MUSLIMS: THE COMMUNITYRitual and Identity
Muslims reinforced their identity and established communal bound-
aries in other ways. Because their ritual practices had affinities to
virtually every other contemporary religious tradition, it became su-
premely important to perform them in ways which were distinctively
Islamic.^49 They shared animal sacrifice with pagans and Magians and
ritual slaughter with Jews; doing these in the name of God (Ar. bis-
millah) made it Islamic (Sura 6:119, 122). They shared circumcision
with Jews and the Christian Arabs of Hira, and similarly to the Jewish
and Christian traditions, they institutionalized charity. Like the Jews,
they covered their heads during worship, but their vocal, public call
to worship (Ar. adhan) was unique and shared with no other religious
group. Specifically the adhan differed from the wooden gongs (Syr.
naqqus) used by Nestorians. Muslims observed a ritual calendar that
included a month-long fast followed by a festival like that of many
other groups. But their use of a lunar calendar without intercalation
meant that Islamic observances were taken out of the seasonal, agri-
cultural cycle and normally coincided with the observances of no other
group.
Muslims also practiced ritual ablutions for purification as done by
Magians and some pagans, but the details of performing them made
them distinctly Islamic. The Qur'an specifies that before worship Mus-
lims should wash their faces, their hands, and their arms up to the
elbows, rub their heads lightly, and wash their feet up to the ankles.
It also prescribes purification after pollution, illness, a journey, elim-
ination, and sexual relations, and says that if no water is available
clean earth may be used (Sura, 4:43; 5:6). At Basra, 'Ubaydulhih ibn
Abi Bakrii is said to have been the first to purify himself with water
after defecating,SO and al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba washed himself after
committing adultery with Umm J amil. 51 It has already been noted how
Ibn Abi Laylii refused to dry his hands after performing his ablution
at Kufa. The similarity of these practices to those of other religious
groups, which were based on a common appreciation of ritual purity,
made it easier for Muslims to come to resemble them. Muslims were
probably closest to Magians in matters of ritual purity, although their
practices were not so extreme. However, the opinion which developed
49 Abbott, Literary Papyri, 11, 204.
50 Ibn Rustah, A'liiq, p. 194; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqiit, VII(l), 138.
51 Baladhuri, Ansiib, I, 491.