en. XXVI.] Bedouin Ideas of God. 217 



tlie evil in life, of the rain and of the sunshine, 

 of the fertility of their flocks, and of the murrains 

 Avhich sometimes afflict them. But they do not 

 seek to propitiate Him with prayer, nor complain of 

 His severity when they sufier. They neither bless 

 nor curse Him, nor do they regard Him with love 

 or fear. If He have any personal relation Avitli 

 themselves it is as the silent witness of their oaths, 

 the name to which they appeal in their disputes. 

 But even thus, they expect nothing at His hands, 

 neither protection from wrong nor punishment if 

 they are forsworn. 



Prayer, as an outward act of religion, is not 

 practised by the pure Bedouins ; and, even in those 

 tribes which have become tainted with the ]\Ia- 

 hometanism of the towns, it is reserved chiefly for 

 the eyes and ears of strangers. The Shammar, alone 

 of all the nobh tribes we visited, possessed a mollah ; 

 and his duties with them were in no way of a 

 priestly character. The reason of his presence at 

 all must be looked for in the semi-Turkish character 

 of their late Sheykh, Sfuk, — whose son, Faris, though 

 a man of the noblest birth, and the highest character^ 

 still recites his prayers daily. With this almost 

 single exception, the practice of religion may be 

 taken as the sure index of low morality in a tribe. 

 The degraded fellahin of Irak are fanatically Shia 

 and conform to most of the Mahometan rules. 

 Among the Anazeh I do not rememljer having 

 noticed an instance of prayer. 



