Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 4.djvu/364

334 and comes short in his ablution. For (quoth he on whom be blessing and salvation) “A perfect ablution driveth away the devils and assureth against the tyranny of the Sultan; and he who neglecteth the ablution, if calamity befall him, let him blame none but himself.”’ (Q.) ‘What should a man do, when he awakes from sleep?’ (A.) ‘He should wash his hands thrice, before putting them into the vessel.’ (Q.) ‘What are the ordinances, Koranic and Traditional, of complete ablution?’ (A.) ‘The Koranic ordinances are intent and covering the whole body with water, so that it shall come at every part of the hair and skin. The Traditional, previous partial ablution [as before prayer,] rubbing the body, separating the hair and deferring in words the washing of the feet till the end of the ablution.’ (Q.) ‘What are the reasons [or occasions] for making the ablution with other than water, and what are the ordinances thereof, Koranic and Traditional?’ (A.) ‘The reasons are seven in number, to wit, lack of water, fear, need thereto, going astray on a journey, sickness, having the bones [broken and] in splints and wounds. As for its ordinances, the Koranic are four in number, to wit, intent, dust, applying it to the face and to the hands, and the Traditional two, to wit, nomination and preferring the right before the left hand.’ (Q.) ‘What are the conditions, the essentials [or fundamentals] and the Traditional statutes of prayer?’ (A.) ‘The conditions are five in number, to wit, (1) purification of the members (2) covering the privy parts (3) observing the proper hours, either of certainty or to the best of one’s belief, (4) fronting the Kaabeh and (5) standing on a clean place. The essentials are twelve in number, to wit, (1) intent (2) the