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VEILED MYSTERIES
OF EGYPT

Mil

S. H. LEE

VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT

Photo]

\Lekegian, Cairo-.

The Gorgeous New Mosoue of El-Rifai, near the Citadel, in Cairo.
This mosque has I.een built by the family of the Khedive at a fabulous cost. This photograph, which is the first of the mosque
to be publibheJ, was laken by special permission for this book.

VEILED MYSTERIES
OF EGYPT
AND THE RELIGION OF ISLAM

BY

S. H. LEEDER
AUTHOR OF "THE DESERT GATEWAY"

WITH PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR
G. LEKEGIAN, AND P. DITTRICH, CAIRO

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1913

TO
EDWARD BOUSFIELD DAWSON
AS A SIGN OF
AFFECTION AND GRATITUDE

PREFACE
There has always been a veil of mystery over the
religion of Islam, from its very first days. The mockery
of the Jews stung the early Moslems, who sprang from
a people keenly sensitive to ridicule, as they are even now.
The bitterest sayings of the Prophet were excited by
those who scoffed at the religious exercises of himself
and his followers.
It was mockery that led Mohammed to enjoin
secrecy for much of the liturgical worship of his people,
and possibly had something to do with the order to seal
Arabia, and the Holy Cities of Medina and Mecca
especially, against all men of a different faith. It is
the fear of mockery which closes the most sacred places
of Islam to this day, a fear which in some places engenders
a fanatical resentment against the prying of strangers.
Secrecy has told against a proper understanding of
the practices of this religion. An almost invulnerable
reticence on the part of its adherents has led the casual
or unsympathetic observer into mistaken judgments,
or has left those in deep ignorance of the truth, who,
dealing with a franker people, would, by residence amongst
them, have become familiar with the views and practices
of their neighbours. It is a rare thing in Egypt, for
instance, to find anything more than a superficial know
ledge of Islam on the part of European residents. As
for the ordinary tourist, between the chicanery of the

Vlll

PREFACE

plausible scamp calling himself a dragoman, and the
deep reserve of the religious Moslem, it is something
less than knowledge that he takes away with him.
To anyone who would understand the greater human
forces at work in the world, the importance of something
like a just appreciation of a religion numbering over
two hundred and sixty million souls is at once evident.
Napoleon at one period of his life thought to use this
great force in his project of a world-conquest, and
declared that he might even become a Moslem himself.
In our present day we have seen the approach of Ger
many to Islamic Turkey, with an undoubted eye on
the Chaliphate of Islam ; the Kaiser going so far
as to speak of the Sultan as " my friend and ally."
In Cairo I have heard the suggestion, from Mr. Carl
Peters himself, which in one of his recent books of travel
he puts into precise words : " There is one factor which
might fall on our side of the balance, and in the case of
a world-war might be made useful to us ; that factor
is Islam. As Pan-Islamism it could be played against
Great Britain, as well as against the French Republic,
and if German policy is bold enough, it can fashion the
dynamite to blow into air the rule of the Western
Powers from Cape Nun (Morocco) to Calcutta."
And yet the extent of the ignorance of Islam in the
West is as great as it is incomprehensible. Any man who
has nothing to guide him but the popular knowledge
of the Prophet of Arabia and his teachings, as they
affect his followers to-day, must find, as I did, when
I came to live with the Arab folk of North Africa, and
later of Egypt, and to read the Koran for myself, how
perplexingly ignorant of the truth he is.
If he turns to thewritings of the professional Oriental-

PREFACE ix
ist he finds little real help, for they are redolent of the
lamp, and seldom of the ways and haunts of living men ;
to the writings of the missionaries, he finds them in
many cases imbued with a strange dislike of everything
Islamic, which makes them partial, and inadequate to
really inform the mind of the unprejudiced inquirer.
I do not write this in antagonism to the work of the
missionaries. But I am bound to admit that I know
nothing more misleading than those missionary writings,
which are having the greatest acceptance just now, of
the Rev. W. St. Clair-Tisdall, whose Religion of the Cres
cent I consider a heartless book, for all its scholarship.
One page of Lady Duff Gordon's kindly observations
of the life of Moslem people in her Letters from Egypt is
worth all its erudition. Mr. Samuel M. Zwemer, the
secretary of the Students' Volunteer Movement in
America, who has lived as a missionary in Arabia, is
another prolific writer whose cruel and relentless attacks
on Islam are finding great acceptance with stay-at-home
people of the West. Though the readers may be excited
thereby at the degradation and darkness they are called
upon to contribute to remove, they are certainly misled
if they think they are gaining a fair view of the life and
religion of the people described. It is strange to me
that men holding views so lacking in sympathetic insight
as these two writers could ever expect to find any
acceptance with, or to do good to, the people they can
so write of.
The controversy aroused by a speech of the Bishop
of London last year, in the Albert Hall, will be fresh
in many minds. Moslems everywhere were amazed
and hurt that they could be said to " turn out the name
of Christ as evil," the name they revere equally with

x PREFACE
the name of their Prophet, and whose virgin mother
they never mention without terms of deep respect.
The Bishop, when the storm broke, admitted that he
knew nothing of Islam, but had gone for his information
to the work, The Reproach of Islam, by the Rev. W. H.
T. Gairdner, who for over ten years has been a missionary
in Cairo. This work is not bitter, as the others are, but
it is, like them, lacking in that sense of human affection,
without which, it seems to me, no man can expect to find
acceptance for a religious message by a strange people ;
for without affection he can never truly understand
their aspirations and their needs.
It is true there are other men amongst the missionaries
to Islam who are pursuing a different line, taking to their
work a genial and unbiased spirit, which puts them in
kindly touch with the people they want to help. As
an instance of a work of this sort, I may mention Aspects
of Islam, by Duncan Black Macdonald. The Rev. C. F.
Andrews, of Delhi, is a man who never says a word about
the Moslem people which is not instinct with kindliness
and justice. If such books increase, it will be impossible
to assert that it is to the works only of ordinary travellers,
and not of missionaries, that one must look for anything
like a true picture of the life and religion of Islamic lands.
I hope my simple work may be found to contribute
a little to the result I desire — of greater fairness and
better understanding and appreciation of the motives
and ideals of the followers of Mohammed. My only
equipment is sympathy, a fairly long residence with the
people I have sought to know, and quite exceptional
facilities, in Egypt especially, for getting behind the
veil, for penetrating the mysteries of the religion pre
dominant there.

PREFACE xi
A profound study of Islam, based upon the immense
Arabic literature, it is not in my power to attempt. I
have striven only to give the living people the oppor
tunity, which they have never^had, of stating for them
selves their beliefs and their views. I have tried to fit
into the picture of their life, as I saw it, something of
their ideals, with a sympathetic appreciation of what
I found to be good and true in the practice of their
religion. The teaching they follow is not wanting in
stimulation to noble impulses, or of restraining power
against evil. In commending to them a higher message,
like that of the Gospel of Christ, it is not, to my mind,
necessary in any degree to deny these things. Indeed,
I am convinced that it has been a great mistake to do
this, accounting probably for that want of advance which
is always to be deplored.
If it is thought that my picture is too favourable,
that I have dwelt too little upon the decadence of
Islam, and of the low moral tone prevailing in the East,
I can only answer that I look upon my work as merely
a supplement to volumes that have been written on this
phase of the subject. I have sought the brighter colours,
which I consider other men have ignored, hoping truth
may gain by a little genial light being thrown upon the
whole scene, which before has been too much depressed
by the severe and sombrous tones in which it has been
represented. To mention the names of all those leaders and
authorities in Islam in Egypt who helped me, and with
whom I discussed all the important questions of their faith,
would be to tabulate almost every name of importance
in the Moslem world at its intellectual centre — Cairo.
To the Head of the Church in Egypt I tender my

xii PREFACE
grateful acknowledgments, as well as to every other
man — sheikh or cadi, teacher or administrator, who so
courteously assisted me. To private friends innumer
able, in all parts of Egypt, who did so much to make my
long stay profitable and enjoyable, I give thanks. Such
friendship as I have found in the East would enrich the
life of any man. To mention names in any category
would be tedious as well as invidious.

CONTENTS BOOK I
MOSLEM LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE
CHAP. PAGE 3

I. Life in a Remote Village
II. The Fellaheen at Home

15
3147 5872
8398

III. Talk about Nationalism, Lord Cromer's Work, Slavery
and Other Things .....
IV. A Visit to a Nomad Village ....
V. What the People Eat. Village Characters, Grave and
Gay .......
VI. Palace Homes in Cairo .....
VII. A Country Palace : Talks with the Sheikh of Tanta
VIII. A Glorious Garden, and a Pasha's Bequests
BOOK II
REFLECTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS IN THE MOSQUES
I. Attending the Evening Prayer and Hearing an In
formal Sermon . . . . . . 113
II. At another Cairo Mosque . . . . .123
III. Admission to the Most Sacred Mosque, and seeing the
Sewing of the Holy Carpet, and also the Sacred
Relics of the Prophet ..... 135
IV. A Native Banquet. Moslem Mystics in Retreat, and a
Great Zikr ....... 156
V. How the Mosques are Governed. A Modern Mosque
Sermon . . . . . . .174

xiv CONTENTS

BOOK III
GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS
CHAP. PAGE
I. What is the Holy Carpet, and the Mahmal? . . 195
II. The Starting on the Pilgrimage . . . .214
III. The Visiting of Saints' Tombs. The Horrible Procession
of Hassan and Hosein in Cairo. Nights for God . 224
IV. The Prophet's Birthday in Cairo . . . .241

BOOK IV
THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM AS INTERPRETED
THROUGH THE MOSLEMS THEMSELVES
I. The Moslem Conception of God ... . 259
II. What do they think of Sin and Prayer? . . .271
III. A Study in Fanaticism ...... 287
IV. Of Fatalism . . . . . . .307
V. What the Moslems think of the Lord Jesus Christ . 319
VI. Beliefs as to the Equality and Brotherhood of Man . 332
VII. The Position of Women ...... 340
VIII. A New Way with Moslems . . . .371
Notes ...... . 400

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
The Gorgeous New Mosque of El-Rifai, near the Citadel, in
Cairo ........ Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
A Village Scene : Drawing Water from the Nile for
Irrigation Purposes ...... 8
An Egyptian Woman and Babe . . . . .16
The "Oldest Inhabitant," aged no, engaged with his
Daughter in picking Corn Cobs at his Cottage Door . 18
"On the Village Green" . . . . . .18
The Imam at the Mosque Door, holding in his Hand the
Wooden Sword on which the Preacher leans in the
Pulpit .......

The Author in Sheikh's Dress
An Egyptian Family having a Meal
Ploughing in Egypt by a Method which goes back to the
Days of the Patriarchs .....
A Village Scene in Egypt : Threshing the Corn
A Village Scene : Drawing Water from the Nile by the
Hand-worked Shadouf ....
The Daily Visit of the Water-Carrier

22 222636 5°5464

"The only Trace of Graciousness the Palace ever showed to
the Outer World of the Street was the Beautiful
Mashrabieh Work of the Bay Windows at the Top of the
House "....... 72
The Hareem of an Old Palace in Cairo . . . .76
Inside the Courtyard of an Old Palace in Cairo 80
"A Drink of Water in. the Name of Allah !" . . .88
A Scene in the Great University of Al Azar in Cairo . 94

xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
The Ablution Fountain . . . ¦ • .102
Dome and Minaret . . . , ¦ • 114
The Minarets of Al Azar University, Cairo . . .146
A Typical Street Scene in Cairo— Sharia Helmieh . . 168
The Gorgeously Embroidered Cover for the Tomb of Ibrahim
at Mecca ........ 202
The Mahmal in Cairo, guarded by Egyptian Troops . . 202
Egyptian Women visiting the Mahmal at Abbasieh . . 204
Workers of the Holy Carpet in their Distinctive Robe . 204
The Camp of the Mahmal (The Holy Carpet) . . 216
The Mahmal at Abbasieh, near Cairo . . . 216
One of the Famous City Gates at Cairo .... 242
The Gathering Crowds of Men and Boys for the Procession
on the Prophet's Birthday ..... 242
The "Whirling Dervishes" and Musicians . . .252
Prayer at the Patron's Tomb in the Mosque of Sultan
Barkouk, Cairo ....... 274
A Street in Native Cairo, penetrated by the Noon-day Sun . 288
The Magnificent Arcade of Century Arches in the Ruins
of the Mosque of Ibn Touloun, Cairo. . . . 304
The House Tombs under the Citadel, Cairo . . .314
One of the Splendid Fountains which are found at almost
every turn in the Streets of Cairo .... 334
The Doorway of an Arab House ..... 348
Taking a Drink at a Public Fountain . . . .368
Outside one of the Old- Fashioned Koran Schools — Kuttabs —
in Cairo ........ 388

BOOK I
MOSLEM HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND
VILLAGE

VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT

CHAPTER I
" Strange as it may appear to a generation accustomed to look upon
Islam as a cloak for all kinds of vice, it is nevertheless true that . . . many
Christians who have come into contact with a living Moslem Society
have been profoundly impressed by the virtues exhibited therein."
Arnold, The Preaching of Islam, p. 345.
Hospitality and all that generous chivalry which the
protection and care of guests may call forth, are virtues
which cover all sins with a true Moslem, especially if
he be of Arab descent, however remote. To be hospit
able was as important to the ancient tribesmen of
Arabia as to be brave :
" A rushing rainflood when he gave guerdons ;
When he sprang to the onset, a mighty lion."
Those writers who seek to discredit the Prophet
by pointing to the pre-Islamic virtues, should look here
for their evidence. The tribal system, when each tribe
was ruled by the most generous and the bravest member
of it, who pitched his tent at the point most likely to
be attacked by an enemy or seen by a returning friend,
or a needy wayfarer, had in it noble qualities. With
the destruction of the tribal system there was sure to be
a diminishing of these virtues, as displayed in royal
fashion especially by the chosen leader. But it should
not be forgotten that by the same process of reasoning

4 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
it may be shown that the feudal times in England were
better than the days of greater security and freedom,
for the mass of the people, which succeeded them.
But, as a matter of fact, these noble virtues as shown
in the primitive chief have largely survived in the whole
Arab race, and in a thousand ways still manifest them
selves to the delight of those who come into such inti
mate relations with the Arab Moslems as admit them
into the inner shrine of the home, whether it be the
tent or the palace. Not even the austerities of the sect
of the Wahabees, who in a blaze of grim Puritan zeal
last century tried to take Islam back to the teaching of
the Koran and the example of the Prophet, by abolishing
all personal display and making smoking and even coffee-
drinking a sin — they would not have carpets on their
floors because the Prophet had none — could suppress
the inherited instincts of a generous hospitality in
the Arab mind, as Palgrave testifies in the story of his
travels in Central Arabia. It was Palgrave who found
painted over a door the distich of the celebrated poet,
Omar-ibn-el-Farid :
" Welcome to him of whose approach I am all unworthy,
Welcome to the voice announcing joy after lonely melancholy,
Good tidings thine ; off with the robes of sadness ; for know
Thou art accepted, and I myself will take on me whatsoever grieves
thee."
It has been my privilege to enjoy the hospitality and
genial protection of Moslem people under almost every
condition — in the Palace of the Pasha, and in the " town
house " of the country gentleman in Cairo, as well as in
the home of the " Squire " on his distant estates in Upper
Egypt. In the Delta, too, I have stayed in what we
should call a ducal house, famous for its lavish entertain-

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 5
ment of guests, who might be embarrassed by the wealth
of hospitality shown them, but for that charming
courtesy with which it is offered — a courtesy perfect in
its quietness and restraint, which enables it to wed
itself with the desires and wishes of the guest in such a
way that the mind becomes free to enjoy the good that
is offered without a single disturbing thought.
This same chivalry towards a guest appears equally,
as I well know, in the tent of the desert, and the mud
hut of the remote oasis, where it can charm away the
limitations of poverty as surely as it can soften the
demonstrativeness of wealth. I valued very highly these
opportunities of intimate acquaintance with the people,
apart from the true friendships I formed, for the Euro
pean rarely sees the best of Moslem society. He easily
makes acquaintance with the official class, the Egyptian
who has learned in European cities to despise his religion ;
but he is debarred as a rule from entering the circle of
true Moslems of good birth and education and pious
life. We were invited to spend a week in a remote village
in Upper Egypt with friends whom we had known and
visited in Cairo. Arrived at the nearest railway station
we were met by a son of the house, with a regular caval
cade of servants and horses, and the humble ass, for the
five-mile ride across the fertile plain. The white Arab
mare reserved for my use was gorgeous in its trappings ;
it was the squire's own beast, in gala array. The servants
— each beast had an attendant — were of the fellaheen
class, gentle and smiling, as that simple people usually
are ; especially when, as in this case, they are attached to
an old historic house and a master whom they revere,
and as their ancestors have been, " time out of mind."

6 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
Our winding narrow path lay through the fields, and
by the waterways, which alone bring the possibility of
fertility to them ; the fields being green everywhere with
the tall ripe crop of sugar-cane and Indian corn, as well
as with the new beans just springing up.
All this part of Egypt flourishes under the boon of
the ever-spreading system of irrigation, which men even
in the days of Mohammed Ali dreamed of, and realised —
on paper — but which British rule has made possible.
All the canals we passed are new ; until two years since
the natural flood from the Nile was the only chance for
the one annual crop where now three crops are grown
every year.
My friends are An.b Egyptians, with all the piety of
the early Moslems, and unspoiled by that contact with
modern civilisation which their wealth enables them to
have. Naturally they owe much to this threefold en
riching of their lands, and they are candid enough to
admit this. The railway too, which recently reduced
the road distance from the village by eight miles, and
made possible a daily post, is a greatly appreciated
benefit. It is not necessary to blindly love the British occupa
tion to acknowledge the material benefits it has so
lavishly brought with it, or to give up all that is repre
sented by Nationalistic ideals because one will not
accuse it of " Egypt's ruin," or curse everything English
as it concerns the country of the Nile, in the fashion of
Mr. Wilfred Blunt.
An amusing period to our journey was made by the
canal, about half-way, which had to be crossed by ferry.
Here was an opportunity to see the country-folk at close
quarters — the promiscuous little crowd waiting for the

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 7
ferry on this side, and the group packed on the ferry
boat coming towards us, to say nothing of the various
animals which accompanied them. Anyone who knows
Egypt can imagine the noise, the excitement, the chaff
and badinage as each man gives advice — which no one
heeds — to every other soul within range.
The boatman, as an exception from the general
good temper, was a wag, but of the surly and sarcastic
order. His remarks to his human cargo were an example
of that coarseness coming from a brutal frankness of
expression so universal in the East, and which to English
ears is revolting. A criticism he hurled at a peasant
girl of fourteen or so, for her clumsiness, and at which
both men and women smiled, would — I hope — have
brought him a swift blow from the roughest navvy in
England. In Chaucer's day our own forefathers were
lacking in what we now think is decent reserve in speech ;
we had not advanced too far when Shakespeare or even
Fielding wrote. I am told that in Egypt a slow im
provement is noticeable as education increases : and
on the effendi (or gentle class), at least, intercourse with
Western people is having its effect, as I can testify. I
admit that the coarseness is still appalling in native
conversation ; but it is something gained that the
Egyptians have come to realise that its repression is re
quired by all decent Europeans with whom they have
dealings. Neither my wife nor I ever had a coarse
remark addressed to us during the many months we have
lived with Eastern people.
This boatman was particularly enraged with one of
our servants, a negro, whose mule slipped into the
canal from the muddy deck of the ferry ; the servant
nimbly jumping on to its back and swimming it across

8 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
the canal, by which two fares were lost ! Vials of
wrath for the negro, succeeded by withering scorn for
all our servants, the only tangible point of insult being
that they were wearing boots — and such boots ! the
young master's " left-offs," treasured for years, and put
on to-day in honour of visitors. He would tell the
Bey — their master — that such stuck-up rascals were
unfit to serve him. All of which abuse was received
with good-natured smiles by our party, whom he
obviously wished to excite to conflicting rage.
It was interesting to see the skill with which those
in charge of buffaloes — perhaps a young girl or a boy of
six or seven — would induce the beasts to go through
the stream so as to avoid the ferry charge. The saving
of the tenth of a penny is worth any exertion where
the folk are so poor as the fellaheen of Egypt are.
We were a merry boat-load that eventually started ;
there is nothing of bucolic muteness about these poor
labouring people, but good-humoured and ready
civility, a responsive smile, very little impertinent
curiosity, and a willingness to serve.
At last we remounted and rode away. The land
we now passed had all been under water at high Nile,
so that the two or three villages in sight standing on
slight eminences had lately been islands, but the flood
had now returned to the waterways and the river.
The villages, standing amidst their palm trees, with the
minaret of the mosque always rising as the crowning
point, looked very picturesque.
Soon in the distance the village in which we were
to stay appeared, standing prettily on its small round
hill or mound. In the centre was the large house,
remarkable in an Egyptian village from having three

Photo] (Lekegian, Cairo.
A Village Scene : Drawing Water from the Nile by the
Hand-worked Shadouf.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 9
storeys and standing very high above the other houses.
It was, however, the minarets of the mosques that our
friend Omar very proudly pointed out — for here there
are two or three places of prayer, one of them built by
the chief family of the village.
We turned across the last field of beans, then into
a lane, and were at once in the narrow ways of the
hamlet ; such a sudden contrast from those wide spaces
of land and sky of the valley of the Nile.
The great house we had seen from afar belongs to
the family with whom we are to stay ; but for us is
reserved, as the custom is, a small separate house, with
its own courtyard, adjoining the larger residence. It
was at our own door that we were received by the men
of the family, two older brothers of Omar, with that
courtesy of which we were confident. This house,
and all it contained, with its own servants, was ours ;
literally we were to have sole possession of it ; they
were honoured by our coming ; we were welcome,
more than welcome. All was ours, if only we would
please them by accepting it.
In the Eastern way, these gentle compliments would
break out again in pauses of the conversation. One
of the brothers would smile at me and say, " An honour
to our village. You bring a blessing on our house.
Allah yisallimak (God preserve you) . From this moment
we begin to live." Put into bald English, I fancy I hear
a murmur of " gush " and " effusiveness." I admit it ;
these greetings are a form of ceremonial politeness, but
they are said with a quiet graciousness which must be
experienced before, to prosaic Western minds, their
charm can be realised. And the wealth of practical
hospitality with which they are followed shows that

10 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
they are inspired by sincerity. It was remarked once
by the natives of a certain village in this part of Egypt
that the murrain broke out as a punishment for churlish
ness to a stranger !
I was amused later on to notice that this politeness
goes so far as to lead a man who is silently reading a
letter from a friend to make an audible reply to the
compliments addressed to him in the letter, in exactly
the same way as though the writer were present.
We sat for a time in the salemlik (or men's reception
hall) with our hosts and chatted and smoked and
drank coffee. Then Omar introduced us to our estab
lishment. It was built rather like a square bungalow,
only with loftier roof, and the usual central hall of the
Arab house of the rich classes, with a room at each
corner leading out of the hall.
Our bedroom was large, and, with its mosquito-
curtained beds, quite modern in its furnishing, but for
an Eastern brass jug with spout, and its basin, for
washing. Omar explained that our man-servant would
come in to pour water from the jug for us when we
wished to wash ! Then bethinking himself that English
people preferred a splashing variety of ablution, a servant
found a bigger basin and a large jug ; and our personal
Arab servant, who had no experience of Europeans,
was greatly puzzled to be told that we should not need
his help in this particular matter.
When we invite guests in the West, we tell them
what the arrangements of our menage are, and expect
them, more or less, to fall in with them. In the East,
by a series of ingenious questions, it will be elicited
what the guest's habits and wishes are, and everything
will be made to quietly fit into these. I expected this,

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE n
and on my part had tried to find what the family
customs were — with little success, I own — so that we
made what, I hope, was a compromise in what was
finally settled.
This village is so far out of the track of visitors —
tourists have never so much as dreamed of the existence
of such a place, so far from dahabieh, and Cook's steamer,
or even the humblest temple of Isis — that an Englishman
outside the official class has never been seen here, and
my wife is the first European lady even known to visit it.
I had told my friend that I was anxious to meet with
the native people " in their habit as they live " as much
as possible. And as by this time he had doffed his
European clothes and was dressed in a galabieh (a sort
of long cloth smock) he modestly suggested that I
should find it easier to approach the unsophisticated
country-folk if I wore native dress and a tarboosh. I
agreed, and soon found myself similarly robed and
with the red tarboosh (fez) on my head, while there was
placed at my disposal a second set of garments for
special wear, dressed in which I should appear as a full
member of the sheikh or learned class. In many ways
I found this clothing an advantage. Of its comfort,
if one adopts the Eastern mode of sitting on one's
crossed legs, there can be no question. As my friend
Omar, when he is in the country, is a holiday-maker,
and has time for all the daily prayers, he finds this
garment convenient, if not necessary, for making the
ablutions and other practices of his religion.
As we rode about the country a good deal, we of
course passed many men by the wayside, as well as in
the villages. I was glad to find that they all returned
my greeting " Salaam Aleikum " — " Peace be with

12 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
you " — with the usual reply, " On you be peace." This
is the general form — to be first given by the man
riding on a camel to one on horseback ; by the horse-
rider to the rider on an ass ; and by him tp the man
on foot ; by a man walking to a man sitting ; by a
small party to a large one ; by the young to the old.
Difference of rank does not enter into these general
rules touching priority of salutation. It was the
Prophet's custom to salute all men, of whatever faith
or condition ; as he said, " I am sent to be kind and
considerate to all men, and not to deal roughly or harshly
with them."
If I had been wearing a hat the people would have
looked puzzled, and possibly a little displeased, at my
salute, and in some cases would not have given the
reply, " On you be peace ! " for this is regarded as the
greeting suitable as between Moslems.
" If ye are greeted with a greeting, then greet ye
with a better greeting, or at least return it ; God
taketh count of all things " (The Koran, Sura iv. 88).
It is a mistake often made, however, to say that
the Moslem will not return the greeting of a Christian.
It is to the idolater or pagan that as a rule he will not
reply with " Peace ! " To the Christian the Moslem
often answers, "Peace be to him who follows the
right way ! "
It is extremely interesting, and sometimes amusing,
to see the ingenuity and persistency with which two
friends, especially after a long absence, will sustain a
competition in greetings, one compliment upon the
other, always with a better greeting, in obedience to
this command.
" Salaam Aleikum ! "

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 13
" Aleikum Salaam ! "
" With you be peace, and the mercy of God, and
His blessing ! "
" May your day be blessed."
" May your day be blessed as yesterday."
" May your prosperity be increased."
And so on. There is something in the Arabic
language which lends itself to a rhythmic repetition and
phrase expansion. Mr. Talbot Kelly, who knows the
out-of-the-way people of Egypt so well, from his
travels as an artist, speaks of this " old-world courtesy."
" I am frequently salaamed by a native," he says,
" who asks, ' Does your work prosper ? '
" ' Thanks to Allah,' I would reply.
" ' God increase your prosperity ! Our Lord and
the Prophet know the good men.' "
The graceful imagery of the East permeates the
expressions of all classes of men, and among the poor
fellaheen lends poetry to lives otherwise those of toil
and drudgery. Every hour we spent in the fields, and
the villages, and by the waterways, exchanging salutes
and greetings with the fellaheen, with the unfailing
handshake (imagine how it disgusts a young 'Varsity
lad fresh from England with his one-" paw-shake "-a-
term prejudice) which to a Moslem is the only right
way in which to meet a fellow-creature, whether Pasha
or slave, served to show us how true this is.
The cordial word between master and man, the
curious mixture of unclouded assurance and deference
with which the poorest and most unlettered approach
the rich and the learned ; the dignity on both sides
which allows of an equality leading to no loss of self-
respect with either — all this serves to create a happy

14 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
fellowship in a community which in a prosier sphere
would be dull or even sordid.
Only the women of the village would hide when
we appeared, by retiring into a doorway, if possible,
or by hiding their heads in their flowing black veils
— and this is a tribute to our rank, for the fellaheen
women do not veil in the formal sense as the townswoman
does ; they give no greetings, and only in the case of
a woman being well known to one of our party should
we speak to one of them.
And wherever we went we met signs of the touching,
simple kindness of these people. " Would we honour
the house by drinking coffee, or breaking bread in it ? "
was the invitation from all sides. And what they
offer — it is all they possess very often — is done as a
matter of course ; to suggest reward would be to
deeply wound them ; all they desire is that you will
condescend to accept the respect of which their service
is the sign.

CHAPTER II
" Hither we used to retire when wearied . . and pass a quiet hour
. . . talking over the condition of the country, and its future prospects,
discussing points of morality, or commenting on the ways and fashions
of the day." Palgrave, Through Central and Eastern Arabia, p. 55.
It was in the salon of our own house that we again
met the men of the family, as though we were the
hosts, and they the guests ; and soon after our arrival,
on the first day, lunch was announced in an adjoining
room. We all went to the dining-room, took our
serviettes from the table, and returning to the hall,
washed our hands, for by our own desire we were to
eat, during our stay here, in the Eastern fashion —
with our fingers.
Nothing can exceed the daintiness and the cleanness
with which even the humble Arabs eat. If the tourist
would have proof, let him watch the boatmen waiting
for the Kasr-el-Nil bridge to open, under the Semiramis
wall in Cairo, as they sit round the common dish at
their evening meal, as the sun is setting.
For my part I sit at meals, eaten in this way, with
pleasure, knowing how scrupulously clean the hands
of a Moslem are (the right hand only is used for eating,
and that is always kept from impure contact), for in
addition to the prayer ablution there is always this
special washing at each meal. And one is spared all
reflection on the mysteries of hotel or even domestic
" washing-up " of plates and spoons and forks.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 17
From a narrow street we emerged into the brilliant
sunshine, which in winter — it was now December — is
in Egypt truly golden, and of all things in nature the
most delightful and grateful.
On the village green — only it is not grass-green, but
dust-grey — flocks of geese were preening themselves,
and the children, dressed in every bright colour, played
in groups. On the opposite side, outside a cottage door,
sat a number of men in white or blue galabiehs, smoking
and chatting. Now there pass three or four women, in
black, one of them with a bright bundle of a child
straddled on her left shoulder, another with water-pot
on her head — the sunshine making, with each turn of the
kaleidoscope, a perfect picture.
We cross the " green," and enter the winding ways
of the village again — they can hardly be called streets,
for most of them are only just wide enough for a horse-
rider to pass along. The lowly habitations are built of
unbaked bricks, in some cases plastered with rough clay,
of one storey, and in every way are as elementary a form
of house-building as can well be.
And how primitive the people are. I noticed on the
outer walls by the side of the entrance of several houses
long marks scratched in the clay, in one place as many
as four strokes, in another two, and so on. The ex
planation is that a venerable pedlar, who travels all the
way from Medina, with henna, which is particularly es
teemed as coming from the Holy City, and visits all the
villages in this part of Egypt, gives credit to the poor
cottagers, and marks his account in this way on the outer
walls !
Another house we passed was decorated round the
doorway with crude drawings, denoting that the occu-

1 8 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
pant had been to Mecca. A knock at the door, and
an old man appeared. There were many handshakings ;
the old Hadj, as the pilgrim must now be called, beaming
with joy at our interest, consented to be photographed.
He had saved, with incredible self-denial all his life, in
order that he might pray in Mecca before he died, and
now he was " making his soul " in his native village, in
happy content, sure of the profuse joys of Paradise when
his frugal days on earth should end.
A little farther on we called on the " oldest inhabi
tant," a man aged one hundred and ten. As the whole of
his life had been passed in the service of our host's family,
his great age was well authenticated. Until quite recently
he had enjoyed good health, but now he was deaf and
almost blind, and was entirely dependent on his daughter,
who was very attached to him. When he realised that
he was receiving a visit from the grandsons of his old
master, he hugged Omar's hand and kissed it, calling
down the blessings of heaven upon him and his brothers.
There is no doubt that the fellaheen of Egypt reach
a very great age. In the takieh (or workhouse) at Tourah,
near Cairo, I talked with a man aged one hundred and
twelve, who had all his faculties, with the exception of a
long-chronic weakness of the eyes. His memory was clear,
and carried him easily back to the days of Mohammed
Ali's power in Egypt. Of course I asked him the secret
of his great age, and of course he was positive, as all old
people are, that he knew it, although it is the last thing
about which there is any agreement. " A good life,
hard work (he worked till over a hundred), regularity at
prayers, scrupulous keeping of the fast. I believe in
fasting, and now that I do not work, I fast two whole
days every week, and still keep Rhamadan. I have

The " Oldest Inhabi ian r," aged no, engaged with his
Daughter in picking Corn Cobs at his Cottage Door.

^

^hh

,.?&~ ¦-.?•>

II

asJr^^jK

-

"On the Village Green."

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 19
always had faith in God, and so have never worried."
A landowning friend of mine has on his estate in Upper
Egypt a marvellous old man who is over one hundred
and thirty years, authenticated through his lifelong
service in the one family. He travels by train to Cairo
occasionally, and but for an accident five years since,
would show little sign of his great tale of years. He
preserved prodigious muscular strength till he was over
a hundred and twenty years old, and tales of his prowess
would make an interesting volume.
Another visit was to the old man who calls the
village to prayer from the minaret of the mosque. As is
usual, he had been chosen because he is blind, for the
reason that of all things the Arab people dislike even a
suggestion of overlooking, or spying, or eavesdropping.
The Prophet said, according to one of the traditions,
"Whosoever listeneth to other's conversation, who
dislike to be heard by him, boiling lead will be poured
into his ears at the Day of Judgment."
It will be imagined that the internal arrangements of
the fellaheen house are extremely simple ; but most of
them have two rooms. They have no chairs and tables,
and want none ; they sit more comfortably on the hard
clay floor than we do on chairs. A few earthen pots, a
large shallow wooden bowl in which the cakes are made,
a water-jar, a stew-pot or two, with perhaps a circular
dishstand a few inches high, called a soofra, round
which the family sit to enjoy the general meal by
daintily dipping into the pot — these are all the furniture
or utensils such houses contain.
The most cherished feature of the household is the
oven or furn, failing which all sense of comfort for the
penetrating cold winter nights is lacking. While we

20 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
were out walking one day my friend Omar was touched
on the arm by a boy with a request to go with him
to a certain poor abode. He begged leave of us, and
disappeared for a time ; and when he rejoined us he
quietly told me that an old foster-nurse of his who was
ill, hearing he had arrived in the village, had sent for him.
When he sat on the ground by her side, she had cried for
quiet joy that he had come back from foreign travels —
he had been away from the village for a year — without
the pride which she imagined would prevent him from
sitting with her in the old familiar way again ! She was
cold, now that the winter had come ; would he send her
a shawl from Cairo, and another blanket, and, above all,
now that she was ill, and could not seek fuel, would he
arrange for her oven fire to be lighted so that at night
she might sleep comfortably on the top of the furn.
The furn makes a wide low shelf, which becomes a
convenient and very capacious family bedstead. It is
built of brick, with an arched oven underneath it, in
which the necessary cooking is done in the daytime ;
banked at night with the dung-fuel, it affords unspeak
able comfort to all the family, who spread their mats on
its brick top. There is a particular ginn who inhabits
the oven, whose permission is always politely asked
before the fire is lighted.
Omar's simple acquiescence in the poor foster-nurse's
request is characteristic of the way charity is distributed
by the well-to-do Moslem families in Egypt. In this
village there were many small households entirely de
pendent on the unfailing generosity of the great house.
The aged servitor we saw was one instance, and this
nurse was another.
Later we visited Halima, a freed black slave from the

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 21
Soudan — she had been bought by the family when a
girl — who grinned and gurgled with delight, showing all
her negro teeth, at the sight of the three brothers, the
two elder of whom she had nurtured at her breast, as
she told my wife and me quite unashamed. I admired
the way in which these dignified and silk-robed men
submitted to Halima's embrace. It was delightful to
watch their expressions of joy as she proceeded to execute
a quite graceful dance to celebrate Omar's return. This
took place in the sunshine in front of the humble abode
in which she lives in the midst of innumerable children
and grandchildren, supremely happy in the support
she derives from her patrons. Her greatest consolation
is that she has been twice to Mecca, once as the servant
of her mistress, and again later, with my host's parents,
as a friend. This was their recognition of her intimate
and faithful service to them in the days of her slavery —
to take her to the Holy City as a friend and an equal.
Soon the magic hour of sunset came on, when all
men in Egypt leave their toil, when the fire begins to
glow upon the hearth, and the call to evening prayer
" before the redness has faded from the sky," rings out
from the minaret across the quiet scene. The stream of
humanity — man, woman, and child — comes in from the
fields. By ablution the men prepare for prayer ; our
party goes home also to make ready for worship in the
mosque, which is by our gate.
Omar, who is in a plain galabieh, needs only to
wash, and not to change his clothes, but his brothers
take off their silk robes, and don what must be the
plainest shirt they possess, throwing over it the vol
uminous black and unadorned cloak called the abayah.
I am to go to the mosque to sit by and see the prayer,

22 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
and an abayah is lent to me, as it is now becoming a
little cold.
It is curious that while we in the West specially
adorn ourselves for our evening pursuits, the Moslem
at the close of day puts aside all his rich clothing.
The reason is very simple, as stated to me by my hosts.
" It is better to pray in humble dress, for the poor
are at your side, and all men are equal in the sight of
God, in whose presence we stand in the mosque." After
prayer too, when the duties of the day are over, and
no visitor may be expected from afar whom it would be
polite to receive in the sheikh's dress, it is more com
fortable to wear these simpler clothes.
And when, after dinner, I was curled up in the
folds of my abayah on a divan in our salon, I knew that
the comfort of the dress was not exaggerated.
We went to the mosque, where two candle lanterns
gave a dim light. I took off my shoes and sat behind
the little rows of worshippers ; who, led by the Imam,
made their evening prayer together with a simplicity
and earnestness deeply touching in such a remote
place ; where the humblest toiler of the soil, making
prayer his first duty when his arduous work was ended,
stands side by side with my respected friends — of
whose true goodness and piety, making their praying
seem very " right and seemly," I had seen many proofs.
The evening prayer consists of three rikas (or bowings),
with two voluntary rikas when the Imam has finished
the obligatory ones.
No word of protest was uttered against my sitting
in the mosque during prayer. On leaving, my hand
was grasped by nearly all the worshippers, and every
blessing quietly invoked for me.

The Imam at the Mosque Door, holding in his
Hand the Wooden Sword on which the
Prfacher leans in the PULI'IT.

The Author in Sheikh's Dress.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 23
It was now quite dark, and the unlighted narrow
ways of the village looked very mysterious. From the
village green I could hear the voices of boys at play —
and later on found that the twilight time is just as
attractive to the boys of a village in Egypt as I know it
to be in the quiet country places of East Anglia, where
my own boyhood was spent. With glowing eyes, one
of the boys of this Egyptian village told me of the
thrilling games they play in the early evening hours
just before bedtime : robbers and brigands, and even
the path-finding Red Indian, of whom they have
heard by some curious by-way of knowledge. Of all
places an Egyptian village would lend itself to such
games, with its narrow passages and sharp corners,
and the pitch-black shadows when the moon is low on
the horizon.
Or on other evenings a glowing fire might be lighted
outside one of the houses on the green — many hands
would contribute precious fuel — and the boys would
be allowed to sit round, roasting potatoes and chestnuts,
and listen to the merry or romantic stories circling round.
Truly, human nature, and especially boyish human
nature, is much the same the world over.
In the East the imaginative type, as everyone
knows, predominates ; and every child has, I believe,
a dream-life which can break for it the bond of material
necessity which too early binds the offspring of the
poor. How often have I seen these delightful children
of the East — sometimes the timid little sons of those
" sitters on the bench," the bowabs of Cairo — in
animated play with invisible playmates in the realm of
fancy, smiling, nodding, gesticulating, happy with a
joy it might be thought impossible of realisation in

24 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
such an attenuated little world as they have been
born into.
One of my friends often talks to me of his boyhood
days in a small Egyptian village. He was a solitary
boy, and would often take his food to eat alone in a
hut in the garden, which his family called his prison.
He was nicknamed by his father the " lonely friend."
He would wander the fields by himself, reciting poetry,
and especially he woiild declaim the impassioned phrases
of the Koran.
I remarked on the Prophet's love of nature :
" By the night when she spreads her veil !
By the day when it brightly shineth ! "
I quoted, and he told me how the thrilling passages of
the Koran caught him as a boy up into an almost un
earthly exaltation of fervour. Later in life Ismael
discovered Wordsworth, and often we bandied our
favourite lines from the poet of nature ; and I confess
it was not the Englishman who proved to be best versed
in the work of one who is a chief glory of our literature.
When the boys are called home from their evening
games — the fragrance of the stew-pot is generally com
pulsion enough — a great silence falls upon the village,
for the fear of ginn is present in every mind ; and very
unfortunate indeed does the Moslem regard himself —
and especially the fellah — who is compelled to walk alone
in unlighted ways at night.
" God created men and ginn," the Koran tells him,
fearsome beings " created of subtle fire'" (Sura xv. 27) ;
not all evil, it is true, but some of them the enemies of
man, who assume terrifying shapes.
Even in the twilight these dreaded creatures emerge

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 25
from hiding, a common form being that of a white
hare. They traverse the village by-ways and other
places with swift and ghostly footsteps, and indulge
their caprices, good and bad, with men, just as our
ghosts and fairies do.
If you do not believe in the ginn, you have only to
look at the heavens for proof ; that " shooting star," as
you call it, what is it but the stone thrown by one of
the angels in heaven when an evil ginn approaches
too near in order to try to overhear the conversation
of Paradise and thus learn the secrets of the future —
" him who listeneth by stealth, at whom a visible
flame is darted" (Sura xv. 18).
Is there any wonder that in Egypt most men seek
their homes at sunset, and scarcely stir abroad again.
I pitied some of these village men, for recently in that
neighbourhood bedouin cattle thieves had been abroad
— they had even taken away the crops — and this
necessitated a certain number of watchers in the fields
all night. I saw them set out to their hateful task —
they might have been going to execution. The best
safeguard, however, against all genii, and even evil
dreams, is to make the evening prayer, and this they
were careful to do.
At our house, dinner awaited us ; and after dinner
we went into our drawing-room (I suppose one should
call it), an apartment with divans round all the walls,
handsome rugs on the floor, and a carved table in the
centre, on which was placed the brilliant oil lamp.
Here were already gathered the chief men of the village,
as the custom is, come together to drink coffee, smoke
a cigarette, and, above all, to talk.
And what, may be asked, do people of this sort

26 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
talk about ? This, it will be remembered, is a rich house,
with a daily newspaper, since the post was recently
established, coming from Cairo ; and, though in the
evenings men of all classes gather here freely, the simple
poor, mostly of sobered age, are only too willing to listen
to the conversation of men who can read and have
enjoyed the advantage, which the Prophet himself
commended, of travel.
The quality of the talk was uncommonly good. For
one thing I am convinced that all Eastern folk are
logicians. Questions of morality, and points-connected
with religion, frequently occur at such times, with
stories from ancient history, especially of the early
caliphs ; everything connected with the lives of the
holy men of Islam is cherished and dwelt upon. There
is no question, from the way these stories are univer
sally cherished and handed down, that the youth
of Islam have a far better chance of being acquainted
with the doings and sayings of the great men of their
race than the Christian youth has.
The charges of the West against their religion are
well understood, and endless were the questions to elicit
my opinion, on such points as Moslem tolerance, the
encouragement of learning in the days of Islam's pride,
the condition of their people in present days under
French rule in Algeria. What did I think of Italian,
Spanish, German aggression against Islamic states ?
Did I believe the horrible scandals propagated
against them in the days of the Crusades, to foster
Christian enthusiasm ? Did I believe they desecrated
the places sacred to the memory of Our Lord Jesus — on
whom be blessings and peace — in Jerusalem ? Did I
realise that Omar made a peaceful entry into that Holy

F/wto]

{Dittrich, Cairo.

An Egyptian Family haying a Meal.
The servant lad is standing with thegu//n/i, or water-bottle, from which all the family will drink at the end of the meal.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 27
City with the Christian ruler by his side ; and that when
the Crusaders entered Jerusalem they boasted in their
official report to the Pope that their horses waded knee-
deep in blood ? Did I believe that the Moslems burnt
the great library at Alexandria ? They were delighted
that I had with me a book I was reading at the time,
The Arab Conquest of Egypt, in which the case in
favour of the Moslems is so ably stated by Dr. Butler,
who emphatically believes that the caliph Omar
was not guilty of the charge of burning the great
library. Then we turned to newspaper topics, and they
waxed very gay over the suffragette movement in Eng
land. One of them seriously contended for socialism
as it is preached in England now.
" Would to God," he said, " we could stir the people
of Egypt from their lethargy so that the poor would
claim their fair share of the wealth which now flows into
a few hands."
Everyone present showed him how his own interests
would suffer — he is a landed proprietor — but he indig
nantly asserted, to my utter astonishment, that he cared
nothing for that ; the principle was above such con
siderations. Here was a man, in a primitive village^ in
a country hardly emerged from the conditions of feudal
times, declaring for strikes and revolutions, favouring
even the revolt of women !
" I wish Egypt had freedom like that of England, and,
even then, that it was keen enough to go on fighting, as
the people of England do, for further advance for the
good of all the people. In this world everything is for
the rich, and the capitalist, who use men for their own
ends." I was assured that these views were sincere,

28 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
strange as they seemed in such surroundings. It was
an Egyptian country sheikh, I remembered, who said of
socialists, " They would break up your pretty clock, and
give every man a broken wheel out of it, and so with all
things." The good sense, and temper in argument, in such
a community is especially commendable. Whatever
the conflict of opinion, there is seldom or never any
wrangling. If one of our party was inclined to more
than ordinary heat, the elder brother of the house, with
that curious mixture of the serious and the benign, often
found in the Moslem of this class who has passed his first
youth, would say in a low voice, " Blessings on the Pro
phet," and the disputant would pause to quietly reply,
" 0 God, favour him ! " and moderation was at once
restored. Loudness is condemned in the Prophet's
traditional laws. Lane's observation is as just of the
Egyptian Moslem to-day as when he wrote it — they are
generally very lively and dramatic in their' talk, but
scarcely ever noisy in their mirth. They seldom indulge
in loud laughter, expressing their enjoyment of any
thing ludicrous by a smile or an exclamation.
I have often discussed the serious things of life with
such a man as this from the desire I have to discover the
secret of the calmness and dignity which marks the true
Moslem. He believes that God " sends down His tran
quillity " (Sura ix. 40) on His servants, as He did on the
Prophet — on whom be blessings and peace — when he
was in danger. He believes it is his duty to " endure
with patience" (Sura xvi. 128), and he gets great en
couragement from the thought that, if he suffers op
pression, the servant of God who cannot obtain justice
in this world reclaims his rights at the Day of Judgment,

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 29
and God, who is just, will then compel his oppressor
to make restitution to the oppressed, even the highly
favoured martyrs being no exception to this rule.
Another custom is the way they mark one of those
pauses in conversation which in England is sometimes
denoted by the declaration that " an angel is passing."
After a moment of dead silence, one of the company
will say, "Wahed dhu!" ("God is One"), and the
whole company in a low murmur will repeat, " La ilah
ilia Allah ! " (" There is no God but one God "), and
conversation will be resumed.
I made a note of all the proverbs I heard in these
talks, for all conversation in the East is enriched with
unending proverbs, as with a wonderful power of
expression in poetic form and idiom. Here are the
proverbs and saws : —
Don't ask any man about his origin ; you can read
it in his face.
If you censure your friend for every fault he commits,
there will come a time when you will have no friend to
censure. If you spend all your time collecting money for fear
of poverty, you are practising poverty.
Man is not to be valued by the robes he wears, but
by the character he shows.
The false man is a mirror to your face, but a thorn in
your back.
A wise enemy is less harmful than a foolish friend.
Make neither your friendship a pretence, nor your
hatred a menace.
Men are boxes, of which the keys are dealing and
commerce. A kirat (one twenty-fourth of an acre) of fortune is
better than an acre of skill.

3o VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
Patriotism is from faith.
He who is standing on the shore may as well be a
spent swimmer.
The boy is his mother's double.
God helps us as long as we help each other.
Beware of speech — a word may bring a fatal end.
Avarice destroys what the avaricious gathers.
A king without justice is no better than a river
without water.
The best king is he whose courtiers are good ; and
the worst king is he whose courtiers are bad.
Man is often an enemy to things of which he is ill-
informed. The thing that does not interest you, ask your step
father to perform it.
There is no honour like possessing a good character.
Disdain not a kind action, be it but to give water
to one who is not thirsty.
Knowledge without practice is like a bow without a
string. Hearts, like bodies, become tired and should have
recreation. No pious act is more beloved by God than telling
the truth.
Without hope no mother would nurse her child, nor
would any peasant plant his land.
The young who revere the aged will find reverence
themselves when they are old.
The next best thing to belief in God is to sympathise
with people.
There is much good in patiently tolerating what you
dislike. A true believer is not content while his neighbour is
hungry. There are men who are keys to good, and locks to evil.
Avoid vain hopes — content is prosperity.
Wisdom lifts up a slave into the dignity of princes.

