ARABIAN SOCIETY
IN THE MIDDLE AGES
[Illustration: Cover]
_Three Vols., demy 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. each._
THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS:
Commonly called, in England, "THE ARABIAN NIGHTS'
ENTERTAINMENTS."
A New Translation from the Arabic, with copious Notes, by EDWARD
WILLIAM LANE.
Illustrated by many hundred Engravings on Wood, from Original
Designs by WILLIAM HARVEY.
A New Edition, from a Copy annotated by the Translator, edited
by his Nephew, EDWARD STANLEY POOLE. With a Preface by STANLEY
LANE-POOLE.
_CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY, W._
ARABIAN SOCIETY
IN THE MIDDLE AGES
STUDIES FROM
_THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS_
BY
EDWARD WILLIAM LANE
HON. DOCTOR OF LITERATURE, LEYDEN
CORRESPONDANT DE L'INSTITUT DE FRANCE
EDITED BY HIS GRANDNEPHEW
STANLEY LANE-POOLE
B.A., M.R.A.S., LAUREAT DE L'INSTITUT
[Illustration]
London
CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY
1883
[_All rights reserved_]
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.
TO THE MEMORY OF
E. H. PALMER,
THE TRUE SUCCESSOR OF
EDWARD WILLIAM LANE,
IN HIS INSIGHT INTO EASTERN CHARACTER AND THOUGHT
AND HIS GENIUS FOR THE ARABIC LANGUAGE,
THIS BOOK IS SORROWFULLY
DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
When Mr. Lane translated the "Thousand and One Nights," he was not
content with producing a mere rendering of the Arabic text: he saw that
the manners and ideas there described required a commentary if they were
to become intelligible to an unlearned reader. At the end of each
chapter of his translation, therefore, he appended a series of
explanatory notes, which often reached the proportions of elaborate
essays on the main characteristics of Mohammadan life.
These notes have long been recognized by Orientalists as the most
complete picture in existence of Arabian society--or rather of those
Arab, Persian, or Greek, but still Mohammadan, conditions of life and
boundaries of the mental horizon which are generally distinguished by
the name of Arabian. Their position and arrangement, however, scattered
as they were through three large volumes, and inserted in the order
required not by their subjects but by the tales they illustrated,
rendered them difficult to consult, and cumbrous, if not impossible, to
read consecutively. It has often been suggested that a reprint of the
principal notes, in a convenient form and in natural sequence, would be
a welcome addition to the scholar's as well as to the general library.
The publication of a new impression of the "Thousand and One Nights"
presented an opportunity for discussing the project; and the result is
the present volume.
My task, as editor, has been a simple one. I have rejected only those
notes which have no value apart from the main work--glossarial notes,
for instance, giving the English of the proper names occurring in the
Arabian Nights; disquisitions on the probable date of the composition of
the tales; and others inseparably connected with the stories themselves.
The rest I have arranged in a series of chapters, interweaving the
shorter notes in the longer, and giving as far as possible an air of
unity to each division. Beyond such verbal alterations as were required
by the separation of the notes from the text to which they referred,
occasional changes in punctuation, and a slight alteration in the
spelling of Oriental names in accordance with my great-uncle's latest
method, I have not interfered with the form of the notes as they
appeared in the edition of 1859. Such insignificant changes as I have
made, I think I may state with confidence, would have been approved by
the author. Beyond a few notes distinguished by square brackets, a new
and very minute index (in which all Arabic words are explained), and a
list of the authorities quoted, I have added nothing of my own.
It may be objected to the title of the book that a considerable part of
the notes is composed of recollections of Mr. Lane's personal
experiences in Cairo in the early part of the present century. The
subject-matter, however, is really mediæval. The notes have all the same
purpose: to explain the conditions of life and society as they were at
the time when the "Thousand and One Nights" assumed their present
collected form. Upon various grounds Mr. Lane placed this redaction or
composition at about the end of the fifteenth century. Accordingly, a
large proportion of these notes consist of extracts from the more famous
Arabic historians and other authors of the later Middle Ages, such as
Ibn El-Jowzee (who died in A.D. 1256), El-Ḳazweenee (1283),
Ibn-el-Wardee (1348), Ibn-Khaldoon (1406), El-Maḳreezee (1441),
Es-Suyooṭee (1505), who all knew Arabian society in precisely the
state described in the "Thousand and One Nights." Most of these
authorities were unpublished when the notes were written, and Mr. Lane's
quotations are from manuscripts in his own possession. Some are still
inedited; and though many have been printed at the Booláḳ Press and
elsewhere, it is surprising how little they have been used by European
authors.
