14-2 M A H O M E 
enjoy perpetual youth, and their ears will not only he en¬ 
tertained with the raviihing fongs of the angel Ifrafil, but 
even the trees themfelves will celebrate the divine praifes, 
with a harmony exceeding whatever mortals have heard. 
The Mahometans, however, as has been aflerted, do not 
confine the joys of paradife to fenlual delight: the higheft 
gratification of all, to be enjoyed only by thofe who have 
obtained a fuperior degree of felicity, will be the honour 
cf beholding the face of God morning and evening, which 
will give fuch exquifite delight, that in refpeft thereof all 
the other pleafures of paradife will be lightly efteemed 
and forgotten. 
6. God's abfolute decree and predeJUnation both cf good and evil. 
—The orthodox do£lfine is, that whatever hath or fhall come 
to pafs in this world, whether it be good dr whether it be 
bad, proceeded! entirely from the Divine Will, and is ir¬ 
revocably fixed and recorded from all eternity in the pre¬ 
ferred table: God having fecretly predetermined not only 
the adverfe and profperous fortune of every perlon in 
this world, in the molt minute particulars, but alfo his 
faith or infidelity, his obedience or difobedience, and con- 
fequently his everlafting happinefs or mifery after death ; 
which fate or predeftination it is not poifible by any fore¬ 
fight or wifdom to avoid. Of this dotlrine Mahomet 
makes great ufe in his Koran for the advancement of his 
defigns ; encouraging his followers to fight without fear, 
and even defperately, for the propagation of their faith, 
by reprefenting to them, that all their caution could not 
avert their inevitable deiliny, or prolong their lives for a 
moment; and deterring them from difobeying or rejecting 
him as an impoilor, by fetting before them the danger they 
might thereby incur of being, by the juft judgment of 
God, abandoned to feduftion, hardnefs of heart, and a re¬ 
probate mind, as a punifiiment for their obftinacy. 
II. Religious PraBice. i. The firlt point is prayer, under 
which are alfo comprehended thofe legal wafltings or pu¬ 
rifications which are neceflary preparations thereto. Of 
thefe purifications there are two degrees, one called ghojl, 
being a total immerfion or bathing of the body in wafer; 
and the other called zuodu (by the Perfians abdejl), which 
is the waflting of their faces, hands, and feet, after a cer¬ 
tain manner. The firft is required in fome extraordinary 
cafes only, as after having lain with a woman, or being 
polluted by emiflion of feed, or by approaching a dead 
body ; women alfo being obliged to it after their courfes 
or childbirth. The latter is the ordinary ablution in com¬ 
mon cafes, and before prayer, and mult neceflarily be ufed 
by every perfon before he can enter upon that duty. It 
is performed with certain formal ceremonies, which have 
been delcribed by fome writers, but much eafier appre¬ 
hended by feeing them done than by the bell; defcription. 
That his followers might be more punctual in this duty, 
Mahomet is faid to have declared, that the pradice of reli¬ 
gion is founded on cleanlinefs, which is the one half of the faith, 
and the key of prayer, without which it will not be heard 
by God. That thefe exprefiions may be the better under¬ 
stood, A 1 Ghazali reckons four degrees of purification; of 
which the firft is the cleanfing of the body from all pollu¬ 
tion, filth, and excrement; the fecond, the cleanfing of 
the members of.the body from all wickednefs and unjuft 
actions ; the third, the cleanfing the heart from all blame- 
able inclinations and odious vices; and the fourth, the 
purging a man’s fecret thoughts from ail affeftions which 
may divert their attendance on God ; adding, that the 
body is but as the outward fltell, in refped to the heart, 
which is as the kernel. 
