94 



THE EEV. S. M. ZWEMER, M.A., D.D., 



his arm-pits ! " In the case of Du'a, therefore, the KiUa is said 

 to be heaven itself, and not Mecca. 



Another gesture used in DvM is the stroking of the face or 

 of the body with the hands. This custom is borrowed from the 

 Prophet, and has also magical effect. At the time of his death 

 the Prophet put his hands in water and washed his face with 

 them, repeating the Creed. The use of water to drive away 

 demons is a well-known Semitic practice.* 



We now pass on to Moslem ideas of the soul. 



The conception of the soul and the belief in a double among 

 Moslems closely resembles the idea of the Malays and other 

 Animists. " The Malay conception of the human soul," we 

 read, ''is that of a species of thumbling — a thin, unsubstantial 

 human image, or mannikin, w^hich is temporarily absent from 

 the body in sleep, trance, disease, and permanently absent after 

 death. This mannikin, which is usually invisible, but is supposed 

 to be about as big as the thumb, corresponds exactly in shape, 

 proportion, and even complexion, to its embodiment or casing — 

 i.e., the body in which it has its residence. It is of a vapoury, 

 shadowy, or filmy essence, though not so impalpable but that it 

 may cause displacement on entering a physical object. . . . The 

 soul appears to men (both waking and sleeping) as a phantom 

 separate from the body, of which it bears the likeness, manifests 

 physical power, and w^alks, sits, and sleeps."! What this idea 

 has become in Islam, we shall see in a moment. 



That the shadow is a second soul, or is a semblance of the soul, 

 is also an animistic idea. The same thing appears in Islam, 

 for the shadow of a dog defiles the one who prays as much as 

 the dog himself. t The Javanese believe that black chickens 

 and black cats do not cast a shadow because they come from 

 the underworld. When one reads of this, one cannot help 

 comparing with it the Moslem belief in the Qarina. 



Among all the superstitions in Islam there is none more 

 curious in its origin and character than the belief in the Qarin 



* Goldziher, in the lioldeke Festschrift^ I, 316, " Zauberelemente im 

 Islamischen Gebet." Many miracles, due to the healing stroke or touch 

 of the Prophet's hand, are recorded in lives of Mohammed, e.g.^ Sirat al- 

 Halabi (margin), vol. iii, p. 231. 



t Malay Magic, by W. W. Skeat, London, 1900. 



X I have not found this stated in the Traditions, but it is a well- 

 known belief in Egypt and in Arabia. Mohammed himself had. no 

 shadoiu because he was created of Divine light. Sirat al-Halabi, vol. iii, 

 p. 239. 