CHAPTER III
" One must come to the East to understand absolute equality. There
is no reason why the donkey boy who runs behind me may not become a
great man, and as all Moslems are ipso facto equal money and rank
are looked upon as mere accidents, and my savoir vivre was highly
thought of because I sat down with Fellaheen and treated everyone as
they treat each other." Lady Duff Gordon, Letters from Egypt.
It was to be expected that we should meet, in these
evening gatherings, a young Nationalist, so many of
the ardent youths of Egypt being of this political faith.
The gist of which is that Great Britain has no rights in
their country ; that she is an enemy, so deadly, that no
good can come of any of her acts; that she violates
every article of good faith by staying in Egypt ; that,
without any parleying or conditions, she should go, and
stand not upon the order of her going, but go at once.
As a party, the Nationalists are less effective now
than they have been for some time, but there is no
doubt that they have been the cause of a great deal
of trouble to those responsible for the government of
the country. If stability and fixity of political purpose,
with wise disinterested control, had been possible in the
people of the East, no one can say what the Nationalist
cause, which at one time embraced everything in the
nation worth counting of youthful enthusiasm and zeal,
could have accomplished. Corruption, self-seeking,
cunning, allied with a monstrous foolishness, a love of
abuse of the enemy lacking all restraint and ignoring

32 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
truth and sense alike, in a desire to score trivial points,
all this finding expression in a clap-trap press, such seem
to me to be largely the causes of the public discredit
in which the party now finds itself, in spite of the
great number of its adherents.
Our young Nationalist, a lad of nineteen or so, is a
student from one of the great schools in Cairo, vastly
intelligent, up to a certain point, keenly interested in all
religious and political questions, confident in his views
— who is not at that age ? — and, though inclined to
dictate a little, his courtesy is perfect, and his facility
in English remarkable. Political bias is in every thought
of the lad, producing a curious retrograde temper,
which could even lead him to a defence of Al Azar
University as it stands now, with medieval methods
taking no note of modern needs, and even ignoring
the studies which made Islam famous before the days
of decadence set in — a certain stage of which decadence
Al Azar has stereotyped. The new reforms introduced
by the Government into the University he considers
a scandal. The money left was for religious teaching,
and to insist on secular subjects being taught is to turn
dishonestly from the original purpose. He considers
that all the ten years of the Al Azar course should be
given to the study of religion and Koranic law and
jurisprudence, with, of course, a deep study of the
Arabic language.
It was useless to argue in favour of a wide learning
for religious men ; for that general culture of the
mind which would bring to religious lore a finer
judgment, and broader understanding, than is possible
with concentration on one subject, and the great
feats of memorisation which are now the rule.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 33
Our young Nationalist confessed that he hated the
English people as he hated their rule ; and he detested
the teaching class we send to Egypt, as much as the
English language we force the young Egyptian to learn
before he can obtain the necessary certificates to qualify
him for official employment.
When asked what he thought was the alternative
of English rule, in view of the unprotected condition
of Egypt, he said Turkey was of course the natural
ruler to which an Islamic state like Egypt should look.
Did he realise the weakness of Turkey — had he heard
of such a word in connection with that country as
" partition " ? He believed such talk was folly.
As showing the unbelievable degree of suspicious
ness which blinds these men — I have found it universal
— he maintained that England's only motive in the
Crimean War was to commend itself to Turkey and so
to the Caliph of Islam, who is a Turk, because we were
afraid of his influence on the Moslems of India and
other parts of our Empire.
He could no more believe that such an idea never
had any existence in the average English mind than he
could realise that in recent British sympathy with
Turkey's aspirations after political freedom we could
be actuated by a shadow of honesty of motive. Through
all, however, his deadliest personal hatred is reserved for
Ex-President Roosevelt, for reasons which need no stating.
This is the sort of thing the Nationalist press of
Egypt has been filled with every day, to be read with
avidity by the youths of Egypt ; and this is the sort
of thing, with its constant talk of the " fear " of the
English rulers, which brings down the governing hand
upon them with severity and repression, and in nearly
3

34 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
all cases makes it impossible to concede anything to
them ; or even to show a sign of relenting, to modify
the punishments of those of them who come under
the official displeasure.
A great mistake is made, however, I am firmly
convinced, by legislating as though this sort of young
student Nationalist had alone to be considered. There
is another class of young man in Egypt, quiet, thought
ful, and often travelled, who recognises the folly of the
opinions of this youth ; who is, nevertheless, in many
cases still his intimate friend. Anyone who knows the
Oriental character will recognise in such a friendship
the extreme reluctance there is in all Eastern people
to incur the displeasure of men with whom they associate.
In effect such a youth has said to me — On these
topics I never speak to Egyptians (ahd you are the only
Englishman I could ever regard as a friend), for my
companions would think me a traitor to my country
if I said, that while I do not love England, or the English
governing people I meet, I still recognise our debt to
her, and the necessity of her staying by us ; and that
it would be better for all if we could work together.
The Englishman's probity, his firmness of purpose,
his hatred of tyranny — Eastern tyranny, that is (with
a merry twinkle of the eye), and the unselfish pursuit
of justice, and detestation of corruption and the callous
blackguardly intrigue which poisons our own public
life, for all of which Lord Cromer stood like a rock, all
these things we admire. Your exolusiveness and snob
bery, your " Turf-Club " spirit (the Turf Club is the
great meeting-place of English official life in Cairo ; its
name is misleading ; it has nothing to do with the Turf),
and your cruel social pride, these things we detest ;

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 35
and your scorn of us goes to the quick, and fills us
with hopelessness for the future.
In your own gentlemanly way you English are
tyrants, to the true effect of which you are blind ; and
in your repression, and in all the formulas of the young
men at the British Agency, by which we youths are
practically ruled at present (Lord Kitchener had only
just arrived ; the hope was that when he had got his
" pace " he would see below the thin and all-embracing
recipes by which small men think they can comfortably
tabulate a strange people), you lack any sort of dis
crimination. Consequently, the ferocious young
Nationalist enjoys the heroism of your punishments,
and we who would help you must suffer in silence, and
remain ignored and ineffective in serving our country —
and poor Egypt must be all enthralled, with little hope
or prospect of political liberty.
On one evening we stayed to chat in the mosque,
where it is quite permissible to hold a village confab.
Indeed, the mosque is the fitting scene for all the chief
concerns of life. Here an important journey 'should
have its start and its end ; in the old days a man's camel
knelt by instinct at the door of the mosque. It is here,
in times of fear or of thanksgiving, that the people
should first meet. " Now, however," said my friend
sadly, "it is the cafe, especially in the towns, that is
taking the place of the mosque."
It was an interesting thing to hear the conversa
tion of the fathers of the hamlet as we sat in a circle
on the mosque mats in the dim candle light. It was not
a religious discussion, although texts from the Koran
interspersed it, and there was much talk of ancient
sheikhs' tombs in that part of the country, and the

36 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
supernatural attributes of the holy men buried there,
about which they were full of lore.
A word froln me, and they became reminiscent —
of the dreadful days of the courbash (the tyrant's whip),
or the nabout (his stick weighted with lead) ; for some
of them are not too old to bear posterior scars, the sign
that they were not such cravens — or bloated million
aires — as to pay the taxes as the agent first demanded
them. Fot if they had done so, it would have been
taken as a sign that they could have been squeezed for
a larger contribution. It was no uncommon thing in
those days for men to run away to the hills to escape the
extortionate taxgatherer, and to live for some time the
half-starved life of the bandit, defying capture by
hurling stones down upon their enemies if they pursued
them. There were agonising remembrances of the raids for
the corvee or forced labour gangs, and for the army,
when parents were left broken-hearted, knowing that it
was almost impossible that they could ever see their
sons — taken to worse than slavery — alive again.
If Lord Cromer's name is remembered with gratitude
by such men as these, it is because he was known to be the
deadly enemy of corruption, and was the man who broke
the last sign of the vicious power of the bad old Pasha
days. It was Lord Cromer who ensured the revenues for
national uses, abolished the corvee, and turned the army
service from a curse into a national blessing. No mother
wails now, and tears her hair, when her boy goes off to
the army, for she knows that — inshallah (God willing)
— he will return, a well-set up lad, with some education,
and with a little money in his pocket, a hero for the

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 37
time in the eyes of the village. Not that one can say the
compulsory service is popular, even now — it will be
evaded if there is a chance — but it is not the black evil
thing it once was. Many a baby boy was blinded by
his mother in the days of Mohammed Ali to save him
from the tyrant's service.
As for the old collector of taxes, what was here said
of him reminded me of the description of an Englishman
written from Egypt sixty years ago.
" Having collected the sum required, he retires from
the scene, hugging himself in the hope that he can keep
back a reasonable proportion* But the inevitable whip
(nabout) again comes into play, and a higher official
(Nazir) avenges the poor fellah in the most satisfactory
way. To this tune the dollars travel gently towards
the treasury in Cairo, and used of old to arrive about in
time to buy Miss Nefeesa a necklace of pearls, or Madame
Nazlet a service of plate from Storr & Mortimer's — as
now to furnish a succession of flimsy palaces, or pro
vide an elegant campanella for the vice-royal breed of,
pigeons." Happily, under the present regime, the palaces are
almost all being used as schools — of art, of commerce, for
secondary education, and as administrative offices.
We spoke of present-day commercial honesty, and in
this it was lamented that things in the country had
changed for the worse. A landlord present said that
when his father died they had not a single written lease
for any of their land, and there were no arrears of rent.
Now they have papers for every yard of land, drawn up
by the city avocat, but farmers are defaulting, and have
of late learnt from Levantine scoundrels, who infest this
country, the clever trick of bankruptcy, as a way of escap-

38 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
ing the payment of their just debts. Well might these
men lament the days when a certain man (the story is
well authenticated) was known to have bought a number
of standing crops from different farmers, and paid in
advance. His receipts were burnt by fire, but in every
case the crops were delivered at the proper time.
It is a common charge against Oriental people that
the truth is not in them, and moral critics do not hesitate
to say that the religion of Islam is to blame for this. I
did not hesitate to question responsible men (here in
the village, as in other places), including a number of
sheikhs, as to their opinions on this subject. The result
may be concentrated in this way. The Moslems have
not only the precepts of the Koran, but the example of
their Prophet, to encourage them to follow the truth.
All through his life Mohammed was respected as a
man of truth. From early days he was nicknamed " the
trusty," and when Khadijah married him she said, " I
take thee because of the respect with which the people
regard thee, for thy honesty, for the beauty of thy
character, and for the truthfulness of thy speech." A
contemporary Christian (the day of European abuse did
not come till later on), in writing of the Prophet's
mission, said, " Mohammed appeared to his people and
brought them together in a union of law, and forsaking
vain idols, they returned to the living God. He bid
them not to . . . drink wine, or to tell a lie, or to
commit fornication."
When he was faced by the opponents of his mission
in the first days of his preaching in Mecca, Mohammed
appealed to the men of the Quraish (guardians of the
Kaaba) who knew him best, as to his character amongst
them. " We have ever found thee a speaker of the

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 39
truth," was his enemies' tribute. And all through the
Koran his followers are exhorted to " shun the word
of falsehood " (Sura xxii. 31), to act fairly even towards
their enemies (Sura lx. 8), and to be faithful to their
trusts. The Moslem religion teaches the extreme heinous-
ness of a false oath, sworn intentionally. It is a sin so
grievous that no expiation can wipe it out, but only true
repentance. I have before remarked that what is often roughly
described as lying should be regarded as an evasion of
the necessity of appearing ungracious. Often when a
request is made to the Oriental he will promise to fulfil
it in a way that to those who know them well is at once
seen to be a polite evasion to avoid the discourtesy of
saying, " I will not," or " I can not." Such unwilling
ness to appear unwilling is among Arabs a frequent
source of innocent deceptions, if deceptions indeed they
can be called, like the " not at home " of our own land :
whoever has to do with Eastern people should be pre
pared for them and take them good-naturedly.
There is another sort of untruth which is sometimes
puzzling and irritating to Europeans. A poor woman
was shown some beautiful jewels by an Englishwoman,
and when she had admired them, she declared that she
too had jewels at home of great value. This statement,
so easily labelled as a stupid lie, it was proved, she had
made out of consideration for the Englishwoman, to
relieve her mind from the thought that her possessions
were envied ; for envy brings the terrible Evil Eye.
And the boasting was really a form of politeness.
Against this evil the words of Sura cxiii. are often
worn as a charm ; and when in fear of it, the words will

40 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
be recited : " I fly for refuge unto the Lord . . . that
He may deliver me . . . from the mischief of the
envious when he envieth."
It is this superstition which leads them into a sort of
deception which has no intention in it of imposing on
human beings at all. You order, for instance, a new
boom for your boat, and when you go to see it, your
heart sinks to find it with a splice, as though it had
already been broken. Such a fine new boom, your
dragoman tells you, would be sure to attract the Evil
Eye, with direst consequences, and so the fates must be
hoodwinked in this way.
There is always a peculiar interest to Europeans in
the talk of Oriental people, as they develop qualities,
even in casual conversation, which spice almost every
sentence with an element of surprise, appealing to a love
of humour, as well as of literary style. I have spoken of
the proverbs, of which they have an immense store, made
available by the wonderful Arab memory in all con
versation. They have in addition a great faculty in the
use of pictorial language, and they show the keenest
enjoyment in verbal and quiet practical jokes.
They light upon the happiest sayings, and a facility
of narration and illustration is constantly met with.
Palgrave, as an instance, in his travels in Arabia, came
upon the waters of a quiet bay ; the Arabs had named
it " Bahr-ul-Benat," or the "Girls' Sea," for the
reason, I imagine, that they considered it did not require
a man's powers to navigate it.
The very street-cries have a touch of poetry. The
men crying cucumbers sing of them as " fruit gathered
by sweet girls, in the garden, with the early dew."
The whimsicality of these people comes out at every

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 41
turn. " The camel was asked, ' In what are you skilful ? '
He replied, ' Winding silk ! '" as though any conceivable
creature could be less capable of the deft and supple skill
required for that operation. An instance of this
drollery in their common proverbs is — " The monkey's
mother thinks him a gazelle." " I used to think Arabs
prosaic till I could understand a little of their language,"
says Lady Duff Gordon, " but now I can trace the
genealogy of Don Quixote straight up to some Sheikh-
el-Arab." It is this use of pictorial language, in the form of
fables, in some of the early Traditions, that has led
Western critics (like the Rev. W. St. Clair Tisdall) into
criticism that would be unjust, if the lack of humour
and understanding of the imaginative Oriental mind,
which could turn these verbal extravagances into literal
weapons of attack, did not bear their own condemnation.
It was Al Ghazzali, the early theologian of Islam,
who, in writing of the Divine Nature, said " that an
ant's weight should not escape Him, either in earth or
in heaven ; but He would know the creeping of the
black ant in the dark night upon the hard stone."
" When Adam fell in Ceylon," says another tradi
tion, " he kept on weeping and wailing and lamenting
for his offence for two hundred years, so that from his
tears rivers began to flow, and on their banks there
grew dates and cloves and nutmeg-trees. From Eve's
tears were produced henna and collyrium and indigo.
Every one of her tears which fell into the sea became
a pearl, and these her daughters take as their heritage."
In the same book (QisasuVl Anbiya) it is said that
the Prophet told his people that the earth was originally
made out of the foam of a wave, which God created

42 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
from a gigantic pearl, and that He made the pearl out
of primitive darkness.
Our village talk one day turned upon slaves, and
the stern opinions held by Europeans about Islam in
connection with slave-owning in Eastern lands. The
historic fact is that Islam brought hope to the slaves,
although its traducers sometimes speak as though it
invented slavery. The first Koranic word on the subject
is to reprove the rich for their treatment of slaves, and
for the first time in history to enjoin such consideration
and kindness as practically made the slave a member
of his master's family, to be treated as one of his own
children. " And your slaves ! See that ye feed them
with such food as ye eat yourselves, and clothe them
with the stuff ye wear . . . for they are the servants of
the Lord. . . . Know that all Moslems are brothers
unto one another," said Mohammed in his address in
Mecca on his farewell pilgrimage.
Abu Bekr, the Prophet's friend, believing the kindly
rules in this matter established by Mohammed to be
the will of heaven, spent nearly all his large fortune
to purchase slaves, to free them from the religious
persecution of their masters on account of their adher
ence to the teaching of Islam. Bilal, the faithful
negro, who first sang the famous call to prayer, and who
added the words to the early morning call, " Prayer is
better than sleep," was one of these slaves who found
equality, and the path to freedom, in the new religion.
One of the stated purposes of the alms, which are
enjoined on every Moslem, is for the benefit of slaves
who wish to buy their freedom and have not the means
for so doing.
To this day the true Moslem regards it as a great

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 43
virtue, particularly pleasing to God, to grant freedom
to his slaves — in this way he will mark some happy
domestic celebration, or he will join this virtue to
repentance for sin and preparation for death. The
Senussi brotherhood, whose mysterious existence in the
desert beyond Tripoli and Tunisia gives rise to ever-
recurring speculation as to their purpose in resisting
European aggressions on Islam, are known to buy
slaves very largely, with the sole purpose of bringing
them under the influence of their religion.
The friends with whom we were staying had not
only freed their slaves long since, but Halima, their
foster-nurse, had for many years enjoyed the happy
life of a pensioner, and, above all, as I have said, had
accompanied her master and mistress to Mecca as a
friend. We heard of a sheikh who some time ago
married his only daughter to a slave, refusing other
offers, because the lad " was the best man he knew."
A recognition of equality like this is greater than the
granting of freedom.
And these freed slaves have never found their origin
an " invidious bar " to their attainment of the very
highest posts to which their natural talents entitled
them. Egypt itself has had a negro ruler " of deep
black colour with a smooth shining skin," who rose to
be an excellent Governor, from the position of a slave.
Kafur had shown himself to be equally great as a soldier
and a statesman, and his dominion extended not only
over Egypt, but Syria also. Bagdad also had a negro
caliph. There have been periods when men have partly
forgotten or have ignored the humane laws of their
early religion, and have been cruel to their slaves and

44 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
captives, but Islam must not be blamed for this. In
Turkey and in Persia particularly the depravity which
seems natural to man has often obscured the best
features of a religion to which a formal adherence has
been given. As Mr. Gladstone once remarked, it is
not a question of religion simply, " but Mohammedanism
compounded with the peculiar character of a race."
Christian captives have often been treated in such
a way that the teachings of Christ must have seemed
to the slaves like a mockery of their hopeless misery.
Sir William Stirling Maxwell, speaking of the condition
of the galley slaves, says, " The poor wretches who
tugged at the oar on board a Turkish ship of war lived
a life neither more nor less miserable than the galley
slaves under the sign of the Cross." If we go to Arabia,
where we are closer to the practice of the first teachings
of Islam, we find, in Palgrave's words, that slavery to this
day, as practised in that country, " has little but the
name in common with the system hell-branded by those
atrocities of the Western Hemisphere."
Christian people are asked to remember how difficult
it was to root out slavery in their own lands. As late
as the tenth century the traffic was in full activity be
tween England and Ireland — the port of Bristol being
one of its principal centres. In the Canons of a Council
in London in 1102 it was ordered that no one from
henceforth presume to carry on that wicked traffic by
which men in England have hitherto been sold like
brute-beasts. In Christian Spain the Moslems were hailed as
deliverers by the miserable slaves they found there
under Gothic rule. Many centuries later, England,
under the Assientio contract with Spain, which had long

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 45
ago driven out the Saracen, enjoyed the monopoly of
the traffic in slaves for thirty years. The stipulation
being that from the first day of May 171 3 to the first
day of May 1743, we were to have the exclusive privilege
of transporting negroes into the Spanish West Indies at
the rate of four thousand eight hundred a year.
The truth is, that for generations Christian people,
even those descended from Huguenot and Puritan
ancestry, were trained to believe that they had been
endowed by heaven with the right to enslave the poor
African ; men like Whitfield, the evangelist, had no
scruple in the matter of holding slaves.
The spirit of the Gospel eventually triumphed, and
the abolition of the slave trade has become a proud boast
of Christian people. Many Moslems admire the spirit
which made this great advance in the cause of humanity
possible, and look forward to the day when the great
work which Mohammed did for the slaves, whom he
found downtrodden and wretched, shall be consummated
by the world-wide freedom of men from the yoke of
servitude. It should surely be the desire of Christian
people to help them forward towards such an ideal.
In the meantime, especially remembering our own
history, we should be careful not to misjudge Islam in
this matter.
As an educated sheikh said to me, " Some of your
writers seem to suggest that it was from Islam that
the most notorious slave-raiders of recent times have
sprung. So far as we are guilty in this matter we are
ashamed, and can only say that we repudiate the
character which can take to such an occupation for the
sake of gain. On the other hand, it is a fair-minded
Englishman who has stated that it was the introduc-

46 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
tion of Islam into Central and West Africa that has
been the most important, if not the sole, preservative,
against the desolations of the slave trade. Islam
furnished a protection to the tribes who embraced it
by effectually binding them together in one strong
religious fraternity, and enabling them by their united
efforts to baffle the attempts of powerful slave-hunters."
The sheikh was quoting from Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole.

CHAPTER .IV
" The same life is uniformly pursued by the roving tribes of the desert ;
and in the portrait of the modern Bedoweens, we may trace the features
of their ancestors, who in the age of Moses or Mohamet, dwelt under
similar tents, and conducted their horses, and camels, and sheep, to the
same springs, and the same pastures."
Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. ix. p. 223.
One memorable afternoon we rode out to a bedouin
village in the sand hills, a few miles distant, to visit
the sheikh — or chief man — who was a friend, to see the
making of the special tent cloth which these Arabs of the
desert are skilled in weaving from camel's hair and wool.
We found the village to consist almost entirely of
a large permanent encampment of tents, pitched in
the clean yellow sand, and making comfortable habita
tions. The sheikh came out to meet us with ancient
Arab courtesy — a fine genial man, who has evidently
won, and knows how to retain, the affectionate adher
ence of his clan. With him we walked through the
village, and called at several of the tents — finding them
all arranged on a proper plan for sleeping, cooking, and
eating, the deep dry desert sand ensuring the most
perfect cleanliness — being everywhere received with
almost embarrassing hospitality, which even went so
far as to suggest the making of a special tabernacle there
so as to retain us. To our surprise we found that,
although an encampment of tents, the village is an
ancient one, as the adjacent burial-place, for one thing,
proved.

47

48 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
The people of this village are a handsome and
hardy race, disease being almost unknown amongst
them. The men possess all the Arab skill in the manage
ment of horses, and once a year at a great moolid (or
birthday celebration) of their particular saint, they hold
a fantasia, at which marvels of pluck and skill are ex
hibited by famous nomad riders from all parts of Egypt.
I have seen one of these desert fantasias, and the
marvels of riding by the Arab horsemen. The great
feature is the perfect sympathy there is between the
rider and his horse, so perfect that the man and his
beast seem to have but one thought and one impulse.
These Arab horses, as a great horseman has remarked,
have a delicacy not so much of mouth, for it is a common
thing to ride them without bit or bridle, but of feeling
of obedience to the knee and thigh, to slightest check
of the halter and the voice of the rider, far surpassing
whatever the most elaborate manege gives a European
horse, though furnished with snaffle, curb, and all.
The children are charming, in no way shy, though
gentle as fawns. One beautiful little boy of about
five sidled up to me and took my hand — a dear silent
little man with eyes of the desert gazelle — an orphan,
they told me, and the charge of a family in no way
related to him.
" Might I steal him and take him to England ? "
" Yes," said the sheikh; "it would be an act acceptable
to God, to educate a poor orphan. But you must give
an English promise not to change his religion ! "
By this time — for labour in the village and fields
had ended with the setting sun — almost all the inhabitants
were gathered, and were taking furtive glances at us,
their courtesy so superior to their curiosity, however,

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 49
that they were never obtrusive. At last one man did
approach the sheikh, and in a quiet voice asked if he
thought we objected to the people walking with us.
" Of course not." The chief humorously told him
that, as we had come to see them, he was sure we should
not object to their looking at us !
Now it became dark, but for the light of the
moon, which soon shone brilliantly with a lustre peculiar
to the Eastern sky. We had arrived at the front of
the chief's house, where a number of the very fine tent
cloths were brought for our inspection. They are of
amazing strength and durability, and are waterproof
by the natural quality of the camel's hair of which they
are made. The tone of colour is produced by a com
bination of black and brown with dark red, some of
the cloths having white strips in the place of the
black. The cloths were now spread on the sand, and we
squatted there with the sheikh and his immediate
friends, while at a short distance round about sat
groups of the men and children of the village, to the
number of from one hundred to a hundred and fifty,
quietly observing and discussing us. From group to
group the little children trotted, two or three finding
their way, from the arms of the sheikh, who was evidently
a father to them all, on to my knees.
Coffee appeared, and the chief repeated to us all
the compliments with which he had greeted us, in
poetic language, which made us ashamed of the poor
prose of our response.
The whole scene was deeply impressive, unforget
table — for the spell of that Egyptian moon over it all
was pure magic, possessing power to transport us from
4

50 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
the prosaic world to a fairy realm — an Arabian night
indeed. At last the moment came to depart, for we had been
obliged to resist all the pressure put upon us to stay till
after the night prayer and partake of a feast. But we
had promised to be home in time for dinner. Before I
got up, I felt in my pocket for some half-piastres (an
Egyptian coin worth a penny-farthing) for the small
children. I gave in all about five of these small coins.
It was a faux pas on my part, which could be instantly
felt. One or two grave men went quietly behind the
sheikh to speak something in his ear. Superstition told
us, from the dead silence which ensued, that armies were
walking over our graves ! Then I asked —
" What is it ? What is wrong ? "
" Sir, the men think it is a little shameful to give
money to the children ! "
" Why ? Surely I may be permitted to give pleasure
to the little ones ! "
" But it puts wrong thoughts into their heads ! "
I pleaded that it was the English custom. Remem
brance of Arab pride came into my mind ; these men
were thinking I had given these small gifts because
I thought they were needed.
" It is for nothing but for the children to buy sweet
things ! "
This settled the matter; the amour propre was restored,
and we all smiled benevolently upon each other again.
An incident like this shows how unjust the " bach-
sheesh " charge is when it is spread over the whole people
of Egypt. The disease was created by Europeans, as is
proved by the fact that it is unknown away from the
track which the tourist has beaten. It is obvious how

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A Village Scene in Egypt- Threshing the Corn.
[Lekegian, Cairo.
HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 51
deeply these men felt a matter when they could make a
protest to one of the rare guests of their village, to whom
they had shown every consideration, and offered all they
possessed. Now we mounted ; made many adieus ; received
many benedictions, and — so that the Arabian night
should not yet be closed — found that we were to be
accompanied to the boundary of our own parish by a
mounted escort, ostentatiously, armed with guns ! I
need not say how enjoyable the ride home in the moon
light proved to be.
One morning of our stay, knowing that I desired
to see one of the chicken-rearing houses peculiar to
Egypt, our host took us to a neighbouring village, where
the establishment of a certain Copt makes the place a
centre of a large neighbourhood for this industry. The
hatching of eggs by artificial heat has been an art for
which Egypt has been famous from remotest antiquity,
and in which, to this day, it is the Copt, the descendant
of the ancient Egyptian — and not the Arab — who shows
amazing skill.
The incubating house we visited was a long, low
chamber, with ten ovens, five on each side, with a three-
foot passage between them, running from one end of the
room to the other, each oven being capable of taking
four thousand eggs. The oven is on the level of the
floor, and the fire chamber is above it, with its primitive
chimney going straight out of the roof.
The business is conducted in Upper Egypt in the
following way : At a given time, which is made known
far and near, people bring their eggs, which the owner
of the oven buys outright for money.
The general heat maintained in the oven during the

52 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
process of incubation is from ioo° to 1030 Fahrenheit.
Lane speaks of the operator knowing by instinct the
exact temperature required for success without having
any instrument like a thermometer to guide him. This
man informed me that it is by putting one of the eggs
into his eye-socket that he judges of the temperature.
For forty days the operator practically lives night and
day in his sealed house — even the chimneys are only
opened occasionally to let out the smoke.
The Copts are not famous for instincts of cleanliness
and order. My wonder was that the Pharonic dirt and
cobwebs in this hatching chamber did not smother the
owner ; the heat, I was sure, could not compete with
them in the process. Our visit, however, cleared a low
tunnel through the gauzy festoons of filth, for although
we tried to avoid a great part of it by walking almost
on all fours, we were still covered with a cobweb-gar
ment when we had regained the wholesome sunlight.
The eggs are first put into the ovens, and the fire
above is lighted, great care being necessary in the tending
of the fires. After fifteen days a careful examination is
made of the eggs. By this time the fires have been
allowed to die down, and the fertile eggs are laid in the
warm ashes to complete the hatching process.
While the owner is imprisoned in the chamber, his
son (or other partner) is making a tour of all the villages
in that part of the country, going from house to house,
asking if the women wish to take chickens — and if so,
how many — on the understanding that they rear them,
and return to him twenty full-grown fowls for every
hundred chickens received. The cottager takes all
risks, and failing the production of the proper number of
fowls, must pay the twenty per cent, in money, estimated

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 53
at the market price of fowls at the time. The incubating
merchant sells his fowls to the rich houses, where there
is always a large daily consumption, or sends them to the
cities. It is a serious thing to differ from Lane in any
particular, but no one in this village knew anything of
the methods he describes. For instance, he says the
owner of the oven pays nothing for the eggs in money,
but returns one chicken for every two eggs he takes.
The difference, I imagine, may be between the customs
of Upper and Lower Egypt. Near Cairo I found that
the owner of the ovens sells the chickens outright to
those who rear them ; or in some cases there is a middle
man who buys all the chickens outright from certain
ovens and himself arranges the farming of them out for
rearing. On another evening of our stay my young friend and
I slipped away from the general company in our house to
sit with the peasants of the village in the lowly cafe.
Here, it must be said, the talk was coarse, with many
oaths, and the stories told were gross and indelicate,
while there was not a suggestion that anyone was
conscious of a level of decency which for the time being
they were setting at defiance. In no country, of course,
does one go to the taproom of the village inn for choice
conversation. The owner of the place was certainly not growing
rich on what his customers consumed, for some of the
gentlemen present seemed not to be even aware of " the
good of the house," which in the village inn must not be
lost sight of, even though it does not go beyond the pot
of " four 'alf." The tiny cup of coffee, paid for in a
coin of such small value that travellers never see it, as
they are supposed to have no use for it ; whiffs at a

54 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
hubble-bubble pipe passed round the circle ; this was
the extent of their patronage of " mine host."
The talk was very vivacious, for even the gross
humours were touched with that imaginativeness which
gives a glow to Oriental speech, while the constant play
upon words, and the whimsical conceit, give the humour
of the peasant that faculty of sometimes producing an
explosive climax, which is very laughter-compelling.
For the rest, their conversation over their cups — of
coffee — is much the same as that of land-labourers of
the same class of any country — the crops, the master,
the coming moolid, who is going or returning from
Mecca, the exact sum of money, to a milliem, and the
exact amount of land, to a yard, possessed by this and
that neighbour — this they always know — the best
sheikh to apply to for charms for this and that purpose.
Always with this difference in the talk from that of
northern labourers, that the weather, in Egypt, needs
no discussion. The place of the weather in conversation is taken
by that first of all topics, the river Nile, for which the
fellah naturally has a deep veneration. They tell
singular things of sub-fluvial affairs, and know the
precise situations of the cities of many of the fairy
realms in the depths of the water. The King of
Fishes holds his Court in one place ; the King of the
Crocodiles in another ; whilst near the Rosetta mouth
is the liquid realm of the mermen, who now and then
manage to catch from above a human being, whom
they place on show in a cage, carefully pointing out to
the grinning mermen who crowd to see the latest wonder,
that the strange animal has got no tail ! The Egyptian
Arabs believe that all the insects and reptiles were

Photo) [Lekegian, Cairo.
A Village Scene ; Drawing Water from the Nile for Irrigation Purposes.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 55
produced at the Creation from the mud of the Nile,
and that man himself, under the hand of the Almighty
Artist, developed into beauty and life from the same
material. At the season of inundation, naturally, the talk
will be all of the rising flood, which, however, is not now
such a matter of speculation as formerly, for the mayor
even of this small village is actually connected by
telephone with the centres of information, and the
daily bulletins of the river reach him. The theory of
the rising of the Nile, which has been held possibly
for thousands of years, is in no way disturbed by
such modern invention. About Midsummer — on " the
Night of the Drop " — a drop of dew of magic power
is created in heaven and is put into the Nile, to cause
the blessed swelling of the waters. Many of the simple
people watch for this divine miracle, and, of course,
many are convinced that they have seen the magic
drop, like a falling star, dart into the southern part
of the river.
Weather or no weather to be discussed, it can be
seen that the talk of the village cafe need not flag for
want of topics of vital interest to the community.
On the way home, my friend and I discussed the
question of the introduction of strong drink into
the villages. There are scoundrels — mostly Greek or
Italian — always going about iii the country seeking an
opening to spread the ruin and shame which follows the
institution of a drink-shop. But for the sturdy influence
of our host's family, there would have been one of these
little hells established here long since.
Every traveller — to the most casual — must know
how the whisky-bottle is flaunted in what is always

56 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
the most prosperous-looking shop of nearly every
village, as far south as Khartoum. The fellah, if he
gets a taste for strong drink — forbidden in his religion,
he has no hereditary preparation for its ravages — hastens
on the downward path, and will pledge and mortgage
everything he possesses for it. It is the grog-seller,
too, who lies in wait for his own victims in the double
guise of pawnbroker and the landgrabber. Incredible
stories are told of fortunes made in this way by men
who landed at Alexandria from Europe with nothing
more than a chestnut brazier as stock in trade, and
now are become magnates in Cairo.
Is no protection possible from the Government ?
The whisky advertisements with which Egypt and the
Soudan are disfigured are a reproach to our British
name. All the well-known firms seem to be con
centrating on forcing a market for their wares in this
region. I came across the track of their " travellers "
in every place. There is no official ignorance to cover
the failure to act in this matter. Lord Cromer stated
in his great book on Egypt that " it is the low-class
Greek who undermines that moral quality of which
the Moslem, when untainted by European association,
has in some degree a speciality.5 That quality is sobriety."
We do not stay out late in the country, for (apart
from the fear of ginn) these young men and youths
must rise early. With our own English morning
habits we hear, as we lie in bed, while it is still quite
dark, the call to prayer from the minaret of the mosque
near by, and know that it is the signal for all men of
toil, or of Moslem piety, to arise.
During all my stay in the village I never once
crossed the threshold of the great house in which my

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 57
host and his family reside. I saw the children of the
two brothers who are married, but I never saw their
wives, although I have no doubt that from the many
windows of the hareem there were no comings and
goings from our house which were not closely observed.
My wife visited the ladies in the hareem, and found
them bright and full of interest in life ; they have the
care of the house and the children, they are skilled in
needlework, and at times there is much visiting and
receiving of friends from neighbouring villages. They
observe the prayers, and receive visits from a venerable
sheikh, who instructs them in matters of religion.
Like all Egyptian ladies of rank, they take great pride
in their jewels. And a woman's practised eye judged
their indoor costumes to betray a fashionable cut that
spells expense in Cairo.

CHAPTER V
" How you would love the Arab women in the country villages . . .
such sweet, graceful beings, all smiles and grace. ... It is the true
poetical pastoral life of the Bible in the villages where the English have
not been." Lady Duff Gordon, Letters from Egypt, pp. 35-36.
I saw, of course, a good deal of the life of the poor
womenfolk of the fellaheen. The fellaha is hard
worked, for in addition to bearing and nurturing the
many children — which are so ardently desired and
prayed for in all parts of Egypt — she cooks the frugal
meals, grinds the corn, and makes the bread. She
takes a sensible part in the work of the fields, and, above
all, is the household water-carrier from the river or canal.
It is she who beats the millet and the maize from
the sheath, to turn it into the coarse cakes which form
so great a part of the family diet. To the Arab Moslem
bread is sacred, and must not be wasted. Even crumbs
are taken up. Wheaten bread is not for the likes of
the fellaheen. Meat they rarely have, except on the
great feast days, when mutton is a necessity, to get
which stint and economy is practised for half a year.
Occasionally a little fish is brought from the Nile,
which is quite good. They have a fowl now and then,
stewed in the pot, with rice, which is eaten very fre
quently. The tiny eggs of Egypt are boiled hard, to
be eaten with a chunk of hard bread ; if a small piece
of the soft white cheese can be added, and a radish,
it is a meal fit for a Pasha. 58

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 59
The fellaha is accomplished in producing the most
fragrant and appetising messes of beans and lentils with
herbs ; for the Arab love of pungent flavouring is only
equalled by his passion for scents. As he has no name
for scentless flowers, so he ignores all green things that
are wanting in a distinct flavour. In all classes certain
vegetables are eaten raw ; at a great banquet, for
instance, large white radishes will be offered you, and
it will be thought peculiar that you eat the radish in
preference to the long green leaves !
The fellaheen eat radishes very largely, as their
remotest ancestors must have done ; in the food accounts
of the slaves who laboured on the Pyramids, found a
few years since, one of the chief items was for radishes.
Small cucumbers are cooked as a vegetable ; but
above all green things the Egyptian dotes on bamyia,
a small rough kind of vegetable, shaped like a finger,
which, to cheat the seasons, is even dried until it looks
like a yellow bead, and then threaded. The native
greengrocer shops have quantities of these strings of
dried bamyia hung up outside. I was not surprised
when a lady appeared at dinner, in Shepheard's Hotel,
in Cairo, last winter, wearing one of these strings of
bamyia as a necklace — she thought she had found a
purely native article of adornment, which was " so
quaint and Oriental." The Egyptian student in Eng
land hungers for bamyia — I know those who even have
supplies sent from home. The onion (and garlic, to
a lesser degree) are much appreciated, though many
Moslems, thinking of the Prophet's detestation of the
smell of them, will only eat them when they can be
sure of washing mouth and hands at once, especially
if prayer-time be near ; they believe the odour will

60 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
cause the guardian angels to stay at a distance from
them, and thus they would lose their good offices. The
turnip they often eat raw, as also that so-called tomato,
which, with its greenness and thick skin, is a disgrace
to this fertile land : I never saw a really luscious tomato
in Egypt or the Soudan.
Sugar-cane they chew and suck at every opportunity :
nature seems to have produced a craving for this food,
only to be eaten with such labour as makes the unac
customed jaw ache to distraction — a craving which will
lead the most cultured Egyptian occasionally to indulge
himself, though, like the ladies of Cranford with an
orange, gentility requires strict privacy for the inelegant
operation. The water-melon is justly regarded as one of the
,ehief blessings of Allah for the hot season ; its secrets
of cool refreshment are one of the miracles of nature.
Dates as a luxury hold the first place — and the children
contend for the privilege of sucking the stones ; when
the dates become dried as hard as marbles they are still
sought after.
Like the Jews, the Moslems refrain from things
strangled and from blood. Meat and game, to be
acceptable, must have the right formula pronounced
over it at the slaying — even when it is the victim of
sport of gun or rod ; and it must be eaten on the day
of slaughter, heedless of resulting toughness, which, to
alien digestion, is one of the chief trials of a stay with
native folk. Though vegetable is sometimes eaten raw,
meat of all kinds must always be well cooked. Our
English idea of redness necessary in roast beef is so re
pugnant to Egyptian ideas that a young friend of mine,
keeping the fast of Rhamadan last summer in London,

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 61
went to bed with his fast practically unbroken from the
previous night rather than taste the underdone beef
offered him for dinner in a Bloomsbury pension, the
apple tart which followed being equally distasteful to
him. The fellaha is, like most other village women, a great
gossip — an indulgence which is one of those gildings of
the bitter pill of life, according to the kindly precept of
old Samuel Johnson, which are to be regarded compla
cently. She says her prayers privately, and longs for
the Pilgrimage, or at least to touch the Mahmal in
Cairo, or to pray at a great saint's tomb there, as much
as does her husband. To think the contrary of all this
is the almost universal error of Christian critics of Islam.
Occasionally she seeks the spiritual advice of an
aged sheikh, perhaps some miles away, and from him gets
amulets and little leather satchels to string upon herself
and her children, in which are enclosed verses from the
Holy Koran known to be potent against the Evil Eye,
the ginn, and the devices of the devil by day and by
night. She knows that her husband is her rightful master,
for the Koran tells her, with its divine authority, that
man's natural qualities exalt him " a step above " the
woman, giving him permission to chastise her if she is
disobedient. As a rule, her husband is affectionate to
her and the children, and on his part remembers the
constant injunction of the Koran to treat his wife with
" love and tenderness — one of the true signs of God "
(Sura xxx. 20).
Her chief dread — perhaps more than divorce — is
that a second wife may be brought into the household.
Polygamy is rare in Egypt. The census shows, for one

62 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
thing, that the population of Egypt is almost equally
divided between male and female. Indeed, it is almost
solely among the fellaheen that polygamy survives,
the motive generally being to increase a man's progeny,
with its chances of wage-earning in the fields, as a
means of keeping off the wolf which here growls too
often very close to the poor man's door.
She is generally an obedient and willing helpmate
to her lord, training her children to join her in paying
him the deference which the Eastern father receives in
the home.
For some strange reason, however, the old widow
women often develop into dreadful shrews, who seem,
as a pastime, to seek to stir up village brawls. Their
power to screech provocative insults at all and sundry
is amazing. As a rule, there is a kind of understanding
amongst the men that the ancient shrew has some sort
of privilege which guards her from the suppression
which would be exerted over a younger woman.
Without education, except that gained in the kuttab
(or Koran school), a little laborious writing and reading,
some memorising of their holy writ, the fellah boy is
early set to work. Gradually, however, the scope of
education is being widened in Egypt. I have visited
some excellent village schools which carry education far
beyond that of the kuttab. The fellah is lowly in mind,
and never questions his lot, for he thinks God ordained
it. He is as simple as a child, with a liability to the
child's gusts of passion and capacity for heartrend
ing grief. He worships goodness in others when he
finds it, and has some really fine instincts of love and
devotion to those whom God has set over him, if they
show any sort of interest in his well-being. That his

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 63
desires are limited is shown by the fact that he can find
happiness in his infinitesimal means. The natural
dignity of man rarely deserts him, and clothes him with
a winning and saving grace ; it is nurtured by his religion,
which teaches him, through that constant link with
heaven, maintained by the guardian angels who are
always by his side, a self-respect sometimes merging into
a pride that is a little repellent to men of other creeds,
who come into contact with him without caring to
understand or sympathise.
It is difficult for some people to realise that the
fellah is not a barbarian or a savage, or even a blood
thirsty fanatic, lying in wait to ferociously demand the
protestation of his faith at the end of a dagger. Solici
tous relatives of my own, knowing that I have a pre
dilection for remote village life in Moslem lands, judging
from what they have heard from other travellers — " as a
fact," of course — have warned me against such imaginary
ogres who lie in wait for Christians with the Koran in
one hand and a raised sword in the other.
The dark and fusty hovels in which the poor live, the
soil-stained, trailing garments of the women — who of
all misfortunes to their personal appearance are con
demned to wear black in a country where one of the
plagues is dust — the primitive ideas, as old as the early
scriptural injunctions in matters sanitary, lead the
fastidious European to label these people as creatures
degraded by filth.
In this matter a fair judgment cannot be made from
outward appearances. Let the habits of bodily washing
of the labouring classes of any of the nations which
supply these critics be compared with those of Moslem
folk, bound (men and women) by the ablutions which

64 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
precede their prayers, with some just allowance for lack
of advance in other matters, and I think the balance will
be in favour of the fellaheen.
I dislike such crude comparisons, but I cannot forget
that a doctor at one of the London hospitals once told
me he found that the majority of the poorer patients had
never been washed over the whole of their bodies for
years, some from babyhood. Could anything more
perfectly ensure bodily cleanliness, than the. daily wash
ing of parts of, and the weekly ablution of the whole
human frame, demanded by the Islamic religion. Of
the feet alone the daily washing must particularly reach
between every toe.
Objectionable insects thrive in such a climate ; even
in Cairo, as a doctor friend of mine humorously re
marked, the " pulex irritans is entitled to even official
recognition about the middle of April " ; and indeed
there is warrant for the unbroken heritage of all the
insect " plagues of Egypt."
But lest in this matter I should be thought unduly
lenient, I will fall back upon a quotation from the words
of the same keen observer of the poor labourer of the
Nile valley whom I have previously mentioned.
" Clean poverty and healthy misery are not to be met
with every day, either in Egypt or elsewhere. A starving
bird neglects to polish his feathers, and a famished dog
has a ragged coat. However, it must not be supposed
that the fellah is a disgusting animal. With the greatest
respect for suffering, wherever it may be found, I must
say that Northern poverty is far more repulsive than
Egyptian ; and that there are thousands of garrets in
England infinitely fuller of terrors to those whose senses
enjoy an unjust monopoly of refinement, than the most

Photo]

[DMrich, Cairo.

The Daily Visit of the Water-Carrier.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 65
wretched Arab hovel. . . . And the wretchedest fellah,
in his normal state of poverty, if not a more respectable,
is a more approachable being than the outcast of Euro
pean civilisation."
Beyond the slight moral teaching gained at the
kuttab — and this is mostly by deduction from Koranic
precepts, and the advice of the father, which counts
for more perhaps than has been realised by Christian
critics — the deplorable absence of training for the
young leads one to wonder how any degree of moral
decency is attained. As someone says : " God knows
their goodness is all their own, there is no one to teach
them." A consciousness of the need of moral teaching is
spreading in Egypt, however, and I hope a proper
care of the youth of the villages may be the outcome.
When I think of the social club, and the boy scouts
and brigades, the Sunday schools and the night classes,
and all the social service which reaches the remotest
hamlet in England, I wonder what it is that saves the
Egyptian boy, in any degree, from perdition ; and
from what source is drawn the inspiration of that real
nobility of character, so often found in the older Moslem
men ? I have met many a man in the East whose
character I could thoroughly admire, and whose advice
I valued ; and who, of those who have lived there, has
not had the same experience ?
To speak of the moral bankruptcy of Islam, and never
to suggest that a solvent soul is possible to it, as Mr.
Zwemer does (in Islam : a Challenge to Faith), betrays
bias or ignorance. I think of a Christian woman who in
Egypt became almost entirely dependent in a mortal
illness on an Arab servant. He was offered every
5

66 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
inducement to leave his mistress, even the dignity of
royal service with our Prince of Wales (when the late
King Edward was visiting Egypt), with pay far beyond
his mistress's means. This is what she wrote of him :
" When I know, as I now do thoroughly, all Omar's
complete integrity — without any sort of mention of
it — his going ragged and shabby to save his money for
his wife and child (a very great trial to a good-looking
young Arab), and the equally unostentatious love he
has shown to me, and the delicacy and real nobleness
of feeling which comes out so oddly in the midst of
sayings, which to our ideas seem very shabby and
time-serving, very often I wonder if there is anything
as good in the civilised West."
There is a great deal in the religion of Islam which
teaches consideration for others, and leads to gentleness
and simplicity of conduct, which, with a remarkable
absence of censoriousness, produces what we call
gentlemen. And no national decadence, or falling
behind in the race for intellectual and material attain
ment and advantage, has obliterated this. The men
of the family with whom we are staying, in the culture
of mind they show in all the relationships of life — and
I speak now after a friendship which ripened into close
intimacy — recalled for me the fine qualities which
marked the early Moslems.
Here was a father and five sons, living together in a
patriarchal dignity, the father ruling with a firm and
wise benevolence, and the sons filling their part with
filial respect and affection, all conscious of their duty
to their dependants and their neighbours, following a
family tradition of many generations. They are known
as men faithful to their word, whatever may be the

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 67
cost, and equally faithful to their self-respect, whatever
the inducements to depart from it. The Bey would
have been a Pasha, when titles were on sale, if he had
not possessed qualities above the temptations of personal
aggrandisement — in the East a sore temptation indeed.
It was my happiness with these friends to bridge the
gulf of reticence which the different forms of Eastern
and Western pride create to separate men of different
races, and causes them to misjudge each other from
across the gulf.
The relationship between the father and his sons is
one of the pleasantest features of Egyptian life. " To
please your father is to please God, and to displease
your father is to displease God," said Mohammed ; and
the teaching is taken to heart. I never was in any
family where the sons, of whatever age, did not rise
when their father entered a room, waiting for him to
be seated ; an air of respect coming over them which
prevents any slackness of good manners in his presence.
His slightest wish is a law obeyed with quiet grace.
The youngest son of this particular family sits by
his father's side at meals, and waits upon him as a most
attentive servant. A father is seldom or never harsh
to his sons ; he reasons with them in a way that assumes
intelligence, and a perfect desire to consider his wishes
on their part. An undutiful son is very rare amongst
Moslems. The deplorable decline of respect paid to the aged in
Western lands has no echo in the East. " Nothing more
greatly surprises the European traveller," Mr. Stanley
Lane-Poole admits, " than the polite and gentleman
like manners of Egyptians of all classes. They always
do the right thing in the most courteous, graceful, and

68 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
self-possessed manner, and intentional rudeness to an
older man, or a superior in rank, is almost unknown."
There never was a community in thisworld, Iimagine,
without its scamp and its " ne'er-do-well." This
village was no exception. Sitting in the mosque, alone
with his gloomy thoughts, was an old man — I saw him
daily — who had been, only a few days before our
arrival, the unwitting cause of one of those crimes of
passion so common in the East. He had cuffed a small
boy for some fault ; the boy's relatives — unfortunately
most of them the family of a rascal who all his days
had been a troubler of the village peace — resented this.
A brawl ensued, and in the deadly rage excited, the
scamp had fired a shot which landed him in prison on
a charge of murder.
His family, a generation ago, had been rich and
respected, but the ne'er-do-well proclivity, with a
quarrelsome love of litigation, had reduced them to a
strip of land worth only a pittance.
Another scamp, an ignorant but amiable poltroon
of a rogue, cunning enough this one to " rise in the
world," and not fall, was a small landowner who carried
with him the conscious dignity of the title of Bey.
Quite illiterate, and with no scruples in the pursuit
of gain, he went his ignominious way for many years,
reaping the satisfaction with life, which marked him,
from a secretly increasing pile of piastres, and caring
nothing for the contumely of men.
There came a day when the palace in Cairo, intent
on facilitating commerce in titles, practically set up a
shop and bagmen, with everything marked in plain
figures at prix fixe. The Oriental is never a miser
unless he is contemplating an extravagant coup. This

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 69
gentleman had seen the goods of the royal establish
ment, and envied the " wear " on other men. During
a visit to the capital he found that his particular
fancy in 'adornments was marked — during the time of
sale only — as low as £300 ! He went in and proudly
banged the price upon the counter, and the shopman,
all smiles, informed him that the order could be executed
in the course of a week. As a matter of protective form
— Lord Cromer was an alert tyrant, and was known to
have an unreasoning dislike of this nice shop and especi
ally of the gentlemen who were allowed to appropriate
the profits — some inquiry was made as to the customer's
suitability for knighthood. A curt reply from Upper
Egypt said — if this man wished even to be called effendi
(gentleman) he would disgrace the title. With what
result ? Did the repcit stop the sale ? Not a bit of
it ; it only enhanced the price of the purchase. A
mention of £4.50, a peremptory letter to the gentleman
of the " effendi " joke, and an official " character "
was supplied to Cairo in every way satisfactory to the
shopkeeper. Most of the private pile of piastres dis
appeared, for a bauble which ever since has been a daily
satisfaction to a saucy rogue, who cares nothing that
he never learnt to write even his own name.
At last the time for our departure arrived. Omar
assured me that no one would break a gullah (water-jar)
after us, and that our house, we might rest assured,
would not be swept for three days. This was a great
compliment, for if a person visits you in Egypt, whose
return you do not desire, you speak of " breaking a
gullah after him," and when you are very much in
earnest you actually break a jar. To sweep away the
dust of his feet, in less than three days, would be to

70 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
remove the chance of seeing your guest again ; and for
the same reason you must not sweep a visitor's rooms
at night. It was a misty morning on which, having made our
adieus with heartfelt thanks for many and great kind
nesses, our little cavalcade returned across that plain
over which English enterprise and skill had wrought
such beneficent change. In a mile or two the mist
became increased until the particles of moisture in the
air clung to hair and clothes, and made us white, re
minding the Englishmen of a mild, " muggy " morning
at home in early winter.
When I hear of the weather having radically changed
in" the British Isles, of " old-fashioned Christmasses "
and the like, I recall the entries in old diaries, like those
of Pepys and Evelyn, which soon disprove such fallacies.
Of Egypt it is often asserted that the climate has changed;
the fateful British occupation is responsible even for
this, with its irrigation and its tree-planting. But the
same rule applies here — I have at hand a diary of the
days of Mohammed Ali (he died in 1849), and mornings
like this are spoken of : even a mist at the Citadel,
just as I experienced it, in the early morning when I
went to photograph the Holy Carpet before the crowds
assembled to see it start for Mecca. It was a curious
sensation, nevertheless, in a land to which the preserva
tion of the antiquities of the tombs bears witness to a
marvellous dryness, to travel, as we did that morning,
through fifty miles of mist which completely veiled the
landscape. I must relate an episode of our departure from the
country railway station. Naturally I gave a present to
the servants, who had worked hard and faithfully, and

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 71
with delightful good humour, for us in so many ways.
It was with hesitation that two or three of them accepted
the money : when I reached my special negro attendant
he drew back with every sign of distress, saying, " La !
la ! la ! " (" No ! no ! no ! ") With persistency I forced
a silver coin upon him ; and as he reluctantly took it,
there were tears — of shame, I found — in his eyes. I
asked his young master to explain that it is the English
custom to offer a gift to those who have served us.
He accepted the explanation, but the smiles did not
return to his face, even when we shook hands with
him from the carriage window. " It was shameful of
him," he told Omar again, " to take money from his
master's friend."

CHAPTER VI
" The almost miraculous renaissance in Islam which is now pro
ceeding in Turkey and in other Mohammedan countries reminds one
forcibly of Dante's lines : ' For I have seen
The thorn frown rudely all the winter long.
And after bear the rose upon its top.' "
Claud Field, Mystics and Saints of Islam, p. 202.
How few people know anything of the wonders and the
treasures that are hidden off the narrow streets of native
Cairo — those silent ways leading to no bazaar, or even
to a single shop to attract the curious from the paths
so well trodden by the dragoman and his trusting
victims. And yet if only some kindly ginn would give
you the right key, it is out of these streets, the old
residential quarters of Prince and Pasha, and of the
religious dignitary wealthier than them all, that the
real Oriental splendour of Cairo may be found.
It was the genii of friendship that put the key into
my hand which enabled me to break out of the dusty
by-ways, so narrow that only an uneven slit of sky
could be seen between the eaves above, into gorgeous
old palaces, with wide courtyards and spacious gardens,
richly decorated halls and chambers, the magnitude and
beauty of which transport one into the days that were
truly golden for the few men who had the power to
possess themselves of the opulence of the East.
The street itself — it is seldom more than ten feet
wide — is certainly forbidding, as it was meant to be,

Phofo]

[Lekegian, Cairo.

"The only Trace of Graciousness the Palace eyer showed to the
Outer World of the Street was the Beautiful Mashrabieh Work
of the Bay Windows at the Top of the House."

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 73
for the one object in the days when these houses were
built was privacy ; and the only trace of graciousness
the palace ever showed to the outer world of the street
was the beautiful mashrabieh work of the bay windows
at the top of the house — an invention, as everyone
knows, by which the curiosity of the ladies of the hareem
might be indulged in seeing what was going on below,
while still making their own concealment effectual.
On the ground floor the houses offer nothing to
the street but a massive stone wall, with a square hole
at intervals, high up and strongly barred. The
gateway is sometimes impressive, with groined arches,
though it only serves to accentuate the prison-like air.
But let the doors be opened — the bowabs and the black
eunuchs who sit on the bench are sure to suspect your
credentials, unless their master has sent his special
servant to await you — and you are at once in a sunny
and spacious world.
One of the most beautiful of the ancient palaces
I visited is that of the historic house of Sadat, where I
was most courteously received by the Sheikh Abdul
Hamid El-Bekri. The sheikh is the chief descendant
in Egypt of Abu Bakr, the Prophet's devoted friend,
and the first caliph of Islam.
The courtyard is more than usually beautiful, with
a noble old tree and some exquisite mashrabieh work.
We were received in the salemlik, a hall of fine propor
tions and the most exquisite ancient decorations, much
of the wall space being covered with precious old
Persian tiles. The beauty of these tiles, which are so
much admired in any place, can only be rightly appreci
ated when they are seen in the subdued light of a hall
such as this, for which they were made, with decorations

74 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
and proportions designed by the artist who chose them.
I have heard of a man in England buying and demolishing
an old house to possess himself of all its ancient oakwork ;
I fancy these tiles, so rich in the beauty of a lost art,
would far eclipse the value of any Cairene palace that
contained them.
How many strange and wonderful scenes of Oriental
splendour, as well as of horror, have taken place in this
palace. Many meetings of great historical importance
have been held here. Napoleon made great efforts to
ingratiate himself with the head of the Sadat family,
who was at first decorated with the Legion of Honour,
and then, when he did not fall into line with the
Emperor's designs on Egypt, was bastinadoed. This
palace was the scene of the most special of those " ziks,"
in which mystical religious zeal developed into a sort
of frenzy, such as the Western mind cannot contemplate
without terror. It was here that the dervishes, famous
for eating live serpents, gave their chief exhibitions,
until an enlightened head of the house, many years
since, declared the thing disgusting and contrary to the
religion, which distinctly says that snakes are unclean
things and forbidden as food. In these present days,
as Professor Margoliouth says, the reformed Islam of
Egypt discourages the practices whereby the Sufis
endeavour to hypnotise themselves, viz. dancing, sing
ing, and repetition of syllables supposed to represent
the divine name.
As the sheikh's family was away he took us through
every part of the palace, even to the beautiful hareem
apartments, the chief of which has some very fine
carving. The modern note obtruding itself on the
medieval air of the place was a baby's cot of Parisian

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 75
make. It was evident that the most cheerful part of
the house was — as is often the case in these palaces —
given over to the ladies' use. Some of the most
beautiful of the decorations are found in these lofty
rooms and balconies ; and there is an abundance of air
and light.
The large garden too, which in the former days
must have been a most delightful resort, was nearly all
hareem (the word only means reserved or private ; the
tramcars have hareem compartments), again following
the same custom. The sakieh (water-wheel), however,
is now broken and silent, its song being ended, and the
garden falls, like the palace, into disuse.
It is not permissible, of course, to discuss the opinions
of a gentleman's wife, but I gathered that Egyptian
ladies of the highest rank are finding the advantages of
the new houses which are turning Cairo into an imita
tion Paris, with all their " modern conveniences " of
electricity, and situated where friends may easily pay
their visits. A garage too is a necessity now, for hareem
bounds have extended, and narrow streets may no
longer cut off the educated Moslem lady of to-day from
her drives to Gizereh, her shopping excursions, — the
visits to the jeweller being a cherished institution with
all Eastern ladies, and no city in the world can show
finer jewels than are to be seen in the shops in Cairo, —
from the opera, and other occupations and amusements.
When the Sheikh El-Bekri had shown me all the
ramifications of the beautiful old palace of his family, he
kindly invited me to pay him a visit, later on, at his
modern home.
The contrast was complete. Out of medievalism
one stepped into the twentieth-century Paris, or rather,

76 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
from the silent fastnesses of a feudal castle, which was' a
world in itself, into the modern home, accessible to the
haunts of men, the telephone linking it to every modern
interest of a bustling city.
The salemlik becomes a drawing-room, still for men
only, it is true, and with an entrance separate from the
hareem ; but from its windows I saw the hareem part of
the family starting for their afternoon drive — facts to
keep in mind when one comes to consider the question
of the position of the Moslem women and the possibility
of their social and moral advance.
Islam has travelled far since the Sheikh Sayyed Sadat
of that day — to whom my host has now succeeded —
rode his horse, at the celebrations of the Prophet's
birthday, over the prostrate forms of men who believed
his noble ancestry gave him a miraculous power which
could save them from injury. There are many middle-
aged people still living who witnessed this ceremony of
the Doseh, as it was called. And to-day we discuss it in
this modern drawing-room as a thing belonging to a past
age ; and the sheikh talks with me of Moslem schemes
for bringing Islam abreast of all that is worthy in the
Western world. An enlarged photograph of the late
Sheikh Mohammed Abdul, looking down upon us the
while — that enlightened man (he was Grand Mufti)
whose influence on Islam in Egypt eclipses that of any
man during the past century ; and whose teaching, in a
sentence, was — Back to the Koran and the simple godli
ness of the Prophet ; away with the superstitious inven
tions and the fables of later men ; let Islam be true to
the spirit of its great founder, and his friends, who
extolled learning wherever found. Ali, the Prophet's
grandson, the sheikh reminded me, said, " Eminence in

Photo]

The Hareem of an Old Palace in Cairo.

[Dittrieh, Cairo.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 77
science is the highest of honours : he dies not who gives
life to learning."
It was a traditional saying of Mohammed himself
that " whoso pursueth the road of knowledge, God will
direct him to the road of Paradise ; and verily the
angels spread their arms to receive him who seeketh after
knowledge ; verily the superiority of a learned man over
a mere worshipper is like that of the full moon over the
stars." The sheikh was subdued and sad at the thought
of the slowness of the advance ; men in the East, he
thought, had not yet learned to work disinterestedly and
steadily for the cause of humanity, and to co-operate in
their efforts for the common good. The cultivation of
what is called " public spirit " is what is most needed in
Egypt. Where is the leader who can call it into being ?
The sheikh's eldest son, a lad of fifteen, was able to
talk to me in good English ; he is receiving a modern
education, instead of studying at Al Azar, as his ancestors
have done for hundreds of years ! Surely a most signi
ficant fact with regard to the future of Islam in Egypt.
It was soon after these visits that the Sheikh El-
Bekri succeeded to the higher honours of the chief de
scendant in Egypt of the Prophet Mohammed, in
succession to his father-in-law, Sayyad Sadat, who leaves
no male children.
Another splendid old palace is that to which I went
one night to offer condolences to Sayyed Sadat on the
death of a relative. The whole place was brilliantly
illuminated, as is usual for all ceremonies held at night
in the East ; even the narrow winding road leading to
the house was bright with innumerable lamps specially
set up for the occasion.

