The Polite Form Of Address To
One Of Them Is "Agha"-Master,-In The Plural "Aghawat." In Partibus,
They Exact The Greatest Respect From Men, And The Title Of The Eunuch
Of The Tomb Is Worth A Considerable Sum To Them.
The eunuchs of
Al-Madinah are more numerous and better paid than those of Meccah:
They
are generally the slaves of rich men at Constantinople, and prefer this
city on account of its climate.
[FN#61] The "Sons of the City," however, are always allowed to do such
service gratis; if, indeed, they are not paid for it.
[FN#62] Others told me that there were only two muftis at Al-Madinah,
namely, those of the Hanafi and Shafe'i schools. If this be true, it
proves the insignificance of the followers of Malik, which personage,
like others, is less known in his own town than elsewhere.
[FN#63] The Hanbali school is nowhere common except in Nijd, and the
lands Eastward as far as Al-Hasa. At present it labours under a sort of
imputation, being supposed to have thrown out a bad offshoot, the
Wahhabis.
[FN#64] "Ruasa" is the plural of Rais, a chief or president. It is the
term generally applied in Arabia to the captain of a vessel, and in
Al-Yaman it often means a barber, in virtue, I presume, of its
root-Ras, the head.
[FN#65] Some say that the Egyptian distinction between the Imam Khatib
and the Imam Ratib does not obtain at Al-Madinah.
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