Bismillah

“ Without delay, Rrisa faced that door and prostrated himself. The ancient cry: "La Illaha illa Allah! M'hámed rasul Allah!" was raised there in the cabin of the rushing Eagle of the Sky—surely the strangest place where Moslem prayer was ever offered since first the Prophet's green banner unfurled itself upon the desert air of Araby.
Devoutly Rrisa prayed, then with a "Bismillah!" (In the name of Allah!) arose and faced his master. The latter, wise in Eastern ways, remained gravely unsmiling. Never in all his dealings with the son of the East had he by word or look offended against Islam. ”

“ Then she took the bow and quiver of arrows, the sword, and the dagger out of a box, and the prince let fall a Bismillah, and girt them all on. Then Jamila of the houri-face, produced two saddle-bags of ruby-red silk, one filled with roasted fowl and little cakes, and the other with stones of price. Next she gave him a horse as swift as the breeze of the morning, and she said: “Accept all these things from me; ride till you come to a rising ground, at no great distance from here, where there is a spring. ”

“ BEDOUIN WOMEN EATING THEIR BREAKFAST.
Now the men come in to eat the food that the housewife has prepared. With a short prayer called bismillah they begin and then shove the rice and meat or the bread and gravy into their mouths as fast as they can. Whatever is left when the men get through is for the women. You can see a group of Arab women in the picture eating their meal from one common dish in front of their tent. They use their hands instead of spoons or forks but get along very well and always wash before and after their simple meal. ”

“ Embroidered on it were certain verselets of the Koran, the formula of the Moslem faith, and the names of the Prophets Companions. [FN#34] Burckhardt says Bysous and Sandabeir. [FN#35] From the Family of Amran (chap. 3) . Bekkah is a place of crowding; hence applied to Meccah generally. Some writers, however, limit it to the part of the city round the Harim. [FN#36] It is larger than the suls. Admirers of Eastern calligraphy may see a Bismillah, beautifully written in Tumar, on the wall of Sultan Muayyads Mosque at Cairo. ”

“ Muhammad has thus become a witness to the doctrine of the Christian faith that " without shedding of blood, there is no remission." The animal sacrificed must be without blemish, and of full age; but it may be either a goat, a sheep, a cow, or a camel. The religious part of the festival is observed as follows : — The people assemble in the morning for prayer, in the 'Jdgah, or place erected outside the city for these special festival prayers. The whole congregation then standing in the usual order, the Imam takes his place in front of them and leads them in two rak'ahs of prayer. ”

“ In the district round about Ghazi, and in other parts of India, the “Imam,” or “Mullah,” performs many religious offices. He often calls 28to prayer as a “Muezzin,” from the Arabic word “Izn,” and generally this is done from a minaret of the Mosque. After prayers, where with his face to Mecca he leads the worshippers, he collects the boys of the village and teaches them the Koran. He also bathes and washes the deceased male members of the faith, and prepares the body for burial, and puts on the “Kuffun,” or shroud. ”

“ The sunlight streams in from the numerous windows encircling the dome, or from those on the walls of the mosque, many of which are of beautiful stained glass, but without figures of any kind, as Moslems consider this would be breaking the commandment relating to images.
All mosques point toward Mecca, and at the Mecca end stands a mihrab, or niche, from which the imam conducts the devotions. Beside it, supported by pillars, is a terrace for the choir, which consists entirely of men. They chant, seated cross-legged on rugs. ”

“ At the hour of public prayer, [FN#27] he halted in the Wady or valley near Kuba, upon the spot where the Masjid al-Jum'ah now stands, performed his devotions, and preached an eloquent sermon. He then remounted. Numbers pressed forward to offer him hospitality; he blessed them, and bade them stand out of the way, declaring that Al-Kaswa would halt of her own accord at the predestined spot. He then advanced to where the Apostle's pulpit now stands. There the she-camel knelt, and the rider exclaimed, as one inspired, "This is our place, if Almighty Allah please!" ”

