THE word Quran signifies in Arabic "the reading," or rather, "that which ought to be read." The syllable Al is only the Arabic article signifying the, and therefore ought to be omitted when the English article is prefixed.

The work is divided into 114 chapters, called "Suras," an epithet, properly signifying a row, order, or regular series; as a course of bricks in building, or a rank of soldiers in an army.

In the manuscript copies these chapters are not distinguished by their numerical order, but by particular titles, which (except that of the first, which is the initial sura, or introduction to the rest) are taken sometimes from a particular matter treated of, or person mentioned therein ; but usually from the first word of note. Occasionally there are two or more titles, a peculiarity due to the difference of the copies.

Some of the chapters having been revealed at Mecca, and others at Madina, the explanation of this circumstance makes a part of the title ; but several of the1chapters are said to have been revealed partly at the former town, and partly at the latter; and as to others, it is yet a dispute among the commentators to which place of the two they belong.

Every chapter is subdivided into smaller portions, of very unequal length, customarily called verses; but the Arabic word is "Ayat," and signifies signs or wonders.

Notwithstanding this subdivision is common and well known, yet no manuscript exists wherein the verses are actually numbered; though in some copies the total verses in each chapter is set down after the title. And the Muhammadans seem to have some scruple in making an actual distinction in their copies, because the chief disagreement between their several editions of the Quran consists in the division and number of the verses.

Besides these unequal divisions of chapter and verse, the Muhammadans have also divided the book into sixty equal portions which they call Ahzab, each again subdivided into four equal parts; but the Quran is more usually apportioned into thirty sections, named Ajza, each of twice the length of the former, and in the like manner subdivided into four parts. These divisions are for the use of the readers in the royal temples, or in the adjoining chapels where the emperors and great men are interred. There are thirty of these readers belonging to every chapel, and each reads his section every day, so that the whole work is read over once a day.

Next after the title, at the head of every chapter, except only the ninth, is prefixed the following solemn form, by the Muhammadans called the Bismilla, " In the name of the most mercifol GOD"; which sentence they constantly place at the beginning of all their books and writings in general, as a peculiar mark or distinguishing characteristic of their religion, it being counted a sort of impiety to omit it.

This auspicatory form, and also the titles of the chapters, are by the generality of the doctors and commentators believed to be of divine origin, no less than itself; but the more moderate are of opinion that they are only human additions, and not the very word of GOD.

Twenty-nine chapters have this peculiarity, that they begin with certain letters of the alphabet, some with a single one, others with more. These letters the Muhammadans believe to be the peculiar marks of the

Quran, and to conceal several profound mysteries, the certain understanding of which, the more intelligent confess, has not been communicated to any mortal, their prophet only excepted. Notwithstanding which, some take the liberty of guessing at their meaning, and suppose the letters to stand for as many words expressing the names and attributes of GOD, His works, ordinances, and decrees. Others explain the intent of these letters from their nature, or else from their value in numbers; but in all probability their true meaning has yet to be found.

The Quran is universally allowed to be written with the utmost elegance and purity of language, in the dialect of the tribe of Quraish (the most noble and polite of all the Arabians), but with some mixture, though very rarely, of other dialects. It is confessedly the standard of the Arabic tongue, and as the more orthodox believe, and are taught by the book itself, inimitable by any human pen.

But it must not be overlooked that the rules of language have been made to conform to this venerated composition, and that, therefore, it cannot be otherwise than perfect, judged according to the canons of grammar and learning, of which it is itself the basis and substratum.

It is asserted by the Muslims that each Prophet who has appeared in the world, has performed miracles in that department of skill or science which flourished in his particular age; thus, Moses was a magician, Jesus healed the sick, while Muhammad produced a work which, for its eloquence and beauty of diction, was unrivalled by any of the compositions of its time. This circumstance is deemed to stamp the Quran as having a divine origin, and indeed to this miracle, for such it is considered in Islam, Muhammad himself appealed for the confirmation of his mission, publicly challenging the most learned and gifted men of the day to produce a single chapter to compare with the book which he alleged God had whispered into his ear. The challenge was accepted, and a poem written by Labid Ibn Rabia,

one of the greatest wits in Arabia, being fixed up on the gate of the temple of Mecca, an honour allowed to none but the most esteemed performances, none of the other poets durst offer anything of their own in competition with it. But the second chapter of the Quran being placed by its side soon after, Labid himself (then an idolator) on reading the first verses only, was struck with admiration, and immediately professed the religion taught thereby, declaring that such words could only proceed from an inspired person.

That Muhammad's boast as to the literary excellence of the Quran was not. unfounded, is further evidenced by a circumstance, which occurred about a century after the establishment of Islam. The story runs that in those days a body of religious "Nihilists," seeing the enormous power which the Quran exercised over the hearts of the Faithful, commissioned a certain Ibn al Muqaffa, a man of profound learning, unsurpassable eloquence and vivid imagination, to produce a book to rival the emanation of Muhammad's pen. Ibn al Muqaffa agreed, but stipulated that he should be allowed a period of twelve months wherein to accomplish his task, during which time all his bodily wants should be supplied, so that he might be enabled to concentrate his mind on the task which he had undertaken. At the expiration of half the allotted interval his friends, on coming to make inquiries as to his progress, found him sitting, pen in hand, deeply absorbed in study, while before him was a blank sheet of paper, and around his desk a wild confusion of closely-written manuscripts torn to pieces, and scattered indiscriminately over the apartment. In good truth he had tried to write a single verse equalling the Quran in excellence, and failed; and he confessed with confusion and shame that a solitary line had baffled all his efforts for six months, so he retired from the task hopeless and crestfallen.But in addition to the charm of the language in which Muhammad clothed his mission, he possessed,

pious Muslim : "The poets before him had sung another source of power. To quote the words of a of valour and generosity, of love and strife, and revenge .... of early graves, upon which weeps the morning cloud, and of the fleeting nature of life, which comes and goes as the waves of the desert sands, as the tents of a caravan, as a flower that shoots up and dies away; or they shoot their bitter arrows of satire right and left into the enemies' own soul. Muhammad sang of none of these. No love-minstrelsy his-not the joys of the world, nor sword, nor camel, nor jealousy, nor human vengeance; not the glories of tribe or ancestor. He preached Islam.

It is worthy of note that Muhammad in the Quran disclaims all power of working miracles ; trusting, as has been before said, to that sacred book itself as evidence of his mission from on high. After his death, however, his followers, found the temptation of attributing supernatural endowments to the founder of their religion too strong to be resisted. Of the many traditions which clothe the Prophet of Arabia with little less than divine power, the most striking is the account which has been handed down of his "Night Journey" when bestriding a mystic steed he was permitted to enter the precincts of Heaven. Pious Muslims believe that the "Messenger of God" was sitting in his house at Mecca, when of a sudden the roof was rent asunder, and the Angel Gabriel descended. Opening the Prophet's breast the heavenly visitant proceeded to wash the heart with water from the holy spring which flows in the sacred city. This done, the messenger of God's behests brought a golden vessel, full of Faith and Knowledge, which he poured into the Prophet's bosom, and then placing him on an animal called " Buraq," a creature between a mule or an ass and a bird, carried his astonished companion towards the skies. On arriving at the first heaven he was introduced to Adam, who is described as being "of a very dark brick-dust complexion, for he was made out of reddish earth, whence

his name Adam." On the right hand and on the left of the forefather of mankind were black appearances, the spirits of his children, in the shape of men. Those on his right were destined for Paradise, those on his left for the regions of despair; as a consequence, when Adam looked to his right he laughed, but wept when his glance fell on the luckless beings on his left. Mounting upwards, the Prophet proceeded in turn the remaining six heavens, meeting on his way successively Moses, "a man of tall stature, and the

colour of wheat, and of middling body," and Jesus, "a middle-sized man, with a red and white complexion, and hair not curly but flowing loosely." All these greeted Muhammad as a friend and a brother. He was then shown the Houris of Paradise, destined for the solace and delight of the Faithful ; and witnessed also the terrible punishments prepared for the unbelievers and hypocrites. Time for prayers being announced, Muhammad acted as Imam, or leader of all the prophets who had gone before him into Heaven.

The general design of the Quran seems to be to

unite in the knowledge and worship of the infinite, eternal, invisible God, by whose power, wisdom, and goodness all things were made, the supreme, and One only Governor, Judge, and absolute Lord of creation, the professors of the different religions then followed in the populous country of Arabia, who for the most part lived promiscuously, and wandered without guides, the far greater number being idolaters, and the rest Jews and Christians, mostly of erroneous and heterodox belief; and to bring them all to the obedience of Muhammad, as the prophet and Ambassador of God, who after the repeated admonitions, promises, and threats of former ages, was at last to establish and propagate God's religion on earth by force of arms, and to be acknowledged chief pontiff in spiritual matters, as well as supreme prince in temporal affairs.

In the early ages the religion of the Arabs, which they call the state of ignorance, in opposition to the knowledge of God's true worship revealed to them by 1their prophet, was chiefly gross idolatry; the Sabian worship having almost overrun the whole nation, though there were also great numbers of Christians, Jews, and Magians among them.

These people not only believed one God, but produced many strong arguments for His unity, though they also paid an adoration to the stars, or the angels and intelligences which they supposed to reside in them and govern the world under the Supreme Deity. They endeavoured to perfect themselves in the four intellectual virtues, and believed the souls of wicked men will be punished for nine thousand ages, but will afterwards be received to mercy. They were obliged to pray three times a day; the first, half an hour or less before sunrise, ordering it so that just as the sun rises they might finish eight adorations, each containing three prostrations ; the second prayer ended at noon, when the sun begins to decline, in saying which they performed five such adorations as the former: and the same they used to do the third time, their task ending just as the

sun sets. They fasted three times a year, the first time thirty days, the next nine days, and the last seven. They offered many sacrifices, but ate no part of them, burning them all. They abstained from beaus, garlic, and some other pulse and vegetables. As to the Sabian "Qibla," or part to which they turn their faces in praying, authors greatly differ; one will have it to be the north, another the south, a third Mecca, and a fourth the star to which they paid their devotions; perhaps, too, there might have been some variety in their practice in this respect They were wont to go on pilgrimage to a place near the city of Harran in Mesopotamia, where great numbers of them dwelt, and they had also a great respect for the temple of Mecca, and the pyramids of Egypt; fancying these last to be the sepulchres of Seth, and of Enoch and Sabi his two sons, whom they regarded as the first propagators of their religion; at these structures they sacrificed a cock and a black calf, and offered up incense. Besides the book of Psalms, the only true scripture they read, they had other books which they esteemed equally sacred, particularly one in the Chaldee tongue which they called the Book of Seth, a work full of moral discourses. This sect is supposed to have taken the name of Sabians from the above-mentioned Sabi, though it seems rather to be derived from the word Saba, signifying the host of heaven, which they worshipped. Travellers commonly called them Christians of St. John the Baptist, whose disciples they also pretended to be, using a kind of baptism similar in some degree to that customary in Christian worship. This is one of the religions the practice of which Muhammad tolerated (on paying tribute), and the professors of it are often included in that expression of the Quran, "those to whom the scriptures have been given," or literally, the people of the book.

The idolatry of the Arabs then, as Sabians, chiefly consisted in worshipping the fixed stars and planets, and the angels and their images, which they honoured

as inferior deities, and whose intercession they begged, as their mediators with God. For the Arabs acknowledged one supreme God, the Creator and Lord of the universe, whom they called Alla Taala, the Most High God; and their other deities, who were subordinate to him, they called simply al Ilahat, i.e., the goddesses.

It was from this gross idolatry, or the worship of inferior deities, or companions of God, as the Arabs continue to call them, that Muhammad reclaimed his countrymen, establishing the sole worship of the true God among them; so that the Muslims are far from being idolaters, as some writers have pretended.

The worship of the stars the Arabs might easily have been led to adopt from their observing the changes of weather to happen at the rising and setting of certain of them, a circumstance which after a long course of experience induced them to ascribe a divine power to those stars, and to think themselves indebted to them -for their rains, a very great benefit and refreshment to their parched country: of this superstition the Quran particularly takes notice.

The ancient Arabians and Indians, between which two nations there was a great conformity of religions, had seven celebrated temples, dedicated to the seven planets.

