WOMEN.
That sensual passion is very prevalent among the Arabs cannot be
doubted; but I think it unjust to suppose them generally incapable of a
purer feeling, worthy, if constancy be a sufficient test, of being
termed true love. That they are not so, appears evident to almost every
person who mixes with them in familiar society; for such a person must
have opportunities of being acquainted with many Arabs sincerely
attached to wives whose personal charms have long vanished, and who have
neither wealth nor influence of their own, nor wealthy or influential
relations, to induce their husbands to refrain from divorcing them. It
very often happens, too, that an Arab is sincerely attached to a wife
possessed, even in the best portion of her age, of few charms, and that
the lasting favourite among two or more wives is not the most handsome.
This opinion, I am sorry to observe, is at variance, as far as the Arabs
of the _towns_ are concerned, with that entertained by one of the most
intelligent and experienced of modern travellers who long resided among
this people,--the justly celebrated Burckhardt:[236] but it is confirmed
by numerous facts related by respectable Arab authors (and therefore not
regarded by them as of an incredible nature), as well as by cases which
have fallen under my own observation. The tale of Leylà and Mejnoon, the
Juliet and Romeo of Arabia, is too well known to be here repeated; but
among many other anecdotes of strong and constant love, the following
may be inserted.
The Khaleefeh Yezeed, the son of ´Abd-El-Melik, had two female slaves,
one of whom was named Ḥabbábeh and the other, Selámeh, to the former
of whom he was most ardently attached: he had purchased her for a
hundred thousand dirhems, and the other for ten thousand. In their
company he sometimes shut himself up for three months together, utterly
neglecting the affairs of his people. At length, being reproved for this
conduct by his brother Meslemeh, he promised to return to his duty: but
the two slaves diverted him from his purpose; and on the following
morning excited by their songs and caresses and by wine, he became
frantic with pleasure, and danced and sang like a madman, till a fatal
accident put a stop to his joy:--Ḥabbábeh, eating a pomegranate, was
choked by one of the grains, and immediately died.
The grief of Yezeed was so poignant that he would not quit the corpse,
but continued to kiss and fondle it, until it became corrupt. Being then
admonished by his attendants that proper respect required its burial, he
consented to commit it to the earth. After five days, however, his
desire to behold again the object of his love induced him to open the
grave, and though the corpse had become hideous he declared that it was
lovely as ever in his eyes. At the earnest request of Meslemeh, he
ordered the grave to be closed again, but he was unable to exist when
deprived of the sight of the remains of her who was at the same time his
slave and his mistress: he threw himself upon his bed, speechless, and
after lingering seventeen nights, expired and was buried by the side of
Ḥabbábeh. "May God," says the narrator, "have mercy on them
both!"[237]
In the same work from which the above is taken, it is related that
Hároon Er-Rasheed, visiting Suleymán the son of Aboo-Jaạfar, one of
his chief officers, saw with him a female slave, named Ḍa´eefeh, of
excessive beauty, and being smitten by her charms demanded her as a
present. His request was granted; but Suleymán, from grief at the loss
of his mistress, fell sick; and during his illness was heard to
exclaim,--
"I appeal unto God against the affliction which He hath sent
upon me through the Khaleefeh.
"The world heareth of his justice; but he is a tyrant in the affair
of Ḍa´eefeh.[238]
"Love of her is fixed in my heart as ink upon the surface of
paper."
Er-Rasheed, being informed of his complaint, restored to him his
mistress, and with her his peace of mind. This anecdote is given as a
proof of strong love; but perhaps may not be thought much to the
purpose. The following, from the same work, is more apt.
During the hottest hour of an excessively sultry day, the Khaleefeh
Mo´áwiyeh the son of Aboo-Sufyán was sitting in a chamber which was open
on each side to allow free passage to the air, when he beheld a
barefooted Bedawee approaching him. Wondering what could induce this man
to brave the scorching heat, he declared to his attendants that if he
were come to demand of him any favour or aid or act of justice, his
request should be granted. The Bedawee addressed him in verse with a
pathetic appeal for justice against the tyranny of Marwán the son of
El-Ḥakam (afterwards Khaleefeh, Mo´áwiyeh's fourth successor), by
whom he had been forcibly deprived of his beloved wife Soạdà. The
Khaleefeh requiring a more particular account of his case, he related
the following facts. He had a wife, the daughter of his paternal uncle,
excessively beloved by him, and possessed a number of camels, which
enabled him to live in comfort; but a year of terrible drought deprived
him of his property and reduced him to utter want: his friends deserted
him, and his wife was taken away from him by her father. To seek redress
he repaired to Marwán, the Governor of his district, at El-Medeeneh,
who, having summoned the father of his wife, and herself, was so smitten
by the beauty of the woman that he determined to obtain her for himself
in marriage. To accomplish this, he threw the husband into prison, and
offered the father of the woman a thousand deenárs and ten thousand
dirhems for his consent to his marriage with her, promising to compel
her actual husband to divorce her; and this latter object, having
obtained the father's approval, he gained by severely torturing the
unfortunate Bedawee. It would have been vain for the woman to attempt
resistance; and so she became the wife of Marwán.
The oppressed Bedawee, having related these circumstances, fell down in
a swoon, and lay on the floor senseless, coiled up like a dead snake. As
soon as he recovered, the Khaleefeh wrote a poetical epistle to Marwán,
severely reproaching him for his baseness, and commanding him, on pain
of death, to divorce the woman and send her with his messenger. She was
accordingly divorced and sent, with an answer composed in the same
measure and rhyme, assuring the Khaleefeh that the sight of Soạdà
would convince him that her charms were irresistible; and this proved
too true. Mo´áwiyeh himself no sooner saw her than he coveted her, and
offered to give the Bedawee, if he would resign her to him, three
virgins from among his female slaves, together with a thousand deenárs
and an ample annual pension. The Bedawee shrieked with dismay, as though
he had received his death-blow, and indignantly rejected the offer. The
Khaleefeh then said to him, "Thou confessest that thou hast divorced
her, and Marwán has married her and acknowledged that he has divorced
her: we will therefore give her her choice: if she desire any other
than thee as her husband we will marry her to him, and if she prefer
thee we will restore her to thee." She, however, had the merit to prefer
the destitute Bedawee, and the Khaleefeh gave her up to him, with a
present of ten thousand dirhems.
Numerous instances of unreasonable love are recorded in the writings of
Arabs. It is related that a man fell in love with a lady from seeing the
impression of her hand upon a wall; and, being unable to win her, died.
Many men are said to have conceived a violent passion for damsels seen
in dreams; others, again, to have been affected thus merely by the ear.
