USE OF TOBACCO, COFFEE, HEMP, OPIUM, ETC.
The interdiction of wine, and other fermented and intoxicating liquors,
which is one of the most important laws in the code of El-Islám, has
caused the greater number of the disciples of this faith to become
immoderately addicted to other means of inducing slight intoxication, or
different kinds of pleasurable excitement.
The most prevalent means, in most Muslim countries, of exciting what the
Arabs term “keyf,” which I cannot more nearly translate than by the word
“exhilaration,” is tobacco. It appears that tobacco was introduced into
Turkey, Arabia, and other countries of the East, shortly before the
beginning of the seventeenth century of the Christian era:[438] that is,
not many years after it had begun to be regularly imported into Western
Europe, as an article of commerce, from America. Its lawfulness to the
Muslim has often been warmly disputed;[439] but is now generally
allowed. In the character of the Turks and Arabs, who have become
addicted to its use, it has induced considerable changes, particularly
rendering them more inactive than they were in earlier times, leading
them to waste over the pipe many hours which might be profitably
employed; but it has had another and a better effect; that of
superseding, in a great measure, the use of wine, which, to say the
least, is very injurious to the health of the inhabitants of hot
climates. In the tales of “The Thousand and One Nights,” which were
written before the introduction of tobacco into the East, and which we
may confidently receive as presenting faithful pictures of the state of
Arabian manners and customs at the period when they appeared, we have
abundant evidence that wine was much more commonly and more openly drunk
by Muslims of that time, or of the age immediately preceding, than it is
by those of the present day. It may further be remarked, in the way of
apology for the pipe, as employed by the Turks and Arabs, that the mild
kinds of tobacco generally used by them have a very gentle effect; they
calm the nervous system, and, instead of stupefying, sharpen the
intellect. The pleasures of Eastern society are certainly much
heightened by the pipe, and it affords the peasant a cheap and sober
refreshment, and probably often restrains him from less innocent
indulgences.
The cup of coffee, which, when it can be afforded, generally accompanies
the pipe, is commonly regarded as an almost equal luxury, and doubtless
conduced with tobacco to render the use of wine less common among the
Arabs: its name, “kahweh,” an old Arabic term for wine, strengthens this
supposition. It is said that the discovery of the refreshing beverage
afforded by the berry of the coffee-plant was made in the latter part of
the seventh century of the Flight (or of the thirteenth of the Christian
era), by a certain devotee named the sheykh ’Omar, who, driven by
persecution to a mountain of El-Yemen, with a few of his disciples, was
induced, by the want of provisions, to make an experiment of the
decoction of coffee-berries, as an article of food; the coffee-plant
being there a spontaneous production. It was not, however, till about
two centuries after this period that the use of coffee began to become
common in El-Yemen. It was imported into Egypt between the years 900 and
910 of the Flight (towards the end of the fifteenth or the beginning of
the sixteenth century of our era, or about a century before the
introduction of tobacco into the East), and was then drunk in the great
mosque El-Azhar, by the fakeers of El-Yemen and Mekkeh and El-Medeeneh,
who found it very refreshing to them while engaged in their exercises of
reciting prayers, and the praises of God, and freely indulged themselves
with it. About half a century after, it was introduced into
Constantinople.[440] In Arabia, in Egypt, and in Constantinople, it was
often the subject of sharp disputes among the pious and learned; many
doctors asserting that it possessed intoxicating qualities, and was,
therefore, an unlawful beverage to Muslims; while others contended that,
among many other virtues, it had that of repelling sleep, which rendered
it a powerful help to the pious in their nocturnal devotions: according
to the fancy of the ruling power, its sale was therefore often
prohibited and again legalized. It is now, and has been for many years,
acknowledged as lawful by almost all the Muslims, and is immoderately
used even by the Wahhábees, who are the most rigid in their condemnation
of tobacco, and in their adherence to the precepts of the Kur-án, and
the Traditions of the Prophet. Formerly it was generally prepared from
the berries and husks together; and it is still so prepared, or from the
husks alone, by many persons in Arabia. In other countries of the East,
it is prepared from the berries alone, freshly roasted and pounded.
Cairo contains above a thousand “Kahwehs,”[441] or coffee-shops. The
kahweh is, generally speaking, a small apartment, whose front, which is
towards the street, is of open wooden work, in the form of arches. Along
the front, excepting before the door, is a “mastab′ah,” or raised seat,
of stone or brick, two or three feet in height, and about the same in
width, which is covered with matting; and there are similar seats in the
interior, on two or three sides. The coffee-shops are most frequented in
the afternoon and evening, but by few excepting persons of the lower
orders, and tradesmen. The exterior mastab′ah is generally preferred.
Each person brings with him his own tobacco and pipe. Coffee is served
by the “kahweg′ee” (or attendant of the shop), at the price of five
faddahs a cup, or ten for a little “bekreg” (or pot) of three or four
cups.[442] The kahweg′ee also keeps two or three nárgeelehs or
sheeshehs, and gózehs, which latter are used for smoking both the tumbák
(or Persian tobacco) and the hasheesh (or hemp), for hasheesh is sold at
some coffee-shops. Musicians and story-tellers frequent some of the
kahwehs, particularly on the evenings of religious festivals.
