FEASTING AND MERRYMAKING.
The Muslim takes a light breakfast after the morning-prayers, and dinner
after the noon-prayers; or a single meal instead of these two, before
noon. His principal meal is supper, which is taken after the prayers of
sunset. A man of rank or wealth, when he has no guest, generally eats
alone; his children eat after him, or with his wife or wives. In all his
repasts he is moderate with regard to the quantity which he eats,
however numerous the dishes.
In the Middle Ages it appears that the dishes were sometimes, I believe
generally, placed upon a round embroidered cloth spread on the floor,
and sometimes on a tray, which was either laid on the floor or upon a
small stand or stool. The last is the mode now always followed in the
houses of the higher and middle classes of the Arabs. The table is
usually placed upon a round cloth spread in the middle of the floor, or
in a corner next two of the deewáns or low seats which generally extend
along three sides of the room. It is composed of a large round tray of
silver, or tinned copper, or of brass, supported by a stool, commonly
about fifteen or sixteen inches high, made of wood and generally inlaid
with mother-of-pearl, and ebony or other wood, or tortoise-shell. When
there are numerous guests, two or more such tables are prepared. The
dishes are of silver or tinned copper, or china. Several of these are
placed upon the tray; and around them are disposed some round flat cakes
of bread, with spoons of box-wood, ebony, or other material, and usually
two or three limes cut in halves, to be squeezed over certain of the
dishes. When these preparations have been made, each person who is to
partake of the repast receives a napkin; and a servant pours water over
his hands. A basin and ewer of either of the metals first mentioned are
employed for this purpose; the former has a cover with a receptacle for
a piece of soap in its centre, and with numerous perforations through
which the water runs during the act of washing, so that it is not seen
when the basin is brought from one person to another. It is
indispensably requisite to wash at least the right hand before eating
with the fingers anything but dry food; and the mouth also is often
rinsed, the water being taken up into it from the right hand. The
company sit upon the floor, or upon cushions, or some of them on the
deewán, either cross-legged or with the right knee raised:[150] they
retain the napkins before mentioned, or a long napkin, sufficient to
surround the tray, is placed upon their knees; and each person, before
he begins to eat, says, "In the name of God," or "In the name of God,
the Compassionate, the Merciful." The master of the house begins first:
if he did not do so, some persons would suspect that the food was
poisoned. The thumb and two fingers of the right hand serve instead of
knives and forks; and it is the usual custom for a person to help
himself to a portion of the contents of a dish by drawing it towards
the edge, or taking it from the edge, with a morsel of bread, which
he eats with it: when he takes too large a portion for a single
mouthful, he generally places it on his cake of bread. He takes from any
dish that pleases him; and sometimes a host hands a delicate morsel with
his fingers to one of his guests. It is not allowable to touch food with
the left hand (as it is used for unclean purposes), excepting in a
few cases when both hands are required to divide a joint.
Among the more common dishes are the following:--lamb or mutton, cut
into small pieces, and stewed with various vegetables, and sometimes
with peaches, apricots, or jujubes, and sugar; cucumbers or small
gourds, or the fruit of the black or white egg-plant, stuffed with rice
and minced meat, vine-leaves or pieces of lettuce-leaf or cabbage-leaf,
enclosing a similar composition; small morsels of lamb or mutton,
roasted on skewers, and called kebáb; fowls simply roasted or boiled, or
boned and stuffed with raisins, pistachio-nuts, crumbled bread, and
parsley; and various kinds of pastry and other sweets. The repast is
frequently opened with soup; and is generally ended with boiled rice,
mixed with a little butter and seasoned with salt and pepper; or after
this is served, a water-melon or other fruit, or a bowl of a sweet drink
composed of water with raisins and sometimes other kinds of fruit boiled
in it, and then sugar, with a little rose-water added to it when cool.
The meat, having generally little fat, is cooked with clarified butter,
and is so thoroughly done that it is easily divided with the fingers.
A whole lamb, stuffed in the same manner as the fowls above mentioned,
is not a very uncommon dish; but one more extraordinary, of which
´Abd-El-Laṭeef gives an account[151] as one of the most remarkable
that he had seen in Egypt, I am tempted to describe. It was an enormous
pie, composed in the following manner:--Thirty pounds of fine flour
being kneaded with five pounds and a half of oil of sesame, and divided
into two equal portions, one of these was spread upon a round tray of
copper about four spans in diameter. Upon this were placed three lambs,
stuffed with pounded meat fried with oil of sesame and ground
pistachio-nuts, and various hot aromatics, such as pepper, ginger,
cinnamon, mastic, coriander-seed, cumin-seed, cardamom, nut [or
nutmeg?], etc. These were then sprinkled with rose-water infused with
musk; and upon the lambs, and in the remaining spaces, were placed
twenty fowls, twenty chickens, and fifty smaller birds; some of which
were baked, and stuffed with eggs; some, stuffed with meat; and some,
fried with the juice of sour grapes, or that of limes, or some similar
acid. To the above were added a number of small pies; some filled with
meat and others with sugar and sweetmeats; and sometimes the meat of
another lamb, cut into small pieces, and some fried cheese. The whole
being piled up in the form of a dome, some rose-water infused with musk
and aloes-wood was sprinkled upon it; and the other half of the paste
first mentioned was spread over, so as to close the whole: it was then
baked, wiped with a sponge, and again sprinkled with rose-water infused
with musk.
On certain periodical festivals, and on other occasions it has long
been, and still is, a custom of Muslim princes to give public feasts to
all classes of their subjects, in the palace. El-Maḳreezee quotes a
curious account of the feasts which were given on the festival following
Ramaḍán to the inhabitants of Cairo by the Fáṭimee Khaleefehs. At
the upper end of a large saloon was placed the sereer (or couch) of the
monarch, upon which he sat with the Wezeer on his right. Upon this seat
was placed a round silver table, with various delicacies, of which they
alone ate. Before it, and extending nearly from the seat to the other
extremity of the saloon, was set up a kind of table or platform
(simáṭ) of painted wood, resembling a number of benches placed
together, ten cubits or about eighteen or nineteen feet in width. Along
the middle of this were ranged twenty-one enormous dishes, each
containing twenty-one baked sheep, three years old and fat, together
with fowls, pigeons, and young chickens, in number 350 of each kind, all
of which were piled together in an oblong form to the height of the
stature of a man, and enclosed with dry sweetmeat. The spaces between
these dishes were occupied by nearly five hundred other dishes of
earthenware, each of which contained seven fowls, and was filled with
sweetmeats of various kinds. The table was strewn with flowers, and
cakes of bread made of the finest flour were arranged along each side;
there were also two great edifices of sweetmeats, each weighing 17 cwt.,
which were carried thither by porters with shoulder poles, and one of
them was placed at the commencement and the other at the close of this
sumptuous banquet. When the Khaleefeh and the Wezeer had taken their
seats upon the couch, the officers of state, who were distinguished by
neck-rings or collars, and the inferior members of the Court, seated
themselves in the order of their respective ranks; and when they had
eaten, they gave place to others. Two officers distinguished themselves
at these feasts in a very remarkable manner. Each of them used to eat a
baked sheep and ten fowls dressed with sweetmeats, and ten pounds of
sweetmeats besides, and was presented with a quantity of food carried
away from the feast to his house, together with a large sum of money.
One of them had been a prisoner at ´Asḳalán; and after he had
remained there some time, the person into whose power he had fallen
jestingly told him that if he would eat a calf belonging to him, the
flesh of which weighed several hundredweights, he would emancipate him.
This feat he accomplished and thus obtained his liberation.[152]
With respect to clean and unclean meats, the Muslim is subject to nearly
the same laws as the Jew. Swine's flesh, and blood, are especially
forbidden to him; but camel's flesh is allowed. The latter, however,
being of a coarse nature, is never eaten when any other meat can be
obtained, excepting by persons of the lower classes and by Arabs of the
desert. Of fish, almost every kind is eaten (excepting shell-fish),
usually fried in oil: of game, little; partly in consequence of frequent
doubt whether it have been lawfully killed. The diet consists in a great
measure of vegetables, and includes a large variety of pastry. A very
common kind of pastry is a pancake, which is made very thin, and folded
over several times like a napkin; it is saturated with butter, and
generally sweetened with honey or sugar; as is also another common kind
which somewhat resembles vermicelli.
