A modern writer on Arabic music, as it is practised in Algiers and
Tunis, mentions among the various Modes used at the present day a
peculiarly impressive one, called Asbein, which the Mohammedans believe
to have been especially appropriated by Satan for the purpose of
tempting man. They have a long story respecting its origin and demoniac
effects. The writer alluded to, a Frenchman, had the gratification of
hearing a piece or two played in this Mode by a musician, who had the
reputation of being one of the best performers in Tunis, and who used to
entertain the frequenters of a certain coffee-house in a suburb. To this
place the Frenchman repaired, and induced the musician to play in the
Mode Asbein. To surmise from his description of the performance, there
must have been something really frightful in the degree of ecstacy which
the player exhibited. But there is something funny in the Frenchman's
mode of reasoning, which deserves to be noticed, because it shows how
opinions like the above are sometimes adopted readily enough even by
professed sceptics. The Frenchman was a sceptic, and had made up his
mind before he proceeded to examine the matter, that the impression of
the Arabs respecting the Mode Asbein was due entirely to their religious
enthusiasm. They are, of course, Mohammedans. Now, after the
performance, the Frenchman accidentally learnt that the musician was a
Jew. Then he no longer doubted the demoniac power of the Mode Asbein.