The following account of a rak'at will make the matter plain. When the
Faithful are assembled in the mosque, the Imam, or leader, being in front
facing the Qibla, the service commences thus:--Each worshipper stands and
says the Niyyat (literally "intention"), a form of words declaring his
intention to say his prayers. He then says: "God is great." After this,
looking downwards, he says: "Holiness to Thee, O God! and praise be to
Thee, Great is Thy name, Great is Thy greatness, there is no deity but
Thee." Then follows: "I seek from God refuge from cursed Satan." Then the
Tasmiyah is repeated: "In the name of God, the Compassionate and Merciful."
Then follows the Fatiha, that is, the short chapter at the commencement of
the Quran. After this has been recited, the Imam proceeds, on the first
night of the month Ramazan, with the first verse of the second chapter.[56]
After saying a few verses, he makes a ruku'; that is, he bends his head and
body down, and places his hands on his knees. In this position he says:
"God is great." Then he repeats three times the words: "I extol the
holiness of my Lord, the Great." He then stands up and says: "God hears him
who praises Him." To this the people respond: "O Lord, thou art praised."
Again, falling on his knees, the worshipper says: "God is great." Then he
puts first his nose, and then his forehead on the {58} ground and says
three times: "I extol the holiness of my Lord, the Most High." Then sitting
on his heels, he says: "God is great;" and again repeats as before: "I
extol, etc." He then rises and says: "God is great." This is one rak'at. On
each night in the month of Ramazan this is gone through twenty times, the
only variation being that after the Fatiha and before the first
prostration, fresh verses of the Quran are introduced. The whole is, of
course, done in Arabic, in whatever country the worshippers may be. The
name of the prostration (ruku') has been transferred to the portion of the
Quran recited just before it is made. There are altogether 557 Rukuat.

(7). The other divisions are not important. They are, a _Sumn_, _Ruba'_,
_Nisf_, _Suls_, that is one-eighth, one-fourth, one-half, one-third of a
Sipara respectively.

In reciting the Quran the worshipper must be careful to say the "Takbir,"
_i.e._ "God is great," after the several appointed places. Such a place is
after the recital of the 93rd Sura. The custom arose in this way. The
hypocrites came to the Prophet and a