Page:Folk-lore of the Holy Land.djvu/226

when he found the cavern stocked with provisions—sufficient to last his family for a whole year. He accepted them as a gift from Allah, and had them conveyed to his own house.”

It is of the utmost consequence to remember that the Jân should always be treated with respect. On entering an empty room, a cellar, cave, or even when sweeping a room which has for some time stood empty, one should never forget to say “Dustûrkum ya mubârakin” (by your permission, blessed ones),^[1] or, for short, “Dustûr” (permission). The same formula should be used whenever one is carrying fire or water, so that the spirits may get out of the way, and not run the risk of a wetting or of getting burnt by accident. The safest way, however, is habitually to invoke the Name and protection of Allah.

English people are often shocked at the frequency with which Easterns use the Name of Allah, regarding it as a breach of the third Commandment; but not realising that they are merely following a practice, which from their infancy they have been accustomed to look upon as belonging to the very essentials of religion, and the object of which is protection from the powers of evil.^[2] The im-