The usual beverage at meals is water, which is drunk from cooling,
porous, earthen bottles, or from cups of brass or other metal: but in
the houses of the wealthy, sherbet is sometimes served instead of this,
in covered glass cups, each of which contains about three-quarters of a
pint. The sherbet is composed of water made very sweet with sugar, or
with a hard conserve of violets or roses or mulberries. After every time
that a person drinks, he says, "Praise be to God;" and each person of
the company says to him, "May it be productive of enjoyment:" to which
he replies, "May God cause thee to have enjoyment." The Arabs drink
little or no water during a meal, but generally take a large draught
immediately after. The repast is quickly finished; and each person, as
soon as he has done, says, "Praise be to God," or "Praise be to God, the
Lord of all creatures." He then washes in the same manner as before, but
more thoroughly; well lathering his beard and rinsing his mouth.
"Whoever," said the Prophet, "believes in God and the day of
resurrection, must respect his guest; and the time of being kind to him
is one day and one night; and the period of entertaining him is three
days; and after that, if he does it longer, he benefits him more; but it
is not right for a guest to stay in the house of the host so long as to
incommode him." He even allowed the "right of a guest" to be taken by
force from such as would not offer it.[153] The following observations,
respecting the treatment of guests by the Bedawees, present an
interesting commentary upon the former precept:--"Strangers who have not
any friend or acquaintance in the camp, alight at the first tent that
presents itself: whether the owner be at home or not, the wife or
daughter immediately spreads a carpet, and prepares breakfast or dinner.
If the stranger's business requires a protracted stay, as, for instance,
if he wishes to cross the Desert under the protection of the tribe, the
host, after a lapse of three days and four hours from the time of his
arrival, asks whether he means to honour him any longer with his
company. If the stranger declares his intention of prolonging his visit,
it is expected that he should assist his host in domestic matters,
fetching water, milking the camel, feeding the horse, etc. Should he
even decline this, he may remain; but he will be censured by all the
Arabs of the camp: he may, however, go to some other tent of the nezel
[or encampment], and declare himself there a guest. Thus, every third or
fourth day he may change hosts, until his business is finished, or he
has reached his place of destination."[154]
The obligation which is imposed by eating another person's
bread and salt, or salt alone, or eating such things with
another, is well known; but the following example of it may be new to
some readers.--Yaạḳoob the son of El-Leyth Eṣ-Ṣaffár, having
adopted a predatory life, excavated a passage one night into the palace
of Dirhem the Governor of Sijistán, or Seestán; and after he had "made
up a convenient bale of gold and jewels, and the most costly stuffs, was
proceeding to carry it off, when he happened in the dark to strike his
foot against something hard on the floor. Thinking it might be a jewel
of some sort or other, a diamond perhaps, he picked it up and put it to
his tongue, and, to his equal mortification and disappointment, found it
to be a lump of rock-salt; for having thus tasted the salt of the owner,
his avarice gave way to his respect for the laws of hospitality; and
throwing down his precious booty, he left it behind him, and withdrew
empty-handed to his habitation. The treasurer of Dirhem repairing the
next day, according to custom, to inspect his charge, was equally
surprised and alarmed at observing that a great part of the treasure and
other valuables had been removed; but on examining the package which lay
on the floor, his astonishment was not less, to find that not a single
article had been conveyed away. The singularity of the circumstance
induced him to report it immediately to his master: and the latter
causing it to be proclaimed throughout the city, that the author of this
proceeding had his free pardon, further announced that on repairing to
the palace, he would be distinguished by the most encouraging marks of
favour." Yaạḳoob availed himself of the invitation, relying upon
the promise, which was fulfilled to him; and from this period he
gradually rose in power until he became the founder of a Dynasty.[155]
In the houses of persons of the higher and middle classes in Cairo, the
different apartments generally resemble each other in several respects
and are similarly furnished. The greater portion of the floor is
elevated about half a foot, or somewhat more, above the rest. The higher
portion is called leewán (a corruption of "el-eewán"), and the lower,
durḳá´ah, from the Persian dar-gáh. When there is but one leewán, the
durḳá´ah occupies the lower end, extending from the door to the
opposite wall. In a handsome house, it is usually paved with white and
black marble and little pieces of red tile inlaid in tasteful and
complicated patterns; and if the room is on the ground-floor, and
sometimes in other cases, it has in the centre a fountain which plays
into a small shallow pool lined with coloured marbles like the
surrounding pavement. The shoes or slippers are left upon the
durḳá´ah previously to stepping upon the leewán. The latter is
generally paved with common stone and covered with a mat in summer, and
a carpet over this in winter; and a mattress and cushions are placed
against each of its three walls, composing what is called a "deewán," or
divan. The mattress, which is commonly about three feet wide and three
or four inches thick, is placed either on the floor or on a raised frame
or a slightly elevated pavement; and the cushions, which are usually of
a length equal to the width of the mattress and of a height equal to
half that measure, lean against the wall. Both mattresses and cushions
are stuffed with cotton and are covered with printed calico, cloth, or
some more expensive stuff. The deewán which extends along the upper end
of the leewán is called the ṣadr, and is the most honourable: and the
chief place on this seat is the corner which is to the right of a person
facing this end of the room; the other corner is the next in point of
honour; and the intermediate places on the same deewán are more
honourable than those on the two side-deewáns. To a superior, and often
to an equal, the master or mistress yields the chief place. The corners
are often furnished with an additional mattress of a square form, just
large enough for one person, placed upon the other mattress, and with
two additional (but smaller) cushions to recline against. The walls are
for the most part plastered and white-washed, and generally have two or
more shallow cupboards, the doors of which, as well as those of the
apartments, are fancifully constructed with small panels. The windows,
which are chiefly composed of curious wooden lattice-work, serving to
screen the inhabitants from the view of persons without, as also to
admit both light and air, commonly project outwards, and are furnished
with mattresses and cushions. In many houses there are, above these,
small windows of coloured glass, representing bunches of flowers, etc.
The ceiling is of wood, and certain portions of it, which are carved or
otherwise ornamented by fanciful carpentry, are usually painted with
bright colours, such as red, green, and blue, and sometimes varied with
gilding; but the greater part of the wood-work is generally left
unpainted.
The ḳá´ah is a large and lofty apartment, commonly having two leewáns
on opposite sides of the durḳá´ah. One of these is in most instances
larger than the other, and is held to be the more honourable part. Some
ḳá´ahs, containing three leewáns, one of these being opposite the
entrance, or four leewáns composing the form of a cross with the
durḳá´ah in the centre, communicate with the small chambers or
closets, or have elevated recesses which are furnished in the same
manner as the leewáns. That part of the roof which is over the
durḳá´ah rises above the rest, sometimes to nearly twice the height
of the latter, and is generally surmounted by a lantern of wooden
lattice-work to admit the air.
The prohibition of wine, or rather of fermented and intoxicating
liquors, being one of the most remarkable and characteristic points of
the Mohammadan religion, it might be imagined that the frequent stories
in the "Thousand and One Nights," describing parties of Muslims as
habitually indulging in the use of forbidden beverages, are scandalous
misrepresentations of Arab manners and customs. There are, however, many
similar anecdotes interspersed in the works of Arab historians, which
(though many of them are probably untrue in their application to
particular individuals) could not have been offered to the public by
such writers if they were not of a nature consistent with the customs of
a considerable class of the Arab nation.
In investigating this subject, it is necessary in the first place to
state that there is a kind of wine which Muslims are permitted to drink.
