ossible difficulties. At the same time, it has been of great
importance to the whole spiritual life of Islam down to the present
day, because it reflects Muhammedan ideals of life and of man's place
in the world. Even to-day it remains the daily bread of the soul that
desires instruction, to quote the words of the greatest father of the
Muhammedan church. It will thus be immediately obvious to what a vast
extent Christian theory of the seventh and eighth centuries still
remains operative upon Muhammedan thought throughout the world.

Considerable parts of the doctrine of duties are concerned with the
forms of Muhammedan worship. It is becoming ever clearer that only
slight tendencies to a form of worship were apparent under Muhammed.
The mosque, the building erected for the special purpose of divine
service, was unknown during the prophet's lifetime; nor was there any
definite church organisation, of which the most important parts are
the common ritual and the preaching. Tendencies existed but no system,
was to be found: there was no clerical class to take an interest in
the development of an order of divine service. The Caliphs prayed
before the faithful in the capital, as did the governors in the
provinces. The military commanders also led a simple service in their
own stations.

It was contact with foreign influence which first provided the impulse
to a systematic form of worship. Both Christians and Jews possessed
such forms. Their example was followed and a ritual was evolved, at
first of the very simplest kind. No detailed organisation, however,
was attempted, until Christian influence led to the formation of the
class which naturally took an interest in the matter, the professional
theologians. These soon replaced the military service leaders. This
change denoted the final stage in the development of ritual. The
object of the theologians was to subject the various occupations of
life to ritual as well as to religion. The mediatorial or sacramental
theories of the priestly office were unknown to Islam, but ritual
customs of similar character were gradually evolved, and are
especially pronounced in the ceremonies of marriage and burial.

More important, however, was the development of the official service,
the arrangement of the day and the hour of obligatory attendance and
the introduction of preaching: under Muhammed and his early followers,
and until late in the Omajjad period, preaching was confined to
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