Part II
Lane’s Modern Egyptians] [Page 152
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Sometimes, before bridal processions of this kind, two swordsmen, clad in nothing but their drawers, engage each other in a mock combat; or two peasants cudgel each other with nebboots, or long staves. In the procession of a bride of a wealthy family, any person who has the art of performing some extraordinary feat to amuse the spectators is almost sure of being a welcome assistant, and of receiving a handsome present.[290] When the seyyid ’Omar, the Nakeeb el-Ashráf (or chief of the descendants of the Prophet), who was the main instrument of advancing Mohammad ’Alee to the dignity of Básha of Egypt, married a daughter, about twenty-seven years since, there walked before the procession a young man who had made an incision in his abdomen, and drawn out a large portion of his intestines, which he carried before him on a silver tray. After the procession he restored them to their proper place, and remained in bed many days before he recovered from the effects of this foolish and disgusting act. Another man, on the same occasion, ran a sword through his arm, before the crowding spectators, and then bound over the wound, without withdrawing the sword, several handkerchiefs, which were soaked with the blood. These facts were described to me by an eye-witness. A spectacle of a more singular and more disgusting nature used to be not uncommon on similar occasions, but is now very seldom witnessed.[291] Sometimes, also, “háwees” (or conjurors and sleight-of-hand performers) exhibit a variety of tricks on these occasions. But the most common of all the performances here mentioned are the mock fights. Similar exhibitions are also sometimes witnessed on the occasion of a circumcision.[292]
The bride and her party, having arrived at the bridegroom’s house, sit down to a repast. Her friends, shortly after, take their departure, leaving with her only her mother and sister, or other near female relations, and one or two other women, usually the belláneh. The ensuing night is called “Leylet ed-Dukhleh,” or “the Night of the Entrance.”
The bridegroom sits below. Before sunset, he goes to the bath, and there changes his clothes; or he merely does the latter at home, and, after having supped with a party of his friends, waits till a little before the “’eshë” (or time of the night-prayer), or until the third or fourth hour of the night, when, according to general custom, he should repair to some celebrated mosque, such as that of the Hasaneyn, and there say his prayers. If young, he is generally honoured with a zeffeh on this occasion: he goes to the mosque preceded by musicians with drums and one or more hautboys, and accompanied by a number of friends, and by several men bearing “mesh’als.” The mesh’al is a staff with a cylindrical frame of iron at the top filled with flaming wood, or having two, three, four, or five of these receptacles for fire. The party usually proceeds to the mosque with a quick pace, and without much order. A second group of musicians, with the same instruments, or with drums only, closes the procession. The bridegroom is generally dressed in a kuftán with red stripes, and a red gibbeh, with a Kashmeer shawl of the same colour for his turban; and walks between two friends similarly dressed. The prayers are commonly performed merely as a matter of ceremony; and it is frequently the case that the bridegroom does not pray at all, or prays without having previously performed the wudoó, like memlooks who say their prayers only because they fear their master.[293] The procession returns from the mosque with more order and display, and very slowly; perhaps because it would be considered unbecoming in the bridegroom to hasten home to take possession of his bride. It is headed, as before, by musicians, and two or more bearers of mesh’als. These are generally followed by two men, bearing, by means of a pole resting horizontally upon their shoulders, a hanging frame, to which are attached about sixty or more small lamps, in four circles, one above another, the uppermost of which circles is made to revolve, being turned round occasionally by one of the two bearers. These numerous lamps, and several mesh’als beside those before mentioned, brilliantly illumine the streets through which the procession passes, and produce a remarkably picturesque effect. The bridegroom and his friends and other attendants follow, advancing in the form of an oblong ring, all facing the interior of the ring, and each bearing in his hand one or more wax candles, and sometimes a sprig of henna or some other flower, excepting the bridegroom and the friend on either side of him. These three form the latter part of the ring, which generally consists of twenty or more persons. At frequent intervals the party stops for a few minutes; and during each of these pauses, a boy or man, one of the persons who compose the ring, sings a few words of an epithalamium. The sounds of the drums, and the shrill notes of the hautboy (which the bride hears half an hour or more before the procession arrives at the house), cease during these songs. The train is closed, as in the former case, by a second group of musicians.
In the manner above described, the bridegroom’s zeffeh is most commonly conducted; but there is another mode, that is more respectable, called “zeffeh sádátee,” which signifies “the gentlemen’s zeffeh.” In this, the bridegroom is accompanied by his friends in the same manner as before related, and attended and preceded by men bearing mesh’als, but not by musicians: in the place of these are about six or eight men, who, from their being employed as singers on occasions of this kind, are called “wilád el-läyálee,” or “sons of the nights.” Thus attended, he goes to the mosque; and while he returns slowly thence to his house, the singers above mentioned chant, or rather sing, “muweshshahs” (or lyric odes) in praise of the Prophet. Having returned to the house, these same persons chant portions of the Kur-án, one after another, for the amusement of the guests; then, all together, recite the opening chapter (the Fát’hah); after which one of them sings a “kaseedeh” (or short poem) in praise of the Prophet: lastly, all of them again sing muweshshahs. After having thus performed, they receive “nukoot” (or contributions of money) from the bridegroom and his friends.
Soon after his return from the mosque, the bridegroom leaves his friends in a lower apartment, enjoying their pipes and coffee and sherbet. The bride’s mother and sister, or whatever other female relations were left with her, are above; and the bride herself, and the belláneh, in a separate apartment.[294] If the bridegroom be a youth or young man, it is considered proper that he, as well as the bride, should exhibit some degree of bashfulness: one of his friends, therefore, carries him a part of the way up to the hareem. On entering the bride’s apartment, he gives a present to the belláneh, and she retires. The bride has a shawl thrown over her head; and the bridegroom must give her a present of money, which is called “the price of the uncovering of the face,” before he attempts to remove this, which she does not allow him to do without some apparent reluctance, if not violent resistance, in order to show her maiden modesty. On removing the covering, he says, “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful;” and then greets her with this compliment: “The night be blessed,” or “—is blessed:” to which she replies, if timidity do not choke her utterance, “God bless thee.” The bridegroom now sees the face of his bride for the first time, and generally finds her nearly what he has been led to expect. He remains with her but a few minutes longer:[295] having satisfied his curiosity respecting her personal charms, he calls to the women (who generally collect at the door, where they wait in anxious suspense) to raise their cries of joy, or zagháreet: and the shrill sounds acquaint the persons below and in the neighbourhood, and often, responded by other women, spread still further the news, that he has acknowledged himself satisfied with his bride: he soon afterwards descends to rejoin his friends, and remains with them an hour, or more, before he returns to his wife. It very seldom happens that the husband, if disappointed in his bride, immediately disgraces and divorces her; in general, he retains her, in this case, a week or more.
Having now described the most usual manner in which the marriages of virgin-brides are conducted in Cairo, I may add a few words on some of the ceremonies observed in other cases of matrimony, both of virgins and of widows or divorced women.
The daughters of the great, generally having baths in their own houses, seldom go to the public bath previously to marriage. A bride of a wealthy family, and her female relations and friends, if there be not a bath in her house, go to the public bath, which is hired for them exclusively, and to the bridegroom’s house, without music or canopy, mounted on asses: the bride herself generally wearing a Kashmeer shawl, in the manner of a habarah.
If the bridegroom or the bride’s family have eunuchs, these ride before the bride; and sometimes a man runs at the head of the procession, crying, “Bless ye the Prophet!” This man, on entering the house, throws down upon the threshold some leaves of the white beet (“salk”), over which the ladies ride. The object of this act is to propitiate fortune. The same man then exclaims, “Assistance from God, and a speedy victory!”[296]
Marriages, among the Egyptians, are sometimes conducted without any pomp or ceremony, even in the case of virgins, by mutual consent of the bridegroom and the bride’s family, or the bride herself; and widows and divorced women are never honoured with a zeffeh on marrying again. The mere sentence, “I give myself up to thee,” uttered by a female to a man who proposes to become her husband (even without the presence of witnesses, if none can easily be procured), renders her his legal wife, if arrived at puberty; and marriages with widows and divorced women, among the Muslims of Egypt, and other Arabs, are sometimes concluded in this simple manner. The dowry of such women is generally one quarter or third or half the amount of that of a virgin.
In Cairo, among persons not of the lowest order, though in very humble life, the marriage ceremonies are conducted in the same manner as among the middle orders. But when the expenses of such zeffehs as I have described cannot by any means be paid, the bride is paraded in a very simple manner, covered with a shawl (generally red), and surrounded by a group of her female relations and friends, dressed in their best, or in borrowed, clothes, and enlivened by no other sounds of joy than their zagháreet, which they repeat at frequent intervals.
The general mode of zeffeh among the inhabitants of the villages is different from those above described. The bride, usually covered with a shawl, is seated on a camel, and so conveyed to the bridegroom’s dwelling. Sometimes four or five women or girls sit with her on the same camel, one on either side of her, and two or three others behind: the seat being made very wide, and usually covered with carpets or other drapery. She is followed by a group of women singing. In the evening of the wedding, and often during several previous evenings, in a village, the male and female friends of the two parties meet at the bridegroom’s house, and pass several hours of the night in the open air, amusing themselves with songs and a rude kind of dance, accompanied by the sounds of a tambourine or some kind of drum: both sexes sing; but only the women dance.—I have introduced here these few words on the marriage-ceremonies of the peasantry to avoid scattering notes on subjects of the same nature. I now revert to the customs of the people of Cairo.
On the morning after the marriage, “khäwals”[297] or “gházeeyehs” (dancing men or girls) perform in the street before the bridegroom’s house, or in the court.[298] On the same morning also, if the bridegroom be a young man, the person who carried him upstairs generally takes him and several friends to an entertainment in the country, where they spend the whole day. This ceremony is called “el-huroobeh,” or the flight. Sometimes the bridegroom himself makes the arrangements for it, and pays part of the expenses, if they exceed the amount of the contributions of his friends; for they give nukoot on this occasion. Musicians and dancing girls are often hired to attend the entertainment. If the bridegroom be a person of the lower orders, he is conducted back in procession, preceded by three or four musicians with drums and hautboys; his friends and other attendants carrying each a nosegay, as in the zeffeh of the preceding night; and if their return be after sunset, they are accompanied by men bearing mesh’als, lamps, etc.; and the friends of the bridegroom carry lighted wax candles, besides the nosegays.[299] Subsequent festivities occasioned by marriage will be described in a later chapter.
The husband, if he can conveniently so arrange, generally prefers that his mother should reside with him and his wife; that she may protect his wife’s honour, and consequently his own also. It is said that the mother-in-law is, for this reason, called “hamah.”[300] The women of Egypt are said to be generally prone to criminal intrigues; and I fear that, in this respect, they are not unjustly accused. Sometimes a husband keeps his wife in the house of her mother, and pays the daily expenses of both. This ought to make the mother very careful with regard to expenditure, and strict as to her daughter’s conduct, lest the latter should be divorced; but it is said that, in this case, she often acts as her daughter’s procuress, and teaches her innumerable tricks, by which to gain the upper hand over her husband, and to drain his purse. The influence of the wife’s mother is also scarcely less feared when she only enjoys occasional opportunities of seeing her daughter: hence it is held more prudent for a man to marry a female who has neither mother nor any near relations of her own sex; and some wives are even prohibited receiving any female friends but those who are relations of the husband: they are very few, however, upon whom such severe restrictions are imposed.
For a person who has become familiar with male Muslim society in Cairo, without marrying, it is not so difficult as might be imagined by a stranger to obtain, directly and indirectly, correct and ample information respecting the condition and habits of the women. Many husbands of the middle classes, and some of the higher orders, freely talk of the affairs of the hareem with one who professes to agree with them in their general moral sentiments, if they have not to converse through the medium of an interpreter.
Though the women have a particular portion of the house allotted to them, the wives, in general, are not to be regarded as prisoners; for they are usually at liberty to go out and pay visits, as well as to receive female visitors, almost as often as they please. The slaves, indeed, being subservient to the wives, as well as to their master, or, if subject to the master only, being under an authority almost unlimited, have not that liberty. One of the chief objects of the master in appropriating a distinct suite of apartments to his women, is to prevent their being seen by the male domestics and other men without being covered in the manner prescribed by their religion. The following words of the Kur-án show the necessity under which a Muslim’eh is placed of concealing whatever is attractive in her person or attire from all men, excepting certain relations and some other persons. “And speak unto the believing women, that they restrain their eyes, and preserve their modesty, and discover not their ornaments, except what [necessarily] appeareth thereof: and let them throw their veils over their bosoms, and not show their ornaments, unless to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husbands’ fathers, or their sons, or their husbands’ sons, or their brothers, or their brothers’ sons, or their sisters’ sons, or their women, or those [captives] which their right hands shall possess, or unto such men as attend [them] and have no need [of women], or unto children:” “and let them not make a noise with their feet, that their ornaments which they hide may [thereby] be discovered.”[301] The last passage alludes to the practice of knocking together the anklets which the Arab women in the time of the Prophet used to wear, and which are still worn by many women in Egypt.
I must here transcribe two notes of eminent commentators on the Kur-án, in illustration of the above extract, and inserted in Sale’s translation. This I do, because they would convey an erroneous idea of modern customs with regard to the admission, or non-admission, of certain persons into the hareem. The first is on the above words, “or their women,” which it thus explains:—“That is, such as are of the Mohammadan religion: it being reckoned by some unlawful, or, at least, indecent, for a woman who is a true believer to uncover herself before one who is an infidel; because the latter will hardly refrain from describing her to the men: but others suppose all women in general are here accepted; for, in this particular, doctors differ.” In Egypt, and, I believe, in every other Muslim country, it is not now considered improper for any woman, whether independent, or a servant, or a slave, a Christian, a Jewess, a Muslim’eh, or a pagan, to enter a Muslim’s hareem.—The second of the notes above alluded to is on the words “or those captives,” and is as follows:—“Slaves of either sex are included in this exception, and, as some think, domestic servants who are not slaves, as those of a different nation. It is related that Mohammad once made a present of a man-slave to his daughter Fátimeh; and when he brought him to her, she had on a garment which was so scanty, that she was obliged to leave either her head or her feet uncovered: and that the Prophet, seeing her in great confusion on that account, told her she need be under no concern, for that there was none present but her father and her slave.” Among the Arabs of the Desert, this may still be the case; but in Egypt I have never heard of an instance of an adult male slave being allowed to see the hareem of a respectable man, whether he belonged to that hareem or not, and am assured that it is never permitted. Perhaps the reason why the man-slave of a woman is allowed this privilege by the Kur-án is, because she cannot become his lawful wife as long as he continues her slave: but this is a poor reason for granting him access to the hareem, in such a state of society. It is remarkable that, in the verse of the Kur-án above quoted, uncles are not mentioned as privileged to see their nieces unveiled: some think that they are not admissible, and for this reason, lest they should describe the persons of their nieces to their sons; for it is regarded as highly improper for a man to describe the features or person of a female (as to say, that she has large eyes, a straight nose, small mouth, etc.) to one of his own sex, by whom it is unlawful for her to be seen, though it is not considered indecorous to describe her in general terms, as, for instance, to say, “She is a sweet girl, and set off with kohl and henna.”
It may be mentioned here, as a general rule, that a man is allowed to see unveiled only his own wives and female slaves, and those females whom he is prohibited by law from marrying, on account of their being within certain degrees of consanguinity or family connexion, or having given him suck, or being nearly related to his foster-mother.[302] The high antiquity of the veil has been alluded to in the first chapter of this work. It has also been mentioned that it is considered more necessary, in Egypt, for a woman to cover the upper and back part of her head than her face; and more requisite for her to conceal her face than most other parts of her person. For instance, a female who cannot be persuaded to unveil her face in the presence of men, will think it but little shame to display the whole of her bosom, or the greater part of her leg. There are, it is true, many women among the lower classes in this country who constantly appear in public with unveiled face; but they are almost constrained to do so by the want of a burko’ (or face-veil), and the difficulty of adjusting the tarhah (or head-veil), of which scarcely any woman is destitute, so as to supply the place of the former; particularly when both their hands are occupied in holding some burden which they are carrying upon the head. When a respectable woman is, by any chance, seen with her head or face uncovered by a man who is not entitled to enjoy that privilege, she quickly assumes or adjusts her tarhah, and often exclaims, “O my misfortune!” or “O my sorrow!” Motives of coquetry, however, frequently induce an Egyptian woman to expose her face before a man when she thinks that she may appear to do so unintentionally, or that she may be supposed not to see him. A man may also occasionally enjoy opportunities of seeing the face of an Egyptian lady when she really thinks herself unobserved; sometimes at an open lattice, and sometimes on a house-top. Many small houses in Cairo have no apartment on the ground-floor for the reception of male visitors, who therefore ascend to an upper room; but as they go upstairs they exclaim several times, “Destoor!” (“Permission!”), or “Yá Sátir!” (“O Protector!” that is, “O protecting God!”), or use some similar ejaculation, in order to warn any woman who may happen to be in the way, to retire, or to veil herself; which she does by drawing a part of her tarhah before her face, so as to leave, at most, only one eye visible. To such an absurd pitch do the Muslims carry their feeling of the sacredness of women, that entrance into the tombs of some females is denied to men; as, for instance, the tombs of the Prophet’s wives and other females of his family, in the burial-ground of El-Medeeneh; into which women are freely admitted; and a man and woman they never bury in the same vault, unless a wall separate the bodies. Yet there are among the Egyptians a few persons who are much less particular in this respect: such is one of my Muslim friends here, who generally allows me to see his mother when I call upon him. She is a widow, of about fifty years of age; but, being very fat, and not looking so old, she calls herself forty. She usually comes to the door of the apartment of the hareem, in which I am received (there being no lower apartment in the house for male visitors), and sits there upon the floor, but will never enter the room. Occasionally, and as if by accident, she shows me the whole of her face, with plenty of kohl round her eyes; and does not attempt to conceal her diamonds, emeralds, and other ornaments, but rather the reverse. The wife, however, I am never permitted to see, though once I was allowed to talk to her, in the presence of her husband, round the corner of a passage at the top of the stairs.
I believe that in Egypt the women are generally under less restraint than in any other country of the Turkish empire; so that it is not uncommon to see females of the lower orders flirting and jesting with men in public, and men laying their hands upon them very freely. Still it might be imagined that the women of the higher and middle classes feel themselves severely oppressed, and are much discontented with the state of seclusion to which they are subjected; but this is not commonly the case. On the contrary, an Egyptian wife who is attached to her husband is apt to think, if he allows her unusual liberty, that he neglects her, and does not sufficiently love her; and to envy those wives who are kept and watched with greater strictness.
It is not very common for an Egyptian to have more than one wife, or a concubine-slave, though the law allows him four wives (as I have before stated), and, according to common opinion, as many concubine-slaves as he may choose. But though a man restrict himself to a single wife, he may change as often as he desires; and there are certainly not many persons in Cairo who have not divorced one wife, if they have been long married. The husband may, whenever he pleases, say to his wife, “Thou art divorced;” if it be his wish, whether reasonable or not, she must return to her parents or friends. This liability to an unmerited divorcement is the source of more uneasiness to many wives than all the other troubles to which they are exposed; as they may thereby be reduced to a state of great destitution; but to others, who hope to better their condition, it is, of course, exactly the reverse. I have mentioned, in a former chapter, that a man may divorce his wife twice, and each time receive her again without any ceremony; but that he cannot legally take her again after a third divorce until she has been married and divorced by another man. The consequences of a triple divorce conveyed in one sentence are the same, unless the man and his wife agree to infringe the law, or the former deny his having pronounced the sentence; in which latter case the woman may have much difficulty to enforce his compliance with the law, if she be inclined to do so.
