INFANCY AND EARLY EDUCATION.
In the rearing and general treatment of their children, the Muslims are
chiefly guided by the directions of their Prophet, and other religious
institutors. One of the first duties required to be performed on the
birth of a child is to pronounce the adán (or call to prayer) in the
infant’s right ear; and this should be done by a male. Some persons also
pronounce the ikámeh (which is nearly the same as the adán) in the left
ear. The object of each of these ceremonies is to preserve the infant
from the influence of the ginn, or genii. Another custom, observed with
the same view, is to say, “In the name of the Prophet and of his
cousin[78] ’Alee!”
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[Illustration: A WOMAN OF THE SOUTHERN PROVINCE OF UPPER EGYPT.
(Sketched at Thebes.)]
_Lane’s Modern Egyptians_] [_Page 42_
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It was a custom very common in Egypt, as in other Muslim countries, to
consult an astrologer previously to giving a name to a child, and to be
guided by his choice; but very few persons now conform with this old
usage: the father makes choice of a name for his son, and confers it
without any ceremony; a daughter is generally named by her mother. Boys
are often named after the Prophet (Mohammad, Ahmad, or Mustaf′a), or
some of the members of his family (’Alee, Hasan, Hoseyn, etc.), or his
eminent companions (’Omar, ’Osmán, ’Amr, etc.), or some of the prophets
and patriarchs of early times (as Ibráheem, Is-hák, Isma’eel, Yaakoob,
Moosa, Dáood, Suleymán, etc.), or receive a name signifying “Servant of
God,” “Servant of the Compassionate,” “Servant of the Powerful,” etc.
(’Abd-Allah, ’Abd-er-Rahmán, ’Abd-el-Kádir). Girls are mostly named
after the wives or the favourite daughter of the Arabian Prophet, or
after others of his family (as Khadeegeh, ’A’ïsheh, A′m’neh, Fát’meh,
Zeyneb), or are distinguished by a name implying that they are
“beloved,” “blessed,” “precious,” etc. (Mahboobeh, Mebrookeh, Nefeeseh,
etc.) or the name of a flower, or of some other pleasing object.[79]
As the proper name does not necessarily or generally descend from parent
to child, persons are usually distinguished by one or more surnames, of
the following kinds:—a surname of relationship; as “Aboo-’Alee”[80]
(Father of ’Alee), “Ibn-Ahmad” (Son of Ahmad), etc.:—a surname of
honour, or a nickname; as “Noor-ed-Deen” (The Light of the Religion),
“Et-Taweel” (The Tall), etc.:—an appellation relating to country,
birth-place, origin, family, sect, trade or occupation, etc.; as
“Er-Rasheedee” (of the town of Rasheed), “Es-Sabbágh” (The Dyer),
“Et-Tágir” (The Merchant). The second kind of surname, and that relating
to country, etc., are often inherited; thus becoming family-names. Each
kind of surname is now generally placed _after_ the proper name.
The dress of the children of the middle and higher orders is similar to
that of the parents, but generally slovenly. The children of the poor
are either clad in a shirt and a cotton skull-cap or a tarboosh, or (as
is mostly the case in the villages) are left quite naked until the age
of six or seven years or more, unless a bit of rag can be easily
obtained to serve them as a partial covering. Those little girls who
have only a piece of ragged stuff not large enough to cover both the
head and body generally prefer wearing it upon the head, and sometimes
have the coquetry to draw a part of it before the face, as a veil, while
the whole body is exposed. Little ladies, four or five years of age,
mostly wear the white face-veil, like their mothers. When a boy is two
or three years old, or often earlier, his head is shaven; a tuft of hair
only being left on the crown, and another over the forehead,[81] the
heads of female infants are seldom shaven. The young children, of both
sexes, are usually carried by their mothers and nurses, not in the arms,
but on the shoulder, seated astride:[82] and sometimes, for a short
distance, on the hip.
In the treatment of their children, the women of the wealthier classes
are remarkable for their excessive indulgence; and the poor, for the
little attention they bestow, beyond supplying the absolute wants of
nature. The mother is prohibited, by the Muslim law, from weaning her
child before the expiration of two years from the period of its birth,
unless with the consent of her husband, which, I am told, is generally
given after the first year or eighteen months. In the houses of the
wealthy, the child, whether boy or girl, remains almost constantly
confined in the hareem (or the woman’s apartments), or, at least, in the
house: sometimes the boy continues thus an effeminate prisoner until a
master, hired to instruct him daily, has taught him to read and write.
