written the first hour of the first day of the week, and reads as follows: "In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate, there is no God but He, the Living, the Eternal, etc. (to the end of the verse on the throne). In the name of God and to God and upon God, and there is no one victorious save God and no one can deliver him who flees from God, for He is the Living, the Self-subsisting, whom slumber seizes not nor sleep, etc. I place in the safe keeping of God him who carries this amulet, the God than whom there is no other, who knows the secret and the open. He is the Merciful, the Compassionate. I protect the bearer by the words of God. Most Perfect and by His glorious names from evil that approaches and the eyes that flash and the souls of the wicked and from the evil of the father of wickedness and his descendants and from the evil of those that blow upon knots and from the evil of the envier when he envies, and I put him under the protection of God the Most Holy, King of the Angels and of the Spirits, Lord of the worlds, the Lord of the great throne, Ihyashur, Ihyabur, Ihya-Adoni, Sabaoth Al Shaddai; and I put the bearer under the keeping of God by the light of the face of God which does not change and by His eye which does not sleep nor slumber and His protection which can never be imagined nor escaped and His assistance which needs no help and His independence which has no equal and His eternity without end, His deity which cannot be overcome and His omnipresence which cannot be escaped, and I put him under the protection of the Lord of Gabriel and Michael and Israfil and Izrail and of Mohammed, the seal of the Prophets, and of all the prophets and apostles, and in the name of Him who created the angels and established their footsteps by His majesty to hold up His throne when it was borne on the face of the waters, and by the eight names writ

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8 This portion shows Jewish origin and gives some of the Hebrew names of God - Jehovah.

ten upon the throne of God. I also give the bearer the protection of K.H.T.S. and the seven H.W.M.'s and H.M.S.K.'s, and by the talisman of M.S. and M.R. and R. and H.W.M. and S. and K. and N. and T.H. and Y.S.9 and the learned Koran and by the name of God Most Hidden and His noble book and by Him who is light upon lights, by His name who flashed into the night of darkness and destroyed by his blaze every rebellious devil and made those that feared trust Him; and by the name by which man can walk upon water and make it as dry land; and by the name by which Thou didst call thyself in the book which came down and which Thou didst not reveal to any but by whose power Thou didst return to Thy throne after the creation; and by the name by which Thou didst raise up the heavens and spread out the earth and createst paradise and the fire; the name by which Thou didst part the sea for Moses and sent the flood to the people of Noah, the name written on Moses' rod and by which Thou didst raise up Jesus, the name written on the leaves of the olive trees and upon the foreheads of the noble angels. And I put the one who wears this amulet under the protection of Him who existed before all and who will outlast all and who has created all, God, than whom there is no other, the Living, He is the Knowing and the Wise; and I put the bearer under the protection of the name of God by which He placed the seven heavens firmly and the earth upon its mountains and the waters so that they flowed and the fountains so that they burst forth and the rivers so that they watered the earth, and the trees brought forth their fruit and the clouds gave rain and night became dark and the day dawned and the moon game his light and the sun his splendor and the stars went in their course and the winds who carried His messages; and I put the bearer under the protection of the name by which Jesus spoke in the cradle and by which He raised the dead 9 These are the mystical letters which occur in the Koran text.

from the grave, and by which He opened the eyes of those born blind and cured the lepers, the name by which He made the dumb to speak. And I protect him by the Merciful God and His great name and His perfect words, which neither riches nor the sinner can resist, from the evil which comes down from heaven or the evil that ascends to heaven and from the evil which is found upon the earth or which comes out of the earth, and from the terror of the night and of the day and from the oppression of the night and of the day; and I protect him from all powerful influences of evil and from the cursed devil and from envious men and from the wicked infidel; and I protect him by the Lord of Abraham, the friend of God, and Moses, the spokesman of God, and Jesus and Jacob and Isaac and Ishmael and David and Solomon and Job and Yunas and Aaron and Seth and Abel and Enoch and Noah and Elijah and Zecahriah and John and Hud and Elisha and Zu Kifl and Daniel and Jeremiah and Shu'aib and Ilyas and Salih and Ezra and Saul and the Prophet-ofthe-fish and Lokman and Adam and Eve and Alexander the Great and Mary and Asiah (Pharaoh's wife) and Bilkis and Kharkil and Saf the son of Berachiah and Mohammed the seal of the prophets; and I protect him by God than whom there is no other, who will remain after all things have perished, and by His power and by His might and by His exaltation above all creatures and above all devils male and female, and all manner of jinn, male and female, and familiar spirits of both sexes, and wizards and witches, and deceivers male and female, and infidels male and female, and enemies male and female, and ghoul and demons, and from the evil eye and the envious, from the evil in things of ear and eye and tongue and hand and foot and heart and conscience, secret or open. And I protect the wearer from everything that goes out and comes in, from every breath that stirs of evil or of movement of man or beasts, whether he be sick or well, awake or sleep

