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sincerity , I could wish my conversion not exactly to have taken place a $ the particular moment at which the light of truth happened to shine upon me ,
yet , all things considered , I thought it wiser not to quibble about punctilios , than to be sewed in a sack , and served up for t * r eakfast . to some Turkish shark
-Thus it was that the doctrine of pure reason ended in making me a Mohammedan : but with a panff I quitted for the strange sound of Seliin , my- old and beloved namet of Anastasius , given me by my father ;—and so often and so sweetly repeated by my Helena . I was scarce a Mohammedan skin
deep , when I again met padre Ambregio , whom since my affair with Esjtne I had entirely lost sight of , and who knew not my apostacy . " Son / ' said he in a placid tone , fC we are all at times prone to passion ; I inyself , meek as you now see me , have had my unguarded moments : but it is impossible that you should not wish to achieve the glorious work
so well begun . Suppose , therefore , we resume our spiritual exercises . You are already so far advanced in the right road , that we cannot fail ultimately to make you a , n exemplary Roman Catholic /'
" Father / ' answered I , " what may ultimately happen it is not in man to foresee : niean time , since we met last , another trifling impediment has arisen to » pty ejnbracing the Latin creed . I < $ m become a Moslemin . ^
At this unlooked for obstable , fatfe ^ r Amhrogio started back full three ya ^ xjs . " Hol y virgin ! " exclaimed W » " how could you make such a mistake ?" Not caring to assign the true cause ; tc I wanted / ' said I , " to secure in the jnoxt world a little harem of black-eyed girls . "
At this speech father Ambrogio fetched a deep sigh ; qad began to TOU&a , lpokiug alternately at his habit an 4 at jgawie . — " Well IV said he , after y , pa ^ se , " at least you no logger are
tt { Jreek , wd that i $ something 5 " and hereupon he departed ^ wondering I suppose where , in his paradise , Moharnmed jpfieant to dispose of tl * e angels who ^ e eyes were btya , I nqvGr was very ambitious of leatrai-Wg , h ^ t nxy n ^ w god-father , a formal
Untitled Article
Turkish grey-bei ^ rd , could laot brook my total ignorance * if iny © eisrrejigioa . " You are not here among fie&eyis , " * said he , " who under the naine $ f Mohammedans live the live * of Y # © ors , drink wine as freeiy as we swallow
opium 5 and make $ s little seruple of having in their possession paintings of pretty faces , f as if at the 4 ay of judgment they were not % o find souls for all those bodies of their own creating .
You are , —AllaJi be praised !^ - ^ mong strict and orthodox Sunnees ; and , however an old believer may have had time to forget his creed , a young neophyte should have it at his fingers ' ends . "
So I had to learn my c ® £ echism afresh . Great was eay inclination to expostulate ;—but all I could obtain was to be provided with a teacher who , for my twenty paras a lesson , should put me in the way of passing over the bridge Seerath J as speedily as possible . And this I was promised .
Nothing , therefore , coi * ld exceed my surprise * , when in walked the gravest of the whole grave body of doctors of law , —the very pink and quintessence of true believers ; one who w ^ uW not miss saying his namaz regularly four times a-day , three hushed and sixty days in the year , § for all the treasures
of the Devas ;|| who , to obtain the epithet of hafeez , * ft had learnt his whole Koran by heart tmto the last stop ; and who , not satisfied with praying to God like other people , had linked himself to a set of daneiiig Derwishes , for the sole purpose of
* The two principal sects among 'the Mohammedans are the j&unnees and the Scheyis ; and as the difference between them is smajl , so is tj ^ e hajfered proportionally mte » ee . The Ti * r& £ are al 1 Suiapeesj tfeie P ^ raians flill Scheyis : the forwer are n ^ ore fanatical , and the latter more superstitious .
+. The Per 3 ia « is admit ^ eprese ^ fations of hum ^ n figure ^ in i $ i $ r 1 t > pp ^ pf poetry , wjiich the Turks hold m . abhprrence . t Over wfeicli khq souls of the elect gli ^ e into h ) Mm ;' .-ys 9 iSbd ifoitee of the
damned tumWe firom it into % ielL § The Mohammedan months are lunar . || The MohaajtHiedan ^ spirttB tbat gum &v 3 s > tGxwm 9 w& trewamQS . \ \ /> ^ ¦ 1 f ^ o ^ but in a ten % pret * h ^ tlie Wejy of 6 wit . , , , - < ,..
Untitled Article
82 Initiation Of a Mosleniin .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1820, page 82, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2485/page/18/
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