But it is important to observe, that an affectionate respect for parents
and elders inculcated in the hareem fits the boy for an abrupt
introduction into the world, as will presently be shown. When the ladies
go out to pay a visit, or to take an airing, mounted on asses, the
children generally go with them, each carried by a female slave or
servant, or seated between her knees upon the fore part of the saddle;
the female attendants, as well as the ladies, being usually borne by
asses, and it being the custom of all the women to sit astride. But it
is seldom that the children of the rich enjoy this slight diversion;
their health suffers from confinement and pampering, and they are often
rendered capricious, proud, and selfish. The women of the middle classes
are scarcely less indulgent mothers. The estimation in which the wife is
held by her husband, and even by her acquaintance, depends, in a great
degree, upon her fruitfulness, and upon the preservation of her
children; for by men and women, rich and poor, barrenness is still
considered, in the East, a curse and a reproach; and it is regarded as
disgraceful in a man to divorce, without some cogent reason, a wife who
has borne him a child, especially while her child is living. If,
therefore, a woman desire her husband’s love, or the respect of others,
her giving birth to a child is a source of great joy to herself and him,
and her own interest alone is a sufficient motive for maternal
tenderness. Very little expense is required, in Egypt, for the
maintenance of a numerous offspring.[83]
However much the children are caressed and fondled, in general they feel
and manifest a most profound and praiseworthy respect for their parents.
Disobedience to parents is considered by the Muslims as one of the
greatest of sins, and classed, in point of heinousness, with six other
sins, which are idolatry, murder, falsely accusing modest women of
adultery, wasting the property of orphans, taking usury, and desertion
in an expedition against infidels. An undutiful child is very seldom
heard of among the Egyptians or the Arabs in general. Among the middle
and higher classes, the child usually greets the father in the morning
by kissing his hand, and then stands before him in an humble attitude,
with the left hand covered by the right, to receive any order, or to
await his permission to depart; but after the respectful kiss, is often
taken on the lap; and nearly the same respect is shown towards the
mother. Other members of the family, according to age, relationship, and
station, are also similarly regarded by the young; and hence arise that
ease and propriety with which a child, emerging from the hareem,
conducts himself in every society, and that loyalty which is often
improperly regarded as the result of Eastern despotism.[84] Sons
scarcely ever sit, or eat, or smoke, in the presence of the father,
unless bidden to do so; and they often even wait upon him, and upon his
guests, at meals and on other occasions: they do not cease to act thus
when they have become men.—I once partook of breakfast with an Egyptian
merchant, before the door of his house, in the month of Ramadán (and
therefore a little after sunset); and though every person who passed by,
however poor, was invited to partake of the meal, we were waited upon by
two of my host’s sons; the elder about forty years of age. As they had
been fasting during the whole of the day, and had as yet only taken a
draught of water, I begged the father to allow them to sit down and eat
with us: he immediately told them that they might do so; but they
declined.—The mothers generally enjoy, in a greater degree than the
fathers, the affection of their children; though they do not receive
from them equal outward marks of respect. I have often known servants to
hoard their wages for their mothers, though seldom for their fathers.
With the exception of those of the wealthier classes, the young children
in Egypt, though objects of so much solicitude, are generally very
dirty, and shabbily clad. The stranger here is disgusted by the sight of
them, and at once condemns the modern Egyptians as a very filthy people,
without requiring any other reason for forming such an opinion of them;
but it is often the case that those children who are most petted and
beloved are the dirtiest, and worst clad. It is not uncommon to see, in
the city in which I am writing, a lady shuffling along in her ample tób
and habarah of new and rich and glistening silks, and one who scents the
whole street with the odour of musk or civet as she passes along, with
all that appears of her person scrupulously clean and delicate, her eyes
neatly bordered with kohl applied in the most careful manner, and the
tip of a finger or two showing the fresh dye of the henna, and by her
side a little boy or girl, her own child, with a face besmeared with
dirt, and with clothes appearing as though they had been worn for months
without being washed. Few things surprised me so much as sights of this
kind on my first arrival in this country. I naturally inquired the cause
of what struck me as so strange and inconsistent, and was informed that
the affectionate mothers thus neglected the appearance of their
children, and purposely left them unwashed, and clothed them so
shabbily, particularly when they had to take them out in public, _from
fear of the evil eye_, which is excessively dreaded, and especially in
the case of children, since they are generally esteemed the greatest of
blessings, and therefore most likely to be coveted. It is partly for the
same reason that many of them confine their boys so long in the hareem.