It is properly called nebeedh (a name which is _now_ given to
_prohibited_ kinds of wine), and is generally prepared by putting dry
grapes, or dry dates, in water, to extract their sweetness, and
suffering the liquor to ferment slightly until it acquires a little
sharpness or pungency. The Prophet himself was in the habit of drinking
wine of this kind, which was prepared for him in the first part of the
night; he drank it on the first and second days following; but if any
remained on the morning of the third day, he either gave it to his
servants or ordered it to be poured out upon the ground.[156] Such
beverages have, therefore, been drunk by the strictest of his followers;
and Ibn-Khaldoon strongly argues that nebeedh thus prepared from dates
was the kind of wine used by the Khaleefehs Hároon Er-Rasheed and
El-Ma-moon, and several other eminent men, who have been commonly
accused of habitually and publicly indulging in debauches of wine
properly so called, that is, of inebriating liquors.[157]
Nebeedh prepared from raisins is commonly sold in Arab towns under the
name of "zebeeb," which signifies "raisins." This I have often drunk in
Cairo, but never could perceive that it was in the slightest degree
fermented. Other beverages, to which the name of "nebeedh" has been
applied (though, like zebeeb, no longer called by that name), are also
sold in Arab towns. The most common of these is an infusion of licorice,
and called by the name of the root, ´erḳ-soos. The nebeedh of dates
is sold in Cairo with the dates themselves in the liquor; and in like
manner is that of figs. Under the same appellation of nebeedh have been
classed the different kinds of beer now commonly called boozeh. Opium,
hemp, etc., are now more frequently used by the Muslims to induce
intoxication or exhilaration. The young leaves of the hemp are generally
used alone, or mixed with tobacco, for smoking; and the capsules,
without the seeds, enter into the composition of several intoxicating
conserves.
By my own experience I am but little qualified to pronounce an opinion
respecting the prevalence of drinking wine among the Arabs; for, never
drinking it myself, I had little opportunity of observing others do so
during my residence among Muslims. I judge, therefore, from the
conversations and writings of Arabs, which justify me in asserting that
the practice of drinking wine in private and by select parties is far
from being uncommon among modern Muslims, though certainly more so than
it was before the introduction of tobacco into the East, in the
beginning of the seventeenth century of our era: for this herb, being in
a slight degree exhilarating, and at the same time soothing, and
unattended by the injurious effects that result from wine, is a
sufficient luxury to many who, without it, would have recourse to
intoxicating beverages merely to pass away hours of idleness. The use of
coffee, too, which became common in Egypt, Syria, and other countries
besides Arabia, a century earlier than tobacco, doubtless tended to
render the habit of drinking wine less general. That it was adopted as a
substitute for wine appears even from its name, "ḳahweh," an old
Arabic term for wine; whence our "coffee."
There is an Arabic work of some celebrity, and not of small extent,
entitled "Ḥalbet el-Kumeyt,"[158] apparently written shortly before
the Arabs were in possession of the first of these substitutes for wine,
nearly the whole of which consists of anecdotes and verses relating to
the pleasures resulting from or attendant upon the use of wine; a few
pages at the end being devoted to the condemnation of this practice, or,
in other words, to proving the worthlessness of all that precedes. Of
this work I possess a copy, a quarto volume of 464 pages. I have
endeavoured to skim its cream; but found it impossible to do so without
collecting at the same time a considerable quantity of most filthy scum;
for it is characterised by wit and humour plentifully interlarded with
the grossest and most revolting obscenity. Yet it serves to confirm what
has been above asserted. The mere existence of such a work, (and it is
not the only one of the kind), written by a man of learning, and I
believe a Ḳáḍee, (a judge), or one holding the honourable office
of a guardian of religion and morality,[159] and written evidently _con
amore_, notwithstanding his assertion to the contrary,--is a strong
argument in favour of the prevalence of the practice which it paints in
the most fascinating colours, and then condemns. Its author terminates a
chapter (the ninth), in which many well-known persons are mentioned as
having been addicted to wine, by saying, that the Khaleefehs, Emeers,
and Wezeers, so addicted, are too numerous to name in such a work; and
by relating a story of a man who placed his own wife in pledge in the
hands of a wine-merchant, after having expended in the purchase of the
forbidden liquor all the property that he possessed. He excuses himself
(in his preface) for writing this book, by saying that he had been
ordered to do so by one whom he could not disobey; thus giving us a
pretty strong proof that a great man in his own time was not ashamed of
avowing his fondness for the prohibited enjoyment. If then we admit the
respectable authority of Ibn-Khaldoon, and acquit of the vice of
drunkenness those illustrious individuals whose characters he
vindicates, we must still regard most of the anecdotes relating to the
carousals of other persons as being not without foundation.
One of my friends, who enjoys a high reputation, ranking among the most
distinguished of the ´Ulamà of Cairo, is well known to his intimate
acquaintances as frequently indulging in the use of forbidden beverages
with a few select associates. I disturbed him and his companions by an
evening visit on one of these occasions, and was kept waiting within the
street door while the guests quickly removed everything that would give
me any indication of the manner in which they had been employed; for the
announcement of my (assumed) name,[160] and their knowledge of my
abstemious character, completely disconcerted them. I found them,
however, in the best humour. They had contrived, it appeared, to fill
with wine a _china_ bottle, of the kind used at that season (it was
winter) for water; and when any one of them asked the servant for water,
this bottle was brought to him; but when I made the same demand, my host
told me that there was a bottle of water on the sill of the window
behind that part of the deewán upon which I was seated. The evening
passed away very pleasantly, and I should not have known how unwelcome
was my intrusion had not one of the guests with whom I was intimately
acquainted, in walking part of the way home with me, explained to me the
whole occurrence. There was with us a third person, who, thinking that
my antipathy to wine was feigned, asked me to stop at his house on my
way and take a cup of "white coffee," by which he meant brandy.
Another of my Muslim acquaintances in Cairo I frequently met at the
house of a common friend, where, though he was in most respects very
bigoted, he was in the habit of indulging in wine. For some time he
refrained from this gratification when I was by; but at length my
presence became so irksome to him that he ventured to enter into an
argument with me on the subject of the prohibition. The only answer I
could give to his question, "Why is wine forbidden?" was in the words of
the Ḳur-án, "Because it is the source of more evil than profit."[161]
This suited his purpose, as I intended it should; and he asked, "What
evil results from it?" I answered, "Intoxication and quarrels, and so
forth."--"Then," said he, "if a man take not enough to intoxicate him
there is no harm;"--and, finding that I acquiesced by silence, he added,
"I am in the habit of taking a little; but never enough to intoxicate.
Boy, bring me a glass." He was the only Muslim, however, whom I have
heard to argue against the absolute interdiction of inebriating liquors.
Histories tell us that some of the early followers of the Prophet
indulged in wine, holding the text above referred to as indecisive; and
that Moḥammad was at first doubtful upon this subject appears from
another text, in which his followers were told not to come to prayer
when they were drunk, until they should know what they would say;[162]
an injunction nearly similar to one in the Bible[163]: but when frequent
and severe contentions resulted from their use of wine, the following
more decided condemnation of the practice was pronounced:--"O ye who
have become believers! verily wine and lots and images and
divining-arrows are an abomination of the work of the Devil; therefore,
avoid them, that ye may prosper."[164] This law is absolute; its
violation in the smallest degree is criminal. The punishment ordained by
the law for drinking (or, according to most doctors, for even tasting)
wine or spirits, or inducing intoxication by any other means, on
ordinary occasions, is the infliction of eighty stripes in the case of a
free man, and forty in that of a slave: but if the crime be openly
committed in the course of any day of the month of Ramaḍán, when
others are fasting, the punishment prescribed is death!