The leaves and capsules of hemp, called in Egypt “hasheesh,” were
employed in some countries of the East in very ancient times to induce
an exhilarating intoxication. Herodotus (lib. iv., cap. 75) informs us
that the Scythians had a custom of burning the seeds of this plant, in
religious ceremonies, and that they became intoxicated with the fumes.
Galen also mentions the intoxicating properties of hemp. The practice of
chewing the leaves of this plant to induce intoxication, prevailed, or
existed, in India, in very early ages; thence it was introduced into
Persia; and about six centuries ago (before the middle of the thirteenth
century of our era) this pernicious and degrading custom was adopted in
Egypt, but chiefly by persons of the lower orders; though several men
eminent in literature and religion, and vast numbers of fakeers (or poor
devotees), yielded to its fascinations, and contended that it was lawful
to the Muslim. The habit is now very common among the lower orders in
the metropolis and other towns of Egypt. There are various modes of
preparing it; and various names, as “sheera,” “bast,” etc., are given to
its different preparations. Most commonly, I am told, the young leaves
are used alone, or mixed with tobacco, for smoking; and the capsules,
without the seeds, pounded and mixed with several aromatic substances
for an intoxicating conserve. Acids counteract its operation. The
preparation of hemp used for smoking generally produces boisterous
mirth. Few inhalations of its smoke, but the last very copious, are
usually taken from the gózeh. After the emission of the last draught
from the mouth and nostrils, commonly a fit of coughing, and often a
spitting of blood, ensues, in consequence of the lungs having been
filled with the smoke. Hasheesh is to be obtained not only at some of
the coffee-shops; there are shops of a smaller and more private
description solely appropriated to the sale of this and other
intoxicating preparations: they are called “mahshesh′ehs.” It is
sometimes amusing to observe the ridiculous conduct, and to listen to
the conversation, of the persons who frequent these shops. They are all
of the lower orders. The term “hashshásh,” which signifies “a smoker or
an eater, of hemp,” is an appellation of obloquy: noisy and riotous
people are often called “hashshásheen,” which is the plural of that
appellation, and the origin of our word “assassin;” a name first applied
to Arab warriors in Syria, in the time of the Crusades, who made use of
intoxicating and soporific drugs in order to render their enemies
insensible.[443]
The use of opium and other drugs to induce intoxication is not so common
in Egypt as in many other countries of the East: the number of Egyptians
addicted to this vice is certainly not nearly so great, in proportion to
the whole population, as is the relative number of persons in our own
country who indulge in habitual drunkenness. Opium is called, in Arabic,
“afiyoon;” and the opium-eater, “afiyoonee.” This latter appellation is
a term of less obloquy than that of “hashshásh;” because there are many
persons of the middle and higher classes to whom it is applicable. In
its crude state, opium is generally taken, by those who have not long
been addicted to its use, in the dose of three or four grains, for the
purpose above mentioned; but the “afiyoonee” increases the dose by
degrees. The Egyptians make several conserves composed of hellebore,
hemp, and opium, and several aromatic drugs, which are more commonly
taken than the simple opium. A conserve of this nature is called
“maagoon;” and the person who makes or sells it, “maagungee.” The most
common kind is called “barsh.” There is one kind which, it is said,
makes the person who takes it manifest his pleasure by singing; another
which will make him chatter; a third which excites to dance; a fourth
which particularly affects the vision, in a pleasurable manner; a fifth
which is simply of a sedative nature. These are sold at the
“mahshesh′eh.”
The fermented and intoxicating liquor called “boozeh,” or “boozah,”
which is drunk by many of the boatmen of the Nile, and by other persons
of the lower orders in Egypt, has been mentioned in a former chapter. I
have seen, in tombs at Thebes, many large jars, containing the dregs of
beer of this kind, prepared from barley.
-----
Footnote 438:
El-Is-hákee states that the custom of smoking tobacco began to be
common in Egypt between the years of the Flight 1010 and 1012 (A.D.
1601 and 1603).
Footnote 439:
El-Gabartee relates, that about a century ago, in the time of Mohammad
Básha El-Yedekshee (or Yedekchee), who governed Egypt in the years of
the Flight, 1156-8, it frequently happened that when a man was found
with a pipe in his hand in Cairo, he was made to eat the bowl with its
burning contents. This may seem incredible, but a pipe-bowl _may_ be
broken by strong teeth. The tobacco first used in the East was
probably very strong.
Footnote 440:
See De Sacy’s Chrestomathie Arabe, vol. i., pp. 412-483, 2nde ed.
Footnote 441:
“Kahweh,” being the name of the _beverage_ sold at the coffee-shop, is
hence applied to the shop itself.
Footnote 442:
A decoction of ginger, sweetened with sugar, is likewise often sold at
the Kahwehs, particularly on the nights of festivals.
Footnote 443:
See, on this subject, the close of chapter xxii.
----------------------------