DEATH, AND FUNERAL RITES.
When a learned or pious Muslim feels that he is about to die, he
sometimes performs the ordinary ablution, as before prayer, that he may
depart from life in a state of bodily purity; and generally he repeats
the profession of the faith, “There is no deity but God: Mohammad is
God’s Apostle.” It is common, also, for a Muslim, on a military
expedition, or during a long journey, especially in the desert, to carry
his grave-linen with him. Not unfrequently does it happen that a
traveller, in such circumstances, has even to make his own grave:
completely overcome by fatigue or privation, or sinking under a fatal
disease, in the desert, when his companions, if he have any, cannot wait
for his recovery or death, he performs the ablution (with water, if
possible, or, if not, with sand or dust, which is allowable in such
case), and then, having made a trench in the sand, as his grave, lies
down in it, wrapped in his grave-clothes, and covers himself, with the
exception of his face, with the sand taken up in making the trench; thus
he waits for death to relieve him, trusting to the wind to complete his
burial.
When any one of the eminent ’Ulama of Cairo dies, the muëddins of the
Azhar, and those of several other mosques, announce the event by
chanting from the mád’nehs the cry called the “Abrár;” the words of
which I have given in the account of the customs observed during
Ramadán, in the second of the chapters on periodical public festivals,
etc.
The ceremonies attendant upon death and burial are nearly the same in
the cases of men and women. When the rattles in the throat, or other
symptoms, show that a man is at the point of death, an attendant (his
wife, or some other person) turns him round to place his face in the
direction of Mekkeh,[610] and closes his eyes. Even before the spirit
has departed, or the moment after, the male attendants generally
exclaim, “Alláh! There is no strength nor power but in God! To God we
belong; and to Him we must return! God have mercy on him!” while the
women of the family raise the cries of lamentation called “welwel’eh” or
“wilwál;” uttering the most piercing shrieks, and calling upon the name
of the deceased. The most common cries that are heard on the death of
the master of a family, from the lips of his wife, or wives, and
children, are “O my master!” “O my camel!” (that is, “O thou who
broughtest my provisions, and hast carried my burdens,”) “O my lion!” “O
camel of the house!” “O my glory!” “O my resource!” “O my father!” “O my
misfortune!”—The clothes of the deceased are taken off as soon as he has
ceased to breathe; and he is attired in another suit, placed on his bed
or mattress, and covered over with a sheet. The women continue their
lamentations; and many of the females of the neighbourhood, hearing the
conclamation, come to unite with them in this melancholy task.
Generally, also, the family of the deceased send for two or more
“neddábehs” (or public wailing women[611]); but some persons disapprove
of this custom; and many, to avoid unnecessary expense, do not conform
with it. Each neddábeh brings with her a “tár” (or tambourine), which is
without the tinkling plates of metal which are attached to the hoop of
the common tár. The neddábehs, beating their társ, exclaim, several
times, “Alas for him!”—and praise his turban, his handsome person, etc.;
and the female relations, domestics, and friends of the deceased (with
their tresses dishevelled, and sometimes with rent clothes), beating
their own faces, cry in like manner, “Alas for him!”—This wailing is
generally continued at least an hour.
If the death took place in the morning, the corpse is buried the same
day;[612] but if it happened in the afternoon, or at night, the deceased
is not buried until the following day: in this case, the neddábehs
remain all the night, and continue the lamentation with the other women;
and a fikee is brought to the house to recite chapters of the Kur-án
during the night; or several fikees are employed to perform a complete
khatmeh.
The “mughassil” (or washer of the dead) soon comes, with a bench, upon
which he places the corpse, and a bier.[613] The fikees who are to take
part in the funeral procession (if the deceased were a person of
respectable rank, or of the middle order) are also now brought to the
house. These, during the process of washing, sit in an apartment
adjoining that in which the corpse is placed, or without the door of the
latter apartment; and some of them recite, or rather chant, the “Soorat
el-An’ám” (or 6th chapter of the Kur-án): others of them chant part of
the “Burdeh,” a celebrated poem in praise of the Prophet. The washer
takes off the clothes of the deceased, which are his perquisite. The jaw
is bound up; and the eyes are closed. The ordinary ablution preparatory
to prayer having been performed upon the corpse, with the exception of
the washing of the mouth and nose, the whole body is well washed, from
head to foot, with warm water and soap, and with “leef” (or fibres of
the palm-tree); or, more properly, with water in which some leaves of
the lote-tree (“nabk,” or “sidr”) have been boiled.[614] The nostrils,
ears, etc., are stuffed with cotton; and the corpse is sprinkled with a
mixture of water, pounded camphor, and dried and pounded leaves of the
nabk, and with rose-water. Sometimes, other dried and pounded leaves are
added to those of the nabk. The ankles are bound together, and the hands
placed upon the breast.
The “kefen,” or grave-clothing, of a poor man consists of a piece or two
of cotton;[615] or is merely a kind of bag. The corpse of a man of
wealth is generally wrapped first in muslin, then in cotton cloth of
thicker texture; next, in a piece of striped stuff of silk and cotton
intermixed, or in a kuftán of similar stuff, merely stitched together;
and over these is wrapped a Kashmeer shawl. The corpse of a woman of
middling rank is usually clothed with a yelek. The colours most approved
for the grave-clothes are white and green; but any colour is used,
excepting blue, or what approaches to blue.—The body, prepared for
interment, as above described, is placed in the bier, which is usually
covered over with a red or other Kashmeer shawl. The persons who are to
compose the funeral-procession then arrange themselves in order.—The
more common funeral-processions may be thus described.
The first persons are about six or more poor men, called “Yemeneeyeh;”
mostly blind, who proceed two and two, or three and three, together.
Walking at a moderate pace, or rather slowly, they chant incessantly, in
a melancholy tone, the profession of faith (“There is no deity but God:
Mohammad is God’s Apostle: God favour and preserve him!”); as follows:—
[Stanza]
[Stanza]
[Stanza]
Lá i - lá - ha il - la-l láh: Mo - ham - ma-
dur ra - - soo - lu-l - láh: Sal - la-l-
lá - hu ’a - ley - hi wa - sel -lem!
-------------------------------------------
[Illustration: FUNERAL PROCESSION.]
_Lane’s Modern Egyptians_] [_Page 477_
-------------------------------------------
or sometimes other words. They are followed by some male relations and
friends of the deceased, and, in many cases, by two or more persons of
some sect of darweeshes, bearing the flags of their order. This is a
general custom at the funeral of a darweesh. Next follow three or four
or more schoolboys; one of whom carries a “mus-haf” (or copy of the
Kur-án), or a volume consisting of one of the thirty sections of the
Kur-án, placed upon a kind of desk formed of palm-sticks, and covered
over, generally with an embroidered kerchief. These boys chant, in a
higher and livelier voice than the Yemeneeyeh, usually some words of a
poem called the “Hashreeyeh,” descriptive of the events of the last day,
the judgment, etc.; to the air here noted.
[Stanza]
Sub - há - na men an - sha-s - su - war Wa-
’a-l - ’e - bád[616] bi-l - mót ka - har.
The following is a translation of the commencement of this poem:—
“[I extol] the perfection of Him who hath created whatever hath form;
And subdued His servants by death:
Who bringeth to nought [all] His creatures, with mankind:
They shall all lie in the graves:
The perfection of the Lord of the east:[617]
The perfection of the Lord of the west:[618]
The perfection of the illuminator of the two lights;
The sun, to wit, and the moon:
His perfection: how bountiful is He!
His perfection: how clement is He!
His perfection: how great is He!
When a servant rebelleth against Him, He protecteth.”
The school-boys immediately precede the bier, which is borne
head-foremost. Three or four friends of the deceased usually carry it
for a short distance: then three or four other friends bear it a little
farther; and then these are in like manner relieved. Casual passengers
also often take part in this service, which is esteemed highly
meritorious. Behind the bier walk the female mourners; sometimes a group
of more than a dozen, or twenty; with their hair dishevelled, though
generally concealed by the head-veil; crying and shrieking, as before
described; and often the hired mourners accompany them, celebrating the
praises of the deceased. Among the women, the relations and domestics of
the deceased are each distinguished by a strip of linen or cotton stuff
or muslin, generally blue, bound round the head, and tied in a single
knot behind, the ends hanging down a few inches.[619] Each of these also
carries a handkerchief, usually dyed blue; which she sometimes holds
over her shoulders, and at other times twirls with both hands over her
head, or before her face. The cries of the women, the lively chanting of
the youths, and the deep tones uttered by the Yemeneeyeh, compose a
strange discord.
The wailing of women at funerals was forbidden by the Prophet; and so,
also, was the celebration of the virtues of the deceased. Mohammad
declared, that the virtues thus ascribed to a dead person would be
subjects of reproach to him, if he did not possess them, in a future
state. It is astonishing to see how some of the precepts of the Prophet
are every day violated by all classes of the modern Muslims; the
Wahhábees alone excepted.—I have sometimes seen mourning women of the
lower classes, following a bier, having their faces (which were bare),
and their head-coverings and bosoms, besmeared with mud.[620]
The funeral-procession of a man of wealth, or of a person of the middle
classes, is sometimes preceded by three or four or more camels, bearing
bread and water to give to the poor at the tomb; and is composed of a
more numerous and varied assemblage of persons. The foremost of these
are the Yemeneeyeh, who chant the profession of the faith, as described
above. They are generally followed by some male friends of the deceased,
and some learned and devout persons who have been invited to attend the
funeral. Next follows a group of four or more fikees, chanting the
“Soorat el-Anám” (the 6th chapter of the Kur-án); and sometimes, another
group, chanting the “Soorat Yá-Seen” (the 36th chapter); another,
chanting the “Soorat el-Kahf” (the 18th chapter); and another, chanting
the “Soorat ed-Dukhán” (the 44th chapter). These are followed by some
munshids, singing the “Burdeh;” and these by certain persons called
“As-háb el-Ahzáb,” who are members of religious orders founded by
celebrated sheykhs. There are generally four or more of the order of the
Hezb es-Sádát; a similar group of the Hezb Esh-Sházilee; and another of
the Hezb Esh-Shaaráwee: each group chants a particular form of prayer.
After them are generally borne two or more half-furled flags, the
banners of one or other of the principal orders of darweeshes. Then
follow the schoolboys, the bier, and the female mourners, as in the
procession before described; and, perhaps, the led horses of the
bearers, if these be men of rank. A buffalo, to be sacrificed at the
tomb, where its flesh is to be distributed to the poor, sometimes closes
the procession.
The funeral of a devout sheykh, or of one of the great Ulama, is still
more numerously attended; and the bier of such a person is not covered
with a shawl. A “welee” is further honoured in his funeral by a
remarkable custom. Women follow his bier; but, instead of wailing, as
they would after the corpse of an ordinary mortal, they rend the air
with the shrill and quavering cries of joy called “zagháreet;” and if
these cries are discontinued but for a minute, the bearers of the bier
protest that they cannot proceed; that a supernatural power rivets them
to the spot on which they stand. Very often, it is said, a welee impels
the bearers of his corpse to a particular spot.—The following anecdote,
describing an ingenious mode of puzzling a dead saint in a case of this
kind, was related to me by one of my friends.—Some men were lately
bearing the corpse of a welee to a tomb prepared for it in the great
cemetery on the north of the metropolis; but, on arriving at the gate
called Báb en-Nasr, which leads to this cemetery, they found themselves
unable to proceed farther from the cause above mentioned. “It seems,”
said one of the bearers, “that the sheykh is determined not to be buried
in the cemetery of Báb en-Nasr: and what shall we do?” They were all
much perplexed: but being as obstinate as the saint himself, they did
not immediately yield to his caprice. Retreating a few paces, and then
advancing with a quick step, they thought, by such an impetus, to force
the corpse through the gateway; but their efforts were unsuccessful; and
the same experiment they repeated in vain several times. They then
placed the bier on the ground to rest and consult; and one of them,
beckoning away his comrades to a distance beyond the hearing of the dead
saint, said to them, “Let us take up the bier again, and turn it round
quickly several times till the sheykh becomes giddy; he then will not
know in what direction we are going, and we may take him easily through
the gate.” This they did; the saint was puzzled as they expected; and
quietly buried in the place which he had so striven to avoid.
The biers used for the conveyance of the corpses of females and boys are
different from those of men. They are furnished with a cover of wood,
over which a shawl is spread, as over the bier of a man; and at the head
is an upright piece of wood, called a “sháhid.” The sháhid is covered
with a shawl; and to the upper part of it, when the bier is used to
convey the body of a female of the middle or higher class, several
ornaments of female head-dress are attached: on the top, which is flat
and circular, is often placed a “kurs” (the round ornament of gold or
silver set with diamonds, or of embossed gold, which is worn on the
crown of the head-dress): to the back is suspended the “safa” (or a
number of braids of black silk with gold ornaments along each, which are
worn by the ladies, in addition to their plaits of hair, hanging down
the back). The bier of a boy is distinguished by a turban, generally
formed of a red Kashmeer shawl, wound round the top of the sháhid;
which, in the case of a young boy, is also often decorated with the kurs
and safa. The corpse of a very young child is carried to the tomb in the
arms of a man, and merely covered with a shawl; or, in a very small bier
borne on a mans head.
