
 next hold them little below the girdle,
 and then bow their heads over. After i this they get down on their knees, and
 bumps their heads on the floor, and then
 sit up and pray, muttering the words laid
 down in the Koran. They have numerous 1 prayers, but one of the shortest and
 most common, which takes much the 1 place of the Lords Prayer with us, is s | follows:
 ''In the name of God, merciful and 1 gracious. Praise be to God, the Lord of | creatures, the merciful and gracious, the 1 Prince of the day of judgment. We serve Thee. and we pray Thee for help. Lead ! us in the right way of those to whom