The Sauk Centre herald., 1907-11-28

and stepping in says: with permis-
sion" The answer, Your permis-
sion is with YOU, being given, means
ali are hid, or at least the faces of
the women The stranger is never
allowed during his stay to ask for or
inquire for the women of the house.
| Polygamy is usual only among
wealthy Mohammedans, for the law
really obliges the husband to provide
for every wife in a separate house, or
at least separate rooms and meals.
All the expenses, and the wedding ex-
penses beside, are very great, and the
peace Of the family is forever gone
on second wife being taken. Onl
! four legitimate wives are allowed; the
man may have more women, but they
are only concubines. He can swear
u abandon one of the four wives-a
partial divOrce-and may then marry
another one in her place, keeping The
abandoned one in his house. The aim
| Of a MOhammedan is to leave the
largest possible number of male pro-
seny, who can repeat their formula
c.. faith, thus securing to him sure
position in after life.
Though they have very vague ideas
as to what becomes of women after
death, the Mohammedan who has liv-
I'd faithful and religious life is pro-
vided with many huriyis, of freed wo-
mer iii Heaven, and lives in a great
palace which was built during the
hours or minutes he had spent in
Ilayer while on earth. AS the wo-
man has no soul and therefore no af-
tel life TO expect, she does not pray
fOi herself but for salvation OF her
husband. | never saw a woman pray
irg III d mosque. 1t must be under
stood that prayers among Mohamme-
dams are a repetition, twice to five
times, of the same sentences con-
sisting of the opening chapter of the
Koran. AS rule, however, the be-
lever has five prayers in twenty-four
hours which are obligatory. 1t is q
debt every Muslin owes to God, and
whoever misses them has to repeat
item the next day or afterward.
Prayers are preceded by ablutions,
without which the prayer is useless
The hands and feet, face and all is
Sues are to be washed. With many
sects women are considered so uncelan
that the very shadow of a woman fall
i, g on one who prays defiles the alb
luton, aud this must be rnewed. 1t
i, we'll here to say that old maids
are practically unknown in the East.
The prayers can be said alone or i'll
rnisOn all over as the whole of the
earth is clean. Prayers forgotten III
this life must be repeated in the next,
at the gate of hell, Oh an elevated
red hot flat iron plate. and every
time the man touches the floor his
forehead is burnt and made whole
again, and so on till the whole of the
missed prayers are gone through.
Before beginning prayer the person
quietly says: 81 intend to pray
Then spreading out a mantle, taking
off his shoes and facing Mecca, first
standing upright and lifting both
hands to the sides of the temples,
then letting them fall again, then
crossing them, next bowling, then
standing up again, now going down
OF his knees, then kissing the ground,
raising the body and kissing the
ground again-this constitutes one
"kneeling' Every prayer consists
of two to five such kneelings.
Superstitions, as with all ignorant
people, are with oriental women GER
ainly stronger than prayer. Timid as
is the nature of women in general,
their timidity is here so exaggerated
that no woman will step into dark
room even in her own home without
being accompanied and will always
carry light. Evil spirits and all
kinds of ghosts fill the Arabic world
in and out of houses, in the country
OF in the town, on land or on water.
Cemeteries are especially alive with
invisible beings, appearing and dis
appearing on Thursday evenings. Es-
pecially the Evil Eye is very much