In the funerals of females and boys, the bier is usually only preceded
by the Yemeneeyeh, chanting the profession of faith, and by some male
relations of the deceased; and followed by the female mourners; unless
the deceased were of a family of wealth, or of considerable station in
the world; in which case, the funeral-procession is distinguished by
some additional display. I shall give a short description of one of the
most genteel and decorous funerals of this kind that I have witnessed:
it was that of a young, unmarried lady.—Two men, each bearing a large,
furled, green flag, headed the procession, preceding the Yemeneeyeh, who
chanted in an unusually low and solemn manner. These fakeers, who were
in number about eight, were followed by a group of fikees, chanting a
chapter of the Kur-án. Next after the latter was a man bearing a large
branch of “nabk” (or lote-tree), an emblem of the deceased.[621] On each
side of him walked a person bearing a tall staff or cane, to the top of
which were attached several hoops ornamented with strips of
various-coloured paper. These were followed by two Turkish soldiers,
side by side; one bearing, on a small round tray, a gilt silver “kumkum”
of rose-water; and the other bearing, on a similar tray, a “mibkhar′ah”
of gilt silver, in which some odoriferous substance (as benzoin, or
frankincense) was burning. These vessels diffused the odour of their
contents on the way; and were afterwards used to perfume the sepulchral
vault. Passengers were occasionally sprinkled with the rose-water. Next
followed four men, each of whom bore, upon a small tray, several small
lighted tapers of wax, stuck in lumps of paste of “henna.” The bier was
covered with rich shawls; and its sháhid was decorated with handsome
ornaments of the head; having, besides the safa, a “kussah almás” (a
long ornament of gold and diamonds, worn over the forehead), and, upon
its flat top, a rich diamond kurs. These were the jewels of the
deceased; or were perhaps, as is often the case, borrowed for the
occasion. The female mourners, in number about seven or eight, clad in
the usual manner of the ladies of Egypt (with the black silk covering,
etc.), followed the bier, not on foot, as is the common custom in
funerals in this country, but mounted on high-saddled asses; and only
the last two or three of them were wailing; these being, probably, hired
mourners.—In another funeral-procession of a female, the daughter of a
Turk of high rank, the Yemeneeyeh were followed by six black slaves,
walking two by two. The first two slaves bore each a silver kumkum of
rose-water, which they sprinkled on the passengers; and one of them
honoured me so profusely as to wet my dress very uncomfortably; after
which, he poured a small quantity into my hands; and I wetted my face
with it, according to custom. Each of the next two bore a silver
mibkhar′ah, with perfume; and the other two carried each a silver ázkee
(or hanging censer), with burning charcoal and frankincense. The jewels
on the sháhid of the bier were of a costly description. Eleven ladies,
mounted on high-saddled asses, together with several neddábehs,
followed.
The rites and ceremonies performed in the mosque, and at the tomb, and
after the funeral, remain to be described.—If the deceased died in any
of the northern quarters of the metropolis, the body is usually carried,
in preference, to the mosque of the Hasaneyn; unless he were a poor man,
not residing near to that venerated sanctuary; in which case, his
friends generally carry his corpse to any neighbouring mosque, to save
time, and avoid unnecessary expense. If he were one of the ulama (that
is, of a learned profession, however humble), his corpse is usually
taken to the great mosque El-Azhar. The people of the southern parts of
the metropolis generally carry their dead to the mosque of the seyyideh
Zeyneb, or to that of any other celebrated saint. The reason of choosing
such mosques in preference to others, is the belief that the prayers
offered up at the tombs of very holy persons are especially successful.
The bier, being brought into the mosque, is laid upon the floor, in the
usual place of prayer, with the right side towards the kibleh, or the
direction of Mekkeh. The “Imám” of the mosque stands before the left
side of the bier, facing it and the kibleh; and a servant of the mosque,
as a “muballigh” (to repeat the words of the Imám), at the feet. The
attendants of the funeral range themselves behind the Imám; the women
standing apart, behind the men; for on this occasion they are seldom
excluded from the mosque. The congregation being thus disposed, the Imám
commences the prayer over the dead; prefacing it with these
words:[622]—“I purpose reciting the prayer of four ‘tekbeers,’[623] the
funeral-prayer, over the deceased Muslim here present:”—or—“the deceased
Muslims here present:” for two or more corpses are often prayed over at
the same time. Having said this, he exclaims (raising his open hands on
each side of his head, and touching the lobes of his ears with the
extremities of his thumbs), “God is most great!” The muballigh repeats
this exclamation; and each individual of the congregation behind the
Imám does the same; as they also do after the subsequent tekbeers. The
Imám then recites the Fát’hah; and a second time exclaims, “God is most
great!” after which he adds, “O God, favour our lord Mohammad, the
Illiterate Prophet, and his Family and Companions, and preserve
them”—and the third time exclaims, “God is most great!” He then says, “O
God, verily this is thy servant and son of Thy servant: he hath departed
from the repose of the world, and from its amplitude,[624] and from
whatever he loved, and from those by whom he was loved in it, to the
darkness of the grave, and to what he experienceth. He did testify that
there is no deity but Thou alone: that Thou hast no companion: and that
Mohammad is thy servant and thine apostle; and Thou art all-knowing
respecting him. O God, he hath gone to abide with Thee; and Thou art the
best with whom to abide. He hath become in need of Thy mercy; and Thou
hast no need of his punishment. We have come to Thee, supplicating that
we may intercede for him. O God, if he were a doer of good, over-reckon
his good deeds; and if he were an evil-doer, pass over his evil doings;
and of Thy mercy grant that he may experience Thine acceptance; and
spare him the trial of the grave, and its torment; and make his grave
wide to him; and keep back the earth from his sides;[625] and of Thy
mercy grant that he may experience security from Thy torment, until Thou
send him safely to Thy Paradise, O Thou most merciful of those who show
mercy!” Then, for the fourth and last time, the Imám exclaims, “God is
most great!”—adding,—“O God, deny us not our reward for him [for the
service we have done him]; and lead us not into trial after him: pardon
us and him and all the Muslims, O Lord of all creatures!”—Thus he
finishes his prayer; greeting the angels on his right and left with the
salutation of “Peace be on you, and the mercy of God;” as is done at the
close of the ordinary prayers. Then, addressing the persons present, he
says, “Give your testimony respecting him.” They reply, “He was of the
virtuous.”—The bier is now taken up; and if it be in the mosque of the
Hasaneyn, or in that of any other celebrated saint, that the prayer has
been performed, it is placed before the “maksoorah” (the screen or
railing that surrounds the sepulchral monument or cenotaph). Here, some
of the fikees and others who have attended the funeral recite the
Fát’hah, and the last three verses of the “Soorat el-Bakarah” (or 2nd
chapter of the Kur-án); beginning, “Whatever is in heaven and on earth
is God’s.”—These rites performed, the funeral-train proceeds with the
corpse, in the same order as before, to the burial-ground.[626]
Here I must give a short description of a tomb.—It is an oblong vault,
having an arched roof; and is generally constructed of brick, and
plastered. It is made hollow, in order that the person or persons buried
in it may be able with ease to sit up when visited and examined by the
two angels, “Munkar” (vulgarly “Nákir”) and “Nekeer.” One side faces the
direction of Mekkeh; that is, the south-east. At the foot, which is to
the north-east, is the entrance; before which is constructed a small
square cell, roofed with stones extending from side to side, to prevent
the earth from entering the vault. This is covered over with earth. The
vault is generally made large enough to contain four or more bodies. If
males and females be buried in the same vault, which is not commonly the
case, a partition is built to separate the corpses of one sex from those
of the other. Over the vault is constructed an oblong monument (called
“tarkeebeh”), of stone or brick, with a stela, or upright stone (called
a “sháhid”), at the head and foot. The stelæ are mostly plain; but some
of them are ornamented; and that at the head is often inscribed with a
text from the Kur-án,[627] and the name of the deceased, with the date
of his death. A turban, cap, or other head-dress, is also sometimes
carved on the top of the head-stone; showing the rank or class of the
person or persons buried in the tomb.—Over the grave of an eminent
sheykh, or other person of note, a small square building, crowned with a
cupola, is generally erected.[628] Many of the tombs of Turkish and
Memlook grandees have marble tarkeebehs, which are canopied by cupolas
supported by four columns of marble; and have inscriptions in gilt
letters upon a ground of azure on the head-stone. There are numerous
tombs of this description in the great southern cemetery of Cairo. The
tombs of the Sultáns are mostly handsome mosques: some of these are
within the metropolis; and some, in the cemeteries in its environs.—I
now resume the description of the funeral.
-------------------------------------------
[Illustration: SKETCH OF A TOMB WITH THE ENTRANCE UNCOVERED.]
_Lane’s Modern Egyptians_] [_Page 484_
-------------------------------------------
The tomb having been opened before the arrival of the corpse, no delay
takes place in the burial. The sexton and two assistants take the corpse
out of the bier, and deposit it in the vault. Its bandages are untied;
and it is laid upon its right side, or so inclined that the face is
towards Mekkeh. It is supported in this position by a few crude bricks.
If the outer wrapper be a Kashmeer shawl, this is rent; lest its value
should tempt any profane person to violate the tomb. A little earth is
gently placed by and upon the corpse, by one or more persons: and the
entrance is closed by replacing the roofing-stones and earth over the
small cell before it. But one singular ceremony remains to be performed,
excepting in the case of a young child, who is not held responsible for
his actions: a fikee is employed to perform the office of a “mulakkin”
(or instructor of the dead):[629] sitting before the tomb, he says
generally as follows:—“O servant of God! O son of a handmaid of God!
know that, at this time, there will come down to thee two angels
commissioned respecting thee and the like of thee: when they say to
thee, ‘Who is thy Lord,’ answer them,‘God is my Lord,’ in truth; and
when they ask thee concerning thy Prophet, or the man who hath been sent
unto you, say to them, ‘Mohammad is the Apostle of God,’ with veracity;
and when they ask thee concerning thy religion, say to them, ‘El-Islám
is my religion;’ and when they ask thee concerning thy book of
direction, say to them, ‘The Kurán is my book of direction, and the
Muslims are my brothers;’ and when they ask thee concerning thy Kibleh,
say to them, ‘The Kaabeh is my Kibleh; and I have lived and died in the
assertion, that there is no deity but God, and Mohammad is God’s
Apostle:’ and they will say, ‘Sleep, O servant of God, in the protection
of God.’”—The soul is believed to remain with the body during the first
night after the burial; and on this night to be visited and examined,
and perhaps the body tortured, by the two angels above mentioned.—The
Yemeneeyeh and other persons hired to attend the funeral are paid at the
tomb: the former usually receive a piaster each. If the funeral be that
of a person of rank or wealth, two or three skins of water, and as many
camel-loads of bread, being conveyed to the burial ground, as before
mentioned, are there distributed, after the burial, to the poor, who
flock thither in great numbers, on such an occasion. It has also been
mentioned that a buffalo is sometimes slaughtered, and its flesh in like
manner distributed. This custom is called “el-kaffárah” (or the
expiation): being supposed to expiate some of the minor sins of the
deceased; but not great sins. The funeral ended, each of the near
relations of the deceased is greeted with a prayer that he may be
happily compensated for his loss; or is congratulated that his life is
prolonged.
The first night after the burial is called “Leylet el-Wahsheh” (or the
Night of Desolation); the place of the deceased being then left
desolate. On this night the following custom is observed:—At sunset, two
or three fikees are brought to the house: they take a repast of bread
and milk in the place where the deceased died; and then recite the
“Soorat el-Mulk” (or 67th chapter of the Kur-án). As the soul is
believed to remain with the body during the first night after the
burial, and then to depart to the place appointed for the residence of
good souls until the last day, or to the appointed prison in which
wicked souls await their final doom, this night is also called “Leylet
el-Wahdeh” (or the Night of Solitude).[630]
Another ceremony, called that of the “Sebhah” (or Rosary), is performed
on this occasion, to facilitate the entrance of the deceased into a
state of happiness: it usually occupies three or four hours. After the
“’eshë” (or nightfall), some fikees, sometimes as many as fifty,
assemble in the house; or, if there be not a court, or large apartment,
for their reception, some matting is spread for them to sit upon in
front of the house. One of them brings a sebhah composed of a thousand
beads; each about the size of a pigeon’s egg. They commence the ceremony
by reciting the “Soorat el-Mulk” (mentioned above); then say three
times, “God is one.” After this they recite the “Soorat el-Falak” (or
last chapter but one of the Kur-án), and the opening chapter (the
“Fát’hah”); and then three times say, “O God, favour, with the most
excellent favour, the most happy of thy creatures, our lord Mohammad,
and his Family and Companions, and preserve them:” to which they add,
“All who commemorate Thee are the mindful; and those who omit
commemorating Thee are the negligent.” They next repeat, thrice one
thousand times, “There is no deity but God;” one of them holding the
sebhah, and counting each repetition of these words by passing a bead
through his fingers. After each thousand repetitions they sometimes rest
and take coffee. Having completed the last thousand, and rested, and
refreshed themselves, they say, a hundred times, “[I extol] the
perfection of God, with his praise:” then, the same number of times, “I
beg forgiveness of God, the Great:” after which they say, fifty times,
“[I extol] the perfection of the Lord, the Eternal—the perfection of
God, the Eternal:” they then repeat these words of the Kur-án—“[Extol]
the perfection of thy Lord, the Lord of Might; exempting Him from that
which they [namely, Christians and others] ascribe to Him [that is, from
the having a son, or partaker of his godhead]; and peace be on the
Apostles; and praise be to God, the Lord of all creatures!”[631] Two or
three or more of them then recite, each, an “’ashr,” or about two or
three verses of the Kur-án. This done, one of them asks his companions,
“Have ye transferred [the merit of] what ye have recited to the soul of
the deceased?” They reply, “We have transferred it;” and add, “And peace
be on the Apostles,” etc., as above. This concludes the ceremony of the
sebhah, which, in the houses of the rich, is also repeated on the second
and third nights. This ceremony is likewise performed in a family on
their receiving intelligence of the death of a near relation.