The prohibition of wine hindered many of the Prophet's contemporaries
from embracing his religion. It is said that the famous poet
El-Aạshà, who was one of them, delayed to join this cause on this
account, until death prevented him. A person passing by his tomb (at
Menfooḥah, in El-Yemámeh), and observing that it was moist, asked the
reason, and was answered that the young men of the place, considering
him still as their cup-companion, drank wine over his grave, and poured
his cup upon it.[165]
Yet many of the most respectable of the pagan Arabs, like certain of the
Jews and early Christians, abstained totally from wine, from a feeling
of its injurious effects upon morals, and, in their climate, upon
health; or more especially from the fear of being led by it into the
commission of foolish and degrading actions. Thus, Ḳeys the son of
Áṣim being one night overcome with wine attempted to grasp the moon,
and swore that he would not quit the spot where he stood until he had
laid hold of it: after leaping several times with the view of doing so,
he fell flat upon his face; and when he recovered his senses, and was
acquainted with the cause of his face being bruised, he made a solemn
vow to abstain from wine ever after.[166] A similar feeling operated
upon many Muslims more than religious principle. The Khaleefeh
´Abd-El-Melik Ibn-Marwán took pleasure in the company of a slave named
Naṣeeb, and one day desired him to drink with him. The slave replied,
"O Prince of the Faithful, I am not related to thee, nor have I any
authority over thee, and I am of no rank or lineage; I am a black slave,
and my wit and politeness have drawn me into thy favour: how then shall
I take that which will plunder me of these two qualities, and by what
shall I then propitiate thee?" The Khaleefeh admired and excused
him.[167]
It was the custom of many Muslim princes, as might be inferred from the
above anecdote, to admit the meanest of their dependants to participate
in their unlawful carousals when they could have no better companions;
but poets and musicians were their more common associates on these
occasions; and these two classes, and especially the latter, are in the
present day the most addicted to intoxicating liquors. Few modern Arab
musicians are so well contented with extraordinary payment and mere
sweet sherbet as with a moderate fee and plenty of wine and brandy; and
many of them deem even wine but a sorry beverage.
It was usual with the host and guests at wine-parties to wear dresses of
bright colours, red, yellow, and green;[168] and to perfume their beards
and mustaches with civet, or to have rose-water sprinkled upon them; and
ambergris or aloes-wood, or some other odoriferous substance, placed
upon burning coals in a censer, diffused a delicious fragrance
throughout the saloon of the revels.
The wine, it appears, was rather thick, for it was necessary to strain
it:[169] it was probably sweet, and not strong, for it was drunk in
large quantities. In general, perhaps, it was nebeedh of dry raisins
kept longer than the law allows. It was usually kept in a large earthen
vessel, called denn, high, and small at the bottom, which was partly
imbedded in the earth to keep it upright. The name of this vessel is now
given to a cask of wood; but the kind above mentioned was of earth, for
it was easily broken. A famous saint, Abu-l-Ḥoseyn En-Nooree, seeing
a vessel on the Tigris containing thirty denns belonging to the
Khaleefeh El-Moạtaḍid, and being told that they contained wine,
took a boat-pole, and broke them all, save one. When brought before the
Khaleefeh to answer for this action, and asked by him, "Who made thee
Moḥtesib?"[170] he boldly answered, "He who made thee
Khaleefeh!"--and was pardoned.[171]
Pitch was used by the Arabs, as it was by the Greeks and Romans, for
the purpose of curing their wine; the interior of the denn being coated
with it. A smaller kind of earthen jar, or amphora (báṭiyeh), and a
bottle of leather (baṭṭah), or of glass (kinneeneh), were also
used. The wine was transferred for the table to glass jugs, or
long-spouted ewers (ibreeḳs). These and the cups were placed upon a
round embroidered cloth spread on the floor, or upon a round tray. The
latter is now in general use, and is supported on the low stool already
described as being used at ordinary meals. The guests sat around,
reclining against pillows; or they sat upon the deewán, and a page or
slave handed the cup, having on his right arm a richly embroidered
napkin, on the end of which the drinker wiped his lips. The cups are
often described as holding a fluid pound, or little less than an English
pint, and this is to be understood literally, or nearly so: they were
commonly of cut glass, but some were of crystal or silver or gold.[172]
With these and the ewers or jugs were placed several saucers, or small
dishes (nuḳuldáns), of fresh and dried fruits (nuḳl); and fans and
fly-whisks, of the kind described on a former occasion, were used by the
guests.
The most common and esteemed fruits in the countries inhabited by the
Arabs may here be mentioned.
The date (belaḥ) deserves the first place. The Prophet's favourite
fruits were fresh dates (ruṭab) and water-melons; and he ate them
both together.[173] "Honour," said he, "your paternal aunt, the
date-palm; for she was created of the earth of which Adam was
formed."[174] It is said that God hath given this tree as a peculiar
favour to the Muslims; that he hath decreed all the date-palms in the
world to them, and they have accordingly conquered every country in
which these trees are found; and all are said to have derived their
origin from the Ḥijáz.[175] The palm-tree has several well-known
properties that render it an emblem of a human being; among which are
these: that if the head be cut off, the tree dies; and if a branch be
cut off, another does not grow in its place.[176] Dates are preserved in
a moist state by being merely pressed together in a basket or skin, and
thus prepared are called ´ajweh. There are many varieties of this fruit.
The pith or heart of the palm (jummár) is esteemed for its delicate
flavour.
The water-melon (biṭṭeekh, vulg. baṭṭeekh), from what has
been said of it above, ought to be ranked next; and it really merits
this distinction. "Whoso eateth," said the Prophet, "a mouthful of
water-melon, God writeth for him a thousand good works, and cancelleth a
thousand evil works, and raiseth him a thousand degrees; for it came
from Paradise;"--and again, "The water-melon is food and drink, acid and
alkali, and a support of life," etc.[177] The varieties of this fruit
are very numerous.
The banana (móz) is a delicious fruit. The Prophet pronounced the
banana-tree to be the only thing on earth that resembles a thing in
Paradise, because it bears fruit both in winter and summer.[178]
The pomegranate (rummán) is another celebrated fruit. Every pomegranate,
according to the Prophet, contains a fecundating seed from
Paradise.[179]
The other most common and esteemed fruits are the following;--the apple,
pear, quince, apricot, peach, fig, sycamore-fig, grape, lote, jujube,
plum, walnut, almond, hazel-nut, pistachio-nut, orange, Seville orange,
lime, lemon, citron, mulberry, olive, and sugar-cane.[180]
Of a selection of these fruits consists the dessert which accompanies
the wine; but the table is not complete without a bunch or two of
flowers placed in the midst.
Though the Arabs are far from being remarkable for exhibiting taste in
the planning of their gardens, they are passionately fond of flowers,
and especially of the rose (ward). The Khaleefeh El-Mutawekkil
monopolized roses for his own enjoyment; saying, "I am the King of
Sulṭáns, and the rose is the king of sweet-scented flowers; therefore
each of us is most worthy of the other for a companion." The rose in his
time was seen nowhere but in his palace: during the season of this
flower he wore rose-coloured clothes; and his carpets were sprinkled
with rose-water.[181] A similar passion for the rose is said to have
distinguished a weaver in the reign of El-Ma-moon. He was constantly
employed at his loom every day of the year, even during the
congregational-prayers of Friday, excepting in the rose-season, when he
abandoned his work and gave himself up to the enjoyment of wine early in
the morning and late in the evening, loudly proclaiming his revels by
singing,--
"The season has become pleasant! The time of the rose is come!
Take your morning potations, as long as the rose has blossoms
and flowers!"
When he resumed his work, he made it known by singing aloud--
"If my Lord prolong my life until the rose-season, I will take again
my morning potations: but if I die before it, alas! for the loss
of the rose and wine!
"I implore the God of the supreme throne, whose glory be extolled,
that my heart may continually enjoy the evening potations to
the day of resurrection."