Some mothers even dress their young sons as girls, because the latter
are less obnoxious to envy.
The children of the poor have a yet more neglected appearance: besides
being very scantily clad, or quite naked, they are, in general,
excessively dirty: their eyes are frequently extremely filthy: it is
common to see half a dozen or more flies in each eye, unheeded and
unmolested. The parents consider it extremely injurious to wash, or even
touch, the eyes, when they discharge that acrid humour which attracts
the flies: they even affirm that the loss of sight would result from
frequently touching or washing them when thus affected; though washing
is really one of the best means of alleviating the complaint.
At the age of about five or six years, or sometimes later, the boy is
circumcised.[85] Previously to the performance of this rite in the
metropolis and other towns of Egypt, the parents of the youth, if not in
indigent circumstances, generally cause him to be paraded through
several streets in the neighbourhood of their dwelling. They mostly
avail themselves of the occurrence of a bridal procession, to lessen the
expenses of the parade: and, in this case, the boy and his attendants
lead the procession. He generally wears a red Kashmeer turban; but, in
other respects, is dressed as a girl, with a yelek and saltah, and with
a kurs, safa, and other female ornaments, to attract the eye, and so
divert it from his person.[86] These articles of dress are of the
richest description that can be procured: they are usually borrowed from
some lady, and much too large to fit the boy. A horse, handsomely
caparisoned, is also borrowed to convey him; and in his hand is placed a
folded embroidered handkerchief, which he constantly holds before his
mouth in his right hand, to hide part of his face, and thus protect
himself from the evil eye. He is preceded by a servant of the barber,
who is the operator, and by three or more musicians, whose instruments
are commonly a hautboy and drums. The foremost person in the procession
is generally the barber’s servant, bearing his “heml,” which is a case
of wood, of a semi-cylindrical form, with four short legs; its front
(the flat surface) covered with pieces of looking-glass and embossed
brass; and its back, with a curtain. This is merely the barber’s sign:
the servant carries it in the manner represented in the engraving here
inserted. The musicians follow next (or some of them precede the
“heml”), and then follows the boy; his horse led by a groom. Behind him
walk several of his female relations and friends. Two boys are often
paraded together, and sometimes borne by one horse. Of the bridal
processions, with which that above described is so often united, an
account will be found in the proper place. A description, also, of some
further customs observed on the occasion of a circumcision, and
particularly of a more genteel but less general mode of celebrating that
event, will be given in another chapter, relating to various private
festivities.[87]
The parents seldom devote much of their time or attention to the
intellectual education of their children; generally contenting
themselves with instilling into their young minds a few principles of
religion, and then submitting them, if they can afford to do so, to the
instruction of a schoolmaster. As early as possible, the child is taught
to say, “I testify that there is no deity but God; and I testify that
Mohammad is God’s Apostle.” He receives also lessons of religious pride,
and learns to hate the Christians, and all other sects but his own, as
thoroughly as does the Muslim in advanced age. Most of the children of
the higher and middle classes, and some of those of the lower orders,
are taught by the schoolmaster to read, and to recite and chant[88] the
whole or certain portions of the Kur-án by memory. They afterwards learn
the most common rules of arithmetic.
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[Illustration: PARADE PREVIOUS TO CIRCUMCISION.]
_Lane’s Modern Egyptians_] [_Page 48_
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Schools are very numerous, not only in the metropolis, but in every
large town; and there is one, at least, in every considerable village.
