Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/305

 IN THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 26 1 the positive precepts of the Koran, viz. attention to festivals, — fasting,- — prayer, — attendance at the mosque, — and performance of the pilgrimage, they are sufficiently attentive, but their violation of some of its negative precepts, as stated in another place, is open and flagrant : they are the greatest of gamb- lers, and the most determined consumers of intoxi^ eating drugs. The state of Mahomedanism in Java differs widely from that among the maritime and com- mercial tribes, and will demand a more particular account. Of all Mahomedans the Javanese are the most lax in their principles and practice, a singularity to be ascribed to their little intercourse with foreign Mahomedans, occasioned by the ex- clusion of the Arabs in particular, through the commercial jealousy of the Dutch, during a period of two hundred years. It will be necessary to iur- nish the reader with a review of the conduct of the Javanese in the various duties of a Mahomedan. The Javanese, like the Arabs, keep the two re- gular festivals prescribed by the Koran, the Id til Fetre, and the Id ul Kurhan, To these they add a third and fourth, one in honour of ancestors, already mentioned, and a festival on the 12th of the month of Rabbi ul awal, the alleged anniver- sary of the birth and death of tJie prophet. The first of these two is evidently a relic of their an- cient superstitions, and the last was instituted, I