“ A laborer in the fields has heard the far-away call to prayer coming from the mosque in his village. He stops his work, throws down his rude hoe, places a cloth on the ground for a prayer rug, and there in the twilight after the sun has set, facing Mecca, he bows in worship before God, the mighty and wise, the merciful, the compassionate.
This feeling that God is always with one is a very powerful factor in Islam. It is one of its outstanding values. The Moslem is conscious of his spiritual need and his dependence on Allah. Allah is his master, his king. ”

“ The day was the Moslem Sabbath, and it was a thrilling sight to see multitudes hurrying to the mosque in response to that call. It was as though the forces of Mohammed the Prophet were being mobilized again for action, so ready was the response as the faithful listened to the muezzin with his melodious voice sing out in stately Arabic, "God STRAIGHT PATH 65
is most great! God is most great! God is most great! God is most great! I bear witness that there is no god but Allah! I bear witness that there is no god but Allah! I testify that Mohammed is the apostle of Allah! Come to prayer! ”

“ The mosque seemed to rock with the shouts which followed these words, and as soon as the cries of the people had subsided, the voice of Ishmael, now louder and more tremulous than before, rang through its vaults again.
"Deep in the heart of man, my brothers, is the expectation of a day when the Almighty will send His Messenger to purify and pacify the world and to banish intolerance and wrong. The Jews look for the Messiah, the Christians for the divine man of Judæa, and we that are Moslems for the Mahdi and the Christ. ”

“ But the God of Islam was to be a more compelling and authoritative God than Jehovah. As the Jew surrendered his birthright if he imparted his faith to other peoples, so the Muslim was to surrender his if he did not spread his faith wherever and however he might. ”

“ The Apostle of God said, "If I remain till next year, I will certainly keep the ninth day."'—Muslim.
It is related from Abú Qatádah that, 'A man came to the Prophet and said, "How dost thou keep the fast, O Apostle of God?" Then the Apostle of God became angry at his words. And when ʿOmar saw his anger, he said, "We are satisfied with Alláh as our Lord, with Islam as our religion, and with Muḥammad as our Prophet. We take refuge with God from the anger of God and the anger of His Apostle." ”

“ This two-bow prayer, which generally is recited in honour of the Mosque, is here, say divines, addressed especially to the Deity by the visitor who intends to beg the intercession of his Prophet. It is only just to confess that the Moslems have done their best by all means in human power, here as well as elsewhere, to inculcate the doctrine of eternal distinction between the creature and the Creator. Many of the Maliki school, however, make the ceremony of Ziyarat to precede the prayer to the Deity. ”

“ If on earth by prayer we bind these invisible powers, in heaven God will bind them and we shall see the darkness lifting and the light of the glory of God in the face of the Crucified One dawning in many Moslem hearts.
Members of a fellowship of faith for the Moslems must believe implicitly in the ultimate, absolute triumph of the Cross over the Crescent. Christ is their Head â€" all power is His in heaven and on earth, and "He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet." Islam is Christ's enemy â€" Islam is destined to lick the dust before Him. ”

“ There is no congregation comprising those who worship in a particular mosque. Nor have the imams and khatibs any jurisdiction, like that of a Catholic pastor, over those who assemble in the mosque for prayer. Worship in the mosque may be called congregational only in so far as certain individuals, who happen to gather there, unite in prayer to Allah under the direction of the imam, but it is nevertheless individual, as no Moslem has closer affiliations with one mosque than with another. ”

“ The Fundamental Principle of Islam is an arid Monotheism. Abraham, Moses and Jesus are regarded as God-sent prophets. The miraculous birth of Jesus, by a virgin, is also accepted, and Mary is identified with Miriam the sister of Moses. The ascension of Christ is also received. Mohammed, the last and highest of all the prophets, of whom Moses and Christ prophesied, has restored to its original purity his doctrine, which had been corrupted by Jews and Christians. At the end of the days Christ will come again to conquer Antichrist and give universal sovereignty to Islam. ”