In illustration of this subject, I may mention a case in which an acquaintance of mine was concerned as a witness of the sentence of divorce. He was sitting in a coffee-shop with two other men, one of whom had just been irritated by something that his wife had said or done. After a short conversation upon this affair, the angry husband sent for his wife, and as soon as she came, said to her, “Thou art trebly divorced;” then addressing his two companions, he added, “You, my brothers, are witnesses.” Shortly after, however, he repented of this act, and wished to take back his divorced wife; but she refused to return to him, and appealed to the “Shara Allah” (or Law of God). The case was tried at the Mahkem′eh. The woman, who was the plaintiff, stated that the defendant was her husband; that he had pronounced against her the sentence of a triple divorce; and that he now wished her to return to him, and live with him as his wife, contrary to the law, and consequently in a state of sin. The defendant denied that he had divorced her. “Have you witnesses?” said the judge to the plaintiff. She answered, “I have here two witnesses.” These were the men who were present in the coffee-shop when the sentence of divorce was pronounced. They were desired to give their evidence, and they stated that the defendant divorced his wife by a triple sentence, in their presence. The defendant averred that she whom he had divorced in the coffee-shop was another wife of his. The plaintiff declared that he had no other wife: but the judge observed to her that it was impossible she could know that; and asked the witnesses what was the name of the woman whom the defendant divorced in their presence? They answered that they were ignorant of her name. They were then asked if they could swear that the plaintiff was the woman who was divorced before them? Their reply was, that they could not swear to a woman whom they had never seen unveiled. Under these circumstances, the judge thought it advisable to dismiss the case, and the woman was obliged to return to her husband. She might have demanded that he should produce the woman whom he professed to have divorced in the coffee-shop, but he would easily have found a woman to play the part he required, as it would not have been necessary for her to show a marriage certificate; marriages being almost always performed in Egypt without any written contract, and sometimes even without witnesses.
It not unfrequently happens that, when a man who has divorced his wife the third time wishes to take her again (she herself consenting to their reunion, and there being no witnesses to the sentence of divorce), he does so without conforming with the offensive law before mentioned. It is also a common custom for a man under similar circumstances to employ a person to marry the divorced woman on the condition of his resigning her, the day after their union, to him, her former husband, whose wife she again becomes, by a second contract; though this is plainly contrary to the spirit of the law. The wife, however, can withhold her consent, unless she is not of age; in which case, her father, or other lawful guardian, may marry her to whom he pleases. A poor man (generally a very ugly person, and often one who is blind) is usually chosen to perform this office. He is termed a “Mustahall,” or “Mustahill,” or a “Mohallil.” It is often the case that the man thus employed is so pleased with the beauty of the woman to whom he is introduced on these terms, or with her riches, that he refuses to give her up; and the law cannot compel him to divorce her, unless he act unjustly towards her as her husband; which of course he takes good care not to do. But a person may employ a mustahall without running this risk. It is the custom of many wealthy Turks, and of some of the people of Egypt, to make use of a slave, generally a black, their own property, to officiate in this character. Sometimes, a slave is purchased for this purpose; or if the person who requires him for such a service be acquainted with a slave-dealer, he asks from the latter a present of a slave, signifying that he will give him back again. The uglier the slave, the better. The Turks generally choose one not arrived at puberty, which the tenets of their sect allow. As soon as the woman has accomplished her “’eddeh” (or the period during which she is obliged to wait before she can marry again), the husband who divorced her, having previously obtained her consent to what he is about to do, introduces the slave to her, and asks her if she will be married to him. She replies that she will. She is accordingly wedded to the slave, in the presence of witnesses, and a dowry is given to her, to make the marriage perfectly legal. The slave consummates the marriage, and thus becomes the woman’s legitimate husband. Immediately after, or on the following morning, her former husband presents this slave to her as her own property, and the moment that she accepts him, her marriage with him becomes dissolved; for it is unlawful for a woman to be the wife of her own slave: though she may emancipate a slave, and then marry him. As soon as her marriage is dissolved by her accepting the gift of the slave, she may give back this slave to her husband: but it seldom happens that the latter will allow a person who has been a mustahall for him to remain in his house. The wife, after this proceeding, may, as soon as she has again accomplished her ’eddeh, become reunited to her former husband, after having been separated from him, by the necessity of her fulfilling two ’eddehs, about half a year, or perhaps more.
That the facility of divorce has depraving effects upon both sexes may be easily imagined. There are many men in this country who, in the course of ten years, have married as many as twenty, thirty, or more wives; and women not far advanced in age who have been wives to a dozen or more men successively. I have heard of men who have been in the habit of marrying a new wife almost every month. A person may do this although possessed of very little property: he may choose, from among the females of the lower orders in the streets of Cairo, a handsome young widow or divorced woman who will consent to become his wife for a dowry of about ten shillings; and when he divorces her, he need not give her more than double that sum to maintain her during her ensuing ’eddeh. It is but just, however, to add that such conduct is generally regarded as very disgraceful; and that few parents in the middle or higher classes will give a daughter in marriage to a man who has divorced many wives.
Polygamy, which is also attended with very injurious effects upon the morals of the husband and the wives, and only to be defended because it serves to prevent a greater immorality than it occasions, is more rare among the higher and middle classes than it is among the lower orders; and it is not very common among the latter. A poor man may indulge himself with two or more wives, each of whom may be able, by some art or occupation, nearly to provide her own subsistence; but most persons of the middle and higher orders are deterred from doing so by the consideration of the expense and discomfort which they would incur. A man having a wife who has the misfortune to be barren, and being too much attached to her to divorce her, is sometimes induced to take a second wife, merely in the hope of obtaining offspring; and from the same motive, he may take a third and a fourth; but fickle passion is the most evident and common motive both to polygamy and repeated divorces. They are comparatively very few who gratify this passion by the former practice. I believe that not more than one husband among twenty has two wives.
When there are two or more wives belonging to one man, the first (that is, the one first married) generally enjoys the highest rank; and is called “the great lady.” Hence it often happens that, when a man who has already one wife wishes to marry another girl or woman, the father of the latter, or the female herself who is sought in marriage, will not consent to the union unless the first wife be previously divorced. The women, of course, do not approve of a man’s marrying more than one wife. Most men of wealth, or of moderate circumstances, and even many men of the lower orders, if they have two or more wives, have, for each, a separate house. The wife has, or can oblige her husband to give her, a particular description of lodging, which is either a separate house, or a suite of apartments (consisting of a room in which to sleep and pass the day, a kitchen, and a latrina) that are, or may be made, separate and shut out from any other apartments in the same house. A fellow-wife is called “durrah.”[303] The quarrels of durrahs are often talked of: for it may be naturally inferred that, when two wives share the affection and attentions of the same man, they are not always on terms of amity with each other; and the same is generally the case with a wife and a concubine-slave living in the same house, and under similar circumstances.[304] If the chief lady be barren, and an inferior, either wife or slave, bear a child to her husband or master, it commonly results that the latter woman becomes a favourite of the man, and that the chief wife or mistress is “despised in her eyes,” as Abraham’s wife was in the eyes of Hagar on the same account.[305] It therefore not very unfrequently happens that the first wife loses her rank and privileges; another becomes the chief lady, and, being the favourite of her husband, is treated by her rival or rivals, and by all the members and visitors of the hareem, with the same degree of outward respect which the first wife previously enjoyed: but sometimes the poisoned cup is employed to remove her. A preference given to a second wife is often the cause of the first’s being registered as “náshizeh,”[306] either on her husband’s or her own application at the Mahkem′eh. Yet many instances are known of neglected wives behaving with exemplary and unfeigned submission to their husband, in such cases, and with amiable good nature towards the favourite.[307]
Some wives have female slaves who are their own property, generally purchased for them, or presented to them, before marriage. These cannot be the husband’s concubines without their mistress’s permission, which is sometimes granted (as it was in the case of Hagar, Sarah’s bondwoman); but very seldom. Often, the wife will not even allow her female slave or slaves to appear unveiled in the presence of her husband. Should such a slave, without the permission of her mistress, become the concubine of the husband, and bear him a child, the child is a slave, unless, prior to its birth, the mother be sold, or presented, to the father.
The white female slaves are mostly in the possession of wealthy Turks. The concubine-slaves[308] in the houses of Egyptians of the higher and middle classes are, generally, Abyssinians, of a deep brown or bronze complexion. In their features, as well as their complexions, they appear an intermediate race between the negroes and white people: but the difference between them and either of the above-mentioned races is considerable. They themselves, however, think that they differ so little from the white people, that they cannot be persuaded to act as servants, with due obedience, to their master’s wives; and the black (or negro) slave-girl feels exactly in the same manner towards the Abyssinian; but is perfectly willing to serve the white ladies. I should here mention, that the slaves who are termed Abyssinians are not from the country properly called Abyssinia, but from the neighbouring territories of the Gallas. Most of them are handsome. The average price of one of these girls is from ten to fifteen pounds sterling, if moderately handsome; but this is only about half the sum that used to be given for one a few years ago. They are much esteemed by the voluptuaries of Egypt; but are of delicate constitution: many of them die, in this country, of consumption. The price of a white slave-girl is usually from treble to tenfold that of an Abyssinian; and the price of a black girl, about half or two-thirds, or considerably more if well instructed in the art of cookery. The black slaves are generally employed as menials.[309]
Almost all of the slaves become converts to the faith of El-Islám; but, in general, they are little instructed in the rites of their new religion; and still less in its doctrines. Most of the white female slaves who were in Egypt during my former visit to this country were Greeks; vast numbers of that unfortunate people having been made prisoners by the Turkish and Egyptian army under Ibráheem Básha; and many of them, males and females, including even infants scarcely able to walk, sent to Egypt to be sold. Latterly, from the impoverishment of the higher classes in this country, the demand for white slaves has been small. A few, some of whom undergo a kind of preparatory education (being instructed in music or other accomplishments, at Constantinople), are brought from Circassia and Georgia. The white slaves, being often the only female companions, and sometimes the wives, of the Turkish grandees, and being generally preferred by them before the free ladies of Egypt, hold a higher rank than the latter in common opinion. They are richly dressed, presented with valuable ornaments, indulged, frequently, with almost every luxury that can be procured, and, when it is not their lot to wait upon others, may, in some cases, be happy: as lately has been proved, since the termination of the war in Greece, by many females of that country, captives in Egyptian hareems, refusing their offered liberty, which all of these cannot be supposed to have done from ignorance of the state of their parents and other relations, or the fear of exposing themselves to poverty. But, though some of them are undoubtedly happy, at least for a time, their number is comparatively small: most are fated to wait upon more favoured fellow-prisoners, or upon Turkish ladies, or to receive the unwelcome caresses of a wealthy dotard, or of a man who has impaired his body and mind by excesses of every kind; and, when their master or mistress becomes tired of them, or dies, are sold again (if they have not borne children), or emancipated, and married to some person in humble life, who can afford them but few of the comforts to which they have been accustomed. The female slaves in the houses of persons of the middle classes in Egypt are generally more comfortably circumstanced than those in the hareems of the wealthy: if concubines, they are, in most cases, without rivals to disturb their peace; and if menials, their service is light, and they are under less restraint. Often, indeed, if mutual attachment subsist between her and her master, the situation of a concubine-slave is more fortunate than that of a wife: for the latter may be cast off by her husband in a moment of anger, by an irrevocable sentence of divorce, and reduced to a state of poverty; whereas a man very seldom dismisses a female slave without providing for her in such a manner that, if she have not been used to luxuries, she suffers but little, if at all, by the change: this he generally does by emancipating her, giving her a dowry, and marrying her to some person of honest reputation; or by presenting her to a friend. I have already mentioned, that a master cannot sell nor give away a slave who has borne him a child, if he acknowledge it to be his own; and that she is entitled to her freedom on his death. It often happens that such a slave, immediately after the birth of her child, is emancipated, and becomes her master’s wife: when she has become free, she can no longer lawfully supply the place of a wife unless he marry her. Many persons consider it disgraceful even to sell a female slave who has been long in their service. Most of the Abyssinian and black slave-girls are abominably corrupted by the Gellábs, or slave-traders, of Upper Egypt and Nubia, by whom they are brought from their native countries: there are very few of the age of eight or nine years who have not suffered brutal violence; and so severely do these children, particularly the Abyssinians, and boys as well as girls, feel the treatment which they endure from the Gellábs, that many instances occur of their drowning themselves during the voyage down the Nile.[310] The female slaves of every class are somewhat dearer than the males of the same age. Those who have not had the small-pox are usually sold for less than the others. Three days’ trial is generally allowed to the purchaser; during which time, the girl remains in his, or some friend’s, hareem; and the women make their report to him. Snoring, grinding the teeth, or talking during sleep, are commonly considered sufficient reasons for returning her to the dealer.—The dresses of the female slaves are similar to those of the Egyptian women.
The female servants, who are Egyptian girls or women, are those to whom the lowest occupations are allotted. They generally veil their faces in the presence of their masters, with the head-veil; drawing a part of this before the face, so that they leave only one eye and one hand at liberty to see and perform what they have to do. When a male visitor is received by the master of a house in an apartment of the hareem (the females of the family having been sent into another apartment on the occasion), he is usually, or often, waited upon by a female servant, who is always veiled.
Such are the relative conditions of the various classes in the hareem. A short account of their usual habits and employments must be added.
The wives, as well as the female slaves, are not only often debarred from the privilege of eating with the master of the family, but also required to wait upon him when he dines or sups, or even takes his pipe and coffee in the hareem. They frequently serve him as menials; fill and light his pipe, make coffee for him, and prepare his food, or, at least, certain dainty dishes; and if I might judge from my own experience, I should say that most of them are excellent cooks; for, when a dish has been recommended to me because made by the wife of my host, I have generally found it especially good. The wives of men of the higher and middle classes make a great study of pleasing and fascinating their husbands by unremitted attentions, and by various arts. Their coquetry is exhibited, even in their ordinary gait, when they go abroad, by a peculiar twisting of the body.[311] In the presence of the husband, they are usually under more or less restraint; and hence they are better pleased when his visits, during the day, are not very frequent or long: in his absence, they often indulge in noisy merriment.
The diet of the women is similar to that of the men, but more frugal; and their manner of eating is the same. Many of them are allowed to enjoy the luxury of smoking; for this habit is not considered unbecoming in a female, however high her rank; the odour of the finer kinds of the tobacco used in Egypt being very delicate. Their pipes are generally more slender than those of the men, and more ornamented; and the mouth-piece is sometimes partly composed of coral, in the place of amber. They generally make use of perfumes, such as musk, civet, etc., and often, also, of cosmetics, and particularly of several preparations which they eat or drink with the view of acquiring what they esteem a proper degree of plumpness:[312] one of these preparations is extremely disgusting; being chiefly composed of mashed beetles.[313] Many of them also have a habit of chewing frankincense, and labdanum, which impart a perfume to the breath. The habit of frequent ablutions renders them cleanly in person. They spend but little time in the operations of the toilet; and, after having dressed themselves in the morning, seldom change their clothes during the day. Their hair is generally braided in the bath; and not undone afterwards for several days.
The care of their children is the primary occupation of the ladies of Egypt: they are also charged with the superintendence of domestic affairs; but, in most families, the husband alone attends to the household expenses. Their leisure-hours are mostly spent in working with the needle; particularly in embroidering handkerchiefs, head-veils, etc., upon a frame called “menseg,” with coloured silks and gold. Many women, even in the houses of the wealthy, replenish their private purses by ornamenting handkerchiefs and other things in this manner, and employing a “delláleh” (or female broker) to take them to the market, or to other hareems, for sale. The visit of one hareem to another often occupies nearly a whole day. Eating, smoking, drinking coffee and sherbet, gossiping, and displaying their finery, are sufficient amusements to the company. On such occasions, the master of the house is never allowed to enter the hareem, unless on some particular and unavoidable business; and in this case, he must give notice of his approach, and let the visitors have sufficient time to veil themselves, or to retire to an adjoining room. Being thus under no fear of his sudden intrusion, and being naturally of a lively and an unreserved disposition, they indulge in easy gaiety, and not unfrequently in youthful frolic. When their usual subjects of conversation are exhausted, sometimes one of the party entertains the rest with the recital of some wonderful or facetious tale. The Egyptian ladies are very seldom instructed either in music or dancing; but they take great delight in the performances of professional musicians and public dancers; and often amuse themselves and their guests, in the absence of better performers and better instruments, by beating the “darabukkeh” (which is a kind of drum) and the “tár” (or tambourine); though seldom in houses so situated that many passengers might hear the sounds of festivity. On the occasion of any great rejoicing among the women (such as takes place on account of the birth of a son, or the celebration of a circumcision, or a wedding, etc.), “’A′l’mehs” (or professional female singers) are often introduced; but not for the mere amusement of the women, on common occasions, in any respectable family; for this would be considered indecorous. The “Gházeeyehs” (or public dancing-girls), who exhibit in the streets with unveiled faces, are very seldom admitted into a hareem; but on such occasions as those above mentioned, they often perform in front of the house, or in the court; though, by many persons, even this is not deemed strictly proper. The “A′látees” (or male musicians) are never hired exclusively for the amusement of the women; but chiefly for that of the men: they always perform in the assembly of the latter: their concert, however, is distinctly heard by the inmates of the hareem.
When the women of the higher or middle classes go out to pay a visit, or for any other purpose, they generally ride upon asses. They sit astride, upon a very high and broad saddle, which is covered with a small carpet; and each is attended by a man on one or on each side. Generally, all the women of a hareem ride out together; one behind another. Mounted as above described, they present a very singular appearance. Being raised so high above the back of the “homár ’álee” (or the “high ass”—for so the animal which they ride, furnished with the high saddle, is commonly called[314]), they seem very insecurely seated; but I believe this is not really the case: the ass is well girthed, and sure-footed; and proceeds with a slow, ambling pace, and very easy motion. The ladies of the highest rank, as well as those of the middling classes, ride asses, thus equipped: they are very seldom seen upon mules or horses. The asses are generally hired. When a lady cannot procure a homár ’álee, she rides one of the asses equipped for the use of the men; but has a “seggádeh” (or prayer-carpet) placed over its saddle; and the inferior members of the hareem, and females of the middle orders, often do the same. Ladies never walk abroad, unless they have to go but a very short distance. They have a slow and shuffling gait, owing to the difficulty of retaining the slippers upon their feet; and, in walking, they always hold the front edges of the habarah in the manner represented in the engraving in page 38 in this volume. Whether walking or riding, they are regarded with much respect in public: no well-bred man stares at them; but rather directs his eyes another way. They are never seen abroad at night, if not compelled to go out or return at that time by some pressing and extraordinary necessity: it is their usual rule to return from paying a visit before sunset. The ladies of the higher orders never go to a shop, but send for whatever they want; and there are numerous dellálehs who have access to the hareems, and bring all kinds of ornaments, articles of female apparel, etc., for sale. Nor do these ladies, in general, visit the public bath, unless invited to accompany thither some of their friends; for most of them have baths in their own houses.
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Footnote 274:
The term “hareem” (which, as before mentioned, is applied both to the females of a family and to the apartments which they occupy) signifies prohibited, sacred, etc. The Turks, and many of the Arabs, use the synonymous Arabic term “haram,” which the former pronounce “harem.”
Footnote 275:
They are often betrothed two or three or more years earlier.