Though these deities were generally reverenced by the whole nation, yet each tribe chose some one as the more peculiar object of their adoration of the angels or intelligences which they worshipped, the Quran makes mention only of three, known under the female names of Allat, al Uzza, and Mana. These were by them called goddesses, and the daughters of God; an appellation they gave not only to the angels, but also to their images, which were either believed to be inspired with life by God, or else to become the tabernacles of the angels, and to be animated by them; and divine worship was accorded them, because it was imagined they interceded with God for such as were their devotees.

Allat was the idol of a tribe which dwelt at Tayif, and had a temple consecrated to her in a place called Nakhla. This idol was destroyed by Muhammad's order, in the ninth year of the Hijra (= A.D. 630). The inhabitants of Tayif, especially the women, bitterly lamented the loss of this their deity, of which they were so fond that they begged of the Prophet as a condition of peace, that it might not be destroyed for three years, and not obtaining that, asked only a month's respite; but he absolutely denied them even this concession. There are several derivations of this word, which most probably takes its origin from the root Alla, of which it is a feminine form meaning "goddess."

Al Uzza, as some affirm, was the idol of the Quraish and lesser tribes ; others are of opinion that it was a tree called the Egyptian thorn, or acacia, worshipped by the tribe of Ghatfan, who built a chapel over it, called Boss, so contrived as to give a sound when any person entered. Khalid Ibn Walid being sent by Muhammad in the eighth year of the Hijra (A.D. 629) to destroy this idol, demolished the chapel, and cutting down the tree or image, burnt it he also slew the priestess, who ran out with her hair dishevelled, and her hands on her head as a suppliant. Yet the author who relates this, in another place says the chapel was pulled down, and its architect himself killed, because he consecrated this chapel with design to draw the pilgrims thither from Mecca, and lessen the reputation of the Kaba. The name of this deity is derived from the root azza, and signifies the most mighty.

Mana, the object of worship of the tribes between Mecca and Madina, was a large stone, demolished by one Saad, in the eighth year of the Hijra (= A.D. 629), a year so fatal to the idols of Arabia. The name, derived from a word signifying to flow, refers to the outpouring of the blood of the victims sacrificed to the deity; whence the valley of Mina, near Mecca, where the pilgrims at this day slay their sacrifices, had also its name.

There are also some antediluvian idols against which Noah preached ; these were afterwards taken by the Arabs for gods, having been men of great merit and piety in their day, whose statues they reverenced at first with a civil honour only, which in process of time became heightened to a divine worship.

Of these Wadd was supposed to be the heaven, and was worshipped under the form of a man.

Sawa was adored under the shape of a woman. This idol, lying under water for sometime after the Deluge was at length, it is said, discovered by the devil, and was worshipped by certain tribes, who instituted pilgrimages to it.

Yaghuth was an idol in the shape of a lion. Its name seems to be derived from a term which signifies to to help

Yauk was worshipped under the figure of a horse. It is said he was a man of great piety, and his death much regretted; whereupon the devil appeared to his friends in human form, and undertaking to represent him to the life, persuaded them, by way of comfort, to place his effigies in their temples, that they might have it in view when at their devotions. This was done, and seven others of extraordinary merit had the same honours shown them, till at length their posterity made idols of them in earnest. The name Yauk probably comes from a word meaning to prevent or avert.

Nasr was a deity adored under the image of an eagle, which the name signifies.

Besides the idols mentioned, the Arabs also worshipped great numbers of others: for every house-had his household god or gods, which he last took leave of and first saluted at his going abroad and returning home. There were no less than 360 idols, equalling in number the days of their year, in and about the Kaba of Mecca; the chief of which was Hobal, the statue of a man, made of agate, which having by some accident lost a hand, the Quraish

repaired it with one of gold: he held in his hand seven arrows without heads or feathers, such as the Arabs used in divination. This idol is supposed to have been the same with the image of Abraham found and destroyed by the Prophet, on his entering the Kaba, in the eighth year of the Hijra (= A.D. 629), when he took Mecca; the image was surrounded with a great number of angels and prophets, as inferior deities ; among whom, as some say, was Ishmael, with divining arrows in his hand.

Asaf and Nayala, the former the image of a man, the latter of a woman, were also two idols brought from Syria, and placed the one on Mount Safa, and the other on Mount Marwa. It is related that Asaf was the son of Amru, and Nayala the daughter of Sahal, both of the tribe of Jorham, who committing improprieties together in the Kaba, were by God turned into stone, and afterwards worshipped by the Quraish, and so much reverenced by them, that though this superstition was condemned by Muhammad, yet he was forced to allow them to visit those mountains as monuments of divine justice.

One idol more 9f this nation merits notice, and that was a lump of dough worshipped by the tribe of Hanifa who treated the sacred mass with a respect worthy of the Papists, presuming not to eat it till they were compelled so to do by famine.

Several of their idols, as Mana in particular, were no more than large rude stones, the worship of which the posterity of Ismael first introduced: for as they multiplied, and the territory of Mecca grew too strait for them great numbers were obliged to seek new abodes; and on such migrations it was usual for them to take with them some of the stones of that holy land, and set them up in the places where they located themselves; and these they at first only compassed out of devotion, as they had accustomed to do the Kaba. But this at last ended in rank idolatry, the Ismailites forgetting the religion left them by their father so far as to pay

divine worship to any one stone which they might happen to meet.

Some of the pagan Arabs gave credence to neither a creation past, nor a resurrection to come, attributing the origin of things to nature, and their dissolution to age. Others believed both, amongst whom were those who, when they died, had their camel tied by their sepulchre, and so left, without meat or drink, to perish, so as to accompany them to the other world, lest they should be obliged, at the resurrection, to go on foot, which was reckoned very scandalous. Some held to a metempsychosis, fancying that of the blood near the dead person's brain was formed a bird named Hama, which once in a hundred years visited the sepulchre; though others say this bird is animated by the soul of him who is unjustly slain, and continually cries, "give me to drink "-meaning of the murderer's blood-till his death be revenged, and then it flies away.

The great doctrine of the Quran is the unity of God, to restore which point was the chief end of Muhammad's mission; it being laid down by him as a fundamental truth, that there never was, nor ever can be, more than one true orthodox religion. For though the particular laws or ceremonies are only temporary, and subject to alteration according to divine direction, yet the substance being eternal truth, is not liable to change effectually to engage people to hearken to him, a great but continues immutably the same. And the more part of the book is devoted to examples of dreadful punishments formerly inflicted by God on those who rejected and abused his messengers; several of which stories are in whole or part taken from the Old and New Testaments.

The other portion of the Quran comprises necessary laws and directions, admonitions to moral and divine virtues, and above all, precepts regarding the worship and reverence of the only true God, and resignation to His will.

But besides these, there are a great number of pas

sages which are occasional, and relate to particular emergencies. For whenever anything happened which perplexed Muhammad, he had constant recourse to a new revelation, as an infallible expedient in all cases of difficulty.

That Muhammad was really the author of the Quran is beyond dispute; though it is highly probable that he had no small assistance in his design from others.

However this may be, the Muslims absolutely deny that the Book was composed by their Prophet himself, or by any other for him; it being their general and orthodox belief that it is of divine original, nay, that it is eternal and uncreated, remaining, as some express it, in the very essence of God ; that the first transcript has been from everlasting by God's throne, written on a table of vast size, in which are also recorded the divine decrees past and future: that a copy from this table, in one volume on paper, was by the ministry of the angel Gabriel sent down to the lowest heaven in the month of Ramazan, on the night of power; whence Gabriel revealed it to Muhammad by parcels, some at Mecca, and some at Madina, at different times, during the space of twenty-three years, as the exigency of affairs required: giving him, however, the consolation to show him the whole (which they tell us was bound in silk, and adorned with gold and precious stones of Paradise) once a year; though in the later period of his life he had the favour to see it twice.

The number of visits which the angelic messenger paid to earth for the purpose of revealing to the Prophet the wishes of his Creator is said to have been no less than 24,000; but in what shape Gabriel appeared is a matter with regard to which there is considerable difference of opinion amongst Muslims, though they all agree in thinking that his angelic form was laid aside when he came down to this mundane sphere. It is supposed that few chapters were delivered entire, the most part having been revealed piecemeal, and written down from time to time by the Prophet's amanuensis,

till they were completed, according to the directions of the angel. The first parcel that was revealed, is generally agreed to have been the first five verses of the ninety-sixth chapter.

After the passages had been taken down in writing by his scribe, from the Prophet's mouth, they were published to his followers, several of whom took copies for their private use, but the far greater number learned them by heart. The originals, when returned, were put promiscuously into a chest, no order of time being observed, for which reason it is uncertain when many passages were revealed.

When Muhammad died, he left his revelations in the same disorder in which he had put them away, and not digested into the method in which we now find them. This was the work of his successor, Abu Bakr, who, considering that a great number of passages were committed to the memory of the Prophet's followers, many of whom had been slain in the wars, ordered the whole on which they had been written, and which were kept to be collected, not only from the palm-leaves and skins between two boards or covers, but also from the mouths of such as had acquired them by heart. And this transcript when completed he committed to the custody of Hafsa, the daughter of Omar, one of the Prophet's widows.

Owing to this circumstance it is generally imagined that Abu Bakr was really the compiler of the Quran; though for aught appears to the contrary, Muhammud left the chapters complete as we now have them, excepting such passages as his successor might have added or corrected from those who knew them by heart; what Abu Bakr did else being perhaps no more than to range the chapters in their present order a labour which seems to have been performed without any regard to chronological sequence, the longest having as a rule been placed first.

In the thirtieth year of the Hijra, Othman being then Khalif, and observing the great disagreement in the

copies of the Quran as regards the several provinces of the empire, by advice of the companions, ordered a great number of copies to be transcribed from the compilation of Abu Bakr, in Hafsa's care, under the inspection of some specially selected scholars, whom he directed that wherever they disagreed about any word, they should write it in the dialect of the Quraish, in which it was at first delivered. These copies when made were dispersed in the several provinces of the empire, and the old ones burnt and suppressed. Though many things in Hafsa's copy were corrected by the above-mentioned supervisors, yet some few various readings still occur.

It may interest the curious to learn that of the seven principal editions of the Quran two were published and used at Madina, a third at Mecca, a fourth at Kufa, a fifth at Bussora, a sixth in Syria, and a seventh called the common or vulgar edition. Of these, the first makes the whole number of the verses 6,ooo; the second and fifth, 6,214; the third, 6219; the fourth, 6,236; the sixth, 6,226; and the last, 6,225. But they are all said to contain the same number of words, namely, 77,639; and the same number of letters, viz., 323,015.

The first printed edition of the entire Quran was published at Venice, in the year 1530, by Paganinus of Brescia. The Pope of Rome, however, was alarmed for the safety of Papal superstition, and all the copies were committed to the flames. The next complete edition appeared at Hamburgh in 1684 in quarto, under the auspices of Hinckleman. A later and more celebrated edition was printed at St. Petersburgh, by command of the Empress Catherine, for the benefit of such of her Tartar subjects as were Muslims; and in order not to offend their prejudices against printed books, the type was cast in such a manner as to present the appearance of a manuscript. A Latin translation was produced in the year 1550, followed after the interval of a century and a half (1698), by the elaborate volumes in the same language which were given to the world by Father Lewis Marani, the confessor of Pope Innocent XI. The

translation best known in England is that by G. Sale, though the labour of his predecessor, Pocock, in no inconsiderable degree paved the way for his more fortunate rival.

It has been said that amongst the Muslims the Quran is considered to have had a divine origin, having been uncreated and eternal; but such a notion is not universal, and many and heated have been the controversies on this very point. One anecdote will suffice to indicate the nature of the dispute which rent Islam in sunder. The Imam ash Shafii, who flourished from about A.H. 150 (=A.D. 767) to AH. 204 (= AD. 819), held a public disputation in Baghdad on this very point quoting the verse from the Quran, "God said be and it was." He proceeded to inquire "Did not therefore God create all things by the word be?" His opponent assented. "If then," was the rejoinder, "the Quran were created, must not the word 'be' have been created with it?" So plain a proposition was unanswerable. "Then," said Shafli, "all things according to you were created by a created being, which is a gross inconsistency and manifest impiety." The disputant was reduced to silence, and proclaimed a pestilent heretic, for whom death was the only reward.

