Religion of the Crescent

100	THE RELIGION OF THE CRESCENT.

Faqirs,¹ who are to be found in nearly every country where Muhammadanism has established itself, and whose practices are often carried to the most extravagant pitch of absurdity. Many among these mendicant devotees have a very bad reputation indeed for immoral conduct, but this is not in any degree considered as detracting from their supposed sanctity. There are, no doubt, many impostors among the ranks of such devotees, but there are undoubtedly not a few earnest and sincere souls who are driven by their consciousness of sin and unworthiness before GOD

'Imadu'd
Din's case.

to seek for forgiveness and purification in this way. As an example of men of this class we may refer to Dr. 'Imadu'd Din, once a leading champion of Muhammadanism and a noted Maulavi, now a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ at Amritsar in the Panjab.

In his Autobiography² he tells us how, finding the outward ordinances of Muhammadanism³ unable to satisfy⁴ the yearning of his soul for communion

¹ Hughes, ut supra, "Darvish;" Osborn, "Islam under Khalifs," pp. 92, sqq.
² "A Muhammadan Brought to Christ: being the Autobiography of the Rev. 'Imadu'd Din, D.D." (Rev. R. Clark's translation, new edition: C. M. House, Salisbury Square, London, E.C. 1885.)
³ V. 'Imadu'd Din's "Autobiography," pp. 9-11.
⁴ Besides the passage quoted in the text, the following extract may be of interest: "I retired into my private chamber, and with many tears I prayed for the pardon of my sins. I often went and spent half the night in silence at
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THE WEAKNESS OF ISLAM.

101

with GOD and the assurance of acceptance with Him and the forgiveness of his sins, he first of

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the tomb of Shah Abu'l A'la. I used to take my petitions with joy to the shrine of Qalandar Bu 'Ali, and to the threshold of the saint Nizamu'd Din, and often to the graves of the elders. I sought for union with GOD from travellers and faqirs, and even from the insane people of the city, according to the tenets of the Sufi mystics. The thought of utterly renouncing the world then came into my mind with so much power, that I left everybody and went out into the jungles, and became a faqir, putting on clothes covered with red ochre; and wandered here and there, from city to city and from village to village, step by step, alone, for about 2,000 kos (3,500 miles), without plan or baggage. Faith in the Muhammadan religion will never, indeed, allow true sincerity to be produced in the nature of Man; yet I was then, although with many worldly motives, in search only of GOD. In this state I entered the city of Karuli, where a stream called Cholida flows beneath a mountain, and there I stayed to perform the Hisbu'l bahar. I had a book with me on the doctrines of mysticism and the practice of devotion, which I had received from my religious guide, and held more dear even than the Qur'an. In my journeys I slept with it at my side at nights, and took comfort in clasping it to my heart whenever my mind was perplexed. My religious guide had forbidden me to show this book or to speak of its secrets to anyone, for it contained the sum of everlasting happiness . . . . I took up the book and sat down on the bank of the stream to perform the ceremonies as they were enjoined, according to the following rules:—The celebrant must first perform his ablutions on the banks of the flowing stream, and, wearing an unsewn dress, must sit in a particular manner on one knee for twelve days, and repeat the prayer called Jugopar thirty times every day with a loud voice. He must not eat any food with salt, or anything at all except some barley bread of flour lawfully earned,
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