Footnote 276:
Abraham’s sending a messenger to his own country to seek a wife for his son Isaac (see Genesis xxiv.) was just such a measure as most modern Arabs would adopt under similar circumstances, if easily practicable.
Footnote 277:
See Genesis xxix. 26.
Footnote 278:
It is a common belief in Egypt, that, if any one makes a marriage-contract in the month of Moharram, the marriage will be unhappy, and soon dissolved: wherefore, few persons do so. The most propitious period is the month of Showwál.
Footnote 279:
This appellation is commonly given to a schoolmaster. See a note in page 48.
Footnote 280:
If the bride be not a virgin, a word importing this is substituted; namely, “seyyib,” or, more properly, “theyyib.”
Footnote 281:
Among the peasants, however, the father, or other lawful guardian of the bride, receives the dowry, and gives nothing in return but the girl, and sometimes a little corn, etc. The bridegroom, in this case, supplies everything; even the dress of the bride.
Footnote 282:
Burckhardt has erred in stating that Monday and Thursday are the days on which the ceremonies immediately previous to the marriage-night are performed, he should have said Sunday and Thursday. He has also fallen into some other errors in the account which he has given of the marriage ceremonies of the Egyptians, in the illustrations of his “Arabic Proverbs” (pp. 112-118). To mention this I feel to be a duty to myself; but one which I perform with reluctance, and not without the fear that Burckhardt’s just reputation for general accuracy may make my reader think that he is right in these cases, and that I am wrong. I write these words in Cairo, with his book before me, and after sufficient experience and inquiries.
Footnote 283:
The lantern here represented, which is constructed of wood, and painted green, red, white, and blue, is called “tureiya” (the Arabic name of the Pleiades), and, together with the frame above, from which six lamps are suspended, and which is termed “khátim Suleymán” (or Solomon’s seal), composes what is called a “heml kanádeel.”
Footnote 284:
These entertainments I do not here particularly describe, as it is my intention to devote the whole of a subsequent chapter to the subject of private festivities. The “khatmeh” is the recitation of the whole of the Kur-án; and the “zikr,” the repetition of the name of God, or of the profession of his unity, etc.; I shall have occasion to speak of both more fully in another chapter, on the periodical public festivals.
Footnote 285:
From the verb ‘adna,’ “he brought,” etc.
Footnote 286:
These cries of the women, which are heard on various occasions of rejoicing in Egypt and other Eastern countries, are produced by a sharp utterance of the voice, accompanied by a quick, tremulous motion of the tongue.
Footnote 287:
I have once seen this “zeffeh,” or procession, and a second which will be described hereafter, go forth much later, and return an hour after sunset.
Footnote 288:
The music is generally of a very rude kind; and the airs usually played are those of popular songs; specimens of which will be found in this work.
Footnote 289:
For a description of these ornaments, see the Appendix.
Footnote 290:
One of the most common of the feats witnessed on such an occasion is the performance of a laborious task by a water-carrier, termed a “keiyim,” who, for the sake of a present, and this empty title, carries a water-skin filled with sand and water, of greater weight, and for a longer period, than any of his brethren will venture to do; and this he must accomplish without ever sitting down, except in a crouching position, to rest. In the case of a bridal procession which I lately witnessed, the keiyim began to carry his burden, a skin of sand and water weighing about two hundred pounds, at sunset of the preceding day; bore it the whole night, and the ensuing day, before and during the procession, and continued to do so till sunset.
Footnote 291:
A correct description of this is given in Burckhardt’s “Arabic Proverbs,” pp. 115, 116.
Footnote 292:
Grand zeffehs are sometimes accompanied by a number of cars, each bearing a group of persons of some manufacture or trade performing the usual work of their craft; even such as builders, white-washers, etc.; including members of all, or almost all, the arts and manufactures practised in the metropolis.
Footnote 293:
Hence this kind of prayer is called “salah memáleekeeyeh,” or “the prayer of memlooks.”
Footnote 294:
Sometimes, when the parties are persons of wealth, the bride is displayed before the bridegroom in different dresses, to the number of seven.
Footnote 295:
I beg to refer the reader, if he desire further details on this subject, to page 117 of Burckhardt’s “Arabic Proverbs.” His account might have been more complete; but he seems to have studied to be particularly concise in this case.
Footnote 296:
Kur-án, chap. lxi., ver. 13.
Footnote 297:
A khäwal is also called “gháïsh”; plural, “gheeyásh.”
Footnote 298:
This performance is called the bride’s “sabáheeyeh.”
Footnote 299:
Among the peasants of Upper Egypt, the relations and acquaintances of the bridegroom and bride meet together on the day after the marriage; and while a number of the men clap their hands, as an accompaniment to a tambourine or two, and any other instruments that can be procured, the bride dances before them for a short time. She has a head-veil reaching to her heels, and a printed cotton handkerchief completely covering her face, and wears, externally, the most remarkable of her bridal garments (mentioned by Burckhardt, in the place before referred to, and, in some parts of Egypt, hung over the door of a peasant’s house after marriage). Other women, similarly veiled, and dressed in their best, or borrowed, clothes, continue the dance about two hours, or more.
Footnote 300:
Thus commonly pronounced, for “hamáh,” a word derived from the verb “hama,” “he protected, or guarded.”
Footnote 301:
Chap. xxiv. ver. 31.
Footnote 302:
See the chapter on Religion and Laws. Eunuchs are allowed to see the face of any woman; so also are young boys.
Footnote 303:
Commonly thus pronounced (or rather “durrah,” with a soft d) for “darrah”; originally, perhaps, by way of a pun; as “durrah” is a common name for a parrot.
Footnote 304:
The law enjoins a husband who has two or more wives, to be strictly impartial to them in every respect; but compliance with its dictates in this matter is rare.
Footnote 305:
See Genesis xvi. 4.
Footnote 306:
This has been explained in the 3rd chapter, page 88.
Footnote 307:
In general, the most beautiful of a man’s wives or slaves is, of course, for a time, his greatest favourite; but in many (if not most) cases, the lasting favourite is not the most handsome. The love of a Muslim, therefore, is not always merely sensual; nor does the relative condition and comfort of his wife, or of each of his wives, invariably depend so much on his caprice or her own personal charms, as on her general conduct and disposition.
Footnote 308:
A Muslim cannot take as a concubine a slave who is an idolatress.
Footnote 309:
The white female slave is called “Gáriyeh Beyda;” the Abyssinian, “Gáriyeh Habasheeyeh;” and the black, “Gáriyeh Sóda.”
Footnote 310:
The Gellábs generally convey their slaves partly over the desert and partly down the river.
Footnote 311:
The motion here described they term “ghung.”
Footnote 312:
The Egyptians (unlike the Maghrab′ees, and some other people of Africa and of the East) do not generally admire very fat women. In his love-songs, the Egyptian commonly describes the object of his affections as of slender figure and small waist.
Footnote 313:
I observed here,—“It would seem that these insects were eaten by the Jews (see Leviticus xi. 22); but we cannot suppose that they derived this custom from the Egyptians, who regarded the beetle as sacred.”—A learned friend, however, has informed me, that the word rendered “beetle” in our version of the passage of Scripture which occasioned this remark properly signifies a kind of locust.
Footnote 314:
It is also called “homár mughattee” (covered ass).
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VII. DOMESTIC LIFE—continued
The domestic life of the lower orders will be the subject of the present chapter. In most respects, it is so simple, that, in comparison with the life of the middle and higher classes, of which we have just been taking a view, it offers but little to our notice.
The lower orders in Egypt, with the exception of a very small proportion, chiefly residing in the large towns, consist of Felláheen (or Agriculturists). Most of those in the great towns, and a few in the smaller towns and some of the villages, are petty tradesmen or artificers, or obtain their livelihood as servants, or by various labours. In all cases, their earnings are very small; barely sufficient, in general, and sometimes insufficient, to supply them and their families with the cheapest necessaries of life.
Their food chiefly consists of bread (made of millet or of maize), milk, new cheese, eggs, small salted fish, cucumbers and melons and gourds of a great variety of kinds, onions and leeks,[315] beans, chick-peas, lupins, the fruit of the black egg-plant, lentils, etc., dates (both fresh and dried), and pickles. Most of the vegetables they eat in a crude state. When the maize (or Indian corn) is nearly ripe, many ears of it are plucked, and toasted or baked, and eaten thus by the peasants. Rice is too dear to be an article of common food for the felláheen; and flesh-meat they very seldom taste. There is one luxury, however, which most of them enjoy; and that is, smoking the cheap tobacco of their country, merely dried, and broken up. It is of a pale, greenish colour, when dried, and of a mild flavour. Though all the articles of food mentioned above are extremely cheap, there are many poor persons who often have nothing with which to season their coarse bread but the mixture called “dukkah,” described in a former chapter.[316] It is surprising to observe how simple and poor is the diet of the Egyptian peasantry, and yet how robust and healthy most of them are, and how severe is the labour which they can undergo.
The women of the lower orders seldom pass a life of inactivity. Some of them are even condemned to greater drudgery than the men. Their chief occupations are the preparing of the husband’s food, fetching water (which they carry in a large vessel on the head), spinning cotton, linen, or woollen yarn, and making the fuel called “gelleh,” which is composed of the dung of cattle, kneaded with chopped straw, and formed into round flat cakes: these they stick upon the walls or roofs of their houses, or upon the ground, to dry in the sun; and then use for heating their ovens, and for other purposes. They are in a state of much greater subjection to their husbands than is the case among the superior classes. Not always is a poor woman allowed to eat with her husband. When she goes out with him, she generally walks behind him; and if there be anything for either of them to carry, it is usually borne by the wife; unless it be merely a pipe or a stick. Some women, in the towns, keep shops; and sell bread, vegetables, etc.; and thus contribute as much as their husbands, or even more than the latter, to the support of their families. When a poor Egyptian is desirous of marrying, the chief object of his consideration is the dowry, which is usually from about twenty “riyáls” (or nine shillings) to four times that amount, if consisting only of money; and rather less, if, as is the case throughout a great part of Egypt, it comprise certain articles of clothing: if he can afford to give the dowry, he seldom hesitates to marry; for a little additional exertion will enable him to support a wife and two or three children. At the age of five or six years, the children become of use to tend the flocks and herds; and at a more advanced age, until they marry, they assist their fathers in the operations of agriculture. The poor in Egypt have often to depend entirely upon their sons for support in their old age; but many persons are deprived of these aids, and consequently reduced to beggary, or almost to starvation. A few months ago, the Básha, during his voyage from Alexandria to this city (Cairo), happening to land at a village on the bank of the Nile, a poor man of the place ran up to him, and grasped his sleeve so tightly, that the surrounding attendants could not make him quit his hold: he complained that, although he had been once in very comfortable circumstances, he had been reduced to utter destitution by having his sons taken from him in his old age as recruits for the army. The Básha (who generally pays attention to personal applications) relieved him; but it was by ordering that the richest man in the village should give him a cow.
A young family, however, is sometimes an insupportable burden to poor parents. Hence, it is not a very rare occurrence, in Egypt, for children to be publicly carried about for sale, by their mothers or by women employed by the fathers: but this very seldom happens, except in cases of great distress. When a mother dies, leaving one or more children unweaned, and the father and other surviving relations are so poor as not to be able to procure a nurse, this singular mode of disposing of the child or children is often resorted to; or sometimes an infant is laid at the door of a mosque, generally when the congregation is assembled to perform the noon-prayers of Friday; and in this case it usually happens that some member of the congregation, on coming out of the mosque, and seeing the poor foundling, is moved with pity, and takes it home to rear in his family, not as a slave, but as an adopted child; or, if not, it is taken under the care of some person until an adoptive father or mother be found for it. A short time ago, a woman offered for sale, to the mistress of a family with whom a friend of mine is acquainted in this city, a child a few days old, which she professed to have found at the door of a mosque. The lady said that she would take the child, to rear it for the sake of God, and in the hope that her own child, an only one, might be spared to her as a reward for her charity; and handed, to the woman who brought the infant, ten piasters (then equivalent to a little more than two shillings): but the offered remuneration was rejected. This shows that infants are sometimes made mere objects of traffic; and some persons who purchase them may make them their slaves, and sell them again. I have been informed, by a slave-dealer (and his assertion has been confirmed to me by other persons), that young Egyptian girls are sometimes sold as slaves from other countries, either by a parent or by some other relation. The slave-dealer here alluded to said, that several such girls had been committed to him for sale; and by their own consent: they were taught to expect rich dresses and great luxuries; and were instructed to say, that they had been brought from their own country when only three or four years of age, and that they consequently were ignorant of their native language, and could speak only Arabic.
It often happens, too, that a felláh, in a state of great poverty, is induced, by the offer of a sum of money, to place his son in a situation far worse than that of ordinary slavery. When a certain number of recruits are required from a village, the sheykh of the village often adopts the plan that gives him the least trouble to obtain them, which is, to take the sons of those persons who are possessed of most property. Under such circumstances, a father, rather than part with his son, generally offers, to one of his poorer fellow-villagers, a sum equivalent to one or two pounds sterling, to procure a son of the latter, as a substitute for his own; and usually succeeds; though the love of offspring prevails among the Egyptians as much as filial piety; and most parents have a great horror of parting with their children, particularly if taken for recruits, as is proved by the means to which they have recourse for the prevention of such an occurrence. There is now (in 1834) seldom to be found, in any of the villages, an able-bodied youth or young man who has not had one or more of his teeth broken out (that he may not be able to bite a cartridge), or a finger cut off, or an eye pulled out or blinded, to prevent his being taken for a recruit. Old women and others make a regular trade of going about from village to village, to perform these operations upon the boys; and the parents themselves are sometimes the operators. But, from what has been said before, it appears that it is not always affection alone that prompts the parents to have recourse to such expedients to prevent their being deprived of their children.
The Felláheen of Egypt cannot be justly represented in a very favourable light with regard to their domestic and social condition and manners. In the worst points of view, they resemble their Bedawee ancestors, without possessing many of the virtues of the inhabitants of the desert, unless in an inferior degree; and the customs which they have inherited from their forefathers often have a very baneful effect upon their domestic state. It has before been mentioned that they are descended from various Arab tribes who have settled in Egypt at different periods; and that the distinction of tribes is still preserved by the inhabitants of the villages throughout this country. In the course of years, the descendants of each tribe of settlers have become divided into numerous branches, and these minor tribes have distinct appellations, which have also often been given to the village or villages, or district, which they inhabit. Those who have been longest established in Egypt have retained less of Bedawee manners, and have more infringed the purity of their race by intermarriages with Copt proselytes to the Muslim faith, or with the descendants of such persons; hence, they are often despised by the tribes more lately settled in this country, who frequently, in contempt, term the former “Felláheen,” while they arrogate to themselves the appellation of “Arabs” or “Bedawees.” The latter, whenever they please, take the daughters of the former in marriage, but will not give their own daughters in return; and if one of them be killed by a person of the inferior tribe, they kill two, three, or even four, in blood-revenge. The prevalence of the barbarous Bedawee law of blood-revenge among the inhabitants of the villages of Egypt has been mentioned in a former chapter: the homicide, or any person descended from him, or from his great-grandfather’s father, is killed by any of such relations of the person whom he has slain; and when the homicide happens to be of one tribe, and the person killed of another, often a petty war breaks forth between these two tribes, and is sometimes continued, or occasionally renewed, during a period of several years. The same is also frequently the result of a trifling injury committed by a member of one tribe upon a person of another. In many instances, the blood-revenge is taken a century or more after the commission of the act which has occasioned it; when the feud, for that time, has lain dormant, and perhaps is remembered by scarcely more than one individual. Two tribes in Lower Egypt, which are called “Saad” and “Harám,” are most notorious for these petty wars and feuds;[317] and hence their names are commonly applied to any two persons or parties at enmity with each other. It is astonishing that, in the present day, such acts (which, if committed in a town or city in Egypt, would be punished by the death of, perhaps, more than one of the persons concerned) should be allowed. Some other particulars respecting blood-revenge and its consequences have been stated in the chapter above alluded to. The avenging of blood is allowed by the Kur-án; but moderation and justice are enjoined in its execution; and the petty wars which it so often occasions in the present age are in opposition to a precept of the Prophet, who said, “If two Muslims contend with their swords, the slayer and the slain will be in the fire [of Hell].”
The Felláheen of Egypt resemble the Bedawees in other respects. When a Felláhah is found to have been unfaithful to her husband, in general, he, or her brother, throws her into the Nile, with a stone tied to her neck; or cuts her in pieces, and then throws her remains into the river. In most instances, also, a father or brother punishes in the same manner an unmarried daughter or sister who has been guilty of incontinence. These relations are considered as more disgraced than the husband by the crime of the woman; and are often despised if they do not thus punish her.
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Footnote 315:
See Numbers xi. 5.
Footnote 316:
Page 122.
Footnote 317:
Like the “Keys” and “Yemen” of Syria.
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VIII. COMMON USAGES OF SOCIETY
The respect in which trade is held by the Muslim greatly tends to enlarge the circle of his acquaintance with persons of different ranks; and freedom of intercourse with his fellow-men is further and very greatly promoted by the law of the separation of the sexes, as it enables him to associate with others, regardless of difference of wealth or station, without the risk of occasioning unequal matrimonial connections. The women, like the men, enjoy extensive intercourse with persons of their own sex.
The Muslims are extremely formal and regular in their social manners; though generally very easy in their demeanour, and free in their conversation. Several of their most common usages are founded upon precepts of their religion, and distinguish them in society from all other people. Among these is their custom of greeting each other with the salutation of “Peace be on you!” to which the proper and general reply is, “On you be peace, and the mercy of God, and His blessings!”[318] This salutation is never to be addressed by a Muslim to a person whom he knows to be of another religion;[319] nor vice versâ.[320] The giving it, by one Muslim to another, is a duty; but one that may be omitted without sin: the returning it is absolutely obligatory: the former is a “sunneh” ordinance; and the latter, “fard.” Should a Muslim, however, thus salute, by mistake, a person not of the same faith, the latter should not return it; and the former, on discovering his mistake, generally revokes his salutation: so also he sometimes does if a Muslim refuse to return his salutation; usually saying, “Peace be on us, and on [all] the righteous worshippers of God.”
The chief rules respecting salutation, as dictated by the Prophet, and generally observed by modern Muslims, are as follow.—The person riding should first salute him who is on foot; and he who passes by, the person or persons who are sitting down or standing still; and a small party, or one of such a party, should give the salutation to a large party; and the young, to the aged.[321] As it is sufficient for one party to give, so is it also for one only to return, the salutation. It is required, too, that a Muslim, when he enters a house, should salute the people of that house; and that he should do the same when he leaves it. He should always salute first, and then talk.—But, to the above rules, there are some exceptions. For instance, in a crowded city, it is not necessary (indeed it is hardly possible) to salute many of those whom one may pass; nor on a road where one meets numerous passengers. Yet it is usual for a wealthy or well-dressed person, or a venerable sheykh, or any person of distinction, to salute another who appears to be a man of rank, wealth, or learning, even in a crowded street. Among polite people, it is customary for him who gives or returns the salutation to place his right hand upon his breast at the same time; or to touch his lips, and then his forehead, or turban, with the same hand. This action is called “teymeeneh.” The latter mode of teymeeneh, which is the more respectful, is often performed to a person of superior rank, not only at first, with the selám (or salutation of “Peace be on you!”), but also frequently during a conversation, and in the latter case without the selám.
