KARIM'S RELIGION
SOMETIMES Karim went to the mosque with Dada in the early morning on
Friday.
The mullah had told him, "The prophet Muhammad has advised that every
one should bathe on Friday and then come on foot to the mosque to
prayers, and be reverent during the service. God will give a great
reward to the person who does this."
The mosque was a plain building, with one large room and a porch in
front. The room was bare, except for a few mats and a small pulpit.
When any one entered he took off his shoes as a mark of respect, but
kept on his hat.
During the service those present repeated aloud with the mullah prayers
and chapters from the Koran. Then the mullah preached a short sermon.
The mullah got up early every morning in the week and went upon the
roof of the mosque. Here, as the day was breaking, in a very loud and
musical voice he chanted the "Call to Prayer." This was in the Arabic
language, so that Karim for a long time did not know what it meant,
although he had heard it so often that he could repeat most of it by
heart.
But at school he learned that it meant, "God is most great! God is most
great! I declare that there is no God but God, and that Muhammad is
the messenger of God. Come to prayer! Come to the refuge! God is most
great! Prayer is better than sleep. God is most great!"
In school Karim had also been taught the Creed, "I testify that there
is no God but God. I testify that Muhammad is the prophet of God, and
that Ali is the ruler appointed by God."
Although he had been taught these things, the mullah said that he
was still a boy, and that boys were not expected to do all that God
commanded. But when Karim was thirteen years old the mullah said, "You
have reached the age when the Recording Angel begins to write down in
his book whatever you do, whether it is good or bad, so you must begin
carefully to perform good deeds, that they may help to save you from
the evil deeds you will do, and thus permit you to enter heaven. I have
taught you the prayers that you ought to say each day, and the way in
which you must wash yourself before saying them."
Karim felt quite proud to be thought so old, and began to copy
Abdullah, who was more careful about his prayers than many of his
neighbours. Abdullah bought for his son a little rug and a bit of dried
clay that came from the holy city Mecca, where the prophet Muhammad
had lived. Each morning, at the time of the Call, Karim repeated his
prayers, standing, and kneeling just as Dada did, and touching his
forehead to the bit of clay when he bowed.
Somewhat later came the month of Ramadan. During this month it was
against the law for him to eat or drink anything, or even to smoke
a pipe, from dawn until late in the evening. Of course it was very
hard to obey this rule, but it was thought wicked to disobey it. What
made it harder was that Karim had to work during the morning. In the
afternoon he slept some, and longed for the sun to set. As soon as he
heard the crack of the gun that announced the time when it was right to
take food he hurried into the house. Here was a good meal, all steaming
hot, prepared by Nana. How they all did eat!
Dada always sent some of the food to Bajee, the poor widowed woman who
lived down the street. Whenever a beggar appeared, he fed him, too.
"We must give alms," he said, "if we wish to enter heaven, for our holy
prophet has so commanded."
At the close of the month came the great Week of Mourning, or Muharrem.
When Karim was still a little boy Nana had taken him with her to the
mosque each day during this week. They had sat outside in the street
and listened to the mullah as he told the sacred story of the death of
the holy Husain.
He explained how the rightful ruler had been Ali, after the death
of the prophet Muhammad, long ago, because Ali was the prophet's
son-in-law, having married his daughter Fatima. But wicked men had made
Umar the ruler instead of Ali, and even yet the people of Turkey, and
the Turkmans, and many who lived in India and Africa believed that Umar
was a holy man. When Ali died his sons Hassan and Husain should have
become rulers. Hassan soon died; the men of the city Kufa then promised
to honour Husain if he should come to them. Husain believed them,
and came from the city Mecca with his family, guarded only by a few
warriors. But when he came near Kufa no one came to help him. Instead,
the wicked governors of that city actually dared to come out with a
great many soldiers and attack him, although he was the grandson of
the prophet Muhammad. The men with Husain were too few to conquer, yet
he did not surrender, because he was the grandson of the prophet and
the rightful ruler, and none of his warriors ran away, but together
they died fighting bravely against their wicked enemies.
As the mullah told in his sermons how Husain was killed, first some
women began to moan, and later all burst into loud sobs, while the
tears streamed down their faces. The most devout caught these tears in
little long necked bottles, to keep them for medicine.
"God is pleased with us because we weep for Husain," Nana explained,
"and because of our tears for Husain He gives us all the good things
that come to us during the year. And the mullah says that if we weep
for our lord Husain the martyr God will take away all our sins."
"In the cities," added Dada, "they have processions in memory of our
lord Husain."
"I saw the processions in the city last year," broke in Mashaddi.
"They were wonderful. First came men bearing the two black banners of
the mosque. Then followed others playing funeral music on drums and
fifes. After them walked the mullahs and holy men. Then came a long
line of men and boys, marching two by two. They were beating their
breasts in time with the music, and chanting a dirge that was so
strangely stirring and yet so full of tears that I can never forget
it. Indeed, I found myself running out to join the marchers, while my
eyes were blinded with weeping. There were two little girls and a woman
on horseback, with straw on their heads and collars of wood on their
necks. They represented, you know, the wife and children of Husain,
who were captured by his enemies when he had been killed. Boys walked
alongside, throwing straw into the air. The woman's collar represented
iron fetters, and the straw was a sign of grief.
"In some of the other processions there were men beating their breasts
with chains, and crying out as they marched, 'Awý! Hassán! Awý!
Husaín!' After them came some men with white cloths spread over their
shoulders. They carried swords in their hands, and as they marched they
cut their faces so that the blood ran down."
"Why did they cut themselves?" asked Karim.
"Because it is a very holy thing to do," replied Dada, "almost as holy
as to visit the grave of our lord Husain at the city Kerbella."
"I saw a boy on horseback," continued Mashaddi, "with a dagger in his
hand, and his face was bloody from the cuts he was giving himself. How
they can do it I cannot see. God gives them the power to forget their
pain. Sometimes friends walk alongside with sticks in their hands to
dull the blows, and so keep them from injuring themselves too much. But
they say that if a man dies from his cuts God takes him straight to
heaven."