out their eyes who have been blest with the sight of the Tomb of their Prophet as if they cared for nothing in the world afterward Others impose upon themselves a silence of two three or four years and sometimes longer and upon no provocation or danger will open their mouths to speak a word This is to several the great comfort and triumph of their lives that they have been at Mecca and for the merit of those weary steps they have taken and of the prayers they have offer'd up at Mahomets Shrine they flatter themselves they shall not fail of entring Paradise though in all other things they be as very Turks as they were before they set one foot forward upon their journey The Grand Signor every year sends a considerable present to Mecca and Clothes for the covering and adornment of the Temple Kaabe at which time the old is taken down and happy is he who brings home a rag of it with him which he preserves ever after as a holy relique and a powerful Amulet against all danger whatever and with the same care as the Inhabitants of Catanea do the Vail of St. Agatha against the eruptions of Mongibel The other principal Festival days are these On the twelfth night of the month of the former Rabbia they celebrate the Birth of Mahomet hanging out Lamps at their Moschs which with them is the most usual sign and expression of their triumphs and rejoicings At this time they employ all the wit and eloquence they have as little or as great soever it is but far different from European and indeed consists only in phantastick and swelling expressions after the Eastern way flowing from a gross and uncultivated fancy without any great depth of reason or sence which practise might put several Christians to the blush if they were not hardened into immodesty and an obstinate humour by their conceitedness who refuse to pay that respect to the memory of the Birth-day of their Saviour which the Turks so zealously pay to that of their false Prophet On the twenty-seventh night of the month Regeb is the Feast of the Ascension of Mahomet into Heaven a Fable so ridiculous in its whole composition and circumstances that nothing but absolute sottishness can admit it as credible but yet as gross and foolish as it is they believe it with the same certainty as that there was such a man The fifteenth night of Shaaban is called Baratghege or the Night of Priviledge in which they say was conveyed a Sword out of Heaven into the hands of Mahomet and an Instrument at the same time commissioning him to draw it and make use of it against the Christians and all others who should oppose the propagation of the new Religion In the twenty-seventh night of Ramazan is the Feast of the Descent of the Alcoran which is the cause why the Impostor thought fit to consecrate the whole Month to more than ordinary devotion being the holiest time of the year And to encourage them to spend this Festival in the exercises of Religion they keep up and support the credit and reputation of it with a pretended priviledge from God that whatsoever petitions they put up from Jatzi or an hour and half in the night until the Sky opens as they speak and the day appears shall be infallibly granted and that God has decreed and determined this and therefore they call the prayer at this time Kadar namasi or the prayer of predestination There is a fixt and established distinction of order and degree among the Ministers of their Religion the chiefest of which is the Mufti who is often too consulted in Civil affairs and controversies which seem to have little or no respect and dependence upon Religion and so may be lookt upon under the notion of a supreme Judge under the Emperor as well as of a Chief Priest He is the great Doctor and Oracle of their Law and Heir as they speak of the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles the Fountain of vertue and knowledge one who can resolve all the difficulties of Religion and who has a Key to open all the treasures of truth for by these and such like foolish characters do they represent him Let him be never so dull and stupid otherwise either through a natural incapacity or age or any other defect if he be preferred to the Muftiship as some have been out of a capriccio by some Emperors presently he becomes infallible his decisions are sacred and authentick and his authority is unquestionable and received without any dispute or debate and his dreams are lookt upon as inspiration as being Mahomet's representative Though he poor man conscious to himself of the Cheat uses to be over-modest and is ashamed to assume this inerrable power and subscribes his Sentence with this usual Expression God knows better which is yet no bar to the Peoples opinion and esteem of him and no one under the Emperour dares pass judgment contrary to his determination To keep up this veneration of the Musti in the People the Emperour descends from his State and as soon as he appears before him rises up and advances leisurely six or seven steps towards him and permits him to kiss his left Shoulder whereas the chief Vizir is only permitted to kiss and salute the hem of his Vest though to do some little honour to his first Minister he makes a step or two forward to meet him The Emperour makes great use of him in his private Councils and scarce sits upon a great design without his advice to make it take the more among the Souldiers and People who assure themselves both of the lawfulness and convenience and necessity of an Expedition and flatter themselves too with the good success of it if it be ratifyed by his consent and blest by his Prayers and encouragement If reason of State judg it necessary to strangle or take off the head of a Vizir any other Bassa or General of the Janizaries the Mufti 's consent will vindicate the execution and stop the clamours and discontents of the Soldiers and People who by this are made to believe that the person cut off deserved to die according to the Law and that it is a piece of Religion to submit to the Emperours Pleasure and the Mufti 's determination noless than to the Will of God The Authority of the Mufti being so great the Emperour will not trust a matter of that consequence to an election knowing that the keeping up his Prerogative in the disposal of such an office to a fit person who shall comply with his humour and the necessity of State is a just piece of Policy on which may oftentimes depend the safety and security of his Person and Government Although usually he prefers one of the Cadileskires into the place of the deposed or dead Mufti if he be for his turn But in case the Mufti should prove resractory and disturb his Councels by throwing in
