Sec. 5.  Religious Doctrines and Practices among the Mohammedans.

As to the religion of Mohammed, and its effects on the world, it is easier to come to an opinion than concerning his own character.  Its essential doctrine, as before indicated, is the absolute unity and supremacy of God, as opposed to the old Arab Polytheism on the one hand and the Christian Trinity on the other.  It however admits of angels and genii.  Gabriel and Michael are the angels of power; Azriel, angel of death; Israfeel, angel of the resurrection.  Eblis, or Satan, plays an important part in this mythology.  The Koran also teaches the doctrine of Eternal Decrees, or absolute Predestination; of prophets before Mohammed, of whom he is the successor,—­as Adam, Noah, Moses, and Jesus; of sacred books, of which all that remain are the Pentateuch, Psalms, Gospels, and Koran; of an intermediate state after death; of the resurrection and judgment.  All non-believers in Islam go into eternal fire.  There are separate hells for Christians, Jews, Sabians, Magians, idolaters, and the hypocrites of all religions.  The Moslem is judged by his actions.  A balance is held by Gabriel, one scale hanging over heaven and another over hell, and his good deeds are placed in one and his bad ones in the other.  According as his scale inclines, he goes to heaven or hell.  If he goes to heaven, he finds there seventy-two Houris, more beautiful than angels, awaiting him, with gardens, groves, marble palaces, and music.  If women are true believers and righteous, they will also go to heaven, but nothing is said about husbands being provided for them.  Stress is laid on prayer, ablution, fasting, almsgiving, and the pilgrimage to Mecca.  Wine and gaming are forbidden.  There is no recognition, in the Koran, of human brotherhood.  It is a prime duty to hate infidels and make war on them.  Mohammed made it a duty for Moslems to betray and kill their own brothers when they were infidels; and he was obeyed in more cases than one.  The Moslem sects are as numerous as those of Christians.  The Dabistan mentions seventy-three.  The two main divisions are into Sunnites and Shyites.  The Persians are mostly Shyites, and refuse to receive the Sunnite traditions.  They accept Ali, and denounce Omar.  Terrible wars and cruelties have taken place between these sects.  Only a few of the Sunnite doctors acknowledge the Shyites to be Moslems.  They have a saying, “to destroy a Shyite is more acceptable than to kill seventy other infidels of whatever sort.”

The Turks are the most zealous of the Moslems.  On Friday, which is the Sabbath of Islam, all business is suspended.  Prayers are read and sermons preached in the mosques.  No one is allowed to be absent.  The Ramadan fast is universally kept.  Any one who breaks it twice is considered worthy of death.  The fast lasts from sunrise to sunset.  But the rich feast in the night, and sleep during the day.  The Turks have no desire to make proselytes, but have