SAINTS.
The Arabs entertain remarkable opinions with respect to the offices and
supernatural powers of their saints, which form an important part of the
mysteries of the Darweeshes (Dervishes), and are but imperfectly known
to the generality of Muslims.
Muslim Saints and devotees are known by the common appellation of
Welees, or particular favourites of God. The more eminent among them
compose a mysterious hierarchical body, whose government respects the
whole human race, infidels as well as believers, but whose power is
often exercised in such a manner that the subjects influenced by it know
not from what person or persons its effects proceed. The general
governor or coryphaeus of these holy beings is commonly called the
Ḳuṭb, which literally signifies a "pole," or an "axis," and is
metaphorically used to signify a "chief," either in a civil or
political, or in a spiritual sense. The Ḳuṭb of the saints is
distinguished by other appellations: he is called Ḳuṭb el-Ghós, or
Ḳuṭb el-Ghóth (the Ḳuṭb of Invocation for Help), etc.; and
simply, El-Ghós.[64] The orders under the rule of this chief are called
´Omud (or Owtád), Akhyár, Abdál, Nujaba, and Nuḳaba: I name them
according to their precedence.[65] Perhaps to these should be added an
inferior order called Aṣḥáb ed-Darak, _i.e._ "Watchmen," or
"Overseers." The members are not known as such to their inferior
unenlightened fellow-creatures, and are often invisible to them. This is
more frequently the case with the Ḳuṭb, who, though generally
stationed at Mekkeh, on the roof of the Kaạbeh, is never visible
there, nor at any of his other favourite stations or places of resort;
yet his voice is often heard at these places. Whenever he and the saints
under his authority mingle among ordinary men, they are not
distinguished by a dignified appearance, but are always humbly clad.
These, and even inferior saints, are said to perform astonishing
miracles, such as flying in the air, passing unhurt through fire,
swallowing fire, glass, etc., walking upon water, transporting
themselves in a moment of time to immense distances, and supplying
themselves and others with food in desert places. Their supernatural
power they are supposed to obtain by a life of the most exalted piety,
and especially by constant self-denial, accompanied with the most
implicit reliance upon God, by the services of good genii, and, as many
believe, by the knowledge and utterance of "the most great name" of God.
A miracle performed by a saint is distinguished by the term "karámeh"
from one performed by a prophet, which is called "moạjizeh."
El-Khiḍr and Ilyás (Elias), are both believed to have been
Ḳuṭbs, and the latter is called in the Ḳur-án an apostle; but
it is disputed whether the former was a prophet or merely a welee. Both
are said to have drunk of the Fountain of Life, and to be in consequence
still living; and Ilyás is commonly believed to invest the successive
Ḳuṭbs. The similarity of the miracles ascribed to the Ḳuṭbs
to those performed by Elias or Elijah, I have remarked in a former
work.[66] Another miracle, reminding us of the mantle of Elijah in the
hands of his successor, may here be mentioned.--A saint who was the
Ḳuṭb of his time, dying at Tunis, left his clothes in trust to his
attendant, Moḥammad El-Ashwam, a native of the neighbouring regency
of Tripoli, who desired to sell these relics, but was counselled to
retain them, and accordingly, though high prices were bidden for them,
made them his own by purchase. As soon as they became his property, he
was affected, we are told, with a divine ecstasy, and endowed with
miraculous powers.[67]
Innumerable miracles are related to have been performed by Muslim
saints, and large volumes are filled with the histories of their
wonderful lives. The author of the work from which the above story is
taken, mentions, as a fact to be relied on, in an account of one of his
ancestors, that, his lamp happening to go out one night while he was
reading alone in the riwáḳ of the Jabart (of which he was the
sheykh), in the great mosque El-Azhar, the forefinger of his right hand
emitted a light which enabled him to continue his reading until his
naḳeeb had trimmed and lighted another lamp.[68]
From many stories of a similar kind that I have read, I select the
following as a fair specimen: it is related by a very celebrated saint,
Ibráheem El-Khowwáṣ.--"I entered the desert [on pilgrimage to Mekkeh
from El-´Iráḳ], and there joined me a man having a belt round his
waist, and I said, 'Who art thou?'--He answered, 'A Christian; and I
desire thy company.' We walked together for seven days, eating nothing;
after which he said to me, 'O monk of the Muslims, produce what thou
hast in the way of refreshment, for we are hungry:' so I said, 'O my
God, disgrace me not before this infidel:' and lo, a tray, upon which
were bread and broiled meat and fresh dates and a mug of water. We ate,
and continued our journey seven days more; and I then said to him, 'O
monk of the Christians, produce what thou hast in the way of
refreshment; for the turn is come to thee:' whereupon he leaned upon his
staff, and prayed; and lo, two trays, containing double that which was
on my tray. I was confounded, and refused to eat: he urged me, saying,
'Eat;' but I did it not. Then said he, 'Be glad; for I give thee two
pieces of good news: one of them is that I testify that there is no
deity but God and that Moḥammad is God's Apostle: the other, that I
said, O God, if there be worth in this servant, supply me with two
trays:--so this is through thy blessing.' We ate, and the man put on the
dress of pilgrimage, and so entered Mekkeh, where he remained with me a
year as a student; after which he died, and I buried him in [the
cemetery] El-Maạlà." "And God," says the author from whom I take this
story, "is all-knowing:" _i.e._ He alone knoweth whether it be strictly
true: but this is often added to the narration of traditions resting
upon high authority.[69]
The saint above mentioned was called "El-Khowwáṣ" (or the maker of
