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The Mohammedan churches or mosques were merely large stone halls without benches or pictures, where the faithful could gather (if they felt so inclined) to read and discuss chapters from the Koran, the Holy Book. But the average Mohammedan carried his religion with him and never felt himself hemmed in by the restrictions and regulations of an established church. Five times a day he turned his face towards Mecca, the Holy City, and said a simple prayer. For the rest of the time he let Allah rule the world as he saw fit and accepted whatever fate brought him with patient resignation.
穆斯林的教堂，清真寺，僅僅是巨大的石砌大廳，里面不設桌椅板凳，信徒們可以在此聚集（如果他們自己愿意），閱讀和討論圣書《古蘭經》里的某個章節。不過對一般的穆斯林來說，他們的信仰與生俱來，從不覺得伊斯蘭教的戒條和規矩對他們是一種身心的束縛。每天五次，他們面朝圣城麥加的方向，念誦簡單的禱詞。其余時間里，他們把世界交 給安拉去管理，以極大的耐心和順從，接受命運安排給自己的一切。
Of course such an attitude towards life did not encourage the Faithful to go forth and invent electrical machinery or bother about railroads and steamship lines. But it gave every Mohammedan a certain amount of contentment. It bade him be at peace with himself and with the world in which he lived and that was a very good thing.
這樣一種對待生活的態度，當然不會鼓勵信徒們去發明電動機、修筑鐵路或開發新的汽船航線。但它確實給予了每個穆斯林相當程度的內心滿足。它使人們心平氣和地對待自身、對待自己棲身的這個世界，這當然是件很好的事情。
The second reason which explains the success of the Moslems in their warfare upon the Christians, had to do with the conduct of those Mohammedan soldiers who went forth to do battle for the true faith. The Prophet promised that those who fell, facing the enemy, would go directly to Heaven. This made sudden death in the field preferable to a long but dreary existence upon this earth. It gave the Mohammedans an enormous advantage over the Crusaders who were in constant dread of a dark hereafter, and who stuck to the good things of this world as long as they possibly could.
穆斯林與基督徒作戰取得勝利的第二個原因在于：走上前線與敵人作戰的穆斯林士兵為的是信仰的實現。先知穆罕默德曾經許諾，凡是勇敢面對敵人，死于戰場的穆斯林，他們可以直接升人天堂。這就使得戰場上的猝然死去，比起在這個可悲的世界上漫長而乏味的苦苦生存，讓人更情愿接受前者。這種信念使穆斯林與十字軍對壘時，占據了極大的心理優勢。十字軍們長期恐懼于黑暗的地獄，因此寧愿盡可能抓住今生的美好事物，留戀現世的享受。
