Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/125



(Arabic Sulát, Persian and Hindustani Namáz, Pushto Nmuz) is the second of the five foundations of practice in Islám. The constant round of devotion which characterizes Muhammadan nations is a very remarkable phenomenon in the system. We translate the words Sulát and Namáz by the English word prayer, although this "second foundation" of the religion of Muhammad is something quite distinct from that prayer which the Christian poet so well describes as the "soul's sincere desire uttered or unexpressed." It would be more correct to speak of the Muhammadan Namáz as a service; "prayer" being more correctly rendered by the Arabic duʾa. In Islám prayer is reduced to a mechanical act, as distinct from a mental act; and in judging of the spiritual character of Muhammadanism, we must take into careful consideration the precise character