The Khaleefeh was so amused with the humour of this man that he granted
him an annual pension of ten thousand dirhems to enable him to enjoy
himself amply on these occasions. Another anecdote may be added to show
the estimation of the rose in the mind of an Arab. It is said that
Rowḥ Ibn-Ḥátim, the governor of the province of Northern Africa,
was sitting one day, with a female slave, in an apartment of his palace,
when a eunuch brought him a jar full of red and white roses which a man
had offered as a present. He ordered the eunuch to fill the jar with
silver in return; but his slave said, "O my lord, thou hast not acted
equitably towards the man; for his present to thee is of two colours,
red and white." The Emeer replied, "Thou hast said truly;" and gave
orders to fill the jar for him with silver and gold (dirhems and
deenárs) intermixed. Some persons preserve roses during the whole of the
year in the following manner. They take a number of rose-buds and fill
with them a new earthen jar, and, after closing its mouth with mud so as
to render it impervious to the air, bury it in the earth. Whenever they
want a few roses, they take out some of these buds, which they find
unaltered, sprinkle a little water upon them and leave them for a short
time in the air, when they open and appear as if just gathered.[182]
The rose is even a subject of miracles. It is related by Ibn-Ḳuteybeh
that there grows in India a kind of rose, upon the leaves of which is
inscribed, "There is no deity but God:"[183] But I find a more
particular account of this miraculous rose. A person, who professed to
have seen it, said, "I went into India, and I saw at one of its towns a
large rose, sweet-scented, upon which was inscribed, in white
characters, 'There is no deity but God; Moḥammad is God's apostle:
Aboo-Bekr is the very veracious: ´Omar is the discriminator:' and I
doubted of this, whether it had been done by art; so I took one of the
blossoms not yet opened, and in it was the same inscription; and there
were many of the same kind there. The people of that place worshipped
stones, and knew not God, to whom be ascribed might and glory."[184]
Roses are announced for sale in the streets of Cairo by the cry of "The
rose was a thorn: from the sweat of the Prophet it blossomed!" in
allusion to a miracle recorded of Moḥammad. "When I was taken up into
heaven," said the Prophet, "some of my sweat fell upon the earth, and
from it sprang the rose; and whoever would smell my scent, let him smell
the rose." In another tradition it is said, "The white rose was created
from my sweat on the night of the Meạráj;[185] and the red rose, from
the sweat of Jebraeel;[186] and the yellow rose, from the sweat of
El-Buráḳ."[187] The Persians take especial delight in roses;
sometimes spreading them as carpets or beds on which to sit or recline
in their revellings.
But there is a flower pronounced more excellent than the rose, that of
the Egyptian privet, or Lawsonia inermis.[188] Moḥammad said, "The
chief of the sweet-scented flowers of this world and of the next is the
fághiyeh;" and this was his favourite flower.[189] I approve of his
taste; for this flower, which grows in clusters somewhat like those of
the lilac, has a most delicious fragrance. But, on account of
discrepancies in different traditions, a Muslim may with a clear
conscience prefer either of the two flowers next mentioned.
The Prophet said of the violet (benefsej), "The excellence of the
extract of violets, above all other extracts, is as the excellence of me
above all the rest of the creation: it is cold in summer, and hot in
winter:" and, in another tradition, "The excellence of the violet is as
the excellence of el-Islám above all other religions."[190] A delicious
sherbet is made of a conserve of sugar and violet-flowers.
The myrtle (ás or narseen) is the rival of the violet. "Adam," said the
Prophet, "fell down from Paradise with three things; the myrtle, which
is the chief of sweet-scented flowers in this world; an ear of wheat,
which is the chief of all kinds of food in this world; and pressed
dates, which are the chief of the fruits of this world."[191]
The anemone[192] was monopolized for his own enjoyment by Noạmán
Ibn-El-Mundhir (King of El-Ḥeereh, and contemporary of Moḥammad),
as the rose was afterwards by El-Mutawekkil.[193]
Another flower much admired and celebrated in the East is the
gilliflower (menthoor or kheeree). There are three principal kinds; the
most esteemed is the yellow, or gold-coloured, which has a delicious
scent both by night and day; the next, the purple, and other dark kinds,
which have a scent only in the night; the least esteemed, the white,
which has no scent. The yellow gilliflower is an emblem of a neglected
lover.[194]
The narcissus (narjis) is very highly esteemed. Galen says, "He who has
two cakes of bread, let him dispose of one of them for some flowers of
the narcissus; for bread is the food of the body, and the narcissus is
the food of the soul." Hippocrates gave a similar opinion.[195]
The following flowers complete the list of those celebrated as most
appropriate to add to the delights of wine:--the jasmine, eglantine,
Seville-orange-flower, lily, sweet-basil, wild thyme, buphthalmum,
chamomile, nenuphar, lotus, pomegranate-flower, poppy, ketmia, crocus or
saffron, safflower, flax, the blossoms of different kinds of bean, and
those of the almond.[196]
A sprig of Oriental willow[197] adds much to the charms of a bunch of
flowers, being the favourite symbol of a graceful woman.
But I have not yet mentioned all that contributes to the pleasures of an
Eastern carousal. For what is the juice of the grape without melodious
sounds? "Wine is as the body; music, as the soul; and joy is their
offspring."[198] All the five senses should be gratified. For this
reason an Arab toper, who had nothing, it appears, but wine to enjoy,
exclaimed,--
"Ho! give me wine to drink; and tell me 'This is wine;'"
for in drinking his sight and smell and taste and touch would all be
affected; but it was desirable that his hearing should also be
pleased.[199]
Music was condemned by the Prophet almost as severely as wine. "Singing
and hearing songs," said he, "cause hypocrisy to grow in the heart, like
as water promoteth the growth of corn:"[200]--and musical instruments he
declared to be among the most powerful means by which the Devil seduces
man. An instrument of music is the Devil's muëddin, serving to call men
to his worship. Of the hypocrisy of those attached to music, the
following anecdote presents an instance:--A drunken young man with a
lute in his hand was brought one night before the Khaleefeh
´Abd-El-Melik the son of Marwán, who, pointing to the instrument, asked
what it was, and what was its use. The youth made no answer; so he asked
those around him; but they also remained silent, till one, more bold
than the rest, said, "O Prince of the Faithful, this is a lute: it is
made by taking some wood of the pistachio-tree, and cutting it into thin
pieces, and gluing these together, and then attaching over them these
chords, which, when a beautiful girl touches them, send forth sounds
more pleasant than those of rain falling upon a desert land; and my wife
be separated from me by a triple divorce, if every one in this council
is not acquainted with it, and doth not know it as well as I do, and
thou the first of them, O Prince of the Faithful." The Khaleefeh
laughed, and ordered that the young man should be discharged.[201]
The latter saying of the Prophet, respecting the Devil, suggests
another anecdote related of himself by Ibraheem El-Móṣilee, the
father of Isḥáḳ; both of whom were very celebrated musicians. I
give a translation of it somewhat abridged.--"I asked Er-Rasheed," says
Ibraheem, "to grant me permission to spend a day at home with my women
and brothers; and he gave me two thousand deenárs, and appointed the
next Saturday for this purpose. I caused the meats and wine and other
necessaries to be prepared, and ordered the chamberlain to close the
door, and admit no one: but while I was sitting, with my attendants
standing in the form of a curved line before me, there entered and
approached me a sheykh, reverend and dignified and comely in appearance,
wearing short khuffs,[202] and two soft gowns, with a ḳalensuweh
[sugarloaf hat] upon his head, and in his hand a silver-headed staff;
and sweet odours were diffused from his clothes. I was enraged with the
chamberlain for admitting him; but on his saluting me in a very
courteous manner, I returned his salutation, and desired him to sit
down. He then began to repeat to me stories, tales of war, and poetry;
so that my anger was appeased, and it appeared to me that my servants
had not presumed to admit him until acquainted with his politeness and
courteousness. I therefore said to him, 'Hast thou any inclination for
meat?' He answered, 'I have no want of it.'--'And the wine?' said I. He
replied, 'Yes.' So I drank a large cupful, and he did the same, and then
said to me, 'O Ibraheem, wilt thou let us hear some specimen of thy art
in which thou hast excelled the people of thy profession?' I was angry
at his words; but I made light of the matter, and, having taken the lute
and tuned it, I played and sang; whereupon he said, 'Thou hast performed
well, O Ibraheem.' I became more enraged, and said within myself, 'He is
not content with coming hither without permission, and asking me to
sing, but he calls me by my name, and proves himself unworthy of my
conversation.' He then said, 'Wilt thou let us hear more? If so we will
requite thee.' And I took the lute and sang, using my utmost care on
account of his saying, 'we will requite thee.' He was moved with
delight, and said, 'Thou hast performed well, O my master
Ibraheem:'--adding, 'Wilt thou permit thy slave to sing?' I answered,
'As thou pleasest:'--but thinking lightly of his sense to sing after me.
