Page:The young Moslem looks at life (1937).djvu/23

 measuring them by the old familiar religious standards of his own country. It was second nature to him to do that. In Kashgar a good Moslem is known by the regularity with which he says his five daily prayers. There were some, he noted, who were faithful to their religious duties. These, even if the train were moving at the time of prayer, would do as he and Abdullah did, carefully place their prayer rugs on the long benches of the compartment and, facing Mecca as nearly as they could, faithfully perform their devotions. If the train stopped and they could get out to say their prayers on the station platform, so much the better. But he noticed that where there was one faithful Moslem who would do so, there were dozens who carelessly neglected their prayers altogether.

Falling into conversation with some of their fellow Moslem passengers, Mohammed Beg learned that more changes were taking place among the Moslems of India than he had ever dreamed were possible. Some of the young men with whom he talked told him about the Moslem university at Aligarh, where the old classical studies of the Islamic curriculum have been given up in favor of the modern scientific courses of the West. He learned that many of the young men are today studying English instead of Arabic. It was pointed out to him that these changes in education were necessary, if the Moslem community was to keep abreast of the times, and if it was to keep pace with the other progressive nations