palm-leaf baskets, etc.) from the following circumstance, related by
himself.--"I used," said he, "to go out of the town [Er-Rei] and sit by
a river on the banks of which was abundance of palm-leaves; and it
occurred to my mind to make every day five baskets [ḳuffehs], and to
throw them into the river, for my amusement, as if I were obliged to do
so. My time was so passed for many days: at length, one day, I thought I
would walk after the baskets, and see whither they had gone: so I
proceeded awhile along the bank of the river, and found an old woman
sitting sorrowful. On that day I had made nothing. I said to her,
'Wherefore do I see thee sorrowful?' She answered, 'I am a widow: my
husband died leaving five daughters, and nothing to maintain them; and
it is my custom to repair every day to this river, and there come to me,
upon the surface of the water, five baskets, which I sell, and by means
of them I procure food; but to-day they have not come, and I know not
what to do.' Upon hearing this, I raised my head towards heaven, and
said, 'O my God, had I known that I had more than five children to
maintain, I had laboured more diligently.'" He then took the old woman
to his house, and gave her money and flour, and said to her, "Whenever
thou wantest anything, come hither and take what may suffice thee."[70]
An irresistible influence has often been exercised over the minds of
princes and other great men by reputed saints. Many a Muslim Monarch has
thus been incited (as the Kings of Christendom were by Peter the Hermit)
to undertake religious wars, or urged to acts of piety and charity, or
restrained from tyranny, by threats of Divine vengeance to be called
down upon his head by the imprecations of a welee. ´Alee, the favourite
son of the Khaleefeh El-Ma-moon, was induced for the sake of religion to
flee from the splendour and luxuries of his father's court, and after
the example of a self-denying devotee to follow the occupation of a
porter in a state of the most abject poverty at El-Baṣrah, fasting
all the day, remaining without sleep at night in a mosque, and walking
barefooted, until, under an accumulation of severe sufferings, he
prematurely ended his days, dying on a mat. The honours which he refused
to receive in life were paid to him after his death: his rank being
discovered by a ring and paper which he left, his corpse was anointed
with camphor and musk and aloes, wrapped in fine linen of Egypt, and so
conveyed to his distressed father at Baghdád.[71]
Self-denial I have before mentioned as one of the most important means
by which to attain the dignity of a welee. A very famous saint,
Esh-Shiblee, is said to have received from his father an inheritance of
sixty millions of deenárs (a sum incredible, and probably a mistake for
sixty thousand, or for sixty million dirhems) besides landed property,
and to have expended it all in charity: also, to have thrown into the
Tigris seventy hundred-weight of books, written by his own hand during a
period of twenty years.[72]
Sháh El-Karmánee, another celebrated saint, had a beautiful daughter,
whom the Sulṭán of his country sought in marriage. The holy man
required three days to consider his sovereign's proposal, and in the
mean time visited several mosques, in one of which he saw a young man
humbly occupied in prayer. Having waited till he had finished, he
accosted him, saying, "My son, hast thou a wife?" Being answered "No,"
he said, "I have a maiden, a virtuous devotee, who hath learned the
whole of the Ḳur-án, and is amply endowed with beauty. Dost thou
desire her?"--"Who," said the young man, "will marry me to such a one as
thou hast described, when I possess no more than three dirhems?"--"_I_
will marry thee to her," answered the saint: "she is my daughter, and I
am Sháh the son of Shujáạ El-Karmánee: give me the dirhems that thou
hast, that I may buy a dirhem's worth of bread, and a dirhem's worth of
something savoury, and a dirhem's worth of perfume." The
marriage-contract was performed; but when the bride came to the young
man, she saw a stale cake of bread placed upon the top of his mug; upon
which she put on her izár, and went out. Her husband said, "Now I
perceive that the daughter of Sháh El-Karmánee is displeased with my
poverty." She answered, "I did not withdraw from fear of poverty, but on
account of the weakness of thy faith, seeing how thou layest by a cake
of bread for the morrow."[73]
One of my friends in Cairo, Abu-l-Ḳásim of Jeelán, entertained me
with a long relation of the mortifications and other means which he
employed to attain the rank of a welee. These were chiefly self-denial
and a perfect reliance upon Providence. He left his home in a state of
voluntary destitution and complete nudity, to travel through Persia and
the surrounding countries and yet more distant regions if necessary, in
search of a spiritual guide. For many days he avoided the habitations of
men, fasting from daybreak till sunset, and then eating nothing but a
little grass or a few leaves or wild fruits, till by degrees he
habituated himself to almost total abstinence from every kind of
nourishment. His feet, at first blistered and cut by sharp stones, soon
became callous; and in proportion to his reduction of food, his frame,
contrary to the common course of nature, became (according to his own
account) more stout and lusty. Bronzed by the sun, and with his black
hair hanging over his shoulders (for he had abjured the use of the
razor), he presented in his nudity a wild and frightful appearance, and
on his first approaching a town, was surrounded and pelted by a crowd of
boys; he therefore retreated, and, after the example of our first
parents, made himself a partial covering of leaves; and this he always
afterwards did on similar occasions, never remaining long enough in a
town for his leafy apron to wither. The abodes of mankind he always
passed at a distance, excepting when several days' fast, while
traversing an arid desert, compelled him to obtain a morsel of bread or
a cup of water from the hand of some charitable fellow-creature.
