Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/26

20 shop, and engage in repeating or reading his Koran in a monotonous tone and with continual vibrations of the upper part of his body, at the same time noticing all things about, having occasional talks with other, trying to catch the neighbors' customers, bargaining, joking, swearing, cursing, as the circumstances may demand, and yet trying to finish the portion he began to recite. The great majority can not read the Koran, but they are privileged to carry about them some portions of it written upon a narrow and very long piece of paper, and wrapped in cloth very tightly and put in a tin or silver case and hung around the neck. The Simple carrying of such a relic entitles the owner to the same blessings, and he is requested to take it out from time to time—once in a few years, for example—and hand it to a teacher and listen to his reading it. Many children, sleepless babies, idiots and even mad animals are furnished with such relics in order to be protected from "bad eyes" and possible injuries.

3. Bible Stories as Recorded in the Koran. By his accidental contact with the Christians and Jews Mohamet seems to have received some vague idea of the Old and New Testaments and the apocryphal and Talmudic writings of his time. The Mohametan so-called Bible story is full of mistakes, as it will be seen from the following examples:

The Story of Adam and Eve. After creating Adam God brought him into the presence of angels and commanded them to bow before this human being [the reason of this command will be given