An author relates his having been acquainted with an accomplished
schoolmaster who lost his heart from hearing a man sing the praises of a
woman named Umm-´Amr, and two days after shut himself up in his house to
mourn for her death, in consequence of his hearing the same man sing,--
"The ass went away with Umm-´Amr; and she returned not, nor
did the ass return."[239]
The reader should have some idea of the qualifications or charms which
the Arabs in general consider requisite to the perfection of female
beauty. He must not imagine that excessive fatness is one of these
characteristics, though it is said to be esteemed a chief essential to
beauty throughout the greater part of Northern Africa: on the contrary,
the maiden whose loveliness inspires the most impassioned expressions in
Arabic poesy and prose is celebrated for her slender figure,--she is
like the cane among plants, and is elegant as a twig of the oriental
willow. Her face is like the full moon, presenting the strongest
contrast to the colour of her hair, which (to preserve the nature of the
simile just employed) is of the deepest hue of night, and falls to the
middle of her back. A rosy blush overspreads the centre of each cheek;
and a mole is considered an additional charm. The Arabs, indeed, are
particularly extravagant in their admiration of this natural
beauty-spot; which, according to its place, is compared to a drop of
ambergris upon a dish of alabaster or upon the surface of a ruby. The
Anacreon of Persia affected to prize the mole upon the cheek of his
beloved above the cities of Samarḳand and Bukhárà.
The eyes of the Arab beauty are intensely black,[240] large, and long,
of the form of an almond: they are full of brilliancy, but this is
softened by a lid slightly depressed and by long silken lashes, giving a
tender and languid expression that is full of enchantment and scarcely
to be improved by the adventitious aid of the black border of koḥl;
for this the lovely maiden adds rather for the sake of fashion than
necessity, having what the Arabs term natural koḥl. The eyebrows are
thin and arched; the forehead is wide, and fair as ivory; the nose,
straight; the mouth, small; the lips of a brilliant red; and the teeth,
"like pearls set in coral." The forms of the bosom are compared to two
pomegranates; the waist is slender; the hips are wide and large; the
feet and hands, small; the fingers, tapering, and their extremities dyed
with the deep orange-red tint imparted by the leaves of the ḥennà.
The maid in whom these charms are combined exhibits a lively image of
"the rosy-fingered Aurora:" her lover knows neither night nor sleep in
her presence, and the constellations of heaven are no longer seen by him
when she approaches. The most bewitching age is between fourteen and
seventeen years; for then the forms of womanhood are generally developed
in their greatest beauty; but many a maiden in her twelfth year
possesses charms sufficient to fascinate every man who beholds her.
The reader may perhaps desire a more minute analysis of Arabian beauty.
The following is the most complete that I can offer him.--"Four things
in a woman should be _black_,--the hair of the head, the eyebrows, the
eyelashes, and the dark part of the eyes: four _white_,--the complexion
of the skin, the white of the eyes, the teeth, and the legs: four
_red_,--the tongue, the lips, the middle of the cheeks, and the gums:
four _round_,--the head, the neck, the forearms, and the ankles: four
_long_,--the back, the fingers, the arms, and the legs:[241] four
_wide_,--the forehead, the eyes, the bosom, and the hips: four
_fine_,--the eyebrows, the nose, the lips, and the fingers: four
_thick_,--the lower part of the back, the thighs, the calves of the
legs, and the knees: four _small_,--the ears, the breasts, the hands,
and the feet."[242]
Arab ladies are extremely fond of full and long hair; and, however amply
endowed with this natural ornament, to add to its effect they have
recourse to art. But the Prophet, abhorring all false attractions that
might at first deceive a husband and then disappoint him, "cursed the
woman who joined her own hair to that of another, or that of another to
her own, without her husband's permission: if she do it, therefore, with
his permission, it is not prohibited, unless she so make use of human
hair; for this is absolutely forbidden."[243] Hence the Arab women
prefer strings of silk to add to their hair.[244] Over the forehead, the
hair is cut rather short; but two full locks hang down on each side of
the face: these are often curled in ringlets, and sometimes plaited. The
rest of the hair is arranged in plaits or braids which hang down the
back. They are generally from eleven to twenty-five in number, but
always of an uneven number: eleven is considered a scanty number,
thirteen and fifteen are more common. Three times the number of black
silk strings (three to each plait of hair, and each three united at the
top), from sixteen to eighteen inches in length, are braided with the
hair for about a quarter of their length; or they are attached to a lace
or band of black silk which is bound round the head, and in this case
hang entirely separate from the plaits of hair. These strings, together
with certain ornaments of gold, etc., composed what is termed the
ṣafà. Along each string, except from the upper extremity to about a
quarter or (at most) a third of its length, are generally attached nine
or more little flat ornaments of gold, which are usually all of the same
form. The most common form is oblong, round at the lower extremity and
pointed at the upper, or the reverse. They are affixed (each by a little
ring at its upper extremity) about an inch, or a little more, apart; but
those of each string are purposely placed so as not exactly to
correspond with those of the others. At the end of each string is a
small gold tube, or a small polygonal gold bead, beneath which is most
commonly suspended (by a little ring) a gold coin, a little more than
half an inch in diameter. Such is the most general description of
ṣafà; but some ladies substitute for the gold coin a fanciful
ornament of the same metal, either simple, or with a pearl in the
centre; or they suspend in the place of this a little tassel of pearls,
or attach alternately pearls and emeralds to the bottom of the triple
strings, and a pearl with each of the little ornaments of gold first
mentioned. Coral beads are also sometimes attached in the same manner as
these pearls. The ṣafà I think the prettiest, as well as most
singular, of all the ornaments worn by Arab ladies. The glittering of
the little ornaments of gold, and their chinking together as the wearer
walks, have a peculiarly lively effect. A kind of crown--a circle of
jewelled gold (the lower edge of which was straight, and the upper
fancifully heightened to four or more points) surrounding the lower part
of a dome-shaped cap with a jewel or some other ornament at the
summit--was worn by many Arab ladies of high rank or great wealth,
probably until about two centuries ago. Another kind of crown is now
more generally worn, called a ḳurṣ. This is a round convex
ornament, generally about five inches in diameter, composed of gold set
with a profusion of diamonds, of open work, representing roses, leaves,
etc. It is sewed upon the top of the ṭarboosh; and is worn by most of
the ladies of Cairo, at least in full dress.[245]
The gait of Arab ladies is very remarkable: they incline the lower
part of the body from side to side as they step, and with the hands
raised to the level of the bosom they hold the edges of their outer
covering. Their pace is slow, and they look not about them, but keep
their eyes towards the ground in the direction to which they are going.