Almost every mosque, “sebeel” (or public fountain), and “hód” (or
drinking-place for cattle) in the metropolis has a “kuttáb” (or school)
attached to it, in which children are instructed for a very trifling
expense; the “sheykh” or “fikee”[89] (the master of the school)
receiving from the parent of each pupil half a piaster (about five
farthings of our money), or something more or less, every Thursday.[90]
The master of a school attached to a mosque or other public building in
Cairo also generally receives yearly a tarboosh, a piece of white muslin
for a turban, a piece of linen, and a pair of shoes; and each boy
receives, at the same time, a linen skull cap, four or five cubits[91]
of cotton cloth, and perhaps half a piece (ten or twelve cubits) of
linen, and a pair of shoes, and, in some cases, half a piaster or a
piaster. These presents are supplied by funds bequeathed to the school,
and are given in the month of Ramadán. The boys attend only during the
hours of instruction, and then return to their homes. The lessons are
generally written upon tablets of wood, painted white; and when one
lesson is learnt, the tablet is washed and another is written. They also
practise writing upon the same tablet. The schoolmaster and his pupils
sit upon the ground, and each boy has his tablet in his hands, or a copy
of the Kur-án, or of one of its thirty sections, on a little kind of
desk of palm-sticks. All who are learning to read, recite, or chant
their lessons aloud, at the same time rocking their heads or bodies
incessantly backwards and forwards; which practice is observed by almost
all persons in reciting the Kur-án; being thought to assist the memory.
The noise may be imagined.[92]
The boys first learn the letters of the alphabet; next, the vowel-points
and other orthographical marks; and then, the numerical value of each
letter of the alphabet.[93] Previously to this third stage of the
pupil’s progress, it is customary for the master to ornament the tablet
with black and red ink, and green paint, and to write upon it the
letters of the alphabet in the order of their respective numerical
values, and convey it to the father, who returns it with a piaster or
two placed upon it. The like is also done at several subsequent stages
of the boy’s progress, as when he begins to learn the Kur-án, and six or
seven times as he proceeds in learning the sacred book; each time the
next lesson being written on the tablet. When he has become acquainted
with the numerical values of the letters, the master writes for him some
simple words, as the names of men; then, the ninety-nine names or
epithets of God: next, the Fat’hah, or opening chapter of the Kur-án, is
written upon his tablet, and he reads it repeatedly until he has
perfectly committed it to memory. He then proceeds to learn the other
chapters of the Kur-án: after the first chapter he learns the last; then
the last but one; next the last but two, and so on, in inverted order,
ending with the second; as the chapters in general successively decrease
in length from the second to the last inclusively. It is seldom that the
master of a school teaches writing; and few boys learn to write unless
destined for some employment which absolutely requires that they should
do so; in which latter case they are generally taught the art of
writing, and likewise arithmetic, by a “kabbánee,” who is a person
employed to weigh goods in a market or bázár, with the steelyard. Those
who are to devote themselves to religion, or to any of the learned
professions, mostly pursue a regular course of study in the great mosque
El-Azhar.
The schoolmasters in Egypt are mostly persons of very little learning:
few of them are acquainted with any writings except the Kur-án, and
certain prayers, which, as well as the contents of the sacred volume,
they are hired to recite on particular occasions. I was lately told of a
man who could neither read nor write succeeding to the office of a
schoolmaster in my neighbourhood. Being able to recite the whole of the
Kur-án, he could hear the boys repeat their lessons: to write them, he
employed the “’areef” (or head boy and monitor in the school),
pretending that his eyes were weak. A few days after he had taken upon
himself this office, a poor woman brought a letter for him to read to
her from her son, who had gone on pilgrimage. The fikee pretended to
read it, but said nothing; and the woman, inferring from his silence
that the letter contained bad news, said to him, “Shall I shriek?” He
answered “Yes.” “Shall I tear my clothes?” she asked: he replied “Yes.”
So the poor woman returned to her house, and with her assembled friends
performed the lamentation and other ceremonies usual on the occasion of
a death. Not many days after this, her son arrived, and she asked him
what he could mean by causing a letter to be written stating that he was
dead? He explained the contents of the letter, and she went to the
schoolmaster and begged him to inform her why he had told her to shriek
and to tear her clothes, since the letter was to inform her that her son
was well, and he was now arrived at home. Not at all abashed, he said,
“God knows futurity! How could I know that your son would arrive in
safety? It was better that you should think him dead than be led to
expect to see him and perhaps be disappointed.” Some persons who were
sitting with him praised his wisdom, exclaiming, “Truly, our new fikee
is a man of unusual judgment!” and, for a little while, he found that he
had raised his reputation by this blunder.[94]
Some parents employ a sheykh or fikee to teach their boys at home. The
father usually teaches his son to perform the “wudoó,” and other
ablutions, and to say his prayers, and instructs him in other religious
and moral duties to the best of his ability. The Prophet directed his
followers to order their children to say their prayers when seven years
of age, and to beat them if they did not do so when ten years old; and
at the latter age to make them sleep in separate beds. In Egypt,
however, very few persons pray before they have attained to manhood.
