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
Many a visitor, on entering
the tomb, kisses the threshold, or touches it with his right hand, which
he then kisses; and on passing by it, persons often touch the window and
kiss the hand thus honoured.
The great periodical or annual festivals are observed with additional
ceremonies, and by crowds of visitors. These are called Moolids (more
properly Mólids), and are held on the anniversary of the birth of the
saint or in commemoration of that event. Persons are then hired to
recite the Ḳur-án in and near the tomb during the day; and others,
chiefly darweeshes, employ themselves during the night in performing
zikrs, which consist in repeating the name of God, or the profession of
his unity, etc., in chorus, accompanying the words by certain motions of
the head, hands, or whole body; munshids, at intervals, singing
religious odes or love songs during these performances, to the
accompaniment of a náy, which is a kind of flute, or the arghool, which
is a double reed-pipe. These moolids are scenes of rejoicing and of
traffic, which men and boys and girls attend to eat sweetmeats, and
drink coffee and sherbets, or to amuse themselves with swinging, or
turning on a whirligig, or witnessing the feats of conjurers, or the
performances of dancers; and to which tradesmen repair to sell or barter
their goods. The visitors to the great moolids of the Seyyid Aḥmad
El-Bedawee at Ṭanṭà in the Delta of Egypt, which are great fairs
as well as religious festivals, are almost as numerous as the pilgrims
at Mekkeh. During a moolid, the inhabitants of the houses in the
neighbourhood of the tomb hang lamps before their houses, and spend a
great part of the night listening to the story-tellers at the
coffee-shops, or attending the zikrs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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