A person of the lower orders, on approaching a superior, particularly if the latter be a Turk, does not always give the selám, but only performs this teymeeneh; and he shows his respect to a man of high rank by bending down his hand to the ground, and then putting it to his lips and forehead, without pronouncing the selám. It is a common custom, also, for a man to kiss the hand of a superior (generally on the back only, but sometimes on the back and front), and then to put it to his forehead, in order to pay him particular respect: but in most cases the latter does not allow this; and only touches the hand that is extended towards his: the other person, then, merely puts his own hand to his lips and forehead. To testify abject submission, in craving pardon for an offence, or interceding for another person, or begging any favour of a superior, not unfrequently the feet are kissed instead of the hand. The son kisses the hand of the father; the wife, that of her husband; and the slave, and often the free servant, that of the master. The slaves and servants of a grandee kiss their lord’s sleeve, or the skirt of his clothing.
When particular friends salute each other, they join their right hands, and then each kisses his own hand, or puts it to his lips and forehead, or raises it to his forehead only; or merely places it on his breast, without kissing it: if after a long absence, and on some other occasions, they embrace each other; each falling upon the other’s neck, and kissing him on the right side of the face or neck, and then on the left. Another mode of salutation is very commonly practised among the lower orders, when two friends or acquaintances meet after a journey: joining their right hands, each of them compliments the other on his safety, and expresses his wishes for his welfare, by repeating, alternately, many times, the words “selámát” and “teiyibeen:”[322] in commencing this ceremony, which is often continued for nearly a minute before they proceed to make any particular inquiries, they join their hands in the same manner as is usually practised by us; and at each alternation of the two expressions above mentioned, they change the position of the hands: in repeating the second word, each of the two persons turns his fingers over the thumb of the other; and in repeating the first word again, the former position is resumed.
In polite society, various other formal salutations and compliments follow the selám. To most of these there are particular replies; or two or more different forms of reply may be used in some cases; but to return any that custom has not prescribed would be considered as a proof of ignorance or vulgarity. When a person asks his friend, “How is your health?” the latter replies, “Praise be to God!” and it is only by the tone of voice in which he makes this answer, that the inquirer can infer whether he be well or ill. When one greets the other with “Teiyibeen,” the usual reply is, “God bless thee,” or “God preserve thee.” A friend or acquaintance, on meeting another whom he has not seen for several days, or for a longer period, generally says, after the selám, “Thou hast made us desolate [by thy absence from us];” and is usually answered, “May God not make [us] desolate by thy absence.”—The ordinary set compliments in use in Egyptian society are so numerous, that a dozen pages of this work would not suffice for the mention of those which may be heard almost every day.
When a person goes to the house of another, to pay a visit, or for any other purpose, he never enters unawares; for this is expressly forbidden by the Kur-án:[323] and particularly if he have to ascend to an upper apartment; in which case he should call out for permission, or announce his approach, as he goes upstairs, in the manner which I have had occasion to describe in a former chapter.[324] Should he find no person below, he generally claps his hands, at the door, or in the court; and waits for a servant to come down to him; or for permission to be given him to seat himself in a lower apartment, or to ascend to an upper room. On entering the room in which the master of the house is seated, he gives the selám. The master returns the salutation; and welcomes the visitor with courteousness and affability. To his superiors,[325] and generally to his equals, he rises. Persons more or less above him in rank he proceeds to meet in the court, or between the court and the room, or at the entrance of the room, or in the middle of the room, or a step from the place where he was sitting: but often, to equals, he merely makes a slight motion, as if about to rise; and to most inferiors, he remains undisturbed. To his superiors, and often to his equals, he yields the most honourable place, which is a corner of the deewán: it is that corner which is to the right of a person facing the upper end of the room. This end of the room is called the “sadr;” and the whole of the seat which extends along it is more honourable than those which extend along the sides; each of which is called “gemb.” Visitors inferior in rank to the master of the house never seat themselves at the upper end, unless invited to do so by him; and when so invited, they often decline the offered honour. His equals sit at their ease, cross-legged, or with one knee raised; and recline against the cushions: his inferiors (first, at least) often sit upon their heels; or take their place upon the edge of the deewán; or, if very much beneath him in grade, seat themselves upon the mat or carpet. In strict etiquette, the visitor should not, at first, suffer his hands to appear, when entering the room, or when seated; but should let the sleeves fall over them; and when he has taken his place on the deewán, he should not stretch out his legs, nor even allow his feet to be seen: but these rules are not often attended to, excepting in the houses of the great. Various formal compliments and salutations are given and returned after the selám; and some of them, particularly the expressions of “teiyibeen” and “eysh hál’kum,” are repeated several times during the same interview.
Sometimes the visitor’s own servant attends him with his pipe: the former takes his tobacco-purse out of his bosom, and gives it to the servant, who folds it up and returns it after having filled the pipe, or after the termination of the visit: otherwise, a servant of the host brings a pipe for the visitor, and one for his master; and next, a cup of coffee is presented to each;[326] for “tobacco without coffee,” say the Arabs, “is like meat without salt.” On receiving the pipe and the coffee, the visitor salutes the master of the house with the teymeeneh, which the latter returns; and the same is done on returning the cup to the servant. The master of the house also salutes his guest in the same manner, if the latter be not much beneath him in rank, on receiving and returning his own cup of coffee. Servants often remain in the room during the whole period of a visit, stationed at the lower end, in a respectful attitude, with their hands joined (the left within the right), and held before the girdle. The usual mode of summoning a servant or other attendant who is not present is by clapping the hands, striking the palm of the left hand with the fingers of the right: the windows being of open lattice-work, the sound is heard throughout the house.—The subjects of conversation are generally the news of the day, the state of trade, the prices of provisions, and sometimes religion and science. Facetious stories are often related; and, very frequently, persons in the best society tell tales, and quote proverbs, of the most indecent nature. In good society, people seldom talk of each other’s hareems; but intimate friends, and many persons who do not strictly observe the rules of good breeding, very often do so, and in a manner not always delicate. Genteel people inquire respecting each other’s “houses,” to ascertain whether their wives and families are well.—Visits not unfrequently occupy several hours; and sometimes (especially those of hareems), nearly a whole day. The pipes are replenished, or replaced by others, as often as is necessary: for, however long a visitor may stay, he generally continues smoking during the whole time; and sometimes coffee is brought again, or sherbet. The manner in which the coffee and sherbet are served has been before described. A person receives the same compliment after drinking a glass of sherbet as after taking a draught of water,[327] and replies to it in the same manner.
In the houses of the rich, it used to be a common custom to sprinkle the guest, before he rose to take his leave, with rose-water or orange-flower-water; and to perfume him with the smoke of some odoriferous substance; but of late years this practice has become unfrequent. The scent-bottle, which is called “kumkum,” is of plain or gilt silver, or fine brass, or china, or glass; and has a cover pierced with a small hole. The perfuming-vessel, or “mibkhar′ah,” is generally of one or the other of the metals above mentioned: the receptacle for the burning charcoal is lined, or half filled, with gypsum-plaster; and its cover is pierced with apertures for the emission of the smoke. The mibkhar′ah is used last: it is presented by a servant to the visitor or master, who wafts the smoke towards his face, beard, etc., with his right hand. Sometimes it is opened, to emit the smoke more freely. The substance most commonly used in the mibkhar′ah is aloes-wood, or benzoin, or cascarilla-bark. The wood is moistened before it is placed upon the burning coals. Ambergris is also used for the same purpose; but very rarely, and only in the houses of persons of great wealth, as it is extremely costly. As soon as the visitor has been perfumed, he takes his leave; but he should not depart without previously asking permission to do so, and then giving the selám, which is returned to him, and paying other set compliments, to which there are appropriate replies. If he be a person of much higher rank than the master of the house, the latter not only rises, but also accompanies him to the top of the stairs, or to the door of the room, and then commends him to the care of God.
It is usual for a person, after paying a visit of ceremony, and on some other occasions, previously to his leaving the house, to give a small present (two or three piasters, or more, according to circumstances) to one, or to several, of the servants: and if his horse or mule or ass be waiting for him at the door, or in the court, one of the servants goes with him to adjust his dress when he mounts: this officious person particularly expects a present. When money is thus given to a man’s servants, it is considered incumbent upon their master to do exactly the same when he returns the visit.
Friends very often send presents to each other, merely for the sake of complying with common custom. When a person celebrates any private festivity, he generally receives presents from most of his friends; and it is a universal rule that he should repay the donor by a similar gift, or one of the same value, on a similar occasion. It is common for the receiver of a present, on such an event, even to express to the giver his hope that he may have to repay it on the occasion of a like festivity. An acknowledgment accompanied by such an allusion to the acquitment of the obligation imposed by the gift, which would be offensive to a generous European, is, in this country, esteemed polite. The present is generally wrapped in an embroidered handkerchief, which is returned, with a trifling pecuniary gratification, to the bearer. Fruit, laid upon leaves, and sweetmeats and other dainties, placed in a dish or on a tray, and covered with a rich handkerchief or napkin, are common presents. Very frequently, a present is given by a person to a superior with a view of obtaining something more valuable in return. This is often done by a servant to his master; and the gift is seldom refused; but often paid for immediately in money, more than equivalent. It is generally with the expectation above mentioned than an Arab gives a present to a European. The custom of giving money to the servants of a friend, after paying him a visit, is not now so common as it was a few years since; but it is still observed by most persons on the occasion of a visit of ceremony; and particularly on the two ’eeds, or religious festivals, and by the guests at private festivities. Other customs of a similar nature, which are observed at these festivities, will be described in a subsequent chapter. To decline the acceptance of a present generally gives offence; and is considered as reflecting disgrace upon the person who has offered it.
There are many formal usages which are observed in Egypt, not merely on the occasions of ceremonious visits, or in the company of strangers, or at the casual meetings of friends, but also in the ordinary intercourse of familiar acquaintances. When a man happens to sneeze, he says, “Praise be to God!” Each person present (servants generally excepted) then says to him, “God have mercy on you!” to which the former generally replies, “God guide us and guide you!” or he returns the compliment in words of a similar purport. Should he yawn, he puts the back of his left hand to his mouth, and then says, “I seek refuge with God from Satan the accursed!” but he is not complimented on this act; as it is one which should rather be avoided: for it is believed that the devil is in the habit of leaping into a gaping mouth. For a breach of good manners, it is more common to ask the pardon of God, than that of the present company, by saying, “I beg pardon of God, the Great!” When a man has just been shaved, or been to the bath, when he has just performed the ablution preparatory to prayer, when he has been saying his prayers, or doing any other meritorious act, when he has just risen from sleep, when he has purchased or put on any new article of dress, and on many other occasions, there are particular compliments to be paid to him, and particular replies for him to make.
It is a rule with the Muslims to honour the right hand and foot above the left: to use the right hand for all honourable purposes; and the left, for actions which, though necessary, are unclean: to put on and take off the right shoe before the left; and to put the right foot first over the threshold of a door.
The Egyptians are extremely courteous to each other, and have a peculiar grace and dignity in their manner of salutation and their general demeanour, combined with easiness of address, which seem natural to them, being observable even in the peasants. The middle and higher classes of townspeople pride themselves upon their politeness and elegance of manners, and their wit, and fluency of speech; and with some justice: but they are not less free in their conversation than their less accomplished fellow-countrymen. Affability is a general characteristic of the Egyptians of all classes. It is common for strangers, even in a shop, after mutual salutation, to enter into conversation with each other with as much freedom as if they were old acquaintances; and for one who has a pipe to offer it to another who has none; and it is not unusual, nor is it generally considered unpolite, for persons in a first, casual meeting, to ask each other’s names, professions or trades, and places of abode. Lasting acquaintances are often formed on such occasions.[328] In the middle and higher ranks of Egyptian society, it is very seldom that a man is heard to say anything offensive to the feelings of another in his company; and the most profligate never venture to utter an expression meant to cast ridicule upon sincere religion: most persons, however, in every class, are otherwise more or less licentious in their conversation, and extremely fond of joking. They are generally very lively and dramatic in their talk; but scarcely ever noisy in their mirth. They seldom indulge in loud laughter; expressing their enjoyment of anything ludicrous by a smile or an exclamation.
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Footnote 318:
“’Aleykumu-s selámu wa-rahmatu-lláhi wa-barakátuh,” or merely “’Aleykum es-selám” (On you be peace!); but the longer salutation is more commonly used, in accordance with an injunction in the Kur-án, chap. iv., ver. 88.
Footnote 319:
Very few Muslims in Egypt do so. A European traveller, not disguised by Turkish dress, often fancies that he is greeted with this salutation, when it is really intended for his Muslim attendant.
Footnote 320:
A Muslim, however, when he receives this salutation from a person of another religion, sometimes replies, “And on you” (Wa-’aleykum).
Footnote 321:
Herodotus speaks of the respect paid in Egypt to the aged, and of the polite salutations of the Egyptians to each other. (Lib. ii., cap. 80.)
Footnote 322:
Meaning, “I congratulate you on your safety,” and “I hope you are well.”
Footnote 323:
Chap. xxiv., ver. 27.
Footnote 324:
Chap. vi., p. 162.
Footnote 325:
That is, to those who are above him either in office, wealth, or religious or literary reputation.
Footnote 326:
The visitor, if superior, or not much inferior in rank to the master of the house, receives his pipe and coffee before the latter.
Footnote 327:
Mentioned in Chap. v., p. 136.
Footnote 328:
Acquaintances, and even strangers, often address each other as relations, by the terms “Father,” “Son,” “Paternal uncle,” “Son of my paternal uncle,” “Brother,” “Mother,” “Daughter,” “Maternal aunt,” “Daughter of my maternal aunt,” “Sister,” etc.
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IX. LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE
The metropolis of Egypt maintains the comparative reputation by which it has been distinguished for many centuries, of being the best school of Arabic literature, and of Muslim theology and jurisprudence. Learning, indeed, has much declined among the Arabs universally; but least in Cairo: consequently, the fame of the professors of this city still remains unrivalled; and its great collegiate mosque, the Azhar, continues to attract innumerable students from every quarter of the Muslim world.
The Arabic spoken by the middle and higher classes in Cairo is generally inferior, in point of grammatical correctness and pronunciation, to the dialects of the Bedawees of Arabia, and of the inhabitants of the towns in their immediate vicinity; but much to be preferred to those of Syria; and still more, to those of the Western Arabs. The most remarkable peculiarities in the pronunciation of the people of Egypt are the following:—The fifth letter of the alphabet is pronounced by the natives of Cairo, and throughout the greater part of Egypt, as g in give; while, in most parts of Arabia, and in Syria and other countries, it receives the sound of j in joy: but it is worthy of remark, that, in a part of southern Arabia, where, it is said, Arabic was first spoken, the former sound is given to this letter.[329] In those parts of Egypt where this pronunciation of the fifth letter prevails, the sound of “hemzeh” (which is produced by a sudden emission of the voice after a total suppression) is given to the twenty-first letter, excepting by the better instructed, who give to this letter its true sound, which I represent by “k.” In other parts of Egypt, the pronunciation of the fifth letter is the same as that of j in joy, or nearly so; and the twenty-first letter is pronounced as g in give. By all the Egyptians, in common with most other people who speak the Arabic language, the third and fourth letters of the alphabet are pronounced alike, as our t; and the eighth and ninth, as our d.—Of the peculiarities in the structure of the Egyptian dialect of Arabic, the most remarkable are, the annexation of the letter “sheen” in negative phrases, in the same manner as the word “pas” is used in French; as “má yerdásh,” for “má yerda,” “he will not consent;” “má hoosh teiyib,” (vulgarly, “mósh teiyib”), for “má huwa teiyib,” “it is not good:” the placing the demonstrative pronoun after the word to which it relates; as “el-beyt dé,” “this house;” and a frequent unnecessary use of the diminutive form in adjectives: as “sugheiyir,” for “sagheer,” “small;” “kureiyib,” for “kareeb,” “near.”
There is not so much difference between the literary and vulgar dialects of Arabic as some European Orientalists have supposed: the latter may be described as the ancient dialect simplified, principally by the omission of the final vowels and other terminations which distinguish the different cases of nouns and some of the persons of verbs.[330] Nor is there so great a difference between the dialects of Arabic spoken in different countries as some persons, who have not held intercourse with the inhabitants of such countries, have imagined: they resemble each other more than the dialects of some of the different counties in England. The Arabic language abounds with synonyms; and, of a number of words which are synonymous, one is in common use in one country, and another elsewhere. Thus, the Egyptian calls milk “leben;” the Syrian calls it “haleeb:” the word “leben,” is used in Syria to denote a particular preparation of sour milk. Again, bread is called in Egypt “’eysh;” and in other Arab countries, “khubz;” and many examples of a similar kind might be adduced.—The pronunciation of Egypt has more softness than that of Syria and most other countries in which Arabic is spoken.
The literature of the Arabs is very comprehensive; but the number of their books is more remarkable than the variety. The relative number of the books which treat of religion and jurisprudence may be stated to be about one-fourth: next in number are works on grammar, rhetoric, and various branches of philology: the third in the scale of proportion are those on history (chiefly that of the Arab nation), and on geography: the fourth, poetical compositions. Works on medicine, chemistry, the mathematics, algebra, and various other sciences, etc., are comparatively very few.
There are, in Cairo, many large libraries; most of which are attached to mosques, and consist, for the greater part, of works on theology and jurisprudence, and philology. Several rich merchants, and others, have also good libraries. The booksellers of Cairo are, I am informed, only eight in number;[331] and their shops are but ill stocked. Whenever a valuable book comes into the possession of one of these persons, he goes round with it to his regular customers; and is almost sure of finding a purchaser. The leaves of the books are seldom sewed together; but they are usually enclosed in a cover bound with leather; and mostly have, also, an outer case of pasteboard and leather. Five sheets, or double leaves, are commonly placed together, one within another; composing what is called a “karrás.” The leaves are thus arranged, in small parcels, without being sewed, in order that one book may be of use to a number of persons at the same time; each taking a karrás. The books are laid flat, one upon another; and the name is written upon the front of the outer case, or upon the edge of the leaves. The paper is thick and glazed: it is mostly imported from Venice, and glazed in Egypt. The ink is very thick and gummy. Reeds are used instead of pens; and they suit the Arabic character much better. The Arab, in writing, places the paper upon his knee, or upon the palm of his left hand, or upon what is called a “misned′eh,” composed of a dozen or more pieces of paper attached together at the four corners, and resembling a thin book, which he rests on his knee. His ink and pens are contained in a receptacle called “dawáyeh,” mentioned in the first chapter of this work, together with the penknife, and an ivory instrument (“mikattah”) upon which the pen is laid to be nibbed. He rules his paper by laying under it a piece of pasteboard with strings strained and glued across it (called a “mistar′ah”), and slightly pressing it over each string. Scissors are included among the apparatus of a writer: they are used for cutting the paper; a torn edge being considered as unbecoming. In Cairo there are many persons who obtain their livelihood by copying manuscripts. The expense of writing a karrás of twenty pages, quarto size, with about twenty-five lines to a page, in an ordinary hand, is about three piasters (or a little more than sevenpence of our money); but more if in an elegant hand; and about double the sum if with the vowel points, etc.
