Arabian Society in the Middle Ages: Studies From The Thousand and One NightsLane, Edward William
Islamic
Arabian Society in the Middle Ages: Studies From The Thousand and One Nights
Lane, Edward William
Arabian nights; Egypt -- Social life and customs; Islamic Empire -- Social life and customs; Social history -- Medieval, 500-1500
I wanted to ask thee for something to-day; but I feared, I feared
greatly. Thou must be invested with the wiláyeh [_i.e._ be made a
welee]: the welees love thee, and the Prophet loves thee. Thou must go
to the sheykh Muṣṭafà El-Munádee and the sheykh El-Baháee.[74]
Thou must be a welee." He then took my right hand, in the manner
commonly practised in the ceremony which admits a person a darweesh, and
repeated the Fátiḥah; after which he added, "I have admitted thee my
darweesh." Having next told me of several circumstances relating to my
family--matters of an unusual nature--with singular minuteness and
truth, he added, "To-night, if it be the will of God, thou shalt see the
Prophet in thy sleep, and El-Khiḍr and the Seyyid El-Bedawee. This is
Rejeb, and I wanted to ask thee--but I feared--I wanted to ask of thee
four piasters, to buy meat and bread and oil and radishes. Rejeb! Rejeb!
I have great offices to do for thee to-night."
Less than a shilling for all he promised was little enough: I gave it
him for the trouble he had taken; and he uttered many abrupt prayers for
me. In the following night, however, I saw in my sleep neither
Moḥammad, nor El-Khiḍr, nor the Seyyid El-Bedawee, unless, like
Nebuchadnezzar, I was unable on awaking to remember my dreams.
Some reputed saints of the more respectable class, to avoid public
notice, wear the general dress and manners of their fellow-countrymen,
and betray no love of ostentation in their acts of piety and
self-denial; or live as hermits in desert places, depending solely upon
Providence for their support, and are objects of pious and charitable
visits from the inhabitants of near and distant places, and from casual
travellers. Others distinguish themselves by the habit of a darweesh, or
by other peculiarities, such as a long and loose coat (called dilḳ)
composed of patches of cloth of various colours, long strings of beads
hung upon the neck, a ragged turban, and a staff with shreds of cloth of
different colours attached to the top; or obtain a reputation for
miraculous powers by eating glass, fire, serpents, etc. Some of those
who are insane, and of those who feign to be so, go about, even in
crowded cities, in a state of perfect nudity, and are allowed to commit
with impunity acts of brutal sensuality which the law, when appealed to,
should punish with death. Such practices are forbidden by the religion
and law even in the cases of saints; but common and deeply-rooted
superstition prevents their punishment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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