Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/167



are those commands which are imperative (farz); but which, if one person in eight or ten perform, it is equivalent to all having performed it.

1. To return a salutation.

2. To visit the sick, and inquire after their welfare.

3. To follow a bier on foot to the grave.

4. To accept an invitation.

5. To reply to a sneeze, e. g. if a person sneeze, and say immediately afterwards, "God be praised" (Alhamdo lillah), it is incumbent upon at least one of the party to exclaim, "God have mercy on you" (Yarhamuk Allah).

There is an interesting chapter on the custom of saluting after sneezing in Isaac D'Israeli's "Curiosities of Literature," from which it appears that it is almost universal amongst nations.