a substitute for water. There are five stated seasons for prayer: at day-break, near noon, in the
afternoon, a little after sunset (to avoid the appearance of sun-worship), and at night-fall, besides
two night prayers for extra devotion. The muëddin or muëzzin (crier) announces the time of devotion
from the minaret of the mosque by chanting the "Adan" or call to prayer, in these words:
God is great!" (four times). "I bear witness that there is no god but God" (twice). "I bear
witness that Mohammed is the Apostle of God" (twice). "Come hither to prayers!" (twice). "Come
hither to salvation!" (twice). "God is great! There is no other God!" And in the early morning the
crier adds: "Prayer is better than sleep!"
A devout Mussulman is never ashamed to perform his devotion in public, whether in the
mosque, or in the street, or on board the ship. Regardless of the surroundings, feeling alone with
God in the midst of the crowd, his face turned to Mecca, his hands now raised to heaven, then laid
on the lap, his forehead touching the ground, he goes through his genuflexions and prostrations,
and repeats the first Sura of the Koran and the ninety-nine beautiful names of Allah, which form
his rosary.^202 The mosques are as well filled with men, as many Christian churches are with women.
Islâm is a religion for men; women are of no account; the education and elevation of the female
sex would destroy the system.
With all its simplicity and gravity, the Mohammedan worship has also its frantic excitement
of the Dervishes. On the celebration of the birthday of their prophet and other festivals, they work
themselves, by the constant repetition of "Allah, Allah," into a state of unconscious ecstacy, "in
which they plant swords in their breasts, tear live serpents with their teeth, eat bottles of glass, and
finally lie prostrate on the ground for the chief of their order to ride on horseback over their
bodies."^203
I will add a brief description of the ascetic exercises of the "Dancing" and "Howling"
Dervishes which I witnessed in their convents at Constantinople and Cairo in 1877.
The Dancing or Turning Dervishes in Pera, thirteen in number, some looking ignorant and
stupid, others devout and intensely fanatical, went first through prayers and prostrations, then threw
off their outer garments, and in white flowing gowns, with high hats of stiff woolen stuff, they
began to dance to the sound of strange music, whirling gracefully and skilfully on their toes, ring
within ring, without touching each other or moving out of their circle, performing, in four different
acts, from forty to fifty turnings in one minute, their arms stretched out or raised to heaven their
eyes half shut, their mind apparently lost in a sort of Nirwana or pantheistic absorption in Allah.
A few hours afterward I witnessed the rare spectacle of one of these very Dervishes reeling to and
fro in a state of intoxication on the street and the lower bridge of the Golden Horn.
(^202) They are given in Arabic and English by Palmer, l.c. I., Intr, p. lxvii. sq. The following are the first ten:
- ar-Ra’hmân, the Merciful.
- ar-Ra’hîm, the Compassionate.
- al-Mâlik, the Ruler.
- al-Quaddûs, the Holy.
- as-Salâm, Peace.
- al-Mû’min, the Faithful.
- al-Muhâimun, the Protector.
- al-Haziz the Mighty.
- al-Gabbâr, the Repairer.
- al-Mutakabbir, the Great.
(^203) Description of Dean Stanley from his own observation in Cairo, l.c., p. 385.