HKB
Vide Reland. de Rel. Moh. l. i., c. 8. 3 Poc. not in Port. Mosis, p. 356, &c. 4 Mark vii. 3, &c. 5 Vide Herodot. l. 3, c. 198.
The Mohammedans, however, will have it that they are as ancient as Abraham,1 who, they say, was enjoined by GOD to observe them, and was shown the manner of making the ablution by the angel Gabriel, in the form of a beautiful youth.2 Nay, some deduce the matter higher, and imagine that these ceremonies were taught our first parents by the angels.3 That his followers might be the more punctual in this duty, Mohammed is said to have declared, that "the practice of religion is founded on cleanliness," which is the one-half of the faith, and the key of prayer, without which it will not be heard by GOD.4 That these expressions may be the better understood, al Ghazâli reckons four degrees of purification; of which the first is, the cleansing of the body from all pollution, filth, and excrements; the second, the cleansing of the members of the body from all wickedness and unjust actions; the third, the cleansing of the heart from all blamable inclinations and odious vices; and the fourth, the purging a man's secret thoughts from all affections which may divert their attendance on GOD: adding, that the body is but as the outward shell in respect to the heart, which is as the kernel. And for this reason he highly complains of those who are superstitiously solicitous in exterior purifications, avoiding those persons as unclean who are not so scrupulously nice as themselves, and at the same time have their minds lying waste, and overrun with pride, ignorance, and hypocrisy.5 Whence it plainly appears with how little foundation the Mohammedans have been charged, by some writers,6 with teaching or imagining that these formal washings alone cleanse them for their sins.7 Lest so necessary a preparation to their devotions should be omitted, either where water cannot be had, or when it may be of prejudice to a person's health, they are allowed in such cases to make use of fine sand or dust in lieu of it;8 and then they perform this duty by clapping their open hands on the sand, and passing them over the parts, in the same manner as if they were dipped in water. But for this expedient Mohammed was not so much indebted to his own cunning,1 as to the example of the Jews, or perhaps that of the Persian Magi, almost as scrupulous as the Jews themselves in their lustrations, who both of them prescribe the same method in cases of necessity;2 and there is a famous instance, in ecclesiastical history, of sand being used, for the same reason, instead of water, in the administration of the Christian sacrament of baptism, many years before Mohammed's time.3 Neither are the Mohammedans contented with bare washing, but