To the records of these mediæval writers, Mr. Lane added the results of
his personal experience; and in doing so he was guilty of no
anachronism: for the Arabian Society in which a Saladin, a Beybars, a
Barḳooḳ, and a Ḳait-Bey moved, and of which the native
historians have preserved so full and graphic a record, survived almost
unchanged to the time of Moḥammad ´Alee, when Mr. Lane spent many
years of intimate acquaintance among the people of Cairo. The life that
he saw was the same as that described by El-Maḳreezee and
Es-Suyooṭee; and the purely Muslim society in which Mr. Lane
preferred to move was in spirit, in custom, and in all essentials the
same society that once hailed a Hároon er-Rasheed, a Jaạfar
el-Barmekee, and an Aboo-Nuwás, among its members. The continuity of
Arabian social tradition was practically unbroken from almost the
beginning of the Khalifate to the present century, at least in such a
metropolis of Islám as Cairo, or as Damascus or Baghdad. European
influence has been busy in demolishing it. Cairo has long been trying to
become a bastard Paris instead of the picturesque city of El-Mo´izz and
Ṣaláḥ-ed-Deen, and to forget its traditions of the palmy days of
Islám and its memorials of the chivalrous heroes of crusading times. It
would be impossible now to gather the minute details of a purely
Mohammadan society which Mr. Lane found ready to his eye and hand; and
it is therefore the more fortunate that the record of Arabian Society,
as it was during the Khalifate and under the rule of the Memlooks in the
Middle Ages, and as it continued to be in Egypt to the days of
Moḥammad ´Alee, was faithfully preserved in the "Manners and Customs
of the Modern Egyptians," and in the notes to the "Thousand and One
Nights," which are here for the first time presented in a separate and
consecutive form.
STANLEY LANE-POOLE.
_December, 1882._
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
RELIGION.
Articles of Faith--Predestination--Ritual and Moral Laws:
prayer, almsgiving, fasting, pilgrimage, etc.--Civil Laws:
marriage, divorce, inheritance, manumission--Criminal Laws:
murder, retaliation, theft, etc.--Religious Festivals 1
CHAPTER II.
DEMONOLOGY.
Angels and Jinn (Genii)--Various kinds of Jinn--Preadamite
Jinn--History of Iblees--Long life of the Jinn and manner of
death; assumed shapes--A Jinneeyeh wife--Spirits of the
whirlwind and waterspout--Abodes of the Jinn--Solomon's power
over them--Ghools and other inferior orders 25
CHAPTER III.
SAINTS.
Welees and their Ḳuṭbs--El-Khiḍr and
Elias--Miracles--Influence--Self-denial and asceticism--Two
authentic saints--General habits--A historical saint--Pilgrimage
to the tombs--Annual festivals--A Zikr performed by
Darweeshes--A Khatmeh--Religious murder 47
CHAPTER IV.
MAGIC.
Spiritual magic, divine or Satanic--Babel--Hároot and
Mároot--Enchantment--Divination--Astrology--Geomancy--
Auguration--Chiromancy--Omens--Dreams--A dream of the Great
Plague, 1835--Lucky and unlucky days--Natural
magic--Alchymy--The magician Ṣádoomeh and his miracles 80
CHAPTER V.
COSMOGRAPHY.
The seven Heavens--Paradise--Form and divisions of the
earth--The Sea of Darkness--Fountain of Life--Mountains of
Ḳáf--The lower earths--What the earth stands on--The stages
of Hell 97
CHAPTER VI.
LITERATURE.
The Heroic Age--´Okáḍh--The Ḳur-án--The Middle
Age--Corrupt dialects--´Abd-el-Melik--Hároon Er-Rasheed and
Abu-l´Atáhiyeh--The Barmekees--Dresses of honour--Two items in
Hároon's account book--Rewards to poets--Ḥammád's good
fortune--Reception of Greek ambassadors by a Khaleefeh--A
niggardly king outwitted--The decline of Arabian
literature--Letters--The language of flowers, and emblematical
conversation--Secret signs--El-Mutanebbee's warning--The
language of birds and beasts 109
CHAPTER VII.
FEASTING AND MERRYMAKING.
Muslim meals and mode of eating--Principal dishes--A typical
feast--Public dinners--Clean and unclean
meats--Drinks--Hospitality--Bread and salt--A thief thwarted--An
Arabian room--A hall or saloon--The use of wine--Date wine,
etc.--Prevalence of the habit of drinking wine in the present
day and in history--A bout interrupted--Moderate
drinking--Effects of wine--´Abd-el-Melik and his
slave--Preparations for a banquet--Fruits--A
rose-lover--Favourite flowers--Music--Ibráheem El-Móṣilee and
Hároon Er-Rasheed--Isḥáḳ
El-Móṣilee--Mukháriḳ--Performers--Unveiled women
singers--Arab music--Lyric songs--Other amusements--The
Bath--Hunting and hawking 135
CHAPTER VIII.
CHILDHOOD AND EDUCATION.
Ceremonies at birth, and on the seventh day--Giving the
name--Sacrifice--Shaving the head--Suckling--Care of
children--Evil eye--Respect for parents--The future state of
children who die young--Early education of the
father--Circumcision--Schools and teaching--Private
tuition--Education of girls--Arab character 186
CHAPTER IX.
WOMEN.