One thing that he particularly dreaded was to receive relief from a
sinful man, or from a demon in the human form. In passing over a parched
and desolate tract, where for three days he had found nothing to eat,
not even a blade of grass, nor a spring from which to refresh his
tongue, he became overpowered with thirst, and prayed that God would
send him a messenger with a pitcher of water. "But," said he, "let the
water be in a green Baghdádee pitcher, that I may know it to be from
Thee, and not from the Devil; and when I ask the bearer to give me to
drink, let him pour it over my head, that I may not too much gratify my
carnal desire."--"I looked behind me," he continued, "and saw a man
bearing a green Baghdádee pitcher of water, and said to him, 'Give me to
drink;' and he came up to me, and poured the contents over my head, and
departed! By Allah it was so!"
Rejoicing in this miracle, as a proof of his having attained to a degree
of wiláyeh (or saintship), and refreshed by the water, he continued his
way over the desert, more firm than ever in his course of self-denial,
which, though imperfectly followed, had been the means of his being thus
distinguished. But the burning thirst returned shortly after, and he
felt himself at the point of sinking under it, when he beheld before him
a high hill, with a rivulet running by its base. To the summit of this
hill he determined to ascend, by way of mortification, before he would
taste the water, and this point, with much difficulty, he reached at the
close of day. Here standing, he saw approaching, below, a troop of
horsemen, who paused at the foot of the hill, when their chief, who was
foremost, called out to him by name, "O Abu-l-Ḳásim! O Jeelánee! Come
down and drink!"--but persuaded by this that he was Iblees with a troop
of his sons, the evil Genii, he withstood the temptation, and remained
stationary until the deceiver with his attendants had passed on and were
out of sight. The sun had then set; his thirst had somewhat abated; and
he only drank a few drops.
Continuing his wanderings in the desert, he found upon a pebbly plain an
old man with a long white beard, who accosted him, asking of what he was
in search. "I am seeking," he answered, "a spiritual guide; and my heart
tells me that thou art the guide I seek." "My son," said the old man,
"thou seest yonder a saint's tomb; it is a place where prayer is
answered; go thither, enter it, and seat thyself: neither eat nor drink
nor sleep; but occupy thyself solely, day and night, in repeating
silently, 'Lá iláha illa-lláh' (There is no deity but God); and let not
any living creature see thy lips move in doing so; for among the
peculiar virtues of these words is this, that they may be uttered
without any motion of the lips. Go, and peace be on thee!"
"Accordingly," said my friend, "I went thither. It was a small square
building, crowned by a cupola; and the door was open. I entered, and
seated myself, facing the niche and the oblong monument over the grave.
It was evening, and I commenced my silent professions of the unity, as
directed by my guide; and at dusk I saw a white figure seated beside me,
as if assisting in my devotional task. I stretched forth my hand to
touch it; but found that it was not a material substance; yet there it
was: I saw it distinctly. Encouraged by this vision, I continued my task
for three nights and days without intermission, neither eating nor
drinking, yet increasing in strength both of body and of spirit; and on
the third day, I saw written upon the whitewashed walls of the tomb, and
on the ground, and in the air, wherever I turned my eyes, 'Lá iláha
illa-lláh;' and whenever a fly entered the tomb, it formed these words
in its flight. By Allah it was so! My object was now fully attained: I
felt myself endowed with supernatural knowledge: thoughts of my friends
and acquaintances troubled me not; but I knew where each one of them
was, in Persia, India, Arabia, and Turkey, and what each was doing. I
experienced an indescribable happiness. This state lasted several years;
but at length I was insensibly enticed back to worldly objects: I came
to this country; my fame as a calligraphist drew me into the service of
the government; and now see what I am, decked with pelisses and shawls,
and with this thing [a diamond order] on my breast; too old, I fear, to
undergo again the self-denial necessary to restore me to true happiness,
though I have almost resolved to make the attempt."
Soon after this conversation, he was deprived of his office, and died of
the plague. He was well known to have passed several years as a
wandering devotee; and his sufferings, combined with enthusiasm,
perhaps disordered his imagination, and made him believe that he really
saw the strange sights which he described to me; for there was an
appearance of earnestness and sincerity in his manner, such as I thought
could hardly be assumed by a conscious impostor.
Insanity, however, if not of a very violent and dangerous nature, is
commonly regarded by Muslims as a quality that entitles the subject of
it to be esteemed as a saint; being supposed to be the abstraction of
the mind from worldly affairs, and its total devotion to God. This
popular superstition is a fertile source of imposture; for, a reputation
for sanctity being so easily obtained and supported, there are numbers
of persons who lay claim to it from motives of indolence and
licentiousness, eager to receive alms merely for performing the tricks
of madmen, and greedy of indulging in pleasures forbidden by the law;
such indulgences not being considered in their case as transgressions by
the common people, but rather as indications of holy frenzy. From my own
observation I should say that lunatics or idiots, or impostors,
constitute the majority of the persons reputed to be saints among the
Muslims of the present day; and most of those who are not more than
slightly tinged with insanity are darweeshes.
