Thompson, Joseph P.: Photographic views of Egypt, past and present (Boston, 1854)

CHAPTER XXXVI.

mohammedanism-mosques and prayers.

The limits of this volume, and its descriptive character,
do not admit of an abstract discussion of the principles and
workings of Islamism; yet I cannot forbear the attempt to
delineate its outward aspect, as seen in the mosques, and in
the manners of the people. The Christian traveller cannot
look upon the religious rites of a strange people with idle
curiosity; he will desire to penetrate their meaning, and
the secret of their power. And yet the mere traveller will
see only the surface of things; and it must be left to the
philosophical student and the intelligent resident to explore
the interior. Fortunately, Sale's Translation of the Koran,
Maurice's profound disquisitions on the Religions of the
World, and Lane's graphic chapter on the Ritual and Moral
Laws of the Egyptians, leave us little to desire as a key to
the dogmas and practices of the Mohammedan religion.

The first great doctrine of this faith is, the unity of God.
"There is no deity hut God. He is God; one God. God is
the Eternal. He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; and
there is none equal to Him."

But in the origin of Islamism, this doctrine was not " the
mere dry assertion of a school formula;" but " the an-
nouncement of a Living Being, acting, speaking, ruling."
It was a faith to be propagated; the recognition of a
supreme, an all-controlling will, to be carried out byv man in
executive acts for the honor of God. This gave to Mo-
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