Page 452 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

In Answer to Their Prayer
Dr. S. M. Zwemeu
T HE best point of contact in dealing* with Moslems is their daily
prayer ritual and their prayer life. Although much of their
prayer is formal and mechanical, it also has elements of spiri­
tuality and a consciousness of God and eternity. 1 he one prayer
which is used throughout the whole world of Islam unceasingly and with
monotonous repetition, always in the Arabic language, is the first chapter
of the Koran. It reads as follows:
“In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. Praise
belongs to God, the Lord of the worlds, the merciful, the com­
passionate, the ruler of the day of judgment! Thee we serve and
Thee we ask for aid. Guide us in the right path, the path of those ■
Thou art gracious to; not of those Thou art wroth with; nor
of those who err. Amen.”
Some years ago I was preaching for Dr. G. Campbell Morgan in Lon­
don. Pacing the audience and hanging from the reading-desk was this
collect in large type: "O Thou before whom the Moslem worhl bows in
prayer five times daily, have mercy upon its people and reveal to them Thy

Christ" This prayer may well be ours for Arabia and all other Mohain-
medan lands every day. The illustrations which accompany this article arc
numbered and indicate the postures and genuflections which are incumbent
upon the one who prays. i
In the first picture, the suppliant has removed his shoes,* stands facing
i
Mecca, and begins by proclaiming God’s unity. In the second picture, ha
hands are raised behind his ears, and the exclamation is “Allalm Akhar"--.
Cod is Croat. Then he bows forward resting his hands on his knees, and
finally makes a complete prostration with his face to the ground. The
fifth position is one in which the pray-er uses the words above <|uotcd,
and is also allowed to make personal petitions or confessions of his sin
The forefinger of the right hand is always extended, and is moved |>cr-
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