He took the lute, and tuned it; and, by Allah! I imagined that the lute
spoke in his bands with an eloquent Arab tongue. He proceeded to sing
some verses commencing,--
'My heart is wounded! Who will give me for it a heart without a
wound?'"
The narrator continues by saying that he was struck dumb and motionless
with ecstasy; and that the strange sheykh, after having played and sung
again, and taught him an enchanting air (with which he afterwards
enraptured his patron, the Khaleefeh), vanished. Ibraheem, in alarm,
seized his sword; and was the more amazed when he found that the porter
had not seen the stranger enter or leave the house; but he heard his
voice again, outside, telling him that he was Aboo-Murrah (the
Devil).[203]
Ibraheem El-Móṣilee, his son Isḥák, and Mukkáriḳ[204] (a pupil
of the former), were especially celebrated among Arab musicians and
among the distinguished men of the reign of Hároon Er-Rasheed.
Isḥáḳ El-Móṣilee relates of his father Ibraheem that when
Er-Rasheed took him into his service he gave him a hundred and fifty
thousand dirhems and allotted him a monthly pension of ten thousand
dirhems, besides occasional presents [one of which is mentioned as
amounting to a hundred thousand dirhems for a single song], and the
produce of his (Ibraheem's) farms: he had food constantly prepared for
him; three sheep every day for his kitchen, besides birds; three
thousand dirhems were allowed him for fruits, perfumes, etc., every
month, and a thousand dirhems for his clothing; "and with all this,"
says his son, "he died without leaving more than three thousand deenárs,
a sum not equal to his debts, which I paid after his death."[205]
Ibraheem was of Persian origin, and of a high family. He was commonly
called the Nedeem (or cup-companion), being Er-Rasheed's favourite
companion at the wine-table; and his son, who enjoyed the like
distinction with El-Ma-moon, received the same appellation, as well as
that of "Son of the Nedeem." Ibraheem was the most famous musician of
his time, at least till his son attained celebrity.[206]
Isḥáḳ El-Mósilee was especially famous as a musician; but he was
also a good poet, accomplished in general literature, and endowed with
great wit. He was honoured above all other persons in the pay of
El-Ma-moon, and enjoyed a long life; but for many years before his death
he was blind.[207]
Mukháriḳ appears to have rivalled his master Ibraheem. The latter, he
relates, took him to perform before Er-Rasheed, who used to have a
curtain suspended between him and the musicians. "Others," he says,
"sang, and he was unmoved; but when I sang, he came forth from behind
the curtain, and exclaimed, 'Young man, hither!' and he seated me upon
the couch (sereer) and gave me thirty thousand dirhems."[208] The
following anecdote (which I abridge a little in translation) shows his
excellence in the art which he professed, and the effect of melody on an
Arab:--"After drinking with the Khaleefeh [El-Ma-moon, I think,] a whole
night, I asked his permission," says he, "to take the air in the
Ruṣáfeh [quarter of Baghdád], which he granted; and while I was
walking there, I saw a damsel who appeared as if the rising sun beamed
from her face. She had a basket, and I followed her. She stopped at a
fruiterer's, and bought some fruit; and observing that I was following
her, she looked back and abused me several times; but still I followed
her until she arrived at a great door, after having filled her basket
with fruits and flowers and similar things. When she had entered and the
door was closed behind her, I sat down opposite to it, deprived of my
reason by her beauty; and knew that there must be in the house a wine
party.
"The sun went down upon me while I sat there; and at length there came
two handsome young men on asses, and they knocked at the door, and when
they were admitted, I entered with them; the master of the house
thinking that I was their companion, and they imagining that I was one
of his friends. A repast was brought up, and we ate, and washed our
hands, and were perfumed. The master of the house then said to the two
young men, 'Have ye any desire that I should call such a one?'
(mentioning a woman's name). They answered, 'If thou wilt grant us the
favour, well:'--so he called for her, and she came, and lo, she was the
maiden whom I had seen before, and who had abused me. A servant-maid
preceded her, bearing her lute, which she placed in her lap. Wine was
then brought, and she sang, while we drank, and shook with delight.
'Whose air is that?' they asked. She answered, 'My master
Mukháriḳ's.' She then sang another air, which she said was also mine;
while they drank by pints; she looking aside and doubtfully at me until
I lost my patience, and called out to her to do her best: but in
attempting to do so, singing a third air, she overstrained her voice,
and I said, 'Thou hast made a mistake:'--upon which she threw the lute
from her lap in anger, so that she nearly broke it, saying, 'Take it
thyself, and let us hear thee.' I answered, 'Well;' and, having taken it
and tuned it perfectly, sang the first of the airs which she had sung
before me; whereupon all of them sprang upon their feet and kissed my
head. I then sang the second air, and the third; and their reason almost
fled with ecstasy.
"The master of the house, after asking his guests and being told by them
that they knew me not, came to me, and, kissing my hand, said, 'By
Allah, my master, who art thou?' I answered, 'By Allah, I am the singer
Mukháriḳ.'--'And for what purpose,' said he, kissing both my hands,
'camest thou hither?' I replied, 'As a spunger;'--and related what had
happened with respect to the maiden: whereupon he looked towards his two
companions and said to them, 'Tell me, by Allah, do ye not know that I
gave for that girl thirty thousand dirhems, and have refused to sell
her?' They answered, 'It is so.' Then said he, 'I take you as witnesses
that I have given her to him.'--'And we,' said the two friends, 'will
pay thee two-thirds of her price.' So he put me in possession of the
girl, and in the evening when I departed, he presented me also with rich
dresses and other gifts, with all of which I went away; and as I passed
the places where the maiden had abused me, I said to her, 'Repeat thy
words to me;' but she could not for shame. Holding the girl's hand, I
went with her immediately to the Khaleefeh, whom I found in anger at my
long absence; but when I related my story to him he was surprised, and
laughed, and ordered that the master of the house and his two friends
should be brought before him, that he might requite them; to the former
he gave forty thousand dirhems; to each of his two friends, thirty
thousand; and to me a hundred thousand; and I kissed his feet and
departed."[209]
It is particularly necessary for the Arab musician that he have a
retentive memory, well stocked with choice pieces of poetry and with
facetious or pleasant anecdotes, interspersed with songs; and that he
have a ready wit, aided by dramatic talent, to employ these materials
with good effect. If to such qualifications he adds fair attainments in
the difficult rules of grammar, a degree of eloquence, comic humour, and
good temper, and is not surpassed by many in his art, he is sure to be a
general favourite. Very few Muslims of the higher classes have
condescended to study music, because they would have been despised by
their inferiors for doing so; or because they themselves have despised
or condemned the art. Ibraheem, the son of the Khaleefeh El-Mahdee, and
competitor of El-Ma-moon, was a remarkable exception: he is said to have
been an excellent musician and a good singer.
In the houses of the wealthy, the vocal and instrumental performers were
usually (as is the case in many houses in the present age) domestic
female slaves, well instructed in their art by hired male or female
professors. In the "Thousand and One Nights," these slaves are commonly
described as standing or sitting unveiled in the presence of male
guests; but from several descriptions of musical entertainments that I
have met with in Arabic works it appears that according to the more
approved custom in respectable society they were concealed on such
occasions behind a curtain which generally closed the front of an
elevated recess. In all the houses of wealthy Arabs that I have entered,
one or each of the larger saloons has an elevated closet, the front of
which is closed by a screen of wooden lattice-work to serve as an
orchestra for the domestic or hired female singers and instrumental
performers.