A reputed saint of this description in Cairo, in whom persons of some
education put great faith, affected to have a particular regard for me.
He several times accosted me in an abrupt manner, acquainted me with
the state of my family in England, and uttered incoherent predictions
respecting me, all of which communications, excepting one which he
qualified with an "in sháa-lláh" (or "if it be the will of God"), I must
confess, proved to be true; but I must also state that he was acquainted
with two of my friends who might have materially assisted him to frame
these predictions, though they protested to me that they had not done
so. The following extract from a journal which I kept in Cairo during my
last visit to Egypt, will convey some idea of this person, who will
serve as a picture of many of his fraternity.--To-day (Nov. 6th, 1834),
as I was sitting in the shop of the Pásha's booksellers, a reputed
saint, whom I have often seen here, came and seated himself by me, and
began, in a series of abrupt sentences, to relate to me various matters
respecting me, past, present, and to come. He is called the sheykh ´Alee
el-Leythee. He is a poor man, supported by alms; tall and thin and very
dark, about thirty years of age, and wears nothing at present but a blue
shirt and a girdle and a padded red cap. "O Efendee," he said, "thou
hast been very anxious for some days. There is a grain of anxiety
remaining in thee yet. Do not fear. There is a letter coming to thee by
sea, that will bring thee good news." He then proceeded to tell me of
the state of my family, and that all were well excepting one, whom he
particularized by description, and who he stated to be then suffering
from an intermittent fever. [This proved to be exactly true.] "This
affliction," he continued, "may be removed by prayer; and the
excellences of the next night, the night of [_i.e._ preceding] the first
Friday of the month of Rejeb, of Rejeb, the holy Rejeb, are very great.
I wanted to ask thee for something to-day; but I feared, I feared
greatly. Thou must be invested with the wiláyeh [_i.e._ be made a
welee]: the welees love thee, and the Prophet loves thee. Thou must go
to the sheykh Muṣṭafà El-Munádee and the sheykh El-Baháee.[74]
Thou must be a welee." He then took my right hand, in the manner
commonly practised in the ceremony which admits a person a darweesh, and
repeated the Fátiḥah; after which he added, "I have admitted thee my
darweesh." Having next told me of several circumstances relating to my
family--matters of an unusual nature--with singular minuteness and
truth, he added, "To-night, if it be the will of God, thou shalt see the
Prophet in thy sleep, and El-Khiḍr and the Seyyid El-Bedawee. This is
Rejeb, and I wanted to ask thee--but I feared--I wanted to ask of thee
four piasters, to buy meat and bread and oil and radishes. Rejeb! Rejeb!
I have great offices to do for thee to-night."
Less than a shilling for all he promised was little enough: I gave it
him for the trouble he had taken; and he uttered many abrupt prayers for
me. In the following night, however, I saw in my sleep neither
Moḥammad, nor El-Khiḍr, nor the Seyyid El-Bedawee, unless, like
Nebuchadnezzar, I was unable on awaking to remember my dreams.
Some reputed saints of the more respectable class, to avoid public
notice, wear the general dress and manners of their fellow-countrymen,
and betray no love of ostentation in their acts of piety and
self-denial; or live as hermits in desert places, depending solely upon
Providence for their support, and are objects of pious and charitable
visits from the inhabitants of near and distant places, and from casual
travellers. Others distinguish themselves by the habit of a darweesh, or
by other peculiarities, such as a long and loose coat (called dilḳ)
composed of patches of cloth of various colours, long strings of beads
hung upon the neck, a ragged turban, and a staff with shreds of cloth of
different colours attached to the top; or obtain a reputation for
miraculous powers by eating glass, fire, serpents, etc. Some of those
who are insane, and of those who feign to be so, go about, even in
crowded cities, in a state of perfect nudity, and are allowed to commit
with impunity acts of brutal sensuality which the law, when appealed to,
should punish with death. Such practices are forbidden by the religion
and law even in the cases of saints; but common and deeply-rooted
superstition prevents their punishment.
During the occupation of Egypt by the French, the Commander-in-chief,
Menou, applied to the sheykhs (or ´Ulamà) of the city for their opinion
"respecting those persons who were accustomed to go about in the streets
in a state of nudity, crying out and screaming, and arrogating to
themselves the dignity of wiláyeh, relied upon as saints by the
generality of the people, neither performing the prayers of the Muslims
nor fasting," asking whether such conduct was permitted by the religion,
or contrary to the law. He was answered, "Conduct of this description is
forbidden, and repugnant to our religion and law and to our traditions."
The French General thanked them for this answer, and gave orders to
prevent such practices in future, and to seize every one seen thus
offending; if insane, to confine him in the Máristán (or hospital and
lunatic asylum); and if not insane, to compel him either to relinquish
his disgusting habits, or to leave the city.[75]
Of reputed saints of this kind, thus writes an enlightened poet,
El-Bedree El-Ḥijázee:--
"Would that I had not lived to see every fool esteemed among men
as a Ḳuṭb!