The men make no alteration in their dress in token of mourning; nor do
the women on the death of an elderly man; but they do for others. In the
latter cases, they dye their shirts, head-veils, face-veils, and
handkerchiefs, of a blue, or of an almost black, colour, with indigo;
and some of them, with the same dye, stain their hands and their arms as
high as the elbow; and smear the walls of the chambers. When the master
of the house, or the owner of the furniture, is dead, and sometimes in
other cases, they also turn upside-down the carpets, mats, cushions, and
covering of the deewáns. In general, the women, while in mourning, leave
their hair unbraided, cease to wear some of their ornaments, and, if
they smoke, use common reed pipes.
Towards the close of the first Thursday after the funeral, and often,
early in the morning of this day, the women of the family of the
deceased again commence a wailing, in their house, accompanied by some
of their female friends; and in the afternoon or evening of this day,
male friends of the deceased also visit the house; and three or four
fikees are employed to perform a khatmeh.—On the Friday morning the
women repair to the tomb; where they observe the same customs which I
have described in speaking of the ceremonies performed on the two grand
“’eeds,” in the second of the chapters on periodical public festivals,
etc.; generally taking a palm-branch, to break up, and place on the
tomb; and some cakes or bread, to distribute to the poor. These
ceremonies are repeated on the same days of the next two weeks; and
again, on the Thursday and Friday which complete, or next follow, the
first period of forty days[632] after the funeral: whence this Friday is
called “el-Arba’-een,” or “Gum’at el-Arba’-een.”
It is customary among the peasants of Upper Egypt for the female
relations and friends of a person deceased to meet together by his house
on each of the first three days after the funeral, and there to perform
a lamentation and a strange kind of dance. They daub their faces and
bosoms, and part of their dress, with mud; and tie a rope girdle,
generally made of the coarse grass called “halfa,” round the waist.[633]
Each flourishes in her hand a palm-stick, or a nebboot (a long staff),
or a spear, or a drawn sword; and dances with a slow movement, and in an
irregular manner; generally pacing about, and raising and depressing the
body. This dance is continued for an hour or more; and is performed
twice or three times in the course of the day. After the third day, the
women visit the tomb, and place upon it their rope-girdles; and usually
a lamb, or a goat, is slain there, as an expiatory sacrifice, and a
feast made, on this occasion.
Having now described the manners and customs of the Muslims of Egypt in
the various stages and circumstances of life, from the period of infancy
to the tomb, I close my account of them, as a writer of their own nation
would in a similar case, with “thanks and praise to Him who dieth not.”
-----
Footnote 610:
Some Muslims turn the _head_ of the corpse in the direction of Mekkeh;
others, the _right side_, inclining the _face_ in that direction: the
latter, I believe, is the general custom.
Footnote 611:
See 2 Chron. xxxv. 25; Jer. ix. 17; and Matt. ix. 23.
Footnote 612:
The Egyptians have a superstitious objection to keep a corpse in the
house during the night after the death, and to burying the dead after
sunset; but the latter is sometimes done: I have witnessed one
instance of it.
Footnote 613:
It is hardly necessary to state that the corpse of a female is always
washed by a woman.
Footnote 614:
The leaves of the lote-tree, dried and pulverized, are often used by
the poor instead of soap.
Footnote 615:
The kefen is often sprinkled with water from the well of Zemzem, in
the Temple of Mekkeh.
Footnote 616:
“’A-l-’ebád” is a vulgar contraction, for “’ala-l-’ebád.”—It will be
observed (from the specimen here given, in the first two lines) that
this poem is not in the _literary_ dialect of Arabic.
Footnote 617:
Literally, “the two easts,” or “the two places of sunrise:” the point
where the sun rises in summer, and that where it rises in winter.
Footnote 618:
Or, “the two places of sunset.”
Footnote 619:
In the funeral scenes represented on the walls of ancient Egyptian
tombs, we often see females with a similar bandage round the head.
Footnote 620:
This was a custom of the ancient Egyptians: it is described by
Herodotus, lib. ii., cap. 85.—Passengers in the streets and roads,
when a corpse is borne by to the tomb, often say,—“God is most great!
God is most great! That is what God and his Apostle have promised: and
God and his Apostle have spoken truth. O God, increase our faith and
submission!”—The women, pointing with the finger at the bier, say,—“I
testify that there is no deity but God.”
Footnote 621:
This is only borne in funerals of young persons.
Footnote 622:
I give the form of prayer used by the Sháfe’ees, as being the most
common in Cairo. Those of the other sects are nearly similar to this.
Footnote 623:
A “tekbeer” has been explained in a former chapter, as being the
exclamation of “Alláhu Akbar” or “God is most great!”
Footnote 624:
Or, according to one of my sheykhs, “its business.”
Footnote 625:
It is believed that the body of the wicked is painfully oppressed by
the earth against its sides in the grave; though this is always made
hollow.
Footnote 626:
The burial-grounds of Cairo are mostly outside the town, in the desert
tracts on the north, east, and south. Those within the town are few,
and not extensive.
Footnote 627:
The Prophet forbade engraving the name of God, or any words of the
Kur-án, upon a tomb. He also directed that tombs should be low, and
built only of crude bricks.
Footnote 628:
Like that seen in the distance in the engraving here inserted.
Footnote 629:
The Málikees disapprove of this custom, the “talkeen” of the dead.
Footnote 630:
The opinions of the Muslims respecting the state of souls in the
interval between death and the judgment are thus given by Sale
(“Preliminary Discourse,” sect. iv.):—“They distinguish the souls of
the faithful into three classes: the first, of prophets, whose souls
are admitted into paradise immediately; the second, of martyrs, whose
spirits, according to a tradition of Mohammad, rest in the crops of
green birds, which eat of the fruits and drink of the rivers of
paradise; and the third, of other believers, concerning the state of
whose souls before the resurrection there are various opinions. For,
1. Some say that they stay near the sepulchres, with liberty, however,
of going where-ever they please; which they confirm from Mohammad’s
manner of saluting them at their graves, and his affirming that the
dead heard those salutations as well as the living. Whence perhaps
proceeded the custom of visiting the tombs of relations, so common
among the Mohammadans. 2. Others imagine they are with Adam in the
lowest heaven, and also support their opinion by the authority of
their prophet, who gave out that in his return from the upper heavens
in his pretended night-journey, he saw there the souls of those who
were destined to paradise on the right hand of Adam, and those who
were condemned to hell on his left. 3. Others fancy the souls of
believers remain in the well Zemzem, and those of infidels in a
certain well in the province of Hadramót, called Barahoot [so in the
Kámoos, but by Sale written Borhût]; but this opinion is branded as
heretical. 4. Others say they stay near the graves for seven days; but
that whither they go afterwards is uncertain. 5. Others, that they are
all in the trumpet, whose sound is to raise the dead. And, 6. Others,
that the souls of the good dwell in the forms of white birds, under
the throne of God. As to the condition of the souls of the wicked,
besides the opinions that have been already mentioned, the more
orthodox hold that they are offered by the angels to heaven, from
whence being repulsed as stinking and filthy, they are offered to the
earth; and being also refused a place there, are carried down to the
seventh earth, and thrown into a dungeon, which they call Sijjeen,
under a green rock, or, according to a tradition of Mohammad, under
the devil’s jaw, to be there tormented till they are called up to be
joined again to their bodies.” I believe that the opinion respecting
the Well of Barahoot commonly prevails in the present day.
Footnote 631:
Chapter xxxvii., last three verses.
Footnote 632:
See Genesis 1. 3.
Footnote 633:
As the ancient Egyptian women did in the same case.—See a passage in
Herodotus, before referred to, lib. ii., cap. 85.
----------------------------
SUPPLEMENT.
I.—THE COPTS.
The fame of that great nation from which the Copts mainly derive their
origin renders this people objects of much interest, especially to one
who has examined the wonderful monuments of Ancient Egypt: but so great
is the aversion with which, like their illustrious ancestors, they
regard all persons who are not of their own race, and so reluctant are
they to admit such persons to any familiar intercourse with them, that I
had almost despaired of gaining an insight into their religious, moral,
and social state. At length, however, I had the good fortune to become
acquainted with a character of which I had doubted the existence—a Copt
of a liberal as well as an intelligent mind; and to his kindness I am
indebted for the knowledge of most of the facts related in the following
brief memoir.
The Copts, at present, compose less than one fourteenth part of the
population of Egypt; their number being not more than about one hundred
and fifty thousand. About ten thousand of them reside in the metropolis.
In some parts of Upper Egypt are villages exclusively inhabited by
persons of this race; and the district called the Feiyoom particularly
abounds with them. The vast number of ruined convents and churches
existing in various parts of Egypt shows that the Copts were very
numerous a few centuries ago; but every year many of them have embraced
the faith of El-Islám, and become intermixed by marriage with Muslims;
and thus the number of genuine and Christian Copts has been reduced to
its present small amount.
The Copts are undoubtedly descendants of the ancient Egyptians; but not
an unmixed race; their ancestors in the earlier ages of Christianity
having intermarried with Greeks, Nubians, Abyssinians, and other
foreigners. Their name is correctly pronounced either “Kubt” or “Kibt;”
but more commonly, “Gubt” or “Gibt,” and (in Cairo and its
neighbourhood, and in some other parts of Egypt), “’Ubt” or “’Ibt:” in
the singular it is pronounced “Kubtee, Kibtee, Gubtee, Gibtee, ’Ubtee,”
or “’Ibtee.” All of these sounds bear a great resemblance to the ancient
Greek name of Egypt (Αίγυπτος): but it is generally believed that the
name of “Kubt” is derived from “Coptos” (once a great city in Upper
Egypt), now called “Kuft,” or, more commonly, “Guft;” to which vast
numbers of the Christian Egyptians retired during the persecution with
which their sect was visited under several of the Roman Emperors. The
Copts have not altogether lost their ancient language; their liturgy and
several of their religious books being written in it: but the Coptic has
become a dead language, understood by very few persons; and the Arabic
has been adopted in its stead.
With respect to their personal characteristics, we observe some striking
points of resemblance, and yet, upon the whole, a considerable
difference, between the Copts and the ancient Egyptians, judging of the
latter from the paintings and sculptures in their tombs and temples. The
difference is, however, easily accounted for by the fact of the
intermarriages of the ancestors of the modern Copts with foreigners,
above mentioned. The people who bear the greatest resemblance to the
ancient Egyptians, at present, are the Noobeh (or more genuine Nubians);
and next to these, the Abyssinians and the Copts; who are,
notwithstanding, much unlike each other. The Copts differ but little
from the generality of their Muslim countrymen: the latter being chiefly
descended from Arabs and from Copts who have embraced the faith of the
Arabs, and having thus become assimilated to the Copts in features. I
find it difficult, sometimes, to perceive any difference between a Copt
and a Muslim Egyptian, beyond a certain downcast and sullen expression
of countenance which generally marks the former; and the Muslims
themselves are often deceived when they see a Copt in a white turban. We
observe, in the latter, the same shades of complexion, in different
latitudes of the country, as in the former; varying from a pale
yellowish colour to a deep bronze or brown. The eyes of the Copt are
generally large and elongated, slightly inclined from the nose upwards,
and always black: the nose is straight, excepting at the end, where it
is rounded, and wide: the lips are rather thick; and the hair is black
and curly. The Copts are, generally speaking, somewhat under the middle
size; and so, as it appears from the mummies, were the ancient
Egyptians. Their women, of the higher and middle classes in particular,
blacken the edges of their eyelids with kohl; and those of the lower
orders tattoo blue marks upon their faces, hands, etc., in the same
manner as other Egyptian females, but usually introduce the cross among
these ornaments. Most of the Copts circumcise their sons; and another
practice which prevailed among their pagan ancestors, mentioned by
Strabo, and alluded to in a note subjoined to page 48 of this work, is
observed among the Copts without exception.
The dress of the Copts is similar to that of the Muslim Egyptians;
excepting that the proper turban of the former is black or blue, or of a
greyish or light-brown colour; and such Copts as wear cloth generally
choose dull colours, and often wear a black cotton gown, or loose shirt,
over their cloth and silk dress. In the towns, they are usually careful
thus to distinguish themselves from the Muslims; but in the villages,
many of them wear the white or red turban. Other Christians, and Jews
who are subjects of the Turkish Sultán, are distinguished from the
Muslims in the same manner; but not all: many Armenians, Greeks, and
Syrian Christians wear the white turban. Subjects of European Christian
powers are allowed to do the same, and to adopt altogether the Turkish
dress. The occasions which originally caused the Copts to be
distinguished by the black and blue turbans will be mentioned in some
historical notes respecting this people hereafter.—The Copt women veil
their faces, not only in public, but also in the house, when any men,
excepting their near relations, are present. The unmarried ladies, and
females of the lower orders, in public, generally wear the white veil:
the black veil is worn by the more respectable of the married ladies;
but the white is adopted by many, from a desire to imitate the
Muslim′ehs.
