base of Mount Zion, Hadj Ali gathered a beautiful branch of a pomegranate-tree, covered with bright blossoms, the first I had seen that year.
We remembered that Ramadan, the month when the followers of Mohammed fast by day and feast by night, had commenced on the previous Sunday; so we hastened on, that Hadj Ali might prepare his evening meal, and be ready to eat it at the moment of the firing of the "mogarib," the signal gun at sunset—the sound so welcome to hungering and thirsty Moslems. Poor Hadj Ali had not taken food or even smoked a pipe since sunrise. This fast, which lasts for thirty days, is observed with extra ordinary fidelity by people of all classes.[1]
On Thursday, May 28th, I was invited to visit the new schools for young Jewesses, established by Sir Moses Montefiore. The morning was bright and dazzling. We passed the barracks, and entered the street leading to the Armenian convent. The sun was almost vertical, and the polished stone pavement reflected back the heat and light. The high walls of the houses on each side scarcely cast a line of shadow: only the little casement windows jutting out here and there, and the bright flowers which climbed through the trellis-work, or hung from the roofs, traced fantastic and delicate shadows on the ground. Not a breath of air was stirring. It was midday, and no one was to be seen in the broad, unsheltered, silent street,
- ↑ In the second chapter of the Koran the rules for observing Ramadan are given thus:
"O true believers, a fast is ordained unto you, as it was ordained unto those before you, that ye may fear God.
"The month of Ramadan is the month of fasting, in which the Koran was sent down from heaven—a direction unto men, and declarations of direction, and the distinction between good and evil. Therefore let him among you who shall be dwelling at home in this month fast the same month; but he who shall be sick or on a journey shall fast the like number of other days. God would make this an ease unto you, that ye may fulfill the number of days, and glorify God for that he hath directed you, and that ye may give thanks....
"It is lawful for you to eat and drink at night until ye can plainly distinguish a white thread from a black thread by the daybreak; then keep the fast until sunset."
According to Moslem divines there are three degrees of fasting. The first and second are strictly material; the third is the fasting of the heart from worldly cares, and the restraint of the thoughts, which must be concentrated on God.
