MUHAMMADAN CHARMS AND SUPERSTITIONS
Muhammad did not write down his teaching, for he could not write, but
his followers learnt it by heart, and wrote it down, and after his
death it was collected into one book called the Quran. It was arranged
in a haphazard way, and probably the early chapters were really spoken
last, and the later ones first. However, the Muhammadans believe it to
be, as it now stands, the Word of God, and they treat it with great
respect. When they pick the book up or lay it down they put it first to
the forehead and then to the lips, and they hold it in both hands. Many
Christians might learn from them to treat God’s Word more reverently.
They consider it a work of merit to read the Quran or listen to it, and
they read it over their sick folk in hopes of curing them. But perhaps
the commonest and most popular edition is a two-inch hexagonal one
which is almost illegible. This is sewn up in two little round or
hexagonal cases, each containing half, and is worn on the arms to keep
off evil of every kind. The cases may be plain leather or cloth, or
they may be more elaborate and ornamental, or silver cases may be used
with texts from the Quran engraved upon them.
[Illustration: READING THE QURAN TO THE SICK]
Smaller and cheaper charms are made of texts from the Quran enclosed in
the same way.
These charms, and also beads made from the blue clay of the holy city
of Qum, are used for animals as well as people, especially young mules.
I once had a charm given me for a kitten.
Children often wear a very large number of charms sewn on to the cap or
hung on a chain round the neck, as they are supposed to be much more
susceptible than grown-up people to evil influences. One quaint-looking
charm is a little cloth camel, Abraham’s camel, sewn on the cap.
What the Persians fear more than anything for their children is the
evil eye, and it is especially to protect them from this that they
cover them with charms. They say there are certain people who have an
“evil eye.” No one seems to know many such people, but most people say
they know at least one. These people injure everything that pleases
them, and that they admire. If they admire a baby it will get ill
and very likely die; if they admire a mule it will probably go lame;
if they admire a tree it will wither; if they admire a cup it will
break. There does not seem to be necessarily any wish to do harm, the
mere taking pleasure in the thing causes the disaster. Persons with
the evil eye are quite impossible to distinguish, so the Persians are
afraid of all strangers lest they should have it. This is why you must
not admire a baby, and Persian mothers cover up their young babies
completely in the street for fear a casual passer-by should admire them
and should prove to have the evil eye.
The men carry iron in their pockets as a protection, and a magnet
is considered specially powerful in this way. A more common form of
iron to carry is an iron chain, which is useful for driving mules and
donkeys and beating off savage dogs.
The women sometimes wear charms to make their husbands love them. One
poor thing gave me hers--two large beads: they had not proved of much
use, for her husband beat her and treated her very badly.
Another charm is a tiny bag of the scented earth of Kerbela, where
Muhammad’s grandson Husain was killed, and if rubbed on the eyelids it
is said to cause the eyes to shine brightly.
The beads of the Muhammadan rosaries are often made of this Kerbela
earth. Every Muhammadan has his rosary--many of them have quite a
collection, for pilgrims to Kerbela bring back rosaries for all their
friends.
These rosaries are never used for counting prayers, but occasionally
for counting the attributes of God or invocations. But the main use is
a very different one. They are the Persian’s ordinary means of trying
to find out God’s will. They are used both in serious and in frivolous
matters; no Persian will settle anything without “taking the beads.”
He takes the beads before making a business appointment, but he takes
them again to see whether he shall keep it or not. He takes the beads
to see what doctor he is to send for, and again to see if he shall
follow his instructions. He takes the beads to see if it is a good day
to buy a new coat, and again to see if it is a good day to put it on.
You often see a pious Muhammadan fingering the beads under her _chādar_
before she answers your questions.
The rosaries are made of a large number of small beads all alike, and
three only, which are different and are called “_Sheikhs_,” placed in
different parts of the string. To take the beads a Muhammadan turns
towards Mecca and says an Arabic collect. Then he divides the beads
without looking, and tells them off two by two, saying over and over,
as he does so, “_Subhānu’llāh_” (God is glorious) “_Alhamdu’li’llāh_”
(Praise be to God), “_Va’llāh_” (and He is the God), passing two beads
for each word until he comes to a _Sheikh_, when he stops. If there
are two beads for the last word, the answer is much more emphatic than
if there is only an odd one. If the last word is “_Subhānu’llāh_” the
answer is favourable, “_Alhamdu’li’llāh_” is doubtful and “_Va’llāh_”
is unfavourable. If the answer is doubtful a Persian generally follows
his own inclinations.
If the answer is not what the questioner likes, the beads may be taken
again in the mosque, and the answer in the mosque take precedence of
that in the house. If, however, the answer is still the same, there
is a third method. For a small fee a mulla will do the same sort of
thing with the Quran, and the text selected overrules the two previous
answers.
A Persian lady sent for an English missionary to extract an aching
tooth. The missionary found her in great pain, but she said she could
not have the tooth out as the beads were against it, but she had sent
to the mosque and was hoping for a favourable answer from there.
However, all methods gave an unfavourable answer, so she put off the
extraction to another day.
“It would be much better for me to have it out,” she said, “but it is
not God’s Will.”
The Wise Men from the East looked for God’s guidance among the
stars, and there God sent them a message. And here and there where a
Muhammadan earnestly seeks God’s guidance, because he is trying to
really live as God’s servant, who shall say that he does not receive it
where he has been taught to look for it.
But taken as a system, how trivial, how childish, how irreverent it all
is. They use God’s name, but they take His name in vain. They profess
to seek God’s will, and profess to receive an answer from Him, and
often try the next moment to set it aside and force or coax an opposite
answer out of Him.
The Muhammadans think that through their beads they can _use_ God for
settling the every-day matters of this world in a lucky way, while they
are disobeying Him in the greater matter of godly living.