The female children are very seldom taught to read or write; and not
many of them, even among the higher orders, learn to say their prayers.
Some of the rich engage a “sheykhah” (or learned woman) to visit the
hareem daily; to teach their daughters and female slaves to say their
prayers, and to recite a few chapters of the Kur-án; and sometimes to
instruct them in reading and writing; but these are very rare
accomplishments for females, even of the highest class in Egypt.[95]
There are many schools in which girls are taught plain needlework,
embroidery, etc. In families in easy circumstances a “m’allimeh,” or
female teacher of such kinds of work, is often engaged to attend the
girls at their own home.
-----
Footnote 78:
Literally, “the son of his paternal uncle.”
Footnote 79:
In Cairo, it is the fashion to change the first five female names here
mentioned, and the last, into Khaddoogeh, ’Eiyoosheh, Ammooneh,
Fattoomeh, Zennoobeh, and Neffooseh; and some other names are changed
to the same “measure” as these; which measure implies, in these cases,
a superior degree of dignity.
Footnote 80:
On an improper use of this kind of surname, see a note towards the
close of Chapter IV.
Footnote 81:
It is customary among the peasants throughout a great part of Egypt,
on the first occasion of shaving a child’s head, to slay a victim,
generally a goat, at the tomb of some saint in or near their village,
and to make a feast with the meat, of which their friends, and any
other persons who please, partake. This is most common in Upper Egypt,
and among the tribes not very long established on the banks of the
Nile. Their Pagan ancestors in Arabia observed this custom, and
usually gave, as alms to the poor, the weight of the hair in silver or
gold. The victim is called “’akeekah,” and is offered as a ransom for
the child from hell. The custom of shaving one part of a child’s head
and leaving another was forbidden by the Prophet.
Footnote 82:
See Isaiah xlix. 22.
Footnote 83:
It is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus (lib. i., cap. 20), that the
ancient Egyptians clothed and reared their children at a very trifling
expense.
Footnote 84:
“The structure of Eastern government is but the enlargement of the
paternal roof.” (Urquhart’s Spirit of the East, vol ii., p. 249.)
Footnote 85:
Among the peasants, not unfrequently at the age of twelve, thirteen,
or fourteen years.
Footnote 86:
For a description of the ornaments here mentioned see the Appendix:
the kurs and safa are also represented in a preceding engraving, page
36.
Footnote 87:
A custom mentioned by Strabo (p. 824), as prevailing among the
Egyptians in his time, is still universally practised in every part of
Egypt, both by the Muslims and Copts, excepting in Alexandria and
perhaps a few other places on the shore of the Mediterranean: it is
also common, if not equally prevalent, in Arabia. Reland, who
imperfectly describes this custom (De Religione Mohammedica, p. 75,
edit. 1717), remarks its being mentioned likewise by Galen.
Footnote 88:
See the Chapter on music.
Footnote 89:
This term is a corruption of “fakeeh,” which latter appellation is
generally given in Egypt only to a person deeply versed in religion
and law; a man who merely recites the Kur-án, etc., professionally, or
who teaches others to do so, being commonly called a “fikee.”
Footnote 90:
Friday, being the sabbath of the Muslims, is a holiday to the
school-boys and fikee.
Footnote 91:
The cubit employed in measuring Egyptian cloths is equal to twenty-two
inches and two-thirds.
Footnote 92:
The usual punishment is beating on the soles of the feet with a
palm-stick.
Footnote 93:
The Arabic letters are often used as numerals.
Footnote 94:
I have since found an anecdote almost exactly similar to the above in
the Cairo edition of the “Thousand and One Nights:” therefore either
my informant’s account is not strictly true, or the man alluded to by
him was, in the main, an imitator: the latter is not improbable, as I
have been credibly informed of several similar imitations, and of one
which I know to be a fact.
Footnote 95:
The young daughters of persons of the middle classes are sometimes
instructed with the boys in a public school; but they are usually
veiled, and hold no intercourse with the boys. I have often seen a
well-dressed girl reading the Kur-án in a boys’ school.