The wickedness of women is a subject upon which the stronger sex among
the Arabs, with an affectation of superior virtue, often dwell in common
conversation. That women are deficient in judgment or good sense is held
as a fact not to be disputed even by themselves, as it rests on an
assertion of the Prophet; but that they possess a superior degree of
cunning is pronounced equally certain and notorious. Their general
depravity is pronounced to be much greater than that of men. "I stood,"
said the Prophet, "at the gate of Paradise; and lo, most of its inmates
were the poor: and I stood at the gate of Hell; and lo, most of its
inmates were women."[246] In allusion to women, the Khaleefeh ´Omar
said, "Consult them, and do the contrary of what they advise." But this
is not to be done merely for the sake of opposing them, nor when other
advice can be had. "It is desirable for a man," says a learned Imám,
"before he enters upon any important undertaking, to consult ten
intelligent persons among his particular friends; or if he have not more
than five such friends, let him consult each of them twice; or if he
have not more than one friend, he should consult him ten times, at ten
different visits; if he have not one to consult, let him return to his
wife, and consult her, and whatever she advises him to do, let him do
the contrary: so shall he proceed rightly in his affair, and attain his
object."[247] A truly virtuous wife is, of course, excepted in this
rule: such a person is as much respected by Muslims as she is (at least,
according to their own account) rarely met with by them. When woman was
created, the Devil, we are told, was delighted, and said, "Thou art half
of my host, and thou art the depository of my secret, and thou art my
arrow, with which I shoot, and miss not."[248] What are termed by us
affairs of gallantry were very common among the Pagan Arabs, and are
scarcely less so among their Muslim posterity. They are, however,
unfrequent among most tribes of Bedawees, and among the descendants of
those tribes not long settled as cultivators. I remember being roused
from the quiet that I generally enjoyed in an ancient tomb in which I
resided at Thebes, by the cries of a young woman in the neighbourhood
whom an Arab was severely beating for an impudent proposal she had made
to him.
Marriage is regarded by the Muslims in general as a positive duty, and
to neglect it without a sufficient excuse subjects a man to severe
reproach. "When a servant [of God]," said the Prophet, "marries, verily
he perfects half his religion."[249] He once asked a man, "Art thou
married?" The man answered, "No." "And art thou," said he, "sound and
healthy?" The answer was, "Yes." "Then," said Moḥammad, "thou art one
of the brothers of the devils; for the most wicked among you are the
unmarried, and the most vile among your dead are the unmarried; moreover
the married are those who are acquitted of filthy conversation; and by
Him in whose hand is my soul, the devil hath not a weapon more effective
against the virtuous, both men and women, than the neglect of
marriage."[250]
The number of wives whom a Muslim may have at the same time is four. He
may marry free women, or take concubine slaves, or have of both these
classes. It is the opinion of most persons, I believe, among the more
strictly religious, that a man may not have more than four women,
whether they be wives alone, or concubine slaves alone, or of both
classes together; but the practice of some of the companions of the
Prophet, who cannot be accused of violating his precepts, affords a
strong argument to the contrary. ´Alee, it is said, "was the most devout
of the companions; but he had four wives and seventeen concubines
besides, and married, after Fáṭimeh (may God be well pleased with
her!), among all that he married and divorced, more than two hundred
women: and sometimes he included four wives in one contract, and
sometimes divorced four at one time, taking other four in their
stead."[251] This may perhaps be an exaggerated statement, but it is
certain that the custom of keeping an unlimited number of concubines was
common among wealthy Muslims in the first century of the Mohammadan era,
and has so continued. The famous author of the work above quoted urges
the example of Solomon to prove that the possession of numerous
concubines is not inconsistent with piety and good morals; not
considering that God in the beginning made one male and but one female.
It has been mentioned that a Muslim may divorce his wife twice and each
time take her back. This he may do, even against her wish, during a
fixed period, which cannot extend beyond three months, unless she be
_enceinte_, in which latter case she must wait until the birth of her
child before she will be at liberty to contract a new marriage. During
this period the husband is obliged to maintain her. If he divorce her a
third time, or by a triple sentence, he cannot take her again unless
with her own consent and by a new contract and after another marriage
has been consummated between her and another husband who also has
divorced her.
It is not a common custom, especially among the middle ranks, for a
Muslim to have more than one wife at the same time; but there are few of
middle age who have not had several different wives at different
periods, tempted to change by the facility of divorce.[252] The case of
´Alee has been mentioned above. Mugheyreh Ibn-Sheabeh married eighty
women in the course of his life;[253] and several more remarkable
instances of the love of change are recorded by Arab writers; the most
extraordinary case of this kind that I have met with was that of
Moḥammad Ibn-Eṭ-Ṭeiyib, the dyer of Baghdád, who died in the
year of the Flight 423, aged eighty-five years; of whom it is related on
most respectable authority that he married more than nine hundred
women![254] Supposing, therefore, that he married his first wife when he
was fifteen years of age, he must have had, on the average, nearly
thirteen wives _per annum_. The women, in general, cannot of course
marry so many successive husbands, not only because a woman cannot have
more than one husband at a time, but also because she cannot divorce her
husband. There have been, however, many instances of Arab women who have
married a surprising number of men in rapid succession. Among these may
be mentioned Umm-Khárijeh, who gave occasion to a proverb on this
subject. This woman, who was of the tribe of Bejeeleh, in El-Yemen,
married upwards of forty husbands; and her son Khárijeh knew not who was
his father. She used to contract a marriage in the quickest possible
manner: a man saying to her, "Khiṭb" ("I ask"--in marriage), she
replied "Nikḥ" ("I give"), and thus became his lawful wife. She had a
very numerous progeny; several tribes originating from her.[255]
For the choice of a wife, a man generally relies on his mother or some
other near female relation, or a professional female betrother (who is
called "kháṭibeh"); for there are many women who perform this office
for hire. The law allows him to see the face of the girl whom he
proposes to marry, previously to his making the contract; but in the
present day this liberty is seldom obtained, except among the lower
orders. Unless in this case, a man is not allowed to see unveiled any
woman but his own wife or slave, and those women to whom the law
prohibits his uniting himself in marriage: nay, according to some he is
not allowed to see his own niece unveiled, though he may not marry
her.[256] It should be added that a slave may lawfully see the face of
his own mistress; but this privilege is seldom granted in the present
day to any slave but a eunuch. An infringement of the law above
mentioned is held to be extremely sinful in both parties: "The curse of
God," said the Prophet, "is on the seer and the seen:" yet it is very
often disregarded in the case of women of the lower orders.