78 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
The mellow colours of the great courtyard, and the
brightness of the interior decorations, and the carpets
under the light of myriad candles sparkling in the
midst of the lustre hangings, made a wonderful setting
for all the chief dignitaries of Islam who were gathered
there, as a sign of sympathy.
As the only European present, I felt the contrast
between these robed and turbaned figures, and the black
and white ugliness of the Englishman's evening livery.
Here was the aged Sheikh Al-Azar, the Sheikh El-
Islam, and the Grand Mufti, with all the lesser lights of
the Church. We sat round the room on the divans,
while the Koran was chanted by men well known for the
sweetness of their voices and the purity of their diction.
Scarcely a word passed, for it is wrong to speak when
holy writ is being recited ; and one must not smoke, or
sit in a lounging attitude, or with crossed legs. Coffee
is, nowadays, permitted, and on these occasions is con
stantly handed round.
I think these visits at times of bereavement, when
one's presence — without any of those halting and pain
ful words of condolence it is so hard to express on the
formal visit paid in England — is taken in itself as a sign
of sympathy, and the comforting words of one's scripture
are read by men trained to express their true meaning,
are an excellent custom.
In addition to the palaces there are many fine old
houses in Cairo, to be reached by the same narrow ways,
where the quiet home-life of the well-to-do Moslems
of the middle-class goes on in ways unknown to Euro
peans. These houses are spacious and airy, though from
the street they look so forbidding.
Built round the usual square courtyard, where grow

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 79
some high date-palm trees perhaps, with a central
fountain, they are delightful retreats from the noise and
dust without. These houses have little interior decora
tion and few treasures of tile and mashrabieh.
I visited many such homes ; one of them dwells in my
mind as a delightful picture of patriarchal happiness —
a fine old man, surrounded by his children and grand
children, with his servants and their children and grand
children, ruling them all with firmness and the most
kindly grace.
The first thing in the house his younger son showed
to me with pride was the place of prayer, where all the
men, master and dependants, meet at the stated hours
to adore and supplicate their God.
Such homes rarely, if ever, have any pictures ; here
the only adornment of the walls was a large framed
inscription in gold, on a blue ground, of the words, in
Arabic, of course — " In the Name of God, the Com
passionate, the Merciful," hung on the wall of the
salemlik, so that it is the first thing one sees on entering
the house.
The traditional saying of the Prophet, " The angels
do not enter a house in which is a dog, nor that in
which there are pictures," still keeps the Moslem
home, to Western ideas, a rather forlorn place, which
the splendour of the carpets and the growing addition
of modern furniture does little to redeem.
The use of photography is increasing ; one of the
sons of this house possesses a camera, and enlarged
portraits of departed relatives are now found on many
walls. And the educated Moslem thinks that a mistake
has been made in attributing to the Prophet any sayings
which can be construed into limiting advance in art,

80 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
as in science. When he forbade the making of pictures
— " If you must make pictures, make them of trees
and things without souls " — it was his sole intention
to forbid the use of pictures in the mosque.
It was Mohammed's intense hatred of idolatry that
led him to denounce drawing in the same breath as
sculpture ; art, as such, detached from every form of
the worship of God, it is maintained, was never con
templated when Mohammed declared that " whoso
ever draweth a picture shall be punished at the last
day by ordering him to breathe a spirit into it ; and
this he can never do, and so he will be punished as long
as God wills." This is a traditional saying. The
teaching of the Koran itself is shown in these words :
" O believers, surely wine and games of chance, and
statues and the divining arrows, are an abomination
of Satan's work " (Sura v. 92). In Cairo there is now
a School of Art in which Moslem students are showing
great proficiency in both statuary and portrait painting.
It is to this restriction, of course, that the wonderful
ingenuity and beauty attairied by Arabesque decora
tion is due. If anyone wishes to see what such decora
tion is capable of, he should visit the new Mosque of
El-Rifai', in Cairo. I imagine that there is not a single
note of importance in the whole range of such decora
tion which is not here turned to gorgeous effect, through
the knowledge and skill of Hertz Pasha. This splendid
mosque, just beneath the Citadel, was not opened till
this summer (191 2), but I had special permission to
visit it last winter.
With regard to animals, it must not be supposed
that because the dog is forbidden the house, and is
regarded as an unclean beast — it is the mouth of the

Photo] [Lekegian, Cairo.
Inside the Courtyard of an Old Palace in Cairo.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 81
dog that is dreaded, experience in hot countries shows
with what cause — that therefore the Moslem has no
thought for animals. Having myself seen a dog become
suddenly raving mad in a desert village, I can understand
the Prophet's precautions. A rich Moslem recently
left .£40 a year for bread for dogs. It is the general
belief that animals will with man appear at the resurrec
tion, and some of the most worthy will be admitted to
Paradise. " Fear God with regard to animals," said
Mohammed, " ride them when they are fit to be ridden,
and get off when they are tired. Verily there are
rewards for -doing good to dumb animals, and giving
them water to drink." A traditional story of the
Prophet says, " An adultress was forgiven, who, passing
by a dog by a well and seeing it holding out its tongue
from thirst which was near killing it, took off her boot,
and made a rope of one of her garments, and drew water
for the dog." And all the Prophet's teaching agreed
with this ; many are the touching and beautiful stories
told of his own love of birds and beasts.
Like all writers on Islam who do not know the
living people, having gone solely to books, Mr. Bosworth
Smith, although his generous panegyric is valued as
almost the only book ever written by a scholarly English
man in which a favourable word is said for this religion,
gives too much praise to the Moslem's treatment of
animals. It is another of the contradictions of the
East, that in this matter they are both better and worse
than the Western people. The injustice is to write
down all Oriental folk as cruel.
Playing in the courtyard we saw the children of the
household and the little black son of Bilal the gatekeeper
— descended from a long line of slaves to the family,
6

82 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
though now being as free as his master. Indeed it is the
Moslem custom in houses of this sort to bring children
up in pairs, the servant's child with the master's, giving
each almost identical advantages ; and later, if the poor
dependent proves clever, sending him to the same
school or university, and in the case of girls allowing
them to learn from the same governesses. Many a
child of slaves has in this manner won his way to the
very highest position ; for here birth is no obstacle,
which in Christendom is the almost impassable bar,
guarded as it is in the last resort by snobbery, that
cruellest and least relenting of foes to humble advance.
For our entertainment, sometimes, a negro lad of
the house would swarm up one of the high trees and
secure for us some dates ; his master joking him on the
fact that such a small proportion of those gathered
ever reached himself or his family ! Such again are
the principles of equality, when put into actual practice.

CHAPTER VII
" A man's true wealth hereafter is the good he has done in this world
to his fellow-man. When he dies, people will ask, What property has he
left behind him ? But the angels will ask, What good deeds has he sent
before him ? " Mishat-ul-Masabih, trans, by Capt. Matthews, I. vi. 445.
Another country-house visit took us into an entirely
different realm, and opened another phase of Islamic
life in Egypt. I had the pleasure during my stay in
Cairo of trying to be of some use to the many students
there ; with the result that I am able to again abundantly
deny the charge, so often made against Oriental people,
that they are wanting in gratitude.
The tangible kindnesses I received on all sides were
enough to obscure any service I found it possible to give,
and enlarged my experience of innumerable instances
of single-minded gratitude, pathetic in the self-sacrifice
they entailed — an experience which began years before
with the most primitive Moslem folk in the Sahara desert ;
where I first became acquainted with Arab people.
The Prophet's own gratitude for service and devo
tion was unfailing ; in the Koran he says, " God is not
pleased with thanklessness in His servants " (Sura
xxxix. 9). Long ago Lane explained how unjust this
charge of ingratitude was, arising from a failure to
understand the Eastern, and especially the bedouin,
code of manners, by which they take certain services
from other human beings as a thing it would be an
83

84 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
insult to even hint that they would refuse. To thank
a friend would often be to suggest that he was despicable.
It is founded on ideas almost as old, I imagine, as the
first records of the Arab race ; and as one would expect,
the Koran supports the idea — reward is for those who
give, " seeking neither recompense nor thanks " (Sura
lxxvi. 9).
The Prophet was, as I have said, unfailing in grati
tude and devotion to those who served him ; there are
instances of this on every page of his life. And the
universal tribute paid to this virtue in the Arab people
by those who, like Palgrave, for instance, have lived
long amongst them, shows how unjust the casual judg
ment can be when, owing to mere surface habits, a
whole people can be so wrongly described. The instances
of deepest gratitude, I have myself found, amongst
Arabs in oases of the Sahara, remote as that of Tolga,
are confirmed by a friend of mine, a lady who lived for
nearly two years with a poor Arab family, the only
English resident in Kairouan, the most religious town in
Tunisia, finding, as she said, " a wealth of devotion and
gratitude " for the services she gave to her friends and
their neighbours.
To my mind there is nothing more beautiful in all
the development of that fine conception of the duties
of friendship which is found in the worthy Moslem, & '
the perfect confidence he shows in the willingness of
friends to share everything with him.
The story is told of Ibrahim ben Adham, one of
the saints of Islam — a story which inspired a beautiful
poem of Leigh Hunt's.
" One night I saw in a dream Gabriel, with a piece
of paper in his hand.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 85
" ' What are you doing ? ' I asked him.
" ' I am writing on this sheet of paper the names of
the friends of the Lord ! '
" ' Will you write mine among them ? '
" c But you are not one of His friends ! '
" ' If I am not one of His friends, at least I am a
friend of His friends ! '
" Immediately a voice was heard — ' O Gabriel,
write Ibrahim's name on the first line ; for he who
loves our friends is our friend.' "
I think it was Mrs. Gaskell who suggested that
Christianity was in need of a second Golden Rule,
which should be " Let your friends do unto you as you
would do unto them." We might go to the East to
realise with what happiness such a rule can be put into
practice. Our system of invitation and acceptance, for instance,
in the matter of hospitality is exactly reversed. Here,
between friends the guest decides that he wishes to
pay a visit, and says so ; in most cases you honour a
man, not by inviting him to dinner, but by telling him
you will dine with him.
One of my student friends, knowing I was particularly
interested in the organised charities of Islam, was anxious
that I should visit his relatives in Tanta and see the
wakfs (charities) of Pasha Menshawi, the magnitude of
whose legacies, I knew, exceeded anything of modern
times. A missionary charge against Islam, often repeated,
is that while there is a good deal of promiscuous alms
giving, anything like organised charity is unknown.
Tanta is a town in Lower Egypt which has had a bad
reputation with Europeans from the lack of zeal it has
shown in turning itself into an imitation of a European

86 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
city ; from the magnitude of its annual moolid of its
patron saint, which largely takes the form of a vast fair,
attracting all the riff-raff of the country, as great fairs
have a way of doing the world over ; and from several
outbursts of fanaticism on the part of the mob, which
have received full attention in the incorruptible English
Press in Egypt, too far away to take any note of such
things as religious riots in Liverpool !
I believe that last year a British regiment marching
through Tanta from Alexandria to Cairo was roughly
handled, bottle-throwing — it sounds like Ireland —
leading to an order of fixed bayonets.
The town has been behind in more important things
than the development of the flash French architecture,
say of Cairo, which builds sky-scrapers before it has
made a drainage system. Let the truth be told, Tanta
is a dirty place, and modern education has lagged. But
there is a new spirit abroad. A sort of municipal pride is
coming to life in its chief men ; it has an alert governor,
and the Sheikh of Tanta, whose power is second to none
in Islamic Egypt, is a man of learning and enlightenment,
and what is more, of genuine spiritual force.
Tanta, then, was the scene of an experience which
transported us, with the facility of the magic carpet,
into another true Arabian night — the story of which
may be put into the same form of simple narrative as
the old stories take.
We were met by our host, the father of my young
friend, an able-looking, turbaned Arab, and a relative
(an avocat) who spoke French, and a doctor friend speak
ing English. Our host, Basouny Bey El Khatib, is the
executor of the late Pasha's wakfs — a considerable
trust, entailing, I found, the management of no less

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 87
than 6000 feddans (roughly, a feddan is an acre) of
the most productive land in Egypt, and the great
revenues coming from them. It is said that land in this
part of Egypt is worth ^200 an acre. The extent of
the Pasha's fortune may be gauged by remembering
that a Moslem may not dispose of more than a third
of his wealth away from his rightful heirs.
Equipages with prancing steeds — the first luxury of
an Eastern man of wealth, who likes no faltering in the
matter of the prancing — were awaiting us, and we were
driven to a beautiful house in the town, where the
avocat was to entertain us to lunch. This house com
bined a great deal of Western comfort, with provision
for Oriental customs. The coffee served at once in the
salemlik was the delicious sort only grown in Yemen,
which, with the addition of a speck of ambergris to
each cup, makes a drink fit for the gods. The lunch
was truly superb, Egyptian in every detail, but served
in the French style, with the multiplicity of dishes and
silver and cutlery which rich houses in Egypt are begin
ning to possess for the entertainment of European visitors.
The provision of food of all sorts was abundant beyond
English imagination, including every delicacy of the East.
As I was not intimate enough with my host to
refuse, without fear of offence, any of the fourteen
courses, I was led to remark to the doctor, who has been
in England, that our meals must mean a sort of semi-
starvation to Egyptians. His instant agreement was
amusing. When in London, he said, he had been
invited to lunch with a judge ; but after he had left
the house, he was so little complet that he adjourned
to a neighbouring hotel and began again ! But then,
he explained, he seldom ate more than one meal a day !

88 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
After lunch we adjourned to the great hall for the
usual coffee and smoke, till our chariots came to the
door, and we dashed off to see the new mosque schools,
almshouses, and hospital, built in accordance with the
Menshawi bequest.
The mosque is a fine building, beautifully decorated,
in Arabesque style, of course, by Egyptian work-people.
A side chapel contains the tomb of the founder, at which
prayers are said, and the Koran read, daily. There
were a good many worshippers in the mosque, about to
make the three o'clock prayer, some of them being
students from the large theological school which is
under the same roof, and only divided from the mosque
by a screen. The school was a delightful scene of
picturesque activity, the scholars drawn apparently
from the gentler classes, being attired, as becomes the
student of religion, in robe and turban, and all of them
looking remarkably well-fed and clothed under the
Pasha's provision for them.
I ventured to suggest a motto to the Bey for the
mosque — I had noted the lines from an old book of
travel ; Sir William Jones, a hundred years since, had
seen them on a mosque on the tiny island of Johanna,
off the coast of Africa.
" The world was given us for our own edification,
Not for the purpose of raising sumptuous buildings ;
Life, for the discharge of moral and religious duties.
Not for pleasurable indulgences ;
Wealth to be liberally bestowed,
;_ Not avariciously hoarded,
And learning, to produce good actions,
Not empty disputes."
Quite near is the hospital, with its bright wards,
its terraces, and balconies, and a charming garden, where

Photo]

[Lekegian, Cairo.

•A. Drink of Water in the Name of Allah !"
A familiar scene at the mosque door.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 89
a profusion of roses, lavender, stocks, violets, jessamine,
were all flowering amidst its palms, in such glorious
sunshine as forbade a single sense of ours to remind
us that the word " winter " still held the calendar.
The great surprise, however, was in the hospital
itself. To have found such an institution in a pro
vincial town in England would have been a gratification ;
in Tanta, a town backward in " morally bankrupt Islam,"
it seemed that only a touch of magic could account for
the scene. Like the other charitable buildings, standing
on the same area, the hospital was built after the Pasha's
demise, under the intelligent care of the trustee, and our
doctor friend, who, by the Pasha's wish, is the director.
By any standard, this hospital is worthy to rank as a
modern institution, possessing every approved device,
even to the latest of those exquisite electrical and
photographic inventions for the treatment of disease
which require a separate operating chamber, with
specially generated motive-power.
As we went through the hospital wards, and greeted
the poor Moslem patients who occupied the beds, and
who must have come from the dark and comfortless
hovels which the Egyptian poor inhabit, we wondered
what sort of miracle they thought it was that the Pasha's
wealth, applied in a way unique in this country, had
created for their benefit.
Adjoining the hospital are the almshouses, for poor
old men and women — these being under the sheikh of
the mosque, who was also nominated by the Pasha.
Like the hospital — and of course the schools — this in
stitution is for the benefit solely of those of the Moslem
faith. But the Pasha's enlightenment did not stop
short of tolerance of other religions. I will give later a

90 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
list of the charitable causes named in the will of this
remarkable man, which show the broadest sympathies ;
indeed, he almost apologises, after helping every sort of
Christian and Jewish charity, for wishing this particular
group of buildings to be set apart for Moslem benefit.
Miss Claridge, an English lady, who has had experience
in British army nursing, is the matron. It is a great
work, I think, to be able to set a new example of the
noblest use of organised charity, in a country awaking to
its social obligations.
In the matron's room, over a cup of tea, we learnt
something of the Pasha's history. Though his family
is an ancient one, going back indeed to Arabia, and then
to descent from the Prophet himself, he was not born
to any great wealth. His energy and insight were
remarkable, however, and he was one of those men
who acquired land when the price was very low, and
saw it advance in value literally beyond the dreams of
avarice. Leaving the hospital, we now drove through the
narrow streets to the famous mosque of Tanta, which
rose over the tomb of the thirteenth-century sheikh,
Adbul Abbas Sidi Ahmed Al-Badawi — to give him his
full name, and his title (Lord), and his popular nickname.
As the history of the mosque, as Moslems tell it,
does not quite accord with the European guide-books,
I give it in the sheikh's words, omitting the legendary
miracles and marvels, for the reason that Moslem friends
who hold this saint in great respect regret the accumula
tion of the fables which have gathered round his name,
with a truly Eastern profusion ; and in saying this I
do not forget the Italian ingenuity and imaginative
ness in this respect. I am writing in Siena, at the time

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 91
when the celebration of that noble woman, Saint
Catherine, is taking place, with its recollection of the
stigmata, which a Pope had to declare was " luminous "
and not " bloody," in order to appease the jealous
adherents of St. Francis, who wished to retain for their
saint the sole credit of miraculous marks.
The Saint of Tanta was born in Fez, Morocco,
where his ancestors had migrated to escape a persecu
tion of the nobles of Arabia by Al-Haggag. When he
was seven years old, his father had a dream, in which it
was insisted that he should go to Mecca and take the
boy with him. Al Sherif Hassas, his brother, records
how the family wandered from one place to another,
starting in the year 603 of the Flight, until, after four
years, they arrived in the Holy City. They were cordially
received by the other descendants of the Prophet, and
remained there until their father died in 627.
" I remained with my brothers, Abbas being the
youngest ; and for his bravery we gave him the nick
name of Al-Badawi — the bedouin. I taught him the
Koran, and made him go to school with my son, Hoseyn.
He was afterwards recognised as the noblest of all the
Knights of Mecca."
Abbas adopted a life of piety, and became a mystic
and a recluse, keeping aloof from mankind to such a
degree that eventually he only spoke by signs. Then he,
too, had a strange vision — that he must go to Tanta.
It is probable that he had passed through this place
as a child, on that four years' journey — in any case the
whole Islamic world becomes as one well-known country
to the pilgrims who gather in Mecca — and so without
hesitation he left the Holy City, taking no count of the
general opposition of relatives and friends to his doing so.

92 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
In Tanta the mystic's eccentricities increased ; he
lived entirely on the housetop for twelve years, eating
little food — his mind entranced with the contemplation
of, and longing for, God.
The sheikh used to cover his face so that no man
could see him, and it is related that a certain Sidi
Adbul Majid so longed to see him that he importuned
him for the favour. Upon seeing the sheikh's face,
Majid died instantly.
As Rodwell observes, of the traditions of Islam,
" however absurd they may be in many of their details,
it will generally be found that where there is an ancient
and tolerably universal consent, there will be found at
the bottom a residuum of fact and historical truth."
And Burton's experience of the East led him to the
same conclusion.
To such men as this saint, of whatever creed, miracles
have always been attributed. As another great Moslem
mystic, Rumi said, " Love and faith are a mighty
spell." There is a wonderful similarity about the
miracles of say St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Anthcny of
Padua, and those of such men as the Saint of Tanta,
patron of all the bedouins.
The chief of the mosque to-day was quite ready to
discuss the question of his predecessor's life, as it affects
human credulity. In the main his views were very
similar to those of the Sheikh of the Mosque of Hoseyn,
which I give later on.
" The visiting of the tomb of such a man draws men
to the House of God ; it turns their thoughts away from
earthly things," he said.
As a friend thereupon remarked, credulity should be
considered in relation to the general standard of learning

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 93
and culture ; the advance of education must undoubtedly
tend to give a just proportion to things which put too
great a strain upon reason.
To which the sheikh replied that care should be
taken not to exalt reason above faith. " The practical
outcome of men's veneration for the Sheikh Al-Badawi
has been gifts for education and the poor which are
worth over .£50,000 a year."
We arrived at the mosque during school-time ; the
great area was crowded with circles of pupils sitting
at the feet of their teachers, who squatted on the low
teaching chairs. What a babel, what inconsequence of
teaching method ; what lack — apparently — of any con
trolling link between teacher and taught.
It is a wonderful sight, more impressive and
picturesque than Al Azar, even taking into account the
greater splendour of the open court of the Cairo Uni
versity. The floor-space here seemed to me almost as
spacious as that of Al Azar, and it was even more
thronged with pupils. The whole scene gained a
certain indefinable interest from the fact that it is
remote from the ordinary tourist beat ; the lads
seemed fresher, showing a welcome in their glance at
the stranger, that one could scarcely expect to find in
Cairo. It would turn the edge of any boy's temper to be
on exhibition for more than half a year as a curious
biological specimen. I don't wonder that the Oriental
spirit passed the point of endurance some little time
since, and made an aggressive camera the excuse for a
riot at Al Azar — serious enough to have kept all cameras
out of the place ever since by definite order of the
Government. I have seen monocles or lorgnettes — as

94 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
the case may be — there, which were, to my mind, more
provoking than any camera could be ; and parasols
which seemed about to prod the specimens, the mental
attitude of the visitors obviously being about equal to
that with which they would regard the exhibits at an
aquarium. I have the good fortune to publish for the
first time what I am assured is the last photograph
taken at Al Azar before the prohibition was made.
The dislike of any suggestion of a disturbance is so
great that the Sheikh Al Azar himself will not face
the responsibility of giving permission to photograph
there now.
I am glad I saw this scene in the Tanta mosque,
with its pulsating, crowded life, so purely Eastern in
every phase of it. In less than a year the fascinating
picture will have been shattered ; and these courts will
be silent and deserted, but for scattered worshippers,
and at the one crowded hour of the Friday noonday
prayer. The Tanta mosque pupils — there are two thousand
four hundred of them — will before long migrate to a
modern school which is being built (at a cost of ^12,000,
by the general Wakfs administration), a little distance
away, with separate classrooms, where the lads will sit
on forms at yellow desks imported from the school
furnishing warehouse on Holborn Viaduct, and the
sheikhs who teach them will be ordered to stand at
their work, for all the world like the teachers of a
" godless Board School " in England.
Learning will flourish more ; and the price of that
increasing drabness which follows advance in all parts
of the world must be paid. But no one who has watched
these vivid pictures of Oriental life can see them dis-

Photo] [DMrich, Cairo.
A Scene in the Great University of Al Azar in Cairo.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 95
appear without regret. I only hope the graceful robe
and the turban may be left, and that there will be
nothing done to add to that section of the effendi
class which, while donning European clothes, deserts
religious practice and belief.
At Alexandria, too, new modern schools are being
built, and also at Damietta. One worthy ambition of
the reformers is to provide great space in these schools
" for a bountiful supply of light and air."
We were now conducted to the sheikh's private
room, where coffee appeared, and we talked again of
the mosque and its saint, of education, and of the signs
of reviving in Islam. The sheikh gave me an outline
of the organisation of such a mosque as that of Tanta,
with the expenses, which I give in a chapter devoted
to the mosques.
The sheikh was too great an authority in his church
to escape my question as to the cursing of Christians in
the mosques on Friday, which Mr. Gairdner in The
Reproach of Islam has charged the Moslems with.
His denial was as emphatic, and his explanation exactly
the same, as that of other dignitaries.
" Did the words used," I persisted, " cover the case
of a Moslem who had turned Christian ? "
" Certainly not ; such a man was disliked by the
people ; perverts were not loved," he thought, " in
any country."
" In barbaric times," remarked another Moslem
present, " followers of the Prophet had thought to do
God service by killing the pervert. Christians had
thought the same ; but a world that saw an Inquisition,
and the lighting of Smithfield fires, as religious institu
tions, had passed away. Is Islam to be stamped for

96 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
ever with its earlier methods ? Does modern Chris
tianity like to be reminded of days when a woman was
stoned to death for gathering sticks on the Sabbath ?
Because we once put sorcerers to death, may we never
be freed from that charge, even when the thing is
obsolete ? To read the missionary books one would
think not ; and also one might imagine that the writers,
who know so much of Islam, had lost the power of
memory as to the history of their own country, where
the witch was ignominiously drowned in the village
pond not so very many years ago.
" Some of us Moslems claim the liberty of a rational
adaptation of our religion to the advancing civilisation
of the world ; and we believe we have as much moral
right to reconcile the tenets of our faith to the needs of
the time in which we live, as Christians have, and that
our difficulties in doing this are not greater, in spite
of theories of plenary inspiration, the mass of Tradition,
and so on ; all of which things Protestant England has
made short work of in her own case when she wanted
to strike a blow — in the very name of religion itself —
for liberty of conscience, and other advance. By
methods illogical, and inconsistent with ecclesiastical
versions of revealed truth or of historical sequence, and
with an adaptability to the needs of men rather than
of systems, England (or rather I should say Great
Britain, for Scotland has played a glorious part in this
work) has shown how the best spiritual forces of a religion
may, by these methods, be immeasurably fostered and
strengthened, raising a whole nation by its moral in
spiration to the highest plane of worthy human attain
ment. I sometimes think," he continued, " that the
Christian people who come to us, and your ruling class

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 97
too, and the missionaries especially, wish to discourage
and stop all advance on the part of the Moslem people."
After a prolonged visit we said " good-bye." Our
horses had attracted a great throng at the mosque
entrance ; the Arab will forgive anything — and forget
his fanaticism (of which, however, we saw no sign) for
a good horse, even to the dashing through crowded
narrow streets like these ; indeed, the nerves of the
people in the crowd certainly stood our onslaught
better than mine did in one of the chariots.
As a means of progression, I prefer the humble
ass, which is in Egypt such an admirable beast, and so
suitable to the native conditions in both town and
country. The mockery of the Romans in Egypt —
" these people ride on asses "-*-was natural ; it is heard
to-day, but it never survives long residence in the
country by average folk.

CHAPTER VIII
" This is the happiness of the 'Arab. Green trees, sweet water, and a
kind face make the Garden." An Arab saying.
We were now bound for the railway station, for the
Pasha's house, where we were to sleep, and the wonderful
garden he created, are ten miles or so in the country.
When we arrived at the little wayside station it was
dark, and our drive through the quiet country — the
hooting of the owls was the only sound we heard —
revealed nothing of our destination. At last, a pair of
gates, a carriage drive, more gates, a gravelled court
yard before a great house, and we alight, to receive an
Eastern welcome to what is rightly called a palace, the
favourite home of the Pasha Menshawi.
It was here that, with all his activities, the Pasha
spared time to create his earthly paradise, where he
found his only hobby, and spent the only wealth he
spared himself for his personal enjoyment.
Many men, agents, servants, and others, and
the lady housekeeper (come from Cairo to represent
the Lady Fatma Hanem, the Pasha's widow, who
was detained by illness, but sent the most cordial
messages of welcome), were in the courtyard to re
ceive us.
At the door of the salemlik, Basouny Bey gave us
the Eastern greetings, and as we entered the house
there settled upon us that indefinable content of mind
which always makes the acceptance of hospitality in
98

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 99
the East such a restful pleasure. The salemlik is lofty
and vast, and, following the usual plan, has four large
apartments, one at each corner leading out of it ;
these, with the hall itself, being placed at the disposal
of the guests, who thus have a house of their own,
leaving the great wings of the palace, its hareem and
the family quarters of the men (with kitchens and
servants' rooms) standing apart, though reached by
doors leading out of the hall.
The whole house is brilliantly lighted by electricity,
with many lustre chandeliers, which Eastern people
admire so much that they think Paradise itself is to be
illuminated with them. The wall and ceiling decora
tions are elaborate, a special pride being that they are
all the work of Egyptian artists : it is Frenchmen who
have usually been employed on this sort of work in
Egypt. Our bedroom 1 was a great apartment with massive
furniture, and handsome carpet and hangings, and
decorated in the same way as the hall.
It had been ascertained by some means in Cairo
that I usually dined at half-past seven, and in accordance
with the generous theory that the palace for the time
being was mine, a great banquet was prepared for that
hour, which is a good deal later than the usual Moslem
time of taking the last meal.
Again all the delicacies of the East were put before
us, with a choice of European table waters ; in the
background — so far is Moslem hospitality superior even
to the tenets of the religion — there was wine and whisky
(the latter word is like a label on all Englishmen in
Egypt), although relief manifested itself when it was
found that I required neither. Dinner was served in

ioo VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
one of our four rooms, and the servants set apart for our
personal use waited upon us.
In the salemlik, after dinner, the doctor, in conversa
tion, told us that the late Pasha was famous even amongst
Moslems for hospitality ; his desire that this house of his
should never fall short of Arab ideals being so great,
that in one of his bequests he left a sum equal to about
£\l a day to be spent on entertaining at this palace, to
be increased to £6 a day in the month of Rhamadan.
Such a quiet place as this palace would be used in the
month of the fast as a sort of religious retreat by a great
number of the Pasha's pious friends — hence the increased
allowance. We retired about nine o'clock ; from what I knew
of my hosts, I was sure they would wish to be in the
village mosque before daybreak — the sunrise was about
six o'clock — so the custom was " early to bed."
Half an hour later, on opening my bedroom door,
I saw that my house was in darkness but for the light of
a small lantern, and that my two men-servants were
already curled up and asleep on their mats in view of
my door. The only preparation for sleep they needed
was to remove their slippers, and in place of turbans
put on the little white skull-cap with openwork edge
which native servants sleep in and often retain at their
work in the mornings. This same cap is worn by gentle
men, in the privacy of their families, who are never seen
by Europeans, indoors or out, without the scarlet tar
boosh. At no moment is the head of the Eastern man
left uncovered, except in the bath and at the barber's.
An exception to this rule is now rn^de at the secondary
boys' schools, where the introduction of football
has led the players to appear in the field bareheaded.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 101
My observation leads me to think that the theory of
the " no hat " brigade of England is wrong in its con
tention that to cover the head destroys the hair. I
have seen many uncovered Egyptians' heads of all ages,
in the home and in the baths, and I have never seen
anywhere finer or more abundant hair.
The next morning, after a — providentially — slight
breakfast, we inspected the house and grounds, chatting
with the many retainers of all sorts — it must be re
membered that we are in Islam, where the humblest
negro servant takes an interest in and shakes hands with
his master's guests — and strolled about the village.
Our host, the Bey, was busy meantime with the
managers of the vast estates, his work having begun at
the close of the daybreak prayer ; his administration
being famous, I had heard, for thoroughness and justice.
In addition to the Pasha's trusteeship, he has large
estates of his own in both Upper and Lower Egypt ;
only a man with great organising abilities and immense
application could cope with such responsibilities. He
has eight sons to train and educate, vigorous lads who
claim a good deal of attention, and whose independent
judgment as to the careers they want to follow is
diversified enough to take one of them to Al Azar for the
long theological course, one to France for Law, another
to England for the study of commerce and political
economy, and another to a scientific study of agri
culture. And now we are to visit the garden, for the beautiful
gardens surrounding the palace, mostly hareem to the
ladies of the household when in residence, did in no
way fulfil the Pasha's passion for this hobby. Carriages
appear, and we set off to drive a couple of miles through

102 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
the rich fields of the Delta, in the direction of the
tributary of the Nile, the proximity of water being
the reason for this Eden of beauty and delight being
separated so far from the palace.
I knew that the extent of the garden was eighty
feddans, and that it produced flowers of all sorts, and
fruits in abundance and of marvellous rarity, but I was
not prepared for such a vision of cultivated beauty as
burst upon us as soon as we passed through the gate in
the high wall that surrounds the garden.
I have seen many magnificent gardens. I have
spent many an hour of entrancement in the shades of
that cool oasis, in the shadowless desert, over which
Mr. Hitchens has thrown the spell of his genius in
The Garden of Allah ; but I have never seen a spot
like this. The glory of the desert garden at Biskra is
that in the barren sand, under a tropical sun, a man
produced cool shades, trickling waters, a harbourage
for man in which the fierceness of the sun could be
escaped by means of such glorious vegetation as would
not grow without its aid. But it is not a garden of
flowers or of fruits.
I have spent delightful hours, too, in that wonderful
garden at La Mortola, in Italy, over which the late
Sir Thomas Hanbury spent the devotion of a lifetime,
in creating a garden of exotic plants which, in point of
richness and interest, has no rival in the world.
This Egyptian garden is different from these, with
a unique character. In the Pasha's garden, in addition
to the wealth of flowers, all the world is made to pay
tribute in adding to its beauty and its cool depths of
shade, trees bearing the rarest fruits, so that at every
season of the year it offers a delicious feast to the visitor,

rt^A

I , I

...

¦

(l

tA .«ftSffl«OT|B

The Ablution P"ountain.
Every mosque has some provision for the ablutions necessary for prayer

[Lekegian, Cairo.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 103
while, at the same time, all its miles of walks are bordered
with beautiful flowers, chosen — as an Oriental always
chooses flowers — for the fragrance of their scents.
These same walks are cunningly shaded by endless
perspectives of pergolas, over which a bewildering
variety of grape vines grow, so that in winter you may
enjoy the sun, and in summer they become the coolest
of green tunnels. In the autumn, as the foliage turns
to those shades of yellow and red which the vine leaf
alone knows the secret of, and the luscious fruit, varying
from the small black grape to a variety of grape almost
as long as a man's finger, hangs invitingly on all sides,
this must be an Eden indeed.
In the centre of the garden is a large trellised pavilion,
also vine covered, with seats and a central table under
which the running waters of the little canals, coursing
in all directions through the garden, meet with a pleasant
swish. Here a large framed portrait of the Pasha is
hung, to remind those who enjoy the garden of the man
who made it.
It is true to say that with him this glorious enclosure,
which he found a common field, and turned into a place
of Elysian delights, was the consoling passion of a life,
which, though men envied, yet had the most poignant
sorrows. Every morning, without fail, he would be in the
garden with the sunrise ; sometimes he would make
here his first prayer before the day had really begun.
It was only under a loving care like his that such a
creation was possible : wealth alone could not have
done it. Although wealth could bring treasures of fruit
and flowers from all the earth, it could not make them
grow as they grow here.

104 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
In this, too, he could not bear to think that when
death overtook him his work would cease. The enor
mous surplus produce of these cherished acres, by his
will, may be sold — the water-melons alone in the season
are a most valuable asset, for there are none in Egypt like
them — but every piastre produced must return again
to the garden, to keep it fit and beautiful. And here,
again, the Bey is the trusted steward, the perfect state
of the garden being witness to his stewardship.
From the pavilion many of the pergolas converged,
green avenues — the vines were just coming into leaf —
all bordered with lovely flowers. Walking in another
direction we found rustic bridges over the watercourses,
and smaller summer-houses, with tributary pergolas
connecting the main avenues. Here and there Arab
gardeners were at work, for the fruit trees, which make
a miniature forest of the spaces between the pergolas,
need much attention in the early spring.
All the air was filled with the scent of the flowers.
Could this be February, while we, in the hot golden
sunshine, were in the midst of roses in great masses,
with freezia, heliotrope, honeysuckle, violets in wide
patches, and stocks on every side. The gorgeousness
of one or two scentless flowers had gained them admission
— the great African marigold, the resplendent point-
settia, the robust and flaming geraniums, adding colour
to the scene ; while by the water-edge the graceful
irises were growing as naturally and profusely as though
nature had planted them. To atone for these scentless
things, there was an abundance of the white and yellow
jasmine, which must be known as it grows in Egypt
by anyone who would understand the ecstasy of sweet
scent. I am not surprised that Eastern men carry the

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 105
essence of this flower about with them, and offer a
touch of it to their friends, in the spirit in which friends
in England offer a cigarette.
In a remote corner near the river we found — such
prosaic things does earthly beauty depend upon — an
engine shed, a great modern pump, a stack of English
coal, with a blue-jacketed engineer and his assistant.
With water and such soil as this part of Lower Egypt is
rich in, and the perfect climate, all things are possible
to horticultural, as to agricultural, skill. One of the
uses of the Pasha's immense fortune had been to prove
what untold benefits the application of science, in
irrigation, as in other ways, are possible of realisation
in Egypt. By one of the green alleys we were brought back
to the central pavilion, where we found that a banquet
of fruit had been spread for our delectation, with a
gorgeous basket of flowers made up, basket and all in
Oriental fashion, by the gardeners — to the chief of
whom we were now introduced, the man who, under
the direction of the Pasha, had helped in the creation
of the garden from the beginning. Here were ripe
strawberries, guavas, luscious Japanese medlars, a sweet
little cherrylike fruit called nabk, bananas of kinds so
rare as never to be seen in the market, the paw-paw,
cool as snow, and oranges of the choicest sorts grown,
with other fruits quite unknown to us — surely a meal
fit for the gods.
As all things earthly must end, and even such a
garden as this is bounded by mundane conditions, the
time came at last when we had to pass through the gate
and out into the ordinary world.
We were driven back to the palace for lunch. The

106 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
doctor had been to the garden with us and had, I found,
missed his midday prayer — which must be said between
the time the sun begins to incline towards the west,
and the time when the shadow of a person shall be the
length of his own stature. I do not know if he measured
the shadow, but with the simplest naivete he said to
me in the hall — " I must pray." A servant brought the
usual brass jug and basin for his ablutions, and there, in
the salemlik, forgetful of all men, Christian and Moslem,
he made his prayer. From the distant divan to which
I retired, I could hear the fervour of his undertones.
This noon prayer consists of four rikas ; the two
voluntary rikas, usually performed, he omitted, because
of his duty to guests, as he explained. I was glad my
presence did not prevent him from making the proper
prayer. He is a gentle and kindly man, with a great
underlying sadness which a humorous temper does
not disguise from his friends. He had told me that
but for his religion he would find life a hopeless dis
appointment. When, after lunch, we made our adieus, and started
for the station, we were laden with flowers, so that
we looked like a bridal party. We also carried to the
hospital, at Tanta, a wealth of flowers and fruit, to add
to the countless petitions for blessings asked there by
grateful patients for the soul of the Pasha, whose works,
in a full measure, live after him.
At my request the Bey had allowed a clerk of the
estate to copy the remarkable Menshawi will, many of
the clauses of which, I think, must be deeply interesting,
especially to any student of modern Islam; as it seems
to me to throw a unique light upon many Oriental
ways and thoughts, I give most of its details here.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 107
The land bequeathed is about 6000 feddans, with all
their water-pumps, engines, etc., at Tanta and Santa.
The charities areas follows : —
Income of 100 feddans to the schools of the Orwa
Al-Woskha Moslem Society.
Income of 100 feddans for the Mohammed Ali
Industrial School, Alexandria.
Income of 69 feddans for the new Ahmedy
Mosque at Tanta ; about 120 piastres (a
piastre is 2^d.) daily for bread for the
ulemas 1 and students. The remainder to
be spent in clothing the poor known to the
ulemas. Clothes are to be given to 200
poor persons, male and female ; thin cloth
in summer, and warm cloth in winter, the
exact details of which are stated.
^50 to be spent annually in providing meat and
bread for the poor who celebrate the
moolids (birthdays of the Prophet and
Saints) at the palace of the late Pasha.
£33 to be spent annually for those who read
certain Koranic passages every month, and
for those who recite the whole of the Koran,
at the tomb of their benefactor.2
£6 a year for those who recite the suras of Yasin
and Tabark and Samadieh daily at the grave
of the deceased.3
1 Ulemas are learned men and teachers.
2 It is usual to recite passages in praise of God, and in thanksgiving to
Him, at the tomb of relatives and friends, where God is asked to bless
the dead.
3 The first two of these suras are read near the tombs, because they
make mention of death, of good deeds, and of Paradise. Samadieh is
Sura cxii. " Say ; He is God alone,
God, the Eternal !
He begetteth not, and He is not begotten ;
And there is none like unto Him."

108 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
^200 to be distributed annually in bread among
the poor ulemas and students at the Mosque
of Sidi Ibrahim Al Desuky, Desuk ; being
about 50 occas (an occa is about l\ lbs.) of
bread daily.
.£50 to be distributed yearly amongst those who
recite the Koran at the Mosque of Desuk.
£250 annually to be given in bread (about fifty
occas daily) for the ulemas and students at
Damietta.
£1326 yearly to be spent in celebrating religious
ceremonies at the mosque of the late Pasha,
as salaries of ulemas and servants of the
mosque, cost of fruit, sweets, and ice; and
of this ^366 for the cost of bread given to
the ulemas and students of the same mosque
(about one hundred occas daily).
£\$\ spent annually for those who recite the
Koran at the grave of the deceased ; and
also for buying mats and carpets, candles
and oil for the tomb.
.£52 for distribution at the cemetery among the
poor ; £2 to be spent in buying dates.
^100 to be distributed at the Bairam Feast to
poor widows and orphans.
j£ioo for the cost of cattle, whose flesh is given to
the poor at the feast of the Courban Bairam.
£50 annually for those who recite the Koran
once every day at Ishnawi, at the grave of
the Pasha's parents.
£600 a year to buy clothes for a thousand persons
(poor, orphans and the like) for the Bairam
and Courban feasts.
^24 a year to buy bread for dogs.
£586 for the ulemas and students of the Ahmedy
Mosque ; £72 being for bread for those who
recite the Koran in the mosque.

HOME-LIFE IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 109
£1000 a year for the support of the kuttabs (Koran
schools) founded by the late Pasha in the
places where he had estates.
£600 a year to be spent in training religious
preachers, whose duty it will be to teach
the masses of the people.
.£1000 to be spent on the keeping and repairing
of the mosques of the late Pasha.
£2000 to be given annually to the Menshawi
Hospital at Tanta.
£1500 a year for the support of the almhouses —
Takieh — at Tanta ; a certain amount of this
for the help of poor pilgrims.
^2000 a year to be given to the dependent
relatives of Ottoman soldiers who die in
war for the Empire ; with a certain amount
to assist the development of the Hejaz
Railway (to Mecca).
£400 a year to support the school for boys, given
by the Pasha to the Mohammedan Bene
volent Society ; and ^450 a year to the
Waton School, Cairo, of the same Society.
£400 a year for the support of a school for girls,
given to the Orwa Al-Woskha Society ; and
£50 to the Hosn Al-Moserrat School,Zagazig,
of the same Society.
£400 a year to the Tanta Government School,
as fees for a certain number of poor pupils.
£400 yearly to the Porter's School, Alexandria
Customs, and the mosque connected with it.
£3700 yearly to the Industrial School founded
by the late Pasha, at Santa ; and for the
training of poor girls who are to be taught
until they are married.
£160 a year to the Ittihad School at Mansura.
For every feddan left to relatives or friends one
pound yearly is to be taken, and the capital

no VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
sum is to be trusted to some firm at Tanta,
that those who are in need may borrow from
it without interest.
£4000 a year to be distributed annually amongst
the poor peasants of the Pasha's estates.
£400 annually to the ulemas of Bokhara, who
must send £500 a year to each of the follow
ing hospitals and dispensaries in Egypt : —
The German, the Russian, the Italian, the
Greek, the French, the Austrian, and the
English.

BOOK II
REFLECTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS
IN THE MOSQUES

"Fools exalt the mosque and ignore the true temple in the heart."
Masnavi I Ma' Navi.

CHAPTER I
" The Imam, or the Khateeb, would then give a short verbal explana
tion of the chapter just read, or at times an extemporary sermon, but
sitting and in a familiar way. I have often heard much good sense and
practical morality enounced on these occasions."
Palgrave, Through Central and Eastern Arabia, p. 121.
It is the Moslem's duty to pray " when night hath
fallen." This evening with an Egyptian friend I am
to go to the Mosque Kekhia, to see the prayer, as I
particularly want to hear one of the preaching sheikhs
giving moral instruction in a mosque, and to-night
Sheikh Mustapha Amir is to speak there.
It is a strange sensation to leave the main European
street of Cairo, with its bustle and noise, its cosmo
politan crowds, its insistent street merchants, and its
crowded French cafes, in which the modern effendi
fancies himself to be enjoying the highest civilised
pleasure, and by a slight turn at the corner of the road,
up a short flight of stone steps, to enter upon a scene a
thousand years removed from all the life outside.
I am wearing a tarboosh, and am counselled by the
Moslem friend who was with me to speak no word of
English, for it is an unknown thing for a Christian to
visit the mosques as I am doing. I have the permission
of the sheikh, and I am known to the authorities as a
friend, but there are the people to consider, and un
necessary risks are best avoided, as I do not want my
inquiries to be impeded.
It is interesting, in view of the experiences in town
8

u4 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
and country which I relate in this chapter, to read in
Lord Milner's book on Egypt : " Everyone knows how
deep a prejudice exists in Mohammedan countries
against the presence of a Christian in a mosque. In
the cities it is wearing off, but in the country districts
it is as strong as ever — where it is an unheard-of thing
that a Christian should be present at a Mohammedan
ceremony, more than unheard-of that he should be
present at the instance of the Moslem worshippers
themselves." I wanted to imagine' that there was no risk, but a
friend has laughingly told me that only a few months
since the son of the Sheikh El Islam — the highest
dignitary — was passing a poor suburban mosque in
Cairo, in what we should call a slum, and, as it was
prayer-time, entered and took his place for devotion.
A man of rough temper growled at the appearance of
such a well-dressed person ; another ruffian answered
the growl — possibly the European clothes of the stranger
excited the flame of resentment — in less than a minute
hands were laid on him, he was mildly chastised, and
forcibly put out into the street. There were explana
tions in a day or two, and the young gentleman re
appeared at the mosque and made one of the stated
prayers, very acceptably to the congregation, as a sign
of goodwill. Forgiveness is highly valued by Eastern
folk. One of the chief joys of Paradise will be that
old friends will be reunited, and old resentments
forgotten. I can say, however, that I never felt any apprehension
at entering a mosque under any circumstances, even in
the most reserved of sacred places, where I knew that
an alien foot had never before been placed. I never

Photo]

Dome and Minaret.

[Lekegian, Cairo.

When a mosque has a dome of this sort it indicates that it is the burial-place of a
distinguished person.

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 115
entered a mosque at prayer-time without the consent
and countenance of the chief sheikh. I studied every
Moslem habit and custom which would help me to
avoid offence and not to attract attention. If I was
keen to observe every detail, I tried to look incurious
and at ease ; to be certain and direct, while very quiet,
in all movements.
Here was I, in stockinged feet, on the carpet of the
Mosque Kekhia, in Sharia Kamel, a street only a stone's-
throw from the Opera -House in Cairo. The darkness
was only relieved by the light of two oil lamps in large
lanterns, of tin and glass, which hung from the roof.
The rich brown stone walls, and the crimson carpet,
and the mysterious figures of men in Eastern garb,
coming in to their prayers, made a picture that was
impressively beautiful.
With soft tread we gained a partly retired spot, near
one of the great pillars, in the centre of the mosque,
and as my friend made his evening prayer, I sat still on
the carpet. This is a mosque in which the prayers are
made by each worshipper separately, and are not led by
an Imam, except of course the Friday noonday prayer,
which is always so led. And as many Moslems go into
the mosque, not only for prayer but to sit quietly and
reflect on spiritual things, or to ask advice of a sheikh
whom they expect to find there, or even to converse in
an undertone with friends, my sitting there was not
remarkable. Many small groups of men were sitting
as I was on the carpet, happy simply to be with friends,
or waiting for the appearance of the sheikh who was to
speak when the hour of evening prayer had passed.
To pray in a certain mosque becomes a firm bond
between friends ; and as the irreligious know where to

116 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
find an acquaintance by the cafe he frequents, so the
pious make their mosques a meeting-place with such
regularity at the daily prayers that a man's absence is at
once remarked, and duty demands immediate inquiry;
so that, if sickness or trouble have overtaken him, he
may be visited in his home and helped.
Here, on the floor of this mosque, is a demonstration
of the simplicity and the equality which run through
the whole Islamic system, in spite of any of its glaring
contradictions and exceptions. Close by me is a group
of fellaheen, in their blue galabiehs and brown felt
skull-caps ; near these, a well-to-do young man, in brown
silk robe with fez and white turban, probably a native
teacher in one of the primary schools ; here is a serving-
man from one of the neighbouring hotels, in the white
shirt and scarlet waistband, with his scarlet leather
babooshes (shoes) by his side. This is no mosque, by
the way, for tourists and sightseers who leave their shoes
with a guardian at the door and paddle about in slippers.
We carry our shoes in with us, and place them, sole
to sole, beside us — to place mine with the soles on the
carpet would have betrayed me.
A young effendi comes in, in European dress, except,
of course, for the tarboosh, with his old-fashioned
father, in the black robe and turban. On the other
side of me stands a poor labourer, fresh from the ablu
tions in the fountain court of the mosque, the water still
dripping on the carpet from his head, hands, and feet,
while his wet brown flesh shines in the lamplight. A
rich man, whose silk robe is not kind to his portliness,
enters with his servant, and they make the prayer side
by side. Here is a poor old man to whom the attitudes
and movements of the prayer have become difficult,

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 117
but who yet goes through his devotions with intense
fervour, and then sits with his hands as a cup upon his
breast for a long time, muttering his private devotions ;
the " amen " being to stroke the face downwards with
the inside of the hands.
Quiet amusement is caused to those of us who are
sitting here — those engaged in prayer spare nothing
of their absorption to notice anything of what happens
— at the appearance of a small boy, of possibly seven or
eight years of age, who walks into the middle of the
floor straight in front of the Kibla — the prayer-direction
towards Mecca — and by watching the men succeeds
in making the prayer fairly correctly, failing chiefly in
that concentration which does not allow of any turning
of the head.
Another picturesque note is added by two or three
students from Al Azar, in the special scarlet fez with
tassel and the small white turban ; while a number of
the Nubian bowabs (doorkeepers), who are so numerous
in Cairo, where they sit on benches at the doors of all
important houses and institutions, in their black
robes, serve to accentuate the richness of the general
colouring. After a time, when most of those present had made
their prayer, the sheikh arrived, and immediately went
to a low square chair standing by one of the pillars —
not to the pulpit, which is only used on Fridays — on
which he sat, drawing up his legs under the folds of his
robe. We all got up from our scattered places, and
gathered round him in a squatting semicircle — perhaps
about fifty of those who had been present staying for
the homily.
A lantern with one candle in it was by the sheikh's

118 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
side. By the light of this he read a few passages from
the Koran, and then proceeded to preach from them,
quite extemporaneously, in a free manner, touched with
quiet humour. His remarks were followed very closely,
especially by the fellaheen ; the faces of the whole
group, reflecting the beams of the flickering candle
light and the dim glow from the two hanging lanterns,
being a most interesting study.
Occasionally they assented to the sheikh's remarks,
giving their " eiwa " (yes !) with Smiling approval.
Sometimes they asked questions, to which he gave
careful and patient answers. Now and then he turned
on them with a pertinent question. " Is this not so ? "
" Shall we do or say this ? " " No ! " or " Yes ! " as
the case might be.
His subject was the use and abuse of wealth, with
counsel to the poor. He pointed out how inexplicable
the differences in worldly possessions must always seem.
To the rich, he counselled — be careful how you use
your riches, for God will take account ; and wealth
can only serve you up to a certain point. To the poor,
he said they might be rich in God's treasures ; they
should by no means neglect to strive for prosperity, for
the Prophet said, " Honest wealth is good for honest
men " ; but this must not be to the exclusion of their
religious and moral duties. Above all things, men should
study to be contented, and to seek peacefulness of mind,
which is better than riches. In every condition, they
must not neglect the duty of giving alms — holy Koran
said, " Who give alms, alike in prosperity and adversity,
and who master their anger and forgive others ? God
loveth these " (Sura iii. 128).
The sheikh spoke for about fifteen minutes. When

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 119
he had finished, he recited a short sura from the Koran
and a prayer. All hands went up to the breast, cuplike,
as a sign of faith that the blessing would be received,
and at the end the hands were drawn down the face.
The sheikh disappeared in the dimness, and we went
across the soft carpet to the door, where, putting on
the left shoe first, we put that foot on to the step over
the threshold, clothed the right foot, and in a moment
found ourselves again in the modern world, hustling
through the crowd, mostly of tourists and sight-seers,
not one of whom would guess that probably the man so
smiling and alert who waited upon him at his dinner
had come from a scene which a cycle of centuries had
done little to change.
Often in the early morning, before the first flush
came into the Eastern sky, did I hear the rich voice of
the blind Mueddin floating across the still air from the
minaret of this mosque, singing the Ulah, or first Call to
Prayer — recalling to me, in the half-conscious moments
between sleep and waking, that I am in Eastern lands.
Resonant and clear rang out the words, " Allahu Akbar
. . . Prayer is better than sleep ... I testify that there
is no God but He ... I testify that Mohammed is
the apostle of God . . . He giveth life and He dieth
not . . . Oh ! the Bountiful ! . . . Thy mercy ceaseth
not . . . My sins are great ; greater is Thy mercy . . .
I extol His perfection . . . Allahu Akbar ! " And as
the sweet cadences elaborated in this first call rose and
fell as the Mueddin moved from one side of the minaret
to the other, to call to the four quarters of the world
beneath him, I thought that anyone hearing the sound
could not fail of at least a vague notion of the power of
Koranic Arabic to affect the mind of man.

120 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
This preaching in the mosques in Egypt raises a
very important question, on which there is universal
misapprehension. For instance, Professor Margoliouth,
who writes a great deal about Islam, in his latest book,
Mohammedanism, states that, as for preaching, there is
practically none but formal repetition of old sermons,
and the preaching of the professional dervish.
Doubtless this, with other misapprehensions, come
from the reticence of the Moslems towards the inquiries
of strangers, and their aversion to the presence at their
services of those not of their faith. At every turn I
found that personal contact reveals things which are
unknown to those who have only book knowledge of
this subject, however profound this may be.
The question of preaching, for instance, has for a
long time been engaging the attention of the leaders
of Islam in Egypt, with the result that there is now
much moral teaching, such as I have heard this evening,
as well as many eloquent and original preachers who
occupy the pulpits at the Friday prayer. There are
several mosques in Cairo which are always closely crowded
on Friday by men who choose to make the noonday
prayer there because of the fame of the preachers.
The Sheikh Mustaph Amir is one of several teachers
who every day go from one mosque to another in a
regular order to speak to the worshippers after the
four chief prayers : the one at noon, due at the time
the sun begins to incline towards the west, and closing
when the shadow of a person shall be the length of his
own stature. After teaching in one mosque at this
time, he will rest till the afternoon prayer at another—
due when the sun begins to assume a yellow appearance.
At the moment the sun sets, and until the redness of

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 121
the glow disappears from the horizon, is the time of
evening prayer, and the sheikh will speak again ; going
on to another mosque " when night hath fallen," as
we have seen him. It will be realised what a great
number of men must be reached in this way.
So important is this question of preaching regarded
to be now, that in Cairo there is a very influential com
mittee which exists for the encouragement of good
preaching. Prizes are offered to theological students
for the best compositions suitable for delivery in the
mosques, and these are printed and circulated throughout
the country.
A short time since, the Sheikh of Tanta heard a
young sheikh preach an original sermon to a small
country congregation, and, recognising the preacher's
gifts of genuine eloquence and moral force, he gained
for him promotion to a large town mosque. I will
give later outlines of some of the most recent sermons,
which will show that moral teaching in Islam is be
coming general. There is no doubt that for centuries
the sermon was confined to a repetition of those soul-
stirring discourses of the Prophet and the early Caliphs,
as it was thought wise to restrain the preachers, who
began to use the pulpit for political and other ignoble
ends ; but in Egypt, at least, that day has passed, and
the authorities even go so far as to employ " mission
preachers " who go from mosque to mosque, and from
village to village, calling men to repentance.
The Wakfs Administration in Cairo have recently
established six additional itinerant mission preachers,
" to travel throughout the country in all the various
localities, especially those in which there are no teachers,
to preach, to instruct, and to help in the improvement

122 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
of the moral condition of the people." I quote from
the last official report, in which regret is expressed at
the difficulty of finding suitable men for such important
work. It is amongst the students that recruits are being
sought. In Alexandria the Wakfs have started ten
lecture-rooms, called " Abbassieh," with Koran readers
and teachers, and other sheikhs to the number of thirty,
for the moral help of the people.
I met in Cairo one sheikh whose life is spent in this
way. He is an original and moving preacher, and it is
told of him that he was sent to a certain province, where
crime had increased in such a way as to greatly perplex
the authorities, and the result of his vigorous preaching
crusade was to leave the district with an almost clean
sheet so far as the more serious offences were concerned.
He also visits the prisons and the hospitals, to cheer and
admonish the inmates, his visits being keenly appreciated.
I questioned this sheikh on the subject of preaching.
His answers were quite simple. The duty had fallen
into neglect, but it had not ceased to be a duty. " To
exhort and to assist the people in doing good, and to
dissuade and whenever possible to prevent them from
doing evil," this has always been the duty of Moslems.
There is a definite term for such service — Hisba ; the
man who specially performs it is called the Muhtasib,
and to show how much it is a part of Islam, he referred
me to the work of the early philosopher and leader,
Ghazzali, who fully describes the duties of the Muhtasib.