The Copts, with the exception of a small proportion who profess the
Romish or the Greek faith, are Christians of the sect called Jacobites,
Eutychians, Monophysites, and Monothelites; whose creed was condemned by
the Council of Chalcedon, in the reign of the Emperor Marcion. They
received the appellation of “Jacobites” (“Ya’ákibeh,” or “Yaakoobees”),
by which they are generally known, from Jacobus Baradæus, a Syrian, who
was a chief propagator of the Eutychian doctrines. Those who adhered to
the Greek faith were distinguished from the former by the name of
“Melekites” (“Melekeeyeh,” or “Melekees”), that is to say, “Royalists,”
because they agreed in faith with the Emperor of Constantinople. The
secession of the great majority of the Copts from what was generally
considered the orthodox Church gave rise to an implacable enmity between
them and the Greeks, under whom they suffered much persecution, and with
whom they would no longer even contract marriages. This enmity was, of
course, more bitter on the part of the Copts: they gladly received the
Arab invaders of their country, and united with them to expel the
Greeks. Their revenge was gratified; but they were made to bow their
necks to a heavier yoke: yet the hatred with which even the modern Copts
regard the Greeks and all other Christians who are not of their own sect
is much greater than that which they bear towards the Muslims.—Saint
Mark, they assert, was the first who preached the Gospel in Egypt; and
they regard him as the first Patriarch of Alexandria. The Nubians and
Abyssinians embraced Christianity soon after the Egyptians; and,
following the same example, they adopted the Jacobite doctrines. The
Nubians, however, have become Muslims; and boast that there is not a
single Christian among their race, and that they will never allow one to
live among them; for, as they are more ignorant, so are they also more
bigoted, than the generality of Muslims. In Abyssinia, Jacobite
Christianity is still the prevailing religion.
The religious orders of the Coptic Church consist of a Patriarch, a
Metropolitan of the Abyssinians, Bishops, Archpriests, Priests, Deacons,
and Monks.
The Patriarch (“el-Batrak”) is the supreme head of the church; and
occupies the chair of Saint Mark. He generally resides in Cairo; but is
styled “Patriarch of Alexandria.” He is chosen from among the order of
monks; with whose regulations he continues to comply; and it is a point
of these regulations that he remains unmarried. He is obliged to wear
woollen garments next his body; but these are of the finest and softest
quality, like the shawls of Kashmeer; and are concealed by habits of
rich silks and cloth. So rigid are the rules with which he is obliged to
conform, that, whenever he sleeps, he is waked after every quarter of an
hour.[634] A patriarch may be appointed by his predecessor; but,
generally, he is chosen by lot; and always from among the monks of the
Convent of Saint Anthony (“Deyr Antooniyoos”), in the Eastern Desert of
Egypt, near the western Gulf of the Red Sea. The bishops and principal
priests, when a patriarch is to be elected, apply to the superior of the
convent above mentioned, who names about eight or nine monks whom he
considers qualified for the high office of head of the Church: the names
of these persons are written, each upon a separate slip of paper, which
pieces of paper are then rolled into the form of little balls, and put
into a drawer: a priest draws one, without looking; and the person whose
name is thus drawn is invested as patriarch. Formerly, a young child was
employed to draw the lot; being supposed to be more under the direction
of heaven.
The property at the disposal of the patriarch is very considerable: it
chiefly consists in houses; and can only be employed for pious uses.
Modern patriarchs have done little more than augment their property:
generally, when a Copt sells a house in Cairo, the patriarch bids for
it; and no one ventures to bid against him; so that the owner of the
house is obliged to part with it for considerably less than its just
value.
The patriarch and bishops wear a turban of a wider and rounder form than
those of other persons; much resembling the mukleh of the Muslim ’Ulama;
but of the same dark colour as those of the other Copts.
The Metropolitan of the Abyssinians (“el-Matrán”) is appointed by the
Patriarch. He retains his office for life; and resides in Abyssinia.
A bishop (“Uskuf”) is generally (or, I am told, always) chosen from
among the monks; and continues, like the patriarch, to conform with
their regulations. The canons of the Church do not require that bishops
should be monks; but unmarried men, or widowers, were formerly always
chosen for the episcopal office. The number of bishops is twelve.
An Archpriest (“Kummus”) is elevated from the order of common priests.
The archpriests are numerous.
A priest (“Kasees”) must have been a deacon: he must be without bodily
defect, at least thirty-three years of age, and a person who has never
married, or who has married but one wife, and taken that wife a virgin,
and married her before he became a priest; for he cannot marry after. If
a priest’s wife die, he cannot marry again; nor is the widow of a priest
allowed to marry a second husband. A priest may be of the order of
monks; and, consequently, unmarried. He is supported only by alms, and
by what he obtains through his own industry. Both priests and deacons
are ordained either by the Patriarch or by a bishop. The priests wear a
turban formed of a long narrow band. This was worn, a few years ago, by
all the Copts in Cairo: a desire to imitate the Muslims has made them
change the style.
A Deacon (“Shemmás”) must be either unmarried, or a person who has only
once married, to a virgin bride. If he take a second wife, or marry a
widow, he loses his office. He may be of the order of monks, as appears
from what has been said above.
A Monk (“Ráhib”) must have submitted to a long trial of his patience and
piety, and made a vow of celibacy, before his admission into the
monastic order. He usually performs menial and arduous services,
previously to his admission, for a year, or a year and a half, in some
sequestered convent in the desert. He is generally employed in fetching
wood and water, sweeping the convent, etc., and waiting upon the monks;
and expends all his property (if he have any) in the purchase of clothes
and other necessaries for the monks and the poor in general. If, after a
sufficient service, he persevere in his resolution, he is admitted. The
prayers of the dead are recited over him, to celebrate his death to the
world; and it has been said that, when he dies, he is buried without
prayer; but I am informed that this is not the case. The monks are very
numerous, and there are many nuns. They lead a life of great austerity;
and are obliged always to wear woollen garments next the body. Every
monk is distinguished by a strip of woollen stuff, of a deep blue or
black colour, about four inches wide, attached beneath the turban and
hanging down the back to the length of about a foot.[635] A woollen
shirt is generally the only article of dress worn by the monks, beside
the turban. They eat two meals in the course of the day, at noon and in
the evening; but, if living in a convent, seldom anything more than
lentils; as most of their convents are in the desert: on feast-days,
however, they eat flesh, if it be procurable. The number of convents and
churches is said to be a hundred and forty-six;[636] but the former are
few in comparison with the latter.
The Coptic Church recommends baptizing boys at the age of forty days,
and girls at the age of eighty days, if they continue so long well and
healthy; but earlier if they be ill, and in apparent danger of death:
for it is a prevailing belief among the Copts, that, if a child die
unbaptized, it will be blind in the next life, and the parents are held
guilty of a sin, for which they must do penance, either by repeating
many prayers, or by fasting: yet people of the lower orders, if living
at an inconvenient distance from a church, and even in other cases,
often neglect baptizing their children for a whole year. The child is
dipped three times in the water, in which a little holy oil, dropped on
the priest’s thumb, has been washed off; and prayers, entirely in
Coptic, are repeated over it. The Copts hold that the Holy Spirit
descends upon the child in baptism. No money is taken by the priest for
performing the baptismal service, unless voluntarily offered.
I have said that most of the Copts circumcise their sons. Not many of
them in Cairo, I am told, do so; but in other parts, all, or almost all,
observe this rite. The operation is generally performed when the child
is about seven or eight years of age; and always privately: there is no
fixed age for its performance: some of the Copts are circumcised at the
early age of two years; and some at the age of twenty years, or more.
The more enlightened of the Copts certainly regard circumcision as a
practice to be commended; but not as a religious rite; which the priests
declare it is not. It appears, however, from its being universal among
the peasantry, that these look upon it as something more than a mere
civil rite; for if they regarded it as being of no higher importance,
surely they would leave the more polished to comply with the custom.
Some say it is in imitation of Christ, who submitted to this rite, that
they perform it. It is a relic of ancient customs.
The Copts have numerous schools; but for boys only: very few females
among them can read; and those have been instructed at home. The boys
are taught the Psalms of David, the Gospels, and the Apostolical
Epistles, in Arabic; and then the Gospels and Epistles in Coptic. They
do not learn the Coptic language grammatically; and I am told that there
is not to be found, among the Copts, any person who can write or speak
that language with correctness or ease; and that there are very few
persons who can do more than repeat what they have committed to memory,
of the Scriptures and Liturgy. The Coptic language gradually fell into
disuse after the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs. For two centuries after
that event, it appears to have been the only language that the
generality of the Copts understood; but before the tenth century of our
era, most of the inhabitants of Lower Egypt had ceased to speak and
understand it;[637] though in the Sa’eed (or Upper Egypt), El-Makreezee
tells us, the women and children of the Copts, in his time (that is,
about the close of the fourteenth century of our era, or the early part
of the fifteenth), scarcely spoke any other language than the Sa’eedee
Coptic; and had a complete knowledge of the Greek. Soon after this
period, the Coptic language fell into disuse in Upper Egypt, as it had
done so long before in the Lower Provinces; and the Arabic was adopted
in its stead. All the Copts who have been instructed at a school still
pray, both in the church and in private, in Coptic; and the Scriptures
are still always read in the churches in that language; but they are
explained, from books, in Arabic. Many books for the use of priests and
other persons are written in the Coptic language, expressed in Arabic
characters.
The ordinary private prayers of the Copts are a subject particularly
worthy of notice. In these they seem to have imitated the Jews, and to
resemble the Muslims. I am informed that there are few of them in Cairo
who do not comply with a precept of their church which enjoins them to
pray seven times in the course of the day. The first prayer is said at
day-break; the second, at the third hour; the third, at the sixth hour;
the fourth, at the ninth hour; the fifth, at the eleventh hour; the
sixth, at the twelfth hour, which is sunset; and the seventh, at
midnight. In each of these prayers, those persons who have learned to
read, and are strict in the performance of their religious duties,
recite several of the Psalms of David (about a seventh part of the whole
book of Psalms) in Arabic, and a chapter of one of the four Gospels in
the same language; after which they say, either in Coptic or Arabic, “O
my Lord! have mercy!” forty-one times; some using a string of forty-one
beads; others counting by their fingers: they then add a short prayer in
Coptic. In the seven prayers of each day, altogether, they repeat the
whole book of Psalms. Such, I am assured, are the rigid practices of the
more strict and instructed classes in their daily worship. The
illiterate repeat, in each of the seven daily prayers, the Lord’s prayer
seven times, and “O my Lord! have mercy!” forty-one times. Previously to
private as well as public prayer, persons of the better and stricter
classes wash their hands and face; and some also wash their feet; and in
prayer they always face the east. Though in most of the rules above
mentioned they nearly resemble the Jews and the Muslims, they differ
from both these sects in holding that prayer, excepting with the
congregation in the church, is better performed in private than in
public. Their ordinary prayers, or at least the latter and shorter form,
they often repeat while walking or riding or otherwise actively
employed. I can hardly believe that the longer form is generally used by
the instructed classes; though I am positively assured that it is.
The larger churches are divided into four or five compartments. The
“Heykel,” or Chancel, containing the altar, occupies the central and
chief portion of the compartment at the upper end, which is screened
from the rest of the church by a close partition or wall of wooden
panel-work, having a door in the centre, the entrance of the Heykel,
before which is suspended a curtain, with a large cross worked upon it.
The compartment next before this is appropriated to the priests who read
the lessons, etc., and to boys who serve as acolytes and singers, and
the chief members of the congregation: this is separated from the
compartment next before it by a partition of wooden lattice-work, about
eight or nine feet high, with three doors, or a single door in the
centre. The inferior members of the congregation occupy the next
compartment, or next two compartments; and the lowest is appropriated to
the women, and is screened in front by a partition of wooden
lattice-work, to conceal them entirely from the men. Upon the walls of
the church are suspended ill-executed and gaudy pictures of various
saints; particularly of the patron saint; but no images are admitted.
The floor is covered with mats.
Every man takes off his shoes on entering the church; but he retains his
turban. He first goes to the door of the Heykel, prostrates himself
before it, and kisses the hem of its curtain. He then prostrates
himself, or makes a bow, and a salutation with the hand, before one or
more pictures of saints, and sometimes kisses the hand of one or more of
the officiating priests, in the compartment next before the Heykel.
Almost every member of the congregation has a crutch, about four feet
and a half or five feet long, to lean upon while he stands; which he
does during the greater part of the service. The full service (with the
celebration of the Eucharist) occupies between three and four hours;
generally commencing at day-break.
The priests who officiate in the Heykel are clad in handsome robes; but
the others wear only their ordinary dress. The whole of the service that
is performed in the Heykel is in the Coptic language; no other language
being allowed to be spoken within the sanctuary. The priests without,
standing opposite and facing the door of the Heykel, read and chant
explanations and lessons in Arabic and Coptic.[638] A priest is not
permitted to sit down while reading the service in the sanctuary; and as
this occupies so long a time, he pauses, in order that he may sit down,
several times, for a few minutes, and on these occasions, cymbals of
various sizes and notes are beaten as long as he remains sitting.
Several times, also, a priest comes out from the Heykel, waves a censer,
in which frankincense is burning, among the congregation, and blesses
each member, placing his hand upon the person’s head. Having done this
to the men, he proceeds to the apartment of the women. The Sacrament of
the Lord’s Supper is often performed in the Coptic Church. The bread,
which is made in the form of small round cakes, or buns, stamped upon
the top, is moistened with the wine, and in this state administered to
the congregation, and partaken of by the ministers in orders, who have
larger shares than the laymen, and are alone privileged to drink the
wine. Each member of the congregation advances to the door of the Heykel
to receive his portion.
The priests and others are often guilty of excessive indecorum in their
public worship. I heard a priest, standing before the door of the
sanctuary in the patriarchal church in Cairo, exclaim to a young acolyte
(who was assisting him, I suppose, rather awkwardly), “May a blow
corrode your heart!” and a friend of mine once witnessed, in the same
place, a complete uproar: a priest from a village, having taken a part
in the performance of the service, was loudly cursed, and forcibly
expelled, by the regular officiating ministers; and afterwards, many
members of the congregation, in pressing towards the door of the Heykel,
vociferated curses, and beat each other with their crutches. The form of
service in itself struck me as not much characterized by solemnity;
though probably it approaches very nearly to that of the earliest age of
the Christian Church.