A man is forbidden, by the Ḳur-án[257] and the Sunneh, to marry his
mother, or other ascendant; daughter, or other descendant; his sister,
or half sister; the sister of his father or mother, or other ascendant;
his niece, or any of her descendants; his foster-mother who has suckled
him five times in the course of the first two years, or a woman related
to him by milk in any of the degrees which would preclude his marriage
with her if she were similarly related to him by consanguinity; the
mother of his wife; the daughter of his wife, in certain conditions; his
father's wife, and his son's wife; and to have at the same time two
wives who are sisters, or aunt and niece: he is forbidden also to marry
his unemancipated slave, or another man's slave, if he has already a
free wife; and to marry any woman but one of his own faith, or a
Christian, or a Jewess. A Mohammadan woman, however, may only marry a
man of her own faith. An unlawful liaison with any woman prevents a man
from marrying any of her relations who would be forbidden to him if she
were his wife.
A cousin (the daughter of a paternal uncle) is often chosen as a wife,
on account of the tie of blood which is likely to attach her more
strongly to her husband, or on account of an affection conceived in
early years. Parity of rank is generally much regarded; and a man is
often unable to obtain as his wife the daughter of one of a different
profession or trade, unless an inferior; or a younger daughter when an
elder remains unmarried. A girl is often married at the age of twelve
years, and sometimes at ten, or even nine: the usual period is between
twelve and sixteen years. At the age of thirteen or fourteen she may be
a mother. The young men marry a few years later.
The most important requisite in a wife is religion. The Prophet said, "A
virtuous wife is better than the world and all that it contains." "A
virtuous wife," said Luḳmán, "is like a crown on the head of a king;
and a wicked wife is like a heavy burden on the back of an old man."
Among the other chief requisites are agreeableness of temper, beauty of
form (undiminished by any defect or irregularity of features or
members), moderation in the amount of dowry required, and good birth. It
is said, "If thou marry not a virgin [which is most desirable], marry a
divorced woman, and not a widow; for the divorced woman will respect thy
words when thou sayest, 'If there were any good in thee thou hadst not
been divorced;' whereas the widow will say, 'May God have mercy on such
a one [her first husband]! he hath left me to one unsuited to me.'" But
according to another selfish maxim, the woman most to be avoided is she
who is divorced from a man by whom she has had a child; for her heart is
with him, and she is an enemy to the man who marries her after.[258]
Modesty is a requisite upon which too much stress cannot be laid; but
this, to an English reader, requires some explanation. ´Alee asked his
wife Fáṭimeh, "Who is the best of women?" She answered, "She who sees
not men, and whom they see not."[259] Modesty, therefore, in the opinion
of the Muslims, is most eminently shewn by a woman's concealing her
person, and restraining her eyes, from men. "The best rank of men [in a
mosque]," said the Prophet, "is the front; and the best rank of women is
the rear,"[260]--that is, those most distant from the men: but better
than even these are the women who pray at home.[261] Fruitfulness is
also a desirable qualification to be considered in the choice of a wife:
"it may be known in maidens," said the Prophet, "from their relations;
because, generally speaking, kindred are similar in disposition,
etc."[262] Lastly, contentment is to be enumerated among the requisites.
It is said, on the same authority, "Verily the best of women are those
that are most content with little."[263] To obtain a contented and
submissive wife, many men make their selection from among the classes
inferior to them in rank. Others, with a similar view, prefer a slave in
the place of a wife.
The consent of a young girl is not required: her father, or, if he be
dead, her nearest adult male relation, or a guardian appointed by will
or by the Ḳáḍee, acts as her wekeel or deputy, to effect the
marriage-contract for her. If of age, she appoints her own deputy. A
dowry is required to legalize the marriage; and the least dowry allowed
by the law is ten dirhems,--about five shillings of our money.
Moḥammad married certain of his wives for a dowry of ten dirhems and
the household necessaries, which were a hand-mill to grind the corn, a
water-jar, and a pillow of skin or leather stuffed with the fibres of
the palm-tree (leef), but some he married for a dowry of five hundred
dirhems.[264] With the increase of wealth and luxury, dowries have
increased in amount; but to our ideas they are still trifling: a sum
equivalent to about twenty pounds sterling being a common dowry among
Arabs of the middle classes for a virgin, and half or a third or quarter
of that sum for a divorced woman or a widow. Two thirds of the sum is
usually paid before making the contract, and the remaining portion held
in reserve to be paid to the woman in case of her divorce or in case of
the husband's death. The father or guardian of a girl under age receives
the former portion of her dowry; but it is considered as her property,
and he generally expends it, with an additional sum from his own purse,
in the purchase of necessary furniture, dress, etc., for her, which the
husband can never take from her against her own wish.
The marriage-contract is generally, in the present day, merely verbal;
but sometimes a certificate is written and sealed by the Ḳáḍee.
The most approved or propitious period for this act is the month of
Showwál: the most unpropitious, Moḥarram. The only persons whose
presence is required to perform it are the bridegroom (or his deputy),
the bride's deputy (who is the betrother), two male witnesses, if such
can be easily procured, and the Ḳáḍee or a schoolmaster or some
other person to recite a khuṭbeh, which consists of a few words in
praise of God, a form of blessing on the Prophet, and some passages of
the Ḳur-án respecting marriage. They all recite the Fátiḥah (or
opening chapter of the Ḳur-án), after which the bridegroom pays the
money. The latter and the bride's deputy then seat themselves on the
ground, face to face, and grasp each other's right hand, raising the
thumbs, and pressing them against each other. Previously to the
khuṭbeh, the person who recites this formula places a handkerchief
over the two joined hands; and after the khuṭbeh he dictates to the
two contracting parties what they are to say. The betrother generally
uses the following or a similar form of words: "I betroth to thee my
daughter [or her for whom I act as deputy] such a one [naming the
bride], the virgin [or the adult virgin, etc.], for a dowry of such an
amount." The bridegroom answers, "I accept from thee her betrothal to
myself." This is all that is absolutely necessary; but the address and
reply are usually repeated a second and third time, and are often
expressed in fuller forms of words. The contract is concluded with the
recital of the Fátiḥah by all persons present.
This betrothal, or marriage-contract, is often performed several years
before the wedding, when the two parties are yet children, or during the
infancy of the girl; but most commonly not more than about eight or ten
days before that event. The household furniture and dress prepared for
the bride are sent by her family to the bridegroom's house, usually
conveyed by a train of camels, two or three or more days before she is
conducted thither.
The feasts and processions which are now to be mentioned are only
observed in the case of a virgin-bride; a widow or divorced woman being
remarried in a private manner. I describe them chiefly in accordance
with the usages of Cairo, which appear to me most agreeable, in general,
with the descriptions and allusions in the "Thousand and One Nights."