Prayer was by Mahomet thought fo neceflary a duty, 
that he ufed to call it the pillar of religion, and the hey of 
paradife ; and when the Thakifltes, who dwelt at Tayef, 
fending, in the ninth year of the Hegira, to make their 
fubmiifion to the prophet, after the keeping of their fa¬ 
vourite idol had been denied them, begged at lead that 
they might be difpenfed with as to their faying of the 
.appointed prayers, he anfwered, That there could be no good 
Vi that religion wherein was no prayer. That fo important a 
T A N I S M. 
duty, therefore, might not be neglefled, Mahomet obliged 
his followers to pray five times every twenty-four hours, 
at certain ftated times; viz. i. In the morning before 
funrife. 2. When noon is part, and the fun begins to 
decline from the meridian. 3. In the afternoon, before 
funfet. 4. In the evening, after funfet and before the 
day be (hut in. 5. After the day is ftiut in, and before 
the firft watch of the night. For this inftitution he pre¬ 
tended to have received the divine command from the 
throne of God himfelf,- when he took his night-journey 
to heaven ; and the obferving of the ftated times of prayer 
is frequently infilled on in the Koran, though they be 
not particularly preferibed therein. Accordingly, at the 
aforefaid times, of which public notice is given by the 
Muedhdhins, or criers, from the fteeples of their mofques 
(for they ufe no bells), every confcientious Moflem pre¬ 
pares himfelf for prayer, which he performs either in the, 
mofaue or any other place, provided it be clean, after the 
preferibed form, and with a certain number of praifes or 
ejaculations (which the more fcrupulous count by a firing 
of beads), and ufing certain poftures of worfhip ; all 
which have been particularly fet down and deferibe'd ; 
and ought not to be abridged, unlefs in fome fpecial cafes, 
as on a journey, on preparing for battle, See. For the re¬ 
gular performance of the duty of prayer among the Ma¬ 
hometans, belides the particulars above-mentioned, it is 
alfo requifite that they turn their faces, while they pray,, 
towards the temple of Mecca ; the quarter where the (ante 
is fituated being, for that reafon, pointed out within 
their mofques by a niche, which they call alMehrah ; and 
without, by the lituation of the doors opening into the 
galleries of the fteeples; there are alfo tables calculated 
for the ready finding out their Kebiah, or part towards 
which they ought to pray, in places where they have no 
other diredtion. 
2. Alms are of two forts, legal and voluntary. The le¬ 
gal alms are of indifpenfable obligation, being commanded 
by the law, which directs and determines both the por¬ 
tion which is to be given, and of what things it ought to 
be given ; but the voluntary alms are left to every one’s li¬ 
berty, to give more or lefs, as he fhall fee fit. The for¬ 
mer kind of alms fome think to be properly called zacat, 
and the latter fadacat ; though this name be alfo frequently 
given to the legal alms. They are called zacat, either 
becaufe they increafe a man’s ftore by drawing down a 
blefling thereon, and produce in his foul the virtue of li¬ 
berality ; or becaufe they purify the remaining part of 
one’s fubftance from pollution, and the foul from the 
filth of avarice ; and fadakat, becaufe they are a proof of 
a man’s fincerity in the worfhip of God. Some writers 
have called the legal alms tithes ; but improperly, lince in 
fome cafes they fall fhort of, and in others exceed, that 
proportion. 
3. Fajling is a duty of fo great moment, that Mahomet 
ufed to fay it was the gate of religion, and that “ the 
odour of the mouth of him who fafteth is more grateful 
to God than that of mufk;” and A 1 Ghazali reckons faff¬ 
ing one-fourth part of the faith. According to the Ma¬ 
hometan divines, there are three degrees of failing : 1. 
The reftraining the belly and other parts of the body from 
fatisfying their lulls. 2. The reftraining the ears, eyes, 
tongue, hands, feet, and other members, from fin; and, 
3. The fafting of the heart from worldly cares, and re¬ 
ftraining the thought from every thing befides God. 
The Mahometans are obliged, by the exprefs command 
of the Koran, to fail the whole month of Ramadan, from 
the time the new moon firft appears till the appearance 
of the next new moon ; during which time they mult 
abftain from eating, drinking, and women, from day¬ 
break till night or lunfet. And this injunftion they ob- 
ferve fo ftridlly, that, while they fail, they fuffer nothing 
to enter their mouths, or other parts of their body, eileem- 
ing the fail broken and null if they fmell perfumes, take 
a clyiler or injection, bathe, or even purpofely fwallow their 
Spittle 3 fome being fo cautious that they will not open 
their 
