40 ANIMISTIC ELEMENTS IX MOSLEM PRAYER 



interesting one is given in Muslim (vol. i, p. 204): "Said 

 the Apostle of God (on him be prayers and peace), 'A 

 certain demon of the Jinn attacked me yesterday in order 

 to stop my prayers. But, verily, God gave me victory over 

 him. I was about to tie him to the side of a pillar of the 

 pillars of the Mosque so that ye might get up in the morning 

 and behold him, all of you, when I remembered the prayer 

 of my brother Solomon: "O Lord, forgive me and give me a 

 dominion such as no one ever had," and after that God set 

 the demon free.' The Mihrab in a mosque, I am told,- 

 takes the place of the Sutra outside of a mosque and serves 

 the same purpose. 



The forming of ranks in Moslem prayers as they face 

 the Mihrab, is most important and therefore they are extre- 

 mely careful of it. There are many traditions in this 

 respect which can only have relation to belief in Jinn. For 

 example, not only must the worshippers stand in a row, 

 but in a mosque it is considered most important to stand so 

 close together that nothing can possibly pass between. 

 They stand ready like soldiers in massed-formation. Here 

 is the tradition : 



Anas states that the Prophet said : "Observe your ranks, 

 for I can see you from behind my back. " "Each one of us," 

 he adds, "put his shoulder in touch with his neighbour's 

 and his foot with that of his neighbour."- We must add to 

 this another superstition in prayer, it is bad luck to pray 

 on the left hand of the Imam: Ibn- 'Abbas said: "On a 

 certain night I made my prayers together with the Prophet. 

 As I was placing myself on his left, the Messenger of God 

 taking hold of me by the back of my head, placed me on his 

 right. After having made our prayers, he lay down and 

 rested until the muezzin came to look for him. Then he got 

 up and made his prayers without making his ablutions." \ 



We have already spoken of the lifting of the hands in 

 prayer. This is an important matter for discussion in all 

 works of Fiqh. 



In the prayer called Qunut, which takes place during 

 and as part of the morning prayer (Salat), the hands are 

 raised in magical fashion. Goldziher believes the original 

 signification of this was a curse or imprecation on the 

 enemy, such was the custom of the Arabs. The Prophet 

 cursed his enemies in this way. So did also the early 

 Caliphs. In Lane's Dictionary (Art. Qunut) we find the 



*Houdas' Buhhari (French Trans.) p. 243; See also Nasai : vol. i, 

 p. 173 & 186-7. 



t Houdas' Buhhari (French Trans.) p. 244. 