To a person acquainted with modern Arabian manners, it must appear
inconsistent with truth to describe (as is often the case in the
"Thousand and One Nights") such female singers as exposing their faces
before strange men, unless he can discover in sober histories some
evidence of their having been less strict in this respect than the
generality of Arab women at the present time. I find, however, a
remarkable proof that such was the case in the latter part of the ninth
century of the Flight, and the beginning of the tenth: that is, about
the end of the fifteenth century of our era. The famous historian
Es-Suyooṭee, who flourished at this period, in his preface to a
curious work on wedlock, written to correct the corrupt manners of his
age, says:--"Seeing that the women of this time deck themselves with the
attire of wantons, and walk in the sooḳs (or market-streets) like
female warriors against the religion, and uncover their faces and hands
before men to incline (men's) hearts to them by evil suggestions, and
play at feasts with young men, thereby meriting the anger of the
Compassionate [God], and go forth to the public baths and assemblies
with various kinds of ornaments and perfumes and with conceited gait;
(for the which they shall be congregated in Hell-fire, for opposing the
good and on account of this their affected gait;) while to their
husbands they are disobedient, behaving to them in the reverse manner,
excepting when they fear to abridge their liberty of going abroad by
such conduct; for they are like swine and apes in their interior nature,
though like daughters of Adam in their exterior appearance; especially
the women of this age; not advising their husbands in matters of
religion, but the latter erring in permitting them to go out to every
assembly; sisters of devils and demons, etc. etc.... I have undertaken
the composition of this volume."[210] A more convincing testimony than
this, I think, cannot be required.
The lute (el-´ood) is the only instrument that is generally described as
used at the entertainments which we have been considering. Engravings of
this and other musical instruments are given in my work on the Modern
Egyptians. The Arab viol (called rabáb) was commonly used by inferior
performers.
The Arab music is generally of a soft and plaintive character, and
particularly that of the most refined description, which is
distinguished by a peculiar system of intervals. The singer aims at
distinct enunciation of the words, for this is justly admired; and
delights in a trilling style. The airs of songs are commonly very short
and simple, adapted to a single verse, or even to a single hemistich;
but in the instrumental music there is more variety.
Scarcely less popular as an amusement and mode of passing the time is
the bath, or hammám,--a favourite resort of both men and women of all
classes among the Muslims who can afford the trifling expense which it
requires; and (it is said) not only of human beings, but also of evil
genii; on which account, as well as on that of decency, several precepts
respecting it have been dictated by Moḥammad. It is frequented for
the purpose of performing certain ablutions required by the religion, or
by a regard for cleanliness, for its salutary effects, and for mere
luxury.
The following description of a public bath will convey a sufficient
notion of those in private houses, which are on a smaller scale and
generally consist of only two or three chambers. The public bath
comprises several apartments with mosaic or tesselated pavements,
composed of white and black marble and pieces of fine red tile and
sometimes other materials. The inner apartments are covered with domes,
having a number of small round glazed apertures for the admission of
light. The first apartment is the meslakh, or disrobing room, which has
in the centre a fountain of cold water, and next the walls wide benches
or platforms encased with marble. These are furnished with mattresses
and cushions for the higher and middle classes, and with mats for the
poorer sort. The inner division of the building, in the more regularly
planned baths, occupies nearly a square: the central and chief portion
of it is the principal apartment, or ḥarárah, which generally has the
form of a cross. In its centre is a fountain of hot water, rising from a
base encased with marble, which serves as a seat. One of the angles of
the square is occupied by the beyt-owwal, or antechamber of the
ḥarárah: in another is the fire over which is the boiler; and each of
the other two angles is generally occupied by two small chambers, in one
of which is a tank filled with warm water, which pours down from a spot
in the dome; in the other, two taps side by side, one of hot and the
other of cold water, with a small trough beneath, before which is a
seat. The inner apartments are heated by the steam which rises from the
fountain and tanks, and by the contiguity of the fire; but the
beyt-owwal is not so hot as the ḥarárah, being separated from it by a
door. In cold weather the bather undresses in the former, which has two
or three raised seats like those of the meslakh.
With a pair of wooden clogs to his feet, and having a large napkin round
his loins, and generally a second wound round his head like a turban, a
third over his chest, and a fourth covering his back, the bather enters
the ḥarárah, the heat of which causes him immediately to perspire
profusely. An attendant of the bath removes from him all the napkins
excepting the first; and proceeds to crack the joints of his fingers and
toes, and several of the vertebrae of the back and neck; kneads his
flesh, and rubs the soles of his feet with a coarse earthen rasp, and
his limbs and body with a woollen bag which covers his hand as a glove;
after which, the bather, if he please, plunges into one of the tanks. He
is then thoroughly washed with soap and water and fibres of the
palm-tree, and shaved, if he wish it, in one of the small chambers which
contain the taps of hot and cold water; and returns to the beyt-owwal.
Here he generally reclines upon a mattress, and takes some light
refreshment, while one of the attendants rubs the soles of his feet and
kneads the flesh of his body and limbs, previously to his resuming his
dress. It is a common custom now to take a pipe and a cup of coffee
during this period of rest.
The women are especially fond of the bath, and often have entertainments
there; taking with them fruits, sweetmeats, etc., and sometimes hiring
female singers to accompany them. An hour or more is occupied by the
process of plaiting the hair and applying the depilatory, etc.; and
generally an equal time is passed in the enjoyment of rest or
recreation or refreshment. All necessary decorum is observed on these
occasions by most ladies, but women of the lower orders are often seen
in the bath without any covering. Some baths are appropriated solely to
men; others, only to women; and others, again, to men during the
forenoon, and in the afternoon to women. When the bath is appropriated
to women, a napkin, or some other piece of drapery is suspended over the
door to warn men from entering.
Before the time of Moḥammad, there were no public baths in Arabia;
and he was so prejudiced against them, for reasons already alluded to,
that he at first forbade both men and women from entering them:
afterwards, however, he permitted men to do so, if for the sake of
cleanliness, on the condition of their wearing a cloth; and women also
on account of sickness, child-birth, etc., provided they had not
convenient places for bathing in their houses. But notwithstanding this
license, it is held to be a characteristic of a virtuous woman not to go
to a bath even with her husband's permission: for the Prophet said,
"Whatever woman enters a bath, the devil is with her." As the bath is a
resort of the Jinn, prayer should not be performed in it, nor the
Ḳur-án recited. The Prophet said, "All the earth is given to me as a
place of prayer, and as pure, except the burial-ground and the bath."
Hence also, when a person is about to enter a bath, he should offer up
an ejaculatory prayer for protection against evil spirits; and should
place his left foot first over the threshold. Infidels have often been
obliged to distinguish themselves in the bath, by hanging a signet to
the neck, or wearing anklets, etc., lest they should receive those marks
of respect which should be paid only to believers.[211]
Hunting and hawking, which were common and favourite diversions of the
Arabs, and especially of their kings and other great men, have now
fallen into comparative disuse among this people. They are, however,
still frequently practised by the Persians, and in the same manner as
they are generally described in the "Thousand and One Nights."[212] The
more common kinds of game are gazelles, or antelopes, hares, partridges,
the species of grouse called "ḳaṭà," quails, wild geese, ducks,
etc. Against all of these, the hawk is generally employed, but assisted
in the capture of gazelles and hares by dogs. The usual arms of the
sportsmen in mediæval times were the bow and arrow, the cross-bow, the
spear, the sword and the mace. When the game is struck down but not
killed by any weapon, its throat is immediately cut. If merely stunned
and then left to die, its flesh is unlawful food. Hunting is allowable
only for the purpose of procuring food, or to obtain the skin of an
animal, or for the sake of destroying ferocious and dangerous beasts;
but the rule is often disregarded. Amusement is certainly, in general,
the main object of the Muslim huntsman; but he does not with this view
endeavour to prolong the chase; on the contrary, he strives to take the
game as quickly as possible. For this purpose nets are often employed,
and the hunting party, forming what is called the circle of the chase
(ḥalḳat eṣ-ṣeyd), surround the spot in which the game is
found.