Confession is required of all members of the Coptic Church; and is
indispensable before receiving the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Each
person generally confesses to the same priest. The penance which the
confessor usually imposes is a certain number of crossings and
prostrations, with the repetition, during each prostration, of the
Lord’s Prayer, or, “O my Lord! have mercy!”
The Copts observe long and arduous _fasts_. A week before their Great
Fast, or Lent, commences a fast of three days, kept in commemoration of
that of Nineveh, which was occasioned by the preaching of Jonah. Some of
the Copts observe this fast by total abstinence during the whole period
of three days and three nights; others keep it in the same manner as the
other fasts, of which an account here follows.
Their principal fast, called “Ses-óm el-Kebeer” (or the Great Fast),
above alluded to, was originally limited to forty days; but it has been
gradually extended, by different patriarchs, to fifty-five days. During
this period, excepting on two days of festival, which will presently be
mentioned, they abstain from every kind of animal food, such as
flesh-meat, eggs, milk, butter, and cheese; and eat only bread and
vegetables (chiefly beans), with sweet oil, or the oil of sesame, and
dukkah. The churches are open, and service is performed in them, every
day during this fast; and the Copts eat nothing after their supper until
after the church-prayers of the next day, about noon: but they do not
thus on the other fasts.
They observe, however, with almost equal strictness, three other
fasts:—1st, the “Sóm el-Meelád” (or Fast of the Nativity); the period of
which is twenty-eight days immediately preceding the festival of the
Nativity, or Christmas-day; that is, all the month of Kiyahk excepting
the last two days:—2dly, the “Sóm er-Rusul” (or Fast of the Apostles),
which is the period between the Ascension and the fifth of Ebeeb; and is
observed in commemoration of the Apostles’ fasting after they were
deprived of their Lord:—3dly, the “Sóm el-’Adra” (or Fast of the
Virgin), a period of fifteen days previous to the Assumption of the
Virgin.
The Copts also fast every Wednesday and Friday in every other period of
the year; excepting during the fifty days immediately following their
Great Fast: that is, from the end of the Great Fast to the end of the
Khamáseen. On these Wednesdays and Fridays, they eat only fish,
vegetables, and oil.
Each fast is followed by a _festival_. The Copts observe seven great
festivals:—1st, the “’Eed el-Meelád” (or Festival of the Nativity), on
the 29th of Kiyahk (or 6th or 7th of January):—2dly, the “’Eed
el-Gheetás,” on the 11th of Toobeh (18th or 19th of January), in
commemoration of the baptism of Christ:—3dly, the “’Eed el-Bishárah”
(Annunciation of the Virgin, or Lady-day), on the 29th of Barmahát (or
6th of April):—4thly, the “’Eed esh-Sha’áneen” (Palm Sunday), the Sunday
next before Easter:—5thly, the “’Eed el-Kiyámeh” (the Resurrection, or
Easter), or “el-’Eed el-Kebeer” (the Great Festival):—6thly, the “’Eed
es-So’ood” (the Ascension):—7thly, the “’Eed el-’Ansar′ah” (Whitsunday).
On the first, second, and fifth of these, the church-prayers are
performed at night: that is, in the night preceding the day of festival.
On all these festivals, the Copts wear new clothes (or the best they
have), feast, and give alms.
On the “Leylet el-Gheetás” (or eve of the festival of the Gheetás), the
Copts, almost universally, used to perform a singular ceremony, which, I
am informed, is now observed by few of those residing in the metropolis,
but by almost all others; that is, by the men. To commemorate the
baptism of Christ, men, old as well as young, and boys, plunge into
water; and the Muslims say, that as each does this, another exclaims to
him, “Plunge, as thy father and grandfather plunged; and remove El-Islám
from thy heart.” Some churches have a large tank, which is used on this
occasion; the water having first been blessed by a priest: but it is a
more common practice of the Copts to perform this ceremony (which most
of them regard more as an amusement than a religious rite) in the river;
pouring in some holy water from the church before they plunge. This used
to be an occasion of great festivity among the Copts of the metropolis:
the Nile was crowded with boats; and numerous tents and mesh′als were
erected on its banks. Prayers are performed in the churches on the eve
of this festival: a priest blesses the water in the font, or the tank,
then ties on a napkin as an apron, and, wetting the corner of a
handkerchief with the holy water, washes (or rather, wipes or touches)
with it the feet of each member of the congregation. This latter
ceremony is also performed on the Thursday next before Easter, or
Maunday Thursday (“Khamees el-′Ahd”), and on the Festival of the
Apostles (“′Eed er-Rusul”), on the 5th of Ebeeb (or 11th of July).
On the Festivals of the “Bishárah” and the “Sha′áneen,” the Copts eat
fish; and on the latter of these two festivals the priests recite the
prayers of the dead over their congregations in the churches; and if any
die between that day and the end of the Khamáseen (which is the chief or
worse portion of the plague-season), his body is interred without the
prayer being repeated. This custom seems to have originated from the
fact of its being impossible to pray at the tomb over every victim of
the plague; and must have a very impressive effect upon people expecting
this dreadful scourge.
Among the minor festivals are the “Khamees el-′Ahd,” above mentioned;
“Sebt en-Noor” (or Saturday of the Light), the next Saturday, when a
light which is said to be miraculous appears in the Holy Sepulchre at
Jerusalem; the “′Eed er-Rusul” before mentioned; and the “′Eed
es-Saleeb” (or Festival of [the discovery of] the Cross), on the 17th of
Toot (or 26th or 27th of September).
Pilgrimage to Jerusalem the Copts hold to be incumbent on all who are
able to perform it; but few of the poorer classes acquit themselves of
this duty. The pilgrims compose a numerous caravan. They pass the
Passion-Week and Easter at Jerusalem; and, on the third day after the
Passion-Week, proceed to the Jordan, in which they bathe.
The Copts almost universally abstain from eating swine′s flesh; not
because they consider it unlawful, for they deny it to be so, but, as
they say, on account of the filthiness of the animal. I should think,
however, that this abstinence is rather to be attributed to a prejudice
derived from their heathen ancestors. The flesh of the wild boar is
often eaten by them. Camel′s flesh they consider unlawful; probably for
no better reason than that of its being eaten by the Muslims. They
abstain from the flesh of animals that have been strangled, and from
blood, in compliance with an injunction of the Apostles to the Gentile
converts,[639] which they hold is not abrogated.
The male adults among the Copts pay a tribute (called “gizyeh”), besides
the income-tax (or “firdeh”) which they pay in common with the Muslim
inhabitants of Egypt. There are three rates of the former: the richer
classes, in Cairo and other large towns, pay thirty-six piastres each;
the middling classes, eighteen; and the poorest, nine: but in the
country, this tax is levied upon families, instead of individuals. The
firdeh is the same for the Copts as for the Muslims; the twelfth part of
a man′s annual salary or gain, when this can be ascertained.
The Copts are not now despised and degraded by the government as they
were a few years ago. Some of them have even been raised to the rank of
Beys. Before the accession of Mohammad ′Alee, neither the Copts nor
other Eastern Christians, nor Jews, were generally allowed to ride
horses in Egypt; but this restriction has, of late years, been
withdrawn.—A short time since, the Muslims of Damascus, who are
notorious for their bigotry and intolerance, complained to the conqueror
Ibráheem Básha, of the Christians in their city being allowed to ride
horses; urging that the Muslims no longer had the privilege of
distinguishing themselves from the infidels. The Básha replied, “Let the
Muslims still be exalted above the Christians, if they wish it: let them
ride dromedaries in the streets: depend upon it the Christians will not
follow their example.”—The Copts enjoy an immunity for which they are
much envied by most of the Muslims: they are not liable to be taken for
military service; as no Muslim prince would _honour_ a Christian by
employing him to fight against a Muslim enemy.
The ordinary domestic habits of the Copts are perfectly Oriental, and
nearly the same as those of their Muslim fellow-countrymen. They pass
their hours of leisure chiefly in the same manner, enjoying their pipe
and coffee: their meals, also, are similar; and their manner of eating
is the same: but they indulge in drinking brandy at all hours of the
day; and often, to excess.
They are not allowed by their church to intermarry with persons of any
other sect; and few of them do so. When a Copt wishes to contract such a
marriage, which causes him to be regarded as a reprobate by the more
strict of his nation, he generally applies to a priest of the sect to
which his intended wife belongs; and if his request be denied, which is
commonly the case unless the man will consent to adopt his wife′s creed,
he is married by the Kádee, merely by a civil contract. As a marriage of
this kind is not acknowledged by the church, it may be dissolved at
pleasure.
When a Copt is desirous of marrying according to the approved custom, he
pursues the same course to obtain a wife as the Muslim; employing one or
more of his female relations or other women to seek for him a suitable
companion. Scarcely ever is he able to obtain a sight of the face of his
intended wife, unless she be of the lower orders; and not always even in
this case. If the female sought in marriage be under age, her father, or
mother, or nearest male relation, is her “wekeel” (or agent) to make the
necessary arrangements; but if she be of age, and have neither father
nor mother, she appoints her own wekeel. The bridegroom, also, has his
wekeel. The parties make a contract, in which various private domestic
matters are arranged, in the presence of a priest. Two-thirds of the
amount of the dowry is paid on this occasion: the remaining third is
held in reserve: if she survive her husband, she claims this from his
property: if she die before him, her relations claim it at her death.
The contract being concluded, the Lord′s Prayer is recited three times
by all persons present: the priest commencing it first.
The marriage-festivities, in the cases of persons of the higher and
middle classes, when the bride is a virgin, usually occupy a period of
eight days. Such is the length of what is termed a complete fête.
The night preceding Sunday (which the Copts, like the Muslims, call the
night _of_ Sunday) is the most approved for the performance of the
marriage service; and most of the Copts are married on this night. In
this case, the festivities commence on the preceding Tuesday, when the
bridegroom and the bride′s family entertain their respective friends. At
the feasts given on these occasions, and on subsequent days of the
marriage-festivities, a curious custom, which reminds us of the _alites_
or _præpetes_ of the Romans, is usually observed. The cook makes two
hollow balls of sugar; each with a hole at the bottom: then taking two
live pigeons, he attaches little round bells to their wings; and having
whirled the poor birds through the air till they are giddy, puts them
into the two balls before mentioned: each of these is placed upon a
dish; and they are put before the guests; some of whom, judging when the
birds have recovered from their giddiness, break the balls: the pigeons
generally fly about the room, ringing their little bells: if they do not
fly immediately, some person usually makes them rise; as the spectators
would draw an evil omen from their not flying.[640] The guests are
generally entertained with music on the evenings of these
feasts.—Wednesday is passed in preparations.
On Thursday, in the afternoon, the bride is conducted to the bath,
accompanied by several of her female relations and friends, and usually
with music; but not under a canopy.—Friday, again, is a day of
preparation; and the bride has the henna applied to her hands and feet,
etc.
Early on Saturday, two sets of articles of clothing, etc., one for the
bridegroom and the other for the bride, and each consisting of similar
things (namely, a shirt of silk and cotton, a pair of drawers, the
embroidered band of the drawers, and two handkerchiefs embroidered with
gold, together with a tobacco-purse, ornamented in the same manner), are
sent from the bride′s family to the house of the bridegroom. An old lady
of the family of the bride afterwards goes to the bridegroom’s house, to
see whether it be properly prepared; and the bridegroom’s “ashbeen” (or
brideman) takes him and several of his friends to the bath.
In the ensuing evening, about an hour and a half, or two hours, after
sunset, the bride, accompanied by a number of her female relations and
friends, preceded and followed by musicians, and attended by a number of
persons bearing mesh’als and candles, proceeds to the house of the
bridegroom. This “zeffeh” (or parade) much resembles that of a Muslim′eh
bride; but the Copt bride is not conducted under a canopy. She is
covered with a shawl, with several ornaments attached to that part which
conceals her face and head, and numerous coins and other ornaments upon
the part which covers her bosom. The procession moves very slowly; and
generally occupies about two hours. A lamb or sheep is killed for the
guests at the bridegroom’s house this night: it is slaughtered at the
door; and the bride steps over its blood. This ceremony, I am told, is
only observed in Cairo and other large towns.
The bride’s party having rested about two hours at the bridegroom’s
house, and there partaken of refreshments, proceed with her thence, in
the same manner, to the church. The bridegroom goes thither with his
friends, forming a separate party; and without music. In the church,
where the men and women place themselves apart, long prayers are
performed; and the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is administered. The
priest receives and blesses and returns two rings, for the bridegroom
and bride; and places a kind of crown, or frontal diadem, of gold, upon
the head of each of them, and a sash over the shoulder of the
bridegroom. This ceremony is called the “tekleel” (or crowning). The two
crowns belong to the church: before the parties quit the church, they
are taken off; but the bridegroom often goes home with the sash; and it
is there taken off by a priest. At the weddings of the rich in the
metropolis, the Patriarch generally officiates. In most cases, the
ceremonies of the church are not concluded until near daybreak: the
parties then return to the house of the bridegroom. From respect to the
sacrament of which they have partaken, the bridegroom and bride maintain
a religious reserve towards each other until the following night (that
preceding Monday); or, generally, until after the close of this
night.[641]
The bride’s father gives a dinner at the bridegroom’s house on Monday,
at which the principal dishes are usually rice and milk, and boiled
fowls. In the evening, after this dinner, the bridegroom and his ashbeen
go about to invite his friends to a great feast to be given on the
evening following, which concludes the marriage-festivities.
