after visiting the seventh Heaven and there entering the very Presence of GOD Himself, began his return to earth by retraversing the sixth Heaven, where he had previously met with Moses. "Then I returned,' said Muhammad, 'and I passed by Moses. He said to me, 'What hast thou been commanded?' I said, 'I have been ordered to offer fifty prayers every day.' He said, 'Verily thy people will not be able to offer fifty prayers each day, and indeed I myself—I swear by GOD!— have tried men before thee, and I endeavoured to cure the Children of Israel by the strongest remedial treatment. Return thou therefore unto thy Lord and ask of Him a lightening of the burden for thy people.' I thereupon returned, then He relieved me of ten prayers. Then I returned to Moses.

Prayer Five  times a Day.

He said, as before. Then I went back and He (GOD) relieved me of ten prayers. Thereupon I went again to Moses, and he said the same thing. Again I returned, and (GOD) relieved me of ten prayers more, and I was commanded to offer ten prayers every day. Then I went back to Moses, and he said as before. I then returned and was bidden to offer¹ five prayers

a day." The same writer¹ adds that the "Prophet" said in conclusion, "Then, when I departed, a crier cried aloud, 'I have completed My injunction and removed a burden from My servants."' Another traditionalist says that each of the five prescribed prayers was accounted as equal in merit to ten, and that thus the number originally enjoined was made up.²

Prayer not Communion with GOD.

It is evident, from the very fact of such a tradition being current among the Muslims, that they regard Prayer as a kind of tribute to be paid to God as His due, and that it is not in any way a means of heartfelt spiritual communion with Him, but rather the homage due from slaves to their Lord.

The worshipper is required to offer his adoration to GOD at certain fixed times, and in doing so

Formalism.

to use definitely prescribed ceremonies and to follow with the utmost precision the appointed ritual. If he blunders in these matters, his prayer is useless, the homage is not acceptable³ to his Lord, and no degree of earnestness and devotion can render it so. The postures which a believer is commanded to adopt in praying may to some