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"I have sworn on the Koran that whatsoever prisoners fell to my lot should be delivered over as slaves to the Somalis of the Galla country. I have spoken. It is Kismet. At daybreak ye start for the interior."
The king, however, did not rise, as he should have done, when the worshippers stood up, but satisfied himself with uttering the name of Allah, and by simple prostration only. When the usual form of prayer had been gone through, the chief mallam placed himself on a hillock, and for about five minutes read to the people a few loose pages of the Koran, which he held in his hand.
Every desert in the East seems to have held a library, where the pillars of some temple lie in the sand, and where dead men 'hang their mute thoughts on the mute walls around. The Egyptian traveller sees the site of the book-room of Rameses that was called the 'Hospital for the Soul. There was a library at the breast of the Sphinx, and another where Cairo stands, and one at Alexandria that was burned in Julius Cæsar's siege, besides the later assemblage in the House of Serapis which Omar was said to have sacrificed as a tribute of respect for the Koran.
The Foulahs of Bondou are naturally of a mild and gentle disposition, but the uncharitable maxims of the Koran have made them less hospitable to strangers, and more reserved in their behaviour than the Mandingoes. They evidently consider all the Negro natives as their inferiors; and when talking of different nations, always rank themselves among the white people.
Millicent knew that Michael was seeing it as clearly as though they had been standing together under the golden stars, the tents dotted about on the pale night sands. She could hear the sick man reciting suras from the Koran in sonorous tones. "And she thinks he found the treasure?" Michael said the words absently, as though his mind was occupied with distant visions.
This is the Koran and these, the Kings of the Chinese and these, the Avesta of the Magians of Persia and these, the Sutras well preserved of Buddha and these, the Vedas of the patient Hindoos, my countrymen." He carefully designated each book and roll by placing his finger on it. "I thank Your Majesty for the gracious words of introduction you were pleased to give me.
Half the little Russian's life having been spent among Mohammedans, he quickly recited a few verses of the Korán in perfect Arabic, which apparently satisfied the priest, for he let him depart with his blessing. Had the trick been discovered, he would undoubtedly have been roughly treated, if not killed, for the Shirázis have an unmitigated contempt for Europeans.
If we lived in Turkey we should deal with the god of the Koran, but as we live in England we deal with the god of the Bible. We speak of that god as a being, just for convenience sake, and not from conviction. At bottom, we admit nothing but the mass of contradictory notions between Genesis and Revelation. We attack not a person but a belief, not a being but an idea, not a fact but a fancy.
"With the suite and escort," the Governor repeated.... "In the next place, it was not my intention to leave you unprovided. From my own apartments, light, beds and seats were ordered to be brought here, with meats for refreshment, and water for cleansing and draught. The order is in course of execution now. Indeed, your Highness, I swear by the first chapter of the Koran"
The sinister motive in this discovery needs no comment, for it is obvious that it releases the Ottoman Government from the prohibition in the Koran, whereby Moslem may not fight against Moslem. Therefore the Arabs were declared not to be true Moslems. Later on, that motive was translated into practical measures.
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