scruples of Conscience and refuse to obey and confirm his Orders though they be never so unjust and unreasonable they are not long to seek for a remedy and as if the spirit of infallibility wherewith he was before invested immediately upon this foolish act of disobedience left him to his pure natural condition then he is said to dote and to be infatuated and to forfeit his discretion and understanding and is hereby rendred unworthy of so holy and supereminent a dignity and one presently is substituted into his place who understands better the Arts of compliance and Courtship and will receive as an Oracle whatever comes proposed to him out of the Seraglio The Mufti by his place always moves with the Emperour none of his Retinue more constantly attends him that he may be ready to assist with his Councel at all times in case of doubt or difficulty This high place lies in common to any one whom the Emperour shall think fit to dignifie and honour with it and is not confined to the Kindred and Posterity of Mahomet as some through a mistake have affirmed I am fully assured the Mufti sometimes acts as a meer Politician and Counsellor of State though the advancement of Religion is always the pretence as it happened upon a debate before the Emperour much about the year 1669. when there were dispatched two Gentlemen out of Croatia with full Commission to treat about their becoming tributary to the Grand Signor from several of the Nobles of the Roman communion who afterwards had their heads struck off at Newstadt upon the assurance of his assistance and protection against the Emperour of Germany whose Government they had shook off and thought to justifie and secure their Rebellion this way Mustapha Caimacam of Adrianople was against their being received as being against the Peace made so solemnly after the battel of Rab and besides very politickly remarqued it was no fit time while they were involved in so troublesom and expenseful a War with the Venetians in Candia to bring the Germans upon their backs which would inevitably follow but the Mufti was as zealous and fierce for their being taken into protection alledging that the Port was the refuge of the world and that the Interest of Religion as well as of State would be advanced by such an acquist which the Christians themselves would maintain and make good to them and that this was of greater obligation than the strict observing of a Treaty that the misfortunes of the last Hungarian War forced them to submit to The Emperour distracted with such different Counsels would resolve nothing till he had received the opinion of the Vizir then before Candia but before that could be brought back they had certain intelligence that Croatia was over run with an Army of Thirty thousand and the whole force of the discontented and rebellious Nobility defeated and not an Acre of Land left to plant a Turkish Garrison in Next to the Mufti are the two Cadileskires the one of Anatolia who has the precedence and the other of Rumuli or Thrace the authority of which latter notwithstanding the seeming restraint of the name is extended as far as the Turk has any Dominions in Europe These formerly were as their titles literally signify Judges of the Army and perpetually attended the Camp to administer Justice among the Souldiers that so the Discipline of War might receive support and be maintained and kept up better by the assistance of the Law and little quarrels that might arise among them might be the more fairly determined and capital punishments inflicted according to the demerit of the Criminals This was the design of their Original Institution but at present they only assist the Vizir or his Deputy in deciding civil Causes and exercise no authority and power over the Souldiers who have long since extorted this Priviledge from the Grand Signor to be tryed only by their respective Commanders and Officers They have carried before them a Pole or Spear on the top of which hangs horse-hair as an Ensign of Honour to support which besides what they get by bribes and fees from the parties contending which are greater or lesser proportionally to the quantity of the Sum about which the Suit is commenced They have a daily allowance of Five hundred Aspers out of the Exchequer according to the Canon established by the Emperour Suleiman The Mollas challenge the third place who under the Bassas are Judges and Presidents of Provinces in the chief Cities of which they reside and to whom the Cadies or inferiour Judges are obliged to give an accompt of their Judicature Their pay is out of the Publick Treasure which is never less than Three hundred Aspers a day but always under the allowance of the Cadileskires The first design and intent of the allowance was agreeable to Equity and Justice that they might live handsomly and well and never be forced to descend to base Arts and ways of gain unworthy their places or be under the temptation of perverting the Law for reward and gain But this does not satisfie and content their avarice who are not ashamed to extort Money and Presents from the several Parties who must this way defend their Cause if they would not have it miscarry be it never so just and equitable in it self This is the best and most effectual Plea they can possibly make for certainly if Justice be to be sold in any part of the world it is in Turkey For though they may pretend Religion and Conscience and may seem nice in determining some Suits yet it is both known and sadly experienced by poor Christians especially if they implead any Turk that they are horribly corrupt and men of no faith or honesty and judg the cause on his side who has given the greatest bribe though to free themselves from the infamy and guilt of injustice they alledge several trickish subtilties out of the Alcoran and from Tradition and to stave off the injured person from pursuing his right and prosecuting his complaint These are reckoned among the number of Church-men the Law by which they judge and determine Cases being as much a part of their Religion and founded in their Alcoran and Sunna or Tradition as the Rites of their Worship and although they have nothing to do in the Moschs and sustain only the office of Civil Judges they are accordingly advanced to the highest dignity a Church-man is capable of Every Mosch has a Priest peculiarly belonging to it who is called Imaum In the royal Moschs and others that be endowed several are maintained who take turns in celebrating their office or else for greater Decorum and State officiate together A small proportion and measure of Learning is a sufficient qualification of a Turkish Priest there is no great need of any praevious study or a peculiar education and designment to make any candidate fit to take the care and Government of a Mosch upon him For