Love among Arabs--Three tales of true love--Umm-´Amr--The ideal
of beauty--Coiffure--Gait--Woman's counsel--Marriage and
divorce--Laws and general habits--Choice of a wife--Prohibited
degrees--Cousins preferred--Ages--A wife's
qualifications--Dowry--Marriage contract--Festivities and
ceremonies of marriage--Wedding horoscopes--Employment of the
ḥareem--Polygamy and the Muslim social system in
general--Affection between wives 207
CHAPTER X.
SLAVERY.
Conditions, rights, and disabilities of slaves--Emancipation--
White slaves--Treatment--The Prophet's injunctions--´Othmán's
compunction--Jaạfar's wife 250
CHAPTER XI.
CEREMONIES OF DEATH.
Last duties--Washing--Grave-clothes--Funeral--Sacrifice--
Biers--The tomb--Preparing for the examining angels--Visits
to the grave--State of the soul between death and the
resurrection--The Well of Barahoot 258
INDEX 267
AUTHORS AND WORKS REFERRED TO 281
ARABIAN SOCIETY IN THE
MIDDLE AGES.
CHAPTER I.
RELIGION.
The confession of the Muslim's faith is briefly made in these
words,--"There is no deity but God: Moḥammad is God's
Apostle,"--which imply a belief and observance of everything that
Moḥammad taught to be the word or will of God. In the opinion of
those who are commonly called orthodox, and termed Sunnees, the
Mohammadan code is founded upon the Ḳur-án, the Traditions of the
Prophet, the concordance of his principal early disciples, and the
decisions which have been framed from analogy or comparison. The Sunnees
consist of four sects, Ḥanafees, Sháfi´ees, Málikees, and Hambelees,
so called after the names of their respective founders. The other sects,
who are called Shiya´ees (an appellation particularly given to the
Persian sect, but also used to designate generally all who are not
Sunnees), are regarded nearly in the same light as those who do not
profess El-Islám (the Mohammadan faith); that is, as destined to eternal
punishment.
I. The Mohammadan faith embraces the following points:--
1. Belief in God, who is without beginning or end, the sole Creator and
Lord of the universe, having absolute power, and knowledge, and glory,
and perfection.
2. Belief in his Angels, who are impeccable beings, created of light;
and Genii (Jinn), who are peccable, created of smokeless fire. The
Devils, whose chief is Iblees, or Satan, are evil Genii.[1]
3. Belief in his Prophets and Apostles;[2] the most distinguished of
whom are Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Moḥammad. Jesus is
held to be more excellent than any of those who preceded him, to have
been born of a virgin, and to be the Messiah and the word of God and a
Spirit proceeding from him, but not partaking of his essence and not to
be called the Son of God. Moḥammad is held to be more excellent than
all, the last and greatest of prophets and apostles, the most excellent
of the creatures of God.
4. Belief in his Scriptures, which are his uncreated word, revealed to
his prophets. Of these there now exist, but held to be greatly
corrupted, the Pentateuch of Moses, the Psalms of David, and the Gospels
of Jesus Christ; and, in an uncorrupted and incorruptible state, the
Ḳur-án, which is held to have abrogated, and to surpass in
excellence, all preceding revelations.
5. Belief in the general Resurrection and Judgment, and in future
rewards and punishments, chiefly of a corporeal nature: the punishments
will be eternal to all but wicked Mohammadans; and none but Mohammadans
will enter into a state of happiness.
6. Belief in God's Predestination of all events, both good and evil.
The belief in fate and destiny (el-ḳaḍà wa-l-ḳadar)[3]
exercises a most powerful influence upon the actions and character of
the Muslims. Many hold that fate is in some respects absolute and
unchangeable, in others admitting of alteration; and almost all of them
_act_ in many of the affairs of life as if this were their belief. In
the former case, it is called "el-ḳaḍà el-moḥkam;" in the
latter, "el-ḳaḍà el-mubram" (which term, without the explanation
here given, might be regarded as exactly synonymous with the former).
Hence the Prophet, it is said, prayed to be preserved from the latter,
as knowing that it might be changed; and in allusion to this changeable
fate, we are told, God says, "God will cancel what He pleaseth, and
confirm;"[4] while, on the contrary, the fate which is termed
"moḥkam" is appointed "destiny" decreed by God.[5]
Many doctors have argued that destiny respects only the _final state_
of a certain portion of men (believers and unbelievers), and that in
general man is endowed with free will, which he should exercise
according to the laws of God and his own conscience and judgment,
praying to God for a blessing on his endeavours, or imploring the
intercession of the Prophet or of any of the saints in his favour, and
propitiating them by offering alms or sacrifices in their names, relying
upon God for the result, which he may then, and then only, attribute to
fate or destiny. They hold, therefore, that it is criminal to attempt
resistance to the will when its dictates are conformable with the laws
of God and our natural consciences and prudence, and so passively to
await the fulfilment of God's decrees.--The doctrine of the Ḳur-án
and the traditions respecting the decrees of God, or fate and destiny,
appears, however, to be that they are altogether absolute and
unchangeable, written in the beginning of the creation on the "Preserved
Tablet" in heaven; that God hath predestined every event and action,
evil as well as good,--at the same time commanding and approving good,
and forbidding and hating evil; and that the "cancelling" mentioned in
the preceding paragraph relates (as the context seems to show) to the
abrogation of former scriptures or revelations, not of fate. But still
it must be held that He hath not predestined the _will_; though He
sometimes inclines it to good, and the Devil sometimes inclines it to
evil. It is asked, then, If we have the power to will, but not the power
to perform otherwise than as God hath predetermined, how can we be
regarded as responsible beings? The answer to this is that our actions
are judged good or evil according to our intentions, if we have faith:
good actions or intentions, it should be added, only increase, and do
not cause, our happiness if we are believers; and evil actions or
intentions only increase our misery if we are unbelievers or
irreligious: for the Muslim holds that he is to be admitted into heaven
only by the mercy of God, on account of his faith, and to be rewarded in
proportion to his good works.
