El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-07-16

down in Ceylon there is a wonderful
temple which contains Buddha's favor
! ite tooth.
The Pearl Mosques.
Another beautiful mosque here is
| known as the Mott Musjid, or Pearl
mosque. 1t was built about two hun
dred and fifty years ago by ArunSzeb,
| one of the Mohammedan emperOrs, and
| IT is the sister to the Pearl mosque at
Agra, built by Shah Jehan. Both of
| these structures are of white marble
| exQuiSitely carved and inlaid. That at
| Agra is perhaps the most beautiful
! religious building Of the whole world.
| Bayard Taylor said that it seemed to
| him 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 Nohammed is
of the pureSt white marble, with three
| great Silvery dOmeS rising above it.
| The court is of marble squares, and in
| side are prayer spaces like those of the
! Jamma Musjid. There is a great mar
| BILE tank in the center of the court,
! and upon the walls are inscriptions
J inlaid in black, which compare the
| building to a pearl and describe its
! builder as the wing of kings and the
shadow of God.
MOhammedan Sects.
[ find the Mohanmedans here some
what different from those of Egypt.
Turkey and Arabia. The religion has
changed greatly according to the coun-
tries where it 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 principles Of
the Koran with those of Hindooism. In
some villages the followers of the
prophet believe in witches. They employ
the Hindoo astrologists TO fix lucky
days for their marriages and also pray
to the Hindoo gods to give them sons.
There are some sects whoch have castles,
and in the Punjab there is one led by
man who claims to be the Messiam Of
the Mohammedans. He breaches against
modern education and says that the
day of resurrection is at hand.
In general there are about as many
sects among the Mohammedans as the
Christians. Mohammed told his follow
ers that after he died the religion would
be divided and Seventy-three sects
would arise. There are more than this
in the Mohammedan world. In India
the four principal schools are the Sun
mites, the Shiahs, the Wahabis and the
new progressive school, which is in ia
vor Of education and almost everything
modern. 1t is from this last school
that the chief unrest comes The college
at Algarh represents Il, and among its
members are those who belong to the
various Moslem leagues and Moslem
agitators.
The Sunnites and Shiahs have long
been the most prominent sects through
out the Mohammedan world. The Sum-
ties acknowledged the first four caliphs
TO have been the rightful successors of
that Ali, the cousin and soninlaw of
the prophet, should have succeeded him.
There are something like $4,000, 600
Sunnites in the world and only 15,000,-
600 Shiahs.
AS TO the Wahabis, they are the Uni
tarians of Mohamme6anism. They claim
to have the purest religion and TO found
their faith not Upon saints, but solely
upon the Koran and MOhammed. They
do not worship the tomb of Mahommed,
and when they captured Medina about
a century ago they destroyed the relics
and stripped off the ornaments of that
sacred spot.
There is another sect here known as
the order of Assassins, which is also
found in Arabia and Persia. 1t was
instituted by a mahdi who appeared at
the time of the Crusades and who be-
lieved in political assassination as a
cure for various ills.
What They Believe.
In the main, however, the Indian Mo-
hammedans believe much the same as
their brothers of this religion in other
parts of the world. They believe in one
God and His prophets. of which the
predestination OF good and i'll and think
chief is Mohammed- They have faith in
the day of judgment will come. They
believe in angels and witches and dew
lis. The angels are legion and they are
headed by Gabriel. Every man has an
angel upon each side of him at all
times Each of these has a note book
and he writes down the good and the i'll
that the man does a the time he does
it. The recording angel of the good
stands on his right and evil on his left.
and when the Mohammedan spitS~ he
always spits TO the left.
AS to the witches Of genii, they are
much like those described in the Ara
bian Nights. They are made of fire
and can assume all sorts of shapes. All
the MOhammedans believe in them and
that they live in the mountains which
surround the world.
The Indian MohammedanS give cred
it to most of the prophets of the Bible.
Mohammed said there were $4,000
prophets and over 800 apostles; among
the latter there were Adam, Noah, Abra-
ham, Moses, Jesus and MOhammed- They
rank Jesus among the greatest of the
prophets and reverencea Adam. Noah
and Abraham as well. They believe in
Jesus, but their prophet Jesus is differ
ent from our Savior. According to them
He was sent to reveal the gospel TO
man and He foretoId that, Mohammed
would come. They do not fbalieve that
He was crucified, but that another man
was put in His place and He was mi
raculously taken to heaven At the
last day He will come again and break
the cross and make many reforms. He
will reign as a king for a time and
then die and be buried near the tomb
of Mohammed.
The MOhammedan He'll.
l wish / could describe the Moham- /
medan hell. The Buddhists have hells |
of ice and bells Of fire, and there IRE |
certain bells believed in by the Chinese !
in which the devil saws the ungodly 10 |
pieces. The hell of the Mohammedans !
is of fires kept hot by burning men. |
The fatter the sinner, the more fire ne |
makes for his fellows. The clothes Of |
the damned are burning pitch, and !
their torments are varied by the con
tinued singing of scorpions. serpents |
and other reptiles.
On the other hand the Moharmedan |
heaven is garden of delight. where |