traditions to justify their manner of life. The sectarians did not
hesitate to adopt the same means of spreading their own teaching.
Many Moslem writers testify to the fact that forged traditions were
circulated, and that religious opinion was confused thereby. The
need for some sort of authoritative collection seems to have been
felt by the one pious Omayyad caliph, Omar II. (717–720), who is
said to have ordered Ibn Shihāb uz-Zuhrī to make such a collection.
Of this work, if it was carried out, we know nothing further. It was,
however, by a man born during this reign that the first systematic
collection of traditions was made—the Muwattaʽ of Mālik ibn Anas
(q.v.). Yet this work is not a book of tradition in the religious sense,
it is really a corpus juris and not a complete one. The object of
Mālik was simply to record every tradition that had been used to
give effect to a legal decision. The work of sifting the vast mass
of traditions and arranging them according to their relation to the
different parts of religious life and practice was first undertaken in
the 3rd century of Islam (A.D. 815–912). In this century all the six
collections afterwards regarded as canonical by the Sunnites (orthodox)
were made. By this time an immense number of traditions
was in circulation. Bukhārī in the course of sixteen years’ journeying
through Moslem lands collected 600,000, and of these included
7275 (or, allowing for repetitions, 4000) in his work. The six collections
of tradition received by the Sunnites as authoritative are:
(i) The Kitāb ul-jāmīʽ uṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ of Bukhārī (q.v.) (810–870). This is
the most respected throughout the Moslem world and most carefully
compiled (ed. L. Krehl and T. W. Juynboll, Leiden, 1862—and
frequently in the East; also with many commentaries. French
translation by O. Houdas and W. Marcais, Paris, 1903 sqq.). (ii) The
Ṣaḥīḥ of Muslim (817–875) with an introduction on the science of
tradition (ed. Calcutta, 1849, &c.). (iii) The Kitāb uṣ-Sunan of
Abū Dāʽūd (817–888) (ed. Cairo, 1863, Lucknow, 1888, Delhi, 1890).
(iv) The Jāmiʽ uṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ of Tirmidhī (q.v.). (v) The Kitāb uṣ-Sunan
of Nasāʽ ī (830–915) (ed. Cairo, 1894). (vi) The Kitāb uṣ-Sunan of
Ibn Māja (824–866) (ed. Delhi, 1865 and 1889). The last four are
not held in the same repute as the first two.
3. Ijmāʽ is the universal consent which is held to justify practices or beliefs, although they are not warranted by the Koran or tradition, and may be inconsistent with the apparent teaching of one or both of these. These beliefs and practices, which had often come from the pre-Islamic customs of those who had become believers, seem to have escaped notice until the Abbasid period. They were too deeply rooted in the lives of men to be abolished. It became necessary either to find a tradition to abrogate the earlier forbidding one, or to acknowledge that ijmāʽ is higher than the tradition. The former expedient was resorted to by some later theologians (e.g. Nawāwī) by a fiction that such a tradition existed though it was not found now in writing. But in earlier times some (as Ibn Qutaiba) had adopted the latter alternative, saying that the truth can be derived much earlier from the ijmāʽ than from the tradition, because it is not open to the same chances of corruption in its transmission as the latter. Tradition itself was found to confirm this view, for the Prophet is related to have said, “My people does not agree to an error.”
But ijmāʽ itself has been used in different senses: (i) The ijmāʽ of Medina was used to indicate the authority coming from the practices of the people of Medina (see below). (ii) The ijmāʽ of the whole community of Moslems is that most commonly recognized. It was used to support fealty to the Abbasid dynasty. By it the six books of tradition mentioned above are recognized as authoritative, and it is the justification of the conception of Mahomet as superhuman. (iii) Some of the more thoughtful theologians recognize only the ijmāʽ of the doctors or the teachers of Islam (the mujtahidūn), these being restricted by the orthodox to the first few generations after Mahomet, while the Shiʽites allow the existence of such up to the present time.
4. The fourth basis of Islam is qiyās, i.e. analogy. It is that process by which a belief or practice is justified on the ground of something similar but not identical in the Koran, the tradition or ijmāʽ. Originally it seems to have been instituted as a check upon the use of private opinion (ra’y) in the teaching of doctrine. The extent to which it may be used is a subject of much discussion among theologians. Some would apply it only to a “material similarity,” others to similarity of motive or cause as well.