The Prophet's assertions on the subject of God's decrees are considered
of the highest importance as explanatory of the Ḳur-án.--"Whatever is
in the universe," said he, "is by the order of God."--"God hath
pre-ordained five things on his servants; the duration of life, their
actions, their dwelling-places, their travels, and their
portions."--"There is not one among you whose sitting-place is not
written by God, whether in the fire or in paradise."--Some of the
companions of the Prophet, on hearing the last-quoted saying, asked him,
"O Prophet, since God hath appointed our places, may we confide in this,
and abandon our religious and moral duties?" He answered, "No: because
the happy will do good works, and those who are of the miserable will do
bad works."
The following of his sayings further illustrate this subject:--"When God
hath ordered a creature to die in any particular place, He causeth his
wants to direct him to that place."--A companion asked, "O Prophet of
God, inform me respecting charms, and the medicines which I swallow, and
shields which I make use of for protection, whether they prevent any of
the orders of God." Moḥammad answered, "These also are by the order
of God." "There is a medicine for every pain: then, when the medicine
reaches the pain it is cured by the order of God."[6]--When a Muslim,
therefore, feels an inclination to make use of medicine for the cure of
a disease, he should do so, in the hope of its being predestined that he
shall be so cured. On the predestination of diseases, I find the
following curious quotation and remark in a manuscript work[7] by
Es-Suyooṭee, who wrote in the fifteenth century, in my
possession:--"El-Ḥaleemee says, 'Communicable or contagious diseases
are six: small-pox, measles, itch or scab, foul breath or putridity,
melancholy, and pestilential maladies; and diseases engendered are also
six: leprosy, hectic, epilepsy, gout, elephantiasis, and phthisis.' But
this does not contradict the saying of the Prophet, 'There is no
transition of diseases by contagion or infection, nor any omen that
brings evil:' for the transition here meant is one occasioned by the
disease itself; whereas the effect is of God, who causes pestilence to
spread when there is intercourse with the diseased."--A Bedawee asked
the Prophet, "What is the condition of camels which stay in the deserts?
verily you might say they are deer, in health and in cleanness of skin;
then they mix with mangy camels, and they become mangy also."
Moḥammad said, "What made the first camel mangy?"[8]
Notwithstanding, however, the arguments which have been here adduced,
and many others that might be added, declaring or implying the
unchangeable nature of all God's decrees, I have found it to be the
opinion of my own Muslim friends that God may be induced by supplication
to change certain of his decrees, at least those regarding degrees of
happiness or misery in this world and the next; and that such is the
general opinion appears from a form of prayer which is repeated in the
mosques on the eve of the middle (or fifteenth day) of the month of
Shaạbán, when it is believed that such portions of God's decrees as
constitute the destinies of all living creatures for the ensuing year
are confirmed and fixed. In this prayer it is said, "O God, if Thou
_hast recorded_ me in thy abode, upon 'the Original of the Book' [the
Preserved Tablet], miserable or unfortunate or scanted in my sustenance,
_cancel_, O God, of thy goodness, my misery and misfortune and scanty
allowance of sustenance, and confirm me in thy abode, upon the Original
of the Book, as happy and provided for and directed to good,"[9] etc.
The Arabs in general constantly have recourse both to charms and
medicines, not only for the cure but also for the prevention of
diseases. They have, indeed, a strange passion for medicine, which shows
that they do not consider fate as altogether unconditional. Nothing can
exceed the earnestness with which they often press a European traveller
for a dose; and the more violent the remedy, the better are they
pleased. The following case will serve as an example:--Three
donkey-drivers, conveying the luggage of two British travellers from
Booláḳ to Cairo, opened a bottle which they observed in a basket, and
finding it to contain (as they had suspected) brandy, emptied it down
their throats: but he who had the last draught, on turning up the
bottle, got the tail of a scorpion into his mouth; and, looking through
the bottle to his great horror saw that it contained a number of these
reptiles, with tarantulas, vipers, and beetles. Thinking that they had
poisoned themselves, but not liking to rely upon fate, they persuaded a
man to come to me for medicine. He introduced the subject by saying, "O
Efendee, do an act of kindness: there are three men poisoned; in your
mercy give them medicine, and save their lives:" and then he related the
whole affair, without concealing the theft. I answered that they did not
deserve medicine; but he urged that by giving it I should obtain an
immense reward. "Yes," said I; "'he who saveth a soul alive shall be as
if he had saved the lives of all mankind.'"[10] I said this to try the
feeling of the applicant, who, expressing admiration of my knowledge,
urged me to be quick, lest the men should die; thus showing himself to
be no unconditional fatalist. I gave him three strong doses of tartar
emetic; and he soon came back to thank me, saying that the medicine was
most admirable, for the men had hardly swallowed it when they almost
vomited their hearts and livers and everything else in their bodies.