The Muslims would have it believed that the Arabic of the Quran is the language of Heaven, and an effort was made in the first days of Islam to preserve an uniform pronunciation and reading of the Sacred lection but men of strange lands could not acquire the pure intonation of the people of Mecca, and no less than seven different ways of reading the book became current, owing in a great measure to the absence of vowel points and other diacritical marks. So a voice from Heaven revealed to mankind that they were at liberty to read the Sacred Book in seven dialects, and a recognized School of Readers, seven in number, sprang into existence, whose readings are universally accepted throughout the Muslim world.

The Doctrines and Precepts of the Quran relating to

Faith and Religious Duties.- To his religion Muhammad gave the name of Islam, which word signifies resignation, or submission to the service and commands of God.

The Muhammadans, again, divide Islam into two distinct parts: Iman, i.e. faith, or theory, and Din, i.e. religion, or practice; and teach that it is built on five fundamental points, one belonging to faith, and the other four to practice.

The first is the confession of faith; that "there is no God but the true God; and that Muhammad is His apostle." Under which they comprehend six distinct branches; viz., 1. Belief in God; 2. In his angels; 3. In his scriptures; 4. In his prophets; 5. In the resurrection and day of judgment; and, 6. In God's absolute decree and predetermination both of good and evil.

The four points relating to practice are: 1. Prayer, under which are comprehended those washings or purifications which are necessary preparations required before prayer; 2. Alms; 3. Fasting; and 4. The Pilgrimage to Mecca.

Belief in God-The fundamental position on which Muhammad erected the superstructure of his religion was that from the beginning to the end of the world there has been, and for ever will be, but one true orthodox belief; consisting, as to matter of faith, in acknowledging the only true God, and believing in and obeying such messengers or prophets as He should from time to time send, with proper credentials, to reveal His will to man-kind; and as to matter of practice, in the observance of the immutable and eternal laws of right and wrong, together with such other precepts and ceremonies as God should think fit to order for the time being, according to different dispensations in different ages of the world.

Under pretext that this eternal religion was in his time corrupted, and professed in its purity by no one sect of men, Muhammad claimed to be a prophet sent

by God to reform those abuses which bad crept into it, and to reduce it to its primitive simplicity; with the addition, however, of, peculiar laws and ceremonies some of which had been used in former times, and others were now first instituted. And he comprehended the whole substance of his doctrine under these two propositions, or articles of faith; viz., that there is but one God, and that himself was the apostle of God; in consequence of which latter article, all such ordinances and institutions as he thought fit to establish must be received as obligatory and of divine authority.

Regarding the attributes of God the Muhammadans believe that he is (1) Living and Eternal ; (2) all-knowmg; (3) all-powerful (4) able to do what he wills (5) all-hearing; (6) all-seeing; and (7) endued with speech. But there is a considerable diversity of opinion as to the interpretation to be put upon some of these powers, and Islam is rent into factions holding views totally at variance with each other on many points of dogma relative to the Almighty Ruler of the world.

The names of God are supposed to be 3,000 in number, of which one thousand are known to the angels, and a thousand to the Prophets, while the remaining thousand are thus distributed: in the Pentateuch three hundred, in the Psalms and in the Gospels respectively a similar number, while in the Quran there are to be found ninety and nine, one being still hidden, and concealed from mankind.

Angels. - The Muhammadans believe in the existence of Angelic beings free from all sin, who neither eat nor -drink, and who have no distinction of sex. As a rule invisible, save to animals, who, according to common belief can see them, they occasionally at special times appear in human form. Of such beings there is a hierarchy. In the highest rank are those nearest to God. These are the firm supporters of His throne, who receive the homage of the others. The first of these is in the likeness of a man, the second in that of a bull, the third in that of an eagle, and the fourth in

that of a lion: On the day of judgment, however, four other angels will be added to these, because in the Quran it is written that on that occasion eight angels will sustain the throne of God. After these comes the angel named "Ruh" or "Spirit," thus named, because -every breath he draws creates a soul.-The four angels who are considered to enjoy God's favour in a pre-eminent degree are (1) Gabriel, the guardian and communicator of His revelation, who in the space of one hour can descend from Heaven to earth, and who, with one wing, of which he has 6oo, can lift up a mountain; (2) Michael, an archangel, whose special province is to see that all created beings -have what is needful for them, both as regards body -and soul (3) Izrail, the angel of death, whose feet stand on the foundation of the earth, while his head reaches to the highest heavens, to whom is assigned -the duty of receiving men's souls when they die; and lastly (4) Israfil, the angel of the Resurrection.

In addition to these are the cherubim, occupied exclusively in chanting the praises of God; the two secretaries, who record the actions of men ; the observers who spy out the least gestures, and hear every word of mankind; the travellers, who traverse the whole earth in order to know when people utter the name of God, and pray to Him; the angels of the seven planets ; the two guardian angels appointed to keep watch over the world; these latter are changed every day; the two angels of the grave; the nineteen who have charge of Hell; and lastly, the countless multitudes of heavenly beings who, according to the Muslim belief, are charged with the care of the earth, each particle of which has a separate angel, and who fill the illimitable expanse of space.

The devil, whom Muhammad names Iblis from his despair, was once one of those angels nearest to God's presence, and fell, according to the doctrine of the Quran, for refusing to pay homage to Adam at the command of the Lord of Heaven.

According to the notions of the Muslims, there is a special arrangement made by Providence to mitigate -the evils of Satanic interference. Iblis, though able to assume all other forms, is not permitted to appear in the semblance of the Deity, or any of His Angels, or Prophets. There would otherwise be much danger to -human salvation, as under the appearance of one of the prophets, or of some superior being, the Tempter might make use of his power to seduce men to sin. To prevent this, whenever he attempts to assume such forms, fire comes down from heaven and repulses him.

It has been said that the angels are immaculate, but, if the story of Harut and Marut is to be accepted as genuine-a matter upon which there is considerable difference of opinion amongst Muslims themselves - this dictum must be qualified to some extent. The runs that in the time of Enoch the Prophet, when the angels beheld the wickedness of mankind, they sorely distressed, and said to the Creator of Heaven and Earth, "O Lord! Adam and his descendants, whom Thou hast appointed as Thy vicegerents on earth, act disobediently." To which the Lord replied, "If I were to send you on earth, and to give you hurtful and angry dispositions, you too would sin." The angels thought otherwise, so God bade them select two of their number, who should undergo this ordeal. A choice having been made, the Almighty implanted in their hearts the passions of lust and anger, saying, "Go to and fro on the earth from day to day, put an -end to the quarrels of men, ascribe no equal to me, do not commit adultery, drink no wine, and every night repeat the exalted name of God, then return to Heaven." For a while all went well, till one day a beautiful woman -named Zohra brought them a cup of wine, whereupon one of the angels said, "God has forbidden it." But -his brother was bewitched with the seductive persuasiveness of the fair daughter of Eve, and pleaded "God is -merciful and forgiving." So they drank the wine, killed -the husband of Zohra, to whom in their jovial moments

they had revealed the "exalted name" of God, and fell into grievous sin. But they found to their cost, on -awakening from their debauch, that the "name" which -they had disclosed had fled from their memories, and so they could not return to heaven. Thereupon they begged Enoch to intercede for them. The Prophet consented with the result that they were allowed to choose between a present and a future punishment. They elected -the former alternative, and are to this day hanging suspended with their heads downwards in a well, a fresh spring ever flowing just beyond reach of their parched lips. The woman, the author of all this evil and mischief, was changed into a star. The story is doubtless legendary, but it serves to show that according to the Muhammadan view the Angels of Heaven are not immaculate, or free from the vices which degrade their -less favoured brethren on earth.

Besides angels and devils, the Muhammadans are taught by the Quran to believe in an intermediate order of creatures, which they call Jinn, or Genii, created of fire, but of a grosser fabric than angels; since they eat and drink, and propagate their species, and are subject to death, though they are supposed generally to live several centuries. Some of these are good, and others bad, but all capable of future salvation or damnation, alike as men; whence Muhammad claimed to be sent for the conversion of genii as well as men. The Orientals pretend that these spirits inhabited the world for many -ages before Adam was created, under the government of several successive princes, who all bore the common name of Solomon; but falling at length into an almost general corruption, Iblis was sent to drive them into a remote part of the earth, there to be confined: that some of that generation still remaining, they were -forced by one of the ancient kings of Persia, who waged war against them, to retreat into the famous -mountains of Qaf. Of which successions and wars they have many fabulous and romantic stories. They also make different ranks and degrees among these beings

if they be not rather supposed to be of a different species), some being called absolutely Jinn, some Pen or fairies, some Div or giants, others Taqwins or fates.

Scriptures. - As to the Scriptures, the Muhammadans are taught by the Quran that God, in diverse ages of the world, gave revelations of His will in writing to several prophets, the whole and every word of which it is absolutely necessary for a good Muslim to believe. The number of these sacred books was, according to them, 104. Of which ten were given to Adam, fifty to Seth, thirty to Idris or Enoch, ten to Abraham; -and the other four, being the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the Quran, were successively delivered to Moses, David, Jesus, and Muhammad which last -being the seal of the prophets, those revelations are now closed, and no more are to be expected. All these divine books, except the four last, they agree to be now entirely lost, and their contents unknown; though the Sabians have several works which they attribute to some of the antediluvian prophets. And of those four the Muslims hold that the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospel, have undergone so many alterations and corruptions, that though there may possibly be some part of the true word of God therein, yet no credit is to be given to the present copies in the hands of the Jews and Christians. The Jews in particular are frequently stigmatized in the Quran for falsifying and corrupting their copies of the law. As Muhammad acknowledged the divine authority of the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospel, he often appeals as proofs of his mission, to the consonancy of the Quran with those writings, and to the prophecies therein which he alleged concerned himself; and he frequently charges the Jews and Christians with stifling the passages which bear witness to him. His followers also fail not to produce several texts even from our present copies of the Old and New Testament, to support their master's cause.

Prophets.-The number of Prophets sent by God to

make known his will is usually stated at about 200,000, of whom twenty-five are mentioned in the Quran; of these latter the principal, ranked in order of merit, are Noah (the prophet of God), Abraham (the friend of God), Moses (the speaker of God), Jesus (the spirit of God), and chief of all, Muhammad (the messenger of God). These, one and all, will be permitted to intercede in the Day of Judgment for their followers. There is some difference of opinion as to whether the prophets are superior to the angels. Some Muhammadans are inclined to one view, some to another. Again the question of sinlessness on the part of these favoured mortals is one to which considerable attention has been paid by Muslim theologians. The orthodox belief is that they are free from sin owing, as some think, to the Grace of God, which perpetually keeps them in the right path, or, as others suppose, because the power of sinning is not created in them. As, however, history records that Prophets have at times stepped aside from the paths of rectitude and propriety, Muhammadans to meet the difficulty, divide sin into two distinct categories, "great sins" and "little sins." It is the universal belief that a prophet never, either wittingly or unwittingly, commits offences in the former category; but there is a latitude allowed with regard to the latter class of wrongdoings, though some excuse the frailties of the Prophets as faults and slight imperfections, not amounting to sin; and it is not a little curious that the one sinless prophet of Islam, he who alone of all is mentioned in the pages of the Quran as free from guilt, is the founder of the Christian Faith.

It is the universal belief that Prophets work miracles. It is true that in the Quran Muhammad disclaims such a power; but, none the less, his followers ascribe to him mighty and wonderful deeds, far transcending the feeble attempts of all those who preceded him: thus - the sun and the moon obeyed his behests, the elements, too, were subservient unto him, while not only were the keys of the treasuries of earth in his possession, but

Heaven itself opened its portals to receive the chosen of God.

Resurrection.- The next article of faith required by the Quran is the belief in a general resurrection and a future judgment. But before considering the Muhammadan tenets on those points, it will be well to mention their views concerning the intermediate state, both of the body and of the soul, after death. When a corpse is laid in the grave, he is received by an angel, who gives him notice of the coming of the "examiners," in the shape of two livid black angels, with blue eyes and of terrible appearance, named Munkir and Nakir. These order the dead person to sit upright, and examine him concerning his faith, as to the unity of God, and the mission of Muhammad: it is for this reason that, when a person is buried, a cavity is made in such a way as to leave room for the body to be raised at the period of examination. If the answer be satisfactory, the body is suffered to rest in peace, and it is refreshed by the air of Paradise; but if not, the angels beat him on the temples with iron maces, till he roars out for anguish so loud, that he is heard from east to west, by all except men and genii. Then they press the earth on the corpse, which is gnawed and stung till the resurrection by ninety-nine dragons, each having seven heads; or, as others say, sins will become, as it were, venomous beasts, the grievous ones stinging like dragons, the smaller like scorpions, and the others like serpents; circumstances which are not infrequently understood in a figurative sense.

