The month of fasting was probably borrowed by Mohammed from the
Christian Lent. There are many traditions that tell how important
fasting is. Let one suffice:
Every good act that a man does shall receive from ten to seven
hundred rewards, but the rewards of fasting are beyond bounds,
for fasting is for God alone and He will give its rewards.
The chief Moslem fast is that of the month of Ramazan. The
fast is extremely hard upon the laboring classes when, by the
changes of the lunar calendar, it falls in the heat of summer,
when the days are long. Even then it is forbidden to drink a
drop of water or take a morsel of food. Yet it is a fact that
Mohammedans, rich and poor, spend more on food in that month
than in any other month of the year; and it is also true that
physicians have a run of patients with troubles from indigestion
at the close of this religious fast! The explanation is simple.
Altho the fast extends over one lunar month, it only begins at
dawn and ends at sunset each day. During the whole night it is
usual to indulge in pleasure, feasting and dinner parties. This
makes clear what Mohammed meant when he said that “God would
make the fast an ease and not a difficulty.”
The hours during which fasting is prescribed are to be sacredly
observed. Not only is there total abstinence from food and
drink, but bathing, smoking, taking snuff, smelling a flower,
and the use of medicine are prohibited. I have even heard Moslem
jurists discuss whether hypodermic medication was allowed during
the fast period. In eastern Arabia the use of an eye-lotion
even is considered as equivalent to breaking the fast. The law
provides, however, that infants, idiots, the sick, and the
aged are exempted from observing this fast.--SAMUEL M.
ZWEMER, “The Moslem World.”
(1068)
* * * * *
In a remarkable case, recorded by Dr. Wilan, of a young
gentleman who starved himself under the influence of a religious
delusion, life was prolonged for sixty days, during the whole
of which time nothing but a little orange-juice was taken.
Somewhat analogous are those in which all food is abstained
from while the person is in a state of trance or partially
suspended animation. This state may be prolonged for many days
or even for weeks, provided that the body be kept sufficiently
warm. The most remarkable instances of this character have been
furnished by certain Indian fakirs, who are able to reduce
themselves to a state resembling profound collapse, in which
all vital operations are brought almost to a standstill. In one
case, the man was buried in an underground cell for six weeks,
and carefully watched; in another, the man was buried for ten
days in a grave lined with masonry, and covered with large
slabs of stone. When the bodies were disinterred they resembled
corpses and no pulsation could be detected at the heart or in
the arteries. Vitality was restored by warmth and friction. It
is probable that the fakirs, before submitting to the ordeal,
stupefied themselves with bhang (Indian hemp), the effects of
which would last for some time, and the warmth of the atmosphere
and soil would prevent any serious loss of heat, such as would
soon occur in a colder climate, when the processes by which it
is generated are made to cease. (Text.)--ROBSON ROOSE,
New York _Review_.
(1069)