From a distrust in fate some Muslims even shut themselves up during the
prevalence of plague; but this practice is generally condemned. A Syrian
friend of mine who did so nearly had his door broken open by his
neighbours. Another of my friends, one of the most distinguished of the
´Ulamà, confessed to me his conviction of the lawfulness of quarantine
and argued well in favour of it; but said that he dared not openly avow
such an opinion. "The Apostle of God," said he, "God favour and preserve
him! hath commanded that we should not enter a city where there is
pestilence, nor go out from it. Why did he say, 'Enter it
not'?--because, by so doing, we should expose ourselves to the disease.
Why did he say, 'Go not out from it?'--because, by so doing, we should
carry the disease to others. The Prophet was tenderly considerate of our
welfare: but the present Muslims in general are like bulls [brute
beasts]; and they hold the meaning of this command to be, Go not into a
city where there is pestilence, because this would be rashness; and go
not out from it, because this would be distrusting God's power to save
you from it."
Many of the vulgar and ignorant among modern Muslims, believe that the
unchangeable destinies of every man are written upon his head, in what
are termed the sutures of the skull.
II. The principal Ritual and Moral Laws are on the following subjects,
of which the first four are the most important.
1. Prayer (eṣ-ṣaláh) including preparatory purifications. There
are partial or total washings to be performed on particular occasions
which need not be described. The ablution which is more especially
preparatory to prayer (and which is called wuḍoo) consists in washing
the hands, mouth, nostrils, face, arms (as high as the elbow, the right
first), each three times; and then the upper part of the head, the
beard, ears, neck, and feet, each once. This is done with running water,
or from a very large tank, or from a lake, or the sea.
Prayers are required to be performed five times in the course of every
day; between daybreak and sunrise, between noon and the ´aṣr, (which
latter period is about mid-time between noon and nightfall), between the
´aṣr and sunset, between sunset and the ´eshè (or the period when the
darkness of night commences), and at, or after, the ´eshè. The
commencement of each of these periods is announced by a chant (called
adán), repeated by a crier (muëddin) from the mádineh, or minaret, of
each mosque; and it is more meritorious to commence the prayer then than
at a later time. On each of these occasions, the Muslim has to perform
certain prayers held to be ordained by God, and others ordained by the
Prophet; each kind consisting of two, three, or four "rek´ahs;" which
term signifies the repetition of a set form of words, chiefly from the
Ḳur-án, and ejaculations of "God is most Great!" etc., accompanied by
particular postures; part of the words being repeated in an erect
posture; part, sitting; and part, in other postures: an inclination of
the head and body, followed by two prostrations, distinguishing each
rek´ah.[11] These prayers may in some cases be abridged, and in others
entirely omitted. Other prayers must be performed on particular
occasions.
On Friday, the Mohammadan Sabbath, there are congregational prayers,
which are similar to those of others days, with additional prayers and
exhortations by a minister, who is called Imám, or Khaṭeeb. The Selám
(or Salutation) of Friday--a form of blessing on the Prophet and his
family and companions,--is chanted by the muëddins from the mádinehs of
the congregational mosques half-an-hour before noon. The worshippers
begin to assemble in the mosque as soon as they hear it, and arranging
themselves in rows parallel to, and facing, that side in which is the
niche that marks the direction of Mekkeh, each performs by himself the
prayers of two rek´ahs, which are supererogatory, and then sits in his
place while a reader recites part or the whole of the 18th chapter of
the Ḳur-án. At the call of noon, they all stand up, and each again
performs separately the prayers of two rek´ahs ordained by the Prophet.
A minister standing at the foot of the pulpit-stairs then proposes to
bless the Prophet: and accordingly a second Selám is chanted by one or
more other ministers stationed on an elevated platform. After this, the
former minister, and the latter after him, repeat the call of noon
(which the muëddins have before chanted from the mádinehs); and the
former enjoins silence. The Khaṭeeb has already seated himself on the
top step or platform of the pulpit. He now rises and recites a
khuṭbeh of praise to God and exhortation to the congregation; and, if
in a country or town acquired by arms from unbelievers, he holds a
wooden sword, resting its point on the ground. Each of the congregation
next offers up some private supplication; after which, the Khaṭeeb
recites a second khuṭbeh, which is always the same or nearly so, in
part resembling the first, but chiefly a prayer for the Prophet and his
family, and for the general welfare of the Muslims. This finished, the
Khaṭeeb descends from the pulpit, and, stationed before the niche,
after a form of words[12] differing slightly from the call to prayer has
been chanted by the ministers on the elevated platform before mentioned,
recites the divinely-ordained prayers of Friday (two rek´ahs) while the
people do the same silently, keeping time with him exactly in the
various postures. Thus are completed the Friday-prayers; but some of the
congregation remain, and perform the ordinary divinely-ordained prayers
of noon.
