3-052-501 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Afghans at their Namaz - a sketch by our special artist, 1880. 'This Sketch of a scene in the social life of the people of Afghanistan is one of those furnished by Mr. W. Simpson, late our Special Artist in that country. "Namaz" is a Persian word meaning "Prayer," and is used by the Mohammedans of Afghanistan as the term for their daily devotions. In most villages there is a musjid or mosque, a small place built of mud, and void of architectual pretensions; but the Mussulman does not require a house of prayer. Wherever he is, if he can get water to wash his mouth and hands - or he can do without these if they are not to be had - he takes off his shoes, and turning to Mecca, "Kiblah ke tarif," that is looking towards the Kiblah, he can perform his "Namaz." The ritual of El Islam is in Arabic, so that...the words are the same in every country. A similar rule holds with the genuflexions; an Algerine, an Arab, a Turk, a Persian, or an Afghan all bend, stand, kneel, and touch the ground with their foreheads...Nearly all Mohammedans are regular in the performance of their daily prayers, and those who are strict recite them five times a day - that is, before sunrise, at noon, before sunset, after sunset, and, lastly, after it has become night'. From "Illustrated London News", 1880.