CHAPTER II
" The institution of prayer was jeered at by the Arabs, to whom
Mohammed first delivered his message, and one of the hardest parts of
his task was to induce in them that pious attitude of mind towards the
Creator, which Islam inculcates equally with Judaism and Christianity,
but which was practically unknown to the heathen Arabs."
Arnold, The Preaching of Islam, p. 40.
On another evening I went, by invitation of the Sheikh
Mohammed el Mahdy, to the Mosque of Azabam, near
the city end of the Mousky, the chief of the ancient
streets leading into the heart of native Cairo. It
is a comparatively new mosque, built by the present
Khedive, and although not large, it is richly decorated.
This visit was more formidable than that to the
Kekhia Mosque, for here the five daily prayers are led
by an Imam, and there is the stated reading of the
Koran from the sura chair. Many Moslem friends
assured me that I was the only professed Christian who
had ever, to their knowledge, sat through such a service
without some sort of protest. Ismail, who was with me,
had some slight qualms, I think ; but as I was received
at the door of the mosque by the sheikh, who had to
leave us after the greeting, I took off my shoes and
quietly walked to a corner at the back of the mosque
and sat down in the nearest imitation of the Eastern
manner that I could, trusting to the absorption of the
close rows of worshippers in front to cover my failure
to take part in the rikas or bowings and prostrations
which accompany the prayer.

124 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
The ceremonial reading of the Koran always thrills
me. I had never before heard it in a mosque, and when
a young sheikh, who nimbly mounted the sura chair,
began the chosen passages in a sweet and resonant
voice, and the worshippers exclaimed at the end of
each verse which appealed to them, " Allah ! Allah ! "
as is their custom, the impression of the whole scene —
the ordered crowd of men of every condition of Eastern
life, the dim lamplight, and the rich colouring — became
deeply impressive.
The manner of the reciting of the Koran is the
subject of the most particular and prolonged study, as
the inflection of each syllable must be according to
clearly defined rule. It is not permissible for any
man to read the Koran aloud who has not been trained
to do so, for fear of conveying a false meaning. In
fact, each word has to be memorised from the sound of
it conveyed by a teacher who has been specially trained ;
so that the accredited readers in almost every case know
the whole book by rote.
The profession of Koran reader is most commonly
adopted by the intelligent blind. The early Moslems
would have it that the language of the Koran must be
the language of heaven, and very early efforts were made
to preserve a uniform pronunciation. But as Islam
spread into strange lands, deviations from the pure
speech of the people of Mecca crept in, owing in a
great measure to the absence of vowel points and other
diacritical marks. Eventually the reading was regularised
by the allowance of seven different readings, recognised
by a School of Readers, whose readings are now uni
versally accepted throughout the Moslem world.
The sura this evening was that beautiful call to

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 125
courage and hope, which came to Mohammed at a time
of deep depression : —
" By the noonday brightness
And by the night when it darkeneth !
The Lord hath not forsaken thee, neither hath He been displeased.
And surely the Future shall be better for thee than the Past,
And in the end shall thy Lord be bounteous to thee, and thou be
satisfied.
Did He not find thee an orphan and gave thee a home ?
And found thee erring and guided thee ?
And found thee needy and enriched thee ?
As to the orphan, therefore wrong him not ;
And as to him who asketh of thee, chide him not away ;
And as for the favours of thy Lord, tell them abroad." (Sura, xciii.)
The reading must always consist of at least three verses
of a sura ; the one most usually recited is Sura cxii. :
" He is God alone. God the Eternal ! He begetteth
not and is not begotten ; and there is none like unto
Him." It is recommended to read the long suras at
the morning prayer, and the short ones at the evening.
This, too, was the night prayer, which consists of
four obligatory rikas, generally followed by four further
voluntary rikas (called Sunna) made separately, when
the ranks formed for the formal and liturgical worship
are broken.
The Imam who was to lead the prayer took his
place in front of the Kibla, and with him, in every
movement, the worshippers became as one man. To
gether they praised God — " God is most high. . . .
There is no God but God ... to God be praise."
They take refuge in God. To Him they ascribe holi
ness and praise and greatness. Together as one man they
bow, and prostrate themselves to the ground, which
the forehead must touch, while again they utter praise.
After the prostration the worshipper raises his head

126 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
and body, sinks backward on his heels, when, half-sitting,
half-kneeling, he implores forgiveness, " O Lord, for
give me, and have mercy upon me, and grant me Thy
portion, and guide me."
Each rika is a repetition, and when all the prayers
are ended, the worshipper takes the half-kneeling atti
tude again, raises his hands as high as his chest with
the palms towards heaven, and offers up a silent prayer
in his own words, at the end of which he draws his'
hands over his face as a sign that he has faith in the
granting of his petition, and by this action pours the
blessing received into the very recesses of his being.
After a slight inclination of the head to the right
and to the left, saluting the guardian angels, andi
must be taken also as bows to the congregation
of Moslems, he rises to leave. The early morning
and the evening prayers are specially important,
because then the guardian angels are changed who
attend on each living soul, the one on the right hand
to record the good deeds, and the one on the left, the
bad. When they ascend to their Lord He asketh
them, " How did ye leave My servants ? " It is good
when they say to their Lord, " We left them praying,
and we came to them when they were praying."
The Moslem friend who was with me in the mosque
naturally had taken his place in the last row of
worshippers, while I sat a little nearer to the back wall.
My conjecture was right that the intensity of devotion
which possesses a Moslem congregation at prayer would
be my best shield from observation.
It never had been my intention in Egypt to pretend
to anything of Moslem worship, for the sake of any
advantage to be gained in my inquiries. On this

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 127
occasion I simply stood up when the rows of men in
front of me stood, and as they kneeled and prostrated
themselves I quietly sat down in the Eastern fashion ;
with the result, I believe, that, keenly observant as all
Oriental people are, my presence was undetected.
There is nothing more strange to the Western
observer than the immovable soberness and intentness
of the conduct of the Moslem at prayer. Often on
Friday there is an overflow of worshippers at the mosques,
who spread their prayer-mats in the street, outside the
door, and make the prayer in full public view, while
all the distractions of the street go on unheeded. I
have seen a group of children boisterously playing under
the very nose of such worshippers, who seemed to be
utterly unconscious of their existence.
I was once in the evening train at Cairo, waiting to
start for Alexandria, when a country Egyptian of the
farming class arrived for the same train. He settled his
luggage, and then, looking at his watch, went on to the
platform, laid his mat so that a lamp-post acted as his
Kibla, and made his evening prayer in the midst of a
scene of bustle and noise and excitement which only
life on an Eastern railway station can create — his expres
sion showing no consciousness of his surroundings.
Proper conduct in the mosque is taught with the
earliest lessons of the child. So strict are the rules,
that to laugh during the Friday prayer abrogates the
prayer, and even requires fresh ablutions. A man must
not yawn during his prayers. There must be no hurry,
and no lounging. The first safe rule known to Islam
was to recall in what manner the Prophet said his prayers,
and to imitate that. In the picturesque language of
the East, a devout man may not " hurry in prostration

128 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
like a cock picking grain," or spread his arms "like a
dog or a tiger."
A curious rule at the stated prayers in the mosque
is, that a man must not, when prayer has begun, pass
between another man and the Kibla. The act does not
nullify the prayer, but it is considered detrimental,
and is sometimes bitterly resented ; indeed, in earlier
days it was no uncommon thing for a man to draw his
sword upon the offender. A friend of mine in this
very Mosque of Azabam, in Cairo, on a feast-day, when
there was a great crowd, inadvertently offended in this
way. He was profuse in his submission — " May your
prayers be accepted ! may you live to pray at Mecca ! "
is the correct form of apology — but the offended man
could hardly be appeased.
Before he begins the prayer, the worshipper says in a
low voice, his hands close to his side, " I have purposed
to offer to God with a sincere heart, with my face Kibla-
wards, these prayers." This purpose he must constantiy
keep in mind to the end.
It is often asserted that the Moslem-prayer is only
drill — Mr. Gairdner says this in his latest writings.
The Rev. W. St. Clair Tisdall goes further, and says the
prayers are not only formal, but puerile. I can only
assert that all my experience leads me to a contrary
opinion, supported by the observation of travellers and
others who have lived amongst these people and without
preconception or professional prejudice have been able
to penetrate to some degree the veil which they throw
over their religious observances when they suspect any
want of sympathy. More than anything, the Moslem
dreads ridicule of his sacred observances, or the teaching
of the Prophet. The merest suspicion of it in the on-

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 129
looker, and the chance of gaining any real knowledge
or understanding of either the inner faith or the out
ward manifestation of his religion, becomes utterly
impossible. And only those who know the Orient
can understand how the cruder mind of the Western
observer fails before the subtilty of the Eastern intel
ligence when there is anything to be concealed.
Can I ever forget the prayers of Islam as I have seen
them offered — in the solitude of the desert, in the
country village, in the market-place, in the vast mosque
of the city, or in the humble meeting-place of the
remote hamlet ? The evidence of a deep devotional
spirit which I have seen, the wrapt expression of a
thousand faces glowing with a solemn rapture of the
contemplation of God ? " Thou mayest see them bow
ing down, adoring, craving grace from God and His
goodwill — their signs are on their faces of the effects
of their adoration " (Sura xlviii. 29).
If anything is clear in the first teachings of Islam, it
is that prayer must be from the heart. The Prophet
taught at all times that of a man's prayers only " such
as he offers with understanding and true devotional
spirit " are acceptable with God.
There is no doubt that, with the wonderful practical
wisdom which gave the Prophet such power with men,
he saw also the physical importance of the mere exercise
of prayer as he ordered it. The performance of the
five daily prayers could not fail to have a great deal to
do with the splendid vigour and robust freshness which
enabled the Arabs of the first years of Islam to overrun
and conquer the world, as they did in less than a hundred
years, from Delhi to Granada. In the same way it is
admitted that the greatly lengthened prayer necessary
9

130 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
to close the days of Rhamadan, when a very heavy meal
succeeds the long fast from sunrise to sunset, has an
excellent effect in promoting digestion, and inducing
sleep which would probably be otherwise delayed.
The ablutions, too, make for health and comfort;
but because they were made compulsory, it is not to
be thought that any of these things in themselves are
sufficient for the true and acceptable approach to God.
All through the teaching of Islam the theme runs, that
God judges motives and aspirations, the outward forms
and rites are of minor importance. The ablutions are
useless in your worship unless the heart is cleansed,
asserts and re-asserts the great Imam al-Ghazzali. " 'Tis
the heart I see," declares the thirteenth-century mystic,
Mohammed Rumi. " Fools," he says, " exalt the
mosque, and ignore the true temple in the heart." Man
is not saved by naming the divine names with orthodox
accuracy, or by worshipping by exact rules, however fair,
but by heartfelt love, and an earnest desire to please God.
Lady Duff Gordon's devoted servant Omar, so
sympathetically drawn in her charming Letters from
Egypt, said to her, " I can't speak to my God if I do
bad things," and this is the spirit in which great numbers
of Moslems approach the worship of Allah. There are
formal worshippers in every religion, and perhaps in
Islam formalism is easier in these days of a poor moral
state, than in other systems where public opinion asserts
itself to interfere with a man's religious observances if
it does not approve of his conduct — which interference
is forbidden among Moslems, for " God only shall be a
man's judge of his motives for worship." But it is a
misjudgment to make the sweeping accusation of mere
lifeless forms and blind imitation.

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 131
This charge takes no account of the private prayer
which is a large part of the worship of the devout Moslem.
In many places I have seen men sitting absorbed for long
periods in the attitude of private prayer in the mosques
and in other places. A great value is placed upon
prayer in the mosque, especially at noon on Friday, for
there the angels pray for and with the worshipper.
But many writers are wrong in saying that therefore
private petitions are little used and esteemed. The
Prophet said that to pray in the Holy Mosque at Mecca
was best ; next to that a prayer in " my mosque at
Medina is valued by God " ; but " of greater worth
than all these is the prayer of two rikas a man performs
in the corner of his room : of which nobody knows
anything but God Almighty."
It was at such prayers that the Prophet wept from
the fervour of his emotions, spending whole nights in
prayer, until his health suffered ; and that Ali, his son-
in-law, became so absorbed in his devotions that his
body grew benumbed. As that distinguished Moslem,
Syed Ameer Ali, says : " The intensity of the devotional
spirit embalmed in the Church of Mohammed has
hardly been realised by Christendom " ; and it never
can be realised while the devotions of Islam are dismissed
as lifeless forms.
In adversity the people must resort to private prayer,
they must fast and repent of their sins. In cases of
public calamity all men are called to this duty, to show
in every possible way their sorrow, repentance, and
humiliation, and to pray privately and alone — the
women as the men — in addition to making a great gather
ing for liturgical prayer in some public place. The
question of the Moslem idea of sin is of great importance

1 32 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
in this connection ; for it is frequently stated that the
consciousness of sin has no place with these people. It
is a question I often discussed with men of every class,
from the great Sheikh of Al Azar to my humble village
friends, the result of which discussion I will give later on.
A Moslem friend, married to an English lady, who is
a Christian, says that his private prayers differ little from
those of his wife. A friend of theirs was very ill a short
time since, and they prayed together very earnestly for
her recovery. At Tanta he has a relative, 'a pious sheikh
of distinguished position at the mosque school, in whose
goodness he believes. He wrote at once to him to tell
him of their love for the sick woman and their distress
at her illness ; would the sheikh add his prayers to theirs
to Allah for her recovery, for the sake of her husband,
their children, and friends ?
Was there any suggestion of the " Kismet," with
which the East is so readily labelled, in the sheikh's
reply ? He was glad to have the request ; and, more
over, he would join his prayers to those of a band of
religious men who each evening meet in the mosque in
a sort of spiritual brotherhood to reflect on the things
of God and to offer up special petitions to Him. In
leading the devotions of these men he would guide their
united prayers to the needs of his afflicted friends in
Cairo. A strange comment on the charges both of fatalism
and formalism, with which a whole religion is universally
branded !
Nothing can exceed the importance attached to
Prayer. Amr, the great Arab conqueror of Egypt, in
the seventh century, was only taken at a disadvantage
when he was leading his army in the Friday prayer,

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 133
which he would not omit. A story is told of another
prayer of two Moslem officers, interrupted by a small
Roman patrol coming out of the fortress of Babylon —
now old Cairo — to fall upon the chiefs while at their
devotions. The Arabs at once leapt into their saddles,
charged and chased their enemies, who, as they fled;
threw off their girdles and valuable trappings. The
Romans succeeded in securing their retreat into the
fortress ; and the Arabs, scorning the booty (and booty
was a strong incentive to the early forces of Arabia),
returned to finish their prayer. Prayer was always the
first thought, in Egypt as everywhere else, on that
triumphant march over the world. And the venerable
mosque of Amr stands to this day in Cairo to witness
that the first necessity of Islam was a place of worship.
Here the general placed his standard during the battle,
here the conquerors at the first moment of security
made their united prayer ; here the foundations of the
original mosque were at once laid, v
It is the same now ; the first need of any community
of Moslems is a mosque, as the first and keenest desire
of every man is to say his prayers acceptably. A year
or two since a number of men of one of the West African
negro tribes were in Berlin, in connection with an
Exhibition. No one could speak their language, and
they were evidently restless and unhappy, although
well lodged and fed. At last a traveller appeared who
was familiar with their speech, and they hailed him
with delight. The first word they spoke to him was
to eagerly ask — Where is our Kibla, the direction of
Mecca !
Formalism, again says the casual or unsympathetic
observer. No ! the prayer is greater than the place,

134 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
and even the Kibla itself may be ignored. To show
this, the Prophet once turned his back on the Kibla
in the mosque at Medina, and thus finished the
prayer he was leading, the congregation imitating him.
And the Koran says : " To God belongeth the East
and the West, therefore whithersoever ye turn your
selves to pray, there is the face of God, for God is omni
present and omniscient " (Sura ii. 109).
" It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces in
prayer towards the East and the West, but righteous
ness is of Him who believeth in God, and the last day,
and the angels, and the scriptures, and the Prophets;
who giveth money for God's sake unto his kindred and
unto orphans and the needy and the stranger and
those who ask, and for the redemption of captives;
who is constant at prayers and giveth alms, and of those
who perform their covenant when they have covenanted,
and those who behave themselves patiently in adversity
and hardships and in time of trouble, these are they who
are just, and these are they who fear God " (Sura ii. 172).

CHAPTER III
" In whatsoever Books God hath sent down do I believe : I am com
manded to decide justly between you : God is your Lord and our Lord ;
we have our works and you have your works : between us and you let
there be no strife : God will make us all one : and to Him shall we return."
The Koran, Sura xlii. 13-14.
There are in Cairo three mosques held sacred from the
sight of the religious alien ; even the special orders
granted by the head of all the mosques to visit the
places of worship in Egypt, make an exception of these
buildings. They are the Tomb of the Imam Shaffey,
the Mosque of Hosein — or Hassaneyn — and the Mosque
of Saida Zeinab.
Two of these sacred buildings I have visited, in
spite of the discouragements of the high officials, who
would not take the risk of giving me any authority by
which I might claim admission. After many vain
attempts to visit the- Mosque of Hosein, by virtue of
my acquaintance with the high dignitaries of the Moslem
Church in Egypt, a growing friendship with the sheikh
in charge of the mosque, opened doors which it had
seemed that the Khedive himself would scarcely venture
to unbar. If the sheikh would take the risk — as his
judgment served — that was another matter. I certainly
am much indebted to Sheikh Mahmoud Ali El Biblawi,
" servant of the mosque of Hosein," for the unique
services he rendered me.
The first time I went, there were many parlies at
the door, as I stood humbly in the street, while my

136 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
Moslem friend interviewed various minor sheikhs and
other servants of the mosque inside. All these men
came across the carpet curiously to inspect the Christian
man outside who imagined he could enter the Mosque
of Hosein ; the mosque of the sacred relics ; where the
head of the martyred grandson of the Prophet rests ;
and the Prophet's own staff, a piece of his cloak, a hair
of his beard !
After half an hour or more, during which a messenger
had been sent to the Ulema of Al Azar, and a note had
come back vouching for me as a friend, I was admitted
just over the threshold by an amiable guardian of the
door, and with my Moslem companion I sat shoeless
on the sacred carpet, by the first pillar, to await events.
But patience brought no reward ; the chief sheikh did
not, for some reason, appear in answer to the note ;
but two burly minor sheikhs blustered across the
mosque, to create an altercation with the servant who
had allowed a Christian, for the first time, to enter
Hosein and sit upon the carpet " like a Moslem." Such
a scene ! At the end of which the servant was per
emptorily ordered to leave the mosque at once, until a
decision as to his fate was arrived at ; and I, who did
my best to shield the man who had tried to serve me,
had to retire defeated.
In a few days I tried again, in company with a friend
of high degree. A Moslem, he of course entered at
once and was courteously received by the sheikh in his
private room. Profound apologies to me, but it was
impossible for me to enter, especially as the Holy Carpet
was there, receiving the last stitching before leaving for
Mecca !
Exactly ! I had read in Lane's Modern Egyptians

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 137
how the author had entered this same mosque, dressed
as an Egyptian, and, acting in every way as a Moslem,
had pressed his way through the crowds to see the
sewing of the Holy Carpet, the native friend who was
with him being very apprehensive for his safety. And
I was anxious to see if it were not possible for a Christian,
making no concession but the wearing of the tarboosh,
to enter, and, without pretence, see the same sight.
A further appeal, this time to the chief of all the
great mosques, at the Wakfs Administration offices,
produced only a very courteous intimation that every
thing possible should be done for me, but this particular
thing, to enter the three forbidden places, or to photo
graph at Al Azar University, these it was not in his
power to grant. There had been riots, caused by
Moslems of the ignorant class, he knew, but extremely
awkward in their consequences when the cause of them
was a European, and especially an Englishman !
This seemed conclusive, but there was still some
faint hope in the sheikh of the mosque Hosein himself,
and him I was to meet privately. I now gathered
that if he cared to take the risk of admitting me, I might
gain my desire. He is a gentle and courteous man, and
I convinced him of my sympathy, and that I was no
idle sightseer, but was anxious to see and understand
as much as possible of Islam and its observances, with the
motive of justly representing it. I was invited to be
at the mosque the following morning, with my friend
Ismail. To the moment fixed, we were at the door of the
mosque, which was very crowded, with much excited
coming and going. A special servant was awaiting us,
who, as we removed our shoes, went to inform the

138 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
sheikh, who came over to the door to receive us. Opposi
tion melted before us in the good man's company.
Without hesitation I crossed the gorgeously carpeted
floor of this handsome mosque — pressing through the
crowds of both men and closely veiled women — direct
to the opposite, or Kibla side. A door was opened,
and I found myself in a long narrow room or passage,
on one side of the floor of which was laid a section of
the Holy Carpet, with a man at work stitching the hem.
I had only a moment, it is true, in which to observe
the black damask of the " carpet," and the rich gold
embroidery of Koranic inscriptions of the band which
is designed to go all round the Kaaba, with the silver
edging and the green corners embroidered in silver.
After the manufacture of the carpet is finished at
the old palace which is guarded as a secret place in
Cairo — but which I visited several times and describe
later on — it is removed in a great procession to this
mosque, where the pious are allowed to see it, and some
especially privileged Moslems — men and women — are
permitted to add a few stitches to the strings sewn to
the outer edge by which it is attached to the Kaaba
in Mecca, or to help in the sewing of the lining, which
is done in the mosque. This morning a number of
ladies were at work upon it in this way, but at the
request of the sheikh they withdrew for a short time-
reluctantly, it is true — so that I might see it.
I now returned through the narrow door into the
sacred mosque, which I was able to thoroughly examine.
It is richly appointed, with a magnificent new carpet
and specially fine chandeliers. The Kibla is very
beautiful. In the court of the ablutions, many men
and youths were washing preparatory to the noon

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 139
prayer ; while in one corner of the spacious court a
crowd of young students were sitting at the feet, literally,
of their masters, for this is one of the many mosques
allied to Al Azar University.
People read of Al Azar's 13,000 students and are
incredulous until they understand that it takes over
thirty mosques to accommodate them, most of which
mosques are never seen by the ordinary visitor to
Egypt. In the sheikh's private room I discussed with him
the question of a Christian's presence in this exclusive
place. He said that to the cultivated Moslem there
was no objection, but he would not willingly offend the
ignorant, who do not like the presence of any man
whoaf they think will be wanting in respect. If,
however, any man of alien faith was to be received
there, it would be a Christian who would be least
unwelcome. In the Prophet's day, even, there were
those who made a " scoff and a jest " of our religion,
and the Koran warns us against them" (Sura v. 62).
This is what those Moslems who object to the presence
of strangers are thinking of.
Experience has taught Moslems everywhere to
expect that Europeans will ridicule their religion.
As Lady Duff Gordon observed : " It rather annoys me
to find that Moslems always expect from us irreverence
to their religion, which they would on no account be
guilty of to ours. I wish the English could know how
unpleasant and mischievous their manner of talking to
their servants about their religion is. Omar confided
to me how bad it felt to be questioned, and then to
see the Englishman laugh, or put up his lip and say
nothing ; he looks like thinking ' all nonsense.' "

140 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
" Is it true," I asked, " as is being so widely asserted
now on the authority of the book made famous by the
Bishop of London's quotation of it, that every Friday
in the mosques at noonday prayer you call down
imprecations on the worshippers of Christ ? "
His answer was immediate. " It is absolutely untrue.
The curse is on the idolater, with whom a Moslem may
not associate. With the Christian and the Jew he may
join, both in social intercourse, at meat, and in any
business connection ; and the Moslem man may marry
from amongst them. With the idolater, or infidel, as
he is called, all this is forbidden, and friendship is
impossible. Mohammed's great work was to destroy
idolatry, and in all the things he undertook, he made
his laws for settling them far reaching and thorough.
With idolatry he would have no compromise. Of
Christians the Holy Koran says : —
" ' Thou shalt certainly find those to be nearest in
affection to the Moslems who say, We are Christians.
This because some of them are spiritual teachers, and
because they are free from pride ' (Sura v. 85).
" Allah," the sheikh continued, " has promised to
reward the Christians for their good works ; He says,
' I will place those who follow Jesus above those who
believe not ' (Sura iii. 48).
" Also let me read to you another verse from the
Koran : —
" ' Verily they who believe (Moslems), and they who
follow the Jewish religion, and the Christians and the
Sabeites — whoever of these believeth in God and the
last day, and doeth that which is right, shall have their
reward with their Lord ; fear shall not come upon them,
neither shall they be grieved ' (Sura ii. 59).

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 141
' This," he said, " is the spirit of our regard for
you. Do not let any man persuade you that any word
of our scriptures abrogates such a spirit. Our curses
are upon our enemies, as your religious curses are, and
not upon our friends, or upon those with whom we
may be friendly."
I discussed this subject with almost every leader of
Islam in Egypt, as well as with simple unlearned men
untaught in anything but the Koran and the ordinary
practice of the religion they love, and there was not
a word of disagreement. The Sheikh Abdul Hamid
El Bekri, chief now of the descendants of the Prophet
and of Abu Bakr, the Prophet's friend and first successor,
was equally emphatic with the Sheikh Al Azar. Abbas
Effendi, the Persian leader of the sect of the Bahais,
was even more decisive when I questioned him. " By
every sort of agreement the curse is on enemies," he
said. " Are the Jews and the Christians our enemies ?
surely they are our friends. Certainly we do not curse
our friends."
As the result of these endless inquiries I was quite
convinced that there is no thought at all in any mind
of cursing the worshippers of Christ. Any passages in
the Koran which seem to support this are directed against
a form of Christianity with which Mohammed was
familiar, in which the Virgin Mary was represented as
equal with the Father and the Son, and which, as he
considered, included the worship of images of the Son
and His Mother. For Jesus, and His Mother, the
Moslems have great veneration. Our Lord is mentioned
with respect equal with that of the Prophet, and the
Virgin Mary is always called " Our Mistress Mary."
They believe Jesus to be the Spirit of God, born of a

142 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
Virgin. The invocations of the Prophet in the Koran
were directed against those who ill-treated his followers
and to no others, and this is the rule of interpretation
of all such texts to this day. " God doth forbid you
only to make friends of those who, on account of your
religion, have warred against you, and have driven you
forth from your homes, and have aided those who
drove you forth " (Sura lx. 8, 9). Towards those who
did not behave in this way, they were to act even in
those days " with kindness and fairness ... for God
loveth those who act with fairness."
Again and again it was insisted to me that it is
idolaters alone who are meant. Poor men would say
to me, " God allows us to marry Christian women and
Jewish women, who may keep their faith, but the Holy
Koran says, ' Marry not women who are idolaters '
(Sura ii. 220). Could we curse our own ? "
A learned sheikh put it in this way. There is a verse
in the Koran which speaks of Christians and Infidels
(Sura ix. 30) ; is that not proof enough, to those who
will not believe us when we speak of our principles and
the intentions of our own words, that Christians, as we
know them, are not infidels to us ? The whole con
nection of the Moslem conquerors with the Egyptian
Coptic Christians disproves the cursing, and the war-
to-the-knife theory of Islam, so often spoken of by
shallow critics ; otherwise fanaticism would have ex
terminated them. And do these writers, like Mr.
Gairdner, know — the sheikh asked me — that the whole
of the sentences of the Khutbeh (or invocation), in
which God is asked to " frustrate the Infidels," at the
Friday prayer, is very often omitted altogether ?
It was interesting to recall that, as long ago as 1835,

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 143
Lane found that " this sentence and some others were
often omitted." In a copy of the Khutbeh given him
by a sheikh they had no place.
It was a Christian writer, I was reminded, who had
declared : ' ' There is nothing in the original teachings
of the Mohammedan religion that requires hostility to
Christians. There are, no doubt, bigots and fanatics
among Moslems, as there have been, and are now,
bigots and fanatics among Christians ; but the spirit of
the religion, as taught in its original records, is tolerant.
And here we cannot but protest against the unwarrant
able emphasis with which certain Christians persist in
calling themselves ' Infidels ' when professing to re
present the light in which they are held by Moslems.
No such term is ever applied to Christians, either in
the Koran or by intelligent Mohammedans. And for
Christian controversialists to insist "upon such a use of
it is only to foster prejudices which, in this enlightened
age, ought to be entirely eliminated from the popular
instincts of Christian countries."
Speaking of the extent of any moral instruction in
Islam, the sheikh of the Mosque of Hosein said that three
times each week he himself gives a lecture to such men as
care to assemble round him in one of the courts of the
mosque. To my bold request to be allowed to sit with
the other learners, he, smiling in a way which suggested
polite surprise, nevertheless consented — and, forgetting
Oriental methods of fence, fixed an early date.
A few days later found me sitting again in the Mosque
of Hosein, in stockinged feet and with the scarlet tarboosh
on my head, having entered by a retired court at the
back, immediately after the noon prayer, the observance
of which I had watched through the door. I had arrived

r44 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
in time to hear the call to prayer from the minaret, so
seldom noticed in the daytime by the visitor to Cairo,
owing to the noise and bustle of the native streets. In
this quiet court I could see the muezzin moving from
side to side of the gallery of the minaret, as he sang
out over the busy city in each direction the impressive
summons to the worship of God. His was a resounding
and musical voice, trained to right chanting of the
Arabic call, which in this quiet haven of the city rang
out distinct and compelling — " God is most great !
There, is no God but God ! Come to prayer ! "
The sheikh spoke, from the low chair, to an eager
group of men of all ages, about forty or fifty in number.
His theme was — simplicity and pride. He told, in
eloquent language, of the humility of the Prophet who,
to the end of his life, performed for himself all personal
service, and shared his camel on a journey with a slave
who might be with him ; of Omar, who even when
Caliph, slept in the open air unguarded, saying to those
who thought so great a man should have a guard, " If
I am not secure in the affection of my people, no human
protection can save me." It was the intention of the
Prophet that all things in Islam should be simple, and
that human pride should be curbed by a sense of respon
sibility to our fellow-men. He was contented himself
to preach from the stump of a palm tree, and in the days
of his greatness hated all ostentation. From his finger
he removed a gold ring, because it caught his attention
in the mosque, and never after that wore anything
but a simple silver band. And he and his immediate
successors taught a simplicity of conduct between man
and man, founded on a sense of the brotherhood of all
mankind. A love to display is wrong ; it may hurt

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 145
the feelings of a poor brother. Above all, keep your
selves free from pride. " Mankind," said the Prophet,
are all the sons of Adam, and Adam was of the earth."
A simple enough sermon, but preached in good
Arabic, with its rounded and rhythmic periods, and,
illustrated by that wealth of proverb and aptness of
statement which belongs, in some degree, to all Oriental
speech, it did not fail of effect and appreciation.
On another day I sat, by permission of the venerable
Sheikh Al Azar, to hear a lesson delivered to older
students in the beautiful room at Al Azar, built by the
present Khedive and used only by the great sheikh
himself or his specially appointed teachers.
A young sheikh was to take the lesson, young, that
is, to be a professor at Al Azar University, where the
student course runs into an incredible number of years ;
he was a handsome, cheerful-looking man, who proved
to be quite blind. He was led to the raised seat, and
proceeded to lecture on a certain phase of philosophy.
Incidentally he was advising his class never to be ashamed
to confess that " they did not know." He told how a
certain great man in Islam was once asked to reply to a
list of forty questions. After much thought he answered
eight only of them ; to the others he confessed that he
had no reply to make, but must inquire of those better
able to judge and decide. " If this great man could
confess that he did not know how to answer, you lads
must be ready, when you go to your work in the distant
towns and villages, to hesitate to answer questions, and
even to confess ignorance. Much harm is done to
religion by ill-considered and hasty answers to important
questions, especially in theological matters."
I sat on another day in the private room of the ulemas

146 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
of Al Azar University, most of whom were present and
took part in the discussions I unhesitatingly raised on
such pertinent subjects as the personal character of the
Prophet, Moslem fanaticism, the " cursing of Christians,"
the absence of repentance for sin alleged against them,
and so on, the venerable Sheikh Al Azar having placed
me on the divan by his side, with attentions almost
affectionate in their courtesy. I could not help smiling
to recall the statement of a writer as recent as Mr.
Stanley Lane-Poole in his book Cairo (1898): "The
tendency of these studies is inevitably towards fanaticism.
The ulemas and professors of the Azar are, as a rule, the
most bigoted of their race, and at times it would be
almost impossible for a Christian to set foot within the
building without danger of insult and even personal
injury." Well, the sheikh himself aided and abetted
my making many friends there amongst the students
and professors ; my camera even was now no offence,
in spite of the special law I have mentioned, to save
the youths the vexations of casual tourists. How often
have I shared the frugal meal of one of these poor
alumni so readily and smilingly offered to one of whom
they knew little, but that he felt for them interest and
respect. I have said that the Mosque of Hosein is specially
sacred because it contains the cherished relics. Later
on I heard that in celebration of the moolid, or birthday,
of Hosein, the relics of the Prophet were to be exposed
to the gaze of the people. By this time I had become
known to all the " servants of the mosque," and the
sheikh, the chief " servant," was very friendly. He
knew I should like to see the sacred objects, but the
suggestion was unique, and he could not commit him-

Photo] [DMrich, Cair
The Minarets of Al Azar University, Cairo.
The call to prayer from these minarets is taken as a signal by all the mosques m Cairo.

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 147
self to definite consent. I might visit him, however,
on the appointed day ; which, by the way, anticipates the
birthday of Hosein for the reason that on the actual
day the mosque is now entirely closed, owing to the wild
grief shown by the Persians, who particularly venerate
the son of Ali, which grief used to culminate in scenes,
now discouraged, of ecstatic frenzy in the mosque which
contains the head of their saint. The horrible proces
sion on the night of the moolid which passes the closed
doors of the mosque is now deemed a sufficient indulgence
of the sentiments of the Persian Moslems in Cairo.
Arrived at the mosque, I found it was crowded
to-day with men, some sitting in rapt contemplation,
others bowing and prostrating themselves in prayer,
others offering up private petitions, while a constant
stream passed in and out of a chapel on the left of the
Kibla. I was taken straight to the private room of
the sheikh, where, of course, the inevitable coffee was
served as the first sign of hospitable welcome, a point
of Eastern etiquette which even the mosques have the
facilities for observing.
Very charming are the courtesies and the compli
ments of a gentleman of the rank of this exalted sheikh.
He had longed to see me again ; I honoured him by
my visit ; I was doubly welcome. With British
bluntness I plunged at once into questions to provoke
discussion. Would he give me his views on the visiting
of the Tombs of Saints, which is such a feature of
Islam, of the intense interest of the people in the relics
and memorials of the distinguished dead. Professor
Margoliouth says that the reformed Islam of Egypt
has attacked the belief " in the persistence of living
pioneers in the dead bodies of the saints, a notion which

1 48 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
has given rise to an excessive cult of saints, and probably
led to not a little charlatanry; for the keeper of the
grave of the saint, if the latter be the founder of an
order, has a tendency to acquire influence beyond that
of the saint's legitimate successors." The following
are the sheikh's views, in his own words, as nearly as
a translation can give them; for, in addition to the
spoken word, he has since written his opinions for me.
Some people think it is a kind of idolatry to pay
such homage to the tombs of martyrs like Hosein, and
the men of Islam who are remembered for their saintli-
ness or courage. But ask the most ignorant visitor
why he pays such reverence to the dead, and he will
undoubtedly answer that he is here first of all, above
every other thought, to worship Allah, the Almighty
God ; he remembers the mighty dead, and praises
them as being nearer God for the good deeds that
distinguished their lives on earth, and Allah may be
disposed to listen to their pleadings. He never for an
instant thinks that there is any but the One God, to
whom all worship should be devoted.
The sheikh considers that the visiting the tombs
of the saints and martyrs makes a good impression upon
the spirit of the visitor, and inclines him to think upon
the virtues and noble deeds of the deceased, which may
lead him to try to follow a great example. It is always
good to do anything that will make the people think of
spiritual things. The Prophet said, " To think for an
hour is better than to worship for a year." There is no
foundation for the charge of idolatry in this matter.
The object of prayer for the dead, and visiting
their tombs — said Avicenna, a Moslem philosopher of the
eleventh century — is to beg for the help of those pure

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 149
souls, a help which is realised sometimes in a material,
sometimes in a spiritual way. The former kind of help
may be compared to that which the body receives from
the brain ; spiritual assistance is realised by the purifica
tion of the mind from every thought but that of God.
While the sheikh was talking to me, in his quiet
voice, a confidential servant was silently passing in and
out of the room, giving a mysterious word or hint to
his master, which I could not understand. I afterwards
found that he was engaged in quietly watching the
room in which the relics were being shown, with the
object of suggesting a favourable moment — if such
arose — for the visit I so much desired.
At last a nod, a quick word from the sheikh, and in
a moment I had passed into the mosque itself, where
for the time the crowds had abated a little; a sharp
turn through a doorway, and I was in the relic chamber.
There were at that breathless moment only three or
four old men present. They took a swift look at me
— my shaven upper lip excites suspicion, for a true
Moslem will never remove his moustache — but the
trusted sheikh at my side, as he puts his upturned hands
upon his breast, and mutters a prayer, turns attention
from me. I look keenly for a moment at the objects
in the glass-fronted case. We turn, and I am back in
the sheikh's private room in no longer time than it
has taken to write these words — the first non-Moslem
to have entered this room, my friend assures me, since
the relics were deposited there.
I afterwards heard that when the German Crown
Prince was in Egypt he visited a mosque where one of
the most venerated sheikhs in the history of Egypt
is buried. The Prince hinted a desire to enter the

150 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
chapel in which is the tomb, but powerful as the ruler
of the mosque is — and no living man is more revered —
the sheikh felt that he could not risk the effect on the
minds of the Moslem people of such a visit. The
subterfuge to avoid a refusal of a royal request was
characteristic of the Oriental mind. A word to the
guardian of the tomb, and before the Prince in his
perambulation of the mosque reached the sacred dome,
the door was locked and the key hopelessly mislaid.
There are six relics of the Prophet kept in the
Mosque of Hosein, and which I saw. These are : —
i. Two hairs of Mohammed's beard, kept in a
bottle covered with green velvet, put within
a silver box.
ii. The spoon for the use of al kohl (the
darkening matter used under the eyes)
which belonged to the Prophet. It re
sembles a small silver spoon of modern
shape.
iii. A garment worn by the Prophet.
iv. A piece of Mohammed's shirt.
v. A copy of the Koran in Imam Ali's own
handwriting. It is in Kufian letters, on
deerskin; about 503 pages, kept in a box
of wood.
vi. A Koran in the handwriting of Osman ibn
Affan, in Kufian letters, on chestnut wood,
about 135 pages, carefully bound up.
These relics, the sheikh told me, were in the posses
sion of the house of Ibrahim until the seventh century,
when the Caliph Al Zahen bought them for a sum of
no less than £60,000. They were kept at Old Cairo
until Al Malek Konsowa Al-Ghouri built the domed
chapel, now bearing his name, as a receptacle for them,

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 151
which was known as the Vault of the Relics. Lane,
writing in the year 1835 a.d., said : " A shirt which is
said to have been worn by the Prophet is preserved in
the Mosque Al-Ghouri in Cairo. It is not shown to any
but persons of very high rank." They were kept there
until 1275, when they were transferred to the Mosque of
Saida Zeinab. Again they were moved, to the Citadel,
where they remained until 1 304, when they were taken to
the Wakfs office, and in 1305 to the Palace of Abdin. In
1305 H.H. Tewfik Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, decreed
their removal to the Mosque of Hosein, where a chapel
was magnificently prepared for the relics, with the beauti
ful case in the eastern wall in which I saw them.
Cairo will never forget the gorgeous procession
arranged for the removal ; indeed, the sheikh asserts that
the ceremony was without parallel in the modern history of
Egypt. The crowd which flocked to see the procession was
tremendous. There went to Abdin Palace all the Princes,
the Ministers, the Persian Consul, the ulemasandnotables,
the high officials and principal merchants of Egypt.
The relics were placed in the Khedive's grand
reception-room, on a rich cloth of green velvet. At
the appointed time the Khedive called to his presence the
Grand Kadi and the Grand Mufti of Egypt, the Sheikh
Al-Azar, the Sheikhs Al-Mahdi, Al-Bekri, and Al-Sadat,
as representing all the chief offices and nobly descended
families of Islam.
After a chapter of the Koran had been read, the
Khedive took the Garment of the Prophet in his own
hands, and ordered other princes and high officials to
carry the other relics. This procession walked through
the palace, as far as the salemlik leading to Abdin
Square, when the chief descendant of the Prophet, Syed

152 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
Abdul Babi Al-Bekri took charge of the relics. As they
were brought out into the square, the firing of cannons
and military music saluted the sacred antiquities.
Then the great procession started, preceded by
horsemen and soldiers ; all the sects and Guilds — or the
" Ways of Islam," as they are called — with their differing
banners, following. There were cavalry and footmen
of the Egyptian Army, with bands ; the ulemas and
Moslem dignitaries, followed by twenty servants in
rich uniforms, bearing costly perfumes for sprinkling
upon the populace — always a feature of Oriental religious
processions. Then came the bearers of the relics,
followed by the Cabinet Ministers and other high
notables. The number of those who took part in the
procession is said to have been 30,000 ; while the
onlookers numbered over 200,000.
In the year 13 11 a special chamber — the one in
which I saw the relics — was built by order of the present
Khedive, H.H. Abbas n. I regretted that I had no time
in which to examine the rich inscriptions with which
the walls of the chamber are now decorated.
It will be remembered that these are all Moslem
dates, the calendar beginning with the year of the Flight,
El-Hijrah, 622 a.d.
Of the most precious relic of all, the head of the
Martyr Hosein, which is kept in a separate chamber, a
vault, and which there was no chance, I was convinced,
of my seeing, the sheikh very kindly gave me many
details. This most jealously guarded relic has been
seen by few living men. Indeed, it is related that a
certain Ameer, in the time of Mohammed Ali, deter
mined to force a way into the vault to see for himself
what it contained. Two men were first sent by him

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 153
into the vault, and when they returned one was found
to be blind and the other dumb — one saw nothing,
and the other could never describe what he saw ! With
quiet pride the sheikh told me that he had the honour
of entering the sacred place a few years since, when it
was observed that a part of the foundation was threaten
ing to give way. He made a report on the subject to
the Wakfs Administration, who at once undertook the
necessary repairs.
The martyr's death took place on the 10th day of the
sixty-first year of the Hijrah. Amr ibn Saad carried
the head to Kufa, gave it to Ibn Zayyad, who carried it
through the city, and sent it to Zazid, at Damascus,
who ordered it to be exposed for three days, and then
taken through the country to Askalan, whose Ameer
was a pious Moslem. The Ameer buried it " in an
excellent place," where it remained till 491. Then
Al Afdal, the general of the army at Damascus, dis
interred it with solemn ceremonies, and placed it in
what he considered a more suitable spot.
In the year 548, Askalan was threatened by a Euro
pean power, and thereupon the Ameer of that day,
Ayyash, sent to the Caliph Al-Faez, in Egypt, informing
him that the head might fall into the hands of Europeans,
and entreating him to send a deputation to take charge
of it. The caliph was at the time a boy of eleven years,
and the power was in the hands of the Prime Minister,
Talaih ibn Ruzaik, who promptly sent an army, under
the leadership of Maknoun Al-Khadem, to whom he
granted £30,000. When they arrived at Kuttieh, they
were received by the Ameer, who bore the head and
delivered it to the general.
In Cairo a mosque was built for the head outside

154 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
Zoueilah Gate — the well-known Bab Zoueilah, where
the pious pray and tie rags and attach teeth to the studs
of the gate — opposite Darb-ul-Ahmar, now known as
the Mosque of Al-Saleh. The head was washed in this
mosque, upon a board, strips of which are said to be
those now hanging on the walls of the mosque. But
the family of Al-Faez objected to the head reposing in
that mosque, as it was not actually inside the city of
Cairo, and insisted on its removal to the caliph's palace,
where the present dome — or " sheikh " — was built for
it, the Mosque of Hosein being built over the dome,
on the very spot where the famous green steps of the
palace were.
Lane tells a strange story of how proof was conveyed
in a wonderful dream, of this head being actually in
Cairo. The sheikh related to me the following some
what similar anecdote, which is, however, so far different
in detail and names as to be worth recording : —
Shuhab-el-Deen, a former Grand Mufti (chief
judge) of Egypt, was asked by the Imam Sharani to visit
the mosque. He did not believe that the head was
there, but complied with the request. During the
visit he fell asleep, and saw in a dream a man in white
clothes, who came out of the Prophet's grave at Medina,
and said, " Oh, Prophet, Sharani and Shuhab-el-Deen
have come to visit your daughter's son's tomb." There
upon the Prophet said, " May Allah accept their devo
tion." Shuhab then awoke, crying, " I now believe—
believe and am fully convinced, that the head is here
in this mosque of Hosein."
Another miraculous story told me by the sheikh
was that a certain Salah-Al-Deen caused displeasure
to the Caliph Al-Molek Al Naser, by declaring that a

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 155
certain Egyptian notable knew all about the secret
treasures of the caliph's palace. The man was brought
and questioned, only to deny the statement. The
caliph then ordered that the man should be detained,
and that on his head should be placed a number of
beetles, to be kept there by a wrapping, so that they
might cut into his skull, and, after causing slow torture,
eventually kill him, if he did not seek relief by disclosing
any knowledge he might have become possessed of.
But as he did neither disclose anything, nor show any
signs of pain, the wrapping was removed, and the
beetles were found dead. To the caliph's astonished
questions he replied, " I bore the head of the blessed
Hosein on my head, when it was brought to Cairo, and
so it is not in the power of anything man can do to me
to injure my head."
The sheikh told me that the Ameer Hassan, who
built the tomb for the head, made a coffin for it of ebony,
ornamented with ivory and silver and covered with
embroidered silk. The sheikh's opinion is that the
original coffin and cover have been changed, as the
coffin, as he saw it, is of simple wood, in an ornamented
cover, bearing writings in silver threads. On the door
of the tomb there are four silver rings, and round the
table on which the coffin rests there are twenty-three
jars of the finest crystal, bearing the name of Al-Malek
Al Zaher Abu Said, and the Koranic verse, " God is the
light of Heaven and Earth." These jars are estimated
to be worth over £2000. The coffin stands on a support
of ebony, covered in a green cloth. Round about it are
great quantities of rare perfumery materials, the scent
of which is still fresh.

CHAPTER IV
" Egypt has always been a soil favourable to the development of mystic
tendencies. Christian asceticism took early root there, and during the
first centuries of our era thousands of anchorites inhabited the deserts oi
the Thebaid, and carried" on there religious exercises of extreme austerity.
We do not know what secret connection may exist between the climate
of the valley of the Nile and the character of its inhabitants, but if the
Arab chroniclers deserve any credit, Arab mysticism originated in this
country." Claud Field, Mystics and Saints of Islam, p. 167.
I was honoured with an invitation to a banquet "in
Eastern style " by the Sheikh Ahmed Mehsen, who is
the present hereditary chief of the sacred and beautiful
tomb and mosque of the Imam el-Chafi'i (generally
called the Imam Shaffey), " in the desert outside the
walls of Cairo," to celebrate the moolid or birthday of
the Imam, which is one of the great events of the Moslem
year in Egypt. All the guide-books give an account of
the great theologian, who is one of those four great
Imams of Islam whose teachings are of paramount
influence and importance. Egypt is naturally proud
of having cherished one of these leaders, and makes
much of the possession of his tomb.
We passed, on the way out from Cairo, an endless
stream of people wending their way to pray at the tomb,
with a good sprinkling of beggars and rogues who sought
to gain something from passers-by "for love of the
saint." As it was Friday, the Moslem Sabbath, as well
as the moolid, an unusual number of people had decided
to "visit the Imam" — for the Moslem always speaks,
when he goes to a grave, of paying a visit to a dead
156

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 157
person ; the spirits of the good being thought to hover
near their tombs.
The endowments left by the pious in honour of
El Chafi'i are extremely rich, and the Sheikh Ahmed
Mehsen, who has charge also of the Imam Lissy tomb,
is a man of great importance in the counsels of his
compeers, being a member of the General Assembly.
A fine residence adjoins the mosque, and here we
were welcomed by the courteous and genial sheikh
with Eastern cordiality and compliment. The house,
the tomb, the mosque — are all mine.
The first pleasure is, of course, to drink the cere
monial coffee, while we rest and chat in the salemlik,
while through the open windows comes the buzz
of the assembling crowds. Then the sheikh, and his
brother, " take permission " to leave, in the polite way
of the East ; they must make their ablutions for the
noon prayer, which the sheikh will lead.
The call rings out from the minaret ; already the
mosque is crowded to the last inch of available space.
I should like to see the prayer of this enormous multitude,
but it is deemed impossible to make a place for me
actually inside the mosque. I go, however, to one of
the open windows in the Kibla end of the mosque,
and there can hear and watch the service to greater
advantage than being in the midst of the close rows
of worshippers inside.
There is no deviation from the concentration which
always marks the Moslem prayers. These rows of
worshippers call upon their God, and humble them
selves to the ground before Him, with a fervour of
expression which is always moving to behold.
The sermon was an example of the unreformed

158 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
preaching, the recitation of one of the very ancient
discourses which are so familiar to the worshipper's ear
that the only merit they have is that they are short ;
five minutes exhausted the preacher's memorised stock.
Prayer ended, the crowds made their way to the
tomb, and I returned to the house, to meet a number
of youthful relatives of the sheikh who, including his
son, were able to speak to me in fluent English. They
wore, however, the Egyptian galabieh, as they were
at home on holiday, although when they go into Cairo
to school they appear in modern European clothes ; as,
unfortunately, do all the pupils in the Government schools.
Our Western garments may be convenient for our
bustling habits, but they are not suitable for the
customs of a religious Moslem. But then how little
provision is made at the schools for the practice of
religion. We complain of the growing race of "the
godless effendi," and deplore in that burningly unjust
phrase which Lord Cromer misquotes — with an added
injustice — from Stanley Lane-Poole, " that an upper-
class Moslem must be ' a fanatic or a concealed infidel.' "
But we do our best to wean the new generation under
our charge from the only form of godliness at present
possible to them, giving them nothing in its place.
What, for instance, is the size of any one of the school
mosques, as compared with the number of boys in the
school ? Or what encouragement is given to the one
sheikh attached to the school to impart religious
instruction ? As a rule, the tiny mosque will not hold
more than about one in ten of the Moslem boys at
the schools, and religious teaching is discouraged. The
truth might be stated in this way. Unless these school
boys have something of the zeal we call — in people of

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 159
other religions — fanaticism, they will drop all the
observances of their religion as inconvenient and
unpopular with the authorities ; if they are inclined to
godlessness, nothing will save them from atheism under
the present conditions. Every year four hundred of
these boys are in England to continue their studies at
our universities and colleges. What is being done to
save them from a godless and abandoned life in the
midst of temptations which, under the freedom of our
social customs, are even greater than those of their own
land ? It is a lamentable thing that there is no mosque
in England in which these boys may worship God, nor
any spiritual guide to give them any help or advice.
But this by the way. These schoolboys, very
courteously — at the request of the sheikh — took me
to the beautiful thirteenth-century mosque and the
tomb, explaining all the details with great pride. The
interior of the dome is richly decorated in red and gold,
having a most gorgeous effect. The actual tomb of
the great Imam inside is a fine piece of work. It was
touching to see the people pressing round it with up
turned hands, silently praying to God, with redoubled
eagerness, because of the communion of the saint which
they felt they were enjoying in that sacred spot. I
heard no word of protest at my presence on this day of
the moolid. Now and then a man would inquire of one
of my youthful escort, " Who is this ? " but the smiling
reply, " A friend of the sheikh," was always satisfactory.
On the way back to the house I remarked on the
delightful model of a ship which surmounts the centre
of the dome. The sheikh, who had come out to meet
us, explained that the ship was intended to represent
the wise Imam as having traversed a whole sea of know-

160 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
ledge. The ship is so made that it will contain a
quantity of grain (about two bushels) at one end, and
a gallon of water at the other. In the month of Sha'ban
the boat is filled, so that the birds of the air may have
a feast ; and at any other time of the year it is open
to any generous Moslem to send the grain for this pur
pose — a servant of the mosque will always undertake
the lading of the ship.
The Moslem people are ardent lovers of birds, and
are generous in their provision of food and water for
them, often associating this kindness with veneration
for their dead, as in this case. In Algiers almost every
grave in the cemetery has a little drinking-well cut out
of the marble slab on the top of it, which is filled with
water by the women on their regular Friday visits. In
Upper Egypt the birds by their tameness show how
fearlessly they live with mankind (and, what is more
curious, boykind). I have, more than once, passed
a pair of beautiful little owls, huddled together on the
bough of a small tree, within arm's length of the well-
worn footpath along which I was passing — and this within
a few miles of Luxor.
In Mecca the flocks of pigeons — a distinguished
pilgrim, who accompanied the Khedive to Mecca, told
me — are so tame that they regularly alight on the
shoulders of pilgrims and others. There is a special
provision of wheat provided for them by a charity or
" wakf." In the western part of the city certain poor
women sell corn to visitors for feeding the birds, and
there is a fountain set apart for them to drink at.
People like to believe that these pigeons are descended
from the very pigeons which made a nest on a ledge
at the entrance of the cave in which the Prophet was

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 161
hidden during the Flight from Mecca. The sight of
the nest, and a spider's web spun across the entrance,
convinced the pursuers of Mohammed that there was no
need to search the cave, to which circumstance he owed
what was naturally regarded as a providential escape.
At the sheikh's house we found that lunch was
awaiting us. I shall have occasion later to describe the
food offered in one of those great native banquets
which the Egyptians prepare for their friends, so I
need not go into details now. We first go to the table
and secure our serviettes, which are of double size, and
take them to the outer room, where a servant stands
with the spouted ewer of the East, to pour water over
our hands ; we use the serviette as a towel, and at once
return to the table, and take our places without any
ceremony. The meal lacks nothing of that bounty
and profusion which may be at once the delight and
fear of the Englishman whose appetite has been trained
to consider three or four meals necessary in one day,
and so refuses to accommodate itself to what is practi
cally the single formal meal of the twenty-four hours.
We ate with our fingers, of course ; a piece of the
dry native bread-cake taking the place of all the multi
tudinous implements of the table to which in Europe
we are accustomed. A whole turkey, of great dimen
sions, appeared, which had been slightly cut in the
kitchen in such a way that we had little difficulty in
pulling it to pieces. Dishes of meat, of fish, of game,
things roasted, and delicious stews, vegetables, rice,
herbs. With unfailing solicitation, titbits were selected
for me, as the guest of the day. I was pressed to eat
of every course, and knew that courtesy said that no
dish must pass untasted.
ii

1 62 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
At last we passed the over-plentiful meat courses,
and delicious sweets and fruits appeared, a sign that
the end of the banquet was now in view. There is
an informality about the ending of an Egyptian meal
that at first seems like rudeness to a European. Who
ever has first finished, whether host or guest, gets up
at once and leaves the' table, and taking his serviette,
goes to wash — it is no discourtesy to leave a guest at
the table. In addition to the hands, these men all
wash their teeth after a meal, very thoroughly, making
a lather with the soap, which they declare is not un
pleasant as they rinse it out with clean water at once.
They are much surprised that the Western people do
not regularly wash the mouth and teeth after eating.
It is worth noting that during a recent " health
week " a famous dentist has been advising the poor
people of England to clean their teeth regularly with
" a little soap and powdered chalk," as the most effective
and the cheapest dentifrice.
There are no people more gay and genial than those
of the Arab race when they are entertaining their
friends. There is abundance of the good-humoured
" chaff," the verbal play, and the punning joke in which
all the people of the East delight. There is a whimsi
cality in their badinage which once led Lady Duff
Gordon to say that she could trace the genealogy of
Don Quixote straight up to the modern Arab. Good
fellowship knows no more delightful votaries.
I have spoken of the Moslem friendship for Jews ;
on one side of me at the table was a young Jewish
gentleman from Cairo, whose intimacy with the family
of the sheikh was such that he was always privileged
to visit them, uninvited, for the Friday meal. The

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 163
Moslem friend on the other side of me suggested that
the " fanaticism " — especially on the day of the moolid
— of the party would require at least the assassination
of the Jew before he left ! But as he accepted a seat
in our carriage, and drove back with us to Cairo, I can
answer for his safety. He told me he has lived with
Moslems, as friends and neighbours, all his life. Arabic
is his native language. Of fanaticism of the Moslem
towards the Jew he knows nothing.
Another interesting visit was to the mosque of the
Demerdache Order, in the suburbs of Cairo, by the
special invitation of the Sheikh El-Demerdache. Thurs
day is a crowded day at this mosque, when great numbers
of people gather there for special prayers. The road
leading to the mosque was like a fair, with stalls and
booths — to say nothing of the beggars.
The sheikh received us very graciously in his spacious
house adjoining the mosque, which, like most of the
houses of the well-to-do classes at the present time in
all parts of Egypt, is in the process of enlargement. It
was curious, in the atmosphere of the ancient East,
with the mystic influences of a saint's tomb about us,
where every year numbers of fasting devotees gather
at the moolid of the saint and immure themselves in
the little chambers which we can see leading off the
court, to hear the sounds of an excellent piano, on which
the sheikh's daughter, whose education and accom
plishments are well known even in a land where women
are secluded, was playing the latest Parisian music.
Like most of the sheikhs in charge of the important
tombs, my host, Syed Abaer-Baheem el-Demerdache,
the President of the Order, holds the post by virtue
of his descent from the saint ; and he, too, has great

1 64 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
possessions. Just as the piano is a sign of the modern
developments in the hareem, there is more than one fine
motor-car in the garage of this house, to make a link
between the past and the present for the sheikh himself.
After coffee in the salemlik, we visited the lovely
garden— the date is the 4th of January— where the sheikh
gathered a bunch of such flowers as we expect in England
m July? roses and jasmine being especially cultivated
for their fragrance. These are for my wife, with a
valuable gift of jasmine scent in addition.
As we walked in the garden, the call to sunset
prayer went out with remarkable sweetness from the
minaret, and after enjoying the wonderful glow from
the western sky which lit up the whole of the scene
about us with a strange beauty, we were taken, just as
the prayer finished, into the mosque tomb, by the sheikh
himself ; somewhat to the astonishment of the people
gathered there, for it is obvious that alien visitors are
rare, as no slippers are provided. Many men remained
after the formal prayer for their private petitions,
sitting on the carpet, with their hands to their breasts, and
one could hear the quiet groaning sounds, as odd words
of their petitions escaped them. Round the enclosure
of the saint's tomb itself were many people, pressing to
be near it, some of them kissing the wooden screen.
Walking out into the court, the sheikh shows us the
small cells, sixty-five in number, just big enough each
to hold a single man, in which the brotherhood live
during the three days of the moolid. They are small,
and quite bate, and the narrow slit in the doors admits
the only light and ventilation. Some open on to the
floor of the mosque court, and others above them on to
a narrow outer gallery.

