The First Thing On Rising Is To Perform The Wuzu, Or Lesser Ablution,
Which Invariably Follows Sleep In A Reclining Position; Without This It
Would Be Improper To Pray, To Enter The Mosques, To Approach A
Religious Man, Or To Touch The Koran.
A few pauper patients usually
visit me at this hour, report the phenomena of their complaints,-which
they do, by the bye, with unpleasant minuteness of detail,-and receive
fresh instructions.
At 9 A.M. Shaykh Mohammed enters, with "lecture"
written upon his wrinkled brow; or I pick him up on the way, and
proceed straight to the Mosque Al-Azhar. After three hours' hard
reading, with little interruption from bystanders-this is long
vacation, most of the students being at home-comes the call to mid-day
prayer. The founder of Al-Islam ordained but few devotions for the
morning, which is the business part of the Eastern day; but during the
afternoon and evening they succeed one another rapidly, and their
length increases. It is then time to visit my rich patients, and
afterwards, by way of accustoming myself to the sun, to wander among
the bookshops for an hour or two, or simply to idle in the street. At 3
P.M. I return home, recite the afternoon prayers, and re-apply myself
to study.
This is the worst part of the day. In Egypt the summer nights and
mornings are, generally speaking,
[p.78]pleasant, but the forenoons are sultry, and the afternoons are
serious.
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