But The
Former Quality Is The Result Of Ostentation, The Latter Is A
Characteristic Of The Semitic Race, Long Ago Made Familiar To Europe By
The Jew.
The citizens will run deeply in debt, expecting a good season
of devotees to pay off their liabilities, or relying upon the next
begging trip to Turkey; and such a proceeding, contrary to the custom
of the Moslem world, is not condemned by public opinion.
Above all
their qualities, personal conceit is remarkable: they show it in their
strut, in their looks, and almost in every word. “I am such an one, the
son of such an one,” is a common expletive, especially in times of
danger; and this spirit is not wholly to be condemned, as it certainly
acts as an incentive to gallant actions. But it often excites them to
vie with one another in expensive entertainments and similar vanities.
The expression, so offensive to English ears, Inshallah Bukra—Please God,
tomorrow—always said about what should be done to-day, is here common as
in Egypt or in India. This procrastination belongs more or less to all
Orientals. But Arabia especially abounds in the Tawakkal al’ Allah, ya
Shaykh!—Place thy reliance upon Allah, O Shaykh!—enjoined when a man should
depend upon his own exertions. Upon the whole, however, though alive to
the infirmities of the Madani character, I thought favourably of it,
finding among this people more of the redeeming point, manliness,
[p.22]than in most Eastern nations with whom I am acquainted.
The Arabs, like the Egyptians, all marry. Yet, as usual, they are hard
and facetious upon that ill-treated subject—matrimony. It has exercised
the brain of their wits and sages, who have not failed to indite
notable things concerning it. Saith “Harikar al-Hakim” [(]Dominie Do-All)
to his nephew Nadan (Sir Witless), whom he would dissuade from taking
to himself a wife, “Marriage is joy for a month and sorrow for a life,
and the paying of settlements and the breaking of back (i.e. under the
load of misery), and the listening to a woman's tongue!” And again we
have in verse:—
“They said ‘marry!’ I replied, ‘far be it from me
To take to my bosom a sackful of snakes.
I am free—why then become a slave?
May Allah never bless womankind!’”
And the following lines are generally quoted, as affording a kind of
bird’s-eye view of female existence:—
“From 10 (years of age) unto 20,
A repose to the eyes of beholders.[FN#35]
From 20 unto 30,
Still fair and full of flesh.
From 30 unto 40,
A mother of many boys and girls.
From 40 unto 50,
An old woman of the deceitful.
From 50 unto 60,
Slay her with a knife.
From 60 unto 70,
The curse of Allah upon them, one and all!”
Another popular couplet makes a most unsupported assertion:—
“They declare womankind to be heaven to man,
I say, ‘Allah, give me Jahannam, and not this heaven.’”
Yet the fair sex has the laugh on its side, for these railers at
Al-Madinah as at other places, invariably marry. The
[p.23]marriage ceremony is tedious and expensive. It begins with a
Khitbah or betrothal: the father of the young man repairs to the parent
or guardian of the girl, and at the end of his visit exclaims, “The
Fatihah! we beg of your kindness your daughter for our son.” Should the
other be favourable to the proposal, his reply is, “Welcome and
congratulation to you: but we must perform Istikharah[FN#36] (religious
lot casting)”; and, when consent is given, both pledge themselves to the
agreement by reciting the Fatihah. Then commence negotiations about the
Mahr or sum settled upon the bride[FN#37]; and after the smoothing of
this difficulty follow feastings of friends and relatives, male and
female. The marriage itself is called Akd al-Nikah or Ziwaj. A Walimah
or banquet is prepared by the father of the Aris (groom), at his own
house, and the Kazi attends to perform the nuptial ceremony, the girl’s
consent being obtained through her Wakil, any male relation whom she
commissions to act for her. Then, with great pomp and circumstance, the
Aris visits his Arusah (bride) at her father’s house; and finally, with a
Zuffah or procession and sundry ceremonies at the Harim, she is brought
to her new home. Arab funerals are as simple as their marriages are
complicated. Neither Naddabah (myriologist or hired keener), nor indeed
any female, even a relation, is present at burials as in other parts of
the Moslem world,[FN#38] and it is esteemed disgraceful
[p.24]for a man to weep aloud. The Prophet, ho doubtless had heard of
those pagan mournings, where an effeminate and unlimited display of woe
was often terminated by licentious excesses, like the Christian’s
half-heathen “wakes,” forbad [a]ught beyond a decent demonstration of
grief. And his strong good sense enabled him to see through the vanity
of professional mourners. At Al-Madinah the corpse is interred shortly
after decease. The bier is carried though the streets at a moderate
pace, by friends and relatives,[FN#39] these bringing up the rear.
Every man who passes lends his shoulder for a minute, a mark of respect
to the dead, and also considered a pious and a prayerful act. Arrived
at the Harim, they carry the corpse in visitation to the Prophet’s
window, and pray over it at Osman’s niche. Finally, it is interred after
the usual Moslem fashion in the cemetery Al-Bakia.
Al-Madinah, though pillaged by the Wahhabis, still abounds in books.
Near the Harim are two Madrasah or colleges, the Mahmudiyah, so called
from Sultan Mahmud, and that of Bashir Agha: both have large stores of
theological and other works. I also heard of extensive private
collections, particularly of one belonging to the Najib al-Ashraf, or
chief of the Sharifs, a certain Mohammed Jamal al-Layl, whose father is
well-known in India.
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