"On the eastern frontiers of Syria," says Burckhardt, "are several
places allotted for the hunting of gazelles: these places are called
'masiade' [perhaps more properly, 'maṣyedehs']. An open space in the
plain, of about one mile and a half square, is enclosed on three sides
by a wall of loose stones, too high for the gazelles to leap over. In
different parts of this wall, gaps are purposely left, and near each gap
a deep ditch is made on the outside. The enclosed space is situated near
some rivulet or spring to which in summer the gazelles resort. When the
hunting is to begin, many peasants assemble, and watch till they see a
herd of gazelles advancing from a distance towards the enclosure, into
which they drive them: the gazelles, frightened by the shouts of these
people and the discharge of fire-arms, endeavour to leap over the wall,
but can only effect this at the gaps, where they fall into the ditch
outside, and are easily taken, sometimes by hundreds. The chief of the
herd always leaps first: the others follow him one by one. The gazelles
thus taken are immediately killed, and their flesh is sold to the Arabs
and neighbouring Felláḥs."[213] Hunting the wild ass is among the
most difficult sports of the Arabs and Persians.
FOOTNOTES:
[150] A pious Muslim generally sits at his meals with the right knee
raised, after the example of the Prophet, who adopted this custom in
order to avoid too comfortable a posture in eating, as tempting to
unnecessary gratification.
[151] Hist. Aegypt. Compend. 180-182. (Oxon. 1800.)
[152] El-Maḳreezee's Khiṭaṭ: Account of the Khaleefehs'
Palaces.
[153] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 329.
[154] Burckhardt, Notes on the Bedouins and Wahábys, 8vo. ed. i. 178,
179.
[155] Price's Retrospect of Mahom. History, ii. 229.
[156] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 339.
[157] De Sacy, Chrestomathie Arabe, i. 125-131, Arabic text.
[158] That is, a race-course for sallies of wit and eloquence on the
subject of wine: the word "kumeyt" being used, in preference to more
than a hundred others that might have been employed, to signify "wine,"
because it bears also the meaning of "a deep red horse." The book has
been already quoted in these pages.
[159] His name is not mentioned in my copy; but D'Herbelot states it to
have been Shems-ed-Deen Moḥammad ibn-Bedr-ed-Deen Ḥasan
el-Ḳáḍee; and writes his surname "Naouagi," or "Naouahi."
[160] [Mr. Lane followed the usual custom of travellers of his day who
wished to be intimate with the Egyptians, and took the name of
Manṣoor Effendee. A letter from Bonomi to him, under this name,
exists in the British Museum (25,658, f. 67), and has led the compilers
of the Index to the Catalogue of Additions to the MSS., published in
1880, into the pardonable error of inventing an "Edward Mansoor Lane."
S. L-P.]
[161] Ḳur. ii. 216.
[162] Ḳur. iv. 46.
[163] Lev. x. 9.
[164] Ḳur. v. 92.
[165] Ḥalbet el-Kumeyt, chap. ix.
[166] Ibid, khátimeh.
[167] Ḥalbet el-Kumeyt, 1. 1.
[168] Fakhr-ed-Deen, in De Sacy, Chrest. Arabe.
[169] "While tears of blood trickle from the strainer, the ewer beneath
it giggles." (Eṣ-Ṣadr Ibn-El-Wekeel, quoted in the Ḥalbet
el-Kumeyt, chap. xiii.)--The strainer is called "ráwooḳ."
[170] The Moḥtesib is inspector of the markets, the weights and
measures, and provisions, etc.
[171] Mir-át ez-Zemán, events of the year 295.
[172] The cup, when full, was generally called "kás:" when empty,
"ḳadaḥ," or "jám." The name of kás is now given to a small glass
used for brandy and liqueurs, and similar to our liqueur-glass: the
glass or cup used for wine is called, when so used, "koobeh:" it is the
same as that used for sherbet; but in the latter case it is called
"ḳulleh."
[173] Es-Suyooṭee, account of the fruits of Egypt, in his history of
that country (MS.)
[174] Es-Suyooṭee.
[175] Ibid.
[176] El-Ḳazweenee, MS.
[177] Ibid.
[178] Es-Suyooṭee, ubi supra.
[179] Ibid.
[180] The Arabic names of these fruits are, tuffáḥ (vulgo,
tiffáḥ), kummetrè, safarjal, mishmish, khókh, teen, jummeyz (vulgo,
jemmeyz), ´eneb, nabḳ or sidr, ´onnáb (vulgo, ´annáb), ijjás or
barḳooḳ, józ, lóz, bunduḳ, fustuḳ, burtuḳán, nárinj,
leymoon, utrujj or turunj, kebbád, toot, zeytoon, and ḳaṣab
es-sukkar.
[181] Ḥalbet el-Kumeyt, chap. xvii.; and Es-Suyooṭee, account of
the flowers of Egypt, in his history of that country.
[182] Ḥalbet el-Kumeyt, chap. xvii.
[183] Ibid.
[184] Es-Suyooṭee, ubi supra.
[185] The night of the Prophet's Ascension [in dream, into Heaven].
[186] Gabriel, who accompanied the Prophet.
[187] The beast on which Moḥammad dreamed he rode from Mekkeh to
Jerusalem previously to his ascension. These traditions are from
Es-Suyooṭee, ubi supra.
[188] This flower is called "fághiyeh," and more commonly "temer
el-ḥennà;" or, according to some, the fághiyeh is the flower produced
by a slip of temer el-hennà, planted upside down, and superior to the
flower of the latter planted in the natural way!
[189] Es-Suyooṭee, ubi supra.
[190] Ibid.
[191] Es-Suyooṭee.
[192] Shaḳáïḳ. The "adhriyoon," or "ádharyoon," is said to be a
variety of the anemone.
[193] From the former, or from "noạmán," signifying "blood," the
anemone was named "shaḳáïḳ en-noạmán."
[194] Ḥalbet el-Kumeyt, chap. xvii.
[195] Ḥalbet el-Kumeyt; Es-Suyooṭee, ubi supra; and
El-Ḳazweenee.
[196] The Arabic names of these flowers are, yásameen, nisreen, zahr (or
zahr nárinj), soosan, reeḥán (or ḥobaḳ), nemám, bahár,
uḳḥowán, neelófar, beshneen, jullanár or julnár, khashkhásh,
khiṭmee, zaạfarán, ´oṣfur, kettán, báḳillà, and lebláb, and
lóz.
[197] Bán, and khiláf or khaláf. Both these names are applied to the
same tree (which, according to Forskál, differs slightly from the salix
Ægyptiaca of Linnæus) by the author of the Ḥalbet el-Kumeyt and by
the modern Egyptians.
[198] Ḥalbet el-Kumeyt, chap. xiv.
[199] Ḥalbet el-Kumeyt, chap. xi.
[200] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 425.
[201] Ḥalbet el-Kumeyt, chap. xiv.
[202] Soft boots, worn inside the slippers or shoes.
[203] Halbet el-Kumeyt, chap. xiv.
[204] I am not sure of the orthography of this name, particularly with
respect to the first and last vowels; having never found it written with
the vowel points. It is sometimes written with ḥ for kh, and f for
ḳ.
[205] Ḥalbet el-Kumeyt, 1.1.
[206] He was born in A.H. 125, and died in 213, or 188.
[207] He was born A.H. 150, and died in 235.
[208] Mir-át ez-Zemán, events of the year 231. He died in this year.
[209] Ḥalbet el-Kumeyt, chap. vii.
[210] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil.
[211] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section vii.
[212] See Sir John Malcolm's "Sketches in Persia," i. ch. v.
[213] Notes on the Bedouins and Wahábys, i. 220, ff.