Fasting, for a month if possible, and longer if desired, was also an integral part of religious life and, by showing disregard of earthly joys, a proof of faith in Allah’s promises for the world to come.  Almsgiving, recommended above all other virtues, was not only to be practised in obedience to Allah’s law and in faith in retribution, but it was to testify contempt of all earthly possessions which might impede the striving after eternal happiness.  Later, Mohammed was compelled, by the need of a public fund and the waning zeal of the faithful as their numbers increased, to regulate the practice of this virtue and to exact certain minima as taxes (zakat).

When Mohammed, taking his stand as opposed to Judaism and Christianity, had accentuated the Arabian character of his religion, the Meccan rites of pagan origin were incorporated into Islam; but only after the purification required by monotheism.  From that time forward the yearly celebration of the Hajj was among the ritual duties of the Moslim community.

In the first years of the strife yet another duty was most emphatically impressed on the Faithful; jihad, i.e., readiness to sacrifice life and possessions for the defence of Islam, understood, since the conquest of Mecca in 630, as the extension by force of arms of the authority of the Moslim state, first over the whole of Arabia, and soon after Mohammed’s death over the whole world, so far as Allah granted His hosts the victory.

For the rest, the legislative revelations regulated only such points as had become subjects of argument or contest in Mohammed’s lifetime, or such as were particularly suggested by that antithesis of paganism and revelation, which had determined Mohammed’s prophetical career.  Gambling and wine were forbidden, the latter after some hesitation between the inculcation of temperance and that of abstinence.  Usury, taken in the sense of requiring any interest at all upon loans, was also forbidden.  All tribal feuds with their consequences had henceforward to be considered as non-existent, and retaliation, provided that the offended party would not agree to accept compensation, was put under the control of the head of the community.  Polygamy and intercourse of master and female slave were restricted; the obligations arising from blood-relationship or ownership were regulated.  These points suffice to remind us of the nature of the Qoranic regulations.  Reference to certain subjects in this revealed law while others were ignored, did not depend on their respective importance to the life of the community, but rather on what happened to have been suggested by the events in Mohammed’s lifetime.  For Mohammed knew too well how little qualified he was for legislative work to undertake it unless absolutely necessary.