In Egypt, and particularly in its metropolis, those youths or men who purpose to devote themselves to religious employments, or to any of the learned professions, mostly pursue a course of study in the great mosque El-Azhar, having previously learned nothing more than to read, and, perhaps, to write, and to recite the Kur-án. The Azhar, which is regarded as the principal university[332] of the East, is an extensive building, surrounding a large, square court. On one side of this court, the side towards Mekkeh, is the chief place of prayer, a spacious portico; on each of the other three sides are smaller porticoes, divided into a number of apartments, called “riwáks,” each of which is destined for the use of natives of a particular country, or of a particular province of Egypt. This building is situated within the metropolis. It is not remarkable in point of architecture, and is so surrounded by houses that very little of it is seen externally. The students are called “mugáwireen.”[333] Each riwák has a library for the use of its members; and from the books which it contains, and the lectures of the professors, the students acquire their learning. The regular subjects of study are grammatical inflexion and syntax, rhetoric, versification, logic, theology, the exposition of the Kur-án, the Traditions of the Prophet, the complete science of jurisprudence, or rather of religious, moral, civil, and criminal law, which is chiefly founded on the Kur-án and the Traditions, together with arithmetic, as far as it is useful in matters of law. Lectures are also given on algebra, and on the calculations of the Mohammadan calendar, the times of prayer, etc. Different books are read by students of different sects. Most of the students, being natives of Cairo, are of the Sháfe’ee sect; and always the Sheykh, or head of the mosque, is of this sect. None of the students pay for the instruction they receive, being mostly of the poorer classes. Most of those who are strangers, having riwáks appropriated to them, receive a daily allowance of food, provided from funds chiefly arising from the rents of houses bequeathed for their maintenance. Those of Cairo and its neighbourhood used to receive a similar allowance; but this they no longer enjoy, excepting during the month of Ramadán; for the present Básha of Egypt has taken possession of all the cultivable land which belonged to the mosques; and thus the Azhar has lost the greater portion of the property which it possessed: nothing but the expenses of necessary repairs, and the salaries of its principal officers, are provided for by the government. The professors also receive no salaries. Unless they inherit property, or have relations to maintain them, they have no regular means of subsistence but teaching in private houses, copying books, etc.; but they sometimes receive presents from the wealthy. Any person who is competent to the task may become a professor by obtaining a licence from the Sheykh of the mosque. The students mostly obtain their livelihood by the same means as the professors, or by reciting the Kur-án in private houses, and at the tombs and other places. When sufficiently advanced in their studies, some of them become kádees, muftees, imáms of mosques, or schoolmasters, in their native villages or towns, or in Cairo; others enter into trade; some remain all their lifetime studying in the Azhar, and aspire to be ranked among the higher ’Ulama. Since the confiscation of the lands which belonged to the Azhar, the number of that class of students to whom no endowed riwák is appropriated has very much decreased. The number of students, including all classes excepting the blind, is (as I am informed by one of the professors) about one thousand five hundred.[334]
There is a chapel (called “Záwiyet el-’Omyán,” or the Chapel of the Blind), adjacent to the eastern angle of the Azhar, and one of the dependencies of that mosque, where at present about three hundred poor blind men, most of whom are students, are maintained from funds bequeathed for that purpose. These blind men often conduct themselves in a most rebellious and violent manner; they are notorious for such conduct and for their fanaticism. A short time ago, a European traveller entering the Azhar, and his presence there being buzzed about, the blind men eagerly inquired, “Where is the infidel?” adding, “We will kill him!” and groping about at the same time to feel and lay hold of him; they were the only persons who seemed desirous of showing any violence to the intruder. Before the accession of the present Básha, they often behaved in a very outrageous manner whenever they considered themselves oppressed, or scanted in their allowance of food; they would, on these occasions, take a few guides, go about with staves, seize the turbans of passengers in the streets, and plunder the shops. The most celebrated of the present professors in the Azhar, the sheykh El-Kuweysinee,[335] who is himself blind, being appointed, a few years ago, Sheykh of the Záwiyet el-’Omyán, as soon as he entered upon his office, caused every one of the blind men there to be flogged; but they rose against him, bound him, and inflicted upon him a flogging far more severe than that which they had themselves endured, and obliged him to give up his office.
Learning was in a much more flourishing state in Cairo before the entrance of the French army than it has been in later years. It suffered severely from this invasion, not through direct oppression, but in consequence of the panic which this event occasioned and the troubles by which it was followed. Before that period, a sheykh who had studied in the Azhar, if he had only two boys, sons of a moderately rich felláh, to educate, lived in luxury: his two pupils served him, cleaned his house, prepared his food, and, though they partook of it with him, were his menial attendants at every time but that of eating: they followed him whenever he went out, carried his shoes (and often kissed them when they took them off) on his entering a mosque, and in every case treated him with the honour due to a prince. He was then distinguished by an ample dress and the large formal turban called a mukleh; and as he passed along the street, whether on foot or mounted on an ass or mule, passengers often pressed towards him to implore a short ejaculatory prayer on their behalf; and he who succeeded in obtaining this wish believed himself especially blessed: if he passed by a Frank riding, the latter was obliged to dismount; if he went to a butcher to procure some meat (for he found it best to do so, and not to send another), the butcher refused to make any charge, but kissed his hand, and received as an honour and a blessing whatever he chose to give.—The condition of a man of this profession is now so fallen that it is with difficulty he can obtain a scanty subsistence unless possessed of extraordinary talent.
The Muslim ’ulama are certainly much fettered in the pursuit of some of the paths of learning by their religion; and superstition sometimes decides a point which has been controverted for centuries. There is one singular means of settling a contention on any point of faith, science, or fact, of which I must give an instance. The following anecdote was related to me by the Imám of the late Muftee (the sheykh El-Mahdee): I wrote it in Arabic, at his dictation, and shall here translate his words. The sheykh Mohammad El-Baháee (a learned man, whom the vulgar regard as a “welee,” or especial favourite of heaven) was attending the lectures of the sheykh El-Emeer El-Kebeer (sheykh of the sect of the Málikees), when the professor read, from the Gámë’ es-Sagheer[336] of Es-Suyootee, this saying of the Prophet: “Verily El-Hasan and El-Hoseyn are the two lords of the youths of the people of Paradise, in Paradise;” and proceeded to remark, in his lecture, after having given a summary of the history of El-Hasan and El-Hoseyn, that, as to the common opinion of the people of Masr (or Cairo) respecting the head of El-Hoseyn, holding it to be in the famous Mesh-hed in this city (the mosque of the Hasaneyn), it was without foundation; not being established by any credible authority. “I was affected,” says Mohammad El-Baháee, “with excessive grief, by this remark; since I believed what is believed by people of integrity and of intuition, that the noble head was in this Mesh-hed; and I entertained no doubt of it: but I would not oppose the sheykh El-Emeer, on account of his high reputation and extensive knowledge. The lecture terminated, and I went away, weeping; and when night overshaded the earth, I rose upon my feet, praying and humbly supplicating my Lord, and betaking myself to His most noble apostle (God favour and preserve him!), begging that I might see him in my sleep, and that he would inform me in my sleep of the truth of the matter concerning the place of the noble head. And I dreamed that I was walking on the way to visit the celebrated Mesh-hed El-Hoseynee in Masr, and that I approached the kubbeh,[337] and saw in it a spreading light, which filled it: and I entered its door, and found a shereef standing by the door; and I saluted him, and he returned my salutation, and said to me, ‘Salute the Apostle of God (God favour and preserve him!);’ and I looked towards the kibleh,[338] and saw the Prophet (God favour and preserve him!) sitting upon a throne, and a man standing on his right, and another man standing on his left: and I raised my voice, saying, ‘Blessing and peace be on thee, O Apostle of God!’ and I repeated this several times, weeping as I did it: and I heard the Apostle of God (God favour and preserve him!) say to me, ‘Approach, O my son! O Mohammad!’ Then the first man took me, and conducted me towards the Prophet (God favour and preserve him!) and placed me before his noble hands; and I saluted him, and he returned my salutation, and said to me, ‘God recompense thee for thy visit to the head of El-Hoseyn my son.’ I said, ‘O Apostle of God, is the head of El-Hoseyn here?’ He answered, ‘Yes, it is here.’ And I became cheerful: grief fled from me; and my heart was strengthened. Then I said, ‘O Apostle of God, I will relate to thee what my sheykh and my preceptor El-Emeer hath affirmed in his lecture:’ and I repeated to him the words of the sheykh: and he (God favour and preserve him!) looked down, and then raised his head, and said, ‘The copyists are excused.’ I awoke from my sleep joyful and happy: but I found that much remained of the night; and I became impatient of its length; longing for the morn to shine, that I might go to the sheykh, and relate to him the dream, in the hope that he might believe me. When the morn arose, I prayed, and went to the house of the sheykh; but found the door shut. I knocked it violently; and the porter came in alarm, asking, ‘Who is that?’ but when he knew me, for he had known my abode from the sheykh, he opened the door to me: if it had been another person, he would have beaten him. I entered the court of the house, and began to call out, ‘My Master! My Master!’ The sheykh awoke, and asked, ‘Who is that?’ I answered, ‘It is I, thy pupil, Mohammad El-Baháee!’ The sheykh was in wonder at my coming at this time, and exclaimed, ‘God’s perfection! What is this? What is the news?’ thinking that some great event had happened among the people. He then said to me, ‘Wait while I pray.’ I did not sit down until the sheykh came down to the hall; when he said to me, ‘Come up:’ and I went up, and neither saluted him, nor kissed his hand, from the effect of the dream which I had seen; but said, ‘The head of El-Hoseyn is in this well-known mesh-hed in Masr: there is no doubt of it.’ The sheykh said, ‘What proof have you of that? If it be a true record, adduce it.’ I said, ‘From a book, I have none.’ The sheykh said, ‘Hast thou seen a vision?’ I replied, ‘Yes;’ and I related it to him; and informed him that the Apostle of God (God favour and preserve him!) had acquainted me that the man who was standing by the door was ’Alee the son of Aboo-Tálib, and that he who was on the right of the Prophet, by the throne, was Aboo-Bekr, and that he on his left was ’Omar the son of El-Khattáb; and that they had come to visit the head of the Imám El-Hoseyn. The sheykh rose, and took me by the hand, and said, ‘Let us go and visit the Mesh-hed El-Hoseynee;’ and when he entered the kubbeh, he said, ‘Peace be on thee, O son of the daughter of the Apostle of God! I believe that the noble head is here, by reason of the vision which this person has seen; for the vision of the Prophet is true; since He hath said, “Whoso seeth Me in his sleep seeth Me truly; for Satan cannot assume the similitude of My form.”’ Then the sheykh said to me, ‘Thou hast believed, and I have believed: for these lights are not illusive.’”—The above-quoted tradition of the Prophet has often occasioned other points of dispute to be settled in the same manner, by a dream; and when the dreamer is a person of reputation, no one ventures to contend against him.
The remark made at the commencement of this chapter implies that there are, in the present day, many learned men in the metropolis of Egypt; and there are some also in other towns of this country. One of the most celebrated of the modern ’Ulama of Cairo is the sheykh Hasan El-’Attár, who is the present sheykh of the Azhar. In theology and jurisprudence, he is not so deeply versed as some of his contemporaries, particularly the sheykh El-Kuweysinee, whom I have before mentioned; but he is eminently accomplished in polite literature. He is the author of an “Insha,” or an excellent collection of Arabic letters, on various subjects, which are intended as models of epistolary style. This work has been printed at Boolák. In mentioning its author, I fulfil a promise which he condescended to ask of me: supposing that I should publish, in my own country, some account of the people of Cairo, he desired me to state that I was acquainted with him, and to give my opinion of his acquirements.—The sheykh Mohammad Shiháb is also deservedly celebrated as an accomplished Arabic scholar, and elegant poet. His affability and wit attract to his house, every evening, a few friends, whose pleasures, on these occasions, I sometimes participate. We are received in a small, but very comfortable room: each of us takes his own pipe; and coffee alone is presented to us: the sheykh’s conversation is the most delightful banquet that he can offer us.—There are also several other persons in Cairo who enjoy considerable reputation as philologists and poets.—The sheykh ’Abd-Er-Rahmán El-Gabartee, another modern author, and a native of Cairo, particularly deserves to be mentioned, as having written a very excellent history of the events which have taken place in Egypt since the commencement of the twelfth century of the Flight.[339] He died in 1825, or 1826, soon after my first arrival in Cairo. His family was of El-Gabart (also called Ez-Zeyla’), a province of Abyssinia, bordering on the ocean. The Gabartees (or natives of that country) are Muslims. They have a riwák (or apartment appropriated to such of them as wish to study) in the Azhar; and there is a similar provision for them at Mekkeh, and also at El-Medeeneh.
The works of the ancient Arab poets were but imperfectly understood (in consequence of many words contained in them having become obsolete) between two and three centuries, only, after the time of Mohammad: it must not therefore be inferred, from what has been said in the preceding paragraph, that persons able to explain the most difficult passages of the early Arab authors are now to be found in Cairo, or elsewhere. There are, however, many in Egypt who are deeply versed in Arabic Grammar, rhetoric, and polite literature; though the sciences mostly pursued in this country are theology and jurisprudence. Few of the ’ulama of Egypt are well acquainted with the history of their own nation; much less with that of other people.
The literary acquirements of those who do not belong to the classes who make literature their profession are of a very inferior kind. Many of the wealthy tradespeople are well instructed in the arts of reading and writing; but few of them devote much time to the pursuit of literature. Those who have committed to memory the whole, or considerable portions, of the Kur-án, and can recite two or three celebrated “kaseedehs” (or short poems), or introduce, now and then, an apposite quotation in conversation, are considered accomplished persons. Many of the tradesmen of Cairo can neither read nor write, or can only read; and are obliged to have recourse to a friend to write their accounts, letters, etc.: but these persons generally cast accounts, and make intricate calculations, mentally, with surprising rapidity and correctness.
It is a very prevalent notion among the Christians of Europe, that the Muslims are enemies to almost every branch of knowledge. This is an erroneous idea; but it is true that their studies, in the present age, are confined within very narrow limits. Very few of them study medicine, chemistry (for our first knowledge of which we are indebted to the Arabs), the mathematics, or astronomy. The Egyptian medical and surgical practitioners are mostly barbers, miserably ignorant of the sciences which they profess, and unskilful in their practice; partly in consequence of their being prohibited by their religion from availing themselves of the advantage of dissecting human bodies. But a number of young men, natives of Egypt, are now receiving European instruction in medicine, anatomy, surgery, and other sciences, for the service of the Government. Many of the Egyptians, in illness, neglect medical aid; placing their whole reliance on Providence or charms. Alchemy is more studied in this country than pure chemistry; and astrology, more than astronomy. The astrolabe and quadrant are almost the only astronomical instruments used in Egypt. Telescopes are rarely seen here; and the magnetic needle is seldom employed, excepting to discover the direction of Mekkeh; for which purpose, convenient little compasses (called “kibleeyehs”), showing the direction of the kibleh at various large towns in different countries, are constructed, mostly at Dimyát: many of these have a dial, which shows the time of noon, and also that of the ’asr at different places and different seasons. Those persons in Egypt who profess to have considerable knowledge of astronomy are generally blind to the true principles of the science: to say that the earth revolves round the sun, they consider absolute heresy. Pure astronomy they make chiefly subservient to their computations of the calendar.
The Muslim year consists of twelve lunar months; the names of which are pronounced by the Egyptians in the following manner:—
1. Moharram. 2. Safar. 3. Rabeea el-Owwal. 4. Rabeea et-Tánee. 5. Gumád el-Owwal, or Gumáda-l-Oola. 6. Gumád et-Tánee, or Gumáda-t-Tániyeh. 7. Regeb. 8. Shaabán. 9. Ramadán. 10. Showwál. 11. Zu-l-Kaadeh, or El-Kaadeh. 12. Zu-l-Heggeh, or El-Heggeh.[340]
Each of these months retrogrades through all the different seasons of the solar year in the period of about thirty-three years and a half: consequently, they are only used for fixing the anniversaries of most religious festivals, and for the dates of historical events, letters, etc.; and not in matters relating to astronomy or the seasons. In the latter cases, the Coptic months are still in general use.
With their modern names I give the corresponding periods of our calendar:—
1. Toot commences on the 10th or 11th of Sept. 2. Bábeh ” ” 10th or 11th of Oct. 3. Hátoor ” ” 9th or 10th of Nov. 4. Kiyahk (vulg. Kiyák) ” ” 9th or 10th of Dec. 5. Toobeh ” ” 8th or 9th of Jan. 6. Amsheer ” ” 7th or 8th of Feb. 7. Barmahát ” ” 9th of March. 8. Barmoodeh ” ” 8th of April. 9. Beshens ” ” 8th of May. 10. Ba-ooneh ” ” 7th of June. 11. Ebeeb ” ” 7th of July. 12. Misra ” ” 6th of August.
The Eiyám en-Nesee (Intercalary days), five or six days, complete the year.
These months, it will be observed, are of thirty days each. Five intercalary days are added at the end of three successive years; and six at the end of the fourth year. The Coptic leap-year immediately precedes ours: therefore the Coptic year begins on the 11th of September only when it is the next after their leap-year; or when our next ensuing year is a leap-year; and, consequently, after the following February, the corresponding days of the Coptic and our months will be the same as in other years. The Copts begin their reckoning from the era of Diocletian, A.D. 284.
In Egypt, and other Muslim countries, from sunset to sunset is reckoned as the civil day; the night being classed with the day which follows it: thus the night before Friday is called the night of Friday. Sunset is twelve o’clock: an hour after sunset, one o’clock; two hours, two o’clock; and so on to twelve; after twelve o’clock in the morning, the hours are again named one, two, three, and so on.[341] The Egyptians wind up and (if necessary) set their watches at sunset; or rather, a few minutes after; generally when they hear the call to evening-prayer. Their watches, according to this system of reckoning from sunset, to be always quite correct, should be set every evening, as the days vary in length.
The following Table shows the times of Muslim prayer,[342] with the apparent European time of sunset, in and near the latitude of Cairo, at the commencement of each zodiacal month:—
┌───────────────────┬───────────────┬───────┬──────────┬───────┬───── │ │ Sunset. │ ’Eshë │Day-break.│ Noon. │ ’Asr. │ ├───────────────────┼───────┬───────┼───────┼───────┬──┴────┬──┴────┐ │ │ Mo.T.│ Eur.T.│ Mo.T.│ Mo.T.│ Mo.T.│ Mo.T.│ │ │ h. m.│ h. m.│ h. m.│ h. m.│ h. m.│ h. m.│ │ June 21 │ 12 0│ 7 4│ 1 34│ 8 6│ 4 56│ 8 31│ │ July 22│ May 21│ 12 0│ 6 53│ 1 30│ 8 30│ 5 7│ 8 43│ │ Aug. 23│ Apr. 20│ 12 0│ 6 31│ 1 22│ 9 24│ 5 29│ 9 4│ │ Sept. 23│ Mar. 20│ 12 0│ 6 4│ 1 18│ 10 24│ 5 56│ 9 24│ │ Oct. 23│ Feb. 18│ 12 0│ 5 37│ 1 18│ 11 18│ 6 23│ 9 35│ │ Nov. 22│ Jan. 20│ 12 0│ 5 15│ 1 22│ 11 59│ 6 45│ 9 41│ │ Dec. 21 │ 12 0│ 5 4│ 1 24│ 12 15│ 6 56│ 9 43│ └───────────────────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴───────┘
A pocket almanack is annually printed at the government-press at Boolák.[343] It comprises the period of a solar year, commencing and terminating with the vernal equinox; and gives, for every day, the day of the week, and of the Mohammadan, Coptic, Syrian, and European months; together with the sun’s place in the zodiac, and the time of sunrise, noon, and the ’asr. It is prefaced with a summary of the principal eras and feast-days of the Muslims, Copts, and others; and remarks and notices relating to the seasons. Subjoined to it is a calendar containing physical, agricultural, and other notices for every day in the year; mentioning eclipses, etc.; and comprising much matter suited to the superstitions of the people. It is the work of Yahya Efendee, originally a Christian priest of Syria; but now a Muslim.
