Page 164 - UAE Truncal States

The Islamic Basis of Society
some of those who were comfortably looked after by their family
members spent a lot of time reading in their old age. Books were not
easy to come by and a great scholar would not often have had the
necessary companionship of others who could also dedicate that
much time to religious studies.
The deep religious devotion of people in this area was very much a
practical matter; few people were particularly concerned about
minor points of interpretation which in other times and places had
torn Muslim communities apart in debate and strife. People who live
their faith practically, rather than analysing it, are rarely fanatical.
To an outsider who came into theTrucial States a few decades ago, it
would have been instantly clear and obvious that every family, every
individual in this community was Muslim—not only from the
comparatively large number of mosques he would count but also
from the many instances when he could see men praying either in the
crowded mosques or anywhere convenient. He would also find in the
Ruler’s majlis, in an ordinary house, and even around the camp-fire of
the hard-living beduin, that some of the day-to-day conversation
consisted of stories about the Prophet and his companions, about
Moses, about Paradise and even about the Virgin Mary and her son
Jesus. He would also find that in many houses during the holy month
of Ramadan a member of the family would read the Koran aloud for
the benefit of the others. He would also notice that people gave
generously for the sake of God to a poor pilgrim on his way to Mecca
or to a wandering darwlsh or to a destitute person. He would find
that although everyone was convinced that without a shadow of
doubt Islam was the last revealed and therefore the right religion,
and that they wanted dear friends who had been brought up in
another religion to join them, they would still prefer to deal with a
true, believing Christian than with an unbeliever.34

“Superstitions”
Islam was never felt to be in conflict with some practices which an
outsider might readily call “superstition". It was, in fact, frequently
the mutowwa' who was requested to write an appropriate verse of
the Koran on a piece of paper which was inserted in a silver charm
and hung round the neck of a sick child, one who cried too much, or
had been affected by the evil eye. Some individuals were credited
with the power to transport people magically from one place to
another many miles away, and there was a widespread fear of jinn

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