320 REV. &. M. ZWEMER, V.R.G.S., ON THE WAHABIS: 
certain portions of the original Koran were abstracted by 
Othman out of envy when he made his recension superseding 
all other copies extant (//ist. of Imams and Seyyids of 
Oman, by Salil bin Razik, pp. 252, 253). 
7. They observe four festivals only, namely, ‘Id el Fitr, 
after the fast month; *Id el Azha or feast of sacrifice at the 
Haj; ’Ashura, the tenth day of Moharram, on which God 
created Adam and Eve; and Lailat el Mubarakat, the 
night on which the Koran descended. The anniversary ot 
the Prophet’s birth they do not observe, nor any of the other 
feasts and holy days of Islam. 
8. They forbid the use of prayer-beads or rosaries, and 
instead count prayers and the names of God on the knuckles 
of their hand with the thumb. 
9. In the matter of dress they advocate a return to early 
Arabian simplicity. All silk, jewels, silver or gold orna- 
ments, and other than Arabian dress are an abomination to 
God and to His prophet. 
10. Even in food and drink they are distinguished from 
other Moslems. The lawfulness of tobacco has always been 
a disputed point among Moslem theologians, but the Wahabi 
reformer puts tobacco-smoking under the category of 
greater sins, and the weed is known by the name of “the 
shameful,” or by a still worse and untranslatable epithet 
which implies a purely Satanic origin for the plant. All 
intoxicants not only, but all drugs that stupefy or kenumb, 
are under the ban. Even the Kaat-plant of Yemen (catha 
edulis) is forbidden food. 
11. Wahabi mosques are built with the greatest simplicity. 
No minarets are allowed, and nothing but bare walls 
ornament the place of prayer. 
12. The Spanish renegade, Ali Bey, details another 
interesting point of difference. Moslems are accustomed 
to leave a lock of hair on the crown of their head when 
shaving it. As this is based on a superstitious belief that 
they will be caught up by this lock of hair to heaven 
on the last day, Abd ul Wahab forbade the practice 
sternly. 
13. The Wahabis lay great stress on the doctrine of jihad. 
To fight for the faith once delivered with sword and spear 
and matchluck was to them a divinely imposed duty and 
a command of God never to be abrogated. In all their 
bloody warfare they never were known to grant quarter to 
a Turk (Burckhardt). They keep this precept of their 
