ON ISLAM AND ANIMISM. 



89 



or in the day : He both hears and knows." Aganist robbers at 

 night a verse of the chapter called " Eepentance " is road, etc. 



It li<is been shown by A. J. Wensinck,* that animism and a 

 belief in demons lie behind the Islamic prayer-ritual. In the 

 preparation for the daily prayer — especially in tlie process of 

 ablution — the object of the Moslem seems to be to free himself 

 from everything that has connection with supernatural powers 

 or demons as opposed to the worship of the one true God. 

 Wensinck tells us that these beliefs have nothing to do wdth 

 bodily purity as such, but are intended to free the worshipper 

 from the presence or the influence of evil spirits.f Goldziher 

 had already shown in one of his essays that according to Semitic 

 conception water drives away demons. There are many 

 traditions which find a relationship between sleep and Jinn. 

 During sleep the soul, according to animistic belief, leaves the 

 body. Therefore, one must waken those who sleep quite gently, 

 lest the soul be prevented from returning. Not only during 

 sleep but during illness demons are present, and in Egypt it is 

 considered unfortunate for anyone who is ceremonially unclean 

 to approach a patient suffering from ophthalmia. 



The Moslem, when he prays, is required, according to tradition, 

 to cover his head, especially the back part of the skull. This, 

 according to Wensinck, is also due to animistic belief ; for evil 

 spirits enter the body by this. Goldziher has shown that the 

 name given to this part of the body {al-qafa) has a close relation- 

 ship to the kind of poetry called Qafiya, which originally meant 

 a poem-to-wound-the-skull, in other words, an imprecatory poem. 

 It is therefore ibr the dread of evil powers which might enter 

 the n:iind that the head must be covered during prayer. (The 

 references are given both to the Moslem tradition and to the 



* Der Islam, Band lY, " Animisma und Damonenglaube." 



t It is this demonic pollution which must be removed. I quote two 

 traditions from Muslim, vol. i, pp. 112-3. "Said the Prophet : 'If any 

 of you wakeTis up from sleep then let him blow his nose three times. For 

 the devil spends the night in a man's nostrils.' " And again : " Said 

 Omar ibn el-Khattab (May God have mercy on him), 'A certain man 

 performed ablution, but left a dry spot on his foot.' When the Prophet 

 of God saw it, he said : ' Go back and wash better,' then he returned and 

 came back to prayer. Said the Prophet of God : ' If a Moslem servant 

 of God performs the ablution when he washes his face, every sin which 

 his face has committed is taken away by it with the water or with the 

 last drop of the water. And when he washes his hands, the sins of his 

 hands are taken away with the water or with the last drop of the water. 

 And when he washes his feet, all the sins which his feet have committed 

 are taken away with the water or with the last drop of the water until 

 he becomes pure from sin altogether.' " 