As to the soul, when it is separated from the body by the angel of death, who performs his office with ease and gentleness towards the good, and with violence towards the wicked, it enters into that state which they call Al Barzakh or the interval between death and the resurrection. If the departed person were a believer, two angels meet it, who convey it to heaven, that its place there may be assigned according to its merit and degree. For the souls of the faithful are divided into

three classes : first, prophets, whose spirits are admitted into Paradise immediately; second, martyrs, whose souls according to a tradition of Muhammad, rest in the crops of green birds, which eat of the fruits and drink of the rivers of Paradise; and third, other believers, concerning whose state before the resurrection there are various opinions. 1. Some say they stay near the sepulchres, with liberty, however, of going wherever they please; which they confirm from the Prophet's custom of making a salutation when reaching a place of burial, and from a statement on his part that the dead answer none the less though they cannot hear such salutations as well as the living. Whence perhaps proceeds the custom of visiting the tombs of relations, so common among the Muhammadans. 2. Others imagine they are with Adam, in the lowest heaven ; an opinion which they support by the authority of their Prophet, who gave out that on his return from the celestial regions in his well-known night-journey, he saw there the souls of those who were destined to Paradise on the right hand of Adam, and of those who were condemned to destruction on his left. 3. Some again fancy the souls of believers remain in the spring Zamzam, and those of infidels in a certain well in the province of Hadramaut, called Burhut; but this opinion is branded as heretical. 4.-Others say they stay near the grave for seven days but that whither they go afterwards is uncertain. 5.-There are not wanting Muslims who hold that they are all in the trumpet the sound of which is to raise the dead. 6.- Lastly, it is thought that the souls of the good dwell in the form of white birds, under the throne of God. As to the condition of the spirits of the wicked,· besides the opinions that have been already mentioned, the more orthodox hold that they are taken by the angels to heaven, whence being repulsed as unclean and filthy, they are brought to the earth, and being also refused a place there, are carried down to the seventh earth, and thrown into a dungeon, which they call Sijjin, under a green rock, or according to a tradition of Muhammad,

under the devil's jaw, to be tormented till they are called up and joined again to their bodies.

Touching the matter of children there is a similar difference of opinion: the general notion is that if their parents be believers, the young people will be questioned, but that angels will teach them to say, "Allah is my Lord, Islam my religion, and Muhammad my Prophet." But with reference to the offspring of unbelievers, some think that they will be in Araf -a place between heaven and hell, to be hereafter descended while others suppose that they will be compelled to act in Paradise as servants and attendants for the followers of God.

Though not a few among the Muhammadans hold to the view that the resurrection will be merely spiritual, and consist in no more than the return of the soul to the place whence it first came; and others, who allow man to be composed of body only, that it will be merely corporeal, the received opinion is that both body and soul will be raised, and Muslim doctors argue strenuously for the possibility of the resurrection of the body, and dispute with great subtlety concerning the manner thereof. In any case it is supposed that one part of the human frame will be preserved whatever becomes of the rest, to Serve for a basis of the future edifice, or rather a leaven for the mass which is to be joined to it. For the Prophet taught that a man's body was entirely consumed by the earth, except only the bone called al Ajb: and that, as it was the first formed in the creation of a human being, it will also remain uncorrupted till the last day, as a seed whence the whole is to be renewed and this it is said will be effected by a forty days rain sent by God, which will cover the earth to the height of twelve cubits, and cause the bodies to sprout forth like plants.

The time of the resurrection is admitted to be a perfect secret to all but God alone. But the approach of that day will be known from certain signs which are to precede it.

The lesser signs are: 1. The decay of faith among

men. 2. The advancing of the meanest persons to eminent dignity, 3. That a maid-servant shall become the mother of her mistress (or master); by which is meant either that towards the end of the world men shall be much given to sensuality, or that the Muhammadans shall then take many captives. 4. Tumults and seditions. 5. War with the Turks. 6. Great distress in the world, so that a man when he passes by another's grave shall say "Would to God I were in his place." 7. That the provinces of Iraq and Syria shall refuse to pay their tribute. And, 8. That the buildings of Madina shall reach to Ahab, or Yahab.

The greater signs are:

1. The sun's rising in the west: which some have imagined was originally the case.

2. The appearance of a beast, apparently similar to that in the Book of Revelations.

3. War with the Greeks, and the taking of Constantinople by seventy thousand of the posterity of Isaac. On the division of the spoil, news will come of the appearance of Antichrist, whereupon the captors shall leave all, and return back.

4. The coming of Antichrist, called al Masihud Dajjal, i.e. the false or lying Christ, or simply al Dajjal. He is to be one-eyed, and marked on the forehead with the letters C.F.R., signifying as some think the word "Kafir," or infidel.

He will bring with him the resemblance of Paradise and Hell, but in fact that which is supposed to be the abode of the Lost is Heaven, while that which appears as the realm of Bliss is the region of Eternal Misery. According to the traditions of the Prophet this Antichrist is to appear first between Iraq and Syria, or according to others in the province of Khorassan; riding on an ass, he will be followed by seventy thousand Jews of Ispahan, and continue on earth forty days, of which one will be equal in length to a year, another to a month, another to a week, and the rest will be common days; he will, moreover, lay waste all places, but will not enter Mecca or

Madina, which are to be guarded by angels; in the end he will be slain by Jesus, who is to encounter him at the gate of Ludd. It is said that Muhammad foretold several Antichrists, to the number of about thirty, but one of greater note than the rest.

5. The descent of Jesus on earth. It is supposed that he is to alight near the white tower to the east of Damascus, when the people are returning from the capture of Constantinople; that he is to embrace the Muslim religion, marry a wife, get children, kill Antichrist, and at length die after remaining on earth forty or, according to others, twenty-four years. During this period there will be great security and plenty in the world, all hatred and malice being laid aside; while lions and camels, bears and sheep, will live in peace, and a child play with serpents unhurt.

6. War with the Jews; of whom the Muhammadans are to make a religious slaughter, the very trees and stones discovering such of the race as hide themselves, except only the tree called Gharqad, which is the tree of the Jews.

7. The irruption of Gog and Magog, or, as they are called in the east, Yajuj and Majuj; of whom many things are related in the Quran, and the traditions of the Prophet. These barbarians having passed the lake of Tiberias, which the vanguard of their vast army will drink dry, will come to Jerusalem, and there greatly distress Jesus and his companions; till, at His request, -God will destroy them, and fill the earth with their carcasses, which, after some time, God will send birds to carry away, at the prayers of Jesus and His followers. Their bows, arrows, and quivers the Muslims will burn for seven years together; and at last God will send a rain to cleanse the earth, and to make it fertile.

8. A smoke, which shall fill the whole earth.

9. An eclipse of the moon. Muhammad predicted that there would be three eclipses before the last hour; one to be seen in the east, another in the west, and the third in Arabia.

10. The returning of the Arabs to the worship of Allat and al Uzza, and the rest of their ancient idols; after the decease of every one in whose heart there was faith equal to a grain of mustard-seed, none but the very worst of men will be left alive. For God, they say, will send a cold odoriferous east wind, blowing from Syria Damascena, which shall sweep away the souls of all the faithful, and even the Quran itself, so that men will remain in the grossest ignorance for a hundred years.

11. The discovery of a vast heap of gold and silver by the receding of the Euphrates, an event which will be the destruction of many persons.

12. The demolition of the Kaba or temple of Mecca, by the Ethiopians.

13. The speaking of beasts and inanimate things.

14. The breaking-out of fire in the province of Hijaz; or, according to others, in Yaman.

15. The appearance of a man of the descendants of Kahtan, who shall drive men before him with his staff.

16. The coming of the Mahdi or director; concerning whom Muhammad prophesied that the world should not have an end till one of his own family should govern the Arabians, whose name should be the same with his own name, and whose father's name should also be the same with his father's name, and who should fill the earth with righteousness. This person, some sects, as has been previously stated, believe to be now alive, and concealed in a secret place, till the time of his manifestation ; for they suppose him to be none other than the last of the twelve Imams, named Muhammad Abu'l Kasim.

17. A wind which shall sweep away the souls of all who have but a grain of faith in their hearts, as has been mentioned under the tenth sign.

These are the greater signs, which, according to the doctrine of the followers of the Prophet of Arabia, are to precede the resurrection, but still leave the precise

hour uncertain: for the immediate token of its appearance will be the first blast of the trumpet; which latter they believe will be sounded three times. The first they call the blast of consternation; the second, the blast of examination; and the third, after forty years, the blast of resurrection; on this latter occasion the trumpet will be sounded by Israfil. This angel having, by the divine order, set the trumpet to his mouth and called together all the souls from all parts, will throw them into the same, whence, on his giving the last sound, at the command of God, they will fly forth like bees, and fill the whole space between heaven and earth, and then repair to their respective bodies, which the opening earth will suffer to arise; and the first who shall so come forth, according to a tradition of Muhammad will be himself.

As to the length of the Day of Judgment, the Quran in one place indicates that it will last 1,000 years, and in another 50,000.

The resurrection will be general, and extend to all creatures, both angels, genii, men, and animals. Those who are destined to be partakers of eternal happiness will arise in honour and security; and those who are doomed to misery, in disgrace and under dismal apprehensions. The Prophet further taught, by another tradition, that mankind shall be assembled at the last day, distinguished into three classes. (a) Those who go on foot; (b) those who ride; and (c) those who creep grovelling with their faces on the ground The first class is to consist of those believers whose good works have been few; the second of those who are in greater honour with God, and more acceptable to Him ; whence Ali affirmed that the pious when they come forth from their sepulchres, shall find ready prepared for them white-winged camels, with saddles of gold; and the third class, will be composed of the infidels, whom God shall cause to make their appearance with their faces on the earth, blind, dumb, and deaf. But the ungodly will not thus alone be distinguished;

for, according to a tradition of the Prophet, there will be ten sorts of wicked men on whom God will on that day fix certain marks. The first will appear in the form of apes,-these are the professors of Zandicism; the second in that of swine,-these are they who have been greedy of filthy lucre, and enriched themselves by public oppression ; the third will be brought with their heads reversed and their feet distorted,-these are the usurers; the fourth will wander about blind,-these are unjust judges ; the fifth will be deaf, dumb, and blind, understanding nothing,-these are they who glory in their own works; the sixth will gnaw their tongues, which will hang down upon their breasts, corrupted blood flowing from their mouths like spittle so that everybody shall detest them,-these are the learned men and doctors, whose actions contradicted their sayings; the seventh will have their hands and feet cut off-these are they who have injured their neighbours; the eighth will be fixed to the trunks of palm trees or stakes of wood,-these are the false accusers and informers; the ninth will smell worse than a corrupted corpse,-these are they who have indulged their passions and voluptuous appetites, but refused God such part of their wealth as was due to Him; the tenth will be clothed with garments daubed with pitch,-these are the proud, the vain-glorious, and the arrogant.

The end of the resurrection the followers of Islam declare to be, that they who are so raised may give an account of their actions, and receive their eternal reward. And they believe that not only mankind, but the genii and irrational animals also, shall be judged on this great day; to an extent that the unarmed cattle will be permitted to take vengeance on the horned till entire satisfaction shall be given to the injured.