Other occasions for special prayer are the two grand annual festivals;
the nights of Ramaḍán, the month of abstinence; the occasion of an
eclipse of the sun or moon; for rain; previously to the commencement of
battle; in pilgrimage; and at funerals.
2. Alms-giving. An alms, called "zekáh," is required by law to be given
annually, to the poor, of camels, oxen (bulls and cows) and buffaloes,
sheep and goats, horses and mules and asses, and gold and silver
(whether in money or in vessels, ornaments, etc.), provided the property
be of a certain amount, as five camels, thirty oxen, forty sheep, five
horses, two hundred dirhems, or twenty deenárs. The proportion is
generally one-fortieth, which is to be paid in kind or in money or other
equivalent.
3. Fasting (eṣ-Ṣiyám). The Muslim must abstain from eating and
drinking, and from every indulgence of the senses, every day during the
month of Ramaḍán, from the first appearance of daybreak until sunset,
unless physically incapacitated.--On the first day of the following
month, a festival, called the Minor Festival, is observed with public
prayer and with general rejoicing, which continues three days.
4. Pilgrimage (el-Ḥájj). It is incumbent on the Muslim, if able, to
perform at least once in his life the pilgrimage to Mekkeh and Mount
´Arafát. The principal ceremonies of the pilgrimage are completed on
the 9th of the month of Dhu-l-Ḥijjeh: on the following day, which is
the first of the Great Festival, on the return from ´Arafát to Mekkeh,
the pilgrims who are able to do so perform a sacrifice, and every other
Muslim who can is required to do the same: part of the meat of the
victim he should eat, and the rest he should give to the poor. This
festival is otherwise observed in a similar manner to the minor one,
above mentioned; and lasts three or four days.
The less important ritual and moral laws may here be briefly
mentioned.[13]--One of these is circumcision, which is not absolutely
obligatory.--The distinctions of clean and unclean meats are nearly the
same in the Mohammadan as in the Mosaic code. Camel's flesh is an
exception; being lawful to the Muslim. Swine's flesh, and blood, are
especially condemned; and a particular mode of slaughtering animals for
food is enjoined, accompanied by the repetition of the name of
God.--Wine and all inebriating liquors are strictly forbidden.--So too
is gaming.--Music is condemned; but most Muslims take great delight in
hearing it.--Images and pictures representing living creatures are
contrary to law.--Charity, probity in all transactions, veracity
(excepting in a few cases),[14] and modesty, are virtues
indispensable.--Cleanliness in person, and decent attire, are
particularly required. Clothes of silk and ornaments of gold or silver
are forbidden to men, but allowed to women: this precept, however, is
often disregarded.--Utensils of gold and silver are also condemned: yet
they are used by many Muslims.--The manners of Muslims in society are
subject to particular rules with respect to salutations, etc.
Of the Civil Laws, the following notices will suffice.--A man may have
four wives at the same time, and according to common opinion as many
concubine slaves as he pleases.--He may divorce a wife twice, and each
time take her back again; but if he divorce her a third time, or by a
triple sentence, he cannot make her his wife again unless by her own
consent and by a new contract, and after another man has consummated a
marriage with her and divorced her.--The children by a wife and those by
a concubine slave inherit equally, if the latter be acknowledged by the
father. Sons inherit equally: and so do daughters; but the share of a
daughter is half that of a son. One-eighth is the share of the wife or
wives of the deceased if he have left issue, and one-fourth if he have
left no issue. A husband inherits one-fourth of his wife's property if
she have left issue, and one-half if she have left no issue. The debts
and legacies of the deceased must first be paid. A man may leave
one-third [but no more] of his property in any way he pleases.--When a
concubine slave has borne a child to her master, she becomes entitled to
freedom on his death.--There are particular laws relating to commerce.
Usury and monopoly are especially condemned.
Of the Criminal Laws, a few may be briefly mentioned. Murder is
punishable by death, or by a fine to be paid to the family of the
deceased, if they prefer it.--Theft, if the property stolen amount to a
quarter of a deenár, is to be punished by cutting off the right hand,
except under certain circumstances.--Adultery, if attested by four
eye-witnesses, is punishable by death (stoning): fornication, by a
hundred stripes, and banishment for a year.--Drunkenness is punished
with eighty stripes.--Apostasy, persevered in, by death.
The Ḳur-án ordains that murder shall be punished with death; or,
rather, that the free shall die for the free, the slave for the slave,
and the woman for the woman;[15] or that the perpetrator of the crime
shall pay, to the heirs of the person whom he has killed, if they will
allow it, a fine, which is to be divided according to the laws of
inheritance already explained. It also ordains that unintentional
homicide shall be expiated by freeing a believer from slavery, and
paying a fine to the family of the person killed, unless they remit it.
