fifteenth is the Guy Fawkes night of Islam.
Large sums of money are spent on fireworks, of which more are let off on
this feast than at any other.

The following prayer occurs in the Fatiha: "O our God, by the merits of the
Apostleship of Muhammad, grant that the lamps which are lit up on this holy
night may be for the dead a pledge of the light eternal, which we pray Thee
to shed on them. O God, admit them, we beseech Thee, unto the abode of
eternal felicity."

5. RAMAZAN AND 'ID-UL-FITR--It is one of the five pillars of the practical
religious duties to fast during the thirty days of the month Ramazan. The
subject of fasting has been fully treated of in the preceding chapter; and
so it is only necessary now to describe the other ceremonies connected with
the religious observance of this month.

From the earliest days of Islam this month has been held in the greatest
esteem by Muslims, for it was in this month that Muhammad used to retire
for meditation, year after year, to the cave of Hira, situated on a low
hill some few miles distant from Mecca. In the second year of the Hijra, or
flight from Mecca, it was ordained that the month of Ramazan should be kept
as a fast. "As to the month {248} Ramazan, in which the Quran was sent down
to be man's guidance, and an explanation of that guidance, and of that
illumination, as soon as any one of you observeth the moon, let him set
about the fast." (Sura ii. 181).

The Muslims had hitherto observed as the principal fast the 'Ashura, the
tenth of Muharram. This fast was probably connected with the Jewish fast on
the tenth day of the seventh month. "Also on the tenth day of this seventh
month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation
unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, &c." (Leviticus xxiii. 27). Now,
when Muhammad first went to Madina he had great hopes of winning over the
Jews to his side; but when he failed he took every opportunity of making
Islam differ as much as possible from Judaism. This was the reason why the
Qibla was changed (Ante. p. 60), and that in the second year of his
residence at Madina the fast of Ramazan was appointed. The reasons assigned
by learned Muslims for the selection of this month, are that in Ramazan God
gave to the previous prophets the revelations connected with their names,
and that in this month the Quran was sent down from the Secret Tablet in
the seventh heaven to the first or lowest, and that on the Laylut-u