The Mussulmen have paid as much superstitious attention to the Koran, as the Jews did to the Bible. They never read or touch the object of their veneration, without the legal ablutions having been performed. The Othman emperors, in imitation of the ancient caliphs, generally consider it a religious duty to adorn their exemplars of the Koran with gold and precious stones. It is the comfort of the Mussulman amidst the busy duties of the camp, and it forms the great solace of their domestic toils. Verses from it on their banners incite their martial spirit; and its principal sentences, written on the walls of their mosques, remind them of their social duties.

The existence of angels, or beings of a pure and aerial nature, who neither eat nor drink, and whose species is continued by creation, who minister at the throne of God, and both watch the conduct of men and record their actions for judgment, is an article of high import in the Mussulman's creed. Four angels appear to be held in high respect. The angel Gabriel, called the holy spirit: Michael, the angel of revelation and friend of the Jews; Azriel, the angel of death; and Israfeel, the angel of the resurrection. A race of beings, termed jin, or genii, are fancied to exist; but they are less pure than the angels though aerial, they live like men, and will be judged at the last day. On the creation of mankind pride and envy seized the hearts of Eblis and of a numerous band of followers, who, in the regions of hell, have since mourned the loss of their high estate. There is not a man or woman," say the traditions," without an angel and a devil." The devil enters into man as the blood into his body. All the children of Adam, except Mary and her son, are touched by the devil at the time of their birth, and the children make a loud noise from the touch." The business of the devil is to suggest evil; that of the angel, to inform men of the truth. Thus, the Koran says, the devil threatens you with poverty if you bestow in charity, and orders you to pursue avarice; but God promises you grace and abundance from charity.

The sleep of the soul is held by the Koran as a solemn truth. Munker and Nekir, two black angels with blue eyes, enter the tomb, and ask the deceased person the names of his Lord, his religion and his prophet. The faithful answer, God is my Lord, Islam is my religion, and Mahomet is my prophet. Frightful torments will be the lot of the infidels, and the angels will announce to the Mussulmen, the nature and degree of the felicity they will hereafter enjoy.

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The unbelievers in Islamism will be condemned to the torments of everlasting fire the abodes of misery for the Christians, the Jews, the Sabians, the Magians, and the Idolaters, are each in the succession of their names, more dreadful than the other; while, with laudable justice, the extreme of punishment is reserved for the hypocrites and nominal professors of every religious system.

Retaliation of injuries will be made, and, in the absence of all other modes of satisfaction, the injurer will forfeit a proportionable part of his good works to him whom he has injured; and, in case of any moral deficiency, the aggressor's weight of guilt will be burthened with a portion of the crimes of his wronged brother in the faith. On the preponderance of virtue or vice, will hang the lot of happiness or woe of every individual. To the bridge Al Sirat, finer than a hair, and sharper than the edge of a sword, both the guilty and the virtuous Moslems will then proceed; the guilty will sink into hell that is gaping beneath them, where even those who are least culpable will have their feet shod with shoes of fire, the fervour of which will make their skulls boil like cauldrons: yet, as it is a great doctrine of Islamism that no unbeliever will ever be released, nor any person who in his life time has professed the unity of God be condemned to eternal punishment, so those to whom the passage of the bridge has proved too difficult, will remain in misery for different periods of time, and until "the crimes done in their days of nature shall have been burnt and purged away." The virtuous Mussulmen, under the guidance of the prophet, will, with the swiftness of lightning, pass the abyss in safety, and reach the groves and gardens of the seventh heaven, or Paradise, where palaces of marble, and all the idle toys of worldly luxury await them. But their most exquisite pleasure will consist in their constant society with never-fading beauties, formed, not from clay, but from the purest musk, and the fire of whose large black eyes is so sweetly tempered by modesty, that, to use the expressive language of the Koran, they resemble pearls hidden in their shells." Seventy-two houris will be the lot of the meanest believer. All his desires will be gratified at the moment of their formation, and the songs of the daughters of Paradise will add to his delights. Of the reality of these pleasures, the Koran speaks decisively; and we cannot, without a violation of sense, turn them into allegories. The more pure, however, of the Mussulmen, those who have been exalted in this life for eminence of virtue and learning, will be rewarded with higher gratifications than those of luxury and appetite. Such mean pleasures will be lost in the mental felicity of eternal truth, and in the daily contemplation of the Deity.

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The Moslem sabbath is on Friday, because the prophet disdained to be thought a servile imitator of either the Jewish or the Christian systems. On that day, solemn prayers are to be offered to God in the mosques, and the Koran is to be expounded by some appointed preacher. The larger the congregation, the more efficacious will be the prayers. But the general observance of the day is not prescribed with that character of strictness which distinguishes the Jewish sabbath for the Koran says, "in the intervals of preaching and of prayer, believers may disperse themselves through the land as they list, and seek gain for the liberality of God,"-by pursuing worldly

Occupations and innocent amusements, as the context shews us is the meaning.

The practice of frequent ablutions is deemed very meritorious by the Mussulmen. The cleansing of the body is pronounced by Mahomet to be the key of prayer, without which it cannot be acceptable to God; and, in order to keep the mind attached to the practice, believers are enjoined to pour fine sand over the body, when pursuing their journies through the deserts of the east.

Fasting is another of the Mahometan duties, although this may be voluntary and occasional. The month of Ramadan was distinguished for the purpose of abstinence; in which the Koran was sent down from heaven. During this consecrated period, no gratification of the senses, or even support of the body, are allowed from the morning until night. At night, however, the corporeal frame may be renovated, the spirits recruited, and nature may resume her rights. In Ramadan retaliation of injuries is forbidden, nor must even "the voice be raised on account of enmity." A keeper of a fast (whether legal or voluntary) who does not abandon lying and detrac tion, God cares not for his leaving off eating and drinking,

A tenth part of the property, whether consisting of land, cattle, or goods, which has been for a twelvemonth in the possession of an individual, is the demand on his charity by the Mahometan law. Hassan, the son of Ali, and grandson of Mahomet, twice in his life divided his goods between himself and the distressed; and the Caliphs Omar and Abu-Beker ev ery week distributed abroad in charity the difference between their expenses and revenue.

It is well known that the rite of circumcision is practised amongst the Mahometans. In the Koran, however, there are no positive injunctions on the performance of circumcision, but as it had been invariably practised in Arabia by the Ishmaelitish Arabs, the descendants of Abraham, Mahomet speaks of it as a matter in universal use, and apparently as not wanting the sanction of a legislator to insure its continuance. On the performance of this rite, religious instruction is to be commenced. Order your children to say their prayers when they are seven years of age, and beat them if they do not do so when they are ten years old."

The jurisprudence of the Mussulman is, in many respects, wise and salutary.

The Moslem law books recognize three general classes of judicial officers-muftis, cadis, and mujtahids.* It is the duty

*The names and powers of the different ecclesiastical judges vary in Moslem countries. The principles upon which the matter rests, is alone the object of this work; but it may be remarked, that in India the cadi is the supreme civil judge. In Turkey, the mufti is the nominal chief magistrate; but he has no tribunal, and never decides causes, except those of the greatest moment. The cadi is the ordinary judge.