As to mankind, they hold that when they are all assembled together, they will not be immediately brought to judgment, but the angels will keep them in their ranks and order while they are waiting for that purpose.

and this interval of suspense some say is to last forty years, others seventy, others 300, nay, some say no less than 50,000 years, each of them vouching their Prophet's authority. During this space people will stand looking up to heaven, but without receiving thence any information or orders, and will suffer grievous torments, both the just and the unjust, though with manifest difference. For the limbs of the former, particularly those parts which they used to wash in making the ceremonial ablution before prayer, will shine gloriously, and their sufferings will be light in comparison, lasting no longer than the time necessary to say the appointed prayers; but the latter will have their faces obscured with blackness, and disfigured with all the marks of sorrow and deformity. What will then occasion not the least of their pain, is a wonderful and incredible perspiration, which will even stop their mouths, and in which they will be immersed in various degrees according to their demerits, some to the ankles only, some to the knees, some to the middle, some so high as their mouth, and others as high as their ears. And this sweat, it is supposed, will be provoked not only by that vast concourse of all sorts of creatures mutually pressing and treading on one another's feet, but by the near and unusual approach of the sun, which will then be no farther from them than the distance of a mile, or, as some translate the word, the signification of which is ambiguous, than the length of a bodkin. So that their skulls will boil like a pot, and they will all be bathed in moisture. From this inconvenience, however, the good will be protected by the shade of God's throne; but the wicked will be so miserably tormented there-with, and also with hunger, thirst, and a stifling air, that they will cry out, "Lord, deliver us from this anguish, though thou send us into hell-fire."

When those who have risen shall have waited the fixed time, God will at length appear to judge them; Muhammad undertaking the office of intercessor, after

it shall have been declined respectively by Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Jesus, who one and all will beg deliverance only for their own souls. On this solemn occasion God will come in the clouds, surrounded by angels, and producing the books wherein the actions of every person are recorded by their guardian angels, will command the prophets to bear witness against those to whom they have been respectively sent. Then every one will be examined concerning all the words and actions uttered and done in this life; not as if God needed any information in those respects, but to oblige the person to make public confession and acknowledgment of Almighty's justice. The particulars of which they shall give an account, as the Prophet himself enumerated them, are-of their time, how they spent it; of their wealth, by what means they acquired it, and how they employed it; of their bodies, wherein they exercised them; of their knowledge and learning, what use they made of them. It is said, however, that Muhammad affirmed that no less than seventy-thousand of his followers will be permitted to enter Paradise without any previous examination. Another advantage which on the day of judgment the Muslims will possess over less-favoured races, is that either a Jew or a Christian will be assigned to each faithful Mussulman as a substitute to be cast into the everlasting pit in case the accident of an adverse sentence on the part of the Lord of heaven should overtake the hapless follower of the Prophet!

To the above-mentioned questions each person shall answer, and make his defence in the best manner he can, endeavouring to excuse himself by casting the blame of his evil deeds on others, so that a dispute shall arise even between the soul and the body, to which of them their guilt ought to be imputed, the soul saying, "O Lord, my body I received from Thee; for Thou createdst me without a hand wherewith to lay hold, a foot wherewith to walk, an eye wherewith to see, or an understanding wherewith to apprehend, till I came and entered into this body; therefore, punish it

eternally, but deliver me." The body, on the other side, will make this apology :- "O Lord, thou createdst me like a stock of wood, having neither hand with which I could lay hold, nor foot with which I could walk, till this soul, like a ray of light, entered into me, and my tongue began to speak, my eye to see, and my foot to walk; therefore punish it eternally, but deliver me." But God will propound to them the following parable of the blind man and the lame man. A certain king, having a pleasant garden, in which were ripe fruits, set two persons to keep it, one of whom was blind and the other lame, the former not being able to see what to pick nor the latter to gather it; the lame man, however, beholding the fruit, persuaded the blind man to take him upon his shoulders; and by that means he easily plucked the same, and they then divided it between them. The lord of the garden, coming some time after, and inquiring as to his property, each began to excuse himself; the blind man said he had no eyes to see the trees, and the lame man that he had no feet to approach them. But the king, ordering the lame man to be set on the blind, passed sentence on and punished them both. And in the same manner will God deal with the body and the soul.

Though the Muhammadans assign a long space for the attendance of the resuscitated before their trial, yet they tell us the trial itself will be over in much less time, and, according to an impression of their Prophet, familiar enough to the Arabs, will last no longer than while one may milk an ewe, or than the space between the two milkings of a she-camel. Some, explaining those words so frequently used in the Quran, "God will be swift in taking an account," say that He will judge all creatures in the space of half a day, and others that it will be done in less time than the twinkling of an eye.

At this examination they also believe that each person will have delivered to him the book, wherein all the actions of his life are written; the righteous will

receive the same in their right hand, and read with great pleasure and satisfaction; but the ungodly will be obliged to take the fatal records against their wills in their left hand, which will be bound behind their backs, its neighbour on the right being tied up to their necks.

To show the exact justice which will be observed on this great day of trial, a balance will be brought, wherein all things shall be weighed. It will be held by Gabriel, and it is of so vast a size, that its two scales, one of which hangs over Paradise, and the other over Hell, are capacious enough to contain both heaven and earth: and those whose balances laden with their good works shall be heavy, will be saved, but those whose balances are light will be condemned. Nor will any have just cause to complain that God suffers any good action to pass unrewarded, because the wicked have their reward in this life, and therefore can expect no favour in the next.

But when this ordeal is passed, the trials of man-kind are not ended, for the Muhammadans hold that on the Day of Judgment two angels, named Mihr and Surush, will stand on the bridge called Pul-i-Chinavad, which spans the abyss of Hell, to examine every person as he passes; that the former, who represents the divine mercy, will hold a balance in his hand, to weigh the actions of men; that according to the report he shall make thereof to God, sentence will be pronounced, those whose good works are found more ponderous, if they turn the scale but by the weight of a hair, being permitted to pass forward to Paradise; but those whose good works shall be found light, will be precipitated from the bridge into Hell by the other angel, who represents God's justice.

This examination being passed, and every one's works weighed in a just balance, mutual retaliation will follow, according to which every creature will take vengeance one of another, or receive satisfaction for the injuries which have been suffered. And

since there will then be no other way of returning like for like, a proportionable part of the good works of him who offered the injury, will be taken away and added to the amount of him who suffered it. Which being done, if the angels (by whose ministry this is to be performed) say, "Lord, we have given to every one his due; and there remaineth of this person's good works so much as equalleth the weight of an ant," God will of His mercy cause it to be doubled unto him, that he may be admitted into Paradise; but if; on the contrary, his good works be exhausted, and there remain but evil works, and there be any who have not yet received satisfaction from him, God will order that an equal weight of their sins whom he had injured, be added unto his own, that he may be punished for them in their stead, and he will be sent to Hell laden with this additional burden. Such will be the method of God's dealing with mankind. As to brutes, after they shall have likewise taken vengeance of one another, as mentioned above, He will command them to be changed into dust; wicked men being reserved to more grievous punishment: so that they shall cry out, on hearing the sentence passed on the brutes, "Would to God that we were dust also!" As to the genii, many are of opinion that such of them as are true believers will undergo the same fate as the irrational animals, and have no other reward than the favour of being converted into dust; but others assign them a place near the confines of Paradise, where, to a certain extent, they will enjoy felicity, though they be not admitted into that delightful mansion. But the unbelieving genii, it is universally agreed, will be punished eternally, and be thrown into Hell with the infidels of mortal race.

The trials being over and the assembly dissolved, those who are to be admitted into Paradise will take the right-hand way, and those who are destined to perdition (upwards, it is said, of 999 out of every 1,000)

will take the left; but both of them must first pass the brldge, called in Arabic as Sirat, which they say is laid over the midst of Hell, and described to be finer than a hair, and sharper than the edge of a sword so that it seems very difficult to conceive how any one shall be able to stand upon it. This bridge is beset on each side with briers and hooked thorns which, however, will be no impediment to the good, for the latter will pass with wonderful ease and swiftness, like lightning or the wind, Muhammad and his Muslims leading the way; whereas the wicked, what with the slipperiness and extreme narrowness of the path, the entangling of the thorns, and the extinction of the light, which directed the saved to Paradise, will soon miss their footing, and fall down headlong into the yawning abyss beneath.

As to the punishment of the wicked, the Muhammadans are taught that Hell is divided into seven circles, one below another, designed for the reception of as many distinct classes of lost souls. The first, Jahannam, will be the receptacle of those who acknowledged one God, that is, the wicked followers of Islam, who after having there been punished according to their demerits, will at length be released. The second, named Laza, will receive the Jews ; the third, named al Hutama, the Christians; the fourth, named al Sair, the Sabians ; the fifth, named as Saqar, the Magians; the sixth, named al Jahim, the idolaters; and the seventh, al Hawiyat, the lowest and worst of all, the hypocrites, or those who outwardly professed some religion, but in their hearts were without a God.

With reference to the torments of Hell, it must be remarked, however, that the infidels alone will be liable to eternity of damnation, for the Muslims who having embraced the true religion, have none the less been guilty of heinous sins, will be delivered thence after they shall have expiated their crimes by their sufferings.

The wall or partition between Paradise and Hell,

seems to have been suggested by the great gulf of separation mentioned in Scripture. They call it al Arf and more frequently in the plural, al Araf, a word derived from the verb arafa, which signifies to distinguish between things, or to part them; though some commentators give another reason for the imposition of this name, because, they say, those who stand on this participation will know and distinguish the blessed from the lost, by their respective marks or characteristics; while others think the word properly intends anything that is high raised or elevated, as such a wall of separation must be supposed to be. The Muhammadan writers greatly differ as to the persons who are to be found on al Araf. Some imagine it to be a sort of limbo for the patriarchs and prophets, or for the martyrs and those who have been most eminent for sanctity, among whom will be also angels in the form of men. Others place here those whose good and evil works are so equal that they exactly counterpoise each other, and, therefore, deserve neither reward nor punishment; and these, they say, will, on the last day, be admitted into Paradise, after they shall have performed an act of adoration, which will be imputed to them as a merit, and will make the scale of their good works to overbalance. Others: again, suppose this intermediate space will be a receptacle for those who have gone to war without their parents' leave, and therein suffered martyrdom; being excluded Paradise for their disobedience, and escaping Hell because they are martyrs. The breadth of this partition wall cannot be supposed to be exceeding great, since not only those who shall stand thereon will hold conference with the inhabitants both of Paradise and of Hell, but the blessed and the damned themselves will also be able to talk to one another.

The righteous, having surmounted the difficulties, and passed the sharp bridge above mentioned, before they enter Paradise will be refreshed by drinking at the pond of their Prophet, who describes it to be an exact square, of a month's journey in compass: its water

which is supplied by two pipes from al Qawsar, one of the rivers of the celestial realms, being whiter than milk or silver and more odoriferous than musk, with as many cups set around it as there are stars in the firmament, of which water whoever drinks will thirst no more for ever. This is the first taste which the blessed will have of their future, and now near-approaching felicity.

Though Paradise is so very frequently mentioned in the Quran, yet it is a dispute among the Muhammadans whether it is already created, or is yet to be created hereafter: some sectaries asserting that there is not at present any such place in nature, and that the Paradise which the righteous will inhabit in the next life, will be different from that from which Adam was expelled. However the orthodox profess the contrary, maintaining that it was created even before the world, and describe it, from their Prophet's traditions, in the following manner:

It is situate above the seven heavens (or in the seventh heaven) and next under the throne of God: the earth thereof is composed of the finest wheat flour, or of the purest musk, or, as others will have it, of saffron; its stones are pearls and jacinths, the walls of its buildings being enriched with gold and silver, while the trunks of all its trees are of the first-mentioned precious metal, among which the most remarkable is the tree called Tuba, or the tree of happiness. Concerning this latter it is believed that it stands in the palace of Muhammad, though a branch of it will reach to the house of every true believer; that it will be laden with pomegranates, grapes, dates, and other fruits of surprising size, and of tastes unknown to mortals. So that if a man desire to eat of any particular kind of fruit, it will immediately be presented to him; or if he choose flesh, birds ready dressed will be set before him according to his wish. The boughs of this tree will spontaneously bend down to the hand of the person who would gather of its fruits, and it will supply the blessed not only with food, but

also with silken garments, and beasts whereon to ride ready saddled and bridled, and adorned with rich trappings which will burst forth from its fruits ; this tree, too, is so large, that a person mounted on the fleetest horse would not be able to gallop from one end of its shade to the other in a hundred years.

As plenty of water is one of the greatest additions to the pleasantness of any Eastern locality, the Quran often speaks of the rivers of Paradise as a principal ornament thereof; some of these streams, they say, flow with water. some with milk, some with wine, and others with honey, all taking their rise the of from root the tree "Tuba." And lest these should not be sufficient, this garden is also watered by a great number of lesser springs and fountains, whose pebbles are rubies and emeralds, their earth of camphire, their beds of musk, and their sides of saffron, the most remarkable among them being "Salsabil" and "Tasnim."

