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Rosary, Ceremony of the

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a ceremony, practiced among the Mohammedans on special occasions, called in the Arabic Sobhat, and usually performed on the night succeeding a burial. The soul is then supposed to remain in the body, after which it departs to Hades, there to await its final doom. The ceremony is thus described: "At night fikis, sometimes as many as fifty, assemble, and one brings a rosary of 1000 beads, each as large as a pigeon's egg. They begin with the 67th chapter of the Koran, then say three times, ‘ God is one;' then recite the last chapter but one and the first, and then say three times, ‘ O God, favor the most excellent and most happy of thy creatures, our lord Mohammed, and his family and companions, and preserve them.' To this they add, ‘ All who commemorate thee are the mindful, and those who omit commemorating thee are the negligent.' They next repeat 3000 times, ‘ There is no God but God,' one holding the rosary and counting each repetition. After each thousand they sometimes rest, and take coffee; then 100 times, ‘(I extol) the perfection of God with his praise;' then the same number of times, I beg forgiveness of God the great;' after which fifty times, ‘ The perfection of the Lord, the Eternal;' then, ‘ The perfection of the Lord, the Lord of might,' etc. (Koran, ch. 37, last three verses). Two or three then recite three or four more verses. This done, one asks his companions, ‘ Have ye transferred (the merit of) what ye have recited to the soul of the deceased?' They reply, ‘ We have;' and add, ‘ Peace be on the apostles.' This concludes the ceremony, which, in the houses of the rich, is repeated the second and third nights." See Macbride, Mohammedan Religion Explained; Gardner, Faiths of the World, s.v.