But these laws are amplified and explained by the same book and by the
Imáms. A fine is not to be accepted for murder unless the crime has been
attended by some palliating circumstance. This fine, the price of blood,
is a hundred camels; or a thousand deenárs (about £500) from him who
possesses gold; or, from him who possesses silver, twelve thousand
dirhems (about £300). This is for killing a free man; for a woman, half
that sum; for a slave, his or her value, but this must fall short of the
price of blood for the free. A person unable to free a believer must
fast two months as in Ramaḍán. The accomplices of a murderer are
liable to the punishment of death. By the Sunneh (or Traditions of the
Prophet) also, a man is obnoxious to capital punishment for the murder
of a woman; and by the Ḥanafee law, for the murder of another man's
slave. But he is exempted from this punishment who kills his own child
or other descendant, or his own slave, or his son's slave, or a slave of
whom he is part-owner; so also are his accomplices: and according to
Esh-Sháfi´ee, a Muslim, though a slave, is not to be put to death for
killing an infidel, though the latter be free. A man who kills another
in self-defence, or to defend his property from a robber, is exempt from
all punishment. The price of blood is a debt incumbent on the family,
tribe, or association, of which the homicide is a member. It is also
incumbent on the inhabitants of an enclosed quarter, or the proprietor
or proprietors of a field, in which the body of a person killed by an
unknown hand is found; unless the person has been found killed in his
own house.
Retaliation for intentional wounds and mutilations is allowed by the
Mohammadan law, like as for murder, "an eye for an eye," etc.;[16] but a
fine may be accepted instead, which the law allows also for
unintentional injuries. The fine for a member that is single (as the
nose) is the whole price of blood, as for homicide; for a member of
which there are two, and not more (as a hand), half the price of blood;
for one of which there are ten (a finger or toe), a tenth of the price
of blood: but the fine of a man for maiming or wounding a woman is half
of that for the same injury to a man; and that of a free person for
injuring a slave varies according to the value of the slave. The fine
for depriving a man of any of his five senses, or dangerously wounding
him, or grievously disfiguring him for life, is the whole price of
blood.
The Mohammadan law ordains that a person who is adult and of sound mind,
if he steals an article of the value of a quarter of a deenár (or piece
of gold) from a place to which he has not ordinary or free access, shall
lose his right hand; but this punishment is not to be inflicted for
stealing a free child, or anything which, in the eye of the law, is of
no pecuniary value, as wine, or a musical instrument; and there are some
other cases in which the thief is not to be so punished. For the second
offence, the left foot is to be cut off; and for the third and
subsequent offences, according to the Ḥanafee code, the culprit is to
be punished by a long imprisonment; or, by the Sháfi´ee law, for the
third offence, he is to lose his left hand; for the fourth, his right
foot; and for further offences, he is to be flogged or beaten. The
punishment is the same for a woman as for a man. This law induced a
freethinking Muslim to ask, "If the hand is worth five hundred deenárs
[this being the fine for depriving a man of that member], why should it
be cut off for a quarter of a deenár?" He was answered, "An honest hand
is of great value; but not so is the hand that hath stolen." Amputation
for theft, however, is now seldom practised: beating, or some other
punishment, is usually inflicted in its stead for the first, second, and
third offence; and frequently, death for the fourth.
The Muslims observe two grand ´Eeds or Festivals in every year. The
first of these immediately follows Ramaḍán, the month of abstinence,
and lasts three days: it is called the Minor Festival. The other, which
is called the Great Festival, commences on the tenth of Dhu-l-Ḥijjeh,
the day when the pilgrims, halting in the Valley of Minè, on their
return from Mount ´Arafát to Mekkeh, perform their sacrifice: the
observance of this festival also continues three days, or four.
Early in the first morning, on each of these festivals, the Muslim is
required to perform a lustration of his whole person, as on the mornings
of Friday; and on the first morning of the Minor Festival he should
break his fast with a few dates or some other light food, but on the
Great Festival he abstains from food until he has acquitted himself of
the religious duties now to be mentioned. Soon after sunrise on the
first day of each festival, the men, dressed in new or in their best
clothes, repair to the mosque or to a particular place appointed for
the performance of the prayers of the ´Eed. On going thither, they
should repeat frequently "God is most Great!"--on the Minor Festival
inaudibly, on the other aloud. The congregation having assembled repeat
the prayers of two rek´ahs; after which the Khaṭeeb recites a
khuṭbeh, _i.e._ an exhortation and a prayer. On each of these
festivals, in the mosque or place of prayer and in the street and at
each other's houses, friends congratulate and embrace one another,
generally paying visits for this purpose; and the great receive visits
from their dependants. The young on these occasions kiss the right hand
of the aged, and servants or dependants do the same to their masters or
superiors, unless the latter be of high rank, in which case they kiss
the end of the hanging sleeves or the skirt of the outer garment. Most
of the shops are closed, excepting those at which eatables and sweet
drinks are sold; but the streets are filled with people in their
holiday-clothes.
