SWEARING
Perhaps the one phase of his speech which lays the Oriental open to the
charge of unveracity is his much swearing. Of course this evil habit
knows no geographical boundaries and no racial limits. However,
probably because of their tendency to be profuse, intense, and positive
in speech, the Orientals no doubt have more than their legitimate share
of swearing. But it should be kept in mind that in that part of the
world swearing is not looked upon with the same disapproval and
contempt as in America; swearing by the name of the Deity has always
been considered the most sacred and solemn affirmation of a statement.
It is simply calling God to witness that what has been said is the
sacred truth. Thus in the twenty-first chapter of the book of Genesis
Abimelech asks Abraham, "Now therefore swear unto me here by God that
thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor {168} with my son, nor with my
son's son." "And Abraham said, I will swear."
St. Paul employs this type of speech in a milder form, after the New
Testament fashion, in the opening verse of the twelfth chapter of his
Epistle to the Romans, where he says: "I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, _by the mercies of God_, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service." In the opening verse of the ninth chapter of the Epistle to
the Romans, Paul succeeds in an elegant manner in dispensing with
swearing altogether, when he says: "I say the truth in Christ, I lie
not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost."
Generally speaking, however, the custom of swearing after the manner of
the Old Testament has undergone no change in Syria since the days of
Abraham. Swearing is an integral element in Oriental speech.
Instinctively the speaker turns his eyes and lifts his hands toward
heaven and says, "By Allah, what I have {169} said is right and true.
_Yeshhedo-Allah_ [God witnesseth] to the truth of my words." In a
similar manner, and as in a score of places in the Old Testament, the
maker of a statement is asked by his hearer to swear by God as a solemn
assurance that his statement is true and sincere.
The Mohammedan law, which is the law of modern Syria, demands swearing
in judicial contests. The judge awards the accuser--that is, the
plaintiff--the right to lead the defendant to any shrine he may choose,
and cause him to swear the _yemîn_ (solemn oath) as a final witness to
his innocence. By this act the plaintiff places his adversary in the
hands of the Supreme Judge, whose judgments are "true and righteous
altogether." A false oath is supposed to bring awful retribution upon
its maker and upon his posterity.
Of such importance is this mode of speech to Orientals that the
Israelites thought of Jehovah Himself as making such affirmations. In
the twenty-second chapter of Genesis we have the words, "By myself have
I sworn, saith the {170} Lord." Further light is thrown on this point
by the explanation given to the verse just quoted in the sixth chapter
of the Epistle to the Hebrews, where it is said, "For when God made
promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by
himself."
I have no doubt that this thought of God swearing by himself sprang
from the custom of Oriental aristocrats of sealing a vow, or solemnly
affirming a statement, or an intention to do some daring deed, by
saying, "I swear by my head"--an oath which, whenever I heard it in my
youth, filled me with awe. Thus, also, in the sixty-second chapter of
Isaiah we have the words, "The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and
by the arm of his strength."
Among the Mohammedans, swearing "by the most high God" and "by the life
of the Prophet" and "by the exalted Koran" in affirmation of almost
every statement, is universal. The Christians swear by God, Christ,
the Virgin, the Cross, the Saints, the repose of their dead, the Holy
City, the Eucharist, {171} Heaven, great holidays, and many other
names. A father swears by the life of a dear child, and sons of
distinguished fathers swear by them. "By the life of my father, I am
telling the truth," is a very common expression. The antiquity of this
custom is made evident by the passage in the thirty-first chapter of
Genesis and the fifty-third verse: "And Jacob sware by the fear of his
father Isaac." However, the word "fear" does violence to the real
meaning of the verse, which the Arabic version rescues by saying, "And
Jacob swore by the _heybet_ [benignity, or beautiful dignity] of his
father." He swore by that which he and others loved, and not feared,
in his father.
But what must seem to Americans utterly ridiculous is the Oriental
habit of swearing by the mustache and the beard, which is, however, one
phase of swearing by the head. To swear by one's mustache, or beard,
means to pledge the integrity of one's manhood. "I swear by this," is
said solemnly by a man with his hand upon his mustache. Swearing by
the {172} beard is supposed to carry more weight because, as a rule, it
is worn by the older men. To speak disrespectfully of one's mustache
or beard, or to curse the beard of a person's father, is to invite
serious trouble.
The sacredness of the beard to Orientals goes back to the remote past
when all the hair of the head and the face was considered sacred.
Growing a beard is still esteemed a solemn act in Syria, so much so
that, having let his beard grow, one cannot shave it off without
becoming a by-word in the community. To speak of the scissors or of a
razor in the presence of one wearing a beard, especially if he be a
priest, or of the aristocracy, is considered a deep insult to him.
Such unseemly conduct seldom fails to precipitate a fight. In 2
Samuel, the tenth chapter, fourth verse, we have the record of Hanun's
disgraceful treatment of David's men, whom he had thought to be spies.
"Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of
their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their
buttocks, {173} and sent them away. When they told it unto David, he
sent to meet them, because the men _were greatly ashamed_: and the king
said, Tarry at Jericho _until your beards be grown_, and then return."
It is because of this ancient conception of the hair that the Syrians
still swear by the mustache and the beard, although the majority of
them know not the real reason why they do so.
I remember distinctly how proud I was in my youth to put my hand upon
my mustache, when it was yet not even large enough to be respectfully
noticed, and swear by it _as a man_. I recall also to what roars of
laughter I would provoke my elders at such times, to my great dismay.
Here it may easily be seen that swearing in the Orient had so lost its
original sacredness and become so vulgar, even as far back as the time
of Christ, that He deemed it necessary to give the unqualified command,
"Swear not at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by
the earth, for it is his footstool: neither by {174} Jerusalem, for it
is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head,
because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your
communication be yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these
cometh of evil." This was perhaps the most difficult command to obey
that Jesus ever gave to his countrymen.
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