Their learned men take him as a patron, nay, even as Lord, in
place of the Possessor of Heaven's throne.
Forgetting God, they say, 'Such a one from all mankind can
remove affliction.'
When he dies, they make for him a place of visitation, and strangers
and Arabs hurry thither in crowds:
Some of them kiss his tomb, and some kiss the threshold of the
door, and the very dust.
Thus do the idolaters act towards their images, hoping so to obtain
their favour."
These lines are quoted by El-Jabartee, in his account of a very
celebrated modern saint, the seyyid ´Alee El-Bekree (events of Rabeeạ
eth-Thánee, 1214). A brief history of this person will not be here
misplaced, as it will present a good illustration of the general
character and actions of those insane individuals who are commonly
regarded as saints.
The seyyid ´Alee El-Bekree was a mejzoob (or insane person) who was
considered an eminent welee, and much trusted in: for several years he
used to walk naked about the streets of Cairo, with a shaven face,
bearing a long nebboot (or staff), and uttering confused language, which
the people attentively listened to, and interpreted according to their
desires and the exigencies of their states. He was a tall, spare man,
and sometimes wore a shirt and a cotton skull-cap; but he was generally
barefooted and naked. The respect with which he was treated induced a
woman, who was called the sheykhah Ammooneh, to imitate his example
further than decency allowed: she followed him whithersoever he went,
covered at first with her izár (or large cotton veil thrown over the
head and body), and muttering, like him, confused language. Entering
private houses with him, she used to ascend to the ḥareems, and
gained the faith of the women, who presented her with money and clothes,
and spread abroad that the sheykh ´Alee had looked upon her, and
affected her with religious frenzy, so that she had become a weleeyeh,
or female saint. Afterwards, becoming more insane and intoxicated, she
uncovered her face, and put on the clothing of a man; and thus attired
she still accompanied the sheykh, and the two wandered about, followed
by numbers of children and common vagabonds; some of whom also stripped
off their clothes in imitation of the sheykh, and followed, dancing;
their mad actions being attributed (like those of the woman) to
religious frenzy, induced by his look or touch, which converted them
into saints. The vulgar and young, who daily followed them, consequently
increased in numbers; and some of them, in passing through the
market-streets, snatched away goods from the shops, thus exciting great
commotion wherever they went. When the sheykh sat down in any place, the
crowd stopped, and the people pressed to see him and his mad companions.
On these occasions the woman used to mount upon the maṣṭabah of a
shop, or ascend a hillock, and utter disgusting language, sometimes in
Arabic, and sometimes in Turkish, while many persons among her audience
would kiss her hands to derive a blessing. After having persevered for
some time in this course, none preventing them, the party entered one
day the lane leading from the principal street of the city to the house
of the Ḳáḍee, and were seized by a Turkish officer there residing,
named Jaạfar Káshif, who, having brought them into his house, gave
the sheykh some food, and drove out the spectators, retaining the woman
and the mejzoobs, whom he placed in confinement. He then liberated the
sheykh ´Alee, brought out the woman and the mejzoobs and beat them, sent
the woman to the Máristán and there confined her, and set at large the
rest, after they had prayed for mercy and clothed themselves and
recovered from their intoxication. The woman remained awhile confined in
the Máristán, and when liberated lived alone as a sheykhah, believed in
by men and women, and honoured as a saint with visits and festivals.
The seyyid ´Alee, after he had thus been deprived of his companions and
imitators, was constrained to lead a different kind of life. He had a
cunning brother, who, to turn the folly of this saint to a good account,
and fill his own purse, (seeing how great faith the people placed in
him, as the Egyptians are prone to do in such a case), confined him in
his house, and clothed him, asserting that he had his permission to do
so, and that he had been invested with the dignity of Ḳuṭb. Thus
he contrived to attract crowds of persons, men and women, to visit him.
He forbade him to shave his beard, which consequently grew to its full
size; and his body became fat and stout from abundance of food and rest;
for, while he went about naked, he was, as before mentioned, of a lean
figure. During that period he used generally to pass the night wandering
without food through the streets in winter and summer. Having now
servants to wait upon him, whether sleeping or waking, he passed his
time in idleness, uttering confused and incoherent words, and sometimes
laughing and sometimes scolding; and in the course of his idle loquacity
he could not but let fall some words applicable to the affairs of some
of his listening visitors, who attributed such expressions to his
supernatural knowledge of the thoughts of their hearts, and interpreted
them as warnings or prophecies. Men and women, and particularly the
wives of the grandees, flocked to him with presents and votive
offerings, which enriched the coffers of his brother; and the honours
which he received ceased not with his death. His funeral was attended by
multitudes from every quarter. His brother buried him in the mosque of
Esh-Sharáïbee, in the quarter of the Ezbekeeyeh, made for him a
maḳṣoorah (or railed enclosure) and an oblong monument over the
grave, and frequently repaired thither with readers of the Ḳur-án,
munshids to sing odes in his honour, flag-bearers, and other persons,
who wailed and screamed, rubbed their faces against the bars of the
window before his grave, and caught the air of the place in their hands
to thrust it into their bosoms and pockets. Men and women came crowding
together to visit his tomb, bringing votive offerings and wax candles
and eatables of various kinds to distribute for his sake to the
poor.[76] The oblong monument over his grave, resembling a large chest,
was covered, when I was in Cairo, with a black stuff ornamented by a
line of words from the Ḳur-án, in white characters, surrounding it. A
servant who accompanied me during my rides and walks used often to stop
as we passed this tomb, and touch the wooden bars of the window above
mentioned with his right hand, which he then kissed to obtain a
blessing.