Such are the ceremonies which are usually observed on the marriage of a
virgin-bride. Sometimes, the Patriarch, bishop, or priest, who is
employed to perform the marriage-service, dissuades the parties from
expending their money in zeffehs and repeated feasts; counselling them
rather to devote the sums which they had purposed to employ in so vain a
manner to the relief of the wants of the clergy and poor; and in
consequence, the marriage is conducted with more simplicity and privacy.
A widow is always married without ostentation, festivity, or zeffeh. A
virgin bride of the poorer class is sometimes honoured with a zeffeh;
but is generally conducted to the bath merely by a group of female
relations and friends, who, wanting the accompaniment of musical
instruments, only testify their joy by “zagháreet:” in the same manner,
also, she proceeds to the bridegroom’s house; and she is there married
by a priest; as the expenses of lighting and otherwise preparing the
church for a marriage fall upon the bridegroom. Many of the Copts in
Cairo, being possessed of little property, are married in a yet more
simple manner, before mentioned. To be married by one of their own
clergy, they must obtain a licence from the Patriarch; and this covetous
person will seldom give it for less than a hundred piasters (or a pound
sterling), and sometimes demands, from such persons, as many riyáls (of
two piasters and a quarter each): the parties, therefore, are married by
a licence from the Kádee; for which they usually pay not more than two
piasters, or a little less than five pence of our money.
The newly-married wife, if she observe the approved rules of etiquette,
does not go out of the house, even to pay a visit to her parents, until
delivered of her first child, or until the expiration of a year, if
there appear no signs of her becoming a mother. After this period of
imprisonment, her father or mother usually comes to visit her.
A divorce is obtained only for the cause of adultery on the part of the
wife. The husband and wife may be separated if she have committed a
theft, or other heinous crime; but in this case, neither he nor she is
at liberty to contract another marriage, though they may again be united
to each other.
One of the most remarkable traits in the character of the Copts is their
bigotry. They bear a bitter hatred to all other Christians; even
exceeding that with which the Muslims regard the unbelievers in
El-Islám. Yet they are considered, by the Muslims, as much more inclined
than any other Christian sect to the faith of El-Islám; and this opinion
has not been formed without reason; for vast numbers of them have, from
time to time, and not always in consequence of persecution, become
proselytes to this religion. They are, generally speaking, of a sullen
temper, extremely avaricious, and abominable dissemblers; cringing or
domineering according to circumstances. The respectable Copt, to whom I
have already acknowledged myself chiefly indebted for the notions which
I have obtained respecting the customs of his nation, gives me a most
unfavourable account of their character. He avows them to be generally
ignorant, deceitful, faithless, and abandoned to the pursuit of worldly
gain, and to indulgence in sensual pleasures: he declares the Patriarch
to be a tyrant, and a suborner of false witnesses; and assures me that
the priests and monks in Cairo are seen every evening begging, and
asking the loan of money, which they never repay, at the houses of their
parishioners and other acquaintances, and procuring brandy, if possible,
wherever they call.
Many of the Copts are employed as secretaries or accountants. In every
village of a moderate size is a “M’allim”[642] who keeps the register of
the taxes. The writing of the Copts differs considerably from that of
the Muslims, as well as from that of other Christians residing in Egypt.
Most of the Copts in Cairo are accountants or tradesmen: the former are
chiefly employed in government offices: among the latter are many
merchants, goldsmiths, silversmiths, jewellers, architects, builders,
and carpenters; all of whom are generally esteemed more skilful than the
Muslims. Those in the villages, like the Muslim peasants, occupy
themselves chiefly in the labours of agriculture.
The funeral-ceremonies of the Copts resemble, in many respects, those of
the Muslims. The corpse is carried in a bier, followed by women, wailing
in the same manner as the Muslim′ehs do on such an occasion; but is not
preceded by hired chanters. Hired wailing-women are employed to lament
in the house of the deceased for three days after the death (though this
custom is disapproved of by the clergy and many others; being only a
relic of ancient heathen usages): and they renew their lamentations
there on the seventh and fourteenth days after the death; and sometimes
several weeks after. The Copts, both men and women, pay regular visits
to the tombs of their relations three times in the year: on the ’Eed
el-Meelád, ’Eed el-Gheetás, and ’Eed el-Kiyámeh. They go to the
burial-ground on the eve of each of these ’eeds; and there pass the
night; having houses belonging to them in the cemeteries, for their
reception on these occasions: the women spend the night in the upper
apartments; and the men below. In the morning following, they kill a
buffalo, or a sheep, if they can afford either; and give its flesh, with
bread, to the poor who assemble there: or they give bread alone. This
ceremony, which resembles the “kaffárah” performed by the Muslims on the
burial of their dead, is not considered as any expiation of the sins of
the deceased; but probably originates from an ancient expiatory
sacrifice: it is only regarded as an alms. As soon as it is done, the
mourners return home. They say that they visit the tombs merely for the
sake of religious reflection. In doing so, they perpetuate an ancient
custom, which they find difficult to relinquish; though they can give no
good reason for observing it with such ceremonies.
I shall close this account of the Copts with a few notices of their
history under the Muslim domination, derived from El-Makreezee’s
celebrated work on Egypt and its Metropolis.[643]
About seventy years after the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs, the Copts
began to experience such exactions and persecutions, notwithstanding the
chartered favours and privileges which had at first been granted to
them, that many of them rose in arms, and attempted to defend their
rights; but they were reduced, after sustaining a great slaughter. The
monks, for the first time, had been subjected to an annual tribute of a
deenár[644] each. The collector of the tribute branded the hand of each
monk whom he could find with a stamp of iron; and afterwards cut off the
hand of every person of this order whom he detected without the mark;
and exacted ten deenárs from every other Christian who had not a billet
from the government to certify his having paid his tribute. Many Monks
were subsequently found without the mark: some of these were beheaded,
and the rest beaten until they died under the blows: their churches were
demolished; and their crosses and pictures destroyed. This took place in
the year of the Flight 104 (A.D. 722-3), at the close of the reign of
the Khaleefeh Yezeed Ibn-’Abd-El-Melik. A few years after, in the reign
of the successor of this prince (Hishám), Handhal′ah Ibn-Safwán, the
Governor of Egypt, caused the hand of every Copt to be branded with an
iron stamp bearing the figure of a lion, and greatly aggravated their
misery: so that many of those residing in the provinces again rebelled,
and had recourse to arms; but in vain; and a terrible persecution
followed.
From the period of the conquest until the reign of Hishám, the Jacobites
(or almost all the Copts) were in possession of all the churches in
Egypt; and sent their bishops to the Nubians, who consequently abandoned
the Melekite creed, and adopted that of the Jacobites; but in the reign
of this Khaleefeh, the Melekites, by means of a present, obtained the
restoration of those churches which had formerly belonged to them:
these, however, soon after returned to the possession of the Jacobites;
and in aftertimes, were now the property of one sect, and now of the
other, being purchased by presents or services to the government.
It would be tiresome to detail all the troubles of the Copts under the
tyranny of Muslim princes; but some particulars in the history of the
persecutions which they endured in the earlier ages of the Arab
domination may be here mentioned. The Copts are a people of indomitable
presumption and intrigue; which qualities render them very difficult to
be governed. They have often incurred severe oppression by their own
folly; though they have more frequently been victims of unmerited
persecution under tyrannical rulers, and through the influence of
private fanatics.[645]
In the year of the Flight 235 (A.D. 849-50), the Khaleefeh El-Mutawekkil
ordered several degrading distinctions to be adopted in the dress of the
Copts: the men were obliged to wear “honey-coloured” (or light brown)
hooded cloaks, with other peculiar articles of dress; and the women,
garments of the same colour: and they were compelled to place wooden
figures (or pictures) of devils at (or upon) the doors of their houses.
One of the bitterest persecutions that they ever endured, and one which
was attributed to their pride, and their display of wealth, and
contemptuous treatment of Muslims, befell them during the reign of that
impious wretch the Khaleefeh El-Hákim, who acceded to the throne in the
year of the Flight 386 (A.D. 996-7), and was killed in 411. Among the
minor grievances which he inflicted upon them, was that of compelling
them to wear a wooden cross, of the weight of five pounds, suspended to
the neck, and garments and turbans of a deep black colour. This seems to
have been the origin of the black turban worn by so many of the
Christians in the present day. As the distinguishing dress and banners
of the Khaleefehs of Egypt were white, black, which was the colour that
distinguished their rivals, the ’Abbásees, was, in their eyes, the most
hateful and ignominious hue that they could choose for the dresses of
the despised Copts. I find no earlier mention than this of the black
turban of the Christians of Egypt. At the same time that the Copts were
compelled thus to distinguish themselves, the Jews were ordered to wear
a round piece of wood, of the same weight as the crosses of the
Christians, and suspended in the same manner. All the churches were
given up to be destroyed and plundered, with all the property
appertaining to them; and many of them were replaced by mosques.
Finally, a sentence of banishment to Greece was pronounced against all
the Christians of Egypt, and the Jews; but so strong was the love which
they bore to their native country amid all their miseries, and so much
were they actuated by that common but absurd disposition, which most
sects possess, of hating most bitterly those differing least from them
in faith, that a multitude of Copts thronged round the great palace of
the Khaleefeh, and implored and obtained a revokement of this sentence.
Many Copts, during this and other persecutions, embraced the faith of
El-Islám.
In the month of Regeb, 700 (A.D. 1301), happened an event which, for the
first time, as well as I can learn, occasioned the Copts to be
distinguished by the _blue_ turban, as they mostly are at present. A
Maghrab′ee ambassador, approaching the Citadel (of Cairo), saw a man
handsomely attired, wearing a white turban, and riding a mare, with many
attendants walking by his stirrups, paying him great honours, asking
favours of him, and even kissing his feet; while he turned aside from
them, and repulsed them, calling to his servants to drive them away. The
Maghrab′ee, informed that this person was a Christian, was so enraged
that he was about to lay violent hands upon him; but he refrained, and,
ascending to the deewán in the Citadel, related to some of the Emeers
there present what he had just seen, with tears in his eyes, drawn by
his pity for the Muslims. In consequence of his complaint, the chief
persons among the Christians and Jews were summoned to the deewán: and
orders were given that the Christians should wear blue turbans, and
waist-belts; and the Jews, yellow turbans: and that no person of either
of these sects should ride horses or mules. Many Christians, it is
added, embraced El-Islám rather than wear the blue turban.
On Friday, the 9th of Rabeea el-A′khir, 721 (A.D. 1321), in the reign of
Mohammad Ibn-Kalaoon, all the principal churches throughout Egypt, from
Aswán to the Mediterranean, sixty in number, and twenty-one of these in
the metropolis and its neighbourhood, were destroyed through a plot
formed by some fanatic Muslims. This havoc was accomplished chiefly
during the period of the congregational prayers of the Muslims, at noon.
At the close of the prayers of the Sultán and his court, in the mosque
of the Citadel, a man, in a state of apparent frenzy, cried out in the
midst of the congregation, “Destroy ye the church which is in the
Citadel!” Another man, a fakeer, in the great mosque El-Azhar, before
the appearance of the Khateeb (or Preacher), seemed to be affected by an
involuntary trembling, and cried out, “Destroy ye the churches of the
presumptuous and infidels! Yea, God is most great! God give victory and
aid!” Then he shook himself, and cried, “To the foundations! To the
foundations!” Some members of the congregation said, “This is a madman:”
others said, “This is an indication of some event.” On their going out
of the mosque, they saw that the act which he had urged had been
commenced: numbers of persons were pressing along the streets with the
plunder of the churches, many of which were reduced to mere mounds of
rubbish. The Sultán threatened a general massacre of the people of
El-Káhireh (now Masr, or Cairo) and El-Fustát (or Old Masr) for this
outrage; but was diverted from his purpose by the revenge which the
Christians exacted. Refraining from the execution of their plot for the
space of a month, that they might be less liable to suspicion, they set
fire, on different days, to a vast number of mosques, houses of Emeers,
and private dwellings, both in El-Káhireh and El-Fustát. Several of the
incendiaries were detected; and some burnt alive; and a number of
Muslims also were put to death, most of them hanged, along the principal
street leading from the southern gate of the city of El-Káhireh to the
Citadel, ostensibly for insulting an Emeer, whom they accused of
favouring the Christians; though there was no proof that they were the
persons who committed this offence: they had been arrested without
discrimination, to atone for the injury, and to be made examples to
their fellow-citizens. The Sultán, however, alarmed by the clamours of a
tremendous mob, was afterwards constrained to grant licence to his
Muslim subjects to plunder and murder every Christian whom they might
chance to meet. The Christians at that time had reverted to the habit of
wearing the white turban; and the Sultán caused it to be proclaimed,
that every person of this sect, who was seen wearing a white turban, or
riding a horse, might be plundered and killed; that they should wear the
blue turban; that they should not ride horses nor mules, but only asses,
and with their face to the animal’s tail; and should not enter a bath
unless with a bell suspended to the neck. At the same time, the Emeers
were forbidden to take any Christians into their service; and all of
this sect who were in the service of the government were displaced.
After having suffered frequent and heavy exactions and other
oppressions, a vast number of the Christians both in Upper and Lower
Egypt, in the year of the Flight 755 (A.D. 1354-5), embraced the faith
of El-Islám. The number of proselytes in the town of Kalyoob alone, who
changed their faith in one day, was four hundred and fifty. Most of the
churches of Upper Egypt were destroyed at the same time; and mosques
were built in their places.
