[103] This prayer of the Mohammedans corresponds in a way to the Lord's Prayer of Christian peoples. It is recited several times in each of the five daily prayers, and on numerous other occasions. [104] The petition is for guidance in the "right way" of the Mohammedan, marked out in the Koran. By those with whom God is "wroth," and by the "erring," is meant primarily the Jews. Mohammed regarded the Jews and Christians as having corrupted the true religion. [105] "This chapter is held in particular veneration by the Mohammedans and is declared, by a tradition of their prophet, to be equal in value to a third part of the whole Koran."--Sale, quoted in Lane, _Selections from the Kur-an_, p. 5. [106] This passage, known as the "throne verse," is regarded by Mohammedans as one of the most precious in the Koran and is often recited at the end of the five daily prayers. It is sometimes engraved on a precious stone or an ornament of gold and worn as an amulet. [107] These are all to be signs of the day of judgment. [108] The record of his deeds during life on earth. [109] The three classes are: (1) the "preceeders," (2) the people of the right hand, i.e., the good, and (3) the people of the left hand, i.e., the evil. The future state of each of the three is described in the lines that follow. [110] "Either the first converts to Mohammedanism, or the prophets, who were the respective leaders of their people, or any persons who have been eminent examples of piety and virtue, may be here intended. The original words literally rendered are, _The Leaders, The Leaders_: which repetition, as some suppose, was designed to express the dignity of these persons and the certainty of their future glory and happiness."--Sale, quoted in Wherry, _Comprehensive Commentary on the Qur-an_, Vol. IV., pp. 109-110. [111] The luxuries of paradise--the flowing rivers, the fragrant flowers, the delicious fruits--are sharply contrasted with the conditions of desert life most familiar to Mohammed's early converts. Such a description of the land of the blessed must have appealed strongly to the imaginative Arabs. It should be said that in the modern Mohammedan idea of heaven the spiritual element has a rather more prominent place. [112] Lofty beds. [113] The "damsels of paradise." [114] A scrubby bush bearing fruit like almonds, and extremely bitter. It was familiar to Arabs and hence was made to stand as a type of the tree whose fruit the wicked must eat in the lower world. CHAPTER VIII. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CAROLINGIAN DYNASTY OF FRANKISH KINGS 14. Pepin the Short Takes the Title of King (751)