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The Religious Life of Islam 37
taken before dawn and after sunset is not
appetizing, for it is always composed of
stale food.
I have never known any religious
man
or woman who regarded the fast as a hard-
" It is little we can do to serve
ship.
God," said one woman. Little children
plead to be allowed to fast. Boys and
girls
become utterly exhausted, parched
and fainting,
in homes where religious
observances are faithfully kept.
4. ALMSGIVING.
" Forget not liberality among you, for God seeth that Zakat
'which ye do."
" The Lord is
surely in a watch-tower, 'whence he
observeth the actions of men. Moreover man, when his
Lord trieth him by prosperity, and honoureth him, and is
bounteous to him, saith :
My Lord honoureth me ; but
when he proveth him by afflictions,
and withholdeth His
provisions from him, he saith : My Lord despiseth me.
By no means; but ye honour not the orphan, neither do ye
excite one another to feed the poor ; and ye devour the
inheritance of the weak, 'with undistinguishing greediness ;
ana 1 ye love riches with much affection.
. . .