The period most commonly approved for the wedding is the eve of Friday,
or that of Monday. Previously to this event, the bridegroom once or
twice or more frequently gives a feast to his friends; and for several
nights, his house and the houses of his near neighbours are usually
illuminated by numerous clusters of lamps, or by lanterns, suspended in
front of them; some, to cords drawn across the street. To these or other
cords are also suspended small flags, or square pieces of silk, each of
two different colours, generally red and green. Some say that the feast
or feasts should be given on the occasion of the marriage-contract;
others, on the actual wedding; others, again, on both these
occasions.[265]
The usual custom of the people of Cairo is to give a feast on the night
before the nuptials, and another on the wedding night; but some begin
their feasts earlier. Respecting marriage-feasts, the Prophet said, "The
first day's feast is an incumbent duty; and the second day's, a sunneh
ordinance; and the third day's, for ostentation and notoriety:" and he
forbade eating at the feast of the ostentatious.[266] It is a positive
duty to accept an invitation to a marriage-feast or other lawful
entertainment; but the guest is not obliged to eat.[267] The persons
invited and all intimate friends generally send presents of provisions
of some kind a day or two before. The Prophet taught that
marriage-feasts should be frugal: the best that _he_ gave was with one
goat.[268] He approved of demonstrations of joy at the celebration of a
marriage with songs, and according to one tradition by the beating of
deffs (or tambourines); but in another tradition the latter practice is
condemned.[269] The preferable mode of entertaining the guests is by the
performance of a zikr.
On the day preceding that on which she is conducted to the bridegroom's
house, the bride goes to the public bath, accompanied by a number of her
female relations and friends. The procession generally pursues a
circuitous route, for the sake of greater display; and on leaving the
house, turns to the right. In Cairo, the bride walks under a canopy of
silk borne by four men, with one of her near female relations on each
side of her. Young unmarried girls walk before her; these are preceded
by the married ladies; and the procession is headed and closed by a few
musicians with drums and hautboys. The bride wears a kind of pasteboard
crown or cap, and is completely veiled from the view of spectators by a
Kashmeer shawl placed over her crown and whole person; but some handsome
ornaments of the head are attached externally. The other women are
dressed in the best of their walking-attire. In the case, however, of a
bride of high rank, or of wealth, and often in the case of one belonging
to a family of the middle class, the ladies ride upon high-saddled
asses, without music or canopy; and the bride is only distinguished by a
Kashmeer shawl instead of the usual black silk covering, one or more
eunuchs sometimes riding at the head. In the bath, after the ordinary
operations of washing, etc., a feast is made, and the party are often
entertained by female singers.
Having returned in the same manner to her home, the bride's friends
there partake of a similar entertainment with her. Her hands and feet
are then stained with ḥennà, and her eyes ornamented with koḥl;
and her friends give her small presents of money, and take their leave.
"It is a sunneh ordinance that the bride wash her feet in a clean
vessel, and sprinkle the water in the corners of the chamber, that a
blessing may result from this. She should also brighten her face, and
put on the best of her apparel, and adorn her eyes with koḥl, and
stain [her hands and feet] with ḥennà [as above mentioned]; and she
should abstain, during the first week, from eating anything that
contains mustard, and from vinegar, and sour apples."[270]
The bride is conducted to the house of the bridegroom (on the following
day) in the same manner as to the bath, or with more pomp. In Cairo, the
bridal processions of persons of very high rank are conducted with
singular display. The train is usually headed by buffoons and musicians,
and a water-carrier loaded with a goat's-skin filled with sand and
water, of very great weight, which is often borne for many hours before
(as well as during) the procession, merely to amuse the spectators by
this feat of strength. Then follow (interrupted by groups of male or
female dancers, jugglers, and the like) numerous decorated open waggons
or cars, each of which contains several members of some particular trade
or art engaged in their ordinary occupations, or one such person with
attendants: in one, for instance, a kahwejee, with his assistants and
pots and cups and fire, making coffee for the spectators: in a second,
makers of sweetmeats: in a third, makers of pancakes (faṭeerehs): in
a fourth, silk-lace manufacturers: in a fifth, a silk-weaver, with his
loom: in a sixth, tinners of copper vessels, at their work: in a
seventh, white-washers, whitening over and over again a wall: in short,
almost every manufacture and trade has its representatives in a separate
waggon. El-Jabartee describes a procession of this kind in which there
were upwards of seventy parties of different trades and arts, each party
in a separate waggon, besides buffoons, wrestlers, dancers, and others;
followed by various officers, the eunuchs of the bride's family, ladies
of the ḥareem with their attendants, then the bride in a European
carriage, a troop of memlooks clad in armour, and a Turkish band of
music. It was a procession of which the like had not before been
seen.[271]
The bride and her party, having arrived at the house, sit down to a
repast. The bridegroom does not yet see her. He has already been to the
bath, and at nightfall he goes in procession with a number of his
friends to a mosque, to perform the night-prayers. He is accompanied by
musicians and singers, or by chanters of lyric odes in praise of the
Prophet, and by men bearing cressets--poles with cylindrical frames of
iron at the top filled with flaming wood; and on his return, most of his
other attendants bear lighted wax candles and bunches of flowers.
Returned to his house, he leaves his friends in a lower apartment, and
goes up to the bride, whom he finds seated, with a shawl thrown over her
head, so as to conceal her face completely, and attended by one or two
females. The latter he induces to retire by means of a small present. He
then gives a present of money to the bride, as "the price of uncovering
the face," and having removed the covering (saying as he does so, "In
the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful"), he beholds her,
generally for the first time. On the occasion of this first visit, which
is called the "dukhool" or "dukhleh," he is recommended "to perfume
himself, and to sprinkle some sugar and almonds on the head of the bride
and on that of each woman with her (this practice being established by
existing usage and by traditions): also, when he approaches her, he
should perform the prayers of two rek´ahs, and she should do the same if
able: then he should take hold of the hair over her forehead, and say,
'O God, bless me in my wife, and bless my wife in me! O God, bestow upon
me [offspring] by her, and bestow upon her [offspring] by me! O God,
unite us, as thou hast united, happily; and separate us, when thou
separatest, happily!'"[272]
An astrological calculation is often made with the view of determining
by what sign of the zodiac the two persons are influenced who
contemplate becoming man and wife, and thence ascertaining whether they
will agree. This is often done in the present day by adding together the
numerical values of the letters composing his or her name and that of
the mother, and, if I remember right, subtracting from 12 the whole sum
if this is less than 12, or what remains after subtracting, or dividing,
by 12. Thus is obtained the number of the sign. The twelve signs,
commencing with Aries, correspond respectively with the elements of
fire, earth, air, water, fire, earth, and so on; and if the signs of the
two parties indicate the same element, it is inferred that they will
agree; but if they indicate different elements, the inference is that
the one will be affected by the other in the same manner as the element
of the one is by that of the other: thus, if the element of the man is
fire, and that of the woman, water, he will be subject to her rule.
