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Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Hughes, Thomas Patrick
“God accepts not the prayers of a woman arrived at puberty unless she covers her head.”
“People must not lift up their eyes whilst saying their prayers, or they will become blind.”
“The prayers which are said in congregation increase the rewards of those said alone by twenty seven degrees.” [MOSQUE.]
“The five stated prayers erase the sins which have been committed during the intervals between them, if they have not been mortal sins.”
“That prayer preparatory to which the teeth shall have been cleaned with the Miswāk is more excellent than the prayer without Miswāk by seventy.” [MISWAK.]
“The prayers of a person will not be accepted who has broken his ablution until he completes another ablution.”
“That person who leaves even one hair without washing after uncleanness, will be punished in hell accordingly.”
“When any one of you stands up for prayer, he must not smooth the ground by wiping away pebbles, because the compassion of God descends upon him at that time.”
“Order your children to say the stated prayers when they are seven years of age, and beat them if they do not do so when they are ten years old; and when they reach ten years, divide their beds.”
“When you stand up to prayer, spit not in front, because you are then in God’s presence; neither spit on your right side, because an angel is there. Spit, therefore either on your left side or under your feet, and then throw earth over it.”
“Whoever says twelve rakʿahs of Sunnah prayers in the day and night, will have a house built for him in Paradise; four rakʿahs before the noon-day prayer, and two rakʿahs after it, and two after sunset prayer, and two rakʿahs after evening prayer, and two before morning prayer.”
“ ‘Tell me if any one of you had a rivulet before his door and bathed five times a day in it, whether any dirt would remain upon his body.’ The Companions said, ‘Nothing would remain.’ The Prophet said, ‘In this manner will the five daily prayers as ordered by God erase all little sins.’ ”
“When any one of you says his prayers, he must have something in front of him, but if he cannot find anything for that purpose, he must put his walking-stick into the ground; but if the ground be hard, then let him place it lengthways in front of him; but if he has no staff, he must draw a line on the ground, after which there will be no detriment in the prayers from anyone passing in front of it.” [SUTRAH.]
“The best prayers for God were those of David the prophet, and the best fast are his also. David used to sleep half the night and would be woke, and in prayer a third part of the night and would fast one day and eat another.”
The form of prayer, or rakʿahs, as given above, admit of no variations whether they are used in private or public, and consequently, notwithstanding the beauty of its devotional language, it is simply a superstitious act, having very little in common with the Christian idea of prayer.
We translate the Arabic Ṣalāt, and the Persian Namāz by the English word prayer, although this “second foundation” of the religion of Muḥammad is something quite distinct from that prayer which the Christian poet so well describes as the “soul’s sincere desire uttered or unexpressed.” It would be more correct to speak of the Muḥammadan Ṣalāt as a service; “prayer” being more correctly rendered by the Arabic duʿāʾ. In Islām prayer is reduced to a mechanical act, as distinct from a mental act; and in judging of the spiritual character of Muḥammadanism, we must take into careful consideration the precise character of that devotional service which every Muslim is required to render to God at least five times a day, and which undoubtedly, exercise so great an influence upon the character of the followers of Muḥammad.
The devotions of Islām are essentially “vain repetitions,” for they must be said in the Arabic language, and admit of no change or variety. The effect of such a constant round of devotional forms, which are but the service of the lips, on the vast majority of Muḥammadans, can be easily imagined. The absence of anything like true devotion from these services, accounts for the fact that religion and true piety stand so far apart in the practice of Islām.
The late Dean Stanley remarks (Eastern Church, p. 279), “The ceremonial character of the religion of Musalmāns is, in spite of its simplicity, carried to a pitch beyond the utmost demands either of Rome or of Russia.… Prayer is reduced to a mechanical act as distinct from a mental act, beyond any ritual observances in the West. It is striking to see the figures along the banks of the Nile going through their prostrations, at the rising of the sun, with the uniformity and regularity of clockwork; but it resembles the worship of machines rather than of reasonable beings.”
PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD. According to the teaching of Muḥammad, it is the duty of all true Muslims to pray for the dead. (Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār, p. 135.) See also Mishkāt, book v. chap. iii.
“God most certainly exalts the degree of a virtuous servant in Paradise, and the virtuous servant says, ‘O my Lord, from whence is this exalted degree for me?’ and God says, ‘It is on account of your children asking pardon for you.’”
“The Prophet passed by graves in al-Madīnah and turned his face towards them, and said, ‘Peace be to you, O inhabitants of the graves! may God forgive us and you. Ye have passed on before us, and we are following you.’”
“A dead person in the grave is like one over his head in water, who calls to somebody to take him by the hand. For he has hope that his father or mother, or his brother, or his friend will pray for him. For when the prayer reaches the dead person, it is more esteemed by him than the whole world, and all that is in it; and verily God most certainly gives to the dead, on account of the prayers of the people of the earth, rewards like mountains, for verily the offerings of the living for the dead are asking forgiveness for them.”
Sūrah lxxi. 29: “And Noah said, O my God, forgive me and my parents.”
Sūrah ix. 114, 115: “It is not for the Prophet to pray for the forgiveness of those, who, even though they be near of kin, associate other gods with God, after it hath been made clear to them that they are to be the inmates of hell. For neither did Abraham ask forgiveness for his father, but in pursuance of a promise which he had promised him, and when it was shown him that he was an enemy of God, he declared himself clear of him: yet Abraham was pitiful and kind.”
It is related in the Traditions that the Prophet visited his mother’s grave, and wept in such a way as to cause those who were standing around him to weep also. And the Prophet said, “I have asked my benefactor permission to ask pardon for my mother, which was not granted then. I asked my Lord’s permission to visit her grave and it was granted, therefore do ye visit graves, because they remind you of death.”
PREACHER. Preaching. There are four words generally used for a preacher: k͟hat̤īb (خطيب), muẕakkir (مذكر), wāʿiz̤ (واعظ), and nāṣiḥ (ناصح).
K͟hat̤īb is always applied to the official who recites the k͟hut̤bah, or oration, in the Friday service. The other three terms are applied generally to preachers.
In the present day, preaching seldom takes place in a mosque except on Fridays, when the k͟hut̤bah is recited, although it is not forbidden, and Muḥammad was frequently in the habit of addressing his people after the prayers were over.
No Maulawī of reputation preaches in the street, but paid preachers sometimes undertake the office.
PREDESTINATION. Arabic qadar (قدر), the word generally used in the Ḥadīs̤; taqdīr (تقدير), the word usually employed in theological works. Expressions which mean “measuring out,” or “preordering.”
Taqdīr, or the absolute decree of good and evil, is the sixth article of the Muḥammadan creed, and the orthodox believe that whatever has, or shall come to pass in this world, whether it be good or bad, proceeds entirely from the Divine Will, and has been irrevocably fixed and recorded on a preserved tablet by the pen of fate. The doctrine, which forms a very important feature in the Muslim system, is thus taught in the Qurʾān:—
Sūrah liv. 49: “All things have been created after fixed decree” (qadar).
Sūrah iii. 139: “No one can die except by God’s permission according to the book that fixeth the term of life.”
Sūrah lxxxvii. 2: “The Lord hath created and balanced all things and hath fixed their destinies and guided them.”
Sūrah viii. 17: “God slew them, and those shafts were God’s, not thine.”
Sūrah ix. 51: “By no means can aught befall us but what God has destined for us.”
Sūrah xiii. 30: “All sovereignty is in the hands of God.”
Sūrah xiv. 4: “God misleadeth whom He will, and whom He will He guideth.”
Sūrah xviii. 101: “The infidels whose eyes were veiled from my warning and had no power to hear.”
The teaching of Muḥammad, as given in the Traditions handed down by al-Buk͟hārī and Muslim, is as follows:—