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 165
The story of the Order as the sheikh himself told it
to me, is this. About five hundred years ago a certain
Mohammed, a Moslem of Afghan or Circassian origin,
was made captive by a certain Kaid Bey, who brought
him into the Nile Valley as his slave. Mohammed's
integrity soon gained for him the respect of his lord,
who eventually put him in charge of his treasury. His
real vocation, however, was a spiritual one, for in his
leisure hours he cultivated the life of the mystic, who
seeks oneness with the Great Spirit by prayer and fasting.
The retired spot which Mohammed sought for his
devotions is said to be where the mosque now stands.
His fame began to spread among the people, and
first he was given the popular name of Sheikh el-
Mohamady ; to which name was afterwards added
" demer " (iron) and " dache " (stone), from the
incident of his master, having observed his unwearying
prayers, asking, " Are you made of iron or of stone,
that you tire not in your prayers ? " From the moment
this story was known Mohammed was called Demer-
dache. This way of naming and renaming men is still
largely practised in Eastern lands.
At this point, the story being very like that of all
mystics of whatever faith, the miraculous element
appears in the biography of the saint.
It is related that the ruler of Egypt at this time
was informed that in Medina the body of the Prophet
had been stolen from the sacred tomb. Travelling to
the holy city, the monarch discovered that an under
ground passage had indeed been bored to the grave.
There was great trouble in the mind of the king and
his counsellors. They were afraid of what further
search might reveal, and yet they wanted to know the

r66 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
truth. The king decreed to settle the matter in this
way. Let a holy man be found who does not value his
earthly life. " He who will penetrate the tomb and
bring me news shall win a martyr's death by forfeiting
his life." No one, however, would volunteer for the
dread task, till the news reached Sheikh Demerdache.
He volunteered at once, with the result that he brought
back from the tomb the news that the Prophet's remains
were undisturbed. When the king would have ordered
his death, a heavenly vision appeared to prevent him.
The sheikh's life was saved, and from that time it was
entirely devoted to mystical communion with God, to
austere self-renunciation, and to good works — out of
which grew the great Order of dervishes, which now
numbers nearly five thousand men, of the influential
classes, in all parts of the world.
The Order has signs and tenets which, like those
of the Freemasons, are not divulged to the uninitiated,
and like them it has a charitable fund for the widows
and orphans of members. Prayer and devotion, and
service to mankind, are the aims of those who follow
the founder. The oath of initiation (as it was once
divulged by a confiding member) includes the words:
" I take as my sheikh and my guide unto God, my
master . . . El-Demerdache." The covenant is taken
by the novice (after having made the ablution as for
prayer) sitting on the ground opposite the sheikh of
the Order ; the two clasp their right hands, covered by
the sleeve of the sheikh. And the covenant embraces
a humble confession of sin, and an oath of repentance,
begging " the grace and forgiveness of God. ... I am
grieved for what I have done amiss, and I determine
not to relapse."

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 167
In the middle of the month previous to the annual
moolid, members of the Order send in their names,
from all parts of the Islamic world, as candidates for the
retreat. From the moment of application no morsel
of any animal food should be eaten. The sheikh calls
together eleven members, as a council, with himself,
to decide, out of perhaps as many as five hundred
applications, who shall be the sixty-five chosen ones ;
age, piety, and renown for a self-denying life for others,
being the chief claim to selection — the Syed el-Demer
dache having the power of veto.
This year (191 1) the retreat was in the Moslem
month which corresponded to our August, and it was on
Monday afternoon, the 14th, that the selected members
arrived for it, to be first entertained, at sunset, to a
royal banquet by their chief. I was told that a certain
ancient Eastern dish called Kunafa was in great request,
in view of the three days' fast, because of its quality of
very slow digestion. This dish, which I often ate in
Egypt, was invented by the chef of Munawiah, the son
of Abou Soufian, the first of the Omayad caliphs (664
a.d.). Its special purpose was to stay the pangs of
hunger of the Caliph during the fast of Rhamadan as
long as possible. It is made of wheat-flour, produced
like fine vermicelli, and is fried with a little clarified
butter, and sweetened, generally with honey. It is
one of the most highly appreciated of all the native
dishes. After an evening spent in prayer, the men clothe
themselves in white robes, and are led to their cells,
where they must stay for three days and nights, coming
out only to make the noon prayer in the mosque. They
must deny themselves of all sleep. To make sure of this,

1 68 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
a servant of the mosque goes the round of the cells calling
" La-ikha-illal-ah ! " (" There is but one God ! "), and
if the inmate fails of the response, "Wa-Mohammed
Rasoul-oul lah!" ("Mohammed is the Prophet of
God ! ") the cell door is opened, and the anchorite must
come out to perform an ablution — surely an effective way
of driving away sleep.
No word but this must be spoken to any soul during
the retreat, except to say, if challenged, " There is but
one God ! " And the recluse must wrap himself closely
in his white robe when he leaves his cell for the prayer.
The only food allowed is, in the evening, a plate of
rice, cooked in oil. Coffee, however, is taken to the
cells about eight times during the night, and in the
morning a glass of lemonade is served.
When the time of retreat is ended, the sheikh, also
dressed in white, but with a green turban, goes, with
other servants of the Order, to each door to bring out
the devotees ; the only word spoken being " Allah !
Allah!" Together the white throng go to the mosque, where
one of those gr^at dervish zikrs is performed, in which
that intense projection of the mind into what is intended
for the worship and adoration of God, finds its only
expression in the constant repetition of the word " Allah !
Allah ! Allah ! " accompanied by the swaying of the
head and body to the verge of total exhaustion.
These white-robed men stand in rows, their faces
Kibla-wards — in Egypt Mecca is towards the East—
with the saint's tomb also in front of them. Their chant
begins as a low murmur ; the contagion and the con
centration increase almost to a frenzy, while the dia
pason of adoration swells into a great rugged anthem,

Photo] [Dittrich, Cairo.
A Typical Street Scene in Cairo : Sharia Helmieh.

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 169
with that single theme, " Allah ! Allah ! ! Allah-u-
Akhbar ! ! ! " The cadences fall again, and rise, and
finally die away.
And when the zikr is over there is another great
banquet ; and then these men return to the world
and their daily avocations. And people of the West,
to whom such ecstasy is a sealed mystery, when they
hear of it, ask, as they always have asked — What does it
mean to the men who take part in it ? What is the spirit
or the motive or the feeling behind such a manifesta
tion ?
An Egyptian friend of mine, a man of Western
education, and a graduate in an English university,
when I came to know him well, made a sort of confession
to me, that he sometimes attended a zikr led by a sober,
pious old sheikh of his acquaintance. The apologetic
tone was accounted for by his knowing that I considered
the whole doctrine of ecstasy highly mischievous in Islam,
as in any other religion. For one thing, I think the
teaching of the Prophet is against it. The idea of the
mystic or recluse does not accord with the robust op
position he always, showed to any sort of withdrawal
from the social and public duties of life ; of all things
his instructions were clear that there was to be ." no
monkery in Islam," but each man was to have direct
access to God for himself. However, it is in Egypt that
stern foes of mysticism are to be found. Many pro
minent Moslems shared my regrets that the dervish
rites should have claimed so large a share in the atten
tions of foreign critics, who have judged Islam by what
is declared to be only a caricature of it.
" I cannot explain the matter," my graduate friend
said, " but let me ask you, is it not a good thing some-

170 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
times to detach the mind from the things of this life,
in utter contemplation of the great God ? I look upon
an evening I spent in this way, this week, as given up to
pure worship. And the sheikh with whom I spent it
has great power. I wish, for one thing, that I could
write for you the beautiful Arabic couplets recited at
his suggestion — call it hypnotic suggestion if you like —
by the lads of his ' way,' or guild, who were there.
Apart from the zikr, not one of those poor boys could
have commanded such language as they used, one by
one, in regular order, to celebrate the praises of God ! "
I learned that this sheikh would start the circle with a
line of verse, and each of his disciples at the zikr would
add another line, with no deviation from poetic form,
and with great beauty of devotional thought.
Something must, I think, be allowed for the sensuous
delight in melody which all Eastern people have, and
the deep fascination they find in what seems to us like
mere repetition. The excessive emotion and physical
exertion together produce great enthusiasm, and a quite
marvellous lucidity of intelligence, such as these lads
showed. One observer of Egyptian life was inclined to
think that the zikr should be classed with other lacera
tions of the flesh, and allowed its due share of indulgence
as one of the means by which matter may be subjugated
that spirit may be free. There are climes and periods
that seem to stand in need of some such process, and
in which mental torpidity, like the effects of soporific
poison, can only be combated by such strange means
as these. I discussed the matter with the sheikh of Demer-
dache, who is an educated man, with an appreciation
of modern and even Western ideas, and without a trace

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 171
of intolerance, as well as with other sheikhs of different
degrees and orders. I reminded the sheikh of Demer-
dache that Ghazzali and other authorities had dis
approved of ecstasy, suggesting that it was a possession of
an evil spirit ; just as Wesley in criticism of some of
his own emotional auditors, who were thrown into a
state of great excitement bordering on catalepsy, said,
" Satan sometimes mimics the work of grace." It was the
mystic poet of Islam (Rumi), I was reminded, who said —
" Vile hypocrites steal the language of dervishes,
In order to beguile the simple with their trickery."
Put briefly, all the dervish doings, as explained by those
who approve of them, are attempts to gain a religion
of the heart. They have generally been initiated by
men — there have been women mystics too — who have
become intoxicated with the adoration and the love of
God. Some have carried ecstasy so far as to reach a
sort of self-annihilation, so that they have become
oblivious to pain : " forgetful of pain through absorp
tion in God," as Rabai, the woman Sufi, stated it.
They have even sought a death of self which has involved
the death of all human affections.
Mysticism has revealed itself in all religions ; it is
perhaps due to the peculiar temperament of the Arabs
and the Persians that ecstatic phenomena have been
wider spread and more permanent in Islam. Describing
the Arab, Herr von Kremer says he is capable of the
fiercest momentary excitement, but quickly subsides
into a state of complete apathy which is pain-proof.
And Dr. Bilharz speaks of the astonishing anaesthesia
which patients in the medical school in Cairo, where
he was a professor, exhibited under the most painful

172 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
operations ; hardly uttering a sound when operated
upon in the most sensitive nerve centres.
The Sufi of whom it is told that he fell into a re
ligiously ecstatic condition and ran into a field where
the newly cut stubble pierced his feet like knives,
possibly felt nothing. As many of the men and lads I
have known, who have taken part in dervish perform
ances, handling red-hot irons, pushing swords through
their cheeks and needles through their eyelids, and so
on, have afterwards assured me was the case with
themselves. Medical science has still to determine how it is
that nature can adapt itself to such perversions as the
chewing and swallowing of broken glass without exacting
the expected penalty. A physician of my acquaintance
went to North Africa with the special idea of examining
such cases, in the city of Kairouan. He was convinced
that the manifestation was perfectly genuine, fraud
having no part in it. He thought, as most medical
men do, that an hysterical condition is produced by
excitement, during which the chief dervish, makes
hypnotic suggestions to his subjects. That broken
glass could be swallowed by a hypnotised person he
thinks is easily understood, but he could not understand
how it could prevent internal lacerations. He saw no
sign of pain during the rites ; and another doctor
who has examined such cases, on the following morning
could find no trace of ill effect. I have myself seen
and examined the sword wounds the next day, without
a sign of inflammation, and quite dry.
As for the whirling dervishes, whose zikrs some ,
visitors are so anxious to see in Cairo, and who are
now obliged to perform in a semi-private way owing

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 173
to the discouragement of the authorities, it is claimed,
by modern educated Moslems, that many of them
should be ranged with " the mere froth and foam of
mysticism," like " Shakers " in England and America,
like the Anabaptists of Munster. There is one sect of
dancing dervishes, however, which had its birth in
purest mysticism, having continued for six hundred
years. They were founded by the mystical poet,
Rumi, who instituted the dances, which he ordered to
be accompanied by the flute, to console him in the pain
of separation from an exiled friend ; and the head of
the Order has always been a descendant of the founder.
The gyrations of this Order were intended to symbolise
the wheelings of the planet round their central sun,
and the attraction of the creature to the Creator ! In
Turkey this Mevlevi sect is so powerful that the corona
tion of the Sultan is not considered complete until he
has been girded with a sword by the head of the Order.

CHAPTER V
" He only shall visit the Mosques of God who believeth in God and
the Last Day, and is instant in prayer, and payeth alms, and feareth God ,
only. These haply will be among the rightly guided." Koran, Sura ix. 18.
I have always been curious about the organisation of
the mosques. To the Western visitor there never seem
to be any signs of regular government. No names of
clergy, or lists of services, appear at the doors or gates ;
there is never a sign of the presence of men set apart
for spiritual oversight of a congregation. As in so
many other things in Islam, there is a seemingly casual
air about the affairs of every mosque, as the stranger
sees them, which, superficially, suggests that things are
allowed to manage themselves.
See this funeral procession enter the sacred building ;
the men bearing the bier, slipping off their shoes at
the door and, hurrying across the carpet with the
promiscuous little band of mourners, set the bier down
before the Kibla. Do the staff of the mosque know of
its appearance ? Is any man of the sheikh class present
to conduct the funeral prayers ? Not at all ! The
bearers themselves are sure to know a Sura of the
Koran, which they will now recite in the mosque, and
almost every man who may at the moment the funeral
appears be sitting or praying there, knowing how
highly meritorious it is — by the Prophet's word — to

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 175
assist with a funeral, will at once close up with the
mourners and recite with them the Koranic passages.
So far as there are priests in Islam — and clericalism or
priestcraft, as they are known in the West, are ab
horrent to its spirit — every man is a priest. The little
unordered ceremony in the mosque (which may be miles
from the burying-place) lasts only for a few minutes.
Strangers in the mosque will relieve the bearers, and
carry the bier into the street, and all the way to the
cemetery casual men will quietly take a share in the
sad burden, for a few yards at least. Where all are
willing to help, and to people who put so little value
on precision, what we call organisation seems to be
unnecessary. It is the same with the prayers. It is always a
surprise to me to see how, in the greatest mosques, a
vast crowd of worshippers will arrange themselves in
the rows for concerted worship, so that when the
Imam takes his place there will be no sign of confusion,
though any person with the functions of the English
sidesman or the professional beadle is quite unknown.
I have seen, in the desert, a thousand men gather in
small groups and range themselves for prayer without
a word of direction being spoken, or the presence of
any man whose office was to marshal them into the
necessary precision of order.
And yet one must know that every mosque with
the call to prayer resounding from its minaret five
times a day, and with its necessity of at least a regular
Imam to lead the Friday prayer, with its lights to be
hung at nightfall, with its necessity for scrupulous
cleanliness, especially of its carpet or mats, and an
unfailing supply of water for the ablutions of its

176 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
worshippers, must presuppose an 'organisation of some
sort. The distinguished sheikh who is the head of all the
mosques of Egypt which are under the Wakfs Administra
tion in Cairo, very kindly enlightened me on this matter.
Under his control there are 1414 mosques, with 7331
" servants of the mosques."
As this office of the Wakfs plays a great and ever-
increasing part in the life of Egypt, and has tremendous
political significance, an explanation of its origin and
functions will be of interest. It was in the year 1835
that the great Mohammed Ali created the Administra
tion Office of the Wakfs (or charities of the pious) in
Egypt, to exercise control over the immense funds
which had been left for every sort of religious and
charitable purpose. After various changes of its Direc
tion, in which the Government, at times, had a part, in
1884 the Wakfs became an independent Administration,
with the Khedive as its supreme Director. The
Minister of Finance has, however, some sort of over
sight. The immense power wielded by the Director
may be gauged from the fact that the annual income
is considerably over three-quarters of a million pounds ;
and there was in December 1910 a floating balance of
£300,000. It is a power that seems to demand more
political consideration on the part of Great Britain
than it receives, for in it lie immense potentialities
of ill as of good to the country. It is easy to
understand why everything that Oriental skill can
devise is done to increase its power over the people.
The following list shows approximately how the money
is spent : —

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 177
. . ... ^(Egyptian)
Subsidies to schools under the
Administration . . . . 1,486
Allowances to benevolent schools
and societies . . . . 16,914
Religious institutions, including
the University of Al Azar . . 52,470
Kuttabs (religious schools under
the direction of the Ministry
of Public Instruction) . . 24,677
Salaries of mosque officials . . 65,315
Poorhouses, asylums, and orphan
ages .. .. .. 19,951
Independent poorhouses .. 1,937
Hospitals and clinics .. .. I3>°73
There is no doubt that the benefits of British
administration have added enormously to the income
of these Wakfs, from lands and property; at the same
time improved internal management has added to the
resources. But Great Britain should reflect on the
uses that are now being made of the wealth she has
created. In addition to the power of veto over all appoint
ments connected with the Wakfs Administration, the
unlimited power of the Director in the dispensing of
the funds, even for non-religious purposes, may be gauged
from the following quotation from the last official
report : —
" A certain number of families, formerly in good
circumstances, having fallen into poverty, place all
their hope of a living in the benevolence of the Wakfs.
To come to their aid and to alleviate their misfortunes,
especially among the great families, His Highness the
Khedive has deigned to extend to them his benevolent
12

178 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
solicitude, and to them has, in his capacity as Nazir
Chari (supreme head) of the charitable Wakfs, allocated
to them subventions and subsidies, by which they may
be enabled to provide themselves with the necessities
of life. This amount in 191 1 totalled £9000, divided
between 339 families." Twenty- two of these families
divide between them yearly £2340.
In the Wakfs Administration there are three distinct
offices for the management of the mosques : (i) for
the nomination and control of the officials ; (ii) for the
purchase of furniture and stores, and control of such
matters as lighting, water, cleaning, and repairs ; also
taking charge of the gifts in kind destined for the use
of the mosques by the faithful, such as bread, clothing,
and other things for the poor ; (iii) for appointment and
control of inspectors, religious and secular, this de
partment having charge of the correspondence concern
ing the Friday prayer of His Highness the Khedive,
also the invitations to religious ceremonies in the
mosques and to the great moolids.
The chief secular inspector occupies himself with the
oversight of the charitable and scholastic institutions
belonging to the mosques (very many of the mosques
having schools attached) ; keeping the accounts of the
new mosques which they build, and those which are
put under their management; seeing' to the lighting
and cleanliness of these mosques. Also the inspectors
have the control of the supply and distribution of
the vast quantities of bread given to the ulemas,
the students, and the poor, by virtue of charitable
bequests. The religious inspectors are charged with watch
ing over the professors, preachers, and imams (leaders

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 179
of prayer) ; they prepare and decide for each mosque
the list of lessons, and the hours of the course of in
struction. They give advice as to the way the teacher
should treat his subject, with a view to the compre
hension of his public. They choose equally the subjects
for the Friday sermon, and urge the preachers to deliver
their homilies in a way to appeal to the heart and the
mind — to be, in the words of the Wakfs last official
report, " touching and instructive." They regulate
the times of the Koran readings in the lecture-rooms,
with regard to the convenience of the public in different
places, Indeed, they control the movements of the
whole staff of these sheikhs.
The officers of this last bureau admit that they
have found much to remedy in the manner of appoint
ment to the mosques, as well as in the quality of the
men chosen. One reason has been the pitifully small
remuneration, which in some cases has led to the
absolute necessity of a sheikh, who snould have been
entirely free to serve the mosque, having to seek em
ployment elsewhere to gain his sustenance, to the
neglect of his religious duties. Under the new regime
a large sum of money has been devoted to the remedy
of this fault.
Mosques — the sheikh explained to me — are of two
kinds. The proper mosque, what we should call perhaps
the cathedral, which is used for the five daily prayers,
the Friday noon prayer, and the two great Feast
Prayers, which are performed at the end of the Fast
of Rhamadan and at the Moslem New Year. And
the zawia, or little mosque, like, say, a parish church,
which is prepared only for the ordinary daily
prayers.

180 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
The big mosque is prepared for the prayers by the
furniture which distinguishes it : —
A pulpit.
A sura chair, from which the Koran is recited.
A raised stone platform (in the very large mosques)
in which a sheikh, who can see the Imam at
the Kibla, follows his leading of the prayers
so that he can be seen by the whole congrega
tion, many of whom could not possibly see
the Imam.
In the early days of Islam, no town had more than
one mosque, to which all the inhabitants resorted.
Many primitive communities keep to this rule to this
day. At Omdurman one marvels to see the extent of
the floor of the mosque where the Mahdi and his
successor led the prayers of many thousands of people
at one time. In time, with the growth of population
in the towns, and especially the development of sects
(the difference in which was mostly in small matters of
ritual) mosques were multiplied. As riches increased,
and the Prophet's wishes against luxury were forgotten,
wealth was lavished on the mosques, and rich men
embellished them with costly furnishings, especially
with carpets and mats and beautiful lanterns. A mud
floor, a primitive roof which did not keep out the rain,
the stump of a tree for a tribune, these fulfilled the
requirements of the great Prophet, who declared that
no money is more wasted than that put into ostentatious
building. The pulpit was raised a step or two in Mohammed's
day, so that he might be seen by all when preaching.
It has been further gradually raised — against the Caliph
Omar's wishes, however — until the present number of

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 181
eight steps was agreed upon. The sura chair was, of
course, unknown in the early days when the Koran was
recited from the floor of the mosque : the chair developed
with the elaboration of binding and decoration of the
copies of the Koran, which made the book of such great
size that a support was necessary for it. This support
came to be raised about four feet from the floor, and so
continues. It was in discussing this question of the early
simplicity of Islam with another gentle old sheikh,
who had made the pilgrimage to Mecca, that he de
plored to me the loss of the ideals of the Prophet's day,
which had made it possible for men to lavish useless
wealth, even on the tomb of the Prophet himself.
" While education, and the care of suffering man
kind, is neglected in the sacred cities," he said, " there
is in the chamber at Medina, in which Mohammed was
buried, a diamond of the estimated value of over £50,000,
which was presented by the Sultan Ahmed Khan 1. ;
and many other gifts of the sort — some to the Kaaba
at Mecca — worth millions of pounds sterling. This is
contrary to the wishes of the great man buried there,
or of his first successors, who knew his wishes, from
having lived and worked with him. Omar hated all
display, especially in pretentious buildings. He would
not allow a balcony to be made to the new houses built
in Egypt, as it encouraged spying, a thing greatly hated
by Arab people ; he commanded that all buildings
everywhere were to be lowly and simple, and he compelled
one of his chief generals, Saad, to pull down the gateway
he had built before his palace. If Omar had had his
way there never would have been a pulpit in the mosques
to ' set the preacher higher than the congregation.'

1 82 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
" It fills me with sadness to see the vulgarity of
display which now possesses the Moslem people. To
have a grand wedding, or a funeral, and ' appear big '
to their neighbours, many Moslems, especially in towns
like Cairo, will spend large sums of money, sometimes
getting into debt for the purpose. And all the time
we lag behind modern civilisation in our neglect of
public service and organised good works. There is,
however, a small band of men who have joined together
in a pledge to resist extravagant public display.
" When my own wife died," he continued, " I agreed
with my only child, my daughter, that our beloved
should be carried to the grave with the utmost simplicity,
and that we would ignore the costly custom of erecting
a booth, with elaborate illumination, outside the house,
and the engaging of famous Koran readers. We did
everything we could to pay respect to the dead, and to
observe the necessary commands of our religion, so far
as they did not lead to a great outlay. The consequence
was that we saved nearly £100, which we gave to
educate a poor girl ; and I believe there is a growing
number of people who will be willing to do the same
if only we can arouse something of that ' public spirit '
which is such a noble feature of English life."
The Prophet always led the prayers of his people,
and preached on Fridays, his example so far being
followed that for generations one of the chief duties of
the caliphs was to do the same. Many sermons of
Mohammed, of Abu Bakr, of Omar, Othman, Ali, and
other leaders of early Islam, are preserved ; simple
moral discourses, calling men to truth and justice,
brotherly love and equity, industry for success in this
world, with watchfulness over the claims of eternity.

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 183
God gave you this world that you might aspire to the
next ; He did not give it you to foster avariciousness
in you. This world will pass, but the next is everlasting.
Do not let this transitory life so fascinate you that you
become careless of that which is eternal. Be not of
those who " purchase this present life at the expense
of that which is to come : their torment shall not be
lightened, neither shall they be helped " (Sura ii. 80).
Your conclusion is with God the Almighty. Obey
Him ; and in obeying Him you will have the shelter of
His power.
When the caliphs and princes of Islam no longer
preached to the people, but paid imams were engaged
for the office, the sermon became formal, and then was
strictly limited to set phrases. It is this that a committee
in Cairo is working to reform.
It is still held that the Caliph, the Sultan, or other
chief ruler of Islam, is responsible for the sermon on
Friday, through his own words, or those of his appointed
agents. Following this ruling, the Wakfs Administra
tion must always get the sanction of His Highness the
Khedive, who is the religious ruler and the leader of
prayer, for the preachers they appoint ; and I believe
it is entirely within the power of the Khedive to give
or withhold permission to any mosque to hold the
Friday prayer. One of the powers of the Wakfs Ad
ministration enables them to threaten that, unless
certain conditions which they lay down are observed,
the Khedivial order will be withheld — V ordonnance
Khediviale permettant d'y celebrer la priere du Vendjedi,
as the Wakfs report puts it. A Sheikh El-Islam a few
years since defined this power, which virtually makes
the Khedive, as the representative of the Caliph in

184

VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT

Egypt, master of the Church, as follows : " The
accomplishment of certain religious ceremonies, such
as the prayers on Friday and at Bairam, is subordinated
to the will of the Caliph, since the arrangement of cere
monies for Islam is one of his sacred attributes. Obedi
ence tohis orders is one of the most important religious
duties. As to our mission (he was speaking of the duties
of the religious class), it consists in administering, in his
name, the religious affairs which he deigns to confide
to us." A second committee, meeting in Cairo, watches over
the work of the servants of the mosque, and, as it
is formed of authoritative men, discipline is exerted
through its decisions.
The sheikh very kindly prepared for me some brief
figures, giving the cost of maintenance of the largest
and of the smallest mosques in Egypt. I thought this
would show in a nutshell the way the work of maintain
ing the mosques is accomplished.
Annual Expenses of the Largest Mosque
The most expensive mosque in Egypt is that of
Mohammed Ali, in the Citadel, in Cairo, and the annual
outlay for it is as follows : — £ (Egyptian) Milliemes
Salaries of the different servants,

sixty-five in number

. 1515

840

Electric light

• 46

320

Water-

J3

680

Bread

• 75

, ,

Meat

. 40

, .

Candles

. 89

, .

Straw

2

400

Perfumery . .

1

200

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 185
£ (Egyptian) Milliemes
Mats . . . . . . 92 850
Brooms and washing cloths . . 1 840
Sundries . . . . . . 2 400
The carpets had been renewed this year at a
cost of £2139.
(A millieme is of the value of a farthing.)
For some time the Wakfs Administration supplied
the carpets only to this mosque and to those important
mosques, like Hosein, which commemorate the family
of the Prophet, but they now help many others in this
way. Each year they now buy from 2500 to 3000 metres
of carpet ; their experience having shown them that
the carpets of the East wear much better than those
of Europe. I certainly know of nothing that looks
more hideously incongruous than a Brussels carpet in
a mosque. »
The smallest mosque is that of Al Sada Al Arbaein,
at Saliba, Cairo, which costs only £4 (Egyptian) 200
milliemes annually, and has one servant.
Where does all the money for the " upkeep " of the
mosques come from ? The collecting of money from
worshippers inside the mosque is absolutely forbidden,
and, indeed, is unknown. The distraction a " collection "
would be from the worship of God is unthinkable to
the Moslem mind. The only service at which it is
permissible at all is when the two great feast prayers
are performed in the open air, as they often are in
country places, when, just before separating, gifts for
the poor are collected.
The money for the support of many mosques comes
from subscriptions privately contributed by great

1 86 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
families, who maintain them ; or, as in the case of the
great number under the Wakfs Administration in Egypt,
from the immense charities of Islam left by the pious
for this and kindred purposes.
There are a great number of mosques not under the
Wakfs Administration, and over which there is no sort
of official authority. The way in which these mosques
are governed and preserved gives a perfect illustration
of that combined realty and elusiveness of the spirit
of Islam which the practical West, with its devotion
to exact rule and order, tries, almost in vain, to under
stand. I give the account of the particular mosque of
one of the villages in which I stayed, almost exactly
in the words of a friend, who modestly refrains from any
mention of the fact that his is the rich family which in this
case delights to guard the honour of the House of Prayer.
If the mosque is built by the rich man of the village
he makes himself responsible for everything connected
with the repair of the fabric, and he will buy new carpets
or mats and other furnishings when needed. If he
dies it will always be the pride of his family to carry on
his work. There is no compulsion anywhere : if there
should be any failure on the part of the family, the people
of the village would unite, in an informal way, to keep
their mosque in order. The simplicity of such a
mosque is dear to the worshippers, who wish to follow
the example of the Prophet in this particular.
Is there no committee, with a secretary, to see that
the work is done regularly ? — a question natural to my
Western mind. Who sees to the paying of the servants,
and punishes negligence of duty f The call to prayer,
for instance, how important it must be to have a regular
and conscientious muezzin !

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 187
In name there is no committee, but it is understood,
in most cases, that the cadi of the village will see to the
proper carrying out of the duties, himself taking the part
of the Imam, and sometimes of the muezzin, as well. In
no case are these duties in such a mosque degraded by
mercenary consideration, and never as a sole means of
earning a living.
The Imam is, of course, the leader of prayer ; the
muezzin is he who calls to prayer from the minaret at
the proper stated times — no slight undertaking when it
is remembered that he must make the first call each day
before the sun has risen. In Egypt the sun rises early in
winter, and the mornings are sometimes bitterly cold,
inducing, one would think, to neglect of such a duty as
that of the muezzin.
Nearly every village has devout men who spend most
of their time in the mosque, reading the Koran and other
books of devotion ; these will delight to perform the
duties of muezzin and Imam, without failure or neglect.
Those worshippers who have means will entrust to such
holy men certain contributions to buy oil or candles, and
even to buy the simple bread for their own sustenance, when
they are, as is sometimes the case, penniless, or nearly so.
The sheikh of Tanta kindly gave me details of the
organisation and finances of the very ancient great school
mosque over which he reigns with such wise and kindly
intelligence. The yearly expenditure is £10,000, paid
now through the National Wakfs, and from alms given
direct to the sheikh. Up to the year 1908 the mosque
was a separate institution ruled by the ulemas, but the
Khedive then placed it under the Wakfs Administration.
The sheikh is appointed by the Khedive, but may only
be chosen from the body of the High Ulema of Egypt,

1 88 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
of whom there are always thirty — the appointment of
High Ulema being for life, with a salary of £240 yearly.
In Tanta Mosque there is a sheikh, a sub-sheikh, an
inspector, three controllers, ten men in minor posts, and
nearly one hundred professors. The salary of the sheikh
is £45 monthly, the sub-sheikh £25, the inspector £10,
and the professors, and minor employees, take between
£10 and £5 each monthly.
The power of the sheikh of a school mosque is like
that of a rector in a college. These chief country mosques
of Egypt, which are at Tanta, Alexandria, Dessouk, and
Damietta, are all allied to Al Azar University. Over
them all there is a superior Board of Sheikhs, presided
over by the Sheikh Al-Azar, including all the heads of
the school mosques,, with some of the ulema of the Cairo
University, this Board making all the rules, which are
carried out at each school by the sheikh and a committee.
As for the students, they are drawn from all classes of
society. Strange to say, although the Tanta school, like
the others, is open to all the Moslem world, this year
the students are all pure Egyptians. Possibly the lads
who come from afar prefer to study at Al Azar itself in
the capital. The only qualification for admittance is to
be under seventeen years of age, in good health, and
with a knowledge of the Koran. The education is free,
and the students in the lower classes are given two or
three loaves of bread every day, while the senior
students take five loaves a day — they are about the
size of a Yorkshire tea-cake. There is accommoda
tion for those students who are too poor to pay for
lodgings in the town.
The teaching at Tanta consists of " all branches
of Moslem theology, and the practice of religion, all

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 189
branches of the Arabic language, the history of the
Prophet, and the accredited Traditions, penmanship,
mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, logic and meta
physics, algebra, drawing, history, geography, physics,
natural history, also something about public health,
and laws and administration." I quote exactly from the
sheikh's words for this curriculum, which he admits has
been enlarged and reformed of late years.
In answer to my question as to what are the aims
and ambitions of such large numbers of students (there
are 13,000 of them in the schools I have mentioned as
allied to Al Azar) the sheikh replied, " Some come for
the love of study — but not many — others to qualify as
sheikhs to preach or teach in the mosques, or in the schools,
some to become cadis, or judges, in Moslem law ; while
a great number come for usual education, their intention
being to follow the careers of their fathers, in professions,
in commerce, agriculture, or as gentlemen of leisure,
being the sons of men who prefer for their sons a religious
or Koranic education to the modern teaching of the
Government schools — they belong, indeed, to the sheikh
class of the turban and robe, rather than to the effendi
class of European language and dress, who too often,
alas ! lose their own religion, and do not adopt yours."
I may conclude this chapter with one of the " free
and reformed " sermons preached in Cairo while I was
there. I omit the usual preface of the profession of
faith in the one God, and the praise of the Prophet.
" The Holy Koran says, and herein is the duty of
man, ' Worship none but God, and be good to your
parents and kindred, and to orphans and to the poor, and
speak with men what is true, and pay the stated alms '
(Sura ii. jf). Praise be to Allah, who rewards those who

190 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
fulfil their obligations and keep their trust. Allah, the
most true of all tellers, said — Be faithful to your pledges
and do not break your promises, for these make you
responsible to God. Be sure God knows what you do ;
and when He destined you as the best of all peoples, He
commanded you to do good and forsake evil. The
foundation of true belief is faithfulness in the perform
ance of every undertaking. A nation which lacks this
quality, and allows itself to become familiar with lying,
will be misguided, and all its striving will be in vain.
Suffering, misery, and poverty will overtake it, and in
the next world punishment more severe and lasting. 0
creatures of God ! I call you to the practice of the truth,
and faithfulness in every trust. Is there no reward even
in this world for this ? — To be believed by one's friends,
when one speaks, to be trusted in all the affairs of life ?
Such was the example and life of our great predecessors,
who were before all things faithful, and true to them
selves, and to one another. But, alas ! we have for
feited the great teachings of our religion, that stand now
as a remonstrance against us. The Prophet — on whom
be blessings and peace — as you know, hated lying, and he
declared, ' There is no belief in the unfaithful, nor a
religion to the untrustful.' "
" Shun ye the word of falsehood," says the Koran
(Sura xxii. 31). Mohammed declared that the guardian
angel moved away from a man in detestation when he
told a lie. By the testimony of all men who knew him
Mohammed was a truthful man. " We have ever found
thee a speaker of the truth," they admitted, even in the
days before they accepted his message.
The only office allowed to the religious teacher is

REFLECTIONS IN THE MOSQUES 191
advice, guidance, and warning. Just as the layman will
only with extreme reluctance refer to the faults of a
brother Moslem, so even the preacher must not venture
to expose the follies and frailties of others ; and to pry
into the religious beliefs of other Moslems is not per
mitted even to the chief sheikhs. It is not proper to make
any outer show of repentance ; sin can only be confessed
to God alone and in the secret heart. Of all these
things, God will judge ; and every function of priest
craft is opposed to the spirit of Islam.

BOOK III
GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS

J3

CHAPTER I
" Proclaim among the people a Pilgrimage : let them come on foot
and on every fleet camel, coming by every deep defile to be present at
its benefit ... let them pay their vows, and circuit the ancient Kaaba
(the site of which God assigned to Abraham). . . . This do. And they
who perform the rites of God should perform an action which proceedeth
from piety of heart." Koran, Sura xxii. 27-33.
One of the greatest events of the year in Egypt is the
starting of the Holy Carpet for Mecca. As regularly as
the month of fasting comes to a joyful end in the
Bairam Feast, the populace begin to look forward to
the festival of the Mahmal, as not only marking the
time of the setting off of the pilgrims to the Holy City,
but as an event of great moment to all men religiously
inclined, especially to the poor who have few hopes of
making the journey themselves.
To thoroughly know a subject it is said a man must
write a book about it. I verily believe there is not a
man living who can give an intelligible account of the
Mahmal of Egypt, who has not either written a book
about it, or assisted in the writing of one ; and then,
most of the accounts are wrong.
For a whole month I clung to the Holy Carpet, as
no Moslem has had the opportunity of doing, in a
determined attempt to fathom its mysteries ; and
during that time I only found two men who had any
thing like a clear knowledge of its origin and significance,
its manufacture and its finances, its use and destination.
One was the Bey of the Carpet, the gentleman who is
appointed by the Government to the charge of it, from

196 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
the weaving of the first thread, to its final departure,
and who has even escorted the sacred burden no less
then eight times to the very Kaaba in Mecca itself.
The other gentleman was Mohammed Labib Bey
Al-Batanouni, who accompanied H.H. the Khedive of
Egypt on his Pilgrimage, in the year 1908, as historian
of what was regarded as a national event.
As I had the great advantage of the full assistance
of both these authorities, with the added privilege
of penetrating into the precincts of the house where
the Carpet is made by the hereditary craftsmen — the
first outsider to cross that guarded threshold — I feel
justified in giving an account of what I learned and saw ;
with the thought — if I might venture on this without
offence — of dedicating the record to the Moslems of
Cairo themselves, who have so far taken the Holy
Carpet for granted that they have never sought for the
full explanation of it. A surprising fact, if one did not
know the East, when one learns that the cost of the
Pilgrimage Caravan of the Egyptian Mahmal is no less
than £50,000 a year, mostly borne by the State, including
the gifts sent to Arabia with it.
My first interest was whetted by the permission,
given after very natural delays and hesitations, to visit
the place where what is called the Carpet is woven
every year, and where the Mahmal and the beautiful
door coverings and other sacred decorations are em
broidered. The place where the work is done is an
ancient Arab house — once a minor royal palace — with
the usual stern outside walls, but opening under an
arched gateway into the square courtyard, which at
once gives light and space and air to the house to
contradict the impression of the narrow, crooked street.

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 197
The palace, now known as the Khurunfish, was set
apart for the making of the Carpet by Mohammed Ali
early last century.
The Bey received us at the gate with courteous
welcome ; our credentials were such that he could
promise to show us every detail of his work, although
our presence was a unique event, admission being denied
even to Moslem people.
" This is a Government place," he said, " but it is
kept under separate rules, and is not accessible as other
Government offices are." I turned to listen to the
melodious voice of a sheikh reading the Koran in a
balcony overlooking the courtyard. " Ours is the only
place under Government where the Holy Koran is
read. This place is as sacred as a mosque during the
time of prayer."
We were taken at once to a long room to see the
spinning looms, where the raw yellow silk is prepared
before being dyed. Next we saw the actual weaving
of the Carpet — how it ever came by such a name
could not be imagined when one has seen it. In reality,
of course, it is the outer cover of the Kaaba, and the
name " Carpet " is never applied to it by any but
Europeans, who persist in so naming it ; and what is
curious, at the same time think that the Mahmal, which
is a camel palanquin, really goes to Mecca with a carpet
inside it, and brings it back to Cairo. There is no
return of any carpet to Cairo. Tourists who think they
are seeing the Holy Carpet's return see only the
Mahmal, coming back, as it went, quite empty.
It would be better to speak of " holy curtains," of
which there are eight used in the complete covering of the
Kaaba. Moslems describe the whole cover as the Kiswa,

198 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
meaning " robe " or " habit." The old man, Hadj
Ahmed el-Seidy, who has worked for fifty years at this
place, having succeeded his fathers in a task which is
hereditary to his family, explained to us the weaving,
of which he and his son alone hold the secret. His is,
of course, a sacred office held by the family of Seidy ;
the hereditary transmission of pursuits and customs is a
tenacious habit of the Arab people from remotest times.
It is this that gives to their genealogies and their tradi
tions so much credence.
The curtains are black, and the art of making them
consists of weaving the Koran texts into the material,
also in black, with an effect like that of damask, the
lettering, which is large, being in the decorative Arabic.
The watered-silk effect of the lettering is most striking,
and in certain lights, when the cover is hung upon the
Kaaba, it can be read at a considerable distance. The
sentence woven all over the cover is the Islamic pro
fession of faith — " There is no God but God, and
Mohammed is His Prophet."
The length of the curtains — we were allowed to
handle them quite freely — is about fifteen metres, and
the breadth of each of the eight parts nearly five metres,
a metre being, of course, thirty-nine and one-third
inches. Two of the curtains together make the cover
to each side of the Kaaba. They are tied together by
strings, which are sewn on by pious hands, after the
Carpet has been taken to the Mosque of Hosein, in
Cairo, which sewing I also saw there, and have already
described. The old Hadj did not at first take kindly to my
presence, and the intentness of my interest in his sacred
work ; but he soon thawed, and then became genial, and

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 199
even enthusiastic, as he explained the details, and showed
to me all the beautiful trappings, the tassels worked of
gold, and other elaborate embroideries which go to
Mecca at the same time as the cover. He has been to
the Holy City very many times, as he superintends the
hanging and adjustment of the cover there, details of
which work he explained to me. It is necessary to tie the
cover very securely to the Kaaba, as the winds in Mecca
are uncertain, and come suddenly from all directions. It
is Buckhardt who has a poetical passage bearing so
exactly on this very point of the hanging of the cover.
" The black colour of the Kiswa, covering a large cube in
the midst of a vast square, gives to the Kaaba at first
sight a very singular and imposing appearance. As it is
not fastened down tightly, the slightest breeze causes it
to move in slow undulations, which are hailed with
prayers by the congregation assembled around the
building as a sign of the presence of its guardian angels,
whose wings by their motion are supposed to be the
cause of the waving of the covering. Seventy thousand
angels have the Kaaba in their holy care, and are ordered
to transport it to Paradise when the trumpet of the last
judgment shall be sounded." Being woven of cotton
and silk, the weight of the material causes the curtains to
hang firmly.
A few years ago, the Hadj told me, it was thought that
the old hand-weaving of the Cover could be superseded
by machinery. A very costly loom was brought from
Manchester ; but he did not like it, and so went back to
the ancient process, the secret of which his father had
taught him. The inscription woven into the stuff, it is
his great pride to know, is in the most beautiful form
of Arabic writing, " as, of course, it must be," he

200 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
added, " for to weave the cover for Holy Kaaba, the
centre of the immense world of Islam, the object on
which every Moslem hopes his eyes may rest at least once
before he dies, and before which he may pray, is the
greatest of earthly honours."
Before I left him, the old man was willing even to
be photographed, being encouraged thereto by the Bey.
It was extremely interesting to be able to see and
handle the famous band which encircles the Kaaba, a
little above the middle, and which has been described
by all travellers who have seen it, and is so conspicuous
in all photographs of the chief place of prayer to the
whole Moslem world. This magnificent belt is about
two and a half feet deep ; it is of the same material as
the cover, with what is called the Throne verse, from the
Koran, heavily embroidered on it in gold — " God !
there is no God but He ; the Living, the Eternal : nor
slumber seizeth Him nor sleep ; His whatsoever is in
the Heavens, and whatsoever is in the Earth. . . . His
Throne reacheth over the Heavens and the Earth, and
the upholding of both burdeneth Him not ; and He is
the High, the Great " (Sura ii. 256). It is edged in
silver embroidery, the corners of the border being
appliqued with green silk, also ornamented with silver
embroidery. The hangings, both for the outside and the inside of
the doors of the Kaaba, are splendid examples of the
art of embroidery in gold and silver, with panels of
green and pink satin on the groundwork of black, with
embroidered writing in addition to the conventional
designs. Burton says that the curtain which covers
the outside of the door into the Kaaba is called " Kaaba's
face veil," and that this signifies the Church visible as

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 201
a virgin or bride, an idea which has found its way
into the poetry of the East, the Kaaba being termed
" Mecca's bride." The " holy of holies " is guarded
by eunuchs as though it were the abode of a fair bride.
I found, however, no confirmation of this.
Another highly decorated cover which I saw is for
the door of the great pulpit of the Kaaba square — called
the Haram — very similar in colouring and design. I
saw the two valuable copper jugs which are sent each
year, filled with purest rose-water, for the washing of
the Kaaba. I also examined the embroidered bag for
the key of the Kaaba, which the Bey of the Carpet
carries in the Cairo procession, when the Holy Curtain
first sets out on its journey. His, too, is a hereditary
office, and he showed me with pride the magnificent
trappings of his horse, which are used on ceremonial
occasions. In a separate room we are shown the very beautiful
covering for the tomb of Ibrahim, to which an old man
is adding the last loving touches. This cover is carried
in the Holy Carpet procession, set upon a frame exactly
the size and shape of the tomb, and is mistaken for a
second Mahmal, not alone by the Europeans, but by
the great majority of the Moslems, so secretly are these
provisions for the religious observances and customs of
the Pilgrimage carried out, and so little does the Eastern
mirtd ever burden itself with any care of exact informa
tion. The groundwork of the embroidery here again
is black, the raised embroidery is in gold and silver, the
panelling being of green and rose-pink satin, with
Koranic writings in gold. Round the bottom is a
silk fringe of scarlet and yellow, over a flounce of green
satin. The tassels at the corners are of gold, as are

202 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
the medallions which are put on at the corner where
the cover joins. The beauty of the embroidery, both
in the Arabic writing and the conventional designs, is
seen in my photographs.
It is a pious act to supply covers of this sort for the
tarkeebeh of saints, as well as to repair the domed tombs
in which they stand ; a friend of mine, at his own charge,
keeps such a tomb in good repair, and renews the cover,
of a saint buried in his native village, although the
sheikh's claims to remembrance have been entirely lost
— the only instance I met of such traditional knowledge
having slipped from the Arab memory.
¦ That the taking of all these sacred objects connected
with the Carpet to Arabia is in itself a considerable
undertaking, was brought home to us by seeing the
tents and the waterskins and other requirements for
the long journey. I am told that the staff of the
Egyptian commission do an admirable work each year, in
Mecca, for the pilgrims of all nations, in the matter of
sanitation, by the improved methods and appliances
which they are able to demonstrate.
We now went into the courtyard, and the two very
fine camels — in a way held sacred too — which are kept
here solely for the purpose of conveying the Mahmal
to Mecca, were brought out for us. They are of great
size, and of the cream colour which distinguishes the
finer breed of camels. The younger camel is kept in
reserve, owing to the great age of the beast which has
been to Mecca for a vast number of years, and is doubt
less the most famous animal in the whole of the Islamic
world. These animals live a secluded but luxurious
life within these precincts. By the credulous populace
all sorts of miraculous signs mark them out in the first

The Gorgeously Embroidered Cover for
the Tomb of Irrahim at Mecca.

The Mahmal in Cairo, guarded by
Egyptian Troops.

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 203
instance for selection to their sacred task, and afterwards
attend their journeyings.
There are seventy men employed in this place, and
to mark the special nature of their work each has a robe
of cream colour with a small pattern in old gold, all
hand woven, and so strong that the Bey declared they
would wear for fifty years. These robes are worn for
the procession when the Mahmal and the curtains go
before the Khedive, so that the actual workers may be
recognised. Two or three of the men now put on their
robes, and I was able to photograph them. No man is
employed who is not a pious Moslem, regularly observing
all the prayers.
Before leaving, the Bey told me that the yearly
expenses of the work under his charge amount to £4550.
The cost of the silver and gold thread alone is £515.
It will be noticed that all this time we have seen
nothing of the Mahmal itself, that palanquin about which
so many fables have been woven — the most credulous
and misleading by European writers. I think, indeed,
the Mahmal might be termed the puzzle of Egypt ;
even Lane professed that he did not know why it was
regarded with such reverence by the Moslem people.
We have seen the sacred camel on whose back the
Mahmal travels ; but where is the palanquin itself,
and what is the true part it fills in the Pilgrimage ?
The sacred camels have nothing whatever to do with
taking the Carpet, just as the Mahmal has no con
nection with the Carpet. For one thing, the immense
weight of the Kaaba coverings makes the suggestion
that one camel could carry them, even without the
heavy Mahmal itself, quite ludicrous.
At the present moment the Mahmal is, I learn, in

204 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
the care of the Minister of Finance, at his official
residence in Cairo. It is impossible to see it there ;
but as I am so interested, an invitation is promised me
to a celebration which takes place in the building under
the Citadel on the night before the Kaaba hangings
and the Mahmal start for Mecca. There the Mahmal
will be shown, and, more interesting still, there will
be set up an exact model of the Kaaba, with all the
curtains hung as they will appear in the Holy City.
There is no religious celebration in Cairo more
impressive and beautiful than this festival, held on the
eve of the setting out of the Mahmal's Pilgrimage to
Mecca. There are other great public occasions, when
the Oriental splendour of illumination breaks out, to thrill
the thronging populace, and the out-of-door excite
ments of the fair are linked with the claims of pious
significance. But this official fete in the pavilions at
the foot of the Citadel combines in equal proportions a
sense of the sacred office with that of subdued enter
tainment, a feeling of religious awe being curiously
mingled' with that of rejoicing. Not that Oriental
splendour is lacking ; indeed, the scene that burst
upon our vision, when our carriage had driven to the
door of the Citadel building, along a long avenue of
special street lamps, placed only a yard or two apart,
was dazzling in its beauty. The thousands of candles
and electric lights, in an endless vista, as one looked
through the whole range of halls and tented pavilions,
with the sparkling lustres of the almost solid mass of
chandeliers, shone down upon the picturesqueness of
an Eastern gatherings — enriched by the vivid colouring
and the gold embroideries of all the draperies I had
seen in the making, which in this light gained a thousand-

Egyptian Women visfitng the Mahmal at Ap.basieh.

Workers of the Holy Carpet in their
Distinctive Roue.

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 205
fold in beauty. The blackness of the Kaaba cover,
hung round the first room, through which shot now
and then the graceful Arabic so cunningly buried in
its sable depths, only served to accentuate the bright
beauty of the other hangings.
On entering, Eastern politeness of course necessitated
that we should first drink coffee, with the choice, how
ever, of the peculiar hot drink called Kirfa, drunk only
at religious ceremonies, and at weddings, while large
trays of sweetmeats were handed round.
By this time the Bey has heard of our arrival, and
comes to greet us, and escort us through the rooms.
He is naturally most proud of the Kaaba room, arranged
in the exact proportions, so that the covering and the
door curtain hang just as they will hang at Mecca.
From this we pass to a gorgeous pavilion, one of
those huge tents, the walls decorated with the brilliantly
coloured applique work in Arabesque design, with verses
from the Koran, so much used in Egypt for all ceremonial
occasions. Here the lighting is almost overpoweringly
brilliant, from the myriads of candles in their lustre
setting. The covering of the Prophet Ibrahim's tomb was set
up here, and received much attention ; but the real
centre which drew every Moslem man and child was
the Mahmal, now to be seen in public for the first time
since its return from last year's pilgrimage. Round the"
Mahmal men crowded ; they stroked a fringe of it,
always with the right hand, of course (for the left hand
is reserved for dishonourable acts), and then to imbibe
the blessing immediately stroked their faces, while
they muttered a prayer. Little children were held up
that they might repeat the parent's act.