From the period just mentioned, the Copts continued subject to more or
less oppression, until the accession of the present Básha of Egypt,
under whose tolerant though severe sway nothing more is exacted from the
Christian than the Muslim, excepting an inconsiderable tribute, which is
more than balanced by a remarkable immunity, not conferred by favour (it
is true), but not on that account the less valued and envied; I mean the
exemption from military service.
II.—THE JEWS OF EGYPT.
The Jews, in every country in which they are dispersed (unlike any other
collective class of people residing in a country which is not their own
by inheritance from the original possessors, or by conquest achieved by
themselves or their ancestors), form permanent members of the community
among whom they dwell: a few words respecting the Jews in Egypt will
therefore be not inappropriate in the present work.
There are in this country about five thousand Jews (in Arabic, called
“Yahood;” singular, “Yahoodee”), most of whom reside in the metropolis,
in a miserable, close, and dirty quarter, intersected by lanes, many of
which are so narrow as hardly to admit of two persons passing each other
in them.
In features, and in the general expression of countenance, the Oriental
Jews differ less from other Eastern nations than do those in European
countries from the people among whom they live. Many of the Egyptian
Jews have sore eyes, and a bloated complexion; the result, it is
supposed, of their making an immoderate use of the oil of sesame in
their food. In their dress, as well as in their persons, they are
generally slovenly and dirty. The colours of their turbans are the same
as those of the Christian subjects. Their women veil themselves, and
dress in every respect, in public, like the other women of Egypt.
The Jews have eight synagogues in their quarter in Cairo; and not only
enjoy religious toleration, but are under a less oppressive government
in Egypt than in any other country of the Turkish empire. In Cairo, they
pay for the exemption of their quarter from the visits of the Mohtes′ib;
and they did the same also with respect to the Wálee, as long as his
office existed. Being consequently privileged to sell articles of
provision at higher prices than the other inhabitants of the metropolis,
they can afford to purchase such things at higher rates, and therefore
stock their shops with provisions, and especially fruits, of better
qualities than are to be found in other parts of the town. Like the
Copts, and for a like reason, the Jews pay tribute, and are exempted
from military service.
They are held in the utmost contempt and abhorrence by the Muslims in
general; and are said to bear a more inveterate hatred than any other
people to the Muslims and the Muslim religion. It is said, in the
Kur-án,[646] “Thou shall surely find the most violent of [all] men in
enmity to those who have believed [to be] the Jews, and those who have
attributed partners to God; and thou shall surely find the most
inclinable of them to [entertain] friendship to those who have believed
[to be] those who say, We are Christians.” On my mentioning to a Muslim
friend this trait in the character of the Jews, he related to me, in
proof of what I remarked, an event which had occurred a few days
before.—“A Jew,” said he, “early one morning last week, was passing by a
coffee-shop kept by a Muslim with whom he was acquainted, named
Mohammad. Seeing a person standing there, and supposing that it was the
master of the shop (for it was yet dusk), he said, ‘Good morning, sheykh
Mohammad;’ but the only answer he received to his salutation was a
furious rebuke for thus addressing a _Jew_, by a name the most odious,
to a person of that sect, of any that could be uttered. He (the
offender) was dragged before his high-priest, who caused him to receive
a severe bastinading for the alleged offence, in spite of his protesting
that it was unintentional.” It is a common saying among the Muslims in
this country, “Such a one hates me with the hate of the Jews.” We cannot
wonder, then, that the Jews are detested by the Muslims far more than
are the Christians. Not long ago, they used often to be jostled in the
streets of Cairo, and sometimes beaten merely for passing on the right
hand of a Muslim. At present, they are less oppressed; but still they
scarcely ever dare to utter a word of abuse when reviled or beaten
unjustly by the meanest Arab or Turk; for many a Jew has been put to
death upon a false and malicious accusation of uttering disrespectful
words against the Kur-án or the Prophet. It is common to hear an Arab
abuse his jaded ass, and, after applying to him various opprobrious
epithets, end by calling the beast a Jew.
A Jew has often been sacrificed to save a Muslim, as happened in the
following case.—A Turkish soldier, having occasion to change some money,
received from the seyrefee (or money-changer), who was a Muslim, some
Turkish coins called ’adleeyehs, reckoned at sixteen piasters each.
These he offered to a shopkeeper, in payment for some goods; but the
latter refused to allow him more than fifteen piasters to the ’adleeyeh;
telling him that the Básha had given orders, many days before, that this
coin should no longer pass for sixteen. The soldier took back the
’adleeyehs to the seyrefee, and demanded an additional piaster to each;
which was refused: he therefore complained to the Básha himself, who,
enraged that his orders had been disregarded, sent for the seyrefee.
This man confessed that he had been guilty of an offence; but
endeavoured to palliate it by asserting that almost every money-changer
in the city had done the same, and that he received ’adleeyehs at the
same rate. The Básha, however, disbelieving him, or thinking it
necessary to make a public example, gave a signal with his hand,
intimating that the delinquent should be beheaded. The interpreter of
the court, moved with compassion for the unfortunate man, begged the
Básha to spare his life. “This man,” said he, “has done no more than all
the money changers of the city: I, myself, no longer ago than yesterday,
received ’adleeyehs at the same rate.” “From whom?” exclaimed the Básha,
“From a Jew,” answered the interpreter, “with whom I have transacted
business for many years.” The Jew was brought, and sentenced to be
hanged; while the Muslim was pardoned. The interpreter, in the greatest
distress of mind, pleaded earnestly for the life of the poor Jew: but
the Básha was inexorable: it was necessary that an example should be
made; and it was deemed better to take the life of a Jew than that of a
more guilty Muslim. I saw the wretched man hanging at a window of a
public fountain which forms part of a mosque in the main street of the
city.[647] One end of the rope being passed over one of the upper bars
of the grated window, he was hauled up; and as he hung close against the
window, he was enabled, in some slight degree, to support himself by his
feet against the lower bars; by which his suffering was dreadfully
protracted. His relations offered large sums of money for his pardon;
but the only favour they could purchase was that of having his face
turned towards the window, so as not to be seen by the passengers. He
was a man much respected by all who knew him (Muslims, of course,
excepted); and he left a family in a very destitute state; but the
interpreter who was the unintending cause of his death contributed to
their support.
The Jews in Egypt generally lead a very quiet life: indeed, they find
few but persons of their own sect who will associate with them. Their
diet is extremely gross; but they are commonly regarded as a sober
people. The more wealthy among them dress handsomely at home; but put on
a plain or even shabby dress before they go out: and though their houses
have a mean and dirty appearance from without, many of them contain fine
and well-furnished rooms. In the house they are not so strict as most
other Orientals in concealing their women from strange men, or, at
least, from persons of their own nation, and from Franks: it often
happens that a European visitor is introduced into an apartment where
the women of the Jew’s family are sitting unveiled, and is waited upon
by these women. The same custom also prevails among many of the Syrian
Christians residing in Cairo. Intrigues are said to be common with the
Jewesses; but there are no avowed courtesans among them. The condition
of the lower orders is very wretched; many of them having no other means
of subsistence than alms bestowed upon them by their superiors of the
same sect.
Avarice is more particularly a characteristic of the Jews in Egypt than
of those in other countries where they are less oppressed. They are
careful, by every means in their power, to avoid the suspicion of being
possessed of much wealth. It is for this reason that they make so shabby
a figure in public, and neglect the exterior appearance of their houses.
They are generally strict in the performance of their religious
ordinances; and, though over-reaching in commercial transactions, are
honest in the fulfilment of their contracts.
Many of the Egyptian Jews are “sarráfs” (or bankers and money-lenders):
others are seyrefees, and are esteemed men of strict probity. Some are
goldsmiths or silversmiths; and others pursue the trades of retail
grocers or fruiterers, etc. A few of the more wealthy are general
merchants.
III.—OF LATE INNOVATIONS IN EGYPT.
THE exaggerated reports which have been spread in Europe respecting late
innovations, and the general advance of civilization, in Egypt, induce
me to add a few lines on these subjects. European customs have not yet
begun to spread among the Egyptians themselves; but they probably will
ere long; and in the expectation that this will soon be the case, I have
been most anxious to become well acquainted (before it be too late to
make the attempt) with a state of society which has existed, and excited
a high degree of interest, for many centuries, and which many persons
have deemed almost immutable.
The account which I have given of the present state of the government of
this country shows how absurd is the assertion, that Egypt possesses a
legislative assembly that can, with any degree of propriety, be called
representative of the people. The will of the Básha is almost absolute;
but he has certainly effected a great reform, by the introduction of
European military and naval tactics, the results of which have already
been considerable, and will be yet more extensive, and, in most
respects, desirable. Already it has removed a great portion of that
weight of prejudice which has so long prevented the Turks from
maintaining their relative rank among the nations of the civilized
world: by convincing them that one of our branches of science and
practice is so far superior to that to which they were accustomed, it
has made them in general willing, if not desirous, to learn what more we
are able to teach them. One of its effects already manifest might be
regarded by an unreflecting mind as of no importance; but is considered
by the philosophical Muslim as awfully portentous, and hailed by the
Christian as an omen of the brightest promise. The Turks have been led
to imitate us in our luxuries: several of the more wealthy began by
adopting the use of the knife and fork: the habit of openly drinking
wine immediately followed; and has become common among a great number of
the higher officers of the government. That a remarkable indifference to
religion is indicated by this innovation is evident; and the principles
of the dominant class will doubtless spread (though they have not yet
done so) among the inferior members of the community. The former have
begun to undermine the foundations of El-Islám: the latter as yet seem
to look on with apathy, or at least with resignation to the decrees of
Providence; but they will probably soon assist in the work; and the
overthrow of the whole fabric may reasonably be expected to ensue at a
period not very remote.
The acquisition of a powerful empire, independent of the Porte, appears
to have been the grand, and almost the sole, object of the present Básha
of Egypt. He has introduced many European sciences, arts, and
manufactures; but all in furtherance of this project; for his new
manufactures have impoverished his people. He has established a printing
office; but the works which have issued from it are almost solely
intended for the instruction of his military, naval, and civil
servants.[648] A newspaper is printed at another press, in the Citadel:
its paragraphs, however, are seldom on any other subject than the
affairs of the government. It is in Turkish and Arabic. Sometimes, three
numbers of it appear in a week: at other times, only one is published in
a month.[649]
I have candidly stated my opinion, that the policy of Mohammad ’Alee is
in several respects erroneous; and that his people are severely
oppressed: but the circumstances in which he has been placed offer large
excuses for his severity. To judge of his character fairly, we should
compare him with another Turkish reformer, his [late] nominal sovereign,
the Sultán Mahmood. In every point of view, he has shown his superiority
to the latter; and especially in the discipline of his forces. While the
Sultán was more closely imitating us in trivial matters (as, for
instance, in the new military dress which he introduced), Mohammad ’Alee
aimed at, and attained, more important objects.[650] When we would
estimate his character by the massacre of the Memlooks, a fact most
painful to reflect upon, we should admit that he had recourse to this
horrid expedient for a most desirable end; and may at the same time
place in the opposite scale the asylum which he granted to the Greek
refugees when the blood of their countrymen ran in the gutters of
Constantinople.
Since the publication of the previous editions of this work, events have
occurred which will doubtless occasion still more important changes in
Egypt. Many changes in its government have, indeed, already been made;
but the country is still in a state of transition; and under such
circumstances, I can only express a hope, that Mohammad ’Alee, knowing
his true interests, and acting upon those sentiments which he has
frequently avowed, of anxiety for the welfare of his people, and for the
general improvement of his territories, will fulfil those expectations
which his numerous admirers have so often and so strongly expressed. It
is difficult even to form a just estimate of the general conduct of
Mohammad ’Alee in _past_ times, since the commencement of his career in
Egypt, on account of the secrecy which is maintained in the East in the
most important political affairs: this, however, may be said with
certainty—the people whom he governs have been greatly impoverished
under his rule; but they have exchanged anarchy for tranquillity, and
undisguised fanaticism for an affected toleration; while many of them
have been instructed in sciences and arts which must eventually be
highly beneficial to the nation at large.
-----
Footnote 634:
Καθαριότητος εἵνεκεν. Compare the account given by Herodotus of the
habits of the priests of ancient Egypt: lib. ii., cap. 37.
Footnote 635:
I have neglected to write the name of this appendage; but if my memory
do not deceive me, I was told that it is termed “kalás’weh,” which
word seems to be a corruption of “kalensuweh.” Mengin calls it
“kaloucyeh” (“Hist. de l’Egypte sous Mohammed-Aly,” tome ii., p. 290).
Footnote 636:
Mengin, _ubi supra_, pp. 284-289.
Footnote 637:
This has been shown by Quatremère, in his “Researches on the Language
and Literature of Egypt.”
Footnote 638:
They chant nearly in the same manner as the Muslims reciting the
Kur-án.
Footnote 639:
Acts xv. 20 and 29.
Footnote 640:
The ball and bird are called “el-kubbeh wa-t-teyr.” It is said that
the Muslims of Egypt, on some occasions, as on the inauguration of a
Sultán, used to observe the custom here described; but this appears to
be an error, arising from a misunderstanding of the term “el-kubbeh
wa-t-teyr” applied by historians to an umbrella surmounted by the
figure of a bird, which was borne over the head of a Sultán in certain
pompous processions.
Footnote 641:
The custom mentioned by Burckhardt, in his Arabic Proverbs, page 117,
as prevailing “among the lower classes of Muslims at Cairo,” is
observed by the Copts.