ing, and from the evil of that which dwells in the earth or in the clouds or in the mountains or in the air or the dust or the vapor or the caves or the wells or the mines, and from the devil himself, and from the flying demons, and from those who work sorcery and from the evil of the whirlwind caused by the chief of the jinn, and from the evil of those who dwell in tombs and in secret places, in pools and in wells and from him who is with the wild beasts or within the wombs, and from him who is an eavesdropper of the secrets of the angels, etc., etc.' (After this the amulet closes with the words of the Moslem creed written three times, the call to prayer twice and) "May God's blessing and peace be upon the Prophet and upon his companions forever until the day of judgment. Praise be to God the Lord of the worlds." All this seems the height of folly to the educated Moslem. Yet it is taken from one of the best selling books on popular magic and medicine, printed in Cairo, third edition, 1328 A.H. (six years ago) 192 pages, fine print, and sold for ten cents!

No one can read of these superstitious practices and beliefs, which are inseparable from the Koran and Tradition, without realizing that the belief in the qarina is a terror by night and by day to pious Moslem mothers and their children. For fear of these familiar spirits and demons they are all their life time subject to bondage. A mother never dares to leave her infant child alone in Egypt for fear of the qarina. The growing child must not tramp on the ground heavily for fear he may hurt his qarina. It is dangerous to cast water on the fire lest it vex the qarina. On no account must the child be allowed to go asleep while weeping. Its every whim must be satisfied for fear of its evil mate. It is the firm belief in Egypt that when a mother has a boy her qarin (masculine) has also married a qarina (feminine), who at that time gives birth to a girl. This demon-child and its mother are jealous of the human mother and her child. To pacify the

qarina they sacrifice a chicken, which must be absolutely black and sacrificed with the proper ceremonies. It is impossible to see the qarina except in one way. Following a Jewish superstition (Jewish Encyclopedia, art. demonology), a man may see evil spirits by casting the ashes of the foetus of a black cat about his eyes or by sprinkling these ashes around his bed he can trace their footsteps in the morning.

When we remember that only one-third of one per cent. of the women in Egypt are able to read, we can imagine the power that is exercised over them by the lords of this superstition, who sell amulets and prescribe treatment for the expectant mother and her child. Pitiful stories have come to me from those who were eye-witnesses of this swindle which is being carried on in every village of the Delta.

Al-Ghazali himself in his great work, “The Revival of the Religious Sciences," in speaking of the virtue of patience, says: "He who is remiss in remembering the name of God even for the twinkling of an eye, has for that moment no mate but Satan. For God has said, 'And whosoever turns from the reminder (remembrance) of the Merciful One, we will chain to him a devil, who shall be his mate (garina).'

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We may perhaps appropriately close this chapter with what one of the learned men relates regarding the victory of the believer over his demon and its powers. It may lead us to a new conception of that petition in the Lord's Prayer which we offer also for our Moslem brothers and sisters: "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the Evil One." Verily, the devil is to you a foe, so take him as a foe.' This is an order for us from Him- may He be praised! — that we may take him as a foe. He was asked, 'How are we to take him as a foe and to be delivered from him?' and he replied, 'Know, that God has created for every believer seven forts the first fort is of gold and is the knowledge of God; round it is a fort of silver, and it is the faith in Him; round