“ Not only in the missionary library but in the secular press, Islam has never occupied so prominent a place as it does to-day. The Lucknow Conference, of which an account appeared in our columns, was both representative and comprehensive, and we are grateful that already practical results are evident. It is fair to say that there is not only a pan-Islamic movement, but also a pan-Christian movement throughout the world—a movement of self-sacrificing service and believing prayer on behalf of our Moslem brethren. ”

“ In such wise does the follower of the Prophet pray in the mosque, near the kubba of a saint or out on the desert at the hours of sunrise and sunset. At such times one feels that the Moslem does not despise the unbeliever, but is only proud, because he, a mortal and sinful man, has received from Allah the right to speak directly with him at these daily hours of prayer, when Allah comes so near to him and has such confidence in the mumen that it stirs his pride and inspires in him the fires of faith. ”

“ For the missionary spirit of Islam is no after-thought in its history; it interpenetrates the religion from its very commencement, and in the following sketch it is desired to show how this is so, how Muḥammad the Prophet is the type of the missionary of Islam. It is therefore beside the purpose to describe his early history, or the influences under which he grew up to manhood, or to consider him in the light either of a statesman or a general: it is as the preacher alone that he will demand our attention. ”

“ Some liberal Moslems may be found who will tell you that after all direction in prayer does not matter, and that the Koran says both the East and the West belong to God. Nevertheless it is extremely doubtful if they would ever be found in practice neglecting this specific instruction of the Prophet with regard to prayer. The observance of direction is universal in Islamic prayer. No mosque in the world from the Philippines to London is built without being so arranged that the worshipers will face Mecca.
Purification. ”

“ For the apse of the Christian church is not built so that, facing it, the true believer shall look towards Mecca, and the Mussulmans have made their mihrab—their shrine—a little to the right of what was once the altar, in the true direction of the sacred city. The long lines of matting spread on the floor all lie evenly at an angle with the axis of the nave, and when the mosque is full the whole congregation, amounting to thousands of men, are drawn up like regiments of soldiers in even ranks to face the mihrab, but not at right angles with the nave. ”

“ But one cannot fully understand the religious spirit of the Mussulman without knowing something of the prayers which he is wont to address to the Deity. No class of men, probably, have the name of God—Allah—more frequently on their lips than the Moslems. This is particularly true of those devotees—and their number is legion—known as dervishes.
Prayer five times a day is the second of the five pillars of Islam. At dawn, at midday, in the afternoon, evening and night the Muezzin ascends the minaret and repeats in a loud voice:
God is great. ”

“ Before engaging in prayer, the worshiper ought... to bring himself into a devotional frame of mind, and then he must pray quietly and with feeling, not like one who carries a load, unloads it and departs.” [2] Clearly, this is said because by means of the traditional prayers the ideals of Judaism are ever brought afresh to the consciousness of the worshiper. The sages of Israel constantly emphasized the importance of uniformity in synagogue service. In order to link the people closely together, they reconciled variant forms of prayer and sought to bring them into harmonious union. ”

“ When now the apostle of God was speaking with these men and calling on them to believe in God, they said one to another: “Know surely that this is the Prophet, of whom the Jews have warned us; come let us now make haste and be the first to join him.” So they embraced Islam, and said to him, “Our countrymen have long been engaged in a most bitter and deadly feud with one another; but now perhaps God will unite them together through thee and thy teaching. Therefore we will preach to them and make known to them this religion, that we have received from thee.” ”

“ For instance, the worshipper will begin with "I purpose to pray the four-bows of mid-day prayer to Allah the Almighty," and then he will proceed to the act of worship. Moslems of the Shafe'i faith must perform the Niyat of fasting every night for the ensuing day; the Malikis, on the other hand, "purpose" abstinence but once for the thirty days of Ramazan. Lane tells a pleasant tale of a thief in the Mosque saying, "I purpose (before prayer) to carry off this nice pair of new shoes!" ”