"He Was One Richly Furnished With Natural Endowments, Showing
Liberality To The Poor, Courtesy To Every One, Fortitude In Trial, And,
Above All, A High Reverence For The Name Of God.
He was a preacher of
patience, charity, mercy, beneficence, gratitude, honouring of parents
and superiors, and a frequent celebrator of Divine praise." The great
doctrine of the Koran is the Unity of God, and in this creed Mahomet
himself seems to have been a sincere believer.
"Its design was to
unite the professors of the three different religions then followed in
Arabia - who for the most part were without guides, the greater number
being idolaters, and the rest Jews and Christians, mostly of erroneous
and heterodox belief - in the knowledge and worship of one eternal
and invisible God, and to bring them to obedience of Mahomet as the
only prophet and ambassador of the truth." The "fatiha," or opening
chapter of the Koran, is said to contain the essence of the whole,
and forms part of the daily prayers of all zealous Mussulmans. It
commences with the formula pronounced at the beginning of their
reading on all occasions whenever an animal is slaughtered for food,
and upon the undertaking of all important actions whatever:
"In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate. Praise
be to God, the Lord of the Creation, the all-merciful, the
all-compassionate! Ruler of the day of reckoning!
"Thee we worship, and Thee we invoke for help. Lead us in the straight
path - the path of those upon whom thou hast been gracious, not of
those that are the objects of wrath or that are in error."
The Moslem faithful pray five times in the twenty-four hours:
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 253 of 303
Words from 68334 to 68618
of 82277
