Читать книгу A Dictionary of Islam. Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion онлайн

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A funeral procession in Egypt is graphically described by Mr. Lane in his Modern Egyptians. We give the account as it contrasts strikingly with the simple processions of Sunnī Muḥammadans in India.

“The first persons are about six or more poor men, called ‘Yamanīyah,’ mostly blind, who proceed two and two, or three and three, together. Walking at a moderate pace, or rather slowly, they chant incessantly, in a melancholy tone, the profession of faith (‘There is no deity but God; Muhammad is God’s Apostle; God favour and preserve him!’). They are followed by some male relations and friends of the deceased, and, in many cases, by two or more persons of some sect of darweshes, bearing the flags of their order. This is a general custom at the funeral of a darwesh. Next follow three or four or more schoolboys; one of them carries a mus̤ḥaf (or copy of the Qurʾān), or a volume consisting of one of the thirty sections of the Qurʾān, placed upon a kind of desk formed of palm-sticks, and covered over, generally with an embroidered kerchief. These boys chant, in a higher and livelier voice than the Yamanīyah, usually some words of a poem called the Ḥashrīyah, descriptive of the events of the last day, the judgment, &c. The schoolboys immediately precede the bier, which is borne head-foremost. Three or four friends of the deceased usually carry it for a short distance; then three or four other friends bear it a little further; and then these are in like manner relieved. Casual passengers, also, often take part in this service, which is esteemed highly meritorious. Behind the bier walk the female mourners; sometimes a group of more than a dozen, or twenty; with their hair dishevelled, though generally concealed by the head-veil; crying and shrieking, as before described; and often, the hired mourners accompany them, celebrating the praises of the deceased. Among the women, the relations and domestics of the deceased are distinguished by a strip of linen or cotton stuff or muslin, generally blue, bound round the head, and tied in a single knot behind: the ends hanging down a few inches. Each of these also carries a handkerchief, usually dyed blue, which she sometimes holds over her shoulders, and at other times twirls with both hands over her head, or before her face. The cries of the women, the lively chanting of the youths, and the deep tones uttered by the Yamanīyah, compose a strange discord.