The Dabistan

" sign of infidelity, because as no figure of whatever
u likeness from among living .beings ought to be
" made a Kiblah, why should it be permitted to
44 make a Kiblah of a house ? Further, at the time
4< of prayer, one may turn his- face to whatever side
" he chooses, provided it be with this intention:
'c I address myself to thee, who hath neither side nor
cc figure/' At the three daily prayers which. Musay-
lirna has prescribed, the worshipper turns his face to
no particular side; so if he turned himself at midday-
prayer to the east, before sunset he prays towards
the west; never towards a fixed place, nor to a fixed
house, because this is infidelity. These sectaries
do not call the Kabah c< the house of God," as the
Almighty God has no house, otherwise he would
have a body. They do not use the prayers of the
Sunnites, as prayer with them is that which God
has prescribed, and not that which the prophet
likes. When they feel a desire to worship God,
they read the divine words, and then reassume their
work; but in their prayer,, they never pronounce
the name of the prophet; because it is contrary to
sound doctrine to mix the veneration of a creature
with the service of God, and in the prayer nothing
comes upon their tongue but the word of God, not
even the sayings of the prophet. Moreover, this
sect prays three times a day; for, of the five pray-
ers ordered by Muhammed, Musaylima, by God's com-