great as the honour of kingship, and the two offices, the office of the spiritual leader and that of the temporal leader, were combined in one person for a long time. As the ruler himself was the Imām at the centre, so were his governors the Imāms in the different provincial headquarters. The priest and the present-day mulla had no place in early Islām. Nor does the Imām, like the mosque, stand in need of consecration, because everyone is consecrated by entering into the fold of Islām. Anyone can lead the prayers in the absence of the Imām, and anyone may act as Imām when several people are gathered together. The present practice of having paid Imāms, whose only duty is to lead the prayers, is to a very large extent responsible for the degeneration of the Muslims. These people have generally no sense of the dignity of Islām and its institutions, nor have they the light, learning and general experience which should entitle them to claim to lead the Muslims spiritually. A woman is also spoken of as acting as an Imām, while men followed her, though it was in her own house (AD. 2:60).

SEC. 3 — PURIFICATION

Outward purification as a prelude to prayer

Prayer, according to the Holy Qur’ān and Ḥadīth, is the means for the purification of the soul, and of the body and the garments a man wears, which is declared to be necessary as a preparation for prayer. By a consensus of opinion, the 74th chapter of the Holy Qur’ān is the second revelation which the Holy Prophet received after the first five verses of the 96th chapter, and the first five verses of the former may here be quoted to show the importance of outward cleanliness in the religion of Islām: “O thou who wrappest thyself up, Arise and warn, and thy Lord do magnify, and thy garments do purify, and uncleanness do shun” (74:1-5). Thus warning the people, magnifying the Lord which is done through prayer, and purifying the garments and the body, are laid down here as three fundamental duties. The two ideas, the purification of the body and of the soul, are very often mentioned together in the Holy Qur’ān. To quote one more example: “Surely Allāh loves those who turn much to Him, and He loves those who purify themselves” (2:222). Ḥadīth also lays special stress on