Then the Maulvee reads the following prayer or benediction, which is called Dooar[24] prayer:—­

’May the Lord God, abundant in mercy, keep you with the true speech; may He lead you to the perfect path; may He grant you knowledge of Him, and of His prophets.

‘May the mercy of God be fixed upon you for ever.  Ameen.’

This concluded, the Maulvee quits the grave, and slowly moves forty measured paces in a line with it; then turning round, he comes again to the grave, with the same solemnity in his steps, and standing on the edge, he prays,

’O great and glorious God, we beseech Thee with humility make the earth comfortable to this Thy servant’s side, and raise his soul to Thee, and with Thee may he find mercy and forgiveness.’

‘Ameen, Ameen,’ is responded by all present.

This ends the funeral service:  the earth is closed over by the servants, &c. and, except with the very poor, the grave is never entirely forsaken day or night, during the forty days of mourning; readers of the Khoraun are paid for this service, and in the families of the nobility the grave is attended for years by those hired, who are engaged to read from that book perpetually, relieving each other at intervals day and night.

They believe that when the Maulvee quits the grave, the angels enter to interrogate the dead body, and receive the confession of his particular faith; this is the object of the Maulvee’s retiring forty paces, to give the angels time to enter on their mission to the dead.

The Mussulmauns all believe that Mhidhie, the standing proof as he is called, will visit the earth at a future period; they are said to possess prophecies, that lead them to expect the twelve hundred and sixtieth year of the Hegirah, as the time for his coming.  The Soonies say, this Emaum has yet to be born:—­the Sheahs believe that Emaum Mhidhie is the person to reappear.  Some believe he is still on earth, dwelling, as they conjecture, in the wilds and forests; and many go so far as to assert, that Mhidhie visits (without being recognized) the Holy House of Mecca annually, on the great day of sacrifice; but I cannot find any grounds they have for this opinion.[25]

They also possess a prophecy, on which much dependance is placed, that ’When the four quarters of the globe contain Christian inhabitants, and when the Christians approach the confines of Kaabah, then may men look for that Emaum who is to come’.  And it is the general belief amongst Mussulmauns, founded on the authority of their most revered and valued writers, that Emaum Mhidhie will appear with Jesus Christ at his second coming; and with whom, they declare and firmly believe, he will act in concert to purge the world of sin and wickedness.  When, they add, ’all men shall be of one mind and one faith’.