Among other calculations of the same kind is the following:--The
numerical values of the letters composing the name of each of the two
parties are added together, and one of these two sums is subtracted from
the other: if the remainder is an uneven number, the inference is
unfavourable; but if even, the reverse.
Next to the service of the husband or master, the care of her children,
and attending to other indispensable domestic duties, the most important
occupation of the wife is that of spinning or weaving or needle-work.
"Sitting for an hour employed with the distaff is better for women,"
said the Prophet, "than a year's worship; and for every piece of cloth
woven of the thread spun by them they shall receive the reward of a
martyr."--´Áisheh, the Prophet's wife, thus declared the merit of
spinning:--"Tell the women what I say: There is no woman who spins until
she hath clothed herself but all the angels in the Seven Heavens pray
for forgiveness of her sins; and she will go forth from her grave on the
day of judgment wearing a robe of Paradise and with a veil upon her
head, and before her shall be an angel and on her right an angel who
will hand her a draught of the water of Selsebeel, the fountain of
Paradise; and another angel will come to her, and carry her upon his
wings, and bear her to Paradise. And when she enters Paradise, eighty
thousand maidens will meet her, each maiden bringing a different robe;
and she will have mansions of emeralds with three hundred doors, at each
of which will stand an angel with a present from the Lord of the
Throne."[273]--The arts above mentioned are pursued by the females in
the ḥareems of the middle and higher classes. Their leisure-hours are
mostly spent in working with the needle; particularly in embroidering
handkerchiefs, head-veils, etc., upon a frame called mensej, with
coloured silks and gold. Many women, even in the houses of the wealthy,
replenish their private purses by ornamenting handkerchiefs and other
things in this manner, and employing a delláleh (or female broker) to
take them to the market, or to other ḥareems, for sale.[274]
The separation of the sexes undoubtedly promotes the free intercourse
of people of the same sex and of different ranks, who thus are able to
associate together, regardless of difference of wealth or station,
without the risk of occasioning unequal matrimonial connections. This
separation is therefore felt by neither sex as oppressive, but is
regarded by them as productive of results which constitute the Muslim's
chief enjoyments,--the highest degree of domestic comfort, and the most
free and extensive society of his fellow men. Thus it is with both
sexes; and neither would give up the pleasure that they hence derive for
a different system of society, somewhat extending their domestic
intercourse, but often destroying the pleasures of home, and contracting
into a compass comparatively narrow the fellowship which they enjoyed
abroad.
I must now remark upon some other effects of the same system. First, the
restriction of intercourse between the sexes before marriage renders
indispensable, to some, the facility of divorce; for it would be unjust
for a man who finds himself disappointed in his expectations of a wife,
whom he has never before seen, not to be enabled to put her away.
Secondly, it sometimes renders indispensable the licence of polygamy;
for a man who finds his first wife unsuited to him may not be able to
divorce her without reducing her to want; and the licence of polygamy
becomes as necessary in this case as that of divorce in another.
Thirdly, the liberty of polygamy renders the facility of divorce more
desirable for the happiness of women; since, when a man has two or more
wives, and one of them is dissatisfied with her situation, he is enabled
to liberate her. Fourthly, the licence of divorce often acts as a check
upon that of polygamy; for the fear of being obliged, by the influence
of his first wife, or by that of her relations, to divorce her if he
take a second, often prevents a man from doing this. Thus both these
licences are required by the most important principle of the
constitution of Muslim society, and each is productive of some moral
benefit. In considering the question of their expediency, we should also
remember that barrenness is much more common in hot climates than in
those which are temperate.
The Christian scheme is plainly opposed to polygamy; but as to divorce,
some have contended that it only forbids putting away a wife against her
will, unless for one cause.[275] Christians are often most unjust in
their condemnation of Muslim laws and tenets, and especially condemn
those which agree with the Mosaic code and the practices of holy men;
such as polygamy (which Moḥammad _limited_), divorce, war for the
defence of religion, purifications, and even minor matters.[276]
Moḥammad endeavoured to remove one of the chief causes of polygamy
and divorce, by recommending that a man should see a woman whom he
proposed to take as his wife.[277] We might imagine that he could have
made these practices less common than they now are, and always have
been, among his followers, had he given more licence, allowing the man
to enjoy a limited association with the object of his choice in the
presence of her female or male relations (the former of whom might be
veiled), without infringing further the general law of the separation of
the sexes. But he saw that such liberty would very seldom, if ever, be
allowed: scarcely any parents among the Arabs, except those of the lower
classes, permit the little licence which he recommended. Instead of
condemning him for allowing a plurality of wives, I think we should be
more reasonable if we commended him for diminishing and restricting the
number. I think, too, that as Moses allowed his people for the hardness
of their hearts to put away their wives, and God denounced not polygamy
when the patriarchs practised it, we should be more consistent as
believers in the Scriptures if we admitted the permission of these
practices to be more conducive to morality than their prohibition, among
a people similar to the ancient Jews to whom Moses allowed such liberty.
As to the privilege which Moḥammad assumed to himself, of having a
greater number of wives than he allowed to others, I have elsewhere
remarked,[278] that, in doing so, he may have been actuated by the want
of male offspring as much as impelled by voluptuousness.
"On the subject of polygamy," says a writer who has deeply studied
Muslim institutions and their effects, "a European has all the advantage
in discussion with a Turkish woman, because her feelings are decidedly
on the side of her antagonists; but then she has a tremendous power of
reply, in the comparison of the practical effects of the two systems,
and in the widely spread rumours of the heartlessness and the profligacy
of Europe. All the convictions of our habits and laws stand in hostile
array against the country where the principle of polygamy is admitted
into the laws of the state; but yet, while we reproach Islamism with
polygamy, Islamism may reproach us with practical polygamy, which,
unsanctioned by law and reproved by custom, adds degradation of the
mind to dissoluteness of morals."[279]
It should further be remarked that by sanctioning polygamy Moḥammad
did not make the practice general: nay, he could not. It is a licence
for the hard-hearted, which restrains them from worse conduct, and in
some cases, as already shown, a resource for the tender-hearted. "The
permission," observes the author just cited, "does not alter the
proportions of men and women. While, therefore, the law of nature
renders this practice an impossibility as regards the community, it is
here still further restrained among the few who have the means of
indulging in it, both by the domestic unquiet that results from it, and
by the public censure and reprobation of which it is the object."
