Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/40

34 Juma," the holy convention. Our Sunday is called "Ahad," the first day of the week, or "Bazar," the sale day. The Mohametan fasting month is called "Ramazani Sherif," the sacred Ramazan; the Christian Lent is called "Behriz," the corruption of "Perhiz," abstinence from certain foods. The Mohametan dead is called "Jenazeh," the funeral worship; that of a Christian is called "Giaour olusi," the dead body of an infidel. When they announce in the papers the death of a noted Moslem they say, "Transferred into the Land of Perpetuity," or "Migrated into the Region of Souls;" of any Christian they say "shriveled, perished." When they mention a dead Mohametan they say, "May God have mercy unto his soul," or "May his tomb be illuminated," or "Peace be upon him." They never use such phrases for the Christians. Of the former sultans they say, "Whose abode is Paradise."

3. Christians Disgraced in Official DocumentS. In a Turkish dictionary, published at Constantinople not very long ago, the word "jeres" (bell) is defined as "the special instrument by which the Blasphemers call their people to perform heathenish rites," and this was fifty years later than the formal prohibition of the Sultan Mahmoud II., "whose abode is Paradise."

It was custom until very recent times to attach the title of "Zimmi," indebted, to any Christian name in writing, because, according to the declaration of the Koran. Christians are indebted to the Moslem's