Of Geography, the Egyptians in general, and, with very few exceptions, the best instructed among them, have scarcely any knowledge: having no good maps, they are almost wholly ignorant of the relative situations of the several great countries of Europe. Some few of the learned venture to assert that the earth is a globe; but they are opposed by a great majority of the ’Ulama. The common opinion of all classes of Muslims is, that our earth is an almost plane expanse, surrounded by the ocean,[344] which, they say, is encompassed by a chain of mountains called “Káf.” They believe it to be the uppermost of seven earths; and in like manner they believe that there are seven heavens, one above another.
Such being the state of science among the modern Egyptians, the reader will not be surprised at finding the present chapter followed by a long account of their superstitions; a knowledge of which is necessary to enable him to understand their character, and to make due allowances for many of its faults. We may hope for, and, indeed, reasonably expect, a very great improvement in the intellectual and moral state of this people, in consequence of the introduction of European sciences, by which their present ruler has, in some degree, made amends for his oppressive sway; but it is not probable that this hope will be soon realized to any considerable extent.[345]
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Footnote 329:
It seems probable that the Arabs of Egypt have retained, in this case, a pronunciation which was common, if not almost universal, with their ancestors in Asia.—See De Sacy’s Grammaire Arabe, 2nde ed., tome i., pp. 17 and 18.
Footnote 330:
The Arabs began to simplify their spoken language in the first century of the Flight, in consequence of their spreading among foreigners, who could not generally acquire the difficult language which their conquerors had hitherto used. For a proof of this, see “Abulfedæ Annales Muslemici, Arab. et Lat.” vol. i. pp. 432 and 434.
Footnote 331:
These are natives. There are also a few Turkish booksellers.
Footnote 332:
The Azhar is not called a “university” with strict propriety; but is regarded as such by the Muslims, as whatever they deem worthy of the name of science, or necessary to be known, is taught within its walls. Its name has been translated by European travellers, “the Mosque of Flowers,” as though it had been called “Gámë’ el-Azhár,” instead of “El-Gámë’ el-Azhar,” which is its proper appellation, and signifies “the Splendid Mosque.” It is the first, with respect to the period of its foundation, as well as in size, of all the mosques within the original limits of the city.—The preceding portion of this note (which was inserted in the first edition of the present work) appears to have escaped the notice of Baron Hammer-Purgstall, for he has remarked (in the Vienna “Jahrbücher der Literatur,” lxxxi. Bd., p. 71) that, instead of “Azhar,” I should have written, in this case, “Esher” [or “Ezher”]; the former, he says, signifying “flowers.” The name of the mosque in question (synonymous with “neiyir,” or “splendid,” etc.) is pronounced by almost all the natives of Egypt, and the Arabs in general, as I have written it, “Azhar,” with the accent on the first syllable; and the plural of “zahreh” (a flower), “azhár;” but by the Turks the former word is pronounced “ezher.”
Footnote 333:
In the singular, “mugáwir.”
Footnote 334:
Many persons say that their number is not less than three thousand; others, not more than one thousand. It varies very much at different times.
Footnote 335:
Since this was written he became Sheykh of the Azhar.
Footnote 336:
A celebrated compendious collection of the Traditions of the Prophet.
Footnote 337:
The saloon of the tomb.
Footnote 338:
That is, towards the niche which marks the direction of Mekkeh.
Footnote 339:
The twelfth century of the Flight commenced on the 16th or 17th of October, A.D. 1688.
Footnote 340:
It is the general opinion of our chronologers, that the first day of the Muslim era of “the Flight” (in Arabic, “el-Hijrah,” or, as it is pronounced by most of the Egyptians, “el-Higreh,” more correctly translated “the Emigration”) was Friday, the 16th of July, A.D. 622. It must be remarked, that the Arabs generally commence each month on the night on which the new moon is first actually seen; and this night is, in most cases, the second, but sometimes and in some places the third, after the true period of the new moon: if, however, the moon is not seen on the second or third night, the month is commenced on the latter. The new moon of July, A.D. 622, happened between five and six o’clock in the morning of the 14th: therefore the 16th was most probably the first day of the era. This era does not commence from the day on which the Prophet departed from Mekkeh (as supposed by most of our authors who have mentioned this subject), but from the first day of the moon or month of Moharram preceding that event. It is said that Mohammad, after he had remained three days concealed in a cave near Mekkeh, with Aboo-Bekr began his journey, or “the flight,” to El-Medeeneh, on the ninth day of the third month (Rabeea el-Owwal), sixty-eight days after the commencement of the era. Thus the first two months are made of thirty days each, which is often the case when the calculation from the actual sight of the new moon is followed; and the flight itself, from the cave, may be inferred to have commenced on the 22nd of September. It may be added, that this record, by showing that each of the first two months consisted of thirty days, strengthens the supposition that the era commenced on the 16th of July. On the eve of the 15th, the moon was not visible.
Footnote 341:
Consequently the time of noon according to Mohammadan reckoning, on any particular day, subtracted from twelve, gives the apparent time of sunset, on that day, according to European reckoning.
Footnote 342:
The periods of the ’eshë, daybreak, and ’asr, are here given according to the reckoning most commonly followed in Egypt. (See the chapter on religion and laws.) Mo. T. denotes Mohammadan Time: Eur. T., European Time.
Footnote 343:
More than a hundred books have been printed at this press: most of them for the use of the military, naval, and civil servants of the government.
Footnote 344:
As the Greeks believed in the age of Homer and Hesiod.
Footnote 345:
It has been justly remarked, by Baron Hammer-Purgstall, that the present chapter of this work is very deficient. I should gladly have made its contents more ample, had I not felt myself obliged to consult the taste of the general reader, upon whose patience I fear I have already trespassed to too great an extent by the insertion of much matter calculated to interest only Orientalists. With respect to recent innovations, I have made but few and brief remarks in this work, in consequence of my having found the lights of European science almost exclusively confined to those servants of the Government, who have been compelled to study under Frank instructors, and European customs adopted by scarcely any persons excepting a few Turks. Some Egyptians who had studied for a few years in France declared to me that they could not instil any of the notions which they had there acquired even into the minds of their most intimate friends.
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X. SUPERSTITIONS
The Arabs are a very superstitious people; and none of them are more so than those of Egypt. Many of their superstitions form a part of their religion; being sanctioned by the Kur-án; and the most prominent of these is the belief in “Ginn,” or Genii—in the singular, “Ginnee.”
The Ginn are said to be of preadamite origin, and, in their general properties, an intermediate class of beings between angels and men, but inferior in dignity to both, created of fire, and capable of assuming the forms and material fabric of men, brutes, and monsters, and of becoming invisible at pleasure. They eat and drink, propagate their species (like, or in conjunction with, human beings), and are subject to death; though they generally live many centuries. Their principal abode is in the chain of mountains called “Káf,” which are believed to encompass the whole earth: as mentioned near the close of the preceding chapter. Some are believers in El-Islám: others are infidels: the latter are what are also called “Sheytáns,” or devils; of whom Iblees (that is, Satan, or the devil) is the chief: for it is the general and best-supported opinion, that he (like the other devils) is a ginnee, as he was created of fire; whereas the angels are created of light, and are impeccable. Of both the classes of genii, good and evil, the Arabs stand in great awe; and for the former they entertain a high degree of respect. It is a common custom of this people, on pouring water, etc., on the ground, to exclaim, or mutter, “Destoor;” that is, to ask the permission, or crave the pardon, of any ginnee that may chance to be there: for the ginn are supposed to pervade the solid matter of the earth, as well as the firmament, where, approaching the confines of the lowest heaven, they often listen to the conversation of the angels respecting future things, thus enabling themselves to assist diviners and magicians. They are also believed to inhabit rivers, ruined houses, wells, baths, ovens, and even the latrina: hence, persons, when they enter the latter place, and when they let down a bucket into a well, or light a fire, and on other occasions, say, “Permission!” or “Permission, ye blessed!”—which words, in the case of entering the latrina, they sometimes preface with a prayer for God’s protection against all evil spirits; but in doing this, some persons are careful not to mention the name of God after they have entered (deeming it improper in such a place), and only say, “I seek refuge with Thee from the male and female devils.” These customs present a commentary on the story in the “Thousand and One Nights,” in which a merchant is described as having killed a ginnee by throwing aside the stone of a date which he had just eaten. In the same story, and in others of the same collection, a ginnee is represented as approaching in a whirlwind of sand or dust; and it is the general belief of the Arabs of Egypt, that the “zóba’ah,” or whirlwind which raises the sand or dust in the form of a pillar of prodigious height, and which is so often seen sweeping across the fields and deserts of this country, is caused by the flight of one of these beings; or, in other words, that the ginnee “rides in the whirlwind.”[346] A charm is usually uttered by the Egyptians to avert the zóba’ah, when it seems to be approaching them: some of them exclaim, “Iron, thou unlucky!”—as genii are supposed to have a great dread of that metal: others endeavour to drive away the monster by exclaiming, “God is most great!” What we call a “falling star” (and which the Arabs term “shilháb”) is commonly believed to be a dart thrown by God at an evil ginnee; and the Egyptians, when they see it, exclaim, “May God transfix the enemy of the faith!” The evil ginnees are commonly termed “’Efreets;” and one of this class is mentioned in the Kur-án in these words, “An ’efreet of the ginn answered” (chap. xxvii. ver. 39): which words Sale translates, “A terrible genius answered.” They are generally believed to differ from the other ginn in being very powerful, and always malicious; but to be, in other respects, of a similar nature. An evil ginnee of the most powerful class is called a “Márid.”
Connected with the history of the ginn are many fables not acknowledged by the Kur-án, and therefore not credited by the more sober Muslims, but only by the less instructed. All agree that the ginn were created before mankind; but some distinguish another class of preadamite beings of a similar nature. It is commonly believed that the earth was inhabited, before the time of Adam, by a race of beings differing from ourselves in form, and much more powerful; and that forty (or, according to some, seventy-two) preadamite kings, each of whom bore the name of Suleymán (or Solomon), successively governed this people. The last of these Suleymáns was named Gánn Ibn-Gánn; and from him, some think, the ginn (who are also called “gánn”)[347] derive their name. Hence, some believe the ginn to be the same with the preadamite race here mentioned: but others assert that they (the ginn) were a distinct class of beings, and brought into subjection by the other race.
Ginnees are believed often to assume, or perpetually to wear, the shapes of cats, dogs, and other brute animals. The sheykh Khaleel El-Medábighee, one of the most celebrated of the ′ulama of Egypt, and author of several works on various sciences, who died, at a very advanced age, during the period of my former visit to this country, used to relate the following anecdote.—He had, he said, a favourite black cat, which always slept at the foot of his musquito-curtain. Once, at midnight, he heard a knocking at the door of his house; and his cat went, and opened the hanging shutter of his window, and called, “Who is there?” A voice replied, “I am such a one” (mentioning a strange name) “the ginnee: open the door.” “The lock,” said the sheykh′s cat, “has had the name [of God] pronounced upon it.”[348] “Then throw me down,” said the other, “two cakes of bread.” “The bread-basket,” answered the cat at the window, “has had the name pronounced upon it” “Well,” said the stranger, “at least give me a draught of water.” But he was answered that the water-jar had been secured in the same manner; and asked what he was to do, seeing that he was likely to die of hunger and thirst: the sheykh′s cat told him to go to the door of the next house; and went there also himself, and opened the door, and soon after returned. Next morning the sheykh deviated from a habit which he had constantly observed: he gave, to the cat, half of the fateereh upon which he breakfasted, instead of a little morsel, which he was wont to give; and afterwards said, “O my cat, thou knowest that I am a poor man: bring me, then, a little gold:” upon which words, the cat immediately disappeared, and he saw it no more.—Ridiculous as stories of this kind really are, it is impossible, without relating one or more, to convey a just notion of the opinions of the people whom I am attempting to describe.
It is commonly affirmed, that malicious or disturbed genii very often station themselves on the roofs, or at the windows, of houses in Cairo, and other towns of Egypt, and throw bricks and stones down into the streets and courts. A few days ago, I was told of a case of this kind, which had alarmed the people in the main street of the metropolis for a whole week; many bricks having been thrown down from some of the houses every day during this period, but nobody killed or wounded. I went to the scene of these pretended pranks of the genii, to witness them, and to make inquiries on the subject; but on my arrival there, I was told that the “regm” (that is, the throwing) had ceased. I found no one who denied the throwing down of the bricks, or doubted that it was the work of genii; and the general remark, on mentioning the subject, was, “God preserve us from their evil doings!”
One of my friends observed to me, on this occasion, that he had met with some Englishmen who disbelieved in the existence of genii; but he concluded that they had never witnessed a public performance, though common in their country, of which he had since heard, called “kumedyeh” (or comedy); by which term he meant to include all theatrical performances. Addressing one of his countrymen, and appealing to me for the confirmation of his words, he then said—“An Algerine, a short time ago, gave me an account of a spectacle of this kind which he had seen in London.”—Here his countryman interrupted him, by asking, “Is not England in London? or is London a town in England?”—My friend, with diffidence, and looking to me, answered that London was the metropolis of England; and then resumed the subject of the theatre.—“The house,” said he, “in which the spectacle was exhibited cannot be described: it was of a round form, with many benches on the floor, and closets all round, in rows, one above another, in which people of the higher classes sat; and there was a large square aperture, closed with a curtain. When the house was full of people, who paid large sums of money to be admitted, it suddenly became very dark: it was night; and the house had been lighted up with a great many lamps; but these became almost entirely extinguished, all at the same time, without being touched by anybody. Then the great curtain was drawn up: they heard the roaring of the sea and wind; and indistinctly perceived, through the gloom, the waves rising and foaming, and lashing the shore. Presently a tremendous peal of thunder was heard, after a flash of lightning had clearly shown to the spectators the agitated sea: and then there fell a heavy shower of real rain. Soon after, the day broke; the sea became more plainly visible; and two ships were seen in the distance: they approached, and fought each other, firing their cannons; and a variety of other extraordinary scenes were afterwards exhibited. Now it is evident,” added my friend, “that such wonders must have been the works of genii, or at least performed by their assistance.”—He could not be convinced of his error by my explanations of these phenomena.
During the month of Ramadán, the genii, it is said, are confined in prison; and hence, on the eve of the festival which follows that month, some of the women of Egypt, with the view of preventing these objects of dread from entering their houses, sprinkle salt upon the floors of the apartments; saying, as they do it, “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.”
A curious relic of ancient Egyptian superstition must here be mentioned. It is believed that each quarter in Cairo has its peculiar guardian-genius, or Agathodæmon, which has the form of a serpent.
The ancient tombs of Egypt, and the dark recesses of the temples, are commonly believed, by the people of this country, to be inhabited by ′efreets. I found it impossible to persuade one of my servants to enter the Great Pyramid with me, from his having this idea. Many of the Arabs ascribe the erection of the Pyramids, and all the most stupendous remains of antiquity in Egypt, to Gánn Ibn-Gánn, and his servants, the ginn; conceiving it impossible that they could have been raised by human hands.
The term ′efreet is commonly applied rather to an evil ginnee than any other being; but the ghosts of dead persons are also called by this name; and many absurd stories are related of them; and great are the fears which they inspire. There are some persons, however, who hold them in no degree of dread.—I had once a humorous cook, who was somewhat addicted to the intoxicating hasheesh: soon after he had entered my service, I heard him, one evening, muttering and exclaiming on the stairs, as if in surprise at some event; and then politely saying, “But why are you sitting here in the draught?—Do me the favour to come up into the kitchen, and amuse me with your conversation a little.” The civil address, not being answered, was repeated and varied several times; till I called out to the man, and asked him to whom he was speaking. “The ′efreet of a Turkish soldier,” he replied, “is sitting on the stairs, smoking his pipe, and refuses to move: he came up from the well below: pray step and see him.” On my going to the stairs, and telling the servant that I could see nothing, he only remarked that it was because I had a clear conscience. He was told, afterwards, that the house had long been haunted; but asserted that he had not been previously informed of the supposed cause; which was the fact of a Turkish soldier having been murdered there. My cook professed to see this ′efreet frequently after.
The existence of “Ghools” likewise obtains almost universal credence among the modern Egyptians, in common with several other Eastern nations. These beings are generally believed to be a class of evil ginnees, and are said to appear in the forms of various animals, and in many monstrous shapes; to haunt burial-grounds, and other sequestered spots; to feed upon dead bodies; and to kill and devour every human creature who has the misfortune to fall in their way. Hence, the term “ghool” is applied, in general, to any cannibal.
That fancies such as these should exist in the minds of a people so ignorant as those who are the subject of these pages cannot reasonably excite our surprise. But the Egyptians pay a superstitious reverence not to imaginary beings alone: they extend it to certain individuals of their own species; and often to those who are justly the least entitled to such respect.[349] An idiot or a fool is vulgarly regarded by them as a being whose mind is in heaven, while his grosser part mingles among ordinary mortals; consequently, he is considered an especial favourite of heaven. Whatever enormities a reputed saint may commit (and there are many who are constantly infringing precepts of their religion), such acts do not affect his fame for sanctity: for they are considered as the results of the abstraction of his mind from worldly things; his soul, or reasoning faculties, being wholly absorbed in devotion; so that his passions are left without control. Lunatics who are dangerous to society are kept in confinement; but those who are harmless are generally regarded as saints. Most of the reputed saints of Egypt are either lunatics, or idiots, or impostors. Some of them go about perfectly naked, and are so highly venerated, that the women, instead of avoiding them, sometimes suffer these wretches to take any liberty with them in the public street; and, by the lower orders, are not considered as disgraced by such actions, which, however, are of very rare occurrence. Others are seen clad in a cloak or long coat composed of patches of various coloured cloths, which is called a “dilk,”[350] adorned with numerous strings of beads, wearing a ragged turban, and bearing a staff with shreds of cloth of various colours attached to the top. Some of them eat straw, or a mixture of chopped straw and broken glass; and attract observation by a variety of absurd actions. During my first visit to this country, I often met, in the streets of Cairo, a deformed man, almost naked, with long matted hair, and riding upon an ass, led by another man. On these occasions, he always stopped his beast directly before me, so as to intercept my way, recited the Fat′hah (or opening chapter of the Kur-án), and then held out his hand for an alms. The first time that he thus crossed me, I endeavoured to avoid him; but a person passing by remonstrated with me, observing that the man before me was a saint, and that I ought to respect him, and comply with his demand, lest some misfortune should befall me. Men of this class are supported by alms, which they often receive without asking for them. A reputed saint is commonly called “sheykh,” “murábit,” or “welee.” If affected with lunacy or idiotcy, or of weak intellect, he is also, and more properly, termed “megzoob,” or “mesloob.” “Welee” is an appellation correctly given only to an eminent and very devout saint; and signifies “a favourite of heaven;” but it is so commonly applied to real or pretended idiots, that some wit has given it a new interpretation, as equivalent to “beleed,” which means “a fool” or “simpleton;” remarking that these two terms are equivalent both in sense and in the numerical value of the letters composing them: for “welee” is written with the letters “wä′w,” “lám,” and “yé,” of which the numerical values are 6, 30, and 10, or, together, 46; and “beleed” is written with “bé,” “lám,” “yé,” and “dál,” which are 2, 30, 10, and 4, or, added together, 46. A simpleton is often jestingly called a welee.
