Page:The young Moslem looks at life (1937).djvu/79

 STRAIGHT PATH 65

is most great! God is most great! God is most great! God is most great! I bear witness that there is no god but Allah! I bear witness that there is no god but Allah! I testify that Mohammed is the apostle of Allah! Come to prayer! Come to prayer! Come to prosperity! Come to prosperity! God is most great! God is most great! There is no god but Allah!"

Five times a day in every land the muezzins call the faithful to prayer. From China to Afghanistan, and from Borneo to Egypt, this is the cry that mobilizes millions of the followers of the Arabian prophet for the worship of God, who bids them come to him and submissively walk in the straight path.

In the opening chapter of the Koran Mohammed prays that God will guide him and his people in the straight path "the path of those to whom thou hast been gracious; with whom thou art not angry, and who go not astray." Mohammed does not make the claim that he is the way but rather prays that he may be guided as well as his people. However, it is essentially true that Mohammed has become the way for Moslems, and their highest ideal is to be able to follow the path that he trod.

Let us now examine this straight path, for it, too, is a part of the Moslem conception of the perfect religion. A Moslem must not only believe correctly, he must act correctly as well. Islam is supremely a religion of correct religious practice. It tells its followers exactly what they must do. Its rules are innumerable and meticulous, and theoretically govern, control and