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chap, ii FAKIRS OR DERVISHES
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141
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to
those of our huntsmen. When marching, the disciples carry their
standard, lances, and other arms, which they plant in the ground near
their master when he halts to rest anywhere.1
The
third class of Fakirs of the East Indies consists of those who, being
born of poor parents, and wishing to know the Law thoroughly, in order
to become Mullas or doctors, take up their abode in mosques, where they
live on charity bestowed upon them. They occupy their time in reading
the Koran, which they learn by heart, and when they are able to add to
this study some little knowledge of natural things, with the example of
a good life, according to their ideas, they become heads of mosques,
and reach the dignity of Mullas and judges of the Law.2
Fakirs of this class marry wives, and some of them through piety and
their great desire to imitate Muhammad, take three or four of them,
believing that they render to God signal service, by becoming fathers
of many children who will follow the Law of their Prophet.
CHAPTER III
Of the Religion of the Gentiles or Idolaters of India.
The idolaters of India are so numerous that for one Musal-män there are five or six Gentiles.3
It is astonishing to see how this enormous multitude of men has allowed
itself to be subjected by so small a number, and has readily submitted
to the yoke of the Musalmän Princes. But astonishment ceases when one
remembers that the idolaters have no union among themselves, and that
superstition has introduced
1 Ja'far Sharif gives a full account of the organization of these bands (ibid., 169 ff.). P. della Valle describes them as begging and sounding a trumpet (i. 94).
1 For a good account of the qualifications and duties of the Mulla and other Muslim officials see Bombay Gazetteer, ix, part. 2, 132 ff, A man who knows the Koran by heart is called Hâfiz. Mosque schools, as described in the text, still exist.
3
At the Census of 1911 Hindus numbered 217 millions and Musal-mäns 66
millions, the proportions to the total population being respectively
69 and 21 per cent.
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