I have remarked in a former work that polygamy "is more rare among the
higher and middle classes [in Egypt, and I believe in other Arab
countries] than it is among the lower orders; and it is not very common
among the latter. A poor man may indulge himself with two or more wives,
each of whom may be able, by some art or occupation, nearly to provide
her own subsistence; but most persons of the higher and middle orders
are deterred from doing so by the consideration of the expense and
discomfort which they would incur. A man having a wife who has the
misfortune to be barren, and being too much attached to her to divorce
her, is sometimes induced to take a second wife, merely in the hope of
obtaining offspring; and from the same motive he may take a third, and a
fourth; but fickle passion is the most evident and common motive both to
polygamy and to repeated divorces. They are comparatively few who
gratify this passion by the former practice. I believe that not more
than one husband among twenty has two wives."[280]
I hope I have shown that though I consider polygamy as necessary in the
constitution of Muslim society, to prevent a profligacy that would be
worse than that which prevails to so great a degree in European
countries, where people are united in marriage after an intimate mutual
acquaintance, I consider it as a necessary _evil_. When two or more
wives of the same man live together, or when they visit each other,
feelings of jealousy are generally felt and often manifested, and
especially on the part of the wife or wives who cannot claim precedence
by having been married before the other or others, or by reason of being
more favoured by the husband.[281] The wife first married usually enjoys
the highest rank: therefore parents often object to giving a daughter in
marriage to a man who has already another wife; and it frequently
happens that the woman who is sought in marriage objects to such a
union. The law provides in some measure against the discomforts arising
from polygamy, by giving to each wife a claim to a distinct lodging,
affording conveniences for sleeping, cooking, etc.; and further enjoins
the husband to be strictly impartial to his wives in every respect. But
fruitfulness and superior beauty are qualifications that often enable a
second, third, or fourth wife to usurp the place of the first; though in
many cases, as I have already remarked, the lasting favourite is not the
most handsome.
There are, however, many instances of sincere affection existing in
the hearts of fellow-wives. The following story of two wives of the
father of El-Jabartee, the modern Egyptian historian, related by
himself, and of undoubted truth, is a pleasing example.--Speaking of the
first of these two wives, the historian says,--
"Among her acts of conjugal piety and submission was this, that she used
to buy for her husband beautiful slave girls, with her own wealth, and
deck them with ornaments and apparel, and so present them to him,
confidently looking to the reward and recompense which she should
receive [in Paradise] for such conduct. He took, in addition to her,
many other wives from among free women, and bought female slaves; but
she did not in consequence conceive any of that jealousy which commonly
affects women. Among other strange events which happened was the
following. When the subject of this memoir [the author's father]
performed the pilgrimage in the year 1156 [A.D. 1743-44], he became
acquainted at Mekkeh with the sheykh ´Omar El-Ḥalabee who
commissioned him to purchase for him a white female slave, having such
and such qualifications. So when he returned from the pilgrimage, he
searched for female slaves among the slave-dealers, to choose from them
such a one as was wanted, and ceased not until he found the object of
his desire, and bought her. He brought her to his wife, to remain with
her until he should send her with a person to whom he was commissioned
to entrust her for the journey; and when the period at which she was to
depart arrived, he informed his wife of it, that she might prepare the
provisions for the way, and other necessaries. But she said to him, 'I
have conceived a great love for this maid, and I cannot endure
separation from her: I have no children, and I have taken her as a
daughter.' The girl Zeleekhá also wept, and said, 'I will not part from
my mistress, nor ever leave her.' 'Then what is to be done?' he asked.
She answered, 'I will pay her price from my own property, and do thou
buy another.' He did so. She then emancipated the girl, gave her to him
by a marriage-contract, prepared her paraphernalia, and furnished for
her a separate apartment; and he took her as his wife in the year 1165.
The former wife could not bear to be separated from her even for an
hour, although she had become her fellow-wife, and borne him children.
In the year 1182, the [emancipated] slave fell sick, and she [the first
wife] fell sick on account of her [friend's] sickness. The illness
increased upon both of them; and in the morning the slave arose, and
looked at her mistress when she seemed about to die, and wept, and said,
'O my God and my Lord, if Thou hast decreed the death of my mistress,
make my day to be before her day.' Then she lay down, and her disease
increased, and she died the next night; and they wrapped her up by the
side of her mistress. And her mistress awoke at the close of the night,
and felt her with her hand, and began to say, 'Zeleekhá! Zeleekhá!' They
said to her, 'She is asleep.' But she replied, 'My heart telleth me that
she is dead: and I saw in my sleep what indicated this event.' They then
said to her, 'May thy life be prolonged!'[282] And when she had thus
ascertained the event, she raised herself, and sat up, and said, 'No life
remaineth to me after her.' And she wept and wailed until the day
appeared, when they began to prepare for the speedy burial of the slave;
and they washed the corpse before her, and carried it to the grave. Then
she returned to her bed, and fell into the agonies of death, and died at
the close of the day; and on the following day they carried her corpse
to the grave in like manner."[283]
FOOTNOTES:
[236] I may suffer in public estimation for my differing in opinion from
this accomplished traveller and most estimable man; but I cannot, on
that account, abstain from the expression of my dissent. Our difference,
I think, may be thus explained. He conformed, in a great degree, to the
habits of the Arabs; but not to such an extent as I consider necessary
to obtain from them that confidence in his sympathy which would induce
them to lay open to him their character; and when a man is often treated
with coldness and reserve, I doubt whether the people from whom he
experiences such treatment can be judged by him with strict
impartiality. To be received on terms of equality by Arabs of the more
polished classes, an undeviating observance of their code of etiquette
is absolutely indispensable: but Burckhardt, I have been assured, often
violated this code by practices harmless enough to our notions and
probably also in the opinion of the Arabs of the Desert, but extremely
offensive to the people who enjoyed the least share of his esteem: his
most intimate acquaintances in Cairo generally refused, in speaking of
him, to designate him by the title of "sheykh" which he had adopted; and
yet the heaviest charge that I heard brought against him was his
frequent habit of _whistling_!--This fact has been mentioned, as
corroborating an observation of the same kind, by Mr. Urquhart ("Spirit
of the East," i. 417, 418), all of whose opinions relating to the East,
expressed in that work, and especially those regarding the
characteristics of the Eastern mind, are entitled to the highest
respect.
