regarding that which we have previously explained, agree with us as to the fact that twice a year night and day are equal—once in spring and once in autumn. Further, that he thinks, like us, that we have the longest day when the sun stands nearest to the north pole; the shortest day when the sun is at the greatest distance from- the north pole; that the shortest summer night is equal to the shortest winter day; and that the same meaning is expressed by the two verses of the Coran: "God makes night enter into day, and he makes day enter into night" (Sûra xxxv. 14), and "He wraps night around day, and he wraps day around night" (Sûra xxxix. 7). Now, if they do not know this, or pretend not to know it, at all events they cannot help admitting that the first half of the day is six hours long, and likewise the latter half. Against this they cannot pretend to be blind, because of the well known and well authenticated tradition which relates to the prerogatives of those who hasten to the mosque on a Friday, and which shows that their wages are the highest, although their time of work in the six hours from the beginning of the day till the time of the decline of the sun is the shortest. This is to be understood of the Horæ temporales obliquæ (ὧραι καιρικαί), not of the Horæ rectæ, which are also called æquinoctiales (ὧραι ἱοημεριναί).
Now, if we should comply with their wish, and acknowledge their assertions as truth, we should have to believe that an equinox takes place when the sun moves on either side of the winter solstice (i.e. near to the point of the winter-solstice either arriving there or leaving it); that this takes place only in some parts of the earth to the exclusion of others; that the winter night is not equal to the summer day, and that noon is not then when the sun reaches the midst between his rising and setting points. Whilst just the contrary of these necessary inferences from their theory is the conclusion generally accepted even by those who have only a slight insight into the matter. That, however, similar absurdities must follow out of their reasoning he only will thoroughly comprehend who is to some degree acquainted with the motions of the (celestial) globes.
If somebody will stick to what people say at dawn-rise, "morning has come, night has gone;" what is he to think of what they say when the sun is near setting, and becomes yellow—"evening has come, day has gone, night has come?" Such expressions merely indicate the approaching, the advancing, and the receding of the precise time in which people just happen to be. These phrases are to be explained as metaphors and metonymies. They are allowed in the usage of the language, cf. e.g. the word of God (Sûra xvi. 1): " The order of God has come; therefore do not hurry it."
Another argument in favour of our view is the following saying, which is attributed to the Prophet, to whom and to whose family may God be merciful: "The prayer of the day is silent." And the fact that