The Muslims of Egypt, in common with those of other countries, entertain very curious superstitions respecting the persons whom they call welees. I have often endeavoured to obtain information on the most mysterious of these superstitions; and have generally been answered, “You are meddling with the matters of the ‘tareekah,’” or the religious course of the darweeshes; but I have been freely acquainted with general opinions on these subjects, and such are perhaps all that may be required to be stated in a work like the present: I shall, however, also relate what I have been told by learned persons, and by darweeshes, in elucidation of the popular belief.
In the first place, if a person were to express a doubt as to the existence of true welees, he would be branded with infidelity; and the following passage of the Kur-án would be adduced to condemn him: “Verily, on the favourites[351] of God no fear shall come, nor shall they grieve.”[352] This is considered as sufficient to prove that there is a class of persons distinguished above ordinary human beings. The question then suggests itself, “Who, or of what description are these persons?” and we are answered, “They are persons wholly devoted to God, and possessed of extraordinary faith; and, according to their degree of faith, endowed with the power of performing miracles.”[353]
The most holy of the welees is termed the Kutb; or, according to some persons, there are two who have this title; and again, according to others, four. The term “kutb” signifies an axis; and hence is applied to a welee who rules over others: they depending upon him, and being subservient to him. For the same reason it is applied to temporal rulers, or any person of high authority. The opinion that there are four kutbs, I am told, is a vulgar error, originating from the frequent mention of “the four kutbs,” by which expression are meant the founders of the four most celebrated orders of darweeshes (the Rifá’eeyeh, Kádireeyeh, Ahmedeeyeh, and Baráhimeh); each of whom is believed to have been the kutb of his time. I have also generally been told, that the opinion of there being two kutbs is a vulgar error, founded upon two names, “Kutb el-Hakeekah” (or the Kutb of Truth), and “Kutb el-Ghós” (or the Kutb of Invocation for help), which properly belong to but one person. The term “el-Kutb el-Mutawellee” is applied, by those who believe in but one kutb, to the one ruling at the present time; and by those who believe in two, to the acting kutb. The kutb who exercises a superintendence over all other welees (whether or not there be another kutb—for if there be, he is inferior to the former) has, under his authority, welees of different ranks, to perform different offices; “Nakeebs,” “Negeebs,” “Bedeels,”[354] etc.; who are known only to each other, and perhaps to the rest of the welees, as holding such offices.
The Kutb, it is said, is often seen, but not known as such; and the same is said of all who hold authority under him. He always has a humble demeanour, and mean dress; and mildly reproves those whom he finds acting impiously; particularly such as have a false reputation for sanctity. Though he is unknown to the world, his favourite stations are well known; yet at these places he is seldom visible. It is asserted that he is almost constantly seated at Mekkeh, on the roof of the Kaabeh; and, though never seen there, is always heard at midnight to call twice, “O thou most merciful of those who show mercy!” which cry is then repeated from the mád’nehs of the temple, by the muëddins: but a respectable pilgrim, whom I have just questioned upon this matter, has confessed to me that he himself has witnessed that this cry is made by a regular minister of the mosque; yet that few pilgrims know this: he believes, however, that the roof of the Kaabeh is the chief “markaz” (or station) of the Kutb. Another favourite station of this revered and unknown person is the gate of Cairo called Báb Zuweyleh, which is at the southern extremity of that part of the metropolis which constituted the old city; though now in the heart of the town; for the capital has greatly increased towards the south, as it has also towards the west. From its being a supposed station of this mysterious being, the Báb Zuweyleh is commonly called “El-Mutawellee.”[355] One leaf of its great wooden door (which is never shut), turned back against the eastern side of the interior of the gateway, conceals a small vacant space, which is said to be the place of the Kutb. Many persons, on passing by it, recite the Fát’hah; and some give alms to a beggar who is generally seated there, and who is regarded by the vulgar as one of the servants of the Kutb. Numbers of persons afflicted with head-ache drive a nail into the door, to charm away the pain; and many sufferers from the tooth-ache extract a tooth, and insert it in a crevice of the door, or fix it in some other way, to insure their not being attacked again by the same malady. Some curious individuals often try to peep behind the door, in the vain hope of catching a glimpse of the Kutb, should he happen to be there, and not at the moment invisible. He has also many other stations, but of inferior celebrity, in Cairo; as well as one at the tomb of the seyyid Ahmad El-Bedawee, at Tanta; another at El-Mahalleh (which, as well as Tanta, is in the Delta); and others in other places. He is believed to transport himself from Mekkeh to Cairo in an instant; and so also from any one place to another. Though he has a number of favourite stations, he does not abide solely at these; but wanders throughout the whole world, among persons of every religion, whose appearance, dress, and language he assumes; and distributes to mankind, chiefly through the agency of the subordinate welees, evils and blessings, the awards of destiny. When a Kutb dies, he is immediately succeeded in his office by another.
Many of the Muslims say that Elijah, or Elias, whom the vulgar confound with El-Khidr,[356] was the Kutb of his time; and that he invests the successive kutbs: for they acknowledge that he has never died; asserting him to have drunk of the Fountain of Life. This particular in their superstitious notions respecting the kutbs, combined with some others which I have before mentioned, is very curious when compared with what we are told, in the Bible, of Elijah, of his being transported from place to place by the spirit of God; of his investing Elisha with his miraculous powers, and his offices; and of the subjection of the other prophets to him and to his immediate successor.[357] Some welees renounce the pleasures of the world, and the society of mankind; and, in a desert place, give themselves up to meditation upon heaven, and prayer; depending upon Divine Providence for their support; but their retreat becomes known; and the Arabs daily bring them food. This, again, reminds us of the history of Elijah: for, in the opinion of some critics, we should read, for the word “ravens,” in the fourth and sixth verses of the seventeenth chapter of the second book of Kings, “Arabs:” “I have commanded the Arabs to feed thee”—“And the Arabs brought him bread,” etc.
Certain welees are said to be commissioned by the Kutb to perform offices which, according to the accounts of my informants here, are far from being easy. These are termed “As-háb ed-Darak,” which is interpreted as signifying “watchmen,” or “overseers.” In illustration of their employments, the following anecdote was related to me a few days ago.—A devout tradesman in this city, who was ardently desirous of becoming a welee, applied to a person who was generally believed to belong to this holy class, and implored the latter to assist him to obtain the honour of an interview with the Kutb. The applicant, after having undergone a strict examination as to his motives, was desired to perform the ordinary ablution (el-wudoó), very early the next morning; then to repair to the mosque of El-Mu-eiyad (at an angle of which is the Báb Zuweyleh, or El-Mutawellee, before mentioned), and to lay hold of the first person whom he should see coming out of the great door of this mosque. He did so. The first person who came out was an old, venerable-looking man; but meanly clad; wearing a brown woollen gown (or zaaboot); and this proved to be the Kutb. The candidate kissed his hand, and entreated to be admitted among the As-háb ed-Darak. After much hesitation, the prayer was granted: the Kutb said, “Take charge of the district which consists of the Darb el-Ahmar[358] and its immediate neighbourhood;” and immediately the person thus addressed found himself to be a welee; and perceived that he was acquainted with things concealed from ordinary mortals: for a welee is said to be acquainted by God with all secrets necessary for him to know.—It is commonly said of a welee, that he knows what is secret, or not discoverable by the senses; which seems plainly contradictory to what we read in several places in the Kur-án,—that none knoweth what is secret (or hidden from the senses) but God: the Muslims, however, who are seldom at a loss in a discussion, argue that the passages above alluded to, in the Kur-án, imply the knowledge of secrets in an unrestricted sense; and that God imparts to welees such secrets only as He thinks fit.
The welee above mentioned, as soon as he had entered upon his office, walked through his district; and seeing a man at a shop with a jar full of boiled beans before him, from which he was about to serve his customers as usual, took up a large piece of stone, and with it broke the jar. The bean-seller immediately jumped up, seized hold of a palm stick that lay by his side, and gave the welee a severe beating; but the holy man complained not; nor did he utter a cry: as soon as he was allowed, he walked away. When he was gone, the bean-seller began to try if he could gather up some of the scattered contents of the jar. A portion of the jar remained in its place; and on looking into this, he saw a venomous serpent in it, coiled round, and dead. In horror at what he had done, he exclaimed, “There is no strength or power but in God! I implore forgiveness of God, the Great! What have I done! This man is a welee; and has prevented my selling what would have poisoned my customers.”—He looked at every passenger all that day, in the hope of seeing again the saint whom he had thus injured, that he might implore his forgiveness; but he saw him not; for he was too much bruised to be able to walk. On the following day, however, with his limbs still swollen from the blows he had received, the welee limped through his district, and broke a great jar of milk at a shop not far from that of the bean-seller; and the owner treated him as the bean-seller had done the day before; but while he was beating him, some persons ran up, and stopped his hand, informing him that the person whom he was thus punishing was a welee, and relating to him the affair of the serpent that was found in the jar of beans. “Go, and look,” said they, “in your jar of milk, and you will find, at the bottom of it, something either poisonous or unclean.” He looked; and found, in the remains of the jar, a dead dog.—On the third day, the welee, with the help of a staff, hobbled painfully up the Darb el-Ahmar, and saw a servant carrying, upon his head, a supper-tray covered with dishes of meat, vegetables, and fruit, for a party who were going to take a repast in the country; whereupon he put his staff between the man’s legs, and overthrew him; and the contents of the dishes were scattered in the street. With a mouth full of curses, the servant immediately began to give the saint as severe a thrashing as he himself expected to receive from his disappointed master for this accident; but several persons soon collected around him; and one of these bystanders observed a dog eat a part of the contents of one of the dishes, and, a moment after, fall down dead: he therefore instantly seized the hand of the servant and informed him of this circumstance, which proved that the man whom he had been beating was a welee. Every apology was made to the injured saint, with many prayers for his forgiveness: but he was so disgusted with his new office, that he implored God and the Kutb to release him from it; and, in answer to his solicitations, his supernatural powers were withdrawn, and he returned to his shop, more contented than before.—This story is received as true by the people of Cairo; and therefore I have inserted it: for, in treating of superstitions, we have more to do with opinions than with facts. I am not sure, indeed, that it is altogether false: the supposed saint might have employed persons to introduce the dead serpent and dog into the vessels which he broke. I am told that many a person has obtained the reputation of being a welee by artifices of the kind just mentioned.
There have been many instances, in Egypt, of welees afflicting themselves by austerities similar to those which are often practised by devotees in India. At the present time there is living, in Cairo, a welee who has placed an iron collar round his neck, and chained himself to a wall of his chamber; and it is said that he has been in this state more than thirty years: but some persons assert that he has often been seen to cover himself over with a blanket, as if to sleep, and that the blanket has been removed immediately after, and nobody found beneath it! Stories of this kind are related and believed by persons who, in many respects, are endowed by good sense; and to laugh, or express discredit, on hearing them, would give great offence. I was lately told that a certain welee being beheaded, for a crime of which he was not guilty, his head spoke after it was cut off;[359] and, of another decapitated under similar circumstances, that his blood traced upon the ground, in Arabic characters, the following declaration of his innocence—“I am a welee of God; and have died a martyr.”
It is a very remarkable trait in the character of the people of Egypt and other countries of the East, that Muslims, Christians, and Jews adopt each other’s superstitions, while they abhor the more rational doctrines of each other’s faiths. In sickness, the Muslim sometimes employs Christian and Jewish priests to pray for him: the Christians and Jews, in the same predicament, often called in Muslim saints for the like purpose. Many Christians are in the frequent habit of visiting certain Muslim saints here; kissing their hands; begging their prayers, counsels, or prophecies; and giving them money and other presents.
Though their prophet disclaimed the power of performing miracles, the Muslims attribute to him many; and several miracles are still, they say, constantly or occasionally performed for his sake, as marks of the Divine favour and honour. The pilgrims who have visited El-Medeeneh relate that there is seen every night, a ray or column of faint light rising from the cupola over the grave of the Prophet to a considerable height, apparently to the clouds, or, as some say, to Paradise; but that the observer loses sight of it when he approaches very near the tomb.[360] This is one of the most remarkable of the miracles which are related as being still witnessed. On my asking one of the most grave and sensible of all my Muslim friends here, who had been on a pilgrimage, and visited El-Medeeneh, whether this assertion were true, he averred that it was; that he had seen it every night of his stay in that city; and he remarked that it was a most striking and impressive proof of God’s favour and honour for “our lord Mohammad.” I did not presume to question the truth of what he asserted himself to have seen; nor to suggest that the great number of lights kept burning every night in the mosque might produce this effect; but to judge whether this might be the case, I asked my friend to describe to me the construction of the apartment of the tomb, its cupola, etc. He replied that he did not enter it, nor the Kaabah at Mekkeh, partly from his being in a state of excessive nervous excitement (from his veneration for those holy buildings, but particularly for the former, which almost affected him with a kind of hysteric fit), and partly because, being of the sect of the Hanafees, he held it improper, after he should have stepped upon such sacred ground, ever again to run the risk of defiling his feet by walking barefooted: consequently, he would have been obliged always to wear leather socks, or mezz, within his outer shoes; which, he said, he could not afford to do. The pilgrims also assert that, in approaching El-Medeeneh, from the distance of three days’ journey, or more, they always see a flickering lightning in the direction of the sacred city, which they believe to proceed from the Prophet’s tomb. They say that however they turn, they always see this lightning in the direction of El-Medeeneh. There is something strikingly poetical in this and in the former statement.
A superstitious veneration, and honours unauthorized by the Kur-án or any of the Traditions, are paid by all sects of Muslims, excepting the Wahhábees, to deceased saints, even more than to those who are living; and more particularly by the Muslims of Egypt.[361] Over the graves of most of the more celebrated saints are erected large and handsome mosques; over that of a saint of less note (one who, by a life of sanctity or hypocrisy, has acquired the reputation of being a welee, or devout sheykh) is constructed a small, square, white-washed building, crowned with a cupola. There is generally, directly over the vault in which the corpse is deposited, an oblong monument of stone or brick (called “tarkeebeh”) or wood (in which case it is called “táboot”); and this is usually covered with silk or linen, with some words from the Kur-án worked upon it, and surrounded by a railing or screen, of wood or bronze, called “maksoorah.” Most of the sanctuaries of saints in Egypt are tombs; but there are several which only contain some inconsiderable relic of the person to whom they are dedicated, and there are a few which are mere cenotaphs. The most sacred of all these sanctuaries is the mosque of the Hasaneyn, in which the head of the martyr El-Hoseyn, the son of the Imám ’Alee, and grandson of the Prophet, is said to be buried. Among others but little inferior in sanctity, are the mosques of the seyyideh Zeyneb (daughter of the Imám ’Alee, and grand-daughter of the Prophet), the seyyideh Sekeeneh (daughter of the Imám El-Hoseyn), the seyyideh Nefeeseh (great grand-daughter of the Imám El-Hasan), and the Imám Esh-Sháfe’ee, already mentioned as the author of one of the four great Muslim sects, that to which most of the people of Cairo belong. The buildings above mentioned, with the exception of the last two, are within the metropolis; the last but one is within a southern suburb of Cairo, and the last, in the great southern cemetery.
The Egyptians occasionally visit these and other sanctuaries of their saints, either merely with the view of paying honour to the deceased, and performing meritorious acts for the sake of these venerated persons, which they believe will call down a blessing on themselves, or for the purpose of urging some special petition, as for the restoration of health, or for the gift of offspring, etc.; in the persuasion that the merits of the deceased will insure a favourable reception of the prayers which they offer up in such consecrated places. The generality of the Muslims regard their deceased saints as intercessors with the Deity, and make votive offerings to them. The visitor, on arriving at the tomb, should greet the deceased with the salutation of peace, and should utter the same salutation on entering the burial-ground; but I believe that few persons observe this latter custom. In the former case, the visitor should front the face of the dead, and consequently turn his back to the kibleh. He walks round the maksoorah or monument from left to right, and recites the Fát’hah, inaudibly, or in a very low voice, before its door, or before each of its four sides. Sometimes a longer chapter of the Kur-án than the first (or Fát’hah) is recited afterwards, and sometimes a “khatmeh” (or recitation of the whole of the Kur-án) is performed on such an occasion. These acts of devotion are generally performed for the sake of the saint, though merit is likewise believed to reflect upon the visitor who makes a recitation. He usually says at the close of this, “[Extol] the perfection of thy Lord, the Lord of Might, exempting Him from that which they [that is, the unbelievers] ascribe to Him” (namely, the having a son, or a partaker of his godhead); and adds, “And peace be on the Apostles, and praise be to God, the Lord of all creatures. O God, I have transferred the merit of what I have recited from the excellent Kur-án to the person to whom this place is dedicated,” or—“to the soul of this welee.” Without such a declaration, or an intention to the same effect, the merit of the recital belongs solely to the person who performs it. After this recital, the visitor, if it be his desire, offers up any prayer for temporal or spiritual blessings, generally using some such form as this—“O God, I conjure Thee by the Prophet, and by him to whom this place is dedicated, to grant me such and such blessings;” or “My burdens be on God and on thee, O thou to whom this place is dedicated.” In doing this, some persons face any side of the maksoorah. It is said to be more proper to face the maksoorah and the kibleh; but I believe that the same rule should be observed in this case as in the salutation. During the prayer the hands are held as in the private supplications after the ordinary prayers of every day, and afterwards they are drawn down the face. Many of the visitors kiss the threshold of the building, and the walls, windows, maksoorah, etc. This, however, the more strict disapprove, asserting it to be an imitation of a custom of the Christians. The rich, and persons in easy circumstances, when they visit the tomb of a saint, distribute money or bread to the poor, and often give money to one or more water-carriers to distribute water to the poor and thirsty, for the sake of the saint.[362] There are particular days of the week on which certain tombs are more generally visited; thus, the mosque of Hasaneyn is mostly visited by men on Tuesday, and by women on Saturday; that of the seyyideh Zeyneb, on Wednesday; that of the Imám Esh-Sháfe’ee, on Friday. On these occasions it is a common custom for the male visitors to take with them sprigs of myrtle. They place some of these on the monument, or on the floor within the maksoorah, and take back the remainder, which they distribute to their friends. The poor sometimes place “khoos” (or palm leaves), as most persons do upon the tombs of their friends and relations. The women of Cairo, instead of the myrtle or palm-leaves, often place roses, flowers of the henna-tree, jasmine, etc.
At almost every village in Egypt is the tomb of some favourite or patron saint, which is generally visited on a particular day of the week by many of the inhabitants, chiefly women, some of whom bring thither bread, which they leave there for poor travellers, or any other persons. Some also place small pieces of money in these tombs. These gifts are offerings to the sheykh, or given for his sake. Another custom common among the peasants is, to make votive sacrifices at the tombs of their sheykhs. For instance, a man makes a vow (“nedr”) that if he recover from a sickness, or obtain a son, or any other specific object of desire, he will give to a certain sheykh (deceased), a goat, or a lamb, or a sheep, etc. If he attain his object, he sacrifices the animal which he has vowed at the tomb of the sheykh, and makes a feast with its meat for any persons who may choose to attend. Having given the animal to the saint, he thus gives to the latter the merit of feeding the poor. Little kids are often vowed as future sacrifices, and have the right ear slit, or are marked in some other way. It is not uncommon, too, without any definite view but that of obtaining general blessings, to make these vows; and sometimes a peasant vows that he will sacrifice, for the sake of a saint, a calf which he possesses, as soon as it is full-grown and fatted. It is let loose, by consent of all his neighbours, to pasture where it will, even in fields of young wheat; and at last, after it has been sacrificed, a public feast is made with its meat. Many a large bull is thus given away.
