of the faith, and the key of prayer, without which it will not be heard by GOD.4 That these expressions may be the better understood, al Ghazâli reckons four degrees of purification; of which the first is, the cleansing of the body from all pollution, filth, and excrements; the second, the cleansing of the members of the body from all wickedness and unjust actions; the third, the cleansing of the heart from all blamable inclinations and odious vices; and the fourth, the purging a man's secret thoughts from all affections which may divert their attendance on GOD: adding, that the body is but as the outward shell in respect to the heart, which is as the kernel. And for this reason he highly complains of those who are superstitiously solicitous in exterior purifications, avoiding those persons as unclean who are not so scrupulously nice as themselves, and at the same time have their minds lying waste, and overrun with pride, ignorance, and hypocrisy.5 Whence it plainly appears with how little foundation the Mohammedans have been charged, by some writers,6 with teaching or imagining that these formal washings alone cleanse them for their sins.7 Lest so necessary a preparation to their devotions should be omitted, either where water cannot be had, or when it may be of prejudice to a person's health, they are allowed in such cases to make use of fine sand or dust in lieu of it;8 and then they perform this duty by clapping their open hands on the sand, and passing them over the parts, in the same manner as if they were dipped in water. But for this expedient Mohammed was not so much indebted to his own cunning,1 as to the example of the Jews, or perhaps that of the Persian Magi, almost as scrupulous as the Jews themselves in their lustrations, who both of them prescribe the same method in cases of necessity;2 and there is a famous instance, in ecclesiastical history, of sand being used, for the same reason, instead of water, in the administration of the Christian sacrament of baptism, many years before Mohammed's time.3 Neither are the Mohammedans contented with bare washing, but
1 Al Jannâbi in Vita Abrah. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 303. 2 Herewith agrees the spurious Gospel of St. Barnabas, the Spanish translation of which (cap. 29) has these words: Dixo Abraham, Que harè yo para servir al Dios de los sanctos y prophetas? Respondiò el angel, Ve e aquella fuente y lavate, porque Dios quiere hablar contigo. Dixo Abraham, Come tengo de lavarme? Luego el angel se le appareciò como uno bello mancebo, y se lavò en la fuente, y le dixo, Abraham, haz como yo. Y Abraham se lavò, &c. 3 Al Kessâï. Vide Reland. de Rel. Mohamm. p. 81. 4 Al Ghazâli, Ebn al Athîr. 5 Vide Poc. Spec. p. 302, &c. 6 Barthol. Edessen, Confut. Hagaren. p. 360. G. Sionita and J. Hesronita, in Tract. de Urb. and Morib. Orient. ad Calcem Geogr. Nubiens. c. 15. Du Ryer, dans le Sommaire de la Rel. des Turcs, mis à la tête de sa version de l'Alcor. St. Olon, Descr. du Royaume de Maroc, c. 2. Hyde, in not. ad Bobov. de Prec. Moh. p. I; Smith, de Morib. et Instit. Turcar. Ep. I, p. 32. 7 Vide Reland. de Rel. Moh. l. 2, c. II. 8 Kor. c. 3, p. 59 and 5, p. 74. 1 Vide Smith, ubi sup. 2 Gemar. Berachoth. c 2. Vide Poc. not. ad Port Mosis, p. 380. Sadder, porta 84. 3 Cedren. p. 250.