Worship and Ritual.—The acts of worship required by Islam are five in number: (i) the recital of the creed; (ii.) observance of the five daily prayers; (iii) the fast in the month of Ramadhān; (iv) giving of the legal alms; (v) the pilgrimage to Mecca.
i. The creed is belief—“la ilaha illa-llahu, Muḥammad rasūl allahi,” “there is no god but God (Allah), Mahomet is the apostle of God.” It is required that this shall be recited at least once in a lifetime aloud, correctly, with full understanding of its meaning and with Creed.heartfelt belief in its truth. It is to be professed without hesitation at any time until death.
ii. Every man who professes Islam is required in ordinary life to pray five times in each day. In the Koran these prayers are commanded, though four only are mentioned. “Wherefore glorify God, when the evening overtaketh you, and when ye rise in the morning, and unto Him be praise in Heaven and Prayer. earth; and in the evening and when ye rest at noon” (xxx. 16–17), but commentators say the “evening” includes the sunset and after sunset. The five times therefore are: (1) Dawn or just before sunrise, (2) just after noon, (3) before sunset, (4) just after sunset, and (5) just after the day has closed. Tradition decides within what limits the recitals may be delayed without impairing their validity. Prayer is preceded by the lesser ablution (waḍū) consisting in the washing of face, hands (to the elbows) and feet in prescribed manner. Complete washing of the body (ghusl) is required only after legal pollution. In prayer the worshipper faces the qibla (direction of prayer), which was at first Jerusalem, but was changed by the Prophet to Mecca. In a mosque the qibla is indicated by a niche (miḥrab) in one of the walls. The prayers consist of prescribed ejaculations, petitions, and the recital of parts of the Koran, always including the first sura, accompanied by prostrations of the body. Detailed physical positions are prescribed for each part of the worship; these vary slightly in the four orthodox schools (see below). On a journey, in time of war or in other special circumstances, the set form of prayers may be modified in accordance with appointed rules. Besides these private prayers, there is the prayer of the assembly, which is observed on a Friday (yaum ul-jamʽa, “the day of assembly”) in a mosque, and is usually accompanied by an address or declamation (khutba) delivered from a step of the pulpit (minbar). Special prayers are also prescribed for certain occasions, as on the eclipse of the sun or the moon, &c. Among the Sūfis special attention is given to informal prayer, consisting chiefly in the continual repetition of the name of God (dhikr) (see Sufiʽism). This is still a characteristic of some of the dervish (q.v.) communities.
iii. The command to fast begins with the words, “O ye who believe! There is prescribed for you the fast, as it was prescribed for those before you.” The expression “those before you” has been taken to refer to the Jews, who fasted on the day of atonement, but more probably refers to the long fast of Fasting. thirty-six days observed by the Eastern Christians. In the passage of the Koran referred to (ii. 179–181) Moslems are required to fast during the month of Ramadhān, “wherein the Koran was revealed,” but if one is on a journey or sick he may fast “another number of days,” and if he is able to fast and does not, “he may redeem it by feeding a poor man,” but “if ye fast, it is better for you.” This fast was probably instituted in the second year at Medina. At that time the corrected lunar year was in use and Ramadhān, the ninth month, was always in the winter. A few years later Mahomet decreed the use of the uncorrected lunar year, which remains the standard of time for the Moslem world, so that the month of fasting now occurs at all seasons of the year in turn. The fast is severe, and means entire abstinence from food and drink from sunrise to sunset each day of the month. The fast is associated with the statement that in this month God sent down the Koran from the seventh heaven to Gabriel in the lowest that it might be revealed to the Prophet.
iv. Alms are of two kinds: (1) the legal and determined (zakāt), and (2) voluntary (ṣadaqāt). The former were given in cattle, grain, fruit, merchandise and money once a year after a year’s possession. For cattle a somewhat elaborate scale is adopted. Of grain and fruit a tenth is given if Alms. watered by rain, a twentieth if the result of irrigation. Of the value of merchandise and of money a fortieth is prescribed. In the early days of Islam the alms were collected by officials and used for the building of mosques and similar religious purposes. At the present time the carrying of these prescriptions is left to the conscience of the believers, who pay the alms to any needy fellow-Moslem. A good example of a ṣadaqā is found in a gift to an unbeliever (see C. M. Doughty, Arabia deserta, i. 446, ii. 278, Cambridge, 1888).
v. The fifth religious duty of the Moslem is the pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca, which should be performed once by every Moslem “if he is able,” that is if he can provide or obtain the means to support himself on pilgrimage and his family during his absence, and if he is physically capable. The pilgrimage is made at Pilgrimage. one time of the (Moslem) year, namely, from the 7th to the 10th of the month Dhu’l-Hijja. For the arrangements for the journey from various countries to Mecca see Caravan. When the pilgrim arrives within five or six miles of the holy city he puts off his ordinary dress after ablution and prayer, and puts on the two seamless wrappers which form the dress of the pilgrim (the ihrām), who goes without head-covering or boots or shoes. He must not shave at all, or trim the nails or anoint the head during the ceremonial period. The chief parts of the ceremonial are the visit to the sacred mosque (masjīd ul-ḥarām), the kissing of the black stone, the compassing of