[237] Kitáb el-´Onwán fee Mekáïd en-Niswán, a work on the stratagems of
women (MS.).
[238] This word slightly varied (changed to Ḍa´eefih) bears another
meaning, namely, "his weak one:" the final vowel being suppressed by the
rule of waḳf.
[239] Kitáb el-´Onwán.
[240] The Arabs in general entertain a prejudice against blue eyes; a
prejudice said to have arisen from the great number of blue-eyed persons
among certain of their northern enemies.
[241] In another analysis of the same kind, it is said that four should
be _short_,--the hands, the feet, the tongue, and the teeth--but this is
metaphorically speaking; the meaning is, that these members should be
kept within their proper bounds. (Kitáb el-´Onwán.)
[242] An unnamed author quoted by El-Isḥáḳee, in his account of
the ´Abbásee Khaleefeh El-Mutawekkil.
[243] Kitáb el-´Onwán.
[244] By sending with a letter the silk strings of her hair, a lady
testifies the most abject submission. The same meaning is conveyed in a
more forcible manner by sending the hair itself. Thus when Cairo was
besieged by the Franks in the year of the Flight 564 (A.D. 1168),
El-´Áḍid, the last Fáṭimee Khaleefeh, sent letters to Noor-ed-Deen
Maḥmood, Sulṭán of Syria, imploring succour, and with them sent
his women's hair to show their subjection and his own. (Ibn
Esh-Shihneh). [So too El-Maḳreezee, with a slight variation. It was
in this siege that the old town now called erroneously Miṣr
el-´aṭeeḳah was burnt by order of the Wezeer Sháwir, the
conflagration lasting fifty-four days. (Khiṭaṭ, account of the
ruin of El-Fusṭáṭ and reign of El-´Áḍid.) E. S. P.]
[245] An engraving of a crown of this description, and another of one of
a more common kind, may be seen in my work on the Modern Egyptians,
Appendix A.
[246] Kitáb el-´Onwán.
[247] El-Imám El-Jara´ee, in his book entitled "Shir´at el-Islám."
[248] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 2.
[249] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 79.
[250] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 1.
[251] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 1.
[252] By way of exception, however, on the woman's side, my sheykh
[Moḥammad ´Eiyád Eṭ-Ṭantáwee] writes:--"Many persons reckon
marrying a second time among the greatest of disgraceful actions.
This opinion is most common in the country-towns and villages; and
the relations of my mother are thus characterized, so that a woman
of them, when her husband dieth while she is young, or divorceth
her while she is young, passeth her life, however long it may be,
in widowhood, and never marrieth a second time."
[253] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 1.
[254] Mir-át ez-Zemán, events of the year above mentioned.
[255] Idem, Proverbs of the Arabs; and my Lexicon, _voce_ "khaṭaba."
[256] The izár, or eezár (for the word is written in two different
ways), is a piece of drapery commonly worn by Arab women when they
appear in public. It is about two yards or more in width (according to
the height of the wearer), and three yards in length; one edge of it
being drawn from behind, over the upper part of the head and forehead,
and secured by a band sewed inside, the rest hangs down behind and on
each side to the ground, or nearly so, and almost entirely envelops the
person; the two ends being held so as nearly to meet in front. Thus it
conceals every other part of the dress excepting a small portion of a
very loose gown (which is another of the articles of walking or riding
apparel), and the face-veil. It is now generally made of white calico,
but a similar covering of black silk for the married, and of white silk
for the unmarried, is now worn by women of the higher and middle
classes, called a ḥabarah.
It appears that the kind of face-veil, called in Arabic ḳináạ is a
piece of muslin, about a yard or more in length, and somewhat less in
width, a portion of which is placed over the head, beneath the izár, the
rest hanging down in front, to the waist, or thereabout, and entirely
concealing the face. I have often seen Arab women, particularly those of
the Wahhábees, wearing veils of this kind composed of printed muslin,
completely concealing their features, yet of sufficiently loose fabric
to admit of their seeing their way. But the more common kind of Arab
face-veil is a long strip of white muslin, or of a kind of black crape,
covering the whole of the face excepting the eyes, and reaching nearly
to the feet. It is suspended at the top by a narrow band, which passes
up the forehead, and which is sewed, as are also the two upper corners
of the veil, to a band that is tied round the head. This veil is called
burḳo´. The black kind is often ornamented with gold coins, false
pearls, etc., attached to the upper part. It is not so genteel as the
white veil, unless for a lady in mourning.
[257] Chap. iv. 26, 27.
[258] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 4.
[259] Idem, section 6.
[260] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, i. 229.
[261] Idem, i. 223.
[262] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 78.
[263] Idem, ii. 79.
[264] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 4.
[265] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 8.
[266] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 8.
[267] Ibid.; and Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 105.
[268] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 104.
[269] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, loco laudato; and Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ,
ii. 89.
[270] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, 1.1.; Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 89.
[271] Account of the Emeer Moḥammad Agha El-Bároodee, obituary, year
1205.
[272] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 8.
[273] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 7.
[274] Modern Egyptians, ch. vi.
[275] "The Protestants of Hungary admit the plea of 'irrevocabile
odium.'"--Urquhart's Spirit of the East, ii. 416.
[276] A religious lady once asked me if I so conformed with the manners
of the Easterns as to eat in their "beastly manner." I replied, "Do not
call it a 'beastly manner:' call it the manner of our Lord and his
Apostles." But some excuse may be made in this case. I was determined,
when I first went to the East, never to conform to the practice of
eating with the fingers when I could avoid it; however, after I had
first seen the manner of doing this, I immediately adopted the custom,
and continued it.
[277] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 81.
[278] Selections from the Ḳur-án, 1st. ed., p. 59.
[279] Urquhart's Spirit of the East, ii. 415-416. See the two chapters
on "the life of the Harem" and "State of Women," which I think the most
valuable portion of the book.
[280] Modern Egyptians, ch. vi.
[281] A fellow-wife is called, in Arabic, "ḍarrah," a word derived
from "ḍarar," which signifies "injury," because fellow-wives usually
experience injurious treatment, one from another. The word "ḍarrah,"
in vulgar or colloquial Arabic (by substituting a soft for an emphatic
_d_, and _u_ for _a_), is pronounced "durrah," which properly signifies
"a parrot." "The life of a fellow-wife is bitter" ("´eeshet
eḍ-ḍurrah murrah") is a common proverb. [Eṭ-Ṭantáwee.]
[282] This is the usual way of informing a person that another is dead.
Many say in the same case, "Mayest thou live!" and then being asked,
"Who is dead?" mention the name.
[283] El-Jabartee's History, vol. i., obituary of the year 1188.