A Present to Kings — Page 21
( 21 ) hundreds of people perform the pilgrimage in the days of the 1. Haj, that hundreds of thousands of Mussalmans keep the fasts in the days of Ramazan, that there are many rich men who pay the Zakat, so, though it is true that a large number of people are ignorant of Islam there is still a section who knows. Islam and practises its precepts. It should, however, be borne in mind that the object for which prophets are raised is not that men should offer their prayers in a particular form or that they should leave their native lands and travel in foreign parts or that they should endure hunger for certain days of the years or that they should give away a portion of their wealth, because in the absence of any ulterior purpose to burden men with these onerous tasks is not only foolish but is rather doing them a positive injury. If, therefore, any man should perform the Nemas but reap no fruit thereof and be not even aware of the true meaning of prayer, then there is little to be pleased with in his Nemaz. The followers of other creeds do also offer devotions. . How then does it happen that these devotions do not bear the same fruit as is borne by the devotions of a true Mussalman. The reason is that their devotions are void of that essence which is found in Islamic prayer. They are like a shell which has an outward resemblance to Islamic devotions, but is inwardly void of the properties which are found in the latter. If then the Nemaz of the Mussalmans should also be bare of the essence which gave it superiority to the worship of other faiths, there would remain no difference between them, for as a matter of fact the latter exceeds the former so far as severity is concerned. It is seen that among the Hindus there is in vogue many a form of worship the severity of which can in no way be rivalled by the Islamic Nemaz. For example, some of them would take their stand of a morning before the rising of the sun and turn their faces to the east, and as soon as the sun makes its appearance would fix their eyes upon its disc muttering all the while certain Mantras, and thus they would stand throughout the day with their eyes fixed upon the sun and would not turn them away for a moment till it has sunk below the horizon. Or in winter time some of them would stand in