The Sulu Archipelago and its people, by Sixto Y. Orosa ...

TIE MOHAMMEDAN SULU

79

The mosque at Joo.

to enter the mosque. This symbolical purification may
have been painstakingly observed in olden times, but
it is now observed very perfunctorily or not at all.
When inside the mosque, the first thing the Moro
does is to raise his hands and invoke God's mercy;
then he places them on his ears and praises God. The
rest of the prayer is said in standing, bowing, and sitting
postures, the hands during most of the time being held
as in supplication and now and then drawn across the
chest. The head and trunk are bowed two or three
times, while the floor is kissed two times or four times,
according to the day on which the service is held. The
sultan or the bishop or a high priest leads the prayer,
reading parts of tle Koran in Arabic.
Preaching by the chief priest closes the ceremony.
Thereafter the crowd rushes to the sultan to kiss his
hands or feet, and next to the priests and hadjis to kiss
their hands and receive their blessings, after which the
hands of each worshipper are drawn across his chest.