But all these glories will be eclipsed by the resplendent and ravishing girls of Paradise, the enjoyment of whose company will be a principal felicity of the faithful. These, they say, are created not of clay, as in the case of mortal women, but of pure musk: being, as their Prophet often affirms, free from all natural impurities, defects, and inconveniences incident to the sex; further, too, they will be of the strictest modesty, and secluded from public view in pavilions of hollow pearls, so large that, as some traditions have it, one of them will be no less than sixty miles long, and as many broad.

The name which the Muhammadans usually give to this happy mansion, is "al Jannat," or the garden; and sometimes they call it, with an addition, Jannat al Firdaus, the garden of paradise, Jannat Adan, the garden of Eden, Jannat al Mawa, the garden of abode, Jannat al Naim, the garden of pleasure, and the like; by which several appellations some understand a similar number of different abodes, or at least places of various degrees of felicity (for they reckon no less than a hundred such in all), the very meanest whereof will

afford its inhabitants so many pleasures and delights, that one would conclude persons must even sink under them, had not the Prophet declared, that in order to qualify the blessed for a full enjoyment of such bliss, God will give to every one the abilities of a hundred men.

Besides Muhammad's pond, already described, some authors mention two fountains, springing from under a certain tree near the gate of Paradise, and say, that the blessed will also drink of one of them, to purge their bodies and carry off all impurities, and will wash themselves in the other. When they are arrived at the gate itself, each person will there be met and saluted by the beautiful youths appointed to serve and wait upon him, one of them running before, to carry the news of his arrival to the wives destined for him; two angels will also appear, bearing the presents from God, one of whom will invest him with a garment of Paradise, and the other will put a ring on each of his fingers, with inscriptions on them alluding to the happiness of his condition. By which of the eight gates of Paradise they are respectively to enter, is not worth inquiry; but it must be observed that Muhammad has declared that no persons good works will gain him admittance, and that even himself shall be saved, not by his merits, but merely by the mercy of God. It is, however, the constant doctrine of the Quran, that the felicity of each person will be proportioned to his deserts, the abodes being assorted according to the varied gradations of happiness; the most eminent degree for the Prophets, the second for the doctors and teachers of God's worship, the next for the martyrs, and the lower for the rest of the righteous. There will also be some distinction made in respect to the time of admission ; Muhammad (to whom the gates will first be opened) having affirmed, that the poor will enter Paradise five hundred years before the rich: nor is this the only privilege which the former will enjoy in the next life; since the Prophet has also declared, that when he took a view of the celestial regions, he saw that the majority of its inhabitants were

composed of the poor; while when he looked down into Hell, he noticed that the greater part of the wretches confined there were women!

For the first entertainment of the blessed on their admission, the whole earth will then be as one loaf of bread, which God will reach to them with his hand, holding it like a cake; while for meat they will have the ox Balaam, and the fish Nun, the lobes of whose livers will suffice 70,000 of the principal guests, viz., those who, to that number, will be admitted into paradise without examination.

From this feast every one will be dismissed to the mansion designed for him, where he will enjoy such a share of felicity as will be proportioned to his merits, but vastly exceeding comprehension or expectation; since the very meanest will have 80,000 servants, seventy-two wives of the girls of Paradise, besides the spouses he had in this world (in some cases it may be feared a questionable felicity), and a tent erected for him of pearls, jacinths, and emeralds, of a very large extent; according to another tradition he will be waited on by 300 attendants while he eats, his food being served in dishes of gold, whereof 300 shall be set before him at once, containing each a different kind of food, the last morsel of which will be as grateful as the first; he will also be supplied with as many sorts of liquors in vessels of the same metal. To complete the entertainment, there will be no want of wine, which, though forbidden in this life, will yet be freely allowed to be drunk in the next, and with-out danger, since that beverage in Paradise will neither inflame nor inebriate. The flavour of this celestial potation we may conceive to be delicious beyond description, since the water of Tasnim and the other fountains which will be used to dilute it, is said to be wonderfully sweet and fragrant. If any object to these pleasures, as an impudent Jew did to Muhammad, and contend that so much eating and drinking must necessarily involve various bodily functions, it

may be answered that the inhabitants of Paradise will not need even to blow their noses, for all superfluities will be discharged and carried off by perspiration, or a sweat odoriferous as musk, after which their appetite will return afresh.

The magnificence of the garments and furniture promised by the Quran to the godly in the next life, is answerable to the delicacy of their diet. For they are to be clothed in the richest silks and brocades, chiefly of green, which will burst forth from the fruits of Paradise, and will be also supplied by the leaves of the tree Tuba; they will be adorned with bracelets of gold and silver, and crowns set with l)earls of in-comparable lustre; and will make use of silken carpets, litters of a prodigious size, couches, pillows, and other rich furniture embroidered with gold and precious stones.

That the inhabitants of Paradise may be the better able to taste these pleasures in their height, they will enjoy a perpetual youth; at whatever period of life they may happen to die, they will be raised in their prime and vigour, and become as if about thirty years of age, which they will never exceed (it may also be remarked that the tortures of Hell are perpetuated to the lost souls in a precisely similar manner). When the blessed enter into bliss, they will be of the same stature with Adam, who, as is fabled, was no less than 60 cubits high. And to this age and stature their children if they shall desire any (for the choice will be in their own hands), will immediately attain; according to that saying of their Prophet, "If any of the faithful in Paradise be desirous of issue, it shall be conceived, born, and grown up within the space of an hour." And in the same manner, if any one shall have a fancy to employ himself in agriculture (which rustic pleasure may suit the wanton fancy of some), what he shall sow will spring up and come to maturity in a moment.

Lest any of the senses should lack their proper

delight, the ear will there be entertained, not only with the ravishing songs of the angel Israfil, who has the most melodious voice of all God's creatures, and with the strains of the daughters of Paradise; but even the trees themselves will celebrate the divine praises with a harmony exceeding whatever mortals have heard; to which will be joined the sound of the bells hanging on the trees, which latter will be put in motion by the wind proceeding from the throne of God, so often as the blessed wish for music: nay, the very clashing of the golden-bodied trees, whose fruits are pearls and emeralds, will surpass human imagination ; so that the pleasures of this sense will not be the least of the enjoyments of the saved.

The delights above enumerated will be common to all the inhabitants of Paradise, even those of the lowest of all the hundred orders therein. What then, must they enjoy who shall obtain a superior degree of honour and felicity ? For these, there are prepared, besides all this, "such things as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. Muhammad is reported to have said, that the meanest of them will see his gardens, wives, servants, furniture, and other possessions take up the space of a thousand years' journey (for so far and farther will the blessed see in the next life); but that he will be in the highest honour with God, who shall behold the face of the Almighty morning and evening: and this favour is supposed to be that additional or superabundant recompense, promised in the Quran, which will give such exquisite delight, that in respect thereof all the other pleasures of Paradise will be forgotten and lightly esteemed. In face of this circumstance, it can scarcely be contended, as some maintain, that the Muhammadans admit of no spiritual pleasure in the next life, but make the happiness of the blessed to consist wholly in corporeal enjoyments.

Before quitting this subject it may not be improper to observe the falsehood of a vulgar imputation on the

followers of Islam, who are by several writers reported to hold that women have no souls; or, if they have, that they will perish, like those of brute beasts, and will not be rewarded in the next life. But whatever may be the opinion of ignorant people, it is certain that Muhammad had too great a respect for the fair sex to teach such a doctrine; and there are several passages in the Quran which affirm that women, in the next life, will not only be punished for their evil actions, but will also receive the rewards of their good deeds, just as in the case of the men, and that in this case God will make no distinction of sexes. It is, avowedly, by no means certain that they will be admitted into the same abode with men, because their places will be supplied by the paradisiacal females (though some allow that a man will there also have the company of those who were his wives in this world, or at least such of them as he shall desire); but it is equally taught that good women will go into a separate place of happiness, where they will enjoy all sorts of delights; whether, however, one of those pleasures will be the enjoyment of agreeable companions of the male persuasion created for them, to complete the economy of the Muhammad an system, is nowhere decided. One circumstance relating to these beatified females, conformable to what has been asserted of the men, may be gathered from the Prophet's reply to an old woman, who, desiring him to intercede with God that she might be admitted into Paradise, he told her that no old woman would enter that place; which setting the poor creature crying, he explained himself by saying that God would then make her young again.

Predestination.-The sixth great point of faith, which the Muhammadans are taught by the Quran to believe, is God's absolute decree and predestination both of good and evil. For the orthodox doctrine is, that whatever hath been or shall come to pass in this world, whether it be good or whether it be bad, proceedeth entirely from the divine will, and is irrevocably fixed and recorded from all eternity in the preserved table

God having secretly predetermined not only the adverse and prosperous fortune of every person in this world, in the most minute particulars, but also his faith or infidelity, his obedience or disobedience, and consequently his everlasting happiness or misery after death which fate it is not possible, by any foresight or wisdom, to avoid.

Of this doctrine Muhammad makes great use in his Quran for the advancement of his designs; encouraging his followers to fight without fear, and even desperately, for the propagation of their faith, by representing to them that all their caution could not avert their inevitable destiny, or prolong their lives for a moment; and deterring them from disobeying or rejecting him as an imposter, by setting before them the danger they might thereby incur of being abandoned, by the just judgment of God, to seduction, hardness of heart, and a reprobate mind, as a punishment for their obstinacy.

As this doctrine of absolute election and reprobation has been thought by many Muslim divines to be derogatory to the goodness and justice of God, and to make Him the author of evil, several subtle distinctions have been invented, and disputes raised, to moderate or soften it; and different sects have been formed, according to their several opinions or methods of explaining this point.

It will suffice to mention the three well-defined schools of thought which exist in this matter.

(1.) The Jabrians, so called from the word "Jabr," compulsion, who deny all free agency in man, and say that the latter is necessarily constrained by the force of God's eternal and immutable decree to act as he does. They hold that as the Almighty is the absolute Lord, He can, if He so wills, admit all men into Paradise, or cast them into Hell. The difficulties which this doctrine involves, may be gathered from a tradition current amongst Muslims that Adam and Moses once maintained a debate before God; the

latter said, "Thou art that Adam whom God created and breathed into thee His own Spirit, and made the angels bow down before thee, and placed thee in Paradise after which thou threwest man upon the earth, from the fault which thou didst commit." Adam rejoined, "Thou art that Moses whom God selected for His Prophet, and to converse with thee, and He gave thee twelve tables, in which are explained everything, and He made thee His confidant and the bearer of His secrets: then how long was the Bible written before I was created? Moses taken off his guard, promptly replied, "Forty years." pursued Adam, "thou didst see therein that I disobeyed God." "Yes," was the necessary response. "Dost thou reproach me," so spake the triumphant victor, "on a matter which God wrote in the Bible forty years before creating me?"

(2.) The Quadrians, who deny "Al Qadr" or God's absolute decree, and maintain that evil and injustice ought not to be attributed to God, but to man, who is altogether a free agent. "What happens," pertinently inquire their opponents, "if a man wills to move his body, and God at the same time wills it to be steady?

(3.) The Asharians, so called after the founder of their sect, who maintain that God has one eternal will, which is applied to whatsoever He wisheth: that the destiny of man was written on the eternal table before the world was created; but whenever a man desires to do a certain thing, good or bad, the action corresponding to the desire is there and then created by God, and, as it were, fitted on to real desire.

Prayer.- Of the four fundamental points of religious practice required by the Quran, the first is prayer, under which, as has been said, are also comprehended those legal washings or purifications which are necessary preparations thereto.

Of these purifications there are two degrees; (i.) "Wazu" or "Abdast," the ordinary ablution in

common cases, and before prayer consists in washing the face from the top of the forehead to the chin, as far as the ear; in cleansing the hands and arms up to each elbow; in rubbing a fourth part of the head with the wet hand, and in wiping the feet to the ankles.

These actions may be done in silence, or prayer may be repeated: of the invocation to the Deity, used on such occasions, one example will suffice. When cleaning the teeth, the votary says, "Vouchsafe, O God, as I clean my teeth, to purify me from my faults, and accept my homage, O Lord! May the purity of my teeth be for me a pledge of the whiteness of my face at the Day of Judgment."