206 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
As we stood near the Mahmal we could see seated
on the floor at a short distance, in a double row, about
twenty-four men of the sheikh class, facing each other
with two large candelabra standing at each end, between
the rows, chanting praises of the Prophet, and reciting
Traditions of him. At a certain point they came to
an end of chanting ; all hands went up to the breast,
upraised, as a sign of silent petition. Then they all
got up, gathered round the Mahmal, sang another short
chant in praise of Mohammed, and again raised the
hands to the breast in petition, all the people imitating
them. Occasionally there came a man who prayed with
more than usual intentness, and seemed as if he could
not tear himself away from the Mahmal ; clinging gently
to it as though he longed to absorb something from it
into his being : the " guardian " of the sacred palanquin
would quietly urge him away, and others less devout
would take his place, content perhaps with a touch.
These manifestations recalled to my mind a passage
in one of Lady Duff Gordon's letters : " My servant
Omar's eyes were full of tears, and his voice shaking
with emotion, as he pointed out the Mahmal to me —
in the procession. Moslem piety is so unlike what
Europeans think it is, so full of tender emotions, so
much more sentimental than we imagine — and it is
wonderfully strong. I used to hear Omar praying
outside my door while I was so ill, ' Oh, God, make
her better. Oh, my God, let her sleep,' as naturally
as we should say, ' I hope she'll have a good night.' ':
The Mahmal is, in its material aspect, just a camel
palanquin, or the covered seat for fixing on the back
of the animal, in which a lady could ride without being

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 207
seen. The present cover is handsomely embroidered in
gold, on a dark red ground ; it has finely chased silver
ornaments on the top, and at each corner, and heavy
cords of gold festooned round each side. Having
now been to Mecca many times, the gold work of the
Mahmal cover is becoming a little dull. Every twenty
years it is renewed, at a cost of £1500, the ambition of
those responsible for renewing it being to always improve
on the last cover. Though never used as a palanquin,
the inside is still made with seats, for a lady and her
servants. Possibly four people could ride in it, but
they would have close quarters.
And why is it so intensely revered ? To begin its
history at the end, there is no doubt that the reason for
this deep reverence is that the Mahmal goes to Mecca
every year exactly as a pilgrim goes, visits every spot
that the devout pilgrim visits, and returns (alone of all
these gorgeous furnishings sent out) to the capital of the
country it represents. Lane heard a soldier exclaim,
as the Mahmal passed him, " Oh, my Lord ! Thou
hast denied my performing the Pilgrimage ! " In those
words lies the secret of this reverence.
I can never forget a scene near the Mahmal at
Abbassieh, where the Pilgrimage is eventually organised
for its actual start to Mecca. A number of poor women,
whose accent told that they had come the long journey
from Upper Egypt above Luxor, were sitting in a close
group on the ground, as near to the Mahmal as possible,
singing very sweetly a song of the Pilgrimage. The
Lord had denied them to pray in Mecca, but they were
not left altogether desolate, for their eyes were rejoiced
to see the blessed Mahmal. For this they had come
specially those many miles, the only journey they could

208 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
afford in all their lives, and their constantly reiterated
prayer was that God would grant them some of the
merits of the Pilgrimage itself.
The Mahmal dates from the thirteenth century (the
year 645 of the Hijrah), when the first Mahmal was
made by order of the Queen Shargaret El-Dorr, to
serve for the Pilgrimage which she intended to make.
The Queen's name signifies " a tree hung with jewels,"
and the Mahmal is sometimes called by this name.
In the following year she sent the empty palanquin, as
a symbol of Egypt, and in memory of her own pilgrimage,
and from this the annual custom grew up, to be followed
by other countries, who take the occasion, as Egypt
does, to send with their Mahmal the national tributes
of money and food to the Holy City, and for the service
of the Kaaba. The Court historian told me that he
thought the custom of sending a State symbol was older
than the Queen's Mahmal, a special camel, termed the
Mahmal, being sent with presents to Holy Kaaba even
in pre-Islamic days. The Prophet himself sent such a
Mahmal from Medina to Mecca with presents.
Many Mahmals are mentioned in history — from
Mesopotamia, from Yemen, from India, the Mahmal of
Ibn Rashed, and many others, some of which continue
to be sent to this day. In his history of the Sudan,
Naoun Bey Shakir says : " The country of Alfour was
absolutely independent, paying no tribute to anyone,
save to the two sacred mosques (in Mecca and Medina) to
which it used to send an annual ^Mahmal and a purse.
The Mahmal used to pass through Egypt, with a caravan
carrying feathers and gum and other products of the
Sudan, which were sold, the proceeds being put in
the purse. Then the Mahmal travelled to the

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 209
Holy Land (Arabia) in company with the Egyptian
pilgrims." At first the Egyptian Mahmal actually contained the
presents, but after the Queen's visit, the sovereign of
Egypt enriched it with decorations to such an extent
that it was impossible for the camel to do more than
carry the Mahmal itself. Its present weight is about four
teen kantars ; and the presents are now entirely carried
by other camels. A kantar is nearly a hundred pounds.
After it finally leaves Cairo, the Mahmal is protected
by a special green cloth cover, which is renewed every
year, as it is left in Arabia as a cover to the tomb of
Seidy Zounes El-Seidy. At Mecca the Mahmal is
placed between the " door of the Prophet " and the
" door of Peace," in its green cover, which is only
removed for ceremonies.
The romantic days of brigandage still survive even the
railway, which is now nearing Mecca. A distinguished
pilgrim tells me that at present when the Mahmal leaves
Mecca it is taken by Sultani Al-Farai — or the eastern
road ; or by sea from Yidda to Zembo, and from thence
to Medina. Or it may join the railway, going from Al
Wajh to Abdul Aula Station, and on to Medina by train.
This route has been made necessary by the formidable
brigands who infest the roads between Mecca and
Zembo, and threaten to rob the Caravan of the Carpet
unless they are paid large sums of money.
The Mahmal is received at Medina with splendid
ceremony, and is first put in the mosque near the pulpit,
and then placed near the tomb of Fatma, the Prophet's
daughter, and the wife of Ali. The Ameer Hadj, and
other servants, must first put on special robes, consisting
of turban, a gown, and white belt of cloth, before carrying
14

210 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
the Mahmal from the mosque to the chamber of Fatma's
tomb. Its connection with the .Queen would make it
unfitting to place the Mahmal near the tomb of the
Prophet, and his male friends, according to -Moslem ideas
of propriety. It is not allowed that people outside the
relationship in which intercourse is possible in life,
should pay visits after death — for the visits to the tombs
are always referred to as actual attendance upon the
departed. " On Friday I go to see my child," said a
father to me, referring to a visit to the house of his family
in the cemetery at Cairo ; and my Egyptian friends
could never understand why I did not regularly visit an
English friend whoof they knew had died, and was buried
at Helwan. " Does no one go to see him ? " they asked
quite pitifully.
The Mahmal leaves Medina with a magnificent fare
well demonstration, returning then to Egypt, where it is
received with the native rejoicing of a general holiday,
and a salute of twenty-one guns. As " the return of the
Holy Carpet " — in no way to be compared with the
interest of the procession on its setting out three months
earlier — the Mahmal procession is one of the favourite
sights to foreign visitors to Cairo ; when, by the Islamic
calendar, the date allows it to fall in the winter season.
This year (191 2) the ceremony was on the 6th of January;
the next occasion will fall on the 27th of December this
year ; and so on, each year losing between eleven and
twelve days, through the calendar being under lunar
ruling instead of that of the sun.
It thus takes thirty-three years and a half to bring the
beginning of the Islamic year to the same date as that of
the Christian year, the Moslems having lost a year in
that time. The actual month of the Pilgrimage is Zu'l'-

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 211
heggeh ; but the Carpet starts from Cairo in the month
of Showwal. The month begins on the night that the
new moon is first actually seen ; a rule that leads to much
confusion and doubt in the fixing of engagements. Last
year (191 1) in Egypt it was quite pitiful to see the sus
pense of the poor people as to when the month of fasting
— Rhamadan — would end. And not the poor alone —
the Khedive's official receptions at his palace at Alexan
dria were fixed to begin on the morning of Saturday,
30th September, to inaugurate the feast which celebrates
the close of Rhamadan. But as the new moon, which
Europeans take for granted, was not actually seen until
about three o'clock in the afternoon, the reception could
not be held until the next day ; and neither poor nor
rich might eat on that anxious Saturday till the welcome
gun sounded the joyful news that a new moon was in
sight. It was the astronomers at Constantinople who
had seen it, and telegraphed the news.
The following details of yearly payments made in
connection with the sending of the Mahmal and the holy
coverings, by the Minister of Finance of Egypt, were
prepared for me : —
To the Ameer El-Hadj of this Pilgrimage
for salaries of himself and assistants £1282
To Arab employees in the service of the
Pilgrimage .. .. . . 25 1 1
For the salaries of the Sherifs of Mecca
and Medina . . . . . . 1493
For the Egyptian almshouses for poor
pilgrims (takieh) at Mecca . . 1961
For the takieh at Medina . . . . 1657
For the benefit of the people of Mecca
and Medina .. .. .. 2879

212 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
Forthe poor of Mecca and Medina, from
various charities, as well as from the
Egyptian Government . . . . £3000
For wheat, given annually at Mecca
and Medina, and cost of distribu
tion . . . . . . . . . . 22,500
Candles and torches, for the two harams,
and sacred mosques . . . . 1629
For the carrying of the sacred burdens,
by camels, by land and by sea . . 4278
For tents and water-skins . . . . 155
In addition to which there are payments made by the
public wakfs (charities), and private bequests, as well as
by the private wakfs of the Khedive, amounting to large
sums, which are applied to various expenses of the Pil
grimage of the Mahmal, to the necessities of the poor
pilgrims from Egypt, and of others, at Mecca, and the
upkeep of the holy tombs and mosques there ; the
total amount making no less than £50,000, as Egypt's
contribution to the Pilgrimage, and to the benefit of the
holy cities.
Enormous as this sum seems, a comparison with the
records of the times of the Fatimides will show that
double that sum was spent in this way. In those days
the cost of the Caravan and its gifts was £120,000, of
which sum £10,000 was spent on perfumeries, sweets,
and candles ; £40,000 went to the expenses of the
delegates of Egypt ; the remaining £60,000, in the words
of Makrezi, who wrote a history of the Pilgrimage
Caravan — " constitute the expenses of protection,
charities, camels, wages, troops, the Captain of the
Caravan, other employees, the digging of wells, etc. In
the days of the Vizier Bazouri, however, the expenses

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 213
were greatly increased, and amounted to £200,000, the
highest sum in all the history of the Mahmal."
Up to the time of the Mamelukes, the Mahmal con
stituted a very important feature in the Egyptian state.
The Ameer El-Hahj occupied the office third in rank
in the state, and became, by virtue of his office, Governor
of Cairo. It was a permanent post, and carried great
influence in the Hejaz, so that he often discharged and
appointed the Ameers of Mecca. The old rulers so ex
aggerated the importance and sacredness of the Mahmal,
that they ordered every high functionary, through
whose locality it passed, to kiss the foot of the camel
bearing it ; until Sultan Gakmak prohibited what had
become a custom in the fifteenth century.
The celebrations connected with the Mahmal gave
the Khedive Ismail another opportunity for the wild
extravagance which brought such ruin upon his country.
One item in his lavish expenditure was to have huge
vessels set up in Cairo in which sugar was melted, so that
the people might drink freely of the syrup for three days —
this being a revival of an old custom at times of rejoicing.
In those days there was a separate post for " the keeper
of sweets," but an employee is now charged in his place
with the distribution of charity amongst certain poor
of Arabia.

CHAPTER II
" Beats there a heart within that breast of thine,
Then compass reverently the sacred shrine :
For the essential Kaaba is the heart,
And no proud pile of perishable art."
Jalaluddin Rumi, Lines on the Pilgrimage to Mecca.
It has been seen that the Mahmal does in some degree
eclipse the Holy Carpet. During the night following
the celebration at the Citadel all the hangings are
taken down. The next morning there is a great pro
cession, when the Holy Carpet is taken from the Citadel
to the mosque of Hosein. Last year (191 1), the pro
cession was on 7th October. On this occasion, too, it
is the Mahmal, or its special banners, which the people
chiefly attempt to caress, although they lose no oppor
tunity of rubbing their right hands over the Holy
Carpet, and of lifting their children to do so.
For the purpose of this procession, the different
lengths of the Kaaba covering are stretched over
wooden frames, which, being carried by a number of
men, look rather like a succession of giants' biers, covered
with black palls. The separate lengths of the Kaaba
band are also placed lengthways on frames ; and
these frames, gleaming with gold, and the gorgeously
coloured and embroidered cover for Ibrahim's tomb,
set on the back of a beautiful camel, like a palanquin,
and then the rich old gold of the Mahmal itself, redeem
the procession from a sombreness ill according with an
occasion of rejoicing.

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 215
For nothing could give more pleasure to the Cairo
crowd than this procession of the setting out on the
Pilgrimage does ; to them, if it has a sobering note at
all, it is that it means farewell to some relative start
ing on a journey, which still has many perils. But the
Egyptian is a child of to-day, whose sustenance is hope.
Like a child, he has no yesterdays and no to-morrows.
At all times his faith tells him " God's in His heaven,
all's right with the world." And the Pilgrimage is,
after all, one of the sure paths to Paradise.
And, for the happy moment, here are waving banners,
in the warm sunshine, and holy sheikhs of all the different
guilds of the mosques, and the bands — one of them of
Scottish bagpipes — playing with blissful iteration the
one tune that contains every note of music, always in a
minor key, that has any value to the native folk.
The whole of the Cairo garrison of Egyptian troops,
including all the artillery, footmen, and cavalry, with a
special honorary guard of the Mahmal, take part in
the ceremonies connected with it. The Ameer Al-
Mahmal, who is appointed annually by the Khedive,
takes the lead, and is followed by the military pashas.
After the camel, on which the Mahmal has now been
fixed, has carried it in its annual rotations of the
square of the Citadel, it is led up to the stand where
the Khedive — or in his absence the Prime Minister —
accompanied by the high functionaries of the State,
the ministers, the great ulemas, and the notable men
of Egypt, await it.
The Mamour of the Holy Carpet then comes for
ward, with the rein of the camel in his hand, which he
gives to the Khedive, who reverently kisses it, and hands
it to the Ameer Al-Hadj, who afterwards leads the

216 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
camel. The guns of the Citadel are fired, and the
procession starts for the plain — called the Mahjar — at
Abbassieh (the Kaaba covering being left en route at the
mosque of Hosein for the seWing which I have described),
passing through the Al Darb Al Ahmar, the Gate
Zoueilah, Ghuria, Nahhasin, and Bab-el-Nasr.
At Abbassieh there is a considerable encampment of
tents for the servants and troops who are to go with
the Mahmal to Mecca ; and here the Mahmal halts
for two or three days, and is visited by many people.
All the provisions and ammunition are gathered here
for the start. A special train is drawn up on the
railway, and the Mahmal with its large deputation starts
for Suez ; from thence it goes to Yidda, and then by
the land route to Mecca.
In November, 1910, the Mahmal left Egypt by way
of Alexandria, attended by the Khedive ; from thence
it went by boat to Jaffa, and from Jaffa to Medina by
train, by way of the remarkable new Hejaz railway;
the use of which railway, as it draws near to the
Holy City of Medina, is exclusively reserved for
Moslems, being closely guarded and scrutinised by
soldiers. In the old days, before reformers like the Sheikh
Mohammed Abdu arose, to denounce the excesses and
extravagances of Moslem celebrations, the buffoon and
the dervish magician had a part in this procession, and
the religious devotee, and the mystic, made strange and
weird demonstrations ; but that has gone. The old
man, bare to the waist, who, with twistings and contor
tions, rode a camel, going to Mecca on this Pilgrimage
for years innumerable — and never speaking a single
word to any man on the journey — until he became to

The Mahmal in the Camp at Abbasieh, near Cairo,

and the Camp of the Mahmal.

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 217
the simple crowds what seemed a permanent institution,
he too has disappeared.
But still, neither the buffoon nor the magician is
altogether extinct, for amateurs in these professions give
us entertainment in the street while we are waiting for
the procession, and again after it has passed : both of
them very crude performers, too well paid even by the
millieme (the fifth part of a penny) of the poor fellah
from the country. The only skill the conjurer showed
was in drawing from the pockets of myself and my
friends — I had a seat in a palace gateway in one of the
narrow streets — more money than he was likely to earn
by his other tricks of magic in a week.
When the Holy Carpet arrives at Mecca it is handed
to Sheikh Sheiby, in the presence of the chief ulemas
and notables, and kept by him till the day of sacrifice,
when it is hung upon the Kaaba. None of these holy
drapings, we have seen, come back to Egypt, but when
they have fulfilled their purpose they become the
property of the Sherif of Mecca, being sold to pilgrims
in special shops near the Kaaba. Rich people buy the
beautiful door covers, and portions of the Kaaba band,
and have them framed to hang in the tomb houses ; in
most of the apartments of the royal tombs in Cairo,
such souvenirs of Mecca are to be seen. The poor are
contented with a shred of the black covering ; and, if
they can afford it, they buy also Mecca water in
sealed blue bottles from the Holy Well of Zemzem, in
the Kaaba, for their last earthly washing — or to present
to a poor friend on their return — and a piece of linen
made in Mecca, and washed, too, in the holy water, for
the garment in which (as they will specify in their
wills) they are to be buried. They also drink, with

218 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
great emotion, a small draught of it ; it is of brackish
taste. This well is on the east side of the Kaaba, in the
mosque enclosure called the haram, and is covered
with a small building and cupola. Moslems are per
suaded that it is the very spring that gushed out
for the relief of Ishmael when Hagar wandered with
him in the desert (Gen. xxi. 19). The historian to the
Egyptian court assured me that it is only people like
the Sudanese, and some Indians, who dip their shrouds
in its waters ; but I knew an educated man in Algeria
who had done this.
The making of a cover for the Kaaba goes back to
the time of Ignorance — before Mohammed — the first
cover being made of skin, and afterwards of cloth ; and
all the tribes of Arabia at first took a share in paying
for it. At the time of the Prophet it had become the
duty of the Quraish, or chief tribe, who had care of
the Kaaba, to cover it, and they used Yemen cloth. It"
was in the time of the Abbaside Chaliphate that the
sovereigns of Yemen and Egypt began to share the duty
of providing the covering. Under the Ottoman rule,
Egypt alone began to work the cover every year.
It is not in my plan to give any history of the Kaaba
itself, but as I had the advantage of drawing on the
lifelong studies* of the Khedive's historian of the
Pilgrimage, it will, I think, be interesting to record, not
so much the history as the views of a modern Moslem
of culture, on this sacred shrine, towards which over
two hundred and fifty millions of living souls turn
every day in prayer.
The Pilgrimage was an immemorial custom of the
Arab race ; and the Kaaba was the one thing a scattered

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 219
people, broken up into tribal warfare, had in common,
as a shrine at which alone they could feel even the
slightest impulse towards a national feeling.
For twenty-five centuries before Islam, they had
gone to the Kaaba because they believed it was the
House of Allah. The tribes were of different creeds,
but no special creed claimed the Kaaba, and they were
united there in a belief that it belonged to the ruler of
the whole universe. Here they kept the many idols
they worshipped. Mohammed Labib Bey told me that
there is a big stone at the outer door of the Mecca
haram, used as a step. The people of Mecca believe
that it was one of the idols which Mohammed turned
out of the Kaaba ; they call it Assaf,
There was no trace that the Black Stone which is
built into the side of the Kaaba was ever worshipped
(it will be remembered that the Moslem historian
is speaking) although revered so deeply. It has always
been believed that it descended from heaven ; many
people who have seen it think it is of meteoric origin.
The Moslems are not alone in venerating historic
stones, as Labib Bey points out. Jacob set up a stone
as a memorial. To pass over many other instances, the
King of England is always crowned over the stone, kept
in Westminster Abbey, about which many fables are
told to carry its origin back to very early times.
The Black Stone which Abraham erected in the Kaaba
at Mecca was either put there in obedience to God's
command, as a sigh of the reverence to be paid to His
house, or as a sign of Abraham's own and his son's
pledge to make that place sacred to all men. It is
probable that a black stone was chosen so that it might
be easily distinguished. The stone was respected by

220 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
Abraham and his son, and by their descendants, the
Arabs, and then by all Moslems up to the present
moment. I give here the Bey's exact words on this important
point, as the Black Stone is much reverted to by critical
writers on Islam. " The very earthly centre of the
religion itself is a sacred Black Stone," says the Rev.
W. H. T. Gairdner in The Reproach of Islam. In a
more recent book, written by a man who is physically
a great traveller, but seems to have little faculty to know
the strange people amongst whom he finds himself, Dr.
Karl Kumm goes so far as to declare that " the super
lative of heathenism is Islam, in which the devotee five
times a day bows -to the dust in the direction of his
temple, the Kaaba, and the holiest of it, the Black Stone
which fell from heaven."
TheEuropeanwriters,who, pretending to be Moslems,
have gone to Mecca, have greatly misled the world by
declaring that Moslems worship the Black Stone, thus
preserving some part of the idolatry of the pre-Islamic
times. My reply to these is, that on the occasion when
the Prophet adopted the Pilgrimage as one of the
pillars of his new religion — so wisely recognising its
value in the work of drawing the Arab people together
in national aspirations — he stood near the Black Stone
and said, " I know thou art a stone, that can do neither
good nor evil," and then kissed it. When Abu Bakr made
his first pilgrimage, as Mohammed's successor, he, too,
stood by the Black Stone and said, " I know thou art
a stone, that can do neither good nor evil ; had I
not seen the Prophet — may God give him peace — kiss
thee, I would not have kissed thee." The stone is a
symbol to the Moslem people, just as a national flag

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 221
is a symbol ; it is reverenced in much the same
way. The importance of the Pilgrimage as a great bond
of spiritual inspiration has scarcely been realised by most
writers. There are from 60,000 to 90,000 pilgrims
to Mecca every year. Its influence over the lives
of those who perform it is often so great that it
gives a new direction to character ; in every genera
tion men and women have been roused from spiritual
lethargy to become missionaries and leaders pf Islam
in all parts of the world by the experiences they have
undergone in their Holy Land.
This is a fact very difficult for the Western mind
to understand ; I think because, in the Western, or
Aryan mind, such spiritual impulses are generally
started by means of Preaching ; but because, in the
Mission of the Meccan Pilgrimage, preaching has little
part, we Europeans fail, perhaps, to realise the secret
of the hold it gains over the minds of men. It is the
power of Prayer, however, that moves the Semitic
mind. When the Moslem who is devout enough
to make the Pilgrimage first finds himself one of the
great body of worshippers in the sacred court of the
Kaaba, where he believes himself to be specially near
to his God, Who is well pleased with his situation ;
and later on praying in the " Prophet's Mosque "
at Medina, or standing by that holy spot where
Mohammed and his friends are buried, he seems to
enter into an intense realisation of all that his religion
means to him. It is not surprising that then, in a glow
of zeal, he wants all men to know of the secret which
has led him to a higher plane of experience, where
earthly things fall into their proper relationship, and

222 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
clear vistas open for him towards a Paradise which is
rich with rewards for those who keep the doctrine and
do the will of God.
When we find, in every page of the history of Islam,
how the men who have visited Mecca return to their
own countries to stimulate, as reformers and missionaries,
the religion of their neighbours, and in some cases to
gain great success in converting whole neighbouring
tribes from idolatry and barbarism, we may well pause
to ask what would happen if Mecca, under some possible
revival, became a really great and potent centre of a
reformed Islam, sending men away to all the ends of
the earth, with even greater enthusiasm, to " strive in
the path of God."
Western critics have often missed the true significance
of the Pilgrimage in their unsympathetic attitude towards
its outward observances, failing to realise that there must
be a deep spiritual meaning in these things to account
for their permanent hold over the mind and heart
of so many millions during such a long period of
time. As a thoughtful Moslem put it to me : " It is strange
that Western writers seldom allow that our Pilgrimage
can be anything but an outward form, gone through as
one of the ' pillars ' of our religion, with the object
merely of gaining merit hereafter. As a matter of fact,
the very setting out for Mecca is a sign of strong faith
in God and His promises. Thousands of the pilgrims
set out with very little provision for the journey, and
the sufferings they endure are incredible. The minds
of most of the pilgrims are thrilled with intense spiritual
fervour by their experiences ; they feel that they have
come into more intimate relation with their God, and

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 223
also with their fellow-men. They meet and have
intercourse with the best men of their religion from
all parts of the world, exchanging views, and receiving
new impressions of personal character.
The principle of the equality of all men is here
instilled very deeply into the mind, by the fact that
every pilgrim dons exactly the same garment — and that
of the plainest sort — and all personal habits and adorn
ments are set aside by which men are differentiated in
the social scale. Even the distinguishing turban is put
off for the time, and the head remains bare, so that
every mark of race and tribe is forgotten. By the same
token, men are cured of pride and self-assertiveness ;
they realise as never before that " the faithful are
brothers " (Sura, xlix. 10), and that before God there
is no respect of persons.

CHAPTER III
" I bid you fear God openly and in secret, guard against excess in
eating, drinking and speech ; keep aloof from evil companionship ; be
diligent in fasts and self-renunciation and bear wrongs patiently. The
best man is he who helps his fellow-men, and the best speech is a brief one,
which leads to knowledge. Praise be to God alone."
The teaching of Jalaluddin, a Moslem saint, whose tomb
at Iconium is a centre of pilgrimage.
In no religion is the memory of the lives of saints more
cherished than in Islam. The passionate devotion to the
memory of the Prophet — " on whom be blessings and
peace " — is intimate and personal to every one of his
followers. One has only to see the rapt attention that
is paid to a recitation of his sayings, or the stories of his
life, and the heartfelt chorus of approval with which
every sentence is punctuated, to realise this.
It is the same in lesser degree with the minor saints.
The memory of the most humble life is treasured ; the
memorial dome is set up, and the people visit the place
of burial to commune with the departed, to be reminded
of his goodness or his wisdom, to pray to God to place to
the saint's account certain merits of theirs, hoping that
they may gain favour from the man who is nearer than
they are to the Throne of Grace.
One of the early philosophers of Islam (Avicenna)
being questioned on the subject of visiting the tombs of
the dead, and praying for the departed, put the matter
in this way. All creation, whose parts are linked to
gether, is subject to influences which all derive from a
single source — God. Terrestrial souls differ widely in

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 225
rank ; the highest are endowed with gifts of prophecy,
and perfected so far that they attain the sphere of pure
intelligence. A soul of this kind entering after death
into eternal beatitude, shared with its peers, continues
along with them to exercise a certain influence on
terrestrial souls.
The object of prayer for the dead, and visiting their
tombs, is to beg for the help of those pure souls, a help
which is realised sometimes in a material, sometimes in
a spiritual way. The material help may be compared
with the direction which the body receives from the
brain ; spiritual assistance is realised by the purification
of the mind from every thought but that of God.
These tombs vary in size and beauty, from the
gorgeous mosque tombs in Cairo, such as that of the
Imam Shaffey, to the poor little ragged enclosure in the
desert, only marked by a few white flags on frail poles,
and guarded by a recluse, who in some cases lives his frugal
life literally in a philosopher's tub. These guardians of
tombs are very often themselves mystics and saints,
reflecting on the merits of the men whose resting-places
they care for, whose descendants they sometimes are ; and
leading lives devoted to prayer and religious reading and
contemplation, they tend to become like them.
Next to the house in which I stayed in Cairo was the
tomb, standing in a little garden, of the Sheikh Maghraby
— lovingly guarded by an old man who was much
esteemed by a few people to whom his quiet and frugal
life was known, full of gentle wisdom, coming from
religious study and a chastened experience of the poor
value of any earthly life which is not centred upon the
life to come.
Few of the many European passers-by guessed what
15

226 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
was the nature of the little domed building or of the
existence of such a man. They wondered, perhaps, to see
the native Egyptian, or the Berberine, turn as he passed
the tomb to mutter a prayer or recite a verse of the
Koran, with eyes intent upon the covered sarcophagus —
called the tarkeebeh or taboot — to be seen through the
railings and the half-opened door ; while some were
attracted by the brightness of the flowers in the little city
garden. Butbeyond that the tomb occasioned no thought.
- All the time, however, the old man tends the spot
that is dearer to him than life ; he talks with the saint
whose memory he lives only to keep green ; he preserves
the tomb in spotless cleanliness, quietly asking of his
neighbour the little oil necessary to keep the lamp
burning, giving a rich return to his Christian benefactor
from the flowers of the sacred garden.
Once a year, however, a great commotion of Oriental
rejoicing breaks in upon this quiet life. It is the moolid,
or, birthday, of the saint, when all his admirers gather
to celebrate, with crude music, feasting, and religious
exercises, chief of which are the recalling of the good
deeds and sayings of the departed sheikh.
It is only in the Eastern mind that the capacity
exists to passionately identify itself with the lives of its
departed heroes, so as not only to venerate their good
deeds, and to repeat their wise words, but to suffer over
again their sorrows, and to realise their joys.
Imagine, for instance, a city like Cairo, in which only
a very few years since, for a whole day each year, certain
of the native inhabitants refused to quench their thirst,
and where, if a water-carrier had dared to appear in their
streets, he would have been killed ; and this because, as
long ago as the seventh century, a popular hero had been

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 227
massacred on that day, by enemies who had denied him
drink !
And to this day, if you would see native Cairo revert
to a fearful phase of Oriental medievalism, you must see
the bloody celebration of this same hero's martyrdom,
which takes place at night in the main streets leading
from the famous quarter of the bazaars — where a few
hours before the unsuspicious tourist has quietly pursued
the bargaining quest of Eastern treasures.
It was on the last day of December that I went,
entirely against the wishes and advice, I admit, of my
more cultured Moslem friends, to witness the procession
on the day of Ashoora, in memory of the death of
Hosein and Hassan. The subterfuges and deceits
practised upon Europeans to trick them out of seeing
this procession are so persistent and ingenious, that it
becomes a matter of self-respect to outwit them. But
in many ways the subterfuges succeed. This year not
one of the European newspapers gave the right date of
Ashoora ; last year friends of mine went to the Mousky
a day too late ; this year I was on the point of setting out
a day too soon. It became obvious, later on, that the
reporters never arrived at all, for their much-belated
accounts bore evidence of mere gossip.
" The tenth day of Moharram " seems explicit enough ;
but remember that there is the moon to reckon with, as
to which is the first day ; then your informant must
know what day of the Western month coincides; and then
there is the puzzling Eastern custom of reckoning each
evening as belonging to the day following it, and not as
we do, to the close of the day ; for instance, the pro
cession this year was on our Sunday evening, 31st De
cember. To the Egyptians this was Monday evening.

228 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
Add to all this, an intention to confuse, and it is not
surprising that the European often finds that he has been
successfully misled.
Through the teeming and brilliantly lighted streets,
which gave evidence that I had tracked the right evening,.
I made my way, with a native escort, to an Arab inn
near the Mosque of Hosein, where I had previously sent
to engage a room overlooking the street. As this inn is
well known to the ladies of rich Moslem families, as
having a side entrance away from the crowded streets,
the proprietor was very averse to letting one of his rooms
to any person whatever of the male sex. If I had. been
any but an Englishman — the confidence of Eastern
ladies that Englishmen will treat them with courteous
reserve is, as I know, universal — he would have dechned
altogether, as his patronesses would have deserted him.
On the express condition that, if I brought Egyptian
friends, I would see that they would go straight to my
room and refrain from afterwards moving about in the
passages where they might meet the native ladies, he
consented to reserve for me a room. This celebration
has always been regarded by Egyptian women as particu
larly their own.
Allowing for Eastern vagueness in all matters of
fixing times, as well as seasons, and knowing that I should
enjoy the sight of the gathering crowds, and also to make
sure the procession did not after all escape me, I started
out at six o?clock, although, as I surmised, the celebra
tion would not begin till about nine.
It was worth while to be in time, however, for
there is nothing so interesting and picturesque in the
world as a purely Eastern crowd en fUe, especially
at night, under the glowing lights they love, when

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 229
every man and boy of them is detached from all con
siderations but those of good-humoured enjoyment
for himself and his friends.
To-night everyone is eating a special Ashoora cake,
and there is much almsgiving in the names of Hassan
and Hosein. The cafes are crowded with men who
have specially engaged chairs, and who also order coffee
to cheer the waiting hours, as the rule of abstinence
on this day is no longer observed except by Persians.
It is not easy to remember in these gay streets that
this is known as a day of mourning and of agony for a
hero's sufferings and death. A day which in Persia
still is given up to the keenest realisation of that heart
breaking tragedy which has always had power to move
the Eastern spirit. Of the Persian Miracle play, a
writer who saw it said : " Only in the Passion play which
Ober-Ammergau has made famous can a parallel be
found to this Oriental witchery ; and even then with
far greater skill and preparation, and a more artistic
setting, the audience seems cold and indifferent to the
Saviour's griefs by contrast with the tear-stained faces
of these broken-hearted Easterns, who bewail with
dust-defiled head and heaving breast, smitten with
passionate hands, the martyrdom of their hero."
It is obvious that the Egyptian Moslems do not
take the matter of the martyrdom very greatly to heart.
It is the Persians in Cairo who arrange the procession
which this great crowd has come out to see ; it is the
Persians here who have credit for spending the day as
a solemn fast, for to them every other consideration of
Ashoora is outweighed by the memory that Hosein, son
of Ali, grandson of the Prophet — the true line of the
sacred Caliphate, which other men have violated — was

230 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
cruelly slain, with his little sons, at the battle of the Plain
of Karbala. It is in the fact that Hosein married one
of the daughters of the last monarch of the Sasanid
dynasty that we must look for the explanation of this
passionate devotion to the memory of Hosein, and his
sons, and the hold this martyrdom has always had over
the Persian people. They saw in the descendants of
this union the heirs of their ancient kings, and the
inheritors of their national traditions.
To every Moslem, however, of whatever sect, this
is a great day, which must not be ignored. For even in
pre-Islamic times Ashoora was a sacred day ; the first
meeting of Adam and Eve took place on it, after they
were cast out of Paradise ; it is the day on which Noah
went out of the Ark ! The Nubian lad who waits on
me at table has prepared for its advent by sending,
weeks ago, to his family away up the Nile every sort
of household provision ; he believes, as all Moslems do,
that traditional saying of the Prophet : " Whoso giveth
plenty to his household on the day of Ashoora, Allah
will bestow bounty upon him for the rest of the year."
I wish I could paint that Oriental scene as I saw it
from the hotel window. Every shop had been turned
into a place for the reception of guests, and not a seat
was vacant. The red tarboosh, and turban of the Al
Azar student, and all the various robes of sheikh and
merchant, and the blue galabieh of the wondering
fellaheen who had come in from the country far and
near, sobered by the modern ugliness of the dress of the
effendi ; the extra lights, and the beautiful lanterns —
made of' white linen with Arabic lettering appliqued in
scarlet — hung across the roads ; with police and soldiers
mounted and on foot gradually marshalling the moving

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 231
throngs into line ; the growing tenseness of interest,
which, however, never broke through the prevailing
good humour : all this made a living picture, vivid and
unique. By nine o'clock the police, by fair means or foul —
the ignorant Oriental recruit dressed in a city uniform
is a terrible and most loquacious martinet — had cleared
the road and made a rigid cordon at the edge of the
pavements. Some time after nine, amid intense murmuring
excitement, the procession appeared. First a sort of
sober detached deputation of Persian men, headed by
the Consul. I could not help a little cynical amuse
ment to see, taking a leading part in this group, a
Persian dignitary who, when I pressed him to gain for
me admission to the house from which the procession,
after preliminary ceremonies (and sacrifices, too, I be
lieve), starts, said, " With the utmost pleasure, I would
help you if I could ; but I do not approve of this exhibi
tion, and have nothing whatever to do with it ! " The
Persian house is so closely guarded on this occasion that
I heard the British agent had wished to be present, and
had been refused an invitation. My Moslem secretary,
however, was given a card of admission, as the most that
could be done for me !
Then came a number of boys, many of them carrying
fine old wrought-iron braziers filled with flaring fuel,
the effect of which added greatly to the picturesque-
ness of the scene.
Now there come into view a number of men, with
uncovered heads, wild looking, and with blood spattered
on their white garments, some lashing their bare backs
across the shoulders with chains, while others smite

232 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
savagely their naked breasts, the flesh being raw and
inflamed with the punishment they are inflicting upon
themselves. All the time they cry in a sort of subdued
frenzy, " Hassan ! Hosein ! Bey ! " over and over
again. With them were three or four men, apparently
of the more intelligent class, who seemed to exercise
some authority and control, calling out to them when to
cease the beatings, and making a casual examination of
their lacerated flesh, then ordering them to lay on again.
This part of the performance, I thought, was perfectly
genuine and free from artifice ; the men lashed them
selves with real and terrible vigour. My Egyptian
friends, who were with me, decided that the men of
this group were true Persians, and that it was from
a sincere realisation of the sufferings of the martyrs they
put themselves to such torture.
On a small Arab horse now comes a little boy, of
about six or seven years, with his black hair shaved back
from the front half of his head. His forehead was
swollen and congested ; in the middle of it were two
rough-looking cuts, and what looked like blood, which
had flowed from them, appeared to have run down his
face. He carried in his hand a small sword, held
upright with the blade towards his face, and we were
meant to suppose that he had made the wounds himself.
There were red spots all down the front of his white
garment, as though of blood, and also red spatterings
on the white cover of the horse. I never saw him move
the sword, and as far as his expression went, the child
seemed to be taking a dreamy detached interest in the
show, as though he were merely an onlooker, and certainly
he betrayed no sign of pain or distress, either for himself
or for the martyr Hosein.

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 233
A few more men came, beating their breasts, and
then another child on horseback, perhaps a little older
than the first, looking very like him, but with more
blood on his face and clothes. It occurred to me that
if all the red splashes on the horse's cover were blood
from this child's wounds, he could not have sat upright
as he did, his eyes bright with interest in what was
going on. Like the first child he held his sword rigid,
and I never saw him touch the two horrid wounds on
his swollen forehead, although I thought there could
be no doubt of the blood trickling down his face ; a
man walking by his side turned the blood aside from the
child's eyes with a napkin, the boy placidly submitting.
Both boys looked to me as though they might have been
mildly drugged. They were both children of beautiful
and refined features, their part being, of course, to
represent the children of Hosein, who Were killed at
the same time as their father.
Now appeared the most gruesome and revolting part
of the procession. Two long rows of men, walking side
ways, facing each other, with their backs to the pave
ment, came along, with wild cries, dancing and swaying
from right to left, while every few seconds they did
actually cut their horribly swollen foreheads with the
swords they carried upright in their hands.
" Hassan ! Hosein ! Bey ! " they reiterated, excited
thereto by several men who passed up and down between
them, and while they gave orders, wiped the streaming
blood from the faces of the victims.
It was not the actual performance that was so revolt
ing as the very low criminal type of man who was en
gaged in it. With their heads bare, and the long streaks
of hair on the crowns which the very poor sometimes

234 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
instruct the barber to spare from his razor, waving about
in their horrible sort of frenzied monkey dance, these
poor wretches looked like a set of mad villains, partly
drunk and partly stupefied ; or, from the way they
hesitated in their task, and then went on again when
ordered, their manner suggested some sort of hypno
tism. "Hashish! " I heard one of my Egyptian friends whisper
behind me, and turning, I saw how sickened and revolted
my friends were. " This is not Islam," they said ; " it
is shameful that it should be allowed. The Sheikh
Mohammed Abdu " — the name that rises to every
reformer's lip in Egypt — " would have stopped every
thing of this sort long since, if for mean reasons he had
not been opposed in high places."
What lent a further air of unreality to the thing was
that the white garments of these men were covered,
from the shoulders to the feet, with what was meant to
look like fresh dripped blood. The very overdoing of
this detail made it obvious that the gore had been
applied as a theatrical effect.
The explanation of the sword-cutting, which my
friends gave, was justified by everything I saw.
These performers are not Persians at all, but low-class
persons, of no matter what race, to be found in the slums
of Cairo ; possibly hashish-smokers, who are known to
be willing to submit to this ordeal for the sake of a
handsome fee and the accompanying perquisites. Their
foreheads are treated the day before in such a way as to
make the flesh swollen and congested, so that the cutting
is really a relief, and looks more terrible, from the
amount of the suffused blood flowing from it than it
really is. The men who excite and urge the poor

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 235
wretches in the procession are Persians ; but the per
formers themselves, so far as any feeling for the martyrs
goes, care nothing but for their reward.
The whole performance seemed like a relic of a
sterner and more barbaric time, made doubly horrible
by the loss of the sentiment, and the genuine passion,
which once inspired it. Whether the Persians keep
alive in Egypt, by this means, some remnant of the real
feeling which actuates their countrymen to inflict
genuine suffering upon themselves, as they think over
the agonies and death of their saint and hero, I could
not determine.
At the representation of the Passion play of Hassan
and Hosein in Persia, the audiences are so worked up
with the passion of grief and pity for the martyrs that
they do actually and very severely gash themselves
with knives. Often they pelt the men who act the
murderers' part in the Passion play, and it has even
happened that the chief player has himself been mur
dered by the enraged audience. On one occasion the
man chosen to act the assassin's part in the massacre
went out and killed himself in a fit of remorse and dis
grace. So genuine indeed is this celebration, in other
places, that near the spot where the martyr and his
family met their end a number of men every year die
from their self-inflicted injuries. In Cairo, however,
there is scarcely any trace left of real passion, and in
any case, this feature of the celebration of the day of
Ashoora ought, in the public interest, to be stopped in
the city; its stage-managed horrors are loathsome and
degrading, and they are repugnant to the better part
of the inhabitants.
When the procession had been given time to gain the

236 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
house in which the wounded performers are taken care
of until they are fit to appear again in public, the cordon
of police broke up and the people flooded the roads
once more. It was a very amusing crowd, exchanging
banter and compliment, handshaking, and the charming
greetings of Eastern folk, the good manners of the
Arab canaille, of which I had read somewhere, including
even the stranger and alien. I never heard a word to
suggest fanaticism, or any contempt of a stranger, but
was rather myself the object of genial courtesies, which
found for me a seat in the cafes, and surrounded me with
bright smiling faces ; while combined Oriental pleasantry
and cunning rendered it impossible for me to pay for
the coffee which I consumed. I stayed for hours in the
street by the Mosque of Hosein, where, of course, the
people most thickly congregated, meeting every sort of
man, from the learned professor at Al Azar, to the fella
heen youth, recognised by my Cairene friend as from his
native village. And the delight of those social hours
took away the nausea of the Persian contribution to the
celebration of the day of Ashoora.
It may be noted that the Mosque of Hosein and
Hassan is now closed on this day, and all the dervish
performances described by Lane and others as taking
place there, at Ashoora, belong to the past, so far as the
public are concerned. A lingering remnant of them
remains in a private place near by, where to make any
show of them is strictly forbidden.
On several occasions I have been honoured by an
invitation from Moslem friends to spend with them one
of their " Nights for God." It is a beautiful custom, I
think, this of commemorating the chief events of family life

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 237
by thus dedicating certain nights of each year. Perhaps a
son has been given to the earnestly praying parents, or
some signal blessing of Providence has come to the
family in other ways — the Moslem is frankly grateful to
God for material success — and a certain night, to be
dedicated to the praise of God, will be added to the
household calendar. I have heard of cases in which
thankfulness for a legacy, or for the father's official
advancement, as well as for escape from sickness, or
rescue from sudden death, have been made the reason
for such ceremonies. Most families have at least one such
night in the year ; others have as many as three or four.
It will most likely be so arranged that these cele
brations fall on a Wednesday evening. To each day of
the week different attributes are given — Tuesday being
the least favoured day for all human undertakings. On
Tuesday it is believed God created all the unpleasant
things. In Moslem lands this is always made the day for
the execution of criminals. No man would marry on
Tuesday — " Married on Tuesday, hanged on Tuesday,"
is a universal proverb. A tradition makes the Prophet
declare that " on Saturday God created the earth, the
mountains on Sunday, the trees on Monday, darkness
on Tuesday, light on Wednesday, animals on Thursday,
Adam on Friday."
The first preparation for a Night for God is to
invite intimate friends to a banquet at sunset ; and be
sure this will prove a bountiful feast, for no matter
what the frugality of the ordinary life of the Egyptian
family may be, they will provide every possible delicacy
in abundance when they invite their friends. After
the feast, coffee and cigarettes, of course, when the
grave and reverend members of the party will retire,

238 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
possibly to a mosque near by, or failing that to another
apartment, to make their evening prayer, or their
special Prayer of Praise, while the younger members
of the family entertain the rare Christian guest ; to
extend an invitation to a non-Moslem is a mark of
unusual confidence.
In seeking the origin of this form of celebration I
was reminded that when anyone brought good news
to Mohammed he used to prostrate himself and thank
God. He attached special merit to the Prayer of
Praise for his followers, and recommended them to add
to it certain devotional exercises called " Wird," or
reading portions of the Koran, especially at night.
" The only way to become united with God is constant
intercourse with Him," says the theologian Ghazzali,
writing on this subject of the Wird.
After the prayer all the party will assemble in the sal
emlik, and a sheikh, whoJias been engaged through being
well known as a man who is specially accomplished in re
citing the Koran and the traditional stories of the Pro
phet, takes up his position on a special high chair and begins
one of the suras. Immediately every leg is uncrossed,
and every negligent attitude of the body corrected ;
cigarettes are extinguished, and we all sit in silence,
broken only by the " Allahs " of approval at the end of
any verse of more than ordinary power. The reading
is dramatic, and very varied in style, as the matter of
the sura changes from threat to pleading, or turns
from preaching to law-giving, or to historical record,
or to passages of tender poetic charm. In /most cases
the sheikh engaged for this purpose is blind, as Koran
reciting is a recognised profession for the sightless, of
whom there are too many in the East. The Oriental

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 239
faculty for memorising has always been famous, and
these men all know the whole of the Koran by heart (its
length is about two-thirds that of the New Testament),
as well as much of the traditional lore of the Prophet.
What is the deep fascination of this Koran, that men
and young lads, otherwise impatient of anything ap
proaching boredom, will sit silent and motionless for
many hours while it is read, with no lagging of interest
in the development of its varying periods.
These "Nights for God" will often last till
two o'clock in the morning. The intervals between
the suras will only be short, but it is not until the
Koran reading is finished — about midnight, when the
stories of tradition follow — that relaxation is permitted.
I know the Koran is to them the very word of God ;
but so is the Bible to us. The Oriental is always affected
by grandeur of language, and especially by sonorous
words of wisdom, and the flash upon life of a proverbial
utterance that rings true.
It was the genius of Mohammed that gave the
Arabs in the Koran a book not only of laws and moral
guidance, but a book which in parts rises to the heights
of noblest poetry, as well as of deep wisdom uttered in
the form of rhythmic proverbs. While they declare the
Koran to be the one great miracle of the Prophet's life,
in a very true sense its miraculous power appeals to them
afresh, in its style as well as in its teaching, every time
they hear the recitation of it.
It is worthy of note, I think, that the genius of Shake
speare finds a deep response in the Eastern mind for
some such reasons as I have stated. A native theatre
in Cairo has staged several of the plays of our great
poet, and it is a most interesting experience to hear

240 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
Hamlet and Macbeth, here the greatest favourites, given
in Arabic to an audience chiefly of Egyptian students.
Patience ! it was one o'clock in the morning before the
last corpse in Hamlet was laid upon the stage ; but not
a seat had been vacated. The lads who had shared a
box with me had followed every line of the play with
great eagerness, groaning deepest approval of those
great passages which we in the West have always specially
treasured. When the play was at last ended, these
lads were sad as night, with a sense of haunting terror,
from which I could not shake them. " Sir," said one
of them, when I questioned him, " it is very dreadful.
Not that so many people died, but that they deserved
their fate ! " The proprietor, knowing the moods of
his Oriental patrons, followed his invariable custom
when he puts on Hamlet, and had engaged two comic
men to amuse the audience — at that hour of the morning
too ! — before they went home. My friends said that if
they had not laughed at the quips and cranks of the
clowns, they would have been afraid, and unable to
sleep !

CHAPTER IV
" It is quite certain that Mohammed won the absolute support of his
first converts and swordsmen by first gaining their hearts ... an appre
hension of the highest and deepest reality of existence, took possession
of Mohammed. Every fibre of his being responded to it, and the hearts
of his followers were kindled-by the flame in the Prophet's soul."
Dr. G. M. Grant, The Religions of the World.
The greatest birthday festival of all the year, of course,
is the Moolid of the Prophet, which in Cairo is celebrated
with a splendour scarcely realised by ordinary visitors.
Indeed, Stanley Lane-Poole in his famous book on Cairo
dismisses the event as hardly worth noting, after it had
ceased to be held in " the waste land called Ezbekiya,
then a large lake during high Nile, but a fine open piece
of ground when the river retired to its banks." To say,
as he does, that " the tents have mostly disappeared,"
is more than misleading ; it is the very antithesis of the
truth. I imagine there is no yearly celebration anywhere
in the world that can compare with the Moolid en-Nebee,
as it is celebrated at the present day at Cairo ; where
the immense square of decorated and illuminated tents
set up at Abbassieh — one of Cairo's near suburbs — make
up a scene of unrivalled splendour.
The carnival begins, however, earlier in the day,
when all native Cairo is en fete for the great procession
which musters in the square of Bab-el- Khalk and marches
out to Abbassieh. This procession is still a wonderful
sight ; if it has been shorn of some of its fearful Oriental
extravagances and Dervish frenzies, it has lost little or
nothing of the variety and colour, and its intense human
16

242 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
interest. The Moolid fell this year (191 2) on 29th
February, which corresponded with the. 12th day of
Rabeea el-Owwal, the third month of the Moslem year.
This date is that of the death as well as the birth of the
Prophet. Seeing the procession, as I did, from the
porch of the mosque of Sultan Mouayyed, where we
faced the procession as it came slowly through the
shadows of the fine old gateway of Bab Zoueilah into
the suntit street, with all its many coloured banners
waving, I could imagine no sight more characteristic
of the East, in the curious blending of the pure pleasure-
making of a people's holiday with religious observance.
It was a genuine gala day, on which merriment was not
diminished because every man constantly cried aloud of
the greatness of God.
Before taking my place at the mosque, I enjoyed
a delightful hour on the steps of the Arab Museum,
watching the gathering crowds of men and boys who
were to form the long stream which was to flow through
the narrow city alleys to Abbassieh. From all directions
there gradually collected groups, wearing distinctive
colours, and bearing banners and staves. From every
side street and alley, by some invisible control, all these
groups eventually concentrated in the great square, in a
seething, good-humoured, very noisy mass, looking as
little able to shape itself into anything in the form of a
procession as a Hampstead Heath crowd might be to
suddenly assume a military formation. Of generalship
there seemed to be none ; except perhaps in the case
of one young mounted Egyptian officer who gave a
casual instruction here and there.
Now and then the groups would close up, moved
by some common impulse ; they would chant and

One of the Famous City Gates at Cairo.

The Gathering Crowds of Men and Boys for the Procession on
the Prophet's Birthday.

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 243
dance, and then, with hands upon their breasts, follow,
with sudden seriousness, the supplication to Heaven of
the sheikh who was with them. It was only their
moments of prayer that stopped the constant drumming
which seems to be a special feature of this fete, for
almost every man and boy carried in his left hand a
small sort of basin drum on which he beat with a short
strap. This drum is called a tabl, and is used in certain
religious functions, and in the old days was the instru
ment by which the innumerable dervishes called atten
tion to their coming performances. Even when a
group would turn, to buy and eat food, from the
portable stands of the innumerable and thriving venders
of cakes, rissoles, sweets, and nuts, they contrived to
keep up their drumming.
No one, surely, could help taking a delight in the
glowing good-nature which actuated all these folk, many
of them simple fellaheen from distant country places.
There was a sort of communal idea binding them in
one interest, which led every man and boy to be willing
to share his food with everyone else. In all that great
crowd I was quite sure no man went hungry on that day.
And were the banners heavy ? — a dozen eager hands
were ready to take a share of the burden. The blind
who abound in every Eastern crowd, and to whom
Moslem people are always, as a religious duty, very
kind, were to-day cared for with more than ordinary
tenderness. The forest of waving banners — for such it had now
become — was a beautiful sight in the golden sunshine.
But it might well be asked again how an organised
procession, and one able to go through those narrow
streets of the city, could ever be evolved out of such

244 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
seething chaos. But knowing these people as I do, I
was confident that at a given moment some spring
would be touched, the secret of which is unknowable
to the Western mind, with its exclusive confidence in
the order which can only be gained by elaborate
" organisation," and the aim of all this gathering would
be perfectly realised.
In this confidence I set off, by a narrow and deserted
back-way, to gain the mosque, where I am known to
the sheikhs, who are keeping places at the top of., the
fine steps at the main entrance. Already the scene
there is one of marvellous picturesqueness ; the dark
gateway, in the high city walls, forming a perfect back
ground to the bright colours of the ever-moving crowd,
as little organised to make way. for a procession as the
throngs on the other side of the gate seem to be to
form themselves into an ordered stream. Everywhere
there are groups of women of the poorer classes, closely
veiled, — in the doorways, on the roofs, sitting at our
feet on the mosque steps, with restless children (Kow
many of the little girls were carrying babies I do not
know), — darting in and out.
On the wide porch steps, too, were some of the
solemn-looking boys of the mosque school — junior
students of Al Azar — with their red fezes and clean
white turbans, and the long black robe, or gibbeh,
which falls so gracefully from the neck to the feet ; and
in the recesses of that beautiful porch were the nice old
men, "servants of the mosque," who inquired every
now and then if we thought the demonstration
" kuwaiyis " or good.
It was a scene to inspire an artist or even a poet, for
as the sunlight, falling into the street between the

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 245
irregular roofs, brought out the strange beauty of light
and shade which glorifies these native Eastern ways,
the fascination of the picture before us was thrilling to
minds brought up in the plainer and more sombre West.
What spell is it that can so blind one to dirt, and the
sordid signs of poverty, and a want of plan and order in
these streets r In a more Northern climate the sight
of the dirt and the sordidness would be unendurable.
And now, at last, the head of the procession appears
in the gateway ; and the long, long train of it comes
steadily onwards, in as perfect order as any popular
demonstration would go through the streets of the
West. It is divided into sections, each made up of a
sort of guild of the followers of a certain saint or teacher,
under the direction of a living sheikh or dervish who
rides on horseback, and is generally a descendant of the
saint ; the guilds being called in Arabic the " ways "
of their dervishes.
The different Ways are shown by the special turbans
and banners ; and at the end of each Way the sheikh
rode on his horse, guarded by his followers, who held off
the crowds with flag-poles, carried horizontally on each
side of the horse. I imagine that in the old days these
chief dervishes were more liable to be mobbed than
they are in modern Cairo ; I have seen such a man on
a ceremonial occasion in the Sahara Desert almost
killed by the persistence of his devoted followers in
embracing him ; struggling with each other to get near
enough just to touch his burnous, if an actual salute
of his person were impossible.
On this occasion, in Cairo, a few people tried to gain
a personal salutation from the sheikhs, but without any
crowding or excitement. The sheikh usually rode with

246 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
his hands covered in the long sleeves of his robe, a sign
of deep humility in an Oriental, and eyes closed, quietly
muttering what I believe was the beautiful " Mecca "
Sura of the Koran, which is given a place in the Moslem's
devotions equal to that given by Christians to the Lord's
Prayer. " Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds !
The compassionate, the merciful I
King on the day of reckoning.
Thee only do we worship, and to Thee do we cry for help.
Guide Thou us on the straight path.
The path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious ; with whom
Thou art not angry, and who go not astray. Amen."
And all the time, in rhythm to the march, the rank and
file kept repeating the praises of God : " Great is God !
There is no God but God ! ! Allah ! ! ! Allah ! ! ! "
It was the special office of some of the Ways to carry
scent in bottles and sprinkle it on the crowds ; others
had burning incense on trays. The leader of another
Way carried aloft on a beautiful tray a special copy of the
Koran, covered with an embroidered cloth. In another
Way a whirling dervish gave a dance at intervals in quite
a. business-like way, with an entire absence of the abandon
and frenzy one has read of, his white skirt, evidently
heavily weighted at the edge, spreading out like a fan
with his rapid twirling.
Occasionally the men and lads who carried banners
showed signs of excitement, leading them to persist in
dancing until they were about to fall with exhaustion,
at the first signs of which they were relieved. The
banners were heavy, and there was enough breeze to
test the powers of endurance of the stoutest bearers.
One particular banner was treated with great respect :
people on the balconies and at upper windows would try

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 247
to grasp its folds to kiss it ; and the man carrying it, as he
passed me, was on the point of collapse from emotion and
exhaustion in his efforts to carry his heavy burden while
executing the religious dance. An old sheikh on one side
of me told me in an awed voice that " a nail brought from
the Kaaba at Mecca was in the pole of that banner " ;
while on the other side an educated effendi whispered to
me in English, " It is not true, of course ! "
The last Way, and the longest, to pass is that of the
descendants of Abu Bakr, the Prophet's friend and the
first Caliph of Islam. I have spoken of the Sheikh el-
Bekri, whose palace I visited. He is the chief of all the
sheikhs who order these guilds, and is described as the
occupant of the Prayer Carpet — sign of a spiritual throne
— of his noble ancestor, the first Prince of Islam. On
this occasion the sheikh has sent a representative to
carry his banner, he himself being already at Abbassieh,
where he has generously invited me to a banquet in his
tent at sunset.
Knowing this cultured and gentle sheikh, el-Bekri,
it is with difficulty that one can realise that only as
long ago as the reign of the late Khedive it was at this
point of the procession that the ceremony of the Doseh
was performed, in which the Sheikh el-Bekri rode his
horse over the backs of a number of men who placed
themselves closely together upon the ground for that
purpose, in the firm belief that, if they were worthy,
no injury could come to them. To-day the Bekri
Guild passed with little special notice. A murmur of
appreciation was heard, and some of the women on the
balconies tried to grasp the flags, to rub their faces
with them. It should be stated that over eighty years
since the Sheikh el-Bekri of that day refused for several

248 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
years to perform the Doseh, or treading. But the time
was not ripe for the abolition of so old a rite. In re
sponse to entreaty, he appointed a substitute — a blind
man, who did not long survive the honour. A unanimous
request from the other dervishes led him to perform it
again himself. It was regarded as a miracle, the neces
sary supernatural power being granted to the successive
representatives of this family.
When the end of the procession had passed, the
crowds betook themselves to their pleasures, many of
them making their way to Abbassieh.
The whole celebration has become very restrained
and subdued, as compared with earlier days. Mohammed
Abdu sought to have it altogether abolished. In the
days of the Doseh, the many dervishes gave revolting
performances in the streets, which had their origin in
more barbaric times, when men threw themselves into
a state of catalepsy in a crude but genuine pursuit of a
mystic communion with God, but which afterwards
came to be little more than the cynical trickery of the
charlatan, to impose upon the masses of the people.
If the reforming sheikh, Mohammed Abdu, was not
successful in abolishing these demonstrations altogether,
he did much to suppress their cruder features.
I have seen, in the desert, many of the dervish mani
festations — of the genuineness of which there could be
no sort of doubt ; tricks which call for a more convincing
surgical explanation than they have at present received.
I have seen live coals held under the bare arms, large
packing-needles thrust through the cheeks and eyelids,
the eating of quantities of broken glass, and other
terrible things. And I have also seen in the desert, too,
how nearly allied this sort of thing can be to vulgar

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 249
juggling as soon as it becomes a regular item in a public
show. In Cairo the last stage of these performances in
public was a revolting depravity — the ecstasies suggested
hashish, and the flesh-piercing became almost undis
guised conjuring, with special trick implements.
However, now that from this procession almost all
traces of excess have been eliminated, it has become
what seems to my mind a reasonable way of celebrating
a great popular festival. It was, indeed, an impressive
sight to see thousands of the poorest folk making holiday,
and, while giving themselves up to the utmost enjoy
ment, finding their chief delight in extolling the name
of God, by continually naming His gracious attributes.
Repetition ? Yes. But no one can begin to under
stand these children of the East until they know the
power that mere repetition has over their minds. The
very Arabic language seems to foster repetition ; one
of the charms of the Koran is the use that is made of
it ; and even in ordinary conversation certain forms of
repetition have a well-understood use in creating definite
cumulative effects. The very greetings even of the
poorest are a gradual development from certain simple
phrases leading to a perfect expression of courteous
interest in the well-being of a friend. In any other
language, and with any other' people, this method, which
never loses an indefinable gracefulness and charm,
would lead to an almost meaningless formalism. To the
common people in all lands constant repetition of the
songs and sayings of the day seems to have an irresistible
fascination ; in listening to these men chanting their
constant refrain, " God is most Great ! " " God is Good ! "
I could not help thinking of certain Bank Holiday

250 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
crowds I know of, singing for ever the same song, and
unwearyingly bandying the same phrase, which for the
time being possesses the popular fancy.
There are a great many of these Guilds or Ways
in Egypt, and membership is highly valued by the
members, forming as they do a sort of freemasonry,
both in the secrecy of some of their rules and ceremonies
and in their mutual obligations. Each Guild is confined
to men of a certain class or trade, or from the same
distant country. Some have regular fasts at certain
tombs, others confine themselves in cells, others, meet
once a week for whole nights of prayer. In almost all
cases part of their religious exercises include the bewailing
of sin and the begging of the forgiveness of God, with
the assertion of a resolution not to relapse. In all my
inquiries of their chief sheikhs I was careful to elicit
their rules on this point — so often I had read that
" the consciousness of sin " was entirely absent from
the Moslem mind. " The guilt of sin is not recognised,"
says Mr. St. Clair-Tisdall ; going on to that awful
judgment, " It will be evident that purity of heart is
neither considered necessary nor desirable ; in fact, it
would be hardly too much to say that it is impossible,
for a Moslem " — the italics being his.
The very courteous invitation I received to partake
of the banquet which would be served in the tent of the
Sheikh el-Bekri at Abbassieh, " at the setting of the sun,"
was a great compliment. On the great plain a vast
number of splendid tents had been set up in an enormous
square. The Khedive's tent, lined with dark red, was
in the middle of the top row, and next to his the tent
to which I was invited, a very fine one — lined with
green — as became the cheif sheikh of the country, by

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 251
whom this very pavilion has been inherited from a long
line of the chief descendants not alone of the Prophet
but of the great Caliph Abu Bakr. My host has again
united the two noble families by marrying the daughter
of the house of Sadat — the Prophet's chief representa
tives, he being the head of the family which has come
in an unbroken line from Abu Bakr ; and as his father-
in-law had no son, he has succeeded to the chief honours
of Islam in Egypt.
Other tents in the long rows belonged to the Ministers
of State, the great public departments of the Govern
ment, the Wakfs administration, the different Ways,
and to many of the great Moslem families.
Until this year, even the elder school students had
always had a tent of their own. But schoolboy repression
is the order of the day under Lord Kitchener's regime,
and the lads are sent away lamenting the last vestige of
those liberties which had previously enabled them to
take part in certain public demonstrations to celebrate
the glories of the early days of Islam, and to sing the
praises of their Prophet.
Seen in daylight, these tents, with their flags and
mottoes, made a wonderful setting for a scene of national
rejoicing. Some of them had really beautiful gardens
of flowers and palms, made temporarily in the sand ;
the Bekri tent being particularly beautiful in the floral
decorations of its awning-covered court.
Imagine what a scene of splendour this became
when a million electric lights, in every colour, sprang
forth at sunset, in a thousand graceful devices, all round
the vast square, outlining and decorating all the pavilions,
and the myriad candles sparkled in the lustre chandeliers
of the tents. The immense crowd, including all the

252 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
great procession and its followers, might well groan
with deepest delight at what must have seemed to the
Oriental mind a foretaste of the splendours of Paradise.
To the fellaheen from the remote and silent hamlets
the sight must have been almost overpowering.
I need not describe the banquet, except to express
further wonder at the organisation that could serve
such a feast, prepared and cooked in tents erected for
the use of a single day. It was one of a hundred
banquets, all prepared in kitchen tents, connected at
the back of the pavilions. The luxuries of the East
and the West were combined — the Oriental monarch's
favourite kunafa, made from a seventh-century recipe,
followed by modern ice puddings which might have
come from Gunter's.
After dinner we sat on the gorgeous gilded chairs and
sofas in the outer tent, when Yemen coffee was brought
to us in priceless china cups, which were placed on the
gilded tables with tiny square tops peculiar to the East.
Many great people, most of them handsomely dressed
sheikhs and ulemas, came to the tent to pay their
respects to their chief.
Later, we went on a round of visits to the other tents,
returning about eight o'clock, as all the dignitaries and
nobles began to assemble near the Khedive's tent for the
reception of His Highness, who was due at nine ©'clock.
By this time the crowds were enormous, but the order
maintained by the police was such that, when the Khe
dive's procession appeared, he was able to drive right
round the vast square by a road cut clean and sharp by
the police and soldiers through the dense mass of human
beings. His Highness's arrival was the signal for the
bursting forth of a huge cascade of fire from the centre of

Photo]

The "Whirling Dervishes" and Musicians.

