Chapter XIV: Religion

With sudden contrast, we turn our attention to the most important problem in the daily life of the Arab— religion. Now, it is a curious thing that in practically all European countries religion has not much sway over the general masses, and that frequently it is subject-matter for controversy and discord. Even among those members of the community who are still faithful believers, the church is not really interwoven in the hum of daily life. Not so in Algeria. Every Arab who has not been degenerated by Europe into atheism— and it must be admitted that there are very few of these—believes in Allah, believes in Mohammed, in the world to come, with eternal damnation or salvation. But not only does he believe it to the extent of practising the religion in the mosque as European believers do in the church, but he continues following the precepts of the Faith in every moment of his life.

After living a while with the Arabs it comes as a revelation quite unexpected, and it makes one wonder whether Mohammed, thirteen hundred years ago, had any idea what effect his preaching would have on his followers; probably not. He always strikes one as a man who was almost forced into the path which he followed by circumstances about him. However, these pages are not the place to raise this question. What is certain is the immense change which swept over North Africa when the Arab invasions began in the seventh century, bringing with them all the doctrines of the new faith into a land full of rival beliefs.

There is less difference in Algeria between that period and the present than there was between the sixth century and the days of Carthage in all its splendor, and whether we are discussing the Arabs of the north or of the Sahara, or whether the Berbers of the Kabyle Mountains or those of the Mzab, there is one expression which covers them all:

“They are Mohammedans.”

Not all Mohammedans are of the same denomination, but they are much less divided than the different sects in England, and all with the same fervent belief:

_La ilahah ill Allah, Mohammed Rasoul Allah._

There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his prophet.

Mohammedanism is, moreover, in itself a complete solution to all the problems of life, both temporal and spiritual. It is not only a teaching of religious principles, but also the framework of all social laws, and a person who follows its precepts will have not only a clean soul, but also a clean body.

The ablutions, the forbidden meats and wines, the many postures taken during the prayer five times a day, were all invented with a purpose. The Arab was dirty by nature; he was told to wash before saying his prayers; in cases where water lacked, to clean himself with sand. It was known that pork was bad for people living in hot countries; it was forbidden. The laziness of the Oriental is proverbial; physical exercises were devised for him in his daily prayers before Mr. Sandow and his disciples thought of the present-day training.

He was told not to frequent women of easy morals; knowing his nature, the task was made less difficult by allowing him more than one wife, while at the same time, realizing the inconsistency of human nature, laws were provided which enabled him to free himself easily from the bonds of marriage if he felt that it was necessary.

To make him rise early in the morning the first hour of prayer was ordained before sunrise; in the middle of the day there are prayers, which prevent a too-long siesta. Realizing that women in religion are the cause of much trouble, they were excluded from the mosque and from anything to do with its rites. Furthermore, remembering that two great religions had passed before, there could be no question of ignoring them. One therefore finds practically the whole of the Old Testament in the Koran, as well as the coming of Jesus (Aïssa). Here the belief stops and states that God substituted another man for the Christ to be crucified, while Jesus went straight up to heaven like Elijah. The Koran further states that Jesus will come again at the day of judgment, but that Mohammed will not.

These doctrines completed what Judaism and Christianity had begun, and made them stronger by the precept of “Equality of all men in the fold and fierce hatred for all outside it.”

Talking casually to Arabs, it is hard to realize this hatred, but it is there at all times. We are not merely Englishmen, or Frenchmen, or Italians—we are infidels, we are unbelievers, we are not chosen to go to Paradise. We shall not sit by the river under the shade of the trees and be fed on delicious meat and drink wonderful wines which do not intoxicate, while women go about unveiled and we are married spiritually to those we love.

That is the great barrier between Mohammedans and all other creeds, and, being one of the great principles of the religion, is unsurmountable. The reward, the great reward of the Faithful is paradise— for all others it is hell.

As a matter of fact, the picture drawn of the life to come for a good Arab is very attractive, much more so than our rather vague golden city we read of. All that has been forbidden on earth will be permitted above, and the faith in this is absolute.

The number of Arabs who do not follow all the principles of the religion is few. Even those who drink wine when guests are present rarely do so when alone, while those who do carry it to excess are usually very low characters. The origin of the interdiction of intoxicants is said to be because once at Mecca the _imam_ leading the prayer was drunk and he went through the ceremony all wrong, with the result that all the followers did the same as he did. Hence a sacrilege owing to wine-drinking, hence the forbidding of its use among the Faithful. As evidence of the evil caused by drinking the following story is told with much solemnity.

A Mohammedan was once caught by two unscrupulous scoundrels who said they would kill him unless he agreed to do one of three things: drink a bottle of wine, rob his father, or murder the _marabout_. The poor man chose what he thought was the least of these evils and drank the bottle of wine, with the result that he also robbed his father and killed the _marabout_!