The other purification which is known as "Ghusl," consists in an ablution of the whole body after certain defilements. The modus operandi is as follows: The person, having put on clean clothes and performed the "wazu," proclaims his intention to make "Ghusl" and "to put away impurity." All being ready, he pours water over the right shoulder three times, then over the left three times, and lastly on his head a like number of times; so particular and careful must he be, that it is accepted amongst Muslims that if but one hair of the body be left untouched with the water, the whole act of purification is rendered vain and useless.

When water is not procurable, or when, in case of sickness, its use might be injurious, purification by sand is allowable.

Minute regulations are laid down with regard to the water which may be used for purification: rain, water from the sea, rivers, fountains, and wells is allowable, as also snow, and ice-water; but, singularly enough, ice itself is not lawful. As to what constitutes impurity in water, and so renders it unfit for ablutions, it may be said, briefly, that it is universally accepted amongst the orthodox that if a dead body or any unclean thing falls into flowing water, or into a reservoir more than fifteen feet square, the liquid

can be used, provided always that the colour, smell, and taste be not changed. It is for this reason that the pool near a mosque is never less than a certain size.

There are also special prayers for individual occasions, such as an eclipse of the sun, moon, times of drought, funerals (in the latter case they are always repeated in the open space in front of the mosque, or in some neighbouring spot, never in the graveyard), special work, fast of "Ramazan," &c., &c.

Circumcision.-Circumcision, though not so much as once mentioned in the Quran, is yet held by the Muhammadans to be an ancient divine institution, confirmed by the religion of Islam, not indeed so absolutely necessary but that it may be dispensed with in some cases, yet highly proper and expedient. The Arabs used this rite for many ages before the advent of the Prophet, having probably learned it from Ishmael, who in common with other tribes practised the same. The Ishmaelites, we are told, used to circumcise their children, not on the eighth day, as is the custom of the Jews, but when about twelve or thirteen years old, at which age their father underwent that operation; and the Muhammadans imitate them so far as not to circumcise children before they be able, at least, distinctly to pronounce that profession of their faith, "There is no God but God, Muhammad is the apostle of God"; the age selected varies from six to sixteen or thereabouts. Though the Muslim doctors are generally of opinion that this precept was originally given to Abraham, yet some have imagined that Adam was taught it by the angel Gabriel, to satisfy an oath he had made to cut off that flesh which, after his fall, had rebelled against his spirit; whence an odd argument has been drawn for the universal obligation of circumcision.

Prayer. -Prayer was by Muhammad thought so necessary a duty, that he used to call it the pillar of

religion and the key of Paradise; and when in the ninth year of the Hijra a neighbouring tribe sent to make their submission to the Prophet, after the retention of their favourite idol had been denied them, begging that, at least, they might be excused saying the appointed prayers, he answered, "There could be no good in that religion wherein was no prayer."

That so important a duty, therefore, might not be neglected, Muhammad obliged his followers to pray five times every twenty-four hours, at certain stated periods, viz., 1. In the morning, before sunrise 2. When noon is past, and the sun begins to decline from the meridian; 3. In the afternoon, before sunset; 4. In the evening, after sunset, and before close of day; and 5. After the day is ended, and before the first watch of the night. For this institution he asserted that he had received the divine command from the throne of God himself, when he took his night journey to heaven; and the duty of observing the stated times of prayer is frequently insisted on in the Quran, though they be riot particularly prescribed therein. Accordingly, at the aforesaid periods, of which public notice is given by the Muazzin, or Crier, from the steeples of their mosques (for they use no bell), every conscientious Muslim prepares himself for prayer, which he performs either in the sanctuary or any other place (provided it be clean), after a prescribed form, and with a certain number of phrases or ejaculations (which the more scrupulous count by a string of beads), and using certain postures of worship; it is not permissible to abridge the devotions, unless in some special cases; as on a journey, or preparing for battle, &c.

For the regular performance of the duty of prayer among the Muhammadans, besides the particulars above mentioned, it is also requisite that they turn their faces, while they pray, towards the temple of Mecca; the quarter where the same is situate being, for that

reason, pointed out within their mosques by a niche, which they call "al Mihrab," and without, by the situation of the doors opening into the galleries of the steeples; in places where they have no other direction there are also tables calculated for the ready finding out their "Qibla," or part towards which they ought to pray.

But what is principally to be regarded in the discharge of this duty, is the inward disposition of the heart, which is the life and spirit of prayer; the most punctual observance of the external rites and ceremonies before mentioned being of little or no avail, if performed without due attention, reverence, devotion and hope : so that it must not hastily be concluded that the Muhammadans, or the considerate part of them at least, content themselves with the mere opus operatum, nor may it be imagined their whole religion consists in a mere external system of devotion.

Two matters deserve mention in connection with this subject. One is, that the Muhammadans never address themselves to God in sumptuous apparel, though they are obliged to be decently clothed; but lay aside their costly habits and pompous ornaments, if they wear any, when they approach the divine presence, lest they should seem proud and arrogant. The other is, that they do not admit their women to pray with them in public ; that sex being obliged to perform their devotions at home, or if they visit the mosques it must be at a time when the men are not there: for the Muslims are of opinion that their presence inspires a different kind of devotion from that which is requisite in a place dedicated to the worship of God.

Alms. -The next point of the Muhammadan religion is the giving of alms, which are of two sorts, legal and voluntary. The former are of indispensable obligation, being commanded by the law, which both directs the portion which is to be given, and determines

what things ought to be given; but the latter are left to every one's liberty to give more or less, as he shall see fit. Obligatory alms some think to be properly called Zakat, while voluntary alms are known as Sadaqat; though this name, is somewhat indiscriminately used. They are called Zakat, either because they increase a man's store, by drawing down a blessing thereon, and produce in his soul the virtue of liberality, or because they purify the remaining part of his substance from pollution, and the soul from the A filth of avarice; while Sadaqat indicates that they are a proof of a man's sincerity in the worship of God. Some writers have called the legal alms tithes, but improperly, since in some cases they fall short, and in others exceed that proportion.

The giving of alms is frequently commanded in the Quran, and often recommended therein jointly with prayer; the former being held of great efficacy in causing the latter to be heard of God; for which reason the Khalif Omar used to say, "that prayer carries us half-way to God, fasting brings us to the door of His palace, and alms procure us admission."

The traditions, also, are very severe upon persons who omit to observe the duty of charity: "To whomsoever God gives wealth," so runs the terrible denunciation," and he does not perform the charity due from it, his wealth will be made into the shape of a serpent on the day of resurrection, which shall not have any hair upon its head, and this is a sign of its poison and long life: and it has two black spots upon its eyes, and it will be twisted round his neck like a chain on the day of resurrection: then the serpent will seize the man's jawbones, and will say, 'I am the wealth, the charity from which thou didst not give, and I am thy treasure for which thou didst not separate any alms.'" Another tradition says, "Verily two women came to the Prophet, each having a bracelet of gold on her arm, and the Prophet said, 'Do ye perform the alms for them?' They said 'we

do not.' Then the Prophet said to them, 'Do you wish that God should cause you to wear Hell fire in place of them?' They eagerly responded in the negative, whereupon he commanded them to 'Perform the alms for them.'"

In these circumstances the Muhammadans, esteem almsdeeds to be highly meritorious, and many of them have been illustrious for the exercise thereof Hasan, the son of Ali, and grandson of Muhammad, in particular, is related to have thrice in his life divided his substance equally between himself and the poor, and twice to have given away all he had: and the generality are so addicted to acts of benevolence, that they extend their charity even to brutes.

Alms, according to the prescriptions of the Muhammadan law, are to be given of five things - 1. Of cattle, that is to say, of camels, kine, and sheep. 2. Of money, 3. Of corn. 4. Of fruits, viz., dates and raisins. And 5. Of wares sold. Of each of these a certain portion is to be given in charity, being usually one part in forty, or two and a half per cent. of the value. But no alms are due for them, unless they amount to a certain quantity or number; nor until a man has been in possession of them eleven months, he not being obliged to give therefrom before the twelfth month is begun: nor are they due for cattle employed in tilling the ground, or in carrying of burdens. In some cases a much larger portion than the before-mentioned is reckoned due oblation: thus of what is gotten out of mines, or the sea, or by any art or profession, over and above what is sufficient for the reasonable support of a man's family, and especially where there is a mixture or suspicion of unjust gain, a fifth part ought to be given in charity. Moreover, at the end of the fast of Ramazan, every Muslim is obliged to give in alms for himself and for everyone of his family, if he has any, a measure of wheat, barley, dates, raisins, rice, or other commonly eaten provisions.

The legal alms were at first collected by the Prophet

himself, who employed them as he thought fit, in the relief of his poor relations and followers, though he chiefly applied them to the maintenance of those who served in his wars, and fought, as he termed it, in the way of God. His successors continued to do the same, till, in process of time, other taxes and tributes being imposed for the support of the government, they seem to have been weary of acting as almoners to their subjects, and to have left the latter to pay their donation according to their consciences.

Fasting.- The third point of religious practice is fasting; a duty of so great moment, that Muhammad used to say it was "the gate of religion," and that "the odour of the mouth of him who fasteth is more grateful to God than that of musk." According to the Muslim divines, there are three degrees of fasting: 1. The restraint of the stomach and other parts of the body from satisfying their lusts; 2. The maintenance of the ears, eyes, tongue, hands, feet, and other members free from sin; and 3. The fasting of the heart from worldly cares, and the concentration of the thoughts solely on God.

The Muhammadans are obliged, by the express command of the Quran to fast the whole month of Ramazan, from the time the new moon first appears, till the appearance of the next new moon; during which time they must abstain from eating, drinking, and lust, during the period from daybreak till night or sunset. If on account of dull weather, or of dust storms, the new moon be not visible, it is sufficient to act on the testimony of a trustworthy person, who may declare that Ramazan has commenced. This injunction they observe so strictly, that while they fast they suffer nothing to enter their mouths, or other parts of their body, esteeming the fast broken and null if they smell perfumes, take a clyster, bathe, or even purposely swallow their spittle; some being so cautious that they will not open their mouths to speak, lest they should breathe the air too freely. The fast is also deemed void if a man kiss or touch a woman,

or if he vomit designedly, while even should a portion of food no larger than a grain of corn, from the nightly meal remain between the teeth, or in a cavity of the mouth, the fast is destroyed. But after sunset they are allowed to refresh themselves, and to eat and drink, and enjoy the company of their wives until daybreak though the more rigid begin the fast again at midnight. This fast is extremely rigorous and mortifying when the month of Ramazan happens to fall in summer (for the Arabian year being lunar, each month runs through all the different seasons in the course of thirty-two years), the length and heat of the days making the observance of it much more difficult and uneasy in such case than in winter.

Its distinctive feature is that it lasts only during light: accordingly the rich mitigate its rigours as far as possible by turning night into day: but amongst the poorer and industrial classes such a proceeding is obviously impossible ; none the less, however, so strictly do they obey the injunction of the Prophet in this matter that when Burton visited Cairo in the disguise of a Musulman doctor, he found but one patient who would break his fast, even though warned that the result of obstinacy might be death.

The reason given why Ramazan was selected for this purpose is, that on that month the Quran was sent down from heaven. But some assert that Abraham, Moses, and Jesus received their respective revelations in the same month.

From the fast of Ramazan none are excused, except only travellers and sick persons (under which last denomination the Muslims comprehend all whose health would manifestly be injured by their keeping the fast; as women with child and giving suck, elderly people, and young children); but then they are obliged, as soon as the impediment is removed, to fast an equal number of other days: the deliberate breaking of the fast is ordered to be expiated, either by setting a slave at liberty, by fasting every day for two months, or by giving

sixty persons two full meals each, or one man a like number of repasts daily for sixty days: if the omission arise from the infirmity of old age the expiation consists in the bestowal of alms.