Almost every celebrated saint, deceased, is honoured by an anniversary birth-day festival, which is called “moolid,” or, more properly, “mólid.” On the occasions of such festivals, many persons visit the tomb, both as a duty and as a supposed means of obtaining a special blessing; fikees are hired to recite the Kur-án, for the sake of the saint; fakeers often perform zikrs; and the people living in the neighbourhood of the tomb hang lamps before their doors, and devote half the night to such pleasures as those of smoking, sipping coffee, and listening to story-tellers at the coffee-shops, or to the recitals of the Kur-án and the zikrs. I have now a cluster of lamps hanging before my door, in honour of the moolid of a sheykh who is buried near the house in which I am living. Even the native Christians often hang up lamps on these occasions. The festivities often continue several days. The most famous moolids celebrated in Cairo, next to that of the Prophet, are those of the Hasaneyn and the seyyideh Zeyneb, accounts of which will be found in a subsequent chapter on the periodical public festivals, etc., of the people of Egypt. Most of the Egyptians not only expect a blessing to follow their visiting the tomb of a celebrated saint, but they also dread that some misfortune will befall them if they neglect this act. Thus, while I am writing these lines, an acquaintance of mine is suffering from an illness which he attributes to his having neglected, for the last two years, to attend the festivals of the seyyid Ahmad El-Bedawee, at Tanta, this being the period of one of these festivals. The tomb of this saint attracts almost as many visitors, at the periods of the great annual festivals, from the metropolis, and from various parts of Lower Egypt, as Mekkeh does pilgrims from the whole of the Muslim world. Three moolids are celebrated in honour of him every year—one, about the tenth of the Coptic month of Toobeh (17th or 18th of January); the second, at or about the Vernal Equinox;[363] and the third, or great moolid, about a month after the Summer Solstice (or about the middle of the Coptic month of Ebeeb), when the Nile has risen considerably, but the dams of the canals are not yet cut. Each lasts one week and a day, beginning on a Friday, and ending on the afternoon of the next Friday; and on each night there is a display of fireworks. One week after each of these, is celebrated the moolid of the seyyid Ibráheem Ed-Dasookee, at the town of Dasook, on the east bank of the western branch of the Nile. The seyyid Ibráheem was a very famous saint, next in rank to the seyyid El-Bedawee. These moolids, both of the seyyid El-Bedawee and of the seyyid Ibráheem, are great fairs, as well as religious festivals. At the latter, most of the visitors remain in their boats; and some of the Saadeeyeh darweeshes of Rasheed exhibit their feats with serpents—some carrying serpents with silver rings in their mouths, to prevent their biting; others partly devouring these reptiles alive. The religious ceremonies at both are merely zikrs,[364] and recitals of the Kur-án.—It is customary among the Muslims, as it was among the Jews, to rebuild, whitewash, and decorate the tombs of their saints, and occasionally to put a new covering over the tarkeebeh or táboot; and many of them do this from the same pharisaic motives which actuated the Jews.[365]
“Darweeshes” are very numerous in Egypt; and some of them who confine themselves to religious exercises, and subsist by alms, are much respected in this country, particularly by the lower orders. Various artifices are employed by persons of this class to obtain the reputation of superior sanctity, and of being endowed with the power of performing miracles. Many of them are regarded as welees.
A direct descendant of Aboo-Bekr, the first Khaleefeh, having the title of “Esh-Sheykh el-Bekree,” and regarded as the representative of that prince, holds authority over all orders of darweeshes in Egypt. The present Sheykh el-Bekree, who is also descended from the Prophet, is Nakeeb el-Ashráf, or chief of the Shereefs.—I may here add that the second Khaleefeh, ’Omar, has likewise his representative, who is the sheykh of the ’Enáneeyeh, or Owlád ’Enán, an order of darweeshes so named from one of their celebrated sheykhs, Ibn-’Enán. ’Osmán has no representative, having left no issue. The representative of ’Alee is called Sheykh es-Sádát,[366] or Sheykh of the Seyyids, or Shereefs, a title of less importance than that of Nakeeb of the Shereefs. Each of these three sheykhs is termed the occupant of the “seggádeh” (or prayer carpet) of his great ancestor. So also the sheykh of an order of darweeshes is called the occupant of the seggádeh of the founder of the order.[367] The seggádeh is considered as the spiritual throne. There are four great seggádehs of darweeshes in Egypt, which are those of four great orders about to be mentioned.
The most celebrated orders of darweeshes in Egypt are the following:—1. The “Rifá’eeyeh” (in the singular “Rifá’ee”). This order was founded by the seyyid Ahmad Rifá’ah El-Kebeer. Its banners and the turbans of its members are black; or the latter are of a very deep blue woollen stuff, or muslin of a very dark greenish hue. The Rifá’ee darweeshes are celebrated for the performance of many wonderful feats.[368] The “’Ilwáneeyeh,” or “Owlád ’Ilwán,” who are a sect of the Rifá’ees, pretend to thrust iron spikes into their eyes and bodies without sustaining any injury; and in appearance they do this, in such a manner as to deceive any person who can believe it possible for a man to do such things in reality. They also break large masses of stone on their chests, eat live coals, glass, etc.; and are said to pass swords completely through their bodies, and packing-needles through both their cheeks, without suffering any pain, or leaving any wound; but such performances are now seldom witnessed. I am told that it was a common practice for a darweesh of this order to hollow out a piece of the trunk of a palm-tree, fill it with rags soaked with oil and tar, then set fire to these contents, and carry the burning mass under his arm in a religious procession (wearing only drawers), the flames curling over his bare chest, back, and head, and apparently doing him no injury. The “Saadeeyeh,” an order founded by the sheykh Saad-ed-Deen El-Gibáwee, are another and more celebrated sect of the Rifá’ees. Their banners are green, and their turbans of the same colour, or of the dark hue of the Rifá’ees in general. There are many darweeshes of this order who handle with impunity live, venomous serpents, and scorpions, and partly devour them. The serpents, however, they render incapable of doing any injury by extracting their venomous fangs; and doubtless they also deprive the scorpions of their poison. On certain occasions (as, for instance, on that of the festival of the birth of the Prophet), the Sheykh of the Saadeeyeh rides on horseback over the bodies of a number of his darweeshes and other persons, who throw themselves on the ground for the purpose; and all assert that they are not injured by the tread of the horse. This ceremony is called the “dóseh.” Many Rifá’ee and Saadee darweeshes obtain their livelihood by going about to charm away serpents from houses. Of the feats of these modern Psylli, an account will be given in another chapter. 2. The “Kádireeyeh,” an order founded by the famous seyyid ’Abd-El-Kádir El-Geelánee. Their banners and turbans are white. Most of the Kádireeyeh of Egypt are fishermen; these, in religious processions, carry upon poles nets of various colours (green, yellow, red, white, etc.), as the banners of their order. 3. The “Ahmedeeyeh,” or order of the seyyid Ahmad El-Bedawee, whom I have lately mentioned. This is a very numerous and highly respected order. Their banners and turbans are red. The “Beiyoomeeyeh” (founded by the seyyid ’Alee El-Beiyoomee), the “Shaaráweeyeh” (founded by the sheykh Esh-Shaaráwee[369]), the “Shinnáweeyeh” (founded by the seyyid ’Alee Esh-Shinnáwee), and many other orders, are sects of the Ahmedeeyeh. The Shinnáweeyeh train an ass to perform a strange part in the ceremonies of the last day of the moolid of their great patron saint, the seyyid Ahmad El-Bedawee, at Tanta. The ass, of its own accord, enters the mosque of the seyyid, proceeds to the tomb, and there stands, while multitudes crowd around it, and each person who can approach near enough to it plucks off some of its hair, to use as a charm, until the skin of the poor beast is as bare as the palm of a man’s hand. There is another sect of the Ahmedeeyeh, called “Owlád Nooh,” all young men, who wear “tartoors” (or high caps), with a tuft of pieces of various coloured cloth on the top, wooden swords, and numerous strings of beads, and carry a kind of whip (called “firkilleh”), a thick twist of cords. 4. The “Baráhimeh,” or “Burhámeeyeh,” the order of the seyyid Ibráheem Ed-Dasookee, whose moolid has been mentioned above. Their banners and turbans are green. There are many other classes of darweeshes, some of whom are sects of one or other of the above orders. Among the more celebrated of them are the “Hefnáweeyeh,” the “’Afeefeeyeh,” the “Demirdásheeyeh,” the “Nakshibendeeyeh,” the “Bekreeyeh,” and the “Leyseeyeh.”
It is impossible to become acquainted with all the tenets, rules, and ceremonies of the darweeshes, as many of them, like those of the freemasons, are not to be divulged to the uninitiated. A darweesh with whom I am acquainted thus described to me his taking the “’ahd,” or initiatory covenant, which is nearly the same in all the orders. He was admitted by the sheykh of the Demirdásheeyeh. Having first performed the ablution preparatory to prayer (the wudoó), he seated himself upon the ground before the sheykh, who was seated in like manner. The sheykh and he (the “mureed,” or candidate) then clasped their right hands together in the manner which I have described as practised in making the marriage-contract: in this attitude, and with their hands covered by the sleeve of the sheykh, the candidate took the covenant; repeating after the sheykh, the following words, commencing with the form of a common oath of repentance. “I beg forgiveness of God, the Great” (three times); “than whom there is no other deity; the Living, the Everlasting: I turn to Him with repentance, and beg his grace, and forgiveness, and exemption from the fire.” The sheykh then said to him, “Dost thou turn to God with repentance?” He replied, “I do turn to God with repentance; and I return unto God; and I am grieved for what I have done [amiss], and I determine not to relapse”—and then repeated, after the sheykh, “I beg for the favour of God, the Great, and the noble Prophet; and I take as my sheykh, and my guide unto God (whose name be exalted), my master ’Abd Er-Raheem Ed-Demirdáshee El-Khalwet′ee Er-Rifá’ee En-Nebawee; not to change, nor to separate; and God is our witness: by God, the Great!” (this oath was repeated three times): “there is no deity but God” (this also was repeated three times). The sheykh and the mureed then recited the Fát’hah together, and the latter concluded the ceremony by kissing the sheykh’s hand.
The religious exercises of the darweeshes chiefly consist in the performance of “zikrs.” Sometimes standing in the form of a circular or oblong ring, or in two rows, facing each other, and sometimes sitting, they exclaim, or chant, “Lá iláha illa-lláh” (There is no deity but God), or “Alláh! Alláh! Alláh!” (God! God! God!), or repeat other invocations, etc., over and over again, until their strength is almost exhausted; accompanying their ejaculations or chants with a motion of the head, or of the whole body, or of the arms. From long habit they are able to continue these exercises for a surprising length of time without intermission. They are often accompanied, at intervals, by one or more players upon a kind of flute called a “náy,” or a double reed-pipe, called “arghool,” and by persons singing religious odes; and some darweeshes use a little drum, called “báz,” or a tambourine, during their zikrs: some, also, perform a peculiar dance; the description of which, as well as of several different zikrs, I reserve for future chapters.
Some of the rites of darweeshes (as forms of prayer, modes of zikr, etc.), are observed only by particular orders: others, by members of various orders. Among the latter may be mentioned the rites of the “Khalwet′ees” and “Sházilees”; two great classes, each of which has its sheykh. The chief difference between these is that each has its particular form of prayer to repeat every morning; and that the former distinguish themselves by occasional seclusion; whence their appellation of “Khalwet′ees[370]:” the prayer of this class is repeated before daybreak; and is called “wird es-sahar:” that of the Sházilees, which is called “hezb esh-Sházilee,” after day-break. Sometimes, a Khalwet′ee enters a solitary cell, and remains in it forty days and nights, fasting from day-break till sunset the whole of this period. Sometimes also a number of the same class confine themselves, each in a separate cell, in the sepulchral mosque of the sheykh Ed-Demirdáshee, on the north of Cairo, and remain there three days and nights, on the occasion of the moolid of that saint, and only eat a little rice, and drink a cup of sherbet, in the evening: they employ themselves in repeating certain forms of prayer, etc. not imparted to the uninitiated; only coming out of their cells to unite in the five daily prayers in the mosque; and never answering any one who speaks to them but by saying, “There is no deity but God.” Those who observe the forty days’ fast, and seclude themselves during that long period, practise nearly the same rules; and employ their time in repeating the testimony of the faith, imploring forgiveness, praising God, etc.
Almost all the darweeshes of Egypt are tradesmen or artisans or agriculturists; and only occasionally assist in the rites and ceremonies of their respective orders: but there are some who have no other occupations than those of performing zikrs at the festivals of saints and at private entertainments, and of chanting in funeral processions. These are termed “fukara,” or “fakeers”; which is an appellation given also to the poor in general, but especially to poor devotees. Some obtain their livelihood as water-carriers, by supplying the passengers in the streets of Cairo, and the visitors at religious festivals, with water, which they carry in an earthen vessel, or a goat’s skin on the back. A few lead a wandering life, and subsist on alms; which they often demand with great importunacy and effrontery. Some of these distinguish themselves in the same manner as certain reputed saints before mentioned, by the “dilk,” or coat of patches, and the staff with shreds of cloth of different colours attached to the top: others wear fantastic dresses of various descriptions.
Some Rifá’ee darweeshes (besides those who follow the occupation of charming away serpents from houses) pursue a wandering life; travelling about Egypt, and profiting by a ridiculous superstition which I must here mention. A venerated saint called See[371] Dá-ood El-’Azab (or Master David the Bachelor), who lived at Tefáhineh, a village in Lower Egypt, had a calf, which always attended him, brought him water, etc. Since his death, some Rifá’ee darweeshes have been in the habit of rearing a number of calves at his native place, or burial place, above named; teaching them to walk upstairs, to lie down at command, etc.; and then going about the country, each with his calf, to obtain alms. The calf is called “′Egl El-’Azab” (the Calf of El-’Azab, or,—of the Bachelor). I once called into my house one of these darweeshes, with his calf, the only one I have seen: it was a buffalo calf; and had two bells suspended to it; one attached to a collar round his neck, and the other to a girth round its body. It walked up the stairs very well; but showed that it had not been very well trained in every respect. The ’Egl El-’Azab is vulgarly believed to bring into the house a blessing from the saint after whom it is called.
There are numerous wandering Turkish and Persian darweeshes in Egypt; and to these, more than to the few Egyptian darweeshes who lead a similar life, must the character for impudence and importunacy be ascribed. Very often, particularly in Ramadán, a foreign darweesh goes to the mosque of the Hasaneyn, which is that most frequented by the Turks and Persians, at the time of the Friday-prayers; and, when the Khateeb is reciting the first khutbeh passes between the ranks of persons who are sitting upon the floor, and places before each a little slip of paper upon which are written a few words, generally exhortative to charity (as “He who giveth alms will be provided for”—“The poor darweesh asketh an alms,” etc.); by which proceeding he usually obtains from each, or almost every person, a piece of five or ten faddahs, or more. Many of the Persian darweeshes in Egypt carry an oblong bowl of cocoa-nut or wood or metal, in which they receive their alms, and put their food; and a wooden spoon; and most of the foreign darweeshes wear dresses peculiar to their respective orders: they are chiefly distinguished by the cap: the most common description of cap is of a sugar-loaf, or conical shape, and made of felt: the other articles of dress are generally a vest and full drawers, or trousers, or a shirt and belt, and a coarse cloak, or long coat. The Persians here all affect to be Sunnees. The Turks are the more intrusive of the two classes.
Here I may mention another superstition of the Egyptians, and of the Arabs in general; namely, their belief that birds and beasts have a language by which they communicate their thoughts to each other, and celebrate the praises of God.
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Footnote 346:
I measured the height of a zóba’ah, with a sextant, at Thebes, under circumstances which insured a very near approximation to perfect accuracy (observing its altitude, from an elevated spot, at the precise moment when it passed through, and violently agitated, a distant group of palm-trees), and found it to be seven hundred and fifty feet. I think that several zóba’ahs which I have seen were of greater height. Others, which I measured at the same place, were between five hundred and seven hundred feet in height.
Footnote 347:
According to some writers, the Gánn are the least powerful class of Genii.
Footnote 348:
It is a custom of many “fukaha” (or learned and devout persons), and some others, to say, “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,” on locking a door, covering bread, laying down their clothes at night, and on other occasions; and this, they believe, protects their property from genii. The thing over which these words have been pronounced is termed “musemmee (for “musemma”) ’aleyh.”
Footnote 349:
As is the case also in Switzerland.
Footnote 350:
Also (and, I believe, more properly) written “dalik,” but commonly pronounced as above.
Footnote 351:
In the original, “owliya,” plural of “welee.”
Footnote 352:
Chap, x., ver. 63.
Footnote 353:
A miracle performed by a welee is termed “karámeh:” one performed by a prophet, “moagiz′eh.”
Footnote 354:
In the plural forms, “Nukaba,” “Angáb” or “Nugaba,” and “Abdál.”
Footnote 355:
For “Báb El-Mutawellee.”
Footnote 356:
This mysterious person, according to the more approved opinion of the learned, was not a prophet, but a just man, or saint, the Wezeer and counsellor of the first Zu-l-Karneyn, who was a universal conqueror, but an equally doubtful personage, contemporary with the patriarch Ibráheem, or Abraham. El-Khidr is said to have drunk of the Fountain of Life, in consequence of which he lives till the day of judgment, and to appear frequently to Muslims in perplexity. He is generally clad in green garments; whence, according to some, his name.
Footnote 357:
See 1 Kings xviii. 12, and 2 Kings ii. 9-16.
Footnote 358:
A street on the south of the Báb Zuweyleh.
Footnote 359:
Like that of the Sage Doobán, whose story is told in “The Thousand and One Nights.”
Footnote 360:
It is also said that similar phenomena, but not so brilliant, distinguish some other tombs at El-Medeeneh and elsewhere.
Footnote 361:
Several superstitious customs, observed in the performance of many ordinary actions, result from their extravagant respect for their prophet, and their saints in general. For instance, on lighting the lamp in the evening, more particularly at a shop, it is customary to say, “Commemorate Mohammad, and forget not the excellencies of ’Alee; the Fát’hah for the Prophet, and for every welee;” and then to repeat the Fát’hah. It is usual to say, on first seeing the new moon, “O God, favour our lord Mohammad! God make thee a blessed moon (or month);” and on looking at one’s face in a glass, “O God, favour our lord Mohammad!” This ejaculation being used to counteract the influence of the evil eye, it seems as if an Arab feared the effect even of his own admiring look.
Footnote 362:
See the account of the water-carriers in Chap. xiv.
Footnote 363:
Called the “Shems el-Kebeereh.”
Footnote 364:
The “zikr” will be fully described in another chapter, on the periodical public festivals, etc.
Footnote 365:
See St. Matthew xxiii. 29.
Footnote 366:
Often improperly called “esh-Sheykh es-Sádát.”
Footnote 367:
The title is “sáheb seggádeh.”
Footnote 368:
In most of their juggling performances the darweeshes of Egypt are inferior to the most expert of the Indians.
Footnote 369:
Thus commonly pronounced, for Esh-Shaaránee.
Footnote 370:
From “khalweh,” a cell, or closet.
Footnote 371:
“See” is a vulgar contraction of “Seedee,” which is itself a contraction of “Seyyidee,” signifying “My Master,” or “Mister.”
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