The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04
| Y |

M ten spssls sop ,nat : whenever 'sS o9''4' Mo %,
A'A hammedan kneels to say his
prayers, he turns his face to the eas-t:
but this is an error and if those same
travellers We're to see cast of Mecca a
follower Of the Koran praying they
would find that the devout man was
facing the west.
This signifies that it is not toward any
special cardinal point of the compass
that the Mohammedan gazes while per-
forming his deyotons, but it is always
IN the direction of Mecca, the holy city.
Yet it is not correct to say that it is
the city which dominates the posture for
in Mecca is the great mosque called
Masjidu l-Eiaram in the center of which
stands the Kaaba. which means in Ara
bic, square building the most sacred
shrine of the Mohammedans. The sa-
credness of the shrine lies in the fact
that 1t contains in its southeast corner
the holy black stone known as ihaia al
aswud, said to have been ruby which
came down from heaven, but now black.
ened by the tears shed for sin bv nil
gri'ns- This object of worship of course
Tails within the category of betylia, or
abadir, which have become the general
name for all sacred stones. and is an
irregular oval about seven inches in dia
meter. As the Kaaba is open to wor
shippers but two or three times year
and only the faithful are permitted to
approach it, much difficulty has been
experienced IN determining the compost
tion of the hajar al aswud, but II has
been found to consist of about dozen
smaller stones OF different shapes and
sizes
This stone once illumined the first
house on earth, the visited house, of
which we will speak a little later on
So numerous are the writings treat
ing of the creation the fall of man and
the early patriarchsi that it is not mat
ter of surprise that conclave was nee
essary TO pass upon and pronounce which
were to be considered canonical and
which apechryphal The truth is that the
most meagre information thereof It to
be found in holy writ. while the Talmud
and the Targums are filed to plethora
concerning same.
The Taimud is monumental work Of
Jewish traditions or oral laws. There
salem, but when the word Talmud is
used alone, it always refers to the Baby
lonian, which is about four times as
voluminous as that of Jerusalem 1t Is
divided into the Mishnah and the &C.
mara. Mishnah means repetition 'in-
struction' or learning" and for long
time 1t was not permissible to put 1t into
writing. it being delivered orally from
generation to generation. 1t had to be
learned by heart. IT. was discussion
of the law of Moses and its object the
adapting of that law to the varying cir
cumstances of the times in which il was
delivered. Gemara means completion or
perfection, and 1t is the explanation or
comments on the Mishnah.
The Targums are the Aramean versions
OF the Old Testament and they are of
intense interest. There ar number of
them. but that of Babylon and the one
of Jerusalem are the most popular
Then again there are Arabic legends
anent the patriarchs for Moh1mmedan
and Jew, both trace a common origin
from Abraham of old.
In order to fully comprehend and ap-
precate the visited house it will be
NECESSARY to devote a few moments in
oenghtful wandering through a few of
these most Interesting legends.
When was in Damascus I was shown
the spot where Cain killed Abel and at
Hebron had pointed ont to me the Cam
pus Damascenus a territory of exceeding
~ red soil from which it is said that
Adam was created. In fact ST. Jerome
saws that Damascus means--bood- drinking
ana was SO named because the soil be-
fame red from the shedding of Ahel's
plood' put ne referred to the plain near
Hebron and not the city of Dana sous
According TO the Mohammedans Adam
was created out of dust brourht to God
by the four Archangels Gabriel, Michael.