When the thirty days have expired the fast is broken, and this joyous occasion is known as the Idul Fatr, i.e., the "feast of the breaking of the Fast," though it is sometimes called the lesser Bairam. The reaction which sets in after so lengthened a period of restraint finds vent in every conceivable token of joy; the men lounge about happy, merry, and convivial, while the fair sex don their best jewelery and lightest attire; festive songs and loud music fill the air, friends meet, presents are distributed, and all is life, joy, cheerful mirth, and amusement. The voluntary fasts of the Muhammadans are such as have been recommended either by the example or approbation of their Prophet; especially in regard to certain days of those months which they esteem sacred: there being a tradition that he used to say, "That a fast of one day in a sacred month was better than a fast of thirty days in another month; and that the fast of one day in Ramazan was more meritorious than a fast of thirty days in a sacred month." Among the more commendable days is that of Ashura, the tenth of Muharram: regarding which it is related that when Muhammad came to Madina, and found the Jews there fasted on the day of Ashura, he asked them the reason of it; they told him it was because on that day Pharaoh and his people were drowned, Moses and those who were with him escaping: whereupon he said that he bore a nearer relation to Moses than they, and ordered his followers to fast on that day. However, it seems afterwards he was not so well pleased in having imitated the Jews; and therefore declared that, if he lived another year, he would alter the day, and fast on the ninth, abhorring so near an agreement with them.

While, however, on the one hand certain days are considered especially fitting for the observance of fastings,

there are on the other, a few occasions when it is unlawful to observe this duty, these are five in number, viz., the Idu'l Fatr, the Baqid, which will be explained hereafter, and the 11, 12 and 13 of the month Zu'l Hijja.

The Pilgrimage to Mecca. - "It is a duty towards God incumbent on those who are able to go thither to visit this house" [Becca or Mecca] (Quran, Sura 3). Thus decreed the Prophet, the law-giver of Arabia, and for more than twelve centuries the injunction has been observed with a pious zeal and ardent fervour which put to shame the apathetic indifference of the civilized West. Volumes have been written by Muslim commentators in regard to this pilgrimage to the Holy Cities of Mecca and Madina, some laying more and some less stress upon the duty in question. Without seeking to follow in this labyrinth of sophistry and argument, it will suffice to assert that, whatever may be the precise value which Muhammad attached to the ceremony, he considered the discharge of the duty as all-important; and there is a tradition that he held that he who passes through life without fulfilling the injunction, "Perform the Pilgrimage of Mecca" (Quran, Sura 2), may as well die a Jew or a Christian. Nor must it be overlooked that the Prophet of Islam made the "Hajj" one of the five pillars or foundations of practice in the religion of Arabia.

Every Muslim is therefore bound to visit Mecca at least once during his lifetime, but there is a saving clause-provided "able" so to do. The discussions as to the definition of the elastic qualification attached to the injunction of the Prophet have been endless and undecided. As a general rule, however, intending votaries must comply with four conditions: (1) Profession of the faith of Islam ; (2) adolescence, generally fixed at the age of fifteen; (3) freedom from slavery (4) mental sanity. To these some authorities add four more requirements, viz: (1) sufficiency of provision (2) the possession of a beast of burden if living more

than two days' journey from Mecca; (3) security on the road; and (4) ability to walk two stages if the pilgrim have no beast. Others, again, include all conditions under two heads: (1) health, and (2) ability. It is even maintained by some, that those who have money enough, if they cannot go themselves, may hire some one to go to Mecca in their stead. But this privilege in the early days of Islam was very sparingly, if ever, used, and even now it is mostly considered amongst the orthodox sects that pilgrimage cannot be performed by proxy. None the less, however, if a Muhammadan on his death-bed bequeath a sum of money to be paid to some person to visit Mecca on behalf of his patron, it is considered to satisfy in a way the claims of the Muslim law. It is also decreed a meritorious act to pay the expenses of those who can not afford to obey the injunction of the Prophet. Many pilgrims, too poor to be able to collect the money which their religion requires them to spend for this purpose, beg their way, and live upon the charity of those who are blessed with means and a benevolent heart to help their more necessitous brethren. Even women are not excused from the performance of the pilgrimage, and one portion of the temple is called "Haswatu'l Haram," or "the women's sanded place," because it is appropriated to female devotees. But the weaker sex are forbidden to go alone; if therefore, a fair lady have no husband or near relation to protect her, she must select some virtuous person worthy of confidence to accompany her, his expenses being charged to her account. This circumstance gives rise to a curious illustration of supply and demand. There are a class of idle and impudent scoundrels known as "dalils," or guides, who besiege the pilgrim from morn till eve, obtruding advice whether it be sought or not, and sharing the votary's meals, but not his expenses, of which indeed they pocket a portion. These worthless vagabonds are wont, when the occasion presents itself to let themselves out as husbands for rich old

widows who repair to Mecca, or perchance now and again lend their services to some younger matrons who may have happened to lose their spouses on the road, it being meritorious and profitable to facilitate the progress of desolate ladies through the sacred territory of Arabia. The marriage under these circumstances, though formally arranged in the presence of the "Qazi," or magistrate, is merely nominal, and a divorce is given on the return of the parties to Jedda, or elsewhere beyond the limits of Mecca. Pilgrimage is not obligatory upon slaves, who, should they accompany their master to Mecca, must none the less on being released from bondage again repair to the Holy City as "free men."

It need scarcely be said that Muhammad, ready as he was to impose the pilgrimage as a duty upon others, was no less willing to accept the obligation himself while after his death the Khalifs who succeeded him gloried in following his example; though it is but fair to add that they journeyed in many cases with great pomp and luxury, at the head of a magnificent retinue. This devout practice continued certainly as late as the time of Khalif Harun u'r Rashid, who early in the ninth century visited Mecca no less than nine times on one occasion expending, it is said, a sum of upwards of 700,000 pounds sterling! If however, his own confession is to be accepted, the result of his piety was satisfactory, inasmuch as he gained thereby numerous victories over his enemies-a circumstance which led him to inscribe on his helmet an Arabic passage to the effect that "he who makes the pilgrimage to Mecca becomes strong and valiant."

So firmly impressed, indeed, are the Muhammadans with the impiety of neglecting the decree of their Prophet with regard to the pilgrimage, that in A.H. 319 (A.D. 931-2), when in consequence of the proceedings of the Karmathians, who, on one occasion at that period, had slain 20,000 pilgrims, and plundered the temple of Mecca, the journey to the Holy Cities was too dangerous

to be hazarded, devout Muslims, rather than omit the duty altogether, betook themselves to Jerusalem. It is also recorded that a famous doctor, by name Hullage, was put to death for having taught certain ceremonies and prayers to supply the neglect of performing the "Hajj." Great indeed must be the merit of bowing in adoration before the mosque of the Arabian holy city, since it is taught that every step taken in the direction of the sacred precincts blots out a sin, while he who dies on his way is enrolled in the list of martyrs. In spite of all this (such is the weakness of human nature), in Burckhardt's time (about 1815), he found that Muhammadans were getting more and more lax in complying with the injunction of the Quran relative to pilgrimage, pleading the increased expense attendant on this duty, which in many cases they evade by giving a few dollars to some pious votaries to add to their own prayers some words on behalf of their errant and absent brethren.

It must not, however, be supposed that Muhammad introduced this rite amongst the Arabs; far otherwise, for he merely lent to an institution which he found in existence the all-potent weight of his sanction and approval. Omitting reference to primeval times, it will suffice to draw attention to the fact that, so far back as the middle of the fifth century, or upwards of 200 years before the era of the Prophet, the command of Mecca having passed into the hand of Qussai, "he maintained the Arabs," thus writes Tabari, one of the most trustworthy of native historians, "in the performance of all the prescriptive rites of pilgrimage, because he believed them in his heart to be a religion which it behoved him not to alter." Indeed, according to Sir W. Muir, who has carefully investigated the subject, "the religious observances thus perpetuated by Quassi were in substance the same as in the time of Muhammad, and with some modification the same as we still find practised at the present day." It is not improbable that the Arabs in turn borrowed the notion of

pilgrimage from the Jews. According to Muslim divines man being but a "wayfarer," winding his steps towards another world, the "Hajj" is emblematical of his transient condition here below. The idea, though admittedly poetical, is so far borne out in practice that pilgrimage is common to all faiths of olden times. In the words of a modern writer, "the Hindus wander to Egypt, to Thibet, and to the inhospitable Caucasus; the classic philosophers visited Egypt, the Jews annually flocked to Jerusalem, and the Tartars and Mongols (Buddhists) journey to distant Lama serais. The spirit of pilgrimage was predominant in medieval Europe, and the processions of the Roman Catholic Church are, according to her votaries, modern memorials of the effete rite."

Before entering upon any description of the mode in which the pilgrimage is carried out, it may be well to notice some incidental matters, not only in themselves worthy of attention, but in regard to which a clear understanding is necessary to make intelligible the account of the "Hajj" which will follow.

The temple of Mecca, termed indifferently " Masjidu'l Haram"(the Sacred Mosque), or Bait'ullah (the House of God), is an oblong square enclosed in a great wall, the measurement of which is variously estimated. Burckhardt reckons it at 440 yards long, by 352 broad, while Burton gives the dimensions as 452 yards by 370. None of the sides are quite in a straight line, though a casual observer would not detect the irregularity. On the eastern side the open square is enclosed by a colonnade, round which are pillars in a quadruple row, being three deep on the other sides; these are united by pointed arches, every four of which support a dome plastered and whitened on the outside. These domes are 152 in number. The pillars are about 20 feet in height and generally from one foot and a half to one foot and three quarters in diameter, being more or less irregular. Some are of white marble, granite or porphyry, but the greater number are of common stone

from the mountains of Mecca. Between every three or four columns stands an octagonal pillar about four feet in 1thickness. On the east side are two shafts of reddish grey granite in one piece, and one of fine grey porphyry, with slabs of white felspar. On the north side is one red granite column, as well as a pillar of fine grained red porphyry. Some parts of the walls and arches are gaudily painted in stripes of yellow, red, and blue, as are also the minarets, though paintings of flowers in the usual Mussulman style are nowhere seen. The floors of the colonnades are paved with large stones badly cemented together. Causeways, also paved, lead from the colonnades towards the centre; these latter are of sufficient breadth to admit four or five persons to walk abreast, and they are elevated about 9 inches above the ground. Between these causeways, which are covered with fine gravel or sand, grass appears growing in several places, produced by the water oozing out of the jars which are arranged on the ground in long rows during the day. There is a descent of eight or ten steps from the gates on the north side into the platform of the colonnade, and of three or four steps from the gates on the south side. The whole of these buildings are studded with small domes or cupolas, while seven minarets with varied quadrangular and round steeples with gilded spires and crescents, lend to the Mosque a picturesque and pleasing appearance.

Towards the middle of the area stands the Kaba, an oblong massive structure, the dimensions of which, according to Burckhardt, are as follows : length 45 feet, breadth 35 feet, and height from 35 to 40 feet. Burton, however, gives the measurements, as 55 feet x 45 feet, while it appeared to him taller than it was long. it is composed of grey Mecca stone in large blocks of differ ent sizes. According to some authorities these latter are roughly joined together with bad cement, while others maintain that the stones are tolerably fitted, and held by excellent mortar like Roman cement. The The

Kaba stands upon a base two feet in height, composed of fine white marble slabs, polished like glass, welded in which are large brass rings for the purpose of holding down the covering. The outer roof (for there is also an inner roof) is supported from within by three octangular pillars of aloe wood, between which, on a bar of iron, hang some silver lamps. The only door which affords entrance is on the eastern side (though Burckhardt erroneously places it in the northern wall), about 7 feet above the ground. It is universally accepted that originally the door was on a level with the pavement, and no satisfactory explanation has ever been forthcoming for the hollow round the Kaba. Some chroniclers are of opinion that the Quraish tribe, when in charge of the Holy Temple, raised the door to prevent devotees entering without permission, an explanation which does not, however, account for the fact that the floor of the building is on a level with the door. It is generally supposed that in days gone by there was a second door, on the side of the temple opposite the present entrance. However, there is now but one door; this, which was brought to Mecca from Constantinople in A.D. 1633, is coated with silver, and ornamented with several gilt decorations. At its threshold various small lighted wax candles and perfuming pans filled with musk, aloe wood, &c., are placed every and pilgrims and pious devotees collect the drippings of wax, the ashes from the aloe wood, and the dust from the" Ataba," or threshold, either to rub upon their foreheads or to preserve as relics.

At the south-eastern corner of the Kaba, near the door is the famous "Black Stone," or "Hajaru'l Aswad," which forms a part of the sharp angle of the building at from 4 to 5 feet from the ground. It is an irregul