that no man should give above a fifth part of his goods in alms.10 There were also persons publicly appointed in every synagogue to collect and distribute the people's contributions.11 The third point of religious practice is fasting; a duty of so great moment, that Mohammed 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;" and al Ghazâli reckons fasting one-fourth part of the faith. According to the Mohammedan divines, there are three degrees of fasting: I. The restraining the belly and other parts of the body from satisfying their lusts; 2. The restraining the ears, eyes, tongue, hands, feet, and other members from sin; and 3. The fasting of the heart from worldly cares, and refraining the thoughts from everything besides GOD.1 The Mohammedans are obliged, by the express command of the Korân, to fast the whole month of Ramadân, 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 women, from daybreak till night,2 or sunset. And 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 or injection, 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:3 the fast is also deemed void if a man kiss or touch a woman, or if he vomit designedly. But after sunset they are allowed to refresh themselves, and to eat and drink, and enjoy the company of their wives till daybreak;4
3 Hence alms are in the New Testament termed [Greek text]. Matth. vi. I (Ed. Steph.), and 2 Cor. ix. 10. 4 Gemar. in Bava Bathra. 5 Ibid. in Gittin. 6 Ibid. in Rosh hashana. 7 Levit. xix. 9, 10; Deut. xxiv. 19, &c. 8 Vide Gemar. Hierosol. in Peah, and Maimon. in Halachoth matanoth Aniyyim. c.6. Confer Pirke Avoth, v. 9. 9 Luke xix. 8. 10 Vide Reland. Ant. Sacr. Vet. Hebr. p. 402. 11 Vide Ibid. p. 138. 1 Al Ghazâli, Al Mostatraf. 2 Kor. c. 2, p. 19, 20. 3 Hence we read that the Virgin Mary, to avoid answering the reflections cast on her for bringing home a child, was advised by the angel Gabriel to feign she had vowed a fast, and therefore she ought not to speak. See Kor. c. 19. 4 The words of the Korân (cap. 2, p. 20) are: "Until ye can distinguish a white thread from a black thread by the daybreak"-a form of speaking borrowed by Mohammed from the Jews, who determine the time when they are to begin their morning lesson, to be so soon as a man can discern blue form white, i.e., the blue threads from the white threads in the fringes of their garments. But this explication the commentators do not approve, pretending that by the white
though the more rigid begin the fast again at midnight.5 This fast is extremely rigorous and mortifying when the month of Ramadân happens to fall in summer, for the Arabian year being lunar,6 each month runs through all the different seasons in the course of thirty-three years, the length and heat of the days making the observance of it much more difficult and uneasy then than in winter. The reason given why the month of Ramadân was pitched on for this purpose is, that on the month the Korân was sent down from heaven.1 Some pretend that Abraham, Moses, and Jesus received their respective revelations in the same month.2 From the fast of Ramadân none are excused, except only travellers and sick persons (under which last denomination the doctors comprehend all whose health would manifestly be injured by their keeping the fast; as women with child and giving suck, ancient people, and young children); but then they are obliged, as soon as the impediment is removed, to fast an equal number of other days: and the breaking the fast is ordered to be expiated by giving alms to the poor.3 Mohammed seems to have followed the guidance of the Jews in his ordinances concerning fasting, no less than in the former particulars. That nation, when they fast, abstain not only from eating and drinking, but from women, and from anointing themselves,4 from daybreak until sunset, and the stars begin to appear;5 spending the night in taking what refreshments they please.6 And they allow women with child and giving suck, old persons, and young children to be exempted from keeping most of the public fasts.7 Though my design here be briefly to treat of those points only which are of indispensable obligation on a Moslem, and expressly required by the Korân, without entering into their practice as to voluntary and supererogatory works; yet to show how closely Mohammed's institutions follow the Jewish, I shall add a word or two of the voluntary fasts of the Mohammedans. These are such as have been recommended either by the example or approbation of their prophet; and especially 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 Ramadân was more meritorious than a fast of thirty days in a sacred month.8 Among the more commendable days is that of Ashûra, the tenth of Moharram; which, though some writers tell us it was observed by the Arabs, and particularly the tribe of Koreish, before Mohammed's time,9 yet, as others assure us, that prophet borrowed both the name and the fast from the Jews; it being with them the tenth of
thread and the black thread are to be understood the light and dark streaks of the daybreak; and they say the passage was at first revealed without the words "of the daybreak;" but Mohammed's followers, taking the expression in the first sense, regulated their practice accordingly, and continued eating and drinking till they could distinguish a white thread from a black thread, as they lay before them-to prevent which for the future, the words "of the daybreak" were added as explanatory of the former. Al Beidâwi. Vide Pocock. not. in Carmen Tograi, p. 89, &c. Chardin, Voy. de Perse, tom. 2, p. 423. 5 Vide Chardin, ib. p. 421, &c. Reland. de Relig. Moh. p. 109, &c. 6 See hereafter, Sect. VI. 1 Kor. c. 2, p. 19. See also c. 97. 2 Al Beidâwi, ex Trad. Mohammedis. 3 See Kor. c. 2, p. 20.
4 Siphra, f. 252, 2. 5 Tosephoth ad Gemar. Yoma, f. 34. 6 Vide Gemar. Yoma, f. 40, and maimon. in Halachoth Tánioth, c. 5, § 5. 7 Vide Gemar. Tánith, f. 12, and Yoma, f. 83, and Es Hayim, Tánith, c. I. 8 Al Ghazâli. 9 Al Bârezi in Comment. ad Orat. Ebn Nobâtæ.
the seventh month, or Tisri, and the great day of expiation commanded to be kept by the law of Moses.1 Al Kazwîni relates that when Mohammed came to Medina, and found the Jews there fasted on the day of Ashûra, he asked them the reason of it; and 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 herein; 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.2 The pilgrimage to Mecca is so necessary a point of practice that, according to a tradition of Mohammed, he who dies without performing it, may as well die a Jew or a Christian;3 and the same is expressly commanded in the Korân.4 Before I speak of the time and manner of performing this pilgrimage, it may be proper to give a short account of the temple of Mecca, the chief scene of the Mohammedan worship; in doing which I need be the less prolix, because that edifice has been already described by several writers,5 though they, following different relations, have been led into some mistakes, and agree not with one another in several particulars: nor, indeed, do the Arab authors agree in all things, one great reason whereof is their speaking of different times. The temple of Mecca stands in the midst of the city, and is honoured with the title of Masjad al alharâm, i.e., the sacred or inviolable temple. What is principally reverenced in this place, and gives sanctity to the whole, is a square stone building, called the Caaba, as some fancy, from its height, which surpasses that of the other buildings in Mecca,6 but more probably from its quadrangular form, and Beit Allah, i.e., the house of GOD, being peculiarly hallowed and set apart for his worship. The length of this edifice, from north to south, is twenty-four cubits, its breadth from east to west twenty- three cubits, and its height twenty-seven cubits: the door, which is on the east side, stands about four cubits from the ground; the floor being level with the bottom of the door.7 In the corner next this door is the black stone, of which I shall take notice by-and-bye. On the north side of the Caaba, within a semicircular enclosure fifty cubits long, lies the white stone, said to be the sepulchre of Ismael, which receives the rain-water that falls off the Caaba by a spout, formerly of wood,1 but now of gold. The Caaba has a double roof, supported within by three octangular pillars of aloes wood; between which, on a bar of iron, hang some silver lamps. The outside is covered with rich black damask, adorned with an embroidered band of gold, which is changed every year, and was formerly sent by the