In most cases greater honour is paid to a reputed saint after his death,
than he receives in his life. A small, square, whitewashed building,
crowned with a dome, is generally erected as his tomb, surrounding an
oblong monument of stone, brick, or wood, which is immediately over the
sepulchral vault. At least one such building forms a conspicuous object
close by, or within, almost every Arab village; for the different
villages, and different quarters of every town and city, have their
respective patron saints, whose tombs are frequently visited, and are
the scenes of periodical festivals, generally celebrated once in every
year. The tombs of many very eminent saints are mosques; and some of
these are large and handsome edifices, the monument being under a large
and lofty dome and surrounded by an enclosure of wooden railings, or of
elegantly worked bronze. In these buildings also, and in some others,
the monument is covered with silk or cotton stuff ornamented with words
from the Ḳur-án, which form a band around it. Many buildings of the
more simple kind erected in honour of saints, and some of the larger
description, are mere cenotaphs, or cover only some relic of the person
to whom they are dedicated. The tombs and cenotaphs, or shrines of
saints, are visited by numerous persons, and on frequent occasions; most
commonly on a particular day of the week. The object of the visitor, in
general, is to perform some meritorious act, such as taking bread, or
other food, or money, for the poor, or distributing water to the
thirsty, on account of the saint, to increase his rewards in heaven, and
at the same time to draw down a blessing on himself; or to perform a
sacrifice of a sheep, goat, calf, or other animal, which he has vowed to
offer, if blessed with some specific object of desire, or to obtain
general blessings; or to implore the saint's intercession in some case
of need. The flesh of the devoted animal is given to the poor. The
visitors also often take with them palm-branches, or sprigs of myrtle,
or roses or other flowers, to lay upon the monument, as they do when
they visit the tombs of their relations. The visitor walks round the
monument, or its enclosure, from left to right, or with his left side
towards it (as the pilgrims do round the Kaạbeh), sometimes pausing
to touch its four angles or corners with his right hand, which he then
kisses; and recites the opening chapter of the Ḳur-án (the
Fátiḥah) standing before one or each of its four sides. Some visitors
repeat also the chapter of Yá-Seen (the 36th), or employ a person to
recite this, or even the whole of the Ḳur-án, for hire. The reciter
afterwards declares that he transfers the merit of this work to the soul
of the deceased saint. Any private petition the visitor offers up on his
own account, imploring a favourable answer for the sake of the saint, or
through his intercession; holding his hands before his face like an open
book, and then drawing them down his face. Many a visitor, on entering
the tomb, kisses the threshold, or touches it with his right hand, which
he then kisses; and on passing by it, persons often touch the window and
kiss the hand thus honoured.
The great periodical or annual festivals are observed with additional
ceremonies, and by crowds of visitors. These are called Moolids (more
properly Mólids), and are held on the anniversary of the birth of the
saint or in commemoration of that event. Persons are then hired to
recite the Ḳur-án in and near the tomb during the day; and others,
chiefly darweeshes, employ themselves during the night in performing
zikrs, which consist in repeating the name of God, or the profession of
his unity, etc., in chorus, accompanying the words by certain motions of
the head, hands, or whole body; munshids, at intervals, singing
religious odes or love songs during these performances, to the
accompaniment of a náy, which is a kind of flute, or the arghool, which
is a double reed-pipe. These moolids are scenes of rejoicing and of
traffic, which men and boys and girls attend to eat sweetmeats, and
drink coffee and sherbets, or to amuse themselves with swinging, or
turning on a whirligig, or witnessing the feats of conjurers, or the
performances of dancers; and to which tradesmen repair to sell or barter
their goods. The visitors to the great moolids of the Seyyid Aḥmad
El-Bedawee at Ṭanṭà in the Delta of Egypt, which are great fairs
as well as religious festivals, are almost as numerous as the pilgrims
at Mekkeh. During a moolid, the inhabitants of the houses in the
neighbourhood of the tomb hang lamps before their houses, and spend a
great part of the night listening to the story-tellers at the
coffee-shops, or attending the zikrs.
These latter performances, though so common among the Arabs, are
inconsistent with the spirit of the Mohammadan religion, and especially
with respect to music, which was not employed in religious ceremonies
until after the second century of the Flight. The Imám Aboo-Bekr
Eṭ-Ṭoosee, being asked whether it were lawful or not to be present
with people who assembled in a certain place and read a portion of the
Ḳur-án, and, after a munshid had recited some poetry, would dance and
become excited and play upon tambourines and pipes,--answered, that such
practices were vain, ignorant, and erroneous, not ordained by the
Ḳur-án or the Traditions of the Prophet, but invented by those
Israelites who worshipped the Golden Calf; that the Prophet and his
companions used to sit so quietly that a bird might alight upon the head
of any one of them and not be disturbed; that it was incumbent on the
Sulṭán and his vicegerents to prevent such persons from entering the
mosques and other places for these purposes; and that no one who
believed in God and the Last Day should be present with them or assist
them in their vain performances: such, he asserted, was the opinion of
the Imáms of the Muslims.[77] Some eminent doctors, however, have
contended for the lawfulness of these practices.
