The Turk and the land of Haig; or, Turkey and Armenia- descriptive, historical, and picturesque (1898) (14772671985)

Identifier: turklandofhaigor00azhd (find matches)
Title: The Turk and the land of Haig; or, Turkey and Armenia: descriptive, historical, and picturesque
Year: 1898 (1890s)
Authors: Azhderian, Antranig
Subjects: Armenian question
Publisher: New York : The Mershon company
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive



Text Appearing Before Image:
ng due north or south, advance inorder to it, and say Bismillak, meaning, It is inGods name I do this. The hands are washed to thewrist; the mouth and nose three times; then, begin-ning at the toes, the feet are washed to the ankles,after which the right hand is dipped gently into waterand a part of the head is wet. The arms are washedto the elbows, beginning at the finger tips. Then therest of the head is wet, the water being dipped up bythe right hand. The inside of the ears must also bewashed with the index finger of either hand, and theback of the ears with the thumb. So extremely exact-ing is this ritual that the slightest digression or omis-sion necessitates an entire repetition. Practice makesthem expert, however, and they learn to do it quicklyand correctly according to requirements. The cere-mony is repeated three times. Exemption is allowedwhere no water can be obtained, but the form must begone through by touching the hands to dry earth, in-stead of dipping them into water.
Text Appearing After Image:
262 THE TURK AND THE LAND OF HAIG. The time for prayers is regulated by the sun. Morn-ing prayer is said between dawn and sunrise. It is dueto this requirement that,Mohammedans are early risers.Noonday prayer is said just as the sun is passing themeridian, and afternoon prayer at any time betweenfour and five oclock. The fourth prayer comes at sun-set, and the last prayer of the day before retiring. Theritual for prayer is not optional but imperative, andits requirements of formality are as rigid as those forablution. At almost every quarter of a mile in a Mohamme-dan city are built the mosques—solid, substantial build-ings whose minarets are the most beautiful spires thatpierce the Levantine skies, symmetrical, lofty, and ma-jestic. They contain neither pealing chimes nor tollingbells, but five times daily from the top of these areheard the muezzins ezan, or call to prayer, in deep,long-drawn tones, in the strange and impressive Arabictongue: God is almighty! Mohammed is his apostl