ame of God the Merciful, the Compassionate;
Praise be to God who the two worlds made;
Thee do we entreat and Thee do we supplicate;
Lead us in the way the straight,
The way of those whom Thou dost compassionate,
Not of those on whom is hate
Nor those that deviate. Amen."

It is the first chapter of the Koran and is used by Moslems as we use the
Lord's Prayer. The words are very beautiful I think, don't you?

Whether Noorah understood what she asked I know not; but to me who saw and
heard in the desert twilight, (as under like conditions to you), the
prayer was full of pathos. The desert! where God is, and where but for His
mercy and compassion death and solitude would reign alone; the desert, a
world of its own kind, a sea of sand, with no life in it except the Living
One, and over it only His canopy of stars--God of the two worlds! And to
that God, than whom there is no other, and whom they ignorantly worship,
these sons and daughters of outcast Ishmael bow their faces in the dust
and five times daily entreat and supplicate to be led aright in the way of
truth.

They ask to be directed into the _straight_ way, but oh how crooked is the
way of God which Mohammed taught in his book! Sadder still, what a crooked
way it is that the Moslems walk! Impure words, lying lips, hands that
steal and feet that run after cruelty--these are what children in Arabia
possess. But I dare say that some of them are really sorry for their sins
and when they pray like Noorah in the desert they want to have peace and
pardon. Are they looking unconsciously perhaps for the footprints in the
desert of One who said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life"?

Alas, Noorah and her many sisters (your sisters, too) have never seen His
beauty nor heard of His love! They do not know that the "way of those whom
Thou dost compassionate" is the new and living way through Christ's cross
and death. They are ignorant of the awful word, "He that believeth not on
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." Has God
the Merciful then not heard Noorah's prayer? Will He not answer it? Is His
mercy to these children of Abraham clean gone forever? How long they have
waited and how many of the desert children are now sleeping in little
desert graves! Do you not think God wants _you_ to carry the gospel to
them and send them teachers to learn the way of Jesus?

Think of Noorah's question, "_You_, why don't you pray?" Th