[Lekegian, Cairo.

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 253
the square, the lighting of many set-pieces of fireworks,
the exploding of cannon, the whizz of rockets which
showered over us myriads of every sort of coloured star.
The bands played, the drums rattled, the crowd " oh'd "
with delight ; for in the East the people seldom or
never cheer.
For nearly an hour the fireworks were maintained
with bewildering profusion and brilliancy. During this
time the Khedive was holding court in the scarlet tent.
As soon as the display ended, he withdrew to his carriage,
amidst low salaams, and with his family and suite drove
away. At the moment that he left the square the police
relaxed their hold of the crowds, which at once became
a resistless ocean.
I now made a tour of the tents which I had not
already seen. These were on the far side of the square,
and were mostly occupied by dervishes, many of them
engaged in leading " ziks," which, as we passed, were at
different stages of development — from the calm, dignified
start, when the name of " Allah ! Allah ! " is repeated
with scarcely a movement of the head, to the last stage
of excitement, where some of the dancers had fallen
exhausted from the unrestrained and awful exertion to
which they had gradually been excited by their dervishes.
These things are nearly as old as the Moolid itself,
though many of the ancient features have been dropped.
The dancing-girl no longer has a place in such festivities,
and the buffoons and conjurers had no stage here that I
could discover ; and I could find no representative of
the lower orders of dervishes who used to chew and
swallow red-hot coals and crunch and swallow glass with
apparent enjoyment.
When I got home, after mingling with and being

254 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
jostled by these crowds of people, most of them of the
poorest class, both of town and country, I did not find
one even of the " no fewer than eight lice on my cloth
ing," which Lane so quaintly records as an item of his
attending the great Moolid.
The greatest sign of the modern spirit, however, was
to be found in one of the larger tents, where a preacher,
whom I know well, was standing on a platform and
delivering a sermon to a great crowd, who listened to his
moral exhortations with deep attention. This is the
sheikh I have spoken of in another place, who conducts
" missions " in different parts of Egypt. That he is a
most effective speaker was manifest : his appeals and
warnings were received in breathless silence ; then,
when the tension had become almost too great, he
would 'tell some apt story from real life, or from Arab
history, raising a smile, or sending a quiet laugh round
the whole tent. In some ways one could have imagined
this to be a meeting of a " tent mission " in England (or
Wales) ; but the inevitable touch of the East could not
long be wanting — in one of the pauses the sheikh took
out his little scent-bottle, and with its glass " dropper "
offered me and other friends who were near the refresh
ment of a tiny drop of the pure essence of musk on the
palms of our hands.
Musk, it may be remarked, was the favourite scent
of the Prophet, " the odour of Paradise." In the
native parts of Cairo the air is full of this scent on
Fridays, for after the great ablution it is usual to scent
the body with it before the noonday prayer. I could not
say how many presents I and my wife had of bottles of
scent given us by sheikh friends, always either musk or
jasmine ; and as I was obliged to refuse cigarettes, a

GREAT FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 255
touch of the scent on all occasions was offered me
instead. It was with difficulty that we found the carriage of
our Moslem friend who had kindly brought us from
Cairo. As we drove away from the scene of another
true Arabian night, I wondered again how it had all been
brought to a perfect realisation, in this land of " bukra "
(to-morrow), of indifference to contract, of seeming im
potence in the realm of definite accomplishment and
organised effort. But again I realised that in this, as
in many other matters, the West often judges stupidly,
leaping to conclusions which are utterly misleading.
We too easily think the Eastern people wrong at the point
where they differ from us. I know it is constitutional
with them to push aside vexation, both for themselves
and for you, with the eternal " ma'alesh " (do not think
of it), and they are unpunctual and slack over the too-
readily-made appointment. But for all that, the
Oriental, though he chooses other hours than the
European for his labours, often works very hard, and
occasionally develops a genius for the control of wide
spread interests. If we are ever to understand them, we
must remember, as a first principle, that they approach
every question in life in a way exactly opposite from
ourselves ; and this in itself will defeat every attempt at
a swift Western judgment of them. I wish there was a
more general desire to bring to the study of people who
depend upon our understanding of them, and a conse
quent exercise of justice, a slower and more painstaking
temper than in truth one can say exists at the present
time.

BOOK IV
THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM
AS INTERPRETED THROUGH THE MOSLEMS THEMSELVES

It is the author's hope and belief that to him, as to others who have
ventured, on grounds of conscientious principle, to think for themselves
on the subject of Islam, may be justly ascribed " the motives of the
humble inquirer who wishes to attribute actions to good intentions when
he can, and hopes to be able to discern something short of unmixed evil
in a dispensation which has been allowed for centuries to regulate the
morals and religious feelings of millions : to claim some favourable con
sideration for the instructor and legislator of a whole hemisphere, and to
do something to dissipate the cloud of absurd and calumnious fable that
has so long been gathering around Mohammed's name." — Retrospective
Review (vol. iii. p. i).

17

CHAPTER I
THE MOSLEM CONCEPTION OF GOD
" In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds !
The Compassionate, the Merciful !
King of the Day of Judgment !
Thee only do we worship, and to Thee do we cry for help !
Guide Thou us on the right path !
The path of those for whom thy Love is great !
Nor of those with whom Thou art angered, nor of those who go
astray ! " The opening Sura of the Koran.
It is astonishing to note the facility with which the
opposing critics of Islam will define for the Western
world the Moslem conception of God, with little or
no reference to the life of the people themselves, who
most earnestly worship Him, or to the teaching of their
devoutest leaders. Such missionary writers as I have
previously mentioned (Mr. Samuel M. Zwemer and
the Rev. W. St. Clair-Tisdall particularly) will go to
every authority who has had a damaging estimate to
expound, to pile up the details of their own terrible
indictments ; if they find a favourable word in Western
criticism they will immediately oppose it with a " cor
rective." Mr. Zwemer actually does this in Islam :
a Challenge to Faith. If the words of the Koran or of the
companions of the Prophet, contradict their assertions,
they will turn to some mean tradition of Islam to
explain away this contradiction, or will boldly assert
that it is unorthodox ! (Note i. These notes are to
"59

260 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
be found at the end of the volume.) These critics
will even make it a complaint that the Moslem faith,
grounded as it is on the call to the worship of One God —
" He is God alone :
God the Eternal !
He begetteth not, and He is not begotten,
And there is none like unto Him " (Sura cxii.).
is to be condemned because, among the hundred
" excellent names " of God, which the Moslem recites
with reverence, " the name of Father does not occur "
{Religion of the Crescent, p. 55). Can the spirit of
perversity go beyond this ?
It is not surprising that when we come to definite
statements about Islam, we find ourselves confronted
with a cruel fiction, which any real acquaintance with
the people about whom it is written will at once (as it
did in my own case) contradict. Of infinite holiness
and of infinite love Mohammed had no idea whatever :
so Allah is defective in holiness and love. But He is
an arbitrary Oriental despot, who makes His enemies
experience His wrath in a terrible manner, and loads
His faithful servants with benefits, while winking at
their misdeeds. The Christian truth that " God is
Love " is to the learned Moslem blasphemy, and to
the ignorant an enigma. Thus and thus — I quote the
very words in which the picture is drawn.
And the people of the West are asked to go on
believing, as they always have believed, " because they
would," that it is such a God as this who inspires the
passionate adoration of hundreds of millions of mankind,
and who is worshipped five times a day with a con
centration of fervour and an exaltation of praise, the
secret of which the Christian world has yet to learn.
It is an instructive thing simply to turn to these

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 261
excellent names of God, on which the Moslem loves to
dwell. I will give some of those which seem to have
been obscured for Western readers : —
ar-Ra'bman, the Merciful. al-Barr, Righteousness.
ar-Ra'hlm, the Compassionate. at-Tawwab, the Relenting.
al-Qaddus, the Holy. al-'Hafti, the Pardoner.
as-Salam, Peace. ar-Ra'uf, the Kind.
al-Ghafur, the Forgiving. an-Nur, Light.
al-Ghaffar, the Forgiver. al-Hadl, the Guide.
al-Karim, the Generous. al-Baql, the Enduring.
al-Muglb, the Answerer of ar-Rasld, the Rightly-Direct-
Prayer, ing.
al-Wadfid, the Loving. az-Zabur, the Patient.
A man once came before the Prophet with a towel
in his hand and said, " O Prophet ! I passed through
a wood, and heard the voices of young birds ; and I
took them and wrapped them in this towel, and their
mother came fluttering round my head, and I uncovered
the young, and the mother fell down upon them ; then
I wrapped them up again ; here they are ! " The
Prophet said, " Open the cloth on the ground." And
then the mother went again to her young, and the
Prophet said, " Do you wonder at the affection of the
mother towards her young ? I swear by Him who
hath sent me, verily God is more loving to His servants
than the mother to these young birds. Return them
to their place, so that the mother may have them."
Truly there is' in this conception of God " the
gentleness and the love that belongs only to great
strength." Nearly every sura of tie Koran is given
in the name of the Compassionate and Merciful God ;
that He is the Very Forgiving was the constant theme
of the Prophet's talk. Is not God the indulgent, the
forgiver of sins, the merciful ? (Sura xlii. 3) he ' asks.
Your prayer to Him shall be — Grant us Thy pardon,
O Lord ! For to Thee our journey tends. God, who

262 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
will not burden any soul beyond its power, punish us not
if we forget or fall into sin, O our Lord ! And lay not on
us that for which we have not strength, but forgive us,
and spare us, and have pity on us (Sura ii. 285-6).
I do not wonder that the Moslem sees in the appeal
of the Koran the voice of " the Heavenly Father calling
back through His servant His erring children " (Syed
Ameer Ali, M.A.). Indeed, in this sense the word
" Father " is not absent even from the stories told of
the Prophet himself. In the story of the heavenly
vision which Mohammed had, he saw in the first heaven
two doors ; the angel Gabriel told him that the one door
led to Paradise and the other to Hades, and that " the
Father of mankind rejoiced over thosewhoweresaved, and
wept over those of His children who were lost " (Note 2).
But, says the modern critic in the usual vein, the
Moslem conception of God never comes near that of
an all-pitying Father. It is rather the " mercy " of an
autocrat, who spares a few from the general destruction,
for motives no more intelligible than those for which
Caliban spared some of the land-crabs in Browning's
notable poem (The Reproach of Islam, p. 134).
In the many talks with the, chief sheikhs of Islam
which I had on this subject, as also with Egyptians
who love their religion no less because they have
not been specially trained as the sheikhs have in all its
lore, I always found that all such dogmatic statements
as these did them far less than justice. In every case
the conception of God, as expressed by the Moslems
themselves, is greater — sometimes infinitely so — than
any such narrow deductions suggest.
As one authority said to me : " If Mr. Gairdner's
statements fairly represent us, Islam never could have

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 263
gained any considerable hold over the hearts of vast
numbers of men ; and certainly, under modern con
ditions of declining political power, could not maintain
its hold. And if a Moslem, looking over the Christian
world, and taking note of all its conflicting ideas of God,
which embrace almost every doctrine mentioned by
Mr. Gairdner as belonging to the Moslem conception
of Allah, were to write in the same strain of modern
Christianity, that would be as unjust and as painful to
the professors of your faith as these writings are to us."
I think of the good Sheikh Yussef, of Luxor, who
was made quite miserable by some Christians telling
him of the doctrine that all infants who died unbaptized
went to eternal fire ; and as he knew that Lady Duff
Gordon had lost a very young child, it weighed on his
mind that perhaps she fretted about this ; and so he said
he could not refrain from trying to convince her — the
only interference with her religious opinions he ever
attempted — that God was not so cruel and unjust as
the Nazarene priests represented Him, and that all
infants whatsoever, as well as all ignorant persons, were
to be saved. " Would that I could take the cruel
error out of the minds of all the hundreds and thousands
of poor Christian mothers who must be tortured by it,"
said he, " and let them understand that their dead
babies are with Him who sent and who took them."
By no possibility could the conception of God, as
it is represented by such missionary writers as I have
mentioned, ever lead to the saintly life ; to such spiritual
longing after God as that of the mystics of Islam, whose
love for God became a rapture — with no more of the
faults arising from the cultivation of ecstasy than
Christian mystics have shown.

264 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
And this seeking after a religion of the heart, which
we call mysticism — which has always flourished, par
ticularly in Egypt — is not, as a recent writer has shown,
a late importation into Islam, or an alien element in
it, drawn from Christian Neoplatonic and Buddhist
sources, but its roots, he believes, are to be found in
the life of the Prophet, and in the Koran itself. When
the Arabs saw Mohammed's fasting and meditation
they used to say, " He is in love with his maker " ; his
sense of the " fear of the Lord " was so intense that
he always averred that it (and the wrestling with the
revelation of his message) turned his hair prematurely
white. That strange allegorical verse in the Koran is
quoted as an instance of earliest mysticism.
" God is the Light of the Heavens and of the
Earth. His Light is like a niche in which is a lamp
— the lamp encased in glass — the glass, as it were, a
glistening star. It is lighted with the oil of a blessed
tree, the olive neither of the East nor of the West, the
oil of which would well-nigh give light though no fire
touched it. It is light upon light ! " (Sura xxiv. 35).
Some of the first commentators, with mystical
longings, declared that this light was God's illuminating
grace in the heart of man. And there is evidence in
the teaching of the Prophet that he realised that,
answering to the love of God in the heart, must also
be a love to man. " Do you love your Creator ? Love
your fellow-beings first " is one of the traditional sayings.
" Do you wish to approach the Lord ? Love His
creatures." Another saying of the Prophet's was,
" That man, who is most considerate of his kind, is
the favourite of God." " How do you think God will
know you when you are in His Presence ? By your love

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 265
of your children, of your kin, of your neighbours, of
your fellow-creatures ! " In a recent statement of
Moslem doctrine by the Sheikh el-Islam he says : " Man
was created to adore his Maker. This adoration may
be summed up in two words — to honour the commands
of God, and to sympathise with His creatures."
The Koran constantly asserts that Islam is the
religion of Abraham. " We have revealed to thee that
thou follow the religion — or word — of Abraham, the
sound in faith " (Sura xvi. 124). This "word" which
Abraham proclaimed teaches (according to the Jewish
book Haggadah), first of all, the existence of one God,
the Creator of the Universe, who rules this Universe
with mercy and loving-kindness. He alone guides the
destinies of man. Idolatry, even when combined with
the belief in Him, is utterly to be abhorred. He alone
is to be worshipped ; in Him alone trust is to be placed
in adversity. He frees the persecuted and oppressed.
You must pray to Him, and serve Him in love, and
not murmur when He asks for your lives, or even for
lives still dearer to you than your own. As to duties
towards man, " Loving-kindness and mercy are the
tokens of the faith of Abraham " — mercy, charity, love,
are to be extended to every being, without reference
to garment, birth, rank, creed, or nationality.
That great mystic poem of the thirteenth century,
the Masnavi, is a song of love, such love as enables
a man to penetrate the divine purposes ; love, the
" astrolabe of heavenly mysteries," the miraculous
touch to the eye, which opens it to the spiritual life,
which gives it clairvoyant power to pierce the veil.
This love dwells entirely on the Fatherhood of God,
and will have no belief in any attributes of terror, of

266 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
compulsion, or predestination, or any seeming anomalies
in the divine government, which perplexed Job, the
Ecclesiast, and endless later theologians. This poem,
Masnavi I May Navi, the spiritual couplets of Moham
med Rumi, preceded the Divina Commedia of Dante
by fifty years. As the one poem by general consent
is called divine, so the Moslem couplets are always
termed spiritual ; by some it is called " The Amulet of
the Soul."
The poem approaches every question through the
writer's love of God. And this conception certainly
included some part of what St. John and St. Paul meant
by love, as the scholar who translated the poem into
English avers. And it included mutual charity, the love
of fellow-men, though of course it did not amount to
that universal charity, that " enthusiasm of humanity,"
which possessed St Francis, and impelled him to spend
and be spent for the good of the poor and outcast.
But the Moslem poet, nevertheless, as regards love to
man, enjoins the practice of meekness, patience, kindness,
tolerance, in fact, of all the virtues classed by St. Paul
as " charity," and constituting the " Christian temper,"
though, by the way, that temper is hardly confined to
Christians. God judges not as men judge, from outward conduct,
but looks at the heart, the secret motives, the " aspira
tion." Hence forms and rites are of little importance ;
even the words in which a man expresses his devotion
are quite immaterial so long as a worshipper is inspired
by the love of God. Man is not saved by " naming
the Divine names " with orthodox accuracy, or by
worshipping with " fair rites," but by heartfelt love
and earnest endeavour to please God. Those who

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 267
worship Him in spirit, these the Father seeks, no matter
in what place they may have uttered their prayer.
" Fools exalt the mosque," says the Moslem poet, " and
ignore the true temple in the heart." As Rumi wrote
of the Pilgrimage, " The essential Kaaba is the heart."
And—
" When God ordained the pilgrim rite, that sign
Was meant to lead thy thoughts to things divine ;
A thousand times he treads that round in vain
Who gives one human heart a needless pain."
It is interesting to turn from the mystics to the
preachers and the theologians. Here is an instance, casu
ally chosen, from a series of discourses by Ghazzali : —
Abu'l-Darda asked Ka'b (an early authority on the
Bible) what was the most special text — in the Old
Testament. He replied : " God says : The desire of the pious
has lasted long, and I am yet more desirous of meeting
them. And side by side with this text is written :
Whoso seeketh Me shall find Me, whereas whoso seeketh
aught else shall not find Me."
Abu'l-Darda said : " I testify that I heard the
Prophet say the same. In the history of David it is
written : God said unto David — Tell the people of the
world that I am the Friend of him that loveth Me,
and the companion of him that sitteth with Me, and
the Cheerer of him that cheereth himself with mention
of Me, and the Associate of him that consorteth with
Me, the Chooser of him that chooseth Me, and obedient
to him that obeyeth Me. No man loveth Me — and
I certainly know this from his heart — but I accept him
unto Myself, and love him with a love wherein he is
surpassed by none of My creatures. Whoso seeketh
Me truly shall find Me, and whoso seeketh aught else
shall not find Me. Ye people of the world, discard its
vanities, and come unto Mine honour and companion-'

268 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
ship and association. Consort with Me, and I will con
sort with you, and hasten to love you."
It is at this point that a Christian critic should
admit that the Allah of the Koran is precisely the
Jehovah of the Old Testament, a divine King of kings,
dwelling in the highest heaven, a God of goodness and
severity, of mercy and of vengeance, who rules the
world with almighty and irresistible power, but which
can yet inspire the poet's heart with tenderest yearning
— like as the hart desireth the water-brooks, so longeth
my soul after Thee, O God. And it was here that
Mohammed could say to the Jews, to whom the earliest
inspired word of God had been sent, " Our God and
your God is one " (Sura xxix. 45).
In one of the traditions of Mohammed, God is
represented as saying at the Judgment, " O ye sons of
men I was hungry and ye gave Me no food," the whole
passage being in the words of St. Matthew xxv., a con
ception of the Judge which can in no way be reconciled
with that of a despot.
When the great missionary, Henry Martyn, reached
Shiraz, in 1811, he found the Moslems of the Sufi sect
there eager to listen to his message. " These Sufis," he
wrote in his diary, " are quite the Methodists of the
East, They delight in everything Christian except
being exclusive. They consider that all will finally
return to God, from whom they emanated."
In the opinion of A. von Kremer, the mysticism of
Islam and Christendom have many points of contact,
and by mysticism perhaps will be first bridged the wide
gulf which separates Islam from Christendom, and
thereby from modern civilisation.
Another missionary — D. M. Thornton, a man who

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 269
had some affinity to Raymond Lull and Henry Martyn
in this field of work — writing in Egypt, in 1907, said :
" As is so often the case, I found the leading Moslems
were more anxious to know our message than the
timorous Christians."
Should it not be admitted that, whether in Christian
lands or Moslem, man's conception of God is always
greater, as God Himself is, than the creeds in which
theologians have sought to circumscribe Him. Mo
hammed rose above his own restrictions of creed.
Although he taught that the Moslem may only pray
for believers, he himself prayed for the soul of Zaid,
who had always resisted conversion to Islam. The
injustice is for men of differing creeds to put a certain
narrow interpretation on the beliefs of other men,
setting a limit of their own devising to the possibilities
of spiritual experience of millions of their fellow-
creatures. The author of The Reproach of Islam himself has a
certain realisation of this, as all good men must have.
" Men are not," he says, " so mad as their logic ; and
the well-disposed Moslem often has real love for
righteousness, and that love may even be intenser because
it is the declared will of Allah." But he must needs
add : " But there is no real understanding of holiness,
or of sin in themselves." In a word, declares that
other missionary critic, whose inherent unfairness never
fails, " Mohammedanism as a religion ... is utterly
and hopelessly unfitted to quench the thirst for the
knowledge of God, which . . . asserts itself in some
degree in the breasts of all men worthy of the name "
(Note 3). But even this is not so objectionable in its
manner of statement, and its terrible suggestion, as are

270 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
the following words : " Point by point, each truth of
Christianity, steeped through and through with the
tenderness of the love of God, is negated with abhorrence
by Islam — the Fatherhood of God, the Sonship and
Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Divinity of the Holy
Ghost ... of sin condemned and sin forgiven . . .
each several truth of these truths is a blasphemy in the
eyes of every Moslem, a lie which Islam came expressly
to blast, taught by a Book which the Koran came
expressly to replace " (Note 4).
I will end this chapter on the Moslem conception
of God with one of the traditional prayers of the
Prophet, and some expressions from the prayers of Ali,
his son-in-law. The Prophet once prayed : " O Lord,
grant me the love of Thee ; grant that I may love
those that love Thee ; grant that I may do the deeds
that may win thy love ; make thy love to be dearer to
me than self, family, or than wealth."
Ali, the Caliph, gave thanks : " To my Lord : He
the adorable and only to be adored . . . the Cherisher,
whose majesty and might overshadowed the universe.
. . . Thou art the adored, my Lord; Thou art the
Master, the loving and forgiving ; . . . Thy mercy and
forgiveness are all embracing. . . . Thou art the helper
of the afflicted, the reliever of all distress, the consoler
of the broken-hearted. Thou art the friend of the
poor ; my Lord, Thou art my fortress ; a castle for
all who seek Thee. Thou art the refuge of the weak ;
the helper of the pure and true. . . . Thou art the
forgiver, I am the sinner ; Thou, my Lord, art the
merciful, all-knowing, all-loving ; I am groping in
the dark ; I seek Thy knowledge and love ; bestow,
my Lord, all Thy knowledge and love and mercy."

CHAPTER II
WHAT DO THE MOSLEMS THINK OF SIN AND OF PRAYER ?
" Mohammed's system contains a great deal of pure Christianity.
It enforces the virtues of charity, temperance, justice, and fidelity, in
the strongest manner ; it prohibits extortion, and all kinds of cruelty,
even to brutes ; and it binds its votaries to the strictest regularity, order,
and devotion." Dr. Zouch.
I suppose that no man who has seen the Moslem at
prayer has failed altogether of the feeling that he was
in the presence of an intensely sincere expression of
the human heart towards the Deity, which is almost
entirely absent from the worship of the West. For
my part I can never forget the prayers of Islam, as I
have seen its votaries perform them, whether in the
many different mosques, or under the blue skies of the
remote desert " in temples not made with hands."
I have seen a thousand men gathering in little groups
of friends, two or three in company, from distant oases,
coming together in the desert with the ardent absorp
tion which seemed to remove them from a consideration
of ordinary affairs of life ; an absorption which possessed
them from the moment they left their homes, with a
Koranic chant on their lips, until the last obeisance
of the great prayer was finished. Led in their devotions
by an old man whose saintly and selfless life was known
to all, the deep hymn of their concerted praise to the
One God went up to heaven in a single compelling note.
In whatever the writings of travellers and others have
271

272 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
differed, the devoutness of the Muslim congregation at
prayer is acknowledged — from Morocco to Mecca, from
Constantinople to Calcutta. How many observers
speak of these prayers, with their concentration of mind,
and their lowly attitudes, and the fervid sighing of the
worshippers, manifesting throughout the most profound
reverence and veneration, and a complete absorption in
the adoration of God. The noble simplicity of the
mosque, and the absence of distracting adornment,
creates a harmony of spirit which is deeply impressive.
A notable exception to such writers is the Rev. St. Clair-
Tisdall, who, though obliged to confess to being im
pressed by the sight, will only speak of the Moslems at
worship as " apparently devout."
It was a Christian agent of the British and Foreign
Bible Society who once ventured to report : " Much has
been said in defence of pompous and splendid forms
of worship, and many have insisted on their absolute
necessity in order to interest the vulgar ; but I will
venture to affirm that all the dazzling splendour of ex
ternal ceremonies, superadded to the Christian system,
never produced a solemnity to be compared with that
resulting from the simple adoration here exhibited in
the Mohammedan mosque. Every sense seemed closed
against earthly objects, and a high degree of self-anni
hilation appeared to inspire the mind of every worshipper.
How humbling the reflection, that so little real devotion,
and so feeble a sense of the presence of the great Jehovah,
is often to be found in assemblies professing to worship
Him in spirit and in truth."
" God is most high. . . . There is no God but
God. To God be praise.

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM_ 273
" Holiness to Thee, O God, and praise be to
Thee.
" Great is Thy name, great is Thy greatness,
there is no God but Thee.
" Praised be my Lord, the exalted One, and
glory be to Him.
" May God hear him who praises Him.
" Praise be to Thee the fulness of the heaven
and earth.
" God is great. Praise be to Thee, O my Lord,
the most high.
" O Lord, forgive me and have mercy upon me,
and grant me my portion, and guide me."
Such are the words accompanying the ritual of
prayer. And then when the ritual is finished and the full
tribute of adoration complete, an intense silence falls
upon these men as they raise their hands to their breasts
in submitting to God the secret supplications of their
hearts ; the hands outstretched as a sure sign of faith
that God will give what they ask ; the drawing of the
hands down the face at the close that they may absorb
the immediate blessing.
As an imam said, in a sermon on prayer, " In Namaz
(secret prayer) we ought to solemnly realise and be sen
sible of the fact that we are in a holy atmosphere, inhal
ing graces and sanctification." What would one not
have given to have known something of the nature of
those private petitions ?
I have made many inquiries on this delicate
subject of the theme of the Muslim's private prayers.
There is no doubt that material things occupy a large
place in them. " Give us this day our daily bread ! "
To seek refuge with God against the troubles and fears
18

274 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
and sorrows of life is a prevailing thought. To pray
for deliverance from impending grief is as natural
to these people as though any idea of fatalism had
never a place in their theology. There is a suggested
prayer of need ; a prayer for guidance ; a prayer of
praise ; and a prayer of repentance, although to ask
forgiveness is included in all the other prayers. The
Prophet always asked forgiveness of sin both on entering
and on leaving a mosque, and a leading Moslem asserts
that the theme of all prayers is " always self-humilia
tion, the glorification of the Giver of all good, and
reliance on His mercy." That was a beautiful prayer
of the Prophet himself which has been handed down : —
" O Lord ! I supplicate Thee for firmness in faith
and direction towards rectitude, and to assist me in
being grateful to Thee, and in adoring Thee in every
good way ; and I supplicate Thee for an innocent heart,
which shall not incline to wickedness ; and I supplicate
Thee for a true tongue, and for that virtue which Thou
knowest, and for forgiveness of those faults which Thou
knowest. Oh ! my Defender 1 assist me in remember
ing Thee, and being grateful to Thee, and in worshipping
Thee with all my strength. O Lord ! I have injured
my own soul, and no one can pardon the faults of
Thy servants but Thou ; forgive me out of Thy loving
kindness, and have mercy on me ; for, verily, Thou art
the forgiver of offences, and the bestower of blessings
on Thy servants " (Miskat, bk. iv.).
And the prayers of the early caliphs, who were the
leaders of prayer, were in the same devotional spirit.
My study of this subject, from all the literature —
including the Koran — bearing upon it, and from the
lives and practices of living men, convinces me that

Photo] [Leiegian, Cr
Prayer at the Patron's Tomb, in the Mosque of Sultan Barkouk, Cairo.

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 275
along with the consciousness of human dignity, so valued
m the ancient philosophies, Islam also creates in a
very real way that sense of human sinfulness which the
Christian evangelist has always encouraged.
It is this which baffles the Western observer, and
leads some men to think, as the author of The Garden
of Allah does, that personal pride, like blood in the
body, runs through all the veins of the mind of Moham
medanism. ..." Their bodies touched the stones
. . . they seemed as if they wished to shrink into the
space occupied by a grain of sand. Yet they were proud
in the presence of Allah, as if the firmness of their
belief in Him and His right dealing, the fury of their
contempt and hatred for those who looked not towards
Mecca, nor regarded Rhamadan, gave them a patent
of nobility." A picture by a great artist, this, of the very scene
which I saw in the desert outside Biskra. But I wonder
if Mr. Hichens knew, as I did, that that great multitude
of men whose concerted prayer created this impression
of pride, had left at home every single garment that
\ad colour or decoration of any sort, and every other
trace of personal adornment, clothing themselves in
simplest white, as a sign of their humility before God.
And some of them were of great rank ; and who can
draw such pictures of the splendour of the Arab Bach
Agah, or Prince, as Mr. Robert Hichens can ?
And did he talk with friends from amongst them, as
I did, when the prayer was over, and find any trace of
hatred or pride ? On the very evening of that Grande
Priere an Arab friend, his simple white changed for a
costume gorgeous in its colour and its gold embroideries,
took a meal with my wife and me at our hotel ; and a

276 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
gentler or more genially friendly guest it would be
impossible to have in any land. And I have heard these
proud Arabs refer to Mr. Hichens himself in such terms
of affection as would throw his word-picture out of
perspective, if he could sacrifice his artistic sense so
much for justice (Note 5).
But to turn from- the literary artist, there is the
verdict of authors who look upon these men of Islam
with the eyes of the Christian worker for their conver
sion. The Rev. W. H. T. Gairdner sees " the cringing
manners, the sensuality, the childishness, the down
right vulgarity, that may inwardly characterise yonder
statuesque individual." " Prayer," says another writer,
" is reduced to a mechanical art. There is no real
fellowship with God. The Moslem conception of God
itself forbids this " (the author of Egypt and the Christian
Crusade). Mr. St. Clair-Tisdall admits that the scene presented
in the mosques " by row after row of these white-robed
and finely turbaned figures, grave, earnest, and appar
ently devout ... is most impressive," while he admits
that it does not become us too hastily and uncharitably
to judge whether his seeming devotion is or is not
heartfelt. And he thereupon proceeds to prove that
the tendency is for the great mass of Moslems to become
formalists. " In the whole Koran, and in the whole
Traditions, I do not know of a single passage which
teaches that prayer, to be efficacious, must be in spirit
and in truth, nor that men should, or even could, love
God as well as fear Him." The Koran, Mr. Zwemer
says, ever keeps the supreme question of salvation from
sin in the background.
For my part, I maintain that the fear of God, and

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 277
the love of God, are the beginning of the wisdom of
the Moslem East. I am convinced that in prayer, of
all things, these people are sincere. The Prophet
would not have wept with the fervour of his emotions,
as a hundred witnesses testify — if his prayers had lacked
sincerity and truth, any more than the obvious spiritual
exaltation of these men at their devotions now can be
solely the outcome of play-acting or mechanical drill.
When the fiercely alert Moslem troops burst upon
Egypt, the Romans found that the only chance of taking
them at an advantage was during their prayers. Prayers
doubtless that were in the spirit of that fervid petition of
the Prophet before going into the first battle of Islam —
" O Lord, I beseech Thee forget not Thy promise of
assistance and of victory. O Lord ! if this little band be
vanquished, idolatry will prevail, and the pure worship
of Thee cease from off the earth." Prayers that were
inspiring as those which the Prophet offered in the
mosque, on his last visit to the House of God, when men
said, " The Lord verily hath this day granted refresh
ment in prayer."
The Roman spies had reported, " We have seen a
people who prefer death to life and humility to pride.
They sit in the dust, and they take their meals on horse
back. Their commander is one of themselves, there is
no distinction of rank among them. They have fixed
hours of prayer, first washing their hands and feet ; and
they pray with reverence."
Indeed, prayer was always their first thought, in the
hour of danger and in the hour of victory. Could they
forget how, not many years before, the troops of their
Prophet, having prayed on that momentous night before
he battle of Badr, got peace of mind, and God sent

278 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
" sleep, a sign of security from Him " (Sura viii. 1 1),
while their enemies were kept awake all night by fear.
Or could they forget that when the enemy at the battle
of Uhud was in sight, the Prophet still went on with his
usual morning prayer.
When Omar received the news of the submission of
Egypt, he went back at once to the mosque and led the
prayers. The very place where Amr had put up his
standard, or tent, outside old Cairo, must be the place
of prayer, to-be turned into a mosque in the early days
of victory, for a mosque was their first necessity. The
mosque of Amr, the oldest mosque in Egypt, stands
there to this day to mark the spot. These are not the
acts of formalists.
If any reader would see how far the criticism of a
Western writer can go in putting the most adverse inter
pretation on every detail of the teaching and observance
of a religion to which he is opposed, I would direct him to
the chapter on "Ritual," in Islam: a Challenge to Faith,
by Samuel M. Zwemer. The author is contemptuous of
the ablutions, going to all the absurd early writings on
the subject, in which the theological pedants exaggerated
details, and ignoring all those spiritual teachings which
so clearly laid down that the washings were for the heart.
" In practice moral purity as a preparation for prayer is
never alluded to, nor does the Koran allude to it,"he says.
Let us eschew detached texts — I maintain that the spirit
of the Koran is, that Piety consists in the Fear of God.
As for moral purity, I have often heard the instructions, on
the subject of the ablutions, of the sheikhs to their pupils
— in Al Azar, at Tanta, at various modern schools in
Egypt, and always the theme was — Cleanliness is good,
for health, for comfort, for decency. " The practice

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 279
of religion is founded on cleanliness," the sheikh would
remind them that the Prophet said, and so Mohammed
himself was always scrupulously clean. "And," continued
the sheikh, " it is right and fitting that when you come
before God, you should be as clean as possible. As for
the manner of the cleansing, we follow the example of
the Prophet," and here the sheikh would give precise ex
planations. " But all this cleansing is but a sign. No
sins are washed away with water. All these preparations
must lead you to approach God with a clean heart."
The hammam, or bath, is a great feature in all
Moslem towns and cities. In Biskra, an oasis of the
Sahara Desert, I found no less than six large public baths.
In the majority of continental towns of the same size
one bath would be a rarity. It is recorded of Cordova,
that in the height of her glory, under Moslem rule, she
had nine hundred public baths — a reproach and wonder
to the medieval Christians, with whom in those days, and
indeed up to the time of Philip 11., the husband of our
Queen Mary, dirt was typical of sanctity, and cleanliness
the mark of infidelity. Nothing is more remarkable
than the sight of robust Islam bursting into a Christian
world enfeebled not only by sectarian strife, but by
monastic foolishness. The Coptic monks, for instance
(see The Book of Paradise), were practising fasting as a
sort of competitive sport between the different monas
teries in Egypt, and the non-washing of their bodies,
with an idea of adding sanctity with accumulating dirt.
At Nasrieh School, in Cairo, especially, I was struck
with the reasonable nature of the teaching given to the
sons of the influential families in Egypt. The sheikh, for
instance, explained the washing and care of the hands,
holding up his own beautiful hands to show how no dirt

280 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
must be left even under the nails. Then he illustrated
the washing of the ears, the cleansing of the passages of
the nose, the scrupulous cleaning of the teeth after each
meal. Here was religion and hygiene, cleanliness and
godliness, in fact, in one lesson. For the sheikh knew
how important all this cleansing was to health in hot
countries ; and he gave quotations proving that these
ideas of hygiene were clear also to the Prophet.
In the same way I certainly think that as Mohammed
was not unaware of the value of the prostrations in prayer
as physical exercises, even to the assistance of the diges
tive functions, so he also knew how important to health
the ablutions would be to all the world of Islam. He
thought it a divine intention that holiness should be
served by the handmaiden of hygiene, as it might be
imagined Moses did, in the many laws he instituted in
which man approached God by ways of personal cleanli
ness and propriety. The first great thought was not
the physical cleansing, but the spiritual preparation for
the worship of the Creator.
The great theologian Ghazzali puts the whole
matter of the ablutions in this way — There are four
degrees of purification, of which the first is, the cleans
ing of the body from all pollution, filth, and excrements ;
the second is the cleansing of the members of the body
from all wickedness and unjust actions ; the third, the
cleansing of the heart from all blameable inclinations
and odious vices ; and the fourth, the purging a man's
secret thoughts from all affections which may divert
their attendance on God ; adding that the body is but
as the outward shell in respect to the heart, which
is as the kernel. And for this reason he highly com
plains of those who are superstitiously solicitous in

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 281
exterior purification, avoiding those persons as unclean
who are not so scrupulously nice as themselves, and
at the same time have their own minds lying waste
and overrun with pride, ignorance, and hypocrisy.
" Whence it plainly appears," remarks Sale, " with how
little foundation the Mohammedans have been charged
by some writers with teaching or imagining that these
formal washings alone cleanse them from their sins."
Mr. Zwemer only mentions this great teacher and
theologian of early Islam by name once in his book
Islam. But he quotes, unconsciously, I imagine, a
number of damaging details from one of his works,
especially about the sensual heaven. Of the great
wealth of inspiring teaching left by Ghazzali he says
no word, notably in this matter of the ablutions, but
boldly declares that no mention is made in " all books
of practical theology," of moral purity as a preparation
for prayer. A great authority in Cairo, Sheikh Rashid
Rida, editor of Al-Manar, stated to me that it was when
Ghazzali was old and doting he wrote the one deplor
able book which has been made so much of by writers
like Mr. Zwemer, but which is repudiated by all reason
able Moslems. Abdul Rahman ibn Ishag, especially
refuted the contents of this work; but reference^to it
appear and reappear in the works of men who build up
theories of Islam from books rather than from experience
and life. Nothing is easier than to fit a great mass of
matter, in this way, into a preconceived scheme,
especially in matters of theology and morals.
But to Mr. Zwemer the details of the instructions
for cleansing are " puerile," especially those concerning
the cleaning of the teeth. Why puerile ? Should the
term be applied to the elaborate teachings of Moses in

282 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
the Book of Exodus, which often go into the minutest
details ? The splendid teeth of nearly all Moslem
people, to which all travellers bear admiring testimony,
are a sufficient justification of the simple laws to which
they may be attributed. I can see nothing puerile in
the suggestion that the mouth shall be cleansed for the
praise of God ; I imagine it comes from the same
primitive instinct which makes the Saturday night
"tubbing" such a universal family habit with the
Christian peasants as a preparation for the worship of
the Sabbath.
One Arabic historian, Abu'l Fida, asserts that cere
monial washings and religious cleansing of the teeth
were practised by the Arabs before Mohammed's time.
If this is realised, I suggest that the charge of puerility
will be withdrawn, in the attempts that are being
made to prove that it was from the " days of ignor
ance " that everything good in Islam was drawn.
In any case, it comes oddly from an American, especi
ally, to see puerility in the care of the teeth, when it
is America th at has led the way to a scientific dentistry.
It might be thought a remarkable, and a worthy thing,
this teaching, insisted upon at a period when probably
such a thing as a tooth-brush was unknown in Britain.
While I write these lines a " health-week " is being
held in England, and from the lectures by medical
experts I gather that in their opinion the mass of our
people still have no idea of the necessity of teeth-clean
ing. At the elementary schools we are just beginning to
teach the children of the poor the use of the tooth-brush,
encouraging them thereto by a gift of the brush itself,
at the State's expense. May the result in the future be
such teeth as I have seen in North Africa, in Egypt,

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 283
and Nubia, and the Sudan, where puerile details, learnt
in the Koran school, have taught the poorest man and
woman, living even in tents and mud huts, the inviolable
habit of cleansing the teeth after every meal.
And this is the invocation many of them use — it is
not compulsory, as all the ablutions may be done in
silence, or a simple prayer may be said — " Vouchsafe,
O God, as I clean my teeth, to purify me from my
faults, and accept my homage, O Lord. May the
purity of my teeth be a sign for me of the whiteness of
my face at the Day of Judgment."
Moslems use the miswak, a kind of tooth-brush
made of fibrous wood, about a span long; they will
not, of course, use any brush made of pig's bristles.
As for the teaching of the Koran, on the spiritual
import of worship, the need for expiation, and the
preparations for the service of God, its plain words may
speak for themselves : —
" It is not the flesh or the blood of that which ye
sacrifice which is acceptable to God ; it is your piety
which is acceptable to your Lord " (Sura xxii. 38).
" It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces in
prayer towards the East or the West ; but righteous
ness is of him who believeth in God " (Sura ii. 172).
" The East and the West is God's ; therefore, which
ever way ye turn, there is the face of God " (Sura
ii. 109). " Piety consists in the fear of God " (Sura ii. 185).
" Those who, after they have done a base deed, or
committed a wrong against their own selves, remember
God, and implore forgiveness of their sins — and who will
forgive sin but God only ? — and persevere not in what
they have willingly done amiss. As for them, pardon
from their Lord shall be their reward " (Sura iii. 129-30).

284 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
" Such portion only of a man's devotion is acceptable
to God as he offers with understanding and true de
votional spirit," is a saying of the Prophet reported by
Abu Daud and by Nisai ; and Ali said, " Neither will
profession suffice unless it produces a corresponding
practice." And so again and again. The true believer must
turn to God with repentance, and with a determina
tion to mend his life. He must " believe and do "
(Sura ii. 76). The first words he utters, in a low voice,
before the actual prayer begins, are, " I propose to offer
to God with a sincere heart " these prayers.
Supplication to be effective must be in accordance
with certain clear conditions ; the person offering them
having the following qualifications : —
i. He must be living on what he has honestly
acquired.
ii. He must call on God with firm faith in His
help.
iii. His heart must not be distracted.
iv. He must not ask what is wrong, or what may
injure his relatives, or any Moslem.
v. He must not ask for things impossible.
Here are the full and exact rules to be observed
when offering supplication and intercessions : —
i. To choose the proper time.
ii. Before offering such petitions, to perform the
ablutions and canonical prayers, to turn
to the Kibla, lift up the hands towards
heaven, confess sins, repent, praise God,
and ask for blessings on the Prophet, at the
beginning, the middle, and the conclusion.

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 285
True repentance comprises the following : —
i. Forsaking sin.
ii. Sorrow for having committed sin against God.
iii. Firm purpose never to return to sin.
iv. Making amends, on obtaining forgiveness, if
the sin has been committed against man
who has been injured thereby.
It is not true to say, " expiation of sin is not essential
to forgiveness," as is often asserted.
Of God's forgiveness of sin, the belief is full and
clear, both in the Koran and in all the teachings of
tradition and authority. It is even believed that when
a bad act is committed, the angel of the bad actions,
who is always at the left hand of every man, asks the
angel of the good actions, on the right, whether he is
to write it down. The good angel orders him to wait
for the space of six hours, in the hope that the sinner
may repent, and ask for pardon.
" The presence of the heart " is again and again
insisted on. Ali said that devotion offered without
understanding brought no blessing.
As for the consciousness of sin, and the need of salva
tion from it, the teaching of Islam stands also clear,
and in the foreground.
The cry for forgiveness is in every prayer.
" Have mercy, O God, for of the merciful Thou art
best," is the Koranic petition.
The first passion that took hold of Mohammed was
to call men to the worship of the One God, to repent of
their sins, to prepare for the great Day of Judgment.
And this he preached also to himself — " unless God
cover me with His mercy," he said to Ayesha, " I cannot
enter Paradise." His dying prayer was, " Lord, grant

286 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
me pardon, and join me to the companionship on high."
Then at intervals, " Eternity in Paradise ! Pardon !
Yes ! the blessed companionship on high ! " And then
again, a prayer for forgiveness of his former and latter
sins. Ali, who knew the Prophet's mind so intimately,
for it was as a lad that he had first loved and followed
him, in every recorded prayer of his own, pleads again
and again for forgiveness of his sins to the " All-loving "
God. In one prayer he gives thanks " to the Lord,
whose mercy extends to every sinner, who provides
for even those who deny Him." " Who forgiveth, in
His mercy, our greatest sins, and loveth all creation."
It was a mighty and victorious warrior who cried,
in his last hour, with self-abasement at the thought
of his sin, and claiming no merit from his prayers,
" Almighty God, Thou hast commanded, and I have
disobeyed : Thou hast forbidden, and I have transgressed.
I am not innocent enough to deserve Thy pardon."
Purposely I have passed over all the records of the
mystics in this matter of sin and prayer, choosing to
look at Islam in the days of its early simplicity, from
which most of the goodness that is in it to this day
comes. We may mourn that a people so good and great
have no share in an Atoning Sacrifice (who of the
Christian peoples does not mourn this ?), and long to
see them comforted and softened by this nobler version
of the love of God, which passeth all understanding ;
but if we are to be in a position to help them, we must
be just, even where justice seems to impede our im
mediate appeal ; and, above all things, we must cultivate
a generous and selfless patience.

CHAPTER III

A STUDY IN FANATICISM

" Verily they who believe (Moslems) and they who follow the Jewish
religion, and the Christians, and the Sabeites — whoever of these believeth
in God and the last day, and doeth that which is right, shall have their
reward with their Lord ; fear shall not come upon them, neither shall they
be grieved." Sura ii. 59.
In nothing has injustice been more insistent than in the
way the Moslem religion has been popularly accounted
almost synonymous with fanaticism. So much is this
the ca,se that it will be found that almost every writer
on Islam brings to the subject a preconceived idea with
which his observations — often unconsciously — are made
to agree. This insistence is the more strange from the little
support the charge gets from the impartial historians,
whose story always goes to show that from earliest days
Islam has exhibited a toleration for which they have not
received sufficient credit ; while any writer who has
really lived intimately amongst the people has quickly
found that the popular Western notion — like so many of
these floating verdicts about foreign people in every part
of the world — was entirely misleading.
Lane declared that the Egyptians in Cairo combined
toleration with a pride which had something of silent
contempt in it towards other religions. It is this pride
which so often misleads. There is a sort of naitete in the
287

288 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
Moslem belief that his religion is the best, a sort of
theological conceit which, however, is generally free from
all bitterness. On my own part, in places as varied as Sidi Okba in
the Sahara Desert (after being warned of the place as
particularly fanatical owing to the great saint's tomb
being there), in the Algerian and the Egyptian town and
village, in many a bedouin camp, as well as in Cairo, the
centre of Islam's culture, I have found nothing but
toleration. I have been invited by a sober Cadi of a desert
village — who had never known a Christian man before —
to join him in a simple petition at the tomb of his patron
saint, that the good God would bless us, and let us meet
in the streets of Paradise if we might never meet again on
earth. And long after this and similar experiences, I came
across the record of a Christian woman who loved the
people of Egypt, and had discovered the same spirit in
them. The Cadi of Keneh1 invited this lady to the
festival of the great saint there, and when she hesitated,
thinking some of the Moslems might be offended by her
presence, he declared that if any such ignorant persons
were present it was high time they learnt better, and
said it was by no means unlawful for virtuous Christians,
and such as neither hated nor scorned the Muslimeen,
to profit by or share in their prayer, and that she should
sit before the sheikh's tomb with the Mufti — all of which
happened. The followers of Jesus, declared one of her Moslem
friends, a Cadi, or magistrate, have " received guidance "
and are " not among the rejected." Those who do
right shall have their reward. " Even unbelievers God

Photo] [Dittrich, Cairo.
A Street in Native Cairo, penetrated by the Noon-day Sun.

