Ramadan

To the Faithful, holiest of months is Ramadan when by command of the prophet no Mussulman may eat from dawn to sunset. Ramadan ended last week, spectacularly in three places.

In Istanbul 20,000 people shuffled into the great Byzantine Mosque of Santa Sophia on Ramadan's "Night of Power" to hear the first reading of the Koran, not in Arabic language of Mohammed, but in vulgar Turkish. The blood of the pious curdled. Many of the gaping crowd flouted tradition by wearing shoes. Photographers added to the sacrilege by setting off flashes. Although the Koran was for the first time intelligible to laymen, most of the crowd seemed under the impression that they were seeing a theatrical spectacle.

In Muscat, important British port at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, His Highness Seyyid Sir Taimur ben Feisal celebrated the end of Ramadan by wiping his brow, praising Allah, announcing his decision to abdicate. The Sultan of Muscat differs from most rulers in his feelings for the land of his birth. He hates the place. Muscat is the world's hottest city, with an average annual rainfall of only 3 1/2 inches, frequent temperatures of 189 degrees in the sun. The Sultan spends most of his time in India, which he finds like Bar Harbor by comparison, but he spends Ramadan with his people. Short time ago he swore that this would be his last, abdicated in favor of his son who is now old enough to roast through Ramadan in his place.

In Kashmir at the foot of the Himalayas, the Moslem population celebrated the end of Ramadan by staging a joyous Hindu hunt. Seventy-five houses were pillaged and burned. Crowds rioted up and down the bed of the Jhelum River and through the streets of Dharmsi. Fifteen Hindus were killed, eight Moslems.* Moslems are fiercely proud that in the whole world there are 209,020,000 Moslems compared to 206,900,000 Protestants. Moslems agree with Protestants that God created the world in six days, created a garden of paradise and placed therein the man whom God called "Adam." But in India Moslems despise Hindus, despise Hindu beliefs in a Multitude of Gods, and fight with Hindus in and out of season. Every Moslem must worship God five times every day, but by the end of Ramadan with its intensive worship he feels particularly strongly that there is but One God. Wherefore, Britain feels a duty to stay and keep the peace.

* Unrest in Kashmir is practically chronic by reason of the rule of the Hindu Maharajah, Sir Hari Singh, over a population of 3,300,000 which is 95% Moslem. The Maharajah achieved international fame in 1924. as the celebrated "Mr. A" who had been victimized of $750,000 by European blackmailers for consorting with an Englishwoman. Moslems now complain that he shows undue official and political favors to Hindus. By rumor, the Indian Government contemplates vesting control of Kashmir in a council of ministers, equivalent to a regency.

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