On the Minor Festival, which, as it terminates an arduous fast, is
celebrated with more rejoicing than the other,[17] servants and other
dependants receive presents of new articles of clothing from their
masters or patrons; and the servant receives presents of small sums of
money from his master's friends, whom, if they do not visit his master,
he goes to congratulate; as well as from any former master, to whom he
often takes a plate-full of kaḥks. These are sweet cakes or biscuits
of an annular form, composed of flour and butter, with a little
´ajameeyeh (a thick paste consisting of butter, honey, a little flour,
and some spices) inside. They are also often sent as presents on this
occasion by other people. Another custom required of the faithful on
this festival is the giving of alms.
On the Great Festival, after the prayers of the congregation, every one
who can afford it performs, with his own hand or by that of a deputy, a
sacrifice of a ram, he-goat, cow or buffalo, or she-camel; part of the
meat of which he eats, and part he gives to the poor, or to his friends
or dependants. The ram or goat should be at least one year old; the cow
or buffalo, two years; and the camel, five years; and none should have
any considerable mutilation or infirmity. A cow or buffalo, or a camel,
is a sufficient sacrifice for seven persons. The clothes which were put
on new at the former festival are generally worn on this occasion; and
the presents which are given to servants and others are usually somewhat
less.
On each of the two festivals it is also customary, especially with the
women, to visit the tombs of relations. The party generally take with
them a palm-branch, and place it, broken in several pieces, or merely
its leaves, upon the tomb or monument; or some, instead of this, place
sweet basil or other flowers. They also usually provide themselves with
sweet cakes, bread, dates, or some other kind of food, to distribute to
the poor. But their first duty on arriving at the tomb is to recite the
Fátiḥah (the opening chapter of the Ḳur-án), or to employ a person
to recite previously a longer chapter, generally the thirty-sixth
(Soorat Yá-Seen), or even the whole of the book: sometimes the visitors
recite the Fátiḥah, and, after having hired a person to perform a
longer recitation, go away before he commences. The women often stay all
the days of the festivals in the cemeteries, either in tents or in
houses of their own erected there for their reception on these and other
occasions. The tent of each party surrounds the tomb which is the object
of their visit. In the outskirts of the cemeteries, swings and
whirligigs are set up, and story-tellers, jugglers, and dancers amuse
the populace.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See below, 25 ff.
[2] An Apostle is distinguished from a mere Prophet by his having a
_book_ revealed to him.
[3] I use two words (perhaps the best that our language affords) to
express corresponding Arabic terms, which some persons regard as
synonymous, but others distinguish by different shades of meaning. On
what I consider the best authority, the word which I render "fate"
respects the decrees of God in a general sense; while that which I
translate "destiny" relates to the particular applications of those
decrees. In such senses these terms are here to be understood when
separately employed.
[4] Ḳur-án, xiii. 39.
[5] El-Insán el-Kámil, by ´Abd-El-Kereem El-Jeelee, quoted by
El-Isḥáḳee in his account of Ibráheem Pásha el-Maḳtool.
[6] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, i. 26-34, 373. [Cp. S. Lane-Poole, "The
Speeches and Tabletalk of the Prophet Moḥammad" (1882), 180-182.]
[7] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil wa-Murshid el-Mutaähhil, section 7.
[8] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 381.
[9] For a translation of the whole of this prayer, see my "Account of
the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians," ch. xxv.
[10] Ḳur. v. 35.
[11] For a fuller account of the prayers, see "Modern Egyptians," ch.
iii.
[12] The Iḳámeh: see below, ch. viii.
[13] [For the collected legislation of the Ḳur-án, see my "Speeches
and Tabletalk of the Prophet Moḥammad," 133 ff. S. L-P.
[14] Among a people by whom falsehood, in certain cases, is not only
allowed but commended, oaths of different kinds are more or less
binding. In considering this subject we should also remember that oaths
may sometimes be expiated. There are some oaths which, I believe, few
Muslims would falsely take; such as saying, three times, "By God the
Great!" (Wa-lláhi-l-´aẓeem), and the oath upon the muṣḥaf (or
copy of the Ḳur-án), saying, "By what this contains of the word of
God!" This latter is rendered more binding by placing a sword with the
sacred volume, and still more so by the addition of a cake, or piece of
bread, and a handful of salt. But a form of oath which is generally yet
more to be depended upon is that of saying, "I impose upon myself
divorcement!" (that is, "the divorce of my wife, if what I say be
false!"); or, "I impose upon myself interdiction!" which has a similar
meaning ("My wife be unlawful to me!"); or, "I impose upon myself a
triple divorcement!" which binds a man by the irrevocable divorce of his
wife. If a man use any of these three forms of oath falsely, his wife,
if he have but one, is divorced by the oath itself, if proved to be
false, without the absolute necessity of any further ceremony; and if he
have two or more wives, he must under such circumstances choose one of
them to put away.
[15] [But see my "Speeches and Tabletalk of the Prophet Mohammad," 139,
S. L-P.]
[16] Ḳur. v. 49.
[17] Hence it has been called, by many travellers, and even by some
learned Orientalists, the Great Feast; but it is never so called by the
Arabs.