Footnote 642:
Thus pronounced for “Mo’allim.” It signifies “teacher” or “master;”
and is a title given to all Copts but those of the poorer class, or
peasants. The registrar of the taxes of a village is simply called
“the M’allim of the village.”
Footnote 643:
If the reader desire further and fuller details on this subject, he
may consult Et. Quatremère’s ‘Mémoires Géogr. et Hist. sur l’Egypte,’
tome ii., pp. 220-266.
Footnote 644:
Equivalent (at that period) to about thirteen shillings, or, as some
say, a little more than half a guinea.
Footnote 645:
It should be observed here, that the cases alluded to form exceptions
to the general toleration exhibited by the Muslims; and that the Copts
who have been converted to El-Islám by oppression have been few in
comparison with those who have changed their religion voluntarily.
Many have done this through love of Muslim women.
Footnote 646:
Chap. v., ver. 85.
Footnote 647:
It is surprising that Muslims should hang a _Jew_ against a window of
a _mosque_, when they consider him so unclean a creature that his
blood would defile the sword. For this reason a Jew, in Egypt, is
never beheaded.
Footnote 648:
I have transmitted a list of these works to the Royal Asiatic Society.
Footnote 649:
One of the less important acts of Mohammad ’Alee I should mention, as
it is one which renders my description of the streets and shops of
Cairo not altogether applicable to their present state. He has lately
caused the mastab′ahs in most of the thoroughfare-streets to be pulled
down, and only allowed them to be rebuilt in the wider parts,
generally to the width of about two spans. At the same time, he has
obliged the tradesmen to paint their shops, and to remove the
unsightly “sakeefehs” (or coverings) of matting which shaded many of
the sooks; prohibiting the replacing of them unless by coverings of
wood. Cairo has, in consequence, lost much of its Arabian aspect.
Footnote 650:
The dress worn by the military and some other officers of the Básha of
Egypt is still quite Turkish in everything but the want of the turban,
which is now worn by few of those persons, and only in winter; the red
cap alone, over which the muslin or Kashmeer shawl used always to be
wound, being at present the regular head-dress. The trousers are very
full from the waist to a little below the knee, overhanging a pair of
tight leggings which form parts of them. A tight vest (the sleeves of
which are divided from the wrist nearly to the elbow, but generally
buttoned at this part), a girdle, a jacket with hanging sleeves,
socks, and a pair of red shoes, complete the outward dress generally
worn: but the jacket is sometimes made with sleeves like those of the
vest above described, and the vest without sleeves; and black European
shoes are worn by some persons. The sword is now hung in our manner,
by a waist-belt. The dress of the private soldiers consists of a vest
and trousers (the latter similar to those above described, but not so
full), of a kind of coarse red serge, or, in summer, of white cotton,
with the girdle, red cap, and red shoes.
----------------------------
APPENDIX A.
FEMALE ORNAMENTS.
The ornaments of the women of Egypt are so various, that a description
of them all would far exceed the limits which the nature of this work
allows, and would require a great number of engravings, or be useless. I
shall, however, describe all the principal kinds; and these will convey
some idea of the rest. If the subject be not interesting to general
readers, it may at least be of some use to artists, who are often left
almost entirely to their own imagination in representing Arabian
costumes and ornaments. I first describe those which are worn by
_ladies_, and females of the _middle orders_.
The head-dress has already been mentioned, as composed of a “tarboosh”
and “faroodeeyeh” (or kerchief), which latter, when wound round the
former, is called “rabtah.” The front part of the rabtah is often
ornamented with spangles of gilt or plain silver, disposed in fanciful
patterns; and in this case, the rabtah itself is generally of black or
rose-coloured muslin or crape, and always plain. The more common kinds
of rabtah have been described.
The “mizágee” is an ornament very generally worn. It is composed of a
strip of muslin, most commonly black or rose-coloured, folded together
several times, so as to form a narrow band, about the breadth of a
finger, or less. Its length is about five feet. The central part, for
the space of about twelve or thirteen inches, is ornamented with
spangles, which are placed close together, or in the form of diamonds,
etc., or of bosses; and at each end, for about the same length, are a
few other spangles, with an edging, and small tassels, of
various-coloured silks. Sometimes there is also a similar edging, with
spangles suspended to it, along the lower edge of the ornamented part in
the middle. The mizágee is bound round the head; the ornamented central
part being over the forehead, generally above the edge of the rabtah; it
is tied behind, at the upper part of the rabtah, and the ornamented
ends, drawn forward, hang over the bosom.
[Illustration: DIAMOND KURS.]
The “kurs” is a round, convex ornament, commonly about five inches in
diameter, which is very generally worn by ladies. It is sewed upon the
crown of the tarboosh. There are two kinds. The first that I shall
describe (the only kind that is worn by ladies, or by the wives of
tradesmen of moderate property) is the “kurs almás,” or diamond kurs.
This is composed of diamonds, set generally in gold; and is of open
work, representing roses, leaves, etc. The diamonds are commonly of a
very poor and shallow kind; and the gold of this and all other diamond
ornaments worn in Egypt is much alloyed with copper. The value of a
moderately handsome diamond kurs is about a hundred and twenty-five or a
hundred and fifty pounds sterling. It is very seldom made of silver; and
I think that those of gold, when attached to the deep-red tarboosh, have
a richer effect, though not in accordance with our general taste. The
wives even of petty tradesmen sometimes wear the diamond kurs: they are
extremely fond of diamonds, and generally endeavour to get some, however
bad. The kurs, being of considerable weight, is at first painful to
wear; and women who are in the habit of wearing it complain of headache
when they take it off: hence they retain it day and night; but some have
an inferior one for the bed. Some ladies have one for ordinary wearing;
another for particular occasions, a little larger and handsomer; and a
third merely to wear in bed.—The other kind of kurs, “kurs dahab” (or,
of gold), is a convex plate of very thin embossed gold, usually of the
form represented above; and almost always with a false emerald (a piece
of green glass), not cut with facets, set in the centre. Neither the
emerald nor the ruby is here cut with facets: if so cut, they would
generally be considered false. The simple gold kurs is lined with a
thick coat of wax, which is covered with a piece of paper. It is worn by
many women who cannot afford to purchase diamonds; and even by some
servants.
The kussah is an ornament generally from seven to eight inches in
length, composed of diamonds set in gold, and sometimes with emeralds,
rubies, and pearls; having drops of diamonds or emeralds, etc.,
suspended to it. It is worn on the front of the rabtah, attached by
little hooks at the back. I have seen several kussahs of diamonds, etc.,
set in silver instead of gold. The kussah is generally placed on the
head of a bride, outside her shawl covering, as also is the kurs; and
these ornaments are likewise employed to decorate the bier of a female.
The former, like the latter, is worn by females of the higher and middle
classes.
[Illustration: GOLD KURS.]
“’Enebeh” is another name for the same kind of ornament, worn in the
same manner. If of full size, it is fourteen or fifteen inches in
length, and rather more than half encircles the head-dress.
The “shawáteh” (in the singular, “sháteh”) are two ornaments, each
consisting of three or more strings of pearls, about the length of the
kussah, with a pierced emerald uniting them in the centre, like the
usual pearl necklace hereafter described: or they are composed of pearls
arranged in the manner of a narrow lace, and often with the addition of
a few small emeralds. They are attached to the rabtah in the form of two
festoons, one on each side of the head, from the extremity of the kussah
to the back part of the head-dress, or, sometimes, to the ear-ring.
Instead of the kussah and shawáteh, and sometimes in addition to them,
are worn some other ornaments which I proceed to describe.
The “reesheh” (literally, “feather”) is a sprig of diamonds set in gold
or silver. It is worn on the front or side of the head-dress.
The “hilál” is a crescent of diamonds set in gold or silver, and worn
like the reesheh. In form it resembles the phasis of the moon when
between two and three nights old; its width being small, and its outward
edge not more than half a circle.
[Illustration: 1. KUSSAH; 2. ’ENEBEH; the former, half, and the latter,
one-third, of the real size.]
The “kamarah” (or moon) is an ornament formed of a thin plate of gold,
embossed with fanciful work, and sometimes with Arabic words, and having
about seven little flat pieces of gold, called “bark,” attached to the
lower part; or it is composed of gold with diamonds, rubies, etc. Two
specimens of the former kind are here represented. One of these consists
of three kamarahs connected together, to be worn on the front of the
head-dress: the central contains the words “Yá Káfee Yá Sháfee” (O
Sufficient! O Restorer to health!): that on the left, “Yá Háfiz” (O
Preserver!): that on the right, “Yá Emeen” (O Trustworthy!): these,
therefore, are charms as well as ornaments.
[Illustration:
1 AND 2. KAMARAHS. 3. SÁKIYEH. 4. ’OOD ES-SALEEB. 5 AND 6. MISHTS.
7. ’AKEEK. 8. BELLOOR. Each, half the real size.
]
The “sákiyeh” (or water-wheel), so called from its form, is a circular
flat ornament of gold filigree-work, with small pearls, and with a
diamond or other precious stone in the centre, and bark and emeralds
suspended from the lower part. It is worn in the same manner as the
kamarah, or with the latter ornament.
The “’ood es-saleeb” (or wood of the cross) is a kind of ornament
undoubtedly borrowed from the Christians; and it is surprising that
Mohammadan women should wear it, and give it this appellation. It is a
little round and slender piece of wood, rather smaller towards the
extremities than in the middle, enclosed in a case of gold, of the same
form, composed of two pieces which unite in the middle, having two
chains and a hook by which to suspend it, and a row of bark along the
bottom. It is worn in the place of, or with, the two ornaments just
before described.
The “misht” (or comb) is a little comb of gold, worn in the same manner
as the three kinds of ornament described next before this, and generally
with one or more of those ornaments. It is suspended by small chains and
a hook, having four or five bark attached.
There is also an ornament somewhat similar to those just mentioned,
composed of a carnelian, or a piece of crystal or of colourless glass,
set in gold, suspended by two chains and a hook, and having bark
attached to the bottom. The former kind is called “’akeek” (which
signifies “carnelian”), and the latter, “belloor” (“crystal”).
Several ornaments in the shapes of flowers, butterflies, etc., are also
worn upon the head-dress; but seldom alone.
Of ear-rings (“halak”) there is a great variety. Some of the more usual
kinds are here represented. The first is of diamonds set in silver. It
consists of a drop suspended within a wreath hanging from a sprig. The
back of the silver is gilt, to prevent its being tarnished by
perspiration. The specimen here given is that for the right ear: its
fellow is similar; but with the sprig reversed. This pair of ear-rings
is suited for a lady of wealth.—So also is the second, which resembles
the former, excepting that it has a large pearl in the place of the
diamond drop and wreath, and that the diamonds of the sprig are set in
gold. No. 3 is a side view of the same.—The next consists of gold, and
an emerald pierced through the middle, with a small diamond above the
emerald. Emeralds are generally pierced in Egypt, and spoiled by this
process as much as by not being cut with facets.—The last is of gold,
with a small ruby in the centre. The ruby is set in fine filigree-work,
which is surrounded by fifteen balls of gold. To the seven lower balls
are suspended as many circular bark.
[Illustration: EAR-RINGS—each, half the real size.]
The necklace (“’ekd”) is another description of ornament of which the
Egyptians have a great variety; but almost all of them are similar in
the following particulars. 1st. The beads, etc., of which they are
composed are, altogether, not more than ten inches in length; so that
they would not entirely encircle the neck if tied quite tight, which is
never done: the string extends about six or seven inches beyond each
extremity of the series of beads; and when the necklace is tied in the
usual manner, there is generally a space of three inches or more between
these extremities; but the plaits of hair conceal these parts of the
string. 2dly. There is generally, in the centre, one bead or other
ornament (and sometimes there are three, or five, or seven) differing in
size, form, material, or colour, from the others.—The necklaces mostly
worn by ladies are of diamonds or pearls.—In the annexed engraving, the
first necklace is of diamonds set in gold.—The second consists of
several strings of pearls, with a pierced flattish emerald in the
centre. Most of the pearl necklaces are of this description.—The third
is called “libbeh.” It is composed of hollow gold beads, with a bead of
a different kind (sometimes of a precious stone, and sometimes of coral)
in the centre. This and the following are seldom worn by any but females
of the middle and lower orders.—The fourth is called, from its peculiar
form, “sha’eer” (which signifies “barley”). It is composed of hollow
gold. I give a side view (A) and a back view (B) of one of the
appendages of this necklace.—There is also a long kind of necklace,
reaching to the girdle, and composed of diamonds or other precious
stones, which is called “kiládeh.” Some women form a long necklace of
this kind with Venetian sequins, or Turkish or Egyptian gold coins.
[Illustration: NECKLACES—each, half the real size.]
The finger-rings (“khátims”) differ so little from those common among
ourselves, excepting in the clumsiness of their workmanship, and the
badness of the jewels, that I need not describe them. A finger-ring
without a stone is called “debleh,” or “dibleh.”
[Illustration: BRACELETS—each, half the real size.]
Bracelets (“asáwir”) are of diamonds or other precious stones set in
gold, or of pearls, or of gold alone. The more common kinds are
represented in an engraving here inserted.—No. 1 is a side view of a
diamond bracelet, with a front view of a portion of the same.—No. 2 is
the most fashionable kind of gold bracelet, which is formed of a simple
twist.—No. 3 is a very common, but less fashionable kind of bracelet of
twisted gold.—No. 4 is also of gold.—These bracelets of gold are pulled
open a little to be put on the wrist. They are generally made of fine
Venetian gold, which is very flexible.