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 289
will not defraud." Her kindness to the Moslem poor
broke down all barriers ; the sheikh even offered to
read the " noble Koran " with her, an unusual thing,
but not in any way prohibited, as I know from experi
ence. I was myself sitting once with a Moslem friend to
whom had befallen a great sorrow. The Koran was
being read, and a distinguished stranger, beckoning
an acquaintance of mine to him, whispered, " There is
a Nazareen here."
" Yes ! he is a friend ! He walked to-day with us to
the tomb."
" But remember, this is Holy Koran ! " — a gentle
word of warning.
And then, when he saw I listened with the proper
deportment of respect, and with no sign of the scorn they
always expect from Christians, he came to me in an
interval to greet me as a friend.
It was a Moslem sheikh who put the matter of
religious differences in this way : " Look at your servant
boy. Can he understand a hundredth part of the
thoughts of your mind ? Nevertheless he loves you,
and obeys you with pleasure and alacrity ; and will you
punish him because he knows not all your ways ? And
shall God, who is as much higher above us as you are
above your slave, be less just ? " And he quoted the
Koran, and the ulema, to show that the religious beliefs
of men are not to be judged by man.
This sheikh was taught in the school of Al Azar. The
sternest rules are laid down against answering questions
on such matters as these, by those who have not certain
knowledge. I have sat in the chief sheikh's private
room at Al Azar, as I have described, and heard a lecture
»9

290 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
to advanced students particularly insisting on this
reserve. The man of secular education should not
answer at all such theological questions, whatever his
own judgment may be.
On another occasion a great Alim, deeply versed in
Koranic knowledge, visited Lady Duff Gordon at Luxor,
and said he hoped she had not been molested on account
of her religion, and if she had, she must forgive it, as the
people here were so very ignorant, and barbarians were
bigots everywhere. She replied that the people of Luxor
were her brothers ; and a local man told how she had
served God amongst them, and in times of sickness had
risked her life every day. To which the great theologian
replied, " And if she had died, her place was made ready
among the martyrs of God, because she showed more
love to her brothers than to herself ! "
It was in Egypt, as long as a hundred and fifty years
since, that a Moslem sheikh observing the saintly life
of the Moravian missionary, John Henry Danke, said,
" Such Christians as you are sure to go to heaven."
There is no need to ignore facts which seem to prove
something quite contrary to this. That apostasy is
punishable with death, according to a Koranic text, and
that as recently as 1843 such a sentence was carried out in
virtue of a decision of an Ottoman law court ; and that
Lord Cromer had to interfere, once or twice, to protect
from maltreatment Moslems who had perverted from
their early faith.
The truth is in the Alim's words — barbarians are
bigots everywhere ! Christianity has advanced beyond
some very dark days in this respect, although her " per
fect work " is not yet accomplished even in the matter
of toleration and liberty. There are Christian Sisters

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 291
in Europe, of whom I have heard, whose hospital rules
would not allow them to nurse Protestants, and Prussians
who must needs refuse charity to non-Lutherans. It
was only in 1908 that a great storm was raised by Pro
testants in London, at the attendance of the late King
Edward at a memorial service to his friend King
Carlos of Portugal in a Roman Catholic church.
Surely toleration is, everywhere, of a slow growth.
About the time that that " fanatical agitation " — as it
was called by the Moslem world, which took note of it —
was going on in London, an Englishman was making a
journey across the desert from Algeria to Tripoli, in the
course of which he was, of necessity, having dealings with
the Moslem confraternity of the Senussi, about whom
so much has been heard lately in connection with Italy's
onslaught. The very name of the Senussi stands in the
West for fanaticism.
Mr. H. Vixer was formerly a Christian missionary,
and is now an official in Northern Nigeria, in which
capacity he travelled. He made no attempt to conceal
either his nationality or his religion. And what treat
ment did he receive from the men of this brotherhood ?
Men driven painfully into the desert to live an
austere religious life away from enemies whom they
hated, not because of their Christian faith, as is now
being shown, but because of the offences and oppressions
of their rule. So far indeed were the Senussi from
opposing him with the fanatical hatred which they are
universally supposed to entertain for Europeans, that
they took him into their religious houses, and gave him
help and protection ; and he learned afterwards, that
when some brigands who had followed his caravan
begged admittance at one of the houses of the brother-

292 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
hood they were driven off, their action in contemplating
an attack upon strangers being repugnant to the Senussi
Order. To turn to history is to find a succession of stories
just as surprisingly contradictory of popular beliefs as
this is. When the Prophet himself marched upon
Mecca, and crowned his life's work by taking the city
which had scorned him and driven him away from its
gates, what a kindly and bloodless re-entry he made.
In the days of his power his generous thoughts were
for Egypt, which he foresaw would come under the
sway of his followers. With an eye perhaps upon that
fierce disciple, Omar, he commanded consideration for
the Coptic Christians there — " Be kind to the men of
the curly hair in Egypt, for they are your uncles and
your brothers ! "
And how nobly Omar adopted these principles,
which must have seemed such an innovation to him.
Even in turning out of Arabia the Jews and Christians,
at what he thought to be the Prophet's wish, Omar's
dealings with them were marked by so much mercy and
fairness, that even opponents admit there can be little
doubt that his actions in Arabia were dictated by
motives of sound policy (Mohammed and His Power,
p. 176). The fact that Arabia has been closed to non-
Moslems is often cited as a proof of the fanaticism of
the Arab people. This Christian writer has, however,
been fair enough to say, " Arabia was the stronghold
and recruiting ground for the armies of Islam, tribal
jealousies were hard enough to deal with, and Omar
felt that it was indispensable that the bond of religion
should be unbroken." It is certain that the onward
movement of civilisation will remove the restrictions,

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 293
too long maintained after the legitimate causes had
passed away. Indeed, I have myself been promised
immunity, by Moslem friends, from opposition if I
would accompany — as a Christian, of course — a certain
influential Pilgrimage Caravan to Mecca. But this is
premature. Meanwhile, the railway advances to the
Holy City.
The story of the Christian Church in Egypt, at the
period of the Conquest, was deplorable in every way,
and in nothing more than the entire absence of any
conception of the principles of toleration. Even under
the fire-worshipping Persians, the Copts had been
allowed to practise their own form of religion. It was
Cyrus, the Christian Primate of Alexandria (who had
been appointed by the Emperor Heraclius) who resolved
to wrest this liberty from them. And by a bloody
persecution he forced upon them the doctrine of Chal-
cedon — with stripes and death as the alternative. Such
revolting and barbarous cruelties were practised to
force upon the people one Christian creed in the place
of another, that it is not surprising to find the Copts
declaring that subjection to the Moslems would improve
their lot ; that the yoke of Mohammed would be lighter
than the yoke of the most Christian Emperor Heraclius.
And this welcome by Christians, of Moslem rule,
as a providential deliverance from the tyranny of fellow-
Christians, by no means stands alone. In Syria men
thanked God that " He delivered them out of the hands
of the Romans by means of the Arabs."
It was shortly after the exaltation of the Cross at
Jerusalem, that the Christian order went out to banish
or slay the Jews, who fled to the desert beyond Jordan.
When they saw the advancing banners of Islam, they

294 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
had reason to rejoice at the approach of the enemies
of the Roman Empire.
When the conqueror, Amr, was at the gate of the
fort of Old Cairo, the sort of toleration he found pre
vailing amongst the Christians inside may be gathered
from the fact that the Christian tyrant, Cyrus, was
virtually in command.
The Moslem terms of surrender were that the
persons and property of the Copts would be respected,
that they would retain full control over their possessions,
and all existing rights of inheritance, that their churches
would be left uninjured, and the practice of their
religion unmolested ; their priests would be exempt
from taxes.
And so it came about that in Egypt, in the novel
atmosphere of religious freedom thus introduced by
the Moslem Conquest, the Coptic Church revived;
and it was the Moslems who would not then allow the
Copts to start again the war of the sects, but granted
protection impartially to the Copts and the rival
Melkites. In telling the story of the Arab conquest, Dr.
Butler found few pages in the annals of Egypt more
agreeable reading than those which describe the ex
tremely friendly relations which prevailed between
some of the Caliphs and the Coptic Abbots, and the
delight which the Moslem rulers took in visiting
picturesque and pleasant convents (Note 6).
They were but following their master, Mohammed,
whose charter, granting liberty to the monks of St.
Catherine near Mount Sinai, and to all Christians, has
been designated as one of the noblest monuments of
enlightened tolerance that the history of the world

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 295
can produce. It was in accordance with this charter
that the terms of the surrender in Egypt were arranged.
The same noble clemency marked the taking of
Jerusalem. In Mr. Pickthall's vivid words — Omar's
severity towards the Christians was so much below their
anticipations, that he figures in the popular memory
almost as a benefactor of their religion. They were
deprived of their church bells, but kept their churches ;
and if large numbers of them embraced El-Islam, it
was through self-interest (or conviction), and not at
the point of the sword, as has been represented. In
deed, the toleration shown by the Moslems towards the
vanquished, though less than we should practise nowadays,
is without a parallel in Europe till many centuries
later. It was not emulated by the Crusaders, who,
rushing to wrest the Holy Sepulchre from the clutch
of the " foul paynim," were astonished to find it in the
hands of Christians, whom, to cloak their disconcertion,
they denounced as heretics.
The whole story of Omar's entry into Jerusalem, a
city almost as sacred then as now to the Moslem as
to the Christian and the Jew, notwithstanding all the
libels of the Crusading Popes to the contrary, shows
not only the spirit of wide tolerance, but even a delicacy
of consideration for the Christians there (Note 7).
With a wonderful simplicity of personal manner, only
equalled by all lack of ceremonious display, Omar rode
through the Holy City side by side with the Christian
Patriarch. He laid the foundation-stone of the mosque,
which to this day bears his name, and then left Jerusalem
with as little ostentation as he came (Note 8).
The government Omar instituted was in the same
spirit as we have seen, and which fifteen years after the

296 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
taking of Damascus led the Nestorian bishop to write,
" These Arabs, to whom God has given in our time the
dominion, . . . fight not against the Christian religion ;
nay, rather they defend our faith, they revere our priests
and saints, and they make gifts to our churches and
monasteries." The great church at Damascus was then
used at the same time both by Christians and Moslems.
That this spirit was lasting is proved by the fact
that John of Damascus, a Christian theologian of the
eighth century, lived under the protection of the
Moslems to escape the vengeance of the ¦ Byzantine
Emperor, whom he had opposed in a controversy about
the worship of images. The Moslems not only protected
him but gave him employment. And all the time he
was known as a Christian, and used much of his time
in writing treatises against Islam, in which he was
greatly helped by his knowledge of the Koranic text.
Indeed, through all the best days of Islam the same
principle of toleration was manifested. It became a
Moslem maxim that " the real learning of a man is of
more public importance than any particular religious
opinions he may entertain." A mind without learning
is a body without a soul ; glory consists not in wealth
but in knowledge, were two of the sayings of the
founder. The Caliphate was held during several ages
by monarchs who rank amongst the most accomplished
by whom any empire has been swayed.
It is,not too much to say that religious differences
were forgotten. " I chose this learned man," said the
Caliph Almamon, speaking of Messul, whom he was
criticised for making President of a College at Damascus,
" not to be my guide in religious matters, but to be my
teacher of science." And the same principle opened

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 297
the doors of all the chief universities of the Moslem
world, beginning with Cordova, to men of learning,
regardless of creed.
In Spain the love and pursuit of learning, especially
of literature and science, drew all men in search of
culture to that part of the world, and established " a
toleration of which modern times hardly offer us an
example " (Note 9). All the barriers which separated
Christians, Jews, and Moslems were effaced ; here they
learned to speak the same language, enjoying an un
hampered social life, singing the same songs, quoting
the same poets, all working with one accord in the
work of a common civilisation.
The mosques of Cordova were the leading schools
of the world ; they numbered thousands of students,
and were splendid centres of scientific and philosophical
study. By Christian testimony Cordova was " the
brightest splendour of the world." It was indeed the
golden age of literature and science in all the history
of Spain, which reached its zenith under Hakan, whose
library alone would have made him famous for all time.
In the story of eight centuries of chivalrous and en
lightened rule in Spain, the most prosperous era of
that country's riches, the cultivation of the soil, and
in populousness, as well as of culture, even the historians
of the enemies of the Moors cannot record a single
instance of cold-blooded cruelty.
And what succeeded this era ? A Christian priest
hood goading on a civil power to treat with unexampled
fanaticism the people from whom they had always
received humanity and protection. The fiendish in
vention of an Inquisition. And the ruthless bigotry
which could burn the literature of all that splendid

298 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
dynasty, the labours of philosophers, mathematicians,
scientists, and poets, gathered here from every part
of the world.
There is no need to labour this point of the fanaticism
of which the Christian peoples proved themselves cap
able in their days of partial enlightenment (Note 10).
The sheikh of Luxor was right — where people are
ignorant, there are bigots, no matter where, and it is
in the religious field that fanaticism ever finds its most
congenial soil !
The " Sword of Islam " is a powerful weapon to use
against this religion. Conquest was, of course, by the
sword, as it always must be, East or West ; as it is
to-day, when we are witnessing a war in Tripoli, blessed
by the Church as being for the placing of the Cross
above the Crescent. But the use made of the sword
need not be exaggerated, nor the work of such a scholar
as T. W. Arnold, who proved that the sword played but
an inconsiderable part in the spread of Islam, treated
as so pernicious as to need an " antidote." " It is not
in the cruelties of the persecutor or the fury of the
fanatic," says Arnold, " that we should look for the
evidence of the missionary spirit of Islam, any more
than in the exploits of that mythical personage, the
Moslem warrior, with sword in one hand and the Koran
in the other."
But it is to " fanatic zeal " and to " worldly
motives " (the Rev. S. M. Zwemer) that the opponents
of Islam seem determined always to look for an explana
tion of that marvellous inspiration which so united
a number of scattered tribes of the desert and made
of them world conquerors and rulers.
As for the fanatic spirit, I have shown how com-

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 299
pletely it was disguised by the first Caliphs. As for
worldly motives, let it be admitted at once that there
is, through all the Moslem religion, a robust and
practical acknowledgment of the necessity for man to
live, by practical means ; and a frank recognition of the
value of wealth in the affairs of men. " Honest wealth
is good for honest men," said the Prophet, and he
always encouraged his followers to strive hard to gain
it, while yet never ceasing to warn them of the limita
tions of its power. He believed, as the other prophets
of old did, that those who served the Lord should " be
fat and flourishing," and that it was their duty to go
deliberately in quest of the bounties of God ; but they
were never to forget that God hath in reserve what
is better than merchandise. They were to deal fairly
even with their enemies. And they were to use their
wealth for God ; to shun ostentation ; to care, before
all things, for the orphan and the poor ; and they were
forbidden to gain wealth by usury (Note 11).
It was natural, I think, that when these desert
warriors broke away from the bare and frugal land of
their birth, and tasted the fruits of victory in such rich
lands as Persia, Egypt, Africa, Spain, they should frankly
admit, as Khalid did, " Even if we cared not to fight
for the cause of God, yet we could not but wish to con
tend for and enjoy such lands as these, leaving distress
and hunger henceforth for others."
Many writers have imagined that the Tribute
(jezyah), which was exacted by the Moslem conquerors
from those who preferred to pay a toll and keep their
own religion, was for their own enrichment. Islam
did not demand military service from men of other
religions, and tribute was taken to pay for the protection

300 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
and defence of those who could not fight themselves.
If, however, Christians preferred to serve, they were
exempt from the payment of tribute ; if Moslems
themselves wished exemption from military service
they had to pay the tribute.
The spirit in which the tribute was exacted is shown
by the treaty made by Khalid with some towns in the
neighbourhood of Hirah — " If we protect you, then
jezyah (tribute) is due to us ; but if we do not, then it
is not due." During the Caliph Omar's reign, when
Syria had been conquered, the Emperor Heraclius
raised an enormous army to drive back the Moslem
forces. The General wrote to the people saying, " We
give you back the money we took from you, as we have
received news that a strong force is advancing against
us. The agreement between us was that we should
protect you, and as this is not in our power, we return
you all that we took. But if we are victorious, we
shall consider ourselves bound to you by the old terms
of our agreement."
This act cost the Moslems enormous sums out of
the State Treasury, at a time when the money was
desperately wanted for war. These Syrian Christians
said, " May God give the Moslems rule over us again,
and make them victorious over the Romans ; had it
been they, they would not have given us back anything,
but would have taken all we had."
In these modern days we hear much, from those
Christian nations who possess the necessary Sword, of
" open doors for trade," of " concessions," of " spheres
of influence." The following statement of modern
ideals I heard this year (January 1912) from the lips
of a German lecturer, speaking, I imagine, with more

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 301
than private authority : " No nation that can fight
need starve. . . . Only a clear and practical arrange
ment over a real expansion for German colonisation
and German trade with regard to British interests can
produce an Anglo-German entente. . . . Otherwise,
sooner or later, arms will have to decide whether
Germany shall remain limited to Central Europe, or
expand oversea according to her natural extension
and real strength." The momentous words being
spoken in a lecture at Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo, by
Dr. Carl Peters on " Great Britain and the German
Empire." That is a candid statement, and to be preferred to
the cant which hides material ambitions under hypo
critical names, talking of taking " our proper part in
extending the borders of civilisation," in carrying the
religion of our fathers to benighted regions, and so on,
of which too much is heard.
But along with the frankness of the desert warriors
as to material ends there was always that passionate
note of the missionary, aflame with his new-found zeal
for the one God, sometimes even leading them to ignore
or forget " the spoils of war " of which their later day
enemies have made so much.
It was the despised Negro messenger to the Christian
Cyrus in Old Cairo who said, " We live only to fight
for God, and to follow His will. We care nought for
wealth, so long as we have the wherewithal to stay our
hunger, and to clothe our bodies. This world is nought
to us, the next is all." And Cyrus saw enough of these
people to convince him that they were a people of
death, holding it gain to be killed and sent to Paradise,
whereas the Romans loved the things of this life and

302 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
clung to them. Such was the spirit in which the sword
of Islam was wielded in those early days.
When the deplorable decadence of Islam set in, and
more especially when this power was driven back upon
itself by the growing strength of an awakened Chris
tianity, which regarded it as " the enemy of God " and
" anti-Christ," and the Eastern pride of its adherents
was insulted and wounded in every part where it was
most susceptible and tender, Islam began to meet
suspicion and contempt with either a sullen reticence
or a savage defiance.
With every loss of political power to Islam, there has
been a further proud withdrawal into the mysterious
regions of its religion, where it has sought to comfort
and support itself, and to which alone access could be
proudly denied to its enemies.
The people of the West have never been able to
follow the working of the Eastern mind ; though they
have never failed to have ready a terse label to designate
every movement with which it has to do.
Fanaticism ; that is a comprehensive word to set at
rest a hundred problems which without such a name
would prove elusive and vexatious. It is easy, for
instance, to dismiss as fanaticism a riot at Al Azar by
students, annoyed with the " camera fiend," to those
who can understand no religious scruples which might
make photography repugnant, and in any case would
not respect such scruples. And when the West is at a
loss to explain the existence of a great fraternity of
Moslems in the desert like the Senussi, whose aims and
movements are otherwise inexplicable, then "fanati
cism " affords again a grateful refuge.
And behind all this, there is evidently an obstinate

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 303
and perverse determination, on the part of missionary
writers especially, to cling to their own interpretation of
the Jihad, or Holy War, an interpretation which Moslems
themselves have repudiated over and over again. The
Rev. W. St. Clair-Tisdall scarcely ever writes on the
subject of Islam without asserting that " this obliga
tion to persecute is still incumbent upon Moslems, and
is faithfully observed even up to the present day in
every country where Mohammedanism reigns supreme
. . . and must ever be."
And this, in the face even of the declaration of such
an impartial writer as Lane, who became convinced
that his own first views were erroneous, and " must
express my convictions that no precept is to be found
in the Koran which, taken with the context, can justify
unprovoked war."
T. W. Arnold asserts, " There are no passages to be
found in the Koran that in any way enjoin forcible
conversion, and many on the contrary that limit pro
pagandist efforts to preaching and persuasion," quoting
with approval the contention of a Moslem writer that
no passages in the Koran authorise unprovoked attacks
on unbelievers. The word Jihad was used before the
Koran was written, and primarily bears no reference to
war or fighting, much less to fighting against unbelievers,
but derives its particular application from the context
only. Mr. Samuel M. Zwemer seems to be almost annoyed
that Jihad is not " mentioned as a pillar of religion."
It could then, of course, be used against Islam without
fear of contradiction. Not that he is deterred, by this
omission of the Prophet to add Jihad to the five pillars
of religion, from declaring that Jihad " is a duty plainly

304 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
taught by the Koran and by the Traditions." Indulging
in a sneer at Arnold and Syed Ameer Ali for " interpret
ing these passages (in the Koran) in a semi-spiritual
way. . . . They even try to make Jihad mean a sort
of Christian Endeavour Society for propagating Islam ! "
And Mr. Zwemer appeals against such Orientalists to
the opinion of the Rev. Marcus Dods !
Very different is this from the line taken by the
missionary who recently wrote, " To lessen the shame of
its terrible defeat Christendom has tried to persuade
itself that this victory of Islam was won by the barbarous
use of the sword, and that it is no proof of religious
superiority. But it is time that we stopped deceiving
ourselves. ... It is not true that it was the sword
that compelled the inhabitants (of conquered countries)
to adopt the Faith of Islam " (Herr Missioninspektor
K. Axenfeld).
As a great ulema said to me in Cairo, is it not strange
if we may not interpret the Koran to suit the develop
ment and growth of the world ? If you, as a Christian,
quote a text from the Koran to show that I must of
necessity be a bloodthirsty fanatic, and you refuse to
consider the interpretations I put upon the Prophet's
instructions, surely if I quote another Koranic text
absolutely refuting you, you must be silent. I assert
to you that the " striking off of heads " refers solely
and alone to the stubborn idolaters who, in the Arabian
Peninsula, refused to acknowledge God ; because Mo
hammed believed, as a ruler, that " carnage is better
than civil discord." When that discord was ended the
people were commanded to have " no hostility save
against the wicked" (Sura ii. 188-9).
"You will pardon me. — the ulema continued — if I

Photo] [Lekegian, Cairo.
The Magnificent Arcade of Ninth Century Arches in the Ruins of tfie
Mosque of Ibn Touloun, Cairo.

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 305
remind you that Peter the Hermit (in 1098 a.d.) was
sent as a Christian ambassador to the Turkish generals
to offer them the choice of destruction, or conversion
to the faith of Christ. As for cursing Christians in the
mosque, let me assure you that the words used do not
refer to either Christians or Jews, but to idolaters and
enemies ; no man with whom I would sit at meat
is included in the curse. And as for compelling con
version at the point of the sword, it is a fiction of
Western writers. " Wilt thou compel men to become
believers ? No soul can believe but by the permission
of God," says the Holy Koran (Sura x. 99). " Summon
thou to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and a kindly
warning ; dispute with them in the kindest manner "
(Sura xvi. 126). One of the latest statements in the
Koran is " Let there be no compulsion in religion "
(Sura ii. 257).
And you know — said the ulema — the Koran speaks
of Jesus as a Prophet, bringing His " Evangel with its
guidance and light ... a guidance and a warning to
those who fear God " (Sura v. 50). To us the Koran
is " confirmatory of previous scriptures. To every one
a law and a way. If God had pleased he had surely
made men of one religion ; but He hath done otherwise,
that He might try you in that which He hath severally
given unto you ; therefore be emulous and press forward
in good works. To God shall ye return, and He will
make clear that in which ye disagree " (Sura v. 52-3).
But why weary ourselves with quoting texts ? this
venerable theological scholar concluded. I beg you
Christian critics of Islam to leave us to rise above any
mere letter of the law, even if it is as you represent it,
as Christendom very largely has risen above it. The

306 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
letter killeth, but the spirit maketh alive, are great
words of your Book. I believe that no man would have
been more ready to respond to the changing and de
veloping conditions of life than the Prophet, with his
knowledge of men, his practical wisdom, that spiritual
insight and zeal, which placed him so immeasurably
above his contemporaries. And as you well know (he
said, addressing himself personally to me) — for you do not
judge us without taking pains to understand us, and are
not satisfied merely to study the things Western critics
have said of us — the Prophet was in no sort himself
a fanatic. A hundred personal details of his life prove
this — to mention only one, he had a Jew as his secretary
for many years. Do you know that when the Moslems
conquered Persia their toleration extended even to the
fire-worshippers ? A Moslem general there ordered an
Imam to be flogged because he had destroyed a fire-
temple in Sughd and built a mosque in its place.
We Christians may well ask ourselves if we are
for ever to regard it as our first duty to discourage the
men of this faith, who want to help forward the millions
of the Moslem world by leading them back to the
simpler and purer teaching of their early days. When
they turn to their scripture for help in restoring the
days of a pure religious fervour, with its fine principles
of toleration, and its encouragement of the pursuit of
learning, is it the Christian critic who is to be the one
to search for detached texts and to try to make of them
insuperable obstacles and unbreakable bonds ? I am
glad to think that there are not wanting signs that the
failure of such methods of commending to the Islamic
world the message of the Gospel of Christ is being more
and more recognised.

CHAPTER IV

OF FATALISM

" God turned unto Adam, for He loveth to turn — for
He is easy to be reconciled and merciful " (Sura ii. 35).
I suppose that from no religion known to man has the
element of fatalism been entirely absent, and as different
phases of thought have asserted themselves, the doctrine
of predestination has in turn taken its place to the
eclipse for the time being of other views of God's
dealings with humanity. So recently did such views
reassert themselves in England — for St. Augustine had
brought them there at an earlier date — that I believe
an examination of the trust deeds of a great number
of nonconformist places of worship would lead to
either a revival of Calvinism or to the closing of their
doors, if our principles of adaptability to changing
theological conditions were overridden and exact law
were enforced.
One of the first attacks made upon Islam is generally
founded upon " the deadening influence of their doctrine
of fatalism." Upon this doctrine, Mr. Zwemer (from
whom I quote) and Mr. St. Clair-Tisdall pile every
detail of tradition and history in their determination
to strengthen the indictment. It is the keystone in
the arch of the Moslem faith : it is the only philosophy
of Islam. God wills both good and evil ; there is no
escaping from the caprice of His decree. Fatalism has
307

308 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
paralysed progress. Hope perishes under the weight
of this iron bondage ; injustice and social decay are
stoically accepted ; no man bears the burden of another.
An archangel and a murderer, a devil and a gnat equally
execute the will and purpose of Allah every moment
of their existence. In this way the awful indictment
is piled up. The Pen of God has written of all that
was to take place, until the Resurrection Day, " even
to the amount of the movement of the leaf of a tree as
it rises and falls."
I marvel that any writer on Islam will commit
himself to the statement that no man bears another's
burden — the charity, the self-denial, the faithfulness to
natural obligations, the daily personal ministrations of
these people to each other, of which there is abundant
witness, and which I have seen in a thousand ways, give
the lie to such a charge. The teaching and example
of the Prophet, the thousand exhortations of the Koran
to care for the orphan and the poor, to treat the slave
as a member of the family and to make his redemption
easy, these things cry out at every turn against the
libel. And history surely confutes the statement that there
is fatalism hard enough and dominating enough in Islam
to make advance impossible. Is there any doubt that
it was in the fervour of their first passion for Islam that
the tribesmen and tent dwellers of Arabia conquered
the world from Delhi to Granada, accomplishing more
in one century than the great Empire of Rome had
done in seven. The fact is it is no more possible to
find a simple formula like this of fatalism — or Kismet,
the word so popular at present — to account for the
decadence and stagnation of Islam, and to declare its

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 309
incapacity for revival, than in the Christian religion
can be found a single doctrine that will account for the
awful decadence of the Dark Ages from which it has
triumphantly emerged into the light of the present day.
And it is worth remembering that the days of Calvinism
in England coincide with a very vigorous period of our
history; and that some of the most energetic and
enterprising of the pioneers of our modern commercial
success belonged to the sects holding these views.
I believe that the heart of Islam is hidden from men
who can write in this way. They have studied Islam,
I know, and have become learned in the study, almost
to portentiousness. It was a Moslem philosopher, Bishr
ibn al-Harith, a holy man of Bagdad, who said : " The
punishment of the learned man in this life is blindness
of heart." Unconsciously, surely, such critics, who
wish to be regarded as the friends and not the opponents
of Islam, are perpetuating errors which were viciously
propagated by the bitterest of enemies. It was Pope
Pius 11. who, in his letter to the Emperor of the Turks,
said : " Mohammed thinks that all things happen in
this earth fortuitously, and that God does not regard
them." An inspired statement from which grew up
the belief that Mohammed denied the Providence of
God. History, both ancient and modern, teaches that the
last thing to be expected is that any religion will be
understood by its adversaries, but that rather it will
be loaded with unjust calumnies ; and the followers of
Islam of all religions suffers most from such a tendency
to this day, largely from their dislike of disputes about
their religion, and from their indifference in commending
it to any man who opposes it.

310 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
There are certain early vicious ideas of Mohammed
bearing upon this point which it is a shame almost to
mention, but which persist in a strange way with people
whose intelligence should make such nonsense impossible
of survival. The Prophet, says one story, accustomed
a pigeon to eat peas out of his ear, and pretended that
it was the Holy Ghost ; another, that he commanded
men to worship Venus, denied hell, taught that women
had no souls, and bade men worship him.
It was in the region of these ideas that unscrupulous
adversaries said the Prophet taught that God was
corporeal, and did not regard human affairs, and was
the author of all evil. " God is Mohammed's servant,
for both He and His angels pray for Mohammed,"
asserted Cardinal Nicolaus de Cufa, and on this was
founded what was for very long considered a most
crushing indictment. In the present day the author
of The Reproach of Islam can say, " To deny Mohammed
was ever to Mohammed an even more unforgivable
offence than to deny Allah " (p. 64).
There was an abominable Latin version of the
Koran by Reteneuf and Hermon Dalmata (1550) which
rendered a verse, " God and the angels pray for the
Prophet," while in truth it was merely the Arabian
way of saying, as men do to this day, " On him be
blessings and peace" (Sura xxxiii. 56). " Verily God
and His angels bless the Prophet : Bless ye him, 0
believers, and salute Him with salutations of peace."
Bradwardin, a great Christian theologian, charged
Moslems with devil worship, " Is it not contained in
your Koran that the sun rises between the two horns
of the Devil, and therefore those who worship towards
the East worship the Devil." Then it was asserted that

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 311
in this religion the devils are the friends of God, founded
on ignorance of the fact that the genii (some of whom
heard the Koran read, and approved the doctrine
contained in it) are neither devils nor related to them
(Sura lxxii.).
A cursory glance shows that the same methods
of criticism have been used towards other religions.
The Jewish people, though they had the holiest in
stitutions and laws, could not escape the calumny of
opponents, who charged them with many things which
were absolutely false. Tacitus himself, who did not
lack opportunities of consulting the Jews, wrote that they
were expelled from Egypt for the scab, and that they
consecrated the image of an ass which had taught them
to overcome their thirst and cease from their wander
ings. Plutarch maliciously related that a sow was
honoured among the Jews as their teacher in sowing
and tilling, and that the Feast of Tabernacles was
celebrated in honour of Bacchus, that the very Sabbath
was consecrated to that divinity. Rutilius sneered at
the Jewish Sabbaths as " cold sabbaths " (Ex. xxxv. 3),
with other jests about their laws.
And when Christianity arose, what a hideous
travesty of it was created by the Jews. The God of
the Christians was hoofed like an ass ; they feasted those
who were to be initiated on a young child covered
over with flour ; they threatened the early destruction
of the whole world with fire ; after they had ended
their most solemn Feasts they put out the lights and
men and women embraced one another as chance guided
— a sort of calumny which is always introduced under
such conditions.
To sum up in the words of Tertullian, in his apology

312 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
— " the Christians were counted murderers, incestuous,
sacrilegious, public enemies of mankind, guilty of all
wickedness, and therefore enemies of the Gods, of
Emperors, of morality, and of Universal Nature ; so
that it was a sufficient crime to be reckoned a Christian,
and that very name made them guilty."
It is true that Pliny after having inquired into the
Christian religion gave a very different account of it to
the Emperor Trajan. There were others, too, who
did not so foully misrepresent the Christians, but these
were few in number compared with those who defamed
the Christian faith.
Just as time has put these charges in their proper
place, so I believe the popular errors about Islam will
in the face of a just and sympathetic study fall away.
But this study must be one of the living people, and
not of the misleading accounts of them and of their
beliefs which have been handed down and elaborated
from age to age, often with the intention of making
blacker the original accusations against them.
And what do the leaders of Islam, and what does
the actual experience of its followers, say on this subject
of Fatalism ? A leading sheikh with whom I often
discussed this matter said — and this with an air of
sadness with which he always approached any con
troversy between the two religions — that there was no
more warrant for this charge against his religion than
there was against mine. The Koran does say, " Whom
God directs he is led into the right way ; whom He
leads into error he is deserted," and that " nothing can
befall us but what God hath prepared for us" (Sura
ix, 51). But — and he turned to a well-thumbed Bible
on his table — can you explain these words, " I make

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 313
peace and create evil " (Isa. xiv. 7). " Shall there
be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it " (Amos
iii. 6). How many times does your Book tell of men
being caused to wander from the right way of salvation,
" for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit, and made
his heart obstinate " (Deut. ii. 30). And your Apostle
Paul, does he not speak of the Potter who shall have
power over the lump to make " vessels of wrath fitted
to destruction " (Rom. ix. 22).
" By why continue this setting of text against text,"
said the sheikh. " No religion could live that was
bound eternally by odd passages of its Holy Book, and
lacked that spirit which can expand with the growing
needs of men. Of this I am certain ; if the Christian
religion has found it possible to throw off such shackles
of Fatalism as those which might have still bound it, if
it had detached, say, the Ninth Chapter of the Epistle to
the Romans from its great scheme for the help and
salvation of mankind, Islam can also break the slighter
shackles which her enemies so persistently enlarge upon.
But let us — and this with a kindly smile — talk of other
things." Reminding me of another gentle old sheikh
who ended a similar discussion by saying, " But why
dispute ; tell me your excellent names of God, and I
will tell you mine ! "
The Moslem rosary, I may remark, has a hundred
beads, and pious men and women tell over the ninety-
nine "excellent names of God," the largest bead being for
the name of Allah. The Prophet said it was " a good
thing to keep the mouth always moist with the praise
of God." These names in themselves are almost enough
to refute the charge of fatalism. They are ranged in
three sections, divided in the rosary, (i) the attributes

3 14 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
of wisdom ; (ii) of power ; (iii) of goodness. The
rosary is called Thirka, or remembrance.
The matter was stated in this way by another
Moslem : We always extol the holiness of God, and charge
no defect to Him. We say that God directs evil, in His
providence, but does not please Himself in it ; we
never pronounce Him the author of evil. We are
unjustly charged with this opinion, with which all who
maintain the absolute providence of God and His
independent right in all things, are wont to be charged,
as indeed Christians have been.
Said another sheikh : You know that our Prophet —
on whom be blessings and peace — was, of all things, most
certain that even his entrance to Paradise depended on
the mercy of God, which cannot be reconciled with any
form of predestination. One of our chief prayers is that
for Guidance in making a good choice, a prayer enjoined
by Mohammed in his own words ; it acknowledges the
omniscience of God, and goes on — " I pray Thee to be
gracious to me, for Thou art mighty, and I am helpless
. . . give me what is good for me, and let me be content
with it." If this is fatalism, it is a greatly modified
form of it.
A Moslem friend of mine, educated in England, and
himself a man of character and vigour, told me of the
deep impression made upon his mind by a sermon he
heard, in a Christian church, on the text " Take no
thought for the morrow ... for your Heavenly Father
knoweth ye have need." " That," he said, " I suggest
with deference, is the sort of fatalism that you preach
but the Oriental really practises. The thought of the
strenuous nations, so intent, not alone on the supply of
their daily needs, but of provision for the proverbial

Photo]

The House Tombs under the Citadel. Cai

[DMrich. Cairo.

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 315
rainy day, of which they live in constant anticipation
and dread, and with their struggles for what they call a
" competency," these are not the people who sensibly
consider the lilies of the field, which neither toil nor
spin, and yet are clothed in beauty.
Casual observers do the Arab people injustice in
reporting that the constant use of the word " ma'alesh "
is a proof of fatalism. It has many meanings, even to
being used as the courteous word of apology if a man
accidentally stumbles, for instance, against another.
The fact is, that what is often mistaken for the
apathy of the fatalist in the East, is a remarkable degree
of resignation and fortitude. " Verily to God we be
long ; and verily to Him we return ! " are the heartfelt
words which spring with childlike faith and simplicity
to the Moslem's lips in the face of the tragedies of life,
and which underlie the constant use of that word " ma'
alesh" — do not think of it — with which the Moslem
encourages serenity of mind in the smaller, as in the
greater, vexations and disappointments of life.
But how misleading to the casual observer the
outward air of stoicism may be ; I have been with these
Eastern men in times of deepest sorrow, and I have seen
the heart wrung, and the bitter tears flow while they
still stammered in answer to inquiries, " Praise be to
God ! Our Lord is bountiful ! " I was witness to a
scene of grief so poignant and so passionate, in the
privacy of one of the house-tombs under the Citadel at
Cairo, to which only intimate friendship admitted me,
that the memory of it haunts me still. And yet with
sobs one of my friends said to me in effect, " Never
mind !— Ma'alesh ! It is God's will. God's will be
done ! "

316 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
It is for the same reasons that the Moslem is " utterly
devoid of presumption with regard to his future actions,
or to any future events," always adding, " If it be the
will of God " to any statement of future plans ; or
" God is all-knowing," when speaking of a past event of
which he is not certain.
It was Yusef, the sheikh at Luxor, who reproved a
poor Moslem who said, when his elder child had small
pox, it was min Allah (from God), and neglected to at
once have his baby vaccinated. " Oh, man, when thou
wouldst build a house, dost thou throw the bricks in
a heap, and say the building thereof is from God, or
dost thou use the brains and hands which God has given
thee, and then pray Him to bless thy work ? In all
things do the best of thy understanding and means,
and then say min Allah, for the end is with Him."
The Prophet once asked a disciple who wished to
argue the question of Free Will, " If the wall against
which I am sitting were to show signs of falling, shall
I sit on and say Allah kereem, or should I use the legs
God has given me to escape ? " The true Moslem
doctrine is " Do all you can, and be resigned to what
ever is the result." As the Arabic proverb has it —
" Trust in God, but tether your camel ! " But such
discussions, when his disciples " Reasoned high
Of Providence, fore-knowledge, will and fate, —
V . Faffed fate, free will, fore-knowledge absolute —
Ahd found no end, in wandering mazes lost,"
Mohammed discouraged as profitless, and he eventually
forbade them.
It is an invidious thing, as I have before remarked,
to criticise a book which has become so deservedly a

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 317
classic for all time, but even Lane can sometimes, in
doctrinal matters, misrepresent the people of whom
he made such a penetrating study. I think he is quite
wrong in attributing to the Moslems such a degree
of belief in predestination that they make no effort at
the conversion of unbelievers — " The number of the
faithful is decreed by God ; and no act of man can
increase or diminish it." All modern history is against
this statement. The enormous spread of Islam, especi
ally in pagan lands (the testimony of Miss Mary Kingsley,
as one amongst many travellers in Central Africa, is
very striking), through the fact that " every Moslem is
a missionary," is causing the greatest anxiety and
reproach in Christian missionary circles. Although
Lane clothed himself and lived in every way as an
Egyptian, no doubt most of his associates knew that he
was a Christian — or at any rate a doubtful Moslem —
which would in any case make them reticent in matters
of religion. That is a remarkable passage in the Koran, " He who
saveth a soul alive, shall be as if he had saved the lives
of all mankind " (Sura v. 36 ; Sale's translation), an
excellent text for a missionary sermon, if these people
allowed themselves the use of detached words for such
a purpose. A college for the definite training of mis
sionaries has recently been started in Cairo under the
highest auspices, the aims of which I have had the
opportunity of studying, as explained to me by the
learned sheikh who has charge of the work, and who,
since I saw him, has been as far as India to help forward
a similar missionary movement there. Not the slightest
suggestion of predestination has ever arisen to impede
this work, which has been universally supported by

3i 8 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
approval and by generous subscriptions. Any one
interested in the training of Christian missionaries
might do well to study the documents in which the
aims and methods of this Moslem College are set forth.
They were unreservedly placed in my hands, and I
possess an English translation.
Deutsch and Renan have pointed out that the
Koran does not clearly determine the question as to
how far men are free agents, acting on their own initi
ative, and how far their action is constrained by Allah ;
in fact, they say, it speaks in popular language, some
times ascribing all action to Allah, and sometimes to
men's own agency. How many Christian writers have
said practically the same thing of the Bible. Canon
Mozley, in his Augustinian Doctrine of Predestina
tion, certainly uses very similar words.
And just as in the Bible there are stirring calls in
numerable to a vigorous pursuit of personal righteous
ness, so in the Koran, Mohammed gives, over and over
again, injunctions which show as indisputably as can be,
that nothing was further from his mind than a pious
state of idle and hopeless inanity and stagnation. The
rich recompense is to the strenuous and not to those
who sit at home at ease (Sura iv. 97) : a teaching which
was repeated, and put into its noblest practice, by all
Mohammed's early followers ; which Ali signalised in
that passionate call to effort — " I marvel that any man
of you can be slothful, seeing that death pursues him ! "

CHAPTER V
WHAT THE MOSLEMS THINK OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
" It was barren in winter, 'tis barren in spring,
And barren man's heart is, till grace intervene,
And, crushing it, clothe the long barren with green.
When the fresh breath of Jesus shall touch the heart's core,
It will live, it will breathe, it will blossom once more."
Jalaluddin Rumi (the Moslem thirteenth-century poet).
It has, I think, never been realised what a thrill of horror
ran through the educated Islamic East at the report,
given in the Times of 28th September 191 1, that the
Bishop of London had declared that Islam " denies
and casts out the name of Christ as evil."
This was in a speech in the Albert Hall, London,
at the public valedictory meeting of the Church
Missionary Society. The Bishop was at once criticised
by such men as Professor Margoliouth, who, though in
many ways an adverse critic of Islam, yet knew how
unjustifiable such a charge as this was. The Bishop's
answer was that he was summarising the following
passage from The Reproach of Islam, by the Rev.
W. H. T. Gairdner. " Point by point each truth
of Christianity, steeped through with the tenderness
of the love of God, is negated with abhorrence
by Islam ; the Fatherhood of God ; the Sonship and
Incarnation of Jesus Christ ; the Divinity of the Holy
Ghost ; the death of Christ and all that it means,
whether ethically — of love, infinite tenderness, infinite
self-sacrifice ; or spiritually — of sin condemned and sin
319

320 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
forgiven ; the Resurrection of Christ on the third day ;
His glorification with the Father with the glory which
he had with Him before the world was, — each several
truth of these truths is a blasphemy in the eyes of every
Moslem, a lie which Islam came expressly to blast, taught
by a book which the Koran came expressly to replace "
(P- 3r2).
Being in Cairo at the time, I was in a position, from
my intimacy with the leading men of the Islamic world
there, to know how deeply they were distressed as well
as astonished by such a charge. As the object of my
stay in Egypt was to give, as far as I could, the Moslems
a chance of stating for themselves their religious tenets
and opinions, I took every opportunity, not only of
questioning the chief sheikhs, from the sheikh Al Azar
downwards, but of eliciting the views of the average
layman, as to the position held by the Lord Jesus
Christ in their religion.
Put in simple language, freed from religious sophistry,
and detached from a great mass of traditional lore
which gathered at a later date about the subject, the
belief of Islam about our Lord is, that he was born of
the Virgin Mary, conceived by an act of Divine Will
(Sura iii. 52), coming to the world as the Spirit of
God and the Word of Truth (Sura iv. 69). "To
Jesus, Son of Mary, gave we clear proofs of His mission,
and strengthened Him by the Holy Spirit " (Sura ii. 81).
But that God had a Son they do not, of course,
believe ; " He begetteth not, neither is He begotten "
(Sura cxii.) is the first article of their faith — " there is
but one God." Nevertheless the Moslems have a
profound admiration for the life of Jesus, of which, to
my knowledge, many of them read, in the Gospels.

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 321
I have heard a thoughtful Moslem say (I do not suggest
that this is general) that he felt esteem for " our Lord
Jesus, on whom be blessings and peace," when he thought
of His pure and gentle life and example, above that
which he felt for the Prophet, whom all Moslems so
deeply venerate. It was to confirm the former Prophets,
he said, and to add to their " books," that Mohammed
was appointed.
No charge is more common than to say that the
Moslems despise the Gospel, declaring that it has been
corrupted by Christians. But their contention is (I
found this again and again) that the scriptures have
been misinterpreted and misunderstood rather than
corrupted. The general belief of the authorities is
that expressed by Ibn Abbas, who said, " there is no
man who could corrupt a single word of what proceeded
from God." The words of God must stand, but their
meaning could be misrepresented. And even Mr.
Zwemer admits that " thousands of Mohammedans
now, however, say the Bible is not corrupted, and read
it willingly and gladly."
The sheikh Al Azar was specially anxious that I
should see the copy of the Psalms which is in the Uni
versity Library, and is constantly read by students.
He reminded me that the Psalms are mentioned twice
in the Koran, once with a quotation — " My servants,
the righteous, shall inherit the earth " (Sura xxi. 105).
Next to Mohammed, Jesus is the greatest of all the
Prophets ; the one sinless Prophet of Islam, alone of all
those mentioned in the Koran, as free from guilt.
Mohammed acknowledges his own unrighteousness in
many passages. To Jesus are attributed the power
to perform miracles, while Mohammed distinctly re-
21

322 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
pudiated the suggestion that he himself possessed such
power, declaring again and again to his followers, " I
am only a man like you " (Sura xli. 5). " Mohammed
is no more than an apostle " (Sura iii. 138). " Guidance
is not with Mohammed, but with God " (Sura ii. 274).
The exact terms of reverence which always preface the
mention of the name of the Prophet are used when the
name of Jesus is spoken, and the Mother of Jesus is
always called " Our Mistress Mary."
It is useless, I suppose, to speculate what might
have been the development of Islam if Mohammed had
been acquainted with a pure Christianity, instead of
the corrupt travesty of it, which was known in Arabia
in his time. The Christians of that day were, as
Professor Palmer puts it, forgetful alike of the old re
velation and of the new, and, neglecting the teachings
of their master, were split up into numerous sects —
" Homoousians and Homoiousians, Monothelites and
Monophysites, Jacobites and Eutychians," and the like,
who had little in common but the name of Christian
and the bitter hatred with which they regarded each
other. The misconception of the Christian doctrine of the
Trinity which was prevalent in Arabia, and the only
one with which Mohammed was acquainted, was that it
meant nothing more nor less than tritheism, and these
three were God the Father, the Virgin-Mother, and
the Son of God.
The apostasy constantly urged by Mohammed against
the Jews is their rejection of Jesus ; and the Moslems
maintain that those who believe in Jesus, both Moslems
and Christians, must for ever prevail against the Jews,
both in argument and in arms. It is because of this,

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 323
says Al Beidawi, that the Jews to this very day have
never overcome the Christians or Moslems, having no
kingdom or established government of their own.
The Moslems do not believe in the death of Jesus
upon the Cross : " They crucified Him not, but
another who was made to appear to them like Him . . .
God took Jesus up to Himself" (Sura iv. 156). But
they further maintain, with the Christians, that Jesus
is their promised Messiah. As the learned sheikh
Rashid Rida (editor of the review Al-Manar) put it
to me, after he had spoken of the deep reverence all
Moslems have for Christ — " It is universally held that
Jesus — on whom be blessings and peace — will come
again forty-five years before the end of the world, and
will restore peace and harmony in the earth, even to
the extent of reconciling men and the wild beasts, — the
lion shall lie down with the lamb, and the serpent shall
be the playmate of children. By the side of our
Prophet's grave in Medina, the most sacred spot we
have, a place is reserved for the burial of Jesus, when
he eventually dies, as we think he will, before the Day
of Judgment. I am, as you know, a follower of the
rational views of the late sheikh Mohammed Abdu,
and I believe, as many Moslems do, that it is the spirit
of Jesus which will at the latter end pervade the whole
earth and bring the blessings spoken of in the Bible."
" How could the Bishop of London," he asked me,
" have been so misled as to say that Islam casts out the
name of Christ as evil ? Was it not significant," he
asked, " that it was from the writings of a missionary
that the Bishop got his ideas ? This same missionary,"
continued the sheikh, " said that even the little Arab
boy, in the utter hatred of the faith of Christ, is taught to

324 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
defile the Cross which he has drawn in the sand ! Where
did Mr. Gairdner learn of such a thing ? Has he merely
echoed it from that other critic of Islam who stops at
little in his efforts to defame it — Samuel M. Zwemer ?
(The defiling of the Cross was first mentioned in Islam:
a Challenge to Faith.) Speaking generally, Moslems are
as little affected by any dislike of the sign of the Cross
as Christians are by that of the Crescent."
I can speak from personal knowledge of the fact
that in Tunisia the special tattoo mark on the face is a
small cross on one of the temples, and by this a Tunisian
can be invariably recognised in any part of the world.
Some of the nomad tribes of the Sahara use the cross
as a decoration for their stuffs and their weapons. Leo
Africanus recorded that in his day all the mountaineers
of Algeria and Bougia, though Moslems, painted black
crosses on their cheeks and the palms of the hands
(Ramusio, p. 61).
General Gordon knew the Moslem people perhaps
as well as any man has ever done — not the people of the
city merely, but of the almost inaccessible parts of the
Sudan as well as of China. When he was writing his
last diary at Khartoum he was surrounded by men who
could by no means have shown their religion at its best ;
he was there to oppose one of the most fanatical and
successful risings of barbarian tribes of recent times, led
by a man who claimed to be the Madhi expected of
Islam. But the following passage should be pondered
by all those who honestly desire to understand the
people of this faith, and who might by virtue of their
office be concerned to encourage and stimulate them,
rather than to criticise and condemn. This is what
Gordon wrote : —

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 325
" I am sure it is unknown to the generality of our
missionaries in Moslem countries, that, in the Koran,
no imputation of sin is made to our Lord ; neither is
it hinted that He had need of pardon ; and, further, no
Moslem can deny that the Father of our Lord was
God (vide chapter of the Koran) and that He was in
carnated by a miracle. Our bishops content themselves
with its being a false religion, but it is a false religion
possessed by millions on millions of our fellow-creatures.
The Moslems do not say that Mohammed was without
sin ; the Koran often acknowledged that he erred, but
no Moslem will say ' Jesus sinned.' As far as self-sacrifice
of the body, they are far above the Roman Catholics, and
consequently above Protestants . . . the God of the
Moslems is our God." (Entry made in the diary on
1 2th September 1884.)
How different a temper is this from that exhibited
in the writings of such a man as the Rev. W. St. Clair-
Tisdall, in his anxiety to miss no opportunity of con
firming the unsympathetic and antagonistic views of
Islam which seem to be so acceptable to English readers.
This missionary gentleman immediately wrote not only
to partly confirm the Bishop of London's original
statement, but to produce a mass of the absurd legends
and traditions which gathered round this subject in
the earlier days of Islam. Puerilities which, it might
be allowed, are no more to be laid at the door of true
Moslems, than Protestant Christians are to be held
accountable for the fabulous legends of the " Fathers
of the Church " and of the Christian mystics, which
gathered about the pure faith of Christ.
It was in the same number of the Church Missionary
Review (November 191 1) which contained the Bishop's

326 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
speech, and his explanation, that this writer gathered
a mass of this nonsense with apparently no object but
to prove that the Moslems have no true knowledge of
Jesus, but are irrevocably committed to a hideous
travesty of Him. And in drawing the caricature which
he presents, he considers himself justified in quoting
from the mass of Moslem traditions, good and bad,
with little or no regard to the degree of credence they
obtain from intelligent Moslems themselves. He forgets
entirely that these fables concerning the life and miracles
of our Lord are seldom or never of Mohammedan
invention, but may generally be traced to the Apocryphal
Gospels and other spurious remains of Christian anti
quity. And he seems quite oblivious to the considera
tion that such treatment on the part of a Christian,
instead of opening the way for a more exalted teaching
of the mission of our Lord's life and death, has the
effect of exciting an antagonism in the Moslem mind
which diminishes — if it does not entirely close the door
to — the appeal which might be founded on a mutual
reverence for Him.
The enlightened Moslem rejects the greater part of
these fables and traditions, being so far in agreement
with Mr. Tisdall as to call them " a mass of rubbish."
As a matter of fact, every impartial historian should bring
to these traditional records of the Prophet's sayings
and doings the patient care with which all such docu
ments are treated if they are to yield the precious
information they hold, and not to be made mere vulgar
weapons of offence.
His article was translated and submitted to several
learned sheikhs — for there is a large committee in Cairo
which regularly considers the criticisms of Islam in

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 327
the European and American press. Almost every
tradition on which Mr. Tisdall has drawn for his picture
of the Moslem Jesus is in the category of those regarded
as doubtful. The date Grand Mufti (chief religious
judge) of Egypt, pronounced them to be " untrue."
Bitter indignation was expressed that such writers as
this leave out all the more spiritual details of the Moslem
beliefs, in which they agree with the Christians, while
they exaggerate every mean detail which has crept into
the Oriental imaginative writing, and that they always
seek to engender prejudice in the Western mind by
the statement (made by Mr. St. Clair-Tisdall even in
this article on Jesus) that Moslems are still " bound
(when strong enough) to oppose the followers of Jesus
with the sword, fighting in the Way of God (the Jihad)
until all Christians are slain, or have been compelled
to accept Islam, or have paid tribute out of hand and
are brought low." Which statement of the Jihad
many Moslems declared to me to be perverse and
misleading, in the face of the facts which have often
been explained. I deal with the Jihad in another
place. One of the Al Azar sheikhs expressed the greatest
indignation at the tone of all the writings on Islam by
Mr. Tisdall. He asked me what could be said of a man
who, in dealing with the early sufferings of Mohammed
before he was convinced of his mission, sneers at what
even Muir admits were the genuine strivings after
Truth. The Prophet used to retire to the hills — to a
spot described to me by a pilgrim who had visited it as
one of awful bareness and loneliness — " to seek relief
in meditation and prayer," which this critic takes
upon himstlf, for the first time, to say was but taking

328 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
himself to the mountains for a month's change of air
and scene (Religion of the Crescent, p. 146).
As I was desirous of finding what is the authoritative
rule in the acceptance of these traditions of Islam, I took
the opportunity of discussing it with all the ulema of
Al Azar University, and other authorities. The kernel
of the question is the saying of the Prophet himself to
Moaz ibn Gebel, who was sent to Yemen by Mohammed
as a religious judge.
" By what rules are you going to judge amongst
the people ? " asked the Prophet, to test him.
" First, by the Book of God ; second, by the Tradi
tions of the Prophet," he replied.
" But," questioned the Prophet, " if the matter is
not found in the Book of God, or in the Traditions ? "
" Then," he said, " I will try to make a just judgment
according to reason."
An answer which pleased the Prophet. It was thus
early settled that the first rule is to consult the Koran ;
the second, Tradition ; then those decisions on which
the great Imams are agreed ; and then Precedent. The
Prophet said that no one was obliged to regard a Tradi
tion which did not agree with the Koran.
One of the four great Imams of Islam, Abu Hanifa
(j6j a.d.), laid down this law, to which the other chief
Imams agreed. " We select first from the Koran, then
from the Traditions, then from the decrees of the
companions of the Prophet. What the companions
agreed upon has great weight with us ; and where they
doubt, we doubt." The Grand Mufti still considers
this a good rule.
As the modern reformers say, the religion of Islam
began by being very simple, for in the first century of

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 329
the Hijrah all the religious knowledge the believers
possessed consisted of the Koran, and the necessary
explanations which had been given by Mohammed.
One seems to see an exact counterpart of the course of
early Christianity in the fact that when theological
schools were developed — at one time one hundred and
twenty learned professors were lecturing at Bagdad on
dogmatical and legal subjects — the teaching of a spiritual
religion and an inward piety was almost forgotten.
In one of the latest books on Islam, written by an
educated Moslem, the author, Mohammed Badr, says,
" When in any case tradition and the intellectual
appreciation of a matter clash, then is tradition to be
put aside and the individual opinion followed." I
referred his passage to some of the ulema, however, and
they thought the freedom claimed was too great for
safety. When there is such a conflict between
reason and tradition, they agreed, the Moslem should
seek the advice of some learned man who is versed in
the teachings of the great Imams, before finally judging ;
otherwise every man would be a law unto himself, and
the ignorant would do much harm. In this as in every
other matter, however, they are forbidden by the Holy
Koran to interfere with the consciences of men ; or
to put any obstacle in the way of reasonable private
judgment. There is in Cairo a school — allied to Al Azar — for
the training of Cadis — or religious judges ; to my mind,
one of the most interesting institutions in Egypt, where
the best modern methods of education are being added
to the religious teaching first gained at Al Azar itself,
under an educated and enlightened sheikh who was
trained in England. A general rule of interpretation

330 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
for these students is that, while the Koran is the funda
mental part of the law, the tribunals must study to
reconcile equity and reason, rather than follow a pedantic
or patristic line.
Such is the affection and reverence for our Lord
Jesus, that I think it should be the desire of every man
who goes to the Moslems with the Christian message,
to encourage it, and, while refraining from saying a
single word which can wound them in relation to a
matter so sacred to them, seek quiet ways of developing
their knowledge of that one Perfect Life.
Of all men we Christians are the last who should
seek to stereotype for them the mass of tradition, when
ever we see a disposition on their part to free themselves
from it ; or to sneer at the reformers as "unorthodox "
who so ardently desire to bring about a moral revival.
What does not Protestant England and America owe to
reformers whom the Church would have suppressed
for their unorthodoxy ?
It is a deeply significant thing that one of the old
Deys of Algiers, in an audience he gave to a Jesuit
priest who was seeking the redemption of slaves,
showed him a copy of The Imitation of Christ printed
in the Turkish language, adding that "he valued it
more than the Koran." In the reign of Solyman i.
a chief of the ulemas, Sheikh Cabiz, suffered martyr
dom rather than renounce his predilection for the
Gospