The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-17

| alcoves worshipers were reading their
! Korans, and off at one side a crowd of
women shrouded in white wells was sit
ting. AS we walked through the high
priest pointed out the beauties of the
mosque, translating the texts of the Kor-
| an inaid here and there. He took me to
the pulpit which is cut out of single
+, block of solid marble and as a special
| favor showed me the greatest treasure
/ possessed by the church. This Is kept
| In a vault of stone with numerous doors,
which are guarded by two gray-bearded
| followers of the prophet. At the direc-
| ton of the high priest these doors were
opened. Ny curiosity rose as key after
| key was used, and when at last l was
shown a casket covered with glass l ex-
| peoted great diamond or some collection
of rubies and pearls. l looked in and saw
| nothing until his holiness pointed TO
single rough, red, wiry hair In the center
| The hair was about two inches long ana
| so fastened by glue to the casket that 1t
| stood straight up. l was told that 1t was
| a real hair from the mustache OF Mo-
/ manned and that it made the mosque
| especially holy. =
| 1t reminded me of mosque which !
visited at Kairouan in Tunisia. rms
was built by the barber of Mohammed
who buried under it's foundation three
hairs from the beard OF the prophet
The barber stole these hairs one day
while shaving Mohammed and carried
them about with him for the rest OF
his life. One he kept under his tongue,
another. over his heart and the third
| glued to his right arm. Upon his death
| they were planted and the mosque built
above them. The Golden Pagoda of
Rangoon, the most famous Buddhist
monument of the world, Is erected over
seven or eight hairs OF Buddha. and
down in Ceylon there is wonderful
| temple which contains Buddha's favor
lite TOOTH
The Pearl Mosque
| Another beautiful mosque here Is
| known as the Mott Musjid. or Pearl
Mosque. 1t was built about two hum
dred and fifty years ago by Arungzep,
| one of the Mob ammedan emperors, and
| it is the sister to the Pearl Mosque at
! Agra, built by Shah Jehan. Both OF
| these structures are of white marble
exuuisitely carved and inlaid. That at
| Agra Is perhaps the most beautiful
religious building of the whole. world.
Bayard Taylor said that it seemed TO
| lin so pure and stainless and so abso-
| lutely perfect in revealing the spirit of
worship that he felt humbled to think
that the Christian religion had never
| inspired its architects to surpass it.
| This temple to God and Mohammed is
| of the purest white marble, with three
great silvery domes rising above It..
| The court Is of marble squares, and in
fside are prayer spaces like those of the
Jamma Musjid. There is great mar
| BILE tank in the center of the court,
and upon the walls are inscriptions in
laid In black, which compare the build
| ing to pearl and describe its builder
as the king of kings and the. shadow
of God.
Mohnmmednn Sccts
I find the Mohammedans here some
| what-different from those of Egypt, Tur-
key and Arabia. The religion has
changed greatly according to the coun-
tries where 1t has been believed, Moros
are among the most ignorant followers
of the faith. and the same Is true of
certain districts of this country where
the people have mixed the principles of
the Koran with those of Hindooism. In
some villages the followers of tie
prophet believe in witches. They employ
the Hindoo astrologists to fix lucky
days for their marriages and also pray
to the HiEdoo gods to give them sons.
There are some sects which have castles
and in the Punjab there Is one led by
a man who claims to be the Messiah
of the Mohammedans. He breaches
against modern education and says that
the day of resurrection is at hand.
In general there are about many
sects among the Mohammedans as the
Christians. Mohammed told his follow
ers that after he died the religion would
be divided and 70 sscts would arise. There
are more than this in the Mohammedan
world. In India the four principal schools
are the Sunnites, the Shiahs the Waha-
bis and the new progressive school, which
Is in favor of education and almost every
ing modern. 1t is from this last school
that the chief unrest comes. The col
lege at Aligarh represents it. and among
Its members are those who belong to the
various Moslem leagues and Moslem ag-
itators.
The Sunnites and Shiahs have Ions