The Mussulmans on other occasions

“ The Mussulmans on other occasions as well as this have been frequently pointed out to me by Europeans as being a most sincere, devout, and praiseworthy people in respect to their devotions; and their punctilious observance of them, anywhere and everywhere, has been held up as an example for Protestant Christians to imitate. And yet these same Europeans would call us bigots, fanatics, hypocrites, and more names and worse than could be found in any dictionary, were we to pray in that way in the streets, in the coffee shops, in the public places of resort, in the midst of our business, or wherever we might happen to be.

“ ‘ But see! they are not ashamed to pray anywhere.’

“Yes, I see. And so a man in America is not ashamed to wash his hands anywhere. Why should he be? He would be ashamed not to do it. It is the custom to do it. Everybody does it. No one could be admitted into good society without doing it. And for a man to was’n his face or hands, does not imply that he fears God, keeps himself unspotted from the world, leads a conscientious, heavenly life, and acts constantly in view of eternity. If it did, worldly men would be as much ashamed to be seen washing their hands, as they are now ashamed of prayer, or of Christ’s ordinances.

But it is not done out of regard to Christ, nor does any one ever suppose it to be so done. It implies nothing of this kind, expresses nothing of this character. And just so of the prayers of these people. Everybody prays. It is the custom to pray; it is the law to pray; a man would be ashamed not to pray. He would, in fact, be hissed out of society, if nothing worse, should he refuse to pray. And his prayer implies no more as to his moral character than the custom with us of washing one’s hands, or shaving one’s beard.

Nobody here ever expects to find a man more heavenly-minded, more benevolent, more hospitable, more honest, because he prays. Nobody ever feels that his life and property are in any degree the more secure because he has fallen into the hands of those who have just risen up from their prayers. No one is ever supposed to be the less covetous, the less selfish, the less impure, the less a cheat, a gambler, a liar, a defrauder, a murderer, because he prays. Nothing is farther from his own thoughts, or the thoughts of the bystanders, than that his prayer should exert any transforming influence upon his character.”