think themselves obliged to several other necessary points of cleanliness, which they make also parts of this duty; such as combing the hair, cutting the beard, paring the nails, pulling out the hairs of their armpits, shaving their private parts, and circumcision;4 of which last I will add a word or two, lest I should not find a more proper place. Circumcision, though it be not so much as once mentioned in the Korân, is yet held by the Mohammedans to be an ancient divine institution, confirmed by the religion of Islâm, and though not so absolutely necessary but that it may be dispensed with in some cases,5 yet highly proper and expedient. The Arabs used this rite for many ages before Mohammed, having probably learned it from Ismael, though not only his descendants, but the Hamyarites,6 and other tribes, practised the same. The Ismaelites, we are told,7 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:8 and the Mohammedans 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, Mohammed is the apostle of GOD;"9 but pitch on what age they please for the purpose, between six and sixteen or thereabouts.10 Though the Moslem doctors are generally of opinion, conformably to the scripture, 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.1 Though I cannot say the Jews led the Mohammedans the way here, yet they seem so unwilling to believe any of the principal patriarchs or prophets before Abraham were really uncircumcised, that they pretend several of them, as well as some holy men who lived after his time, were born ready circumcised, or without a foreskin, and that Adam, in particular, was so created;2 whence the Mohammedans affirm the same thing of their prophet.3 Prayer was by Mohammed thought so necessary a duty, that he used to call it the pillar of religion and the key of paradise; and when the Thakifites, who dwelt at Tâyef, sending in the ninth year of the Hejra to make their submission to that prophet, after the keeping of their favourite idol had been denied them,4 begged, at least, that they might be dispensed with as to their saying of the appointed prayers, he answered, "That there could be no good in that religion wherein was no prayer."5
4 Vide Poc. Spec. p. 303. 5 Vide Bobov. de Circumcis. p. 22. 6 Philostorg. Hist. Eccl. l. 3. 7 Joseph. Ant. l. I, c. 23. 8 Gen. xvii. 25. 9 Vide Bobov. ubi sup. and Poc. Spec. p. 319. 10 Vide Reland. de Rel. Moh. l. I, p. 75. 1 This is the substance of the following passage of the Gospel of Barnabas (cap. 23), viz.,Entonces dixo Jesus; Adam el primer hombre aviendo comido por eñgano del demonio la comida prohibida por Dios en el parayso, se le rebelò su carne à su espiritu; por lo qual jurò diziendo, Por Dios que yo te quiero cortar; y rompiendo una piedra tomò su carne para cortarla con el corte de la piedra. Por loqual fue reprehendido del angel Gabriel, y el le dixo; Yo he jurado por Dios que lo he de cortar, y mentiroso no lo serè jamas. Ala hora el angel le enseño la superfluidad de su earne, y a quella cortò. De manera que ansi como todo hombre toma carne de Adam, ansi esta obligado a complir aquello que Adam con juramento prometiò. 2 Shalshel. hakkabala. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 320; Gagnier not. in Abulfed. Vit. Moh. p. 2. 3 Vide Poc. Spec. p. 304. 4 See before, p. 14. 5 Abulfed. Vit. Moh. p. 127
That so important a duty, therefore, might not be neglected, Mohammed obliged his followers to pray five times every twenty-four hours, at certain state times; viz., I. In the morning, before sunrise; 2. When noon is past, and the sun begins to decline form the meridian; 3. In the afternoon, before sunset; 4. In the evening, after sunset, and before day be shut in; and 5. After the day is shut in, and before the first watch of the night.6 For this institution he pretended to have received the divine command from the throne of GOD himself, when he took his night journey to heaven; and the observing of the stated times of prayer is frequently insisted on in the Korân, though they be not particularly prescribed therein. Accordingly, at the aforesaid times, of which public notice is given by the Muedhdhins, or Criers, from the steeples of their mosques (for they use no bell), every conscientious Moslem prepares himself for prayer, which he performs either in the mosque 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; all which have been particularly set down and described, though with some few mistakes, by other writers,1 and ought not to be abridged, unless in some special cases; as on a journey, on preparing for battle, &c. For the regular performance of the duty of prayer among the Mohammedans, besides the particulars above mentioned, it is also requisite that they turn their faces, while they pray, towards the temple of Mecca;2 the quarter where the same is situate being, for that reason, pointed out within their mosques by a niche, which they call al Mehrâb, and without, by the situation of the doors opening into the galleries of the steeples: there are also tables calculated for the ready finding out their Kebla, or part towards which they ought to pray, in places where they have no other direction.3 But what is principally to be regarded in the discharge of this duty, say the Moslem doctors, is the inward disposition of the heart, which is the life and spirit of prayer;4 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:5 so that we must not think the Mohammedans, or the considerate part of them at least, content themselves with the mere opu. operatum, or imagine their whole religion to be placed therein.6 I had like to have