The following is an account of a Zikr I myself witnessed. The zikkeers
(or performers of the zikr), who were about thirty in number, sat
cross-legged upon matting extended close to the houses on one side of
the street, in the form of an oblong ring.[78] Within this ring, along
the middle of the matting, were placed three very large wax candles,
each about four feet high, and stuck in a low candlestick. Most of the
zikkeers were Aḥmedee darweeshes, persons of the lower orders, and
meanly dressed: many of them wore green turbans. At one end of the ring
were four munshids (or singers of religious odes), and with them was a
player on the kind of flute called náy. I procured a small seat of
palm-sticks from a coffee-shop close by, and, by means of a little
pushing and the assistance of my servant, obtained a place with the
munshids, and sat there to hear a complete act, or "mejlis," of the
zikr; which act commenced at about three o'clock, Muslim time (or three
hours after sunset), and continued two hours.
The performers began by reciting the opening chapter of the Ḳur-án,
all together, their sheykh, or chief, first exclaiming, "El-Fátiḥah!"
They then chanted the following words:--"O God, bless our lord
Moḥammad among the former generations; and bless our lord Moḥammad
among the latter generations; and bless our lord Moḥammad in every
time and period; and bless our lord Moḥammad in the highest degree,
unto the day of judgment; and bless all the prophets and apostles among
the inhabitants of the heavens and of the earth; and may God (whose
name be blessed and exalted!) be well pleased with our lords and our
masters, those persons of illustrious estimation, Aboo-Bekr and ´Omar
and ´Othmán and ´Alee, and with all the favourites of God. God is our
sufficiency; and excellent is the Guardian! There is no strength nor
power but in God, the High, the Great! O God! O our Lord! O thou liberal
of pardon! O thou most bountiful of the most bountiful! O God!
Amen!"--They were then silent for three or four minutes; and again
recited the Fátiḥah, but silently. This form of prefacing the zikr is
commonly used by almost all orders of darweeshes in Egypt.
The performers now began the zikr itself. Sitting in the manner above
described, they chanted, in slow measure, "Lá iláha illa-lláh" ("There
is no deity but God") to the following air:--
[Illustration: Lá iláha illa-lláh. Lá iláha illa-lláh. Lá iláha
illa-lláh.]
bowing the head and body twice in each repetition of "Lá iláha
illa-lláh." Thus they continued about a quarter of an hour; and then,
for about the same space of time, they repeated the same words to the
same air, but in a quicker measure and with correspondingly quicker
motions. In the mean time, the munshids frequently sang to the same (or
a variation of the same) air portions of a ḳaṣeedeh or of a
muweskshaḥ;[79] an ode of a similar nature to the Song of Solomon,
generally alluding to the Prophet as the object of love and praise; and
at frequent intervals one of them sang out the word "meded," implying an
invocation for spiritual or supernatural aid.
The zikkeers, after having performed as above described, next repeated
the same words to a different air for about the same length of time;
first very slowly, then quickly. The air was as follows:--
[Illustration: Lá iláha illa-lláh. Lá iláha illa-lláh. Lá iláha
illa-lláh.]
Then they repeated these words again, to the following air, in the same
manner:
[Illustration: Lá iláha illa-lláh. Lá iláha illa-lláh.]
They next rose, and, standing in the same order in which they had been
sitting, repeated the same words to another air. After which, still
standing, they repeated these words in a very deep and hoarse tone,
laying the principal emphasis upon the word "Lá" and the penultimate
syllable of the following words, and uttering apparently with a
considerable effort: the sound much resembled that which is produced by
beating the rim of a tambourine. Each zikkee turned his head alternately
to the right and left at each repetition of "Lá iláha illa-lláh." One of
them, a eunuch, at this part of the zikr, was seized with an epileptic
fit, evidently the result of a high state of religious excitement; but
nobody seemed surprised at it, for occurrences of this kind at zikrs are
not uncommon. All the performers now seemed much excited; repeating
their ejaculations with greater rapidity, violently turning their heads,
and sinking the whole body at the same time: some of them jumping. The
eunuch above mentioned was again seized with fits several times; and I
generally remarked that this happened after one of the munshids had sung
a line or two and exerted himself more than usual to excite his hearers:
the singing was, indeed, to my taste, very pleasing. The contrast
presented by the vehement and distressing exertions of the performers at
the close of the zikr, and their calm gravity and solemnity of manner at
the commencement, was particularly striking. Money was collected during
the performance for the munshids. The zikkeers receive no pay.
The most approved and common mode of entertaining guests at modern
private festivities among the Arabs is by a Khatmeh, which is the
recitation of the whole of the Ḳur-án. Three or more persons of the
inferior class of the professors of religion and law, who are called
faḳeehs (vulgarly, fiḳees) are usually hired for this purpose.