Prayers are said either collectively in the mosque before sunrise, at noon, at three, at sunset, and at eight at night, when the _muezzin_ comes out and calls the Faithful in that high-pitched voice which is almost a chant, or else they are said individually. If they are said in the mosque they are led by the _imam_, who afterwards reads the Koran, and sometimes a kind of sermon based on the Holy Book is given by the _mufti_.

The individual prayer can be said anywhere—in the house, on the roof, in the street. It is done without any sort of self-consciousness or ostentation. The man just turns away from his daily task, faces Mecca, and goes through all the forms of prayer. It is extraordinary to take an Arab on a starless night in the desert and see him always turn instinctively to the East. At first it is a little disconcerting for a European suddenly to see a member of the party get up and start this performance; he feels that there ought to be some awkward silence; but not at all—the chatter goes on and the prayer returns and continues talking as if he had never left his place.

Some people maintain that many Arabs say their prayers publicly just in the same way as did the Pharisees of the Old Testament, and that if they had to commune with God in private they would not do so. I consider this quite a fallacy, and from the age of fifteen, when a boy is supposed to know the Koran and therefore be able to learn his prayers, they pray before the world without the smallest thought of who is looking and who is not. The actual prayer is a fixed formula, and when it is over the supplicant turns his head first to the right and then to the left saying “The blessing of God and His mercy be on thee.” These words are addressed to the two guardian angels who accompany all Mohammedans on earth, the angel on the right noting all good actions, the angel on the left recording all the bad.

After the prayer, which refers only to the greatness and goodness of God, private blessings may be asked for, but it is not usual to bring temporal matters into this private communion with the Almighty. If the supplicant is to be recompensed on this earth it is not necessary to remind God of what He has already ordained.

What seems so simple and right in this religion is the absence of any sort of intermediary in the shape of priest or minister. The good Mohammedan can observe the whole of his religion from the age of fifteen until he dies without ever setting foot inside a mosque or speaking to an _imam_. The mosques are all very simple indeed, with very little decoration, as pictures and statues are forbidden.

The pilgrim who has been to Mecca and Medina is much respected, and has the prefix _hadj_ (pilgrim) attached to his name. Yearly ships from Algiers transport bands of Arabs who have saved up to do this journey. There have been cases of men who have walked all the way across Tripoli and Egypt to perform the rites at the Kaaba and to see the tomb of the Prophet.

It would take too long in this book to go into the various divisions or sects which have created themselves in the Mohammedan religion, as in all other faiths. It will suffice to mention some of the main groups:

The Sunnites are orthodox;

The Shiahs, followers of Ali;

The Ibadites, followers of Abd Allah ben Ibad;

The Sofrites, followers of Abd Allah ben Sofar;

The Kharedjites are dissenters.

It was this last form of religion which the Berbers accepted and which is practised to this day in all their centers in Algeria. These groups are divided and subdivided into some seventy sects which it would require years of study to examine, and, unless one is a specialist in this matter, are of little interest to the average traveler.

What is interesting, however, is to read a well translated edition of the Koran, with a short life of Mohammed. This will give more insight into the religious side of Arab life than endless treatises on the matter. And it would be a good thing if more of our soldiers who come into contact with the Moslems all over the British Empire were more acquainted with these details.

At first the French did not grasp the significance of Islam in their North African territories; now that they have, they use it to advantage, and they give absolute liberty on these questions to their subjects. Even the orders of the White Fathers and the White Sisters do nothing to try to convert the Arab. They realize the little good it would do and the general hostility it would create. They therefore set a good example, teach the boys and girls how to work and lead a clean life, and, if one or two lean toward Christianity, they help them; but it is rare, very rare to find converts.

The Arab dislikes domination, but he realizes the advantages brought by a civilized race who give him roads, laws, railways, commerce; yet he will not tolerate his private life or religion being encroached upon, and if this liberty is granted him he will accept all the rest.

Unfortunately there are missionaries, I hastily add well-meaning missionaries, chiefly from England, who have settled in North Africa, as they have in other Moslem countries, in order to convert the natives. They are too few to do any real harm, but they are wasting their time and their money on people who consider that their own religion is far superior to any other and who see no necessity to change it—a religion which preaches charity and which carries it out, for it is by the rich that the poor live.

“After all,” said an Arab chief one day, “our religion is six hundred years younger than yours, and therefore based on later experience, but, even if it wasn’t, what would you say if a band of Arabs, chiefly women, landed in England and tried to interfere with your faith?”

There is no answer. It is folly of the well meaning, who would do better to turn their attention to their own people, who as a whole do not believe, or, at any rate, do not practise their beliefs in the same conscientious manner as do the followers of Mohammed in Algeria.