The word Barat signifies a book or record. It is said that God on this night registers in the Barat all the actions men are to perform during the ensuing year. On the thirteenth day food is prepared for the poor and a Fatiha for the benefit of deceased ancestors and relatives is said over it. When all in the house are assembled, the Surat-ul-Fatiha is read once, the Surat-ul-Iklas (112) three times, the Ayat-ul-Kursi once, and then the Darud. After this a prayer is offered, in which God is asked to transfer the reward of this Service, and of the charity shown in the gift of food to the poor, to the souls of deceased relatives and friends of this family. This petition is offered in the name of the Prophet. The men then go to the Mosque and after the Namaz-i-'Isha they repeat a number of nafl rak'ats. This over, the Surat-ul-Ya Sin is read three times. It must be done with the niyyat, intention. The first time, the intention is that the worshipper may have a long life; the second time, that his means of subsistence may be increased; the third time, that he may be protected from evil. {247} The Sura-i-Dukhan (144) is then read with the same intentions. Any other portions may then be read. After this those present rise, and go to the various cemeteries. On the way they purchase flowers which are afterwards strewn on the graves. A Fatiha is then said. If the worshipper has no relatives or friends buried there, prayer is offered for the benefit of the Arwah-i-Qubur, the souls of those there buried. The very pious spend the whole night in going from one cemetery to another. These observances are neither farz, nor sunnat, but nawafil, (sing. nafl), works of supererogation. Still though they are bid'at, yet they are esteemed good and so are called bid'at-i-Hasana, or "excellent innovation." The general merry-making of the fourteenth day has no religious signification. The night of the fifteenth is the Guy Fawkes night of Islam. Large sums of money are spent on fireworks, of which more are let off on this feast than at any other. The following prayer occurs in the Fatiha: "O our God, by the merits of the Apostleship of Muhammad, grant that the lamps which are lit up on this holy night may be for the dead a pledge of the light eternal, which we pray Thee to shed on them. O God, admit them, we beseech Thee, unto the abode of eternal felicity." 5. RAMAZAN AND 'ID-UL-FITR--It is one of the five pillars of the practical religious duties to fast during the thirty days of the month Ramazan. The subject of fasting has been fully treated of in the preceding chapter; and so it is only necessary now to describe the other ceremonies connected with the religious observance of this month.