their Turbant they rub with the inside of their Hand the forepart of their Head from the Crown to the Forehead putting their fore and middle Finger into the cavities of their Ears and their Thumbs behind washing their Necks with three Fingers of both Hands reversed Their publick Bagnos or Baths usually are built very handsom and stately all great men have them in their Houses for their own use and the uses of their Women being frequented not only for health and cleanliness but for Religion in several particular cases in which they are obliged to cleanse other parts of the Body not to be named which yet I have seen them do at an open Fountain in the Streets This ceremony be their occasions never so great and urgent they cannot omit without great scandal and guilt Before which purgation they look upon themselves as unfit not only to go to Church but to converse or to be conversed with But how shall such as travel in the Desarts of Arabia or Libya comply with this fundamental Article of Mahometism where they cannot be profuse with the provisions of water they carry with them for the necessities of life where they meet with no Springs to supply themselves Are they wholly freed from the obligation of prayer No. The subtle Impostor has herein provided a remedy against this contingence in case of the faileur of water Sand or Ashes or a Morter-clod crumbled into dust shall do as well and shall convey the same cleansing virtue as much as if they had made use of the clearest Fountain-water They use cold water except in case of sickness and weakness when they are indulged to warm it for fear otherwise the cold should strike into their bodies and encrease their malady But see the madness and folly of their superstition by the sprinkling of a few drops of cold water they think their minds are as much purified as their bodies and that this is a sufficient purgation from the defilements of sin and a most effectual remedy against brutality and the most horrid impieties they can possibly be guilty of To put them in mind the better of these duties of Religion that neither pleasure nor business may divert their thoughts the Priests or their Servants give notice to the people publickly of the approaching times of prayer And for their better accommodation about the Menar or Pyramid raised from the ground adjoining to the Mosch is built a Gallery to which there is an ascent by a winding pair of Stairs the door whereof always looks towards Mecca Here walking round and straining their voices in a kind of singing tone which they lengthen out they invite them in a peculiar form of words which is common to all and from which they do not depart a tittle to come and make their prayers and by this way they supply the want of Bells which they neither use themselves nor permit the poor Greeks It is scarce credible how this noise by reason of this advantage of heigth in a clear evening may be distinctly heard The words are exactly these God is great God is great there is no God but God there is no God but God I confess that Mahomet is the Messenger of God I confess that Mahomet is the Messenger of God come to prayers come to prayers come to worship come to worship God is great God is great there is no God but God In the morning sometimes they remind them that prayer is better than sleep and bid them repeat the Phatiha or first Chapter of the Alcoran which they use as frequently as we do the Lords Prayer In the Royal Moschs where there are usually four Pyramids only that of Achmet the Grand-Father of the present Emperor in the Atmidan or Hippodrome in Constantinople having six this proclamation is made with greater solemnity by several Priests jointly at the same time but without the least variation of words and agreeable to the same number of repetitions Their prayers are in the Arabick language the language of Mahomet and his Alcoran which by reason of their daily use are easily understood by the people to which also the frequent mixture of Arabick words in the Turkish does not a little conduce The matter of them is generally pious and what might not misbecome those who worship the true God but that they are defective except where they reflect most impiously upon the most sacred and venerable mysteries of the Religion of Jesus by making a deprecatory appeal to God with a far be it from thee O Lord what the Christians impute to thee meaning that thou hast a Son These prayers as several other parts of their worship have for their foundation not only the Alcoran in which as they speak are contained the commands of God but the practice and example of Mahomet derived down to them by tradition which they call Sunna By which pretence they have introduced several customs though in matters of less moment of which there is not the least intimation in the Book of their Law and the people out of a blind reverence and ignorant zeal esteem them to have the same authority and to be equally binding They direct their prayers only to God Almighty acknowledging his infinite power soveraignty and right over Angels and Men and Devils and the whole comprehension of all other Beings They put up no prayers to Mahomet nor do they bow their knees as ever I could observe as some write at the mention of his name it being one of their principles that God is only to be adored and worshipped which makes them so severe upon us arraigning us of Idolatry for worshipping Christ who is God blessed for ever Arianism which Mahomet learned of the Monk Sergius being one main ingredient of their Religion In what a fair way are a great number of false Christians especially inferior persons who are taught to renounce the Lord God their Saviour who bought them in Poland and elsewhere to become Mahometans if the Grand Signor should enlarge his conquests among them which God avert for the good of Christendom Only as to what concerns Mahomet they wish God would be propitious to him and his Family that peace and mercy and the benediction of God may be upon him which civility of expression Mahomet himself uses in the Alcoran toward the holy Patriarchs and Prophets and our B. Saviour in imitation of whom their writers take up the same form joining the name of the blessed Virgin to his as Isa the Son of Miriam on whom be peace They do Mahomet no other honour in their offices of Prayer besides frequent acknowledgments of his mission from God as his Apostle and Messenger There is a great semblance of devotion in their Churches This is the only representation that can be made of them to their advantage Take them in their Streets and Houses they are rude and fierce and ill-natur'd but their modesty here triumphs over their fierceness of temper and