Schoolmasters, and students of the collegiate mosques who devote
themselves to religion and law, are the persons most commonly thus
employed. Their mode of recitation is a peculiar kind of chanting,
which, when well executed, I found very agreeable, at least for an hour
or so: but the guests seldom have to listen to the chanting of the whole
of the Ḳur-án: the reciters usually accomplish the greater portion of
their task, in a somewhat hurried manner, before the guests have
assembled, each of them chanting in turn a certain portion, as a
thirtieth part of the whole (called a juz), or half of one of these
sections (a ḥezb), or, more commonly, a quarter (rubạ). Afterwards
they chant more leisurely, and in a more musical manner; but still by
turns. These recitations of the whole of the Ḳur-án are performed on
various festive occasions, but are most usual after a death; the merit
of the performance being transferred to the soul of the deceased.
In the year 1834, when I was residing in Cairo, a General in the service
of Moḥammad ´Alee hired a large party of men to perform a recital of
the Ḳur-án in his house in that city, and then went up into his
ḥareem and strangled his wife, in consequence of a report which
accused her of inchastity. The religious ceremony was designed as
preparatory to this act, though the punishment of the woman was contrary
to the law, since her husband neither produced four witnesses of the
imputed crime, nor allowed her to clear herself of the charge by her own
oath. Another case of diligence in the performance of a religious duty,
accompanied by the contemplation of murder, but murder on a larger
scale, occurred in the same city shortly after. Suleymán Agha, the
Siláḥdár, being occupied in directing the building of a public
fountain as a work of charity to place to the account of a deceased
brother, desired to extend the original plan of the structure; and to do
this, it was necessary that he should purchase two houses adjoining the
plot in which the foundations had been laid: but the owners of these
houses refused to sell them, and he therefore employed a number of
workmen to undermine them by night and cause them to fall upon their
inhabitants. His scheme, however, but partially succeeded, and no lives
were sacrificed. This man was notorious for cruelty, but he was a person
of pleasing and venerable countenance and engaging manners: whenever I
chanced to meet him, I received from him a most gracious salutation. He
died before I quitted Egypt.
FOOTNOTES:
[64] D'Ohsson (i. 315, 316) asserts the Ḳuṭb to be the chief
minister of the Ghós; and gives an account somewhat different from that
which I offer of the orders under his authority: but perhaps the Turkish
Darweeshes differ from the Arab in their tenets on this subject.
[65] It is said that "the Nuḳaba are three hundred; the Nujaba,
seventy; the Abdál, forty; the Akhyár, seven; the ´Omud, four; the Ghós
[as before mentioned], one. The Nuḳaba reside in El-Gharb [Northern
Africa to the west of Egypt]; the Nujaba, in Egypt; the Abdál, in Syria;
the Akhyár travel about the earth; the ´Omud, in the corners of the
earth; the abode of the Ghós is at Mekkeh. In an affair of need, the
Nuḳaba implore relief for the people; then, the Nujaba; then, the
Abdál; then, the Akhyár; then, the ´Omud; and if their prayer be not
answered, the Ghós implores, and his prayer is answered."
(El-Isḥáḳee's History, preface.)--This statement, I find, rests on
the authority of a famous saint of Baghdád Aboo-Bekr El-Kettánee, who
died at Mekkeh, in the year of the Flight, 322. (Mir-át ez-Zemán, events
of that year).
[66] Modern Egyptians, ch. x.
[67] El-Jabartee's History of Modern Egypt, vol. ii., obituary of the
year 1201 (MS. in my possession).--The appellation of "the four
Ḳuṭbs" is given in Egypt to the seyyid Aḥmad Rifá´ah, the
seyyid ´Abd-El-Ḳádir El-Jeelánee, the seyyid Aḥmad El-Bedawee, and
the seyyid Ibráheem Ed-Dásooḳee, the founders of the four orders of
darweeshes most celebrated among the Arabs, called Rifá´eeyeh,
Ḳádireeyeh, Aḥmedeeyeh, and Baráhimeh.
[68] El-Jabartee's History, vol. i., obituary of the year 1188.
[69] Mir-át ez-Zemán, events of the year 291.
[70] Mir-át ez-Zemán, 1. 1.
[71] Mir-át ez-Zemán, events of the year 218.
[72] Ibid., events of the year 334.
[73] Es-Suyooṭee's Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 4.
[74] These are two very celebrated welees.
[75] El-Jabartee's History, vol. iii., events of the month of
Shaạbán, 1215 (A.D. 1800-1801).
[76] El-Jabartee's History, vol. ii., obituary of the year 1207, and
events of Rejeb, 1200; and vol. iii., events of Rabeeạ eth-Thánee,
1214.
[77] El-Isḥáḳee, reign of El-Mutawekkil. Cp. De Sacy, Chrest.
Arabe, i. 122, 123 (2nd ed.).
[78] The zikr here described was performed near the tomb of a saint, for
whose sake it was celebrated. The ceremony is often performed in a
sepulchral mosque, and often in the court, or in a chamber, of a private
house.
[79] For an example, see Modern Egyptians, ch. xxiv.