NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTH.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Lane, Edward William, Poole, Edward Stanley, and Harvey, William
Note 31. I suppose the iron dirhem to be symbolic of the eye because it is round, and perhaps likewise because the Arabic term for "iron" (namely "ḥadeed") has also the signification of "sharp" or "piercing;" in which sense it is often applied to the sight (as in the Ḳur-án, ch. l. v. 21). See the next note.
Note 32. From this double oath, it seems to me probable, that, by the circular form of the dirhem, an allusion was meant to God (as being without beginning or end), and that the matter of which it was composed (from what I have said in the note immediately preceding), as well as its form, conveyed the allusion to the eye.
Note 33. This gentle kneading or pressing of the limbs, which is one of the operations performed in the bath, is often practised by the Arabs for the purpose of inducing sleep.
Note 34. This is a kind of nebeedh. (See Note 22 to Chapter iii.) The same fruit is also stewed with meat. It is called in Arabic "'onnáb."
Note 35. See Note 18 to Chapter vii.
Note 36. It is seen that 'Azeezeh speaks of herself in the masculine gender in the verses here inserted; but this is in accordance with a common Arab custom.
Note 37.—On the Ceremony called Zikr. Zikrs are very often performed after a death; the merit of the performance being transferred to the soul of the deceased.
I have before mentioned these ceremonies (in Note 63 to Chapter iii.); but in a vague manner; and as it is my object in the present work to give such illustrations as will satisfy the general reader, without obliging him to refer to other books, I shall here insert an abridged extract, descriptive of a zikr, from my Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians.
The zikkeers (or performers of the zikr), who were about thirty in number, sat, cross-legged, upon matting extended close to the houses on one side of the street, in the form of an oblong ring.377 Within this ring, along the middle of the matting, were placed three very large wax candles; each about four feet high, and stuck in a low candlestick. Most of the zikkeers were Aḥmedee darweeshes, persons of the lower orders, and meanly dressed: many of them wore green turbans. At one end of the ring were four munshids (or singers of religious odes), and with them was a player on the kind of flute called "náy." I procured a small seat of palm-sticks from a coffee-shop close by, and, by means of a little pushing, and the assistance of my servant, obtained a place with the munshids, and sat there to hear a complete act, or "meglis," of the zikr; which act commenced at about three o'clock (or three hours after sunset), and continued two hours.
The performers began by reciting the Fát'ḥah (or opening chapter of the Ḳur-án) all together; their sheykh, or chief, first exclaiming, "El-Fát'ḥah!" They then chanted the following words;—"O God, bless our lord Moḥammad among the former generations; and bless our lord Moḥammad among the latter generations; and bless our lord Moḥammad in every time and period; and bless our lord Moḥammad in the highest degree, unto the day of judgment; and bless all the prophets and apostles among the inhabitants of the heavens and of the earth; and may God (whose name be blessed and exalted!) be well pleased with our lords and our masters, those persons of illustrious estimation, Aboo-Bekr and 'Omar and 'Osmán and 'Alee, and with all the favourites of God. God is our sufficiency; and excellent is the Guardian! There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! O God! O our Lord! O Thou liberal of pardon! O Thou most bountiful of the most bountiful! O God! Amen!"—They were then silent for three or four minutes; and again recited the Fát'ḥah; but silently. This form of prefacing the zikr is commonly used, by almost all orders of darweeshes in Egypt.
The performers now commenced the zikr. Sitting in the manner above described, they chanted, in slow measure, "Lá iláha illa-lláh" ("There is no deity but God") to the following air:—