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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“The funeral of a devout shaikh, or of one of the great ʿUlamā, is still more numerously attended, and the bier of such a person is not covered with a shawl. A ‘walī’ is further honoured in his funeral by a remarkable custom. Women follow his bier, but, instead of wailing, as they would after the corpse of an ordinary mortal, they rend the air with the shrill and quavering cries of joy called ‘zaghārīt̤’; and if these cries are discontinued but for a minute, the bearers of the bier protest that they cannot proceed, that a supernatural power rivets them to the spot on which they stand. Very often, it is said, a ‘walī’ impels the bearers of his corpse to a particular spot. The following anecdote, describing an ingenious mode of puzzling a dead saint in a case of this kind, was related to me by one of my friends. Some men were lately bearing the corpse of a ‘walī’ to a tomb prepared for it in the great cemetery on the north of the metropolis, but on arriving at the gate called Bābu ʾn-Naṣr, which leads to the cemetery, they found themselves unable to proceed further, from the cause above-mentioned. ‘It seems,’ said one of the bearers, ‘that the shaikh is determined not to be buried in the cemetery of Bābu ʾn-Naṣr, and what shall we do?’ They were all much perplexed, but being as obstinate as the saint himself, they did not immediately yield to his caprice. Retreating a few paces, and then advancing with a quick step, they thought by such an impetus to force the corpse through the gateway; but their efforts were unsuccessful; and the same experiment they repeated in vain several times. They then placed the bier on the ground to rest and consult; and one of them, beckoning away his comrades to a distance beyond the hearing of the dead saint, said to them, ‘Let us take up the bier again, and turn it round several times till the shaikh becomes giddy; he then will not know in what direction we are going, and we may take him easily through the gate.’ This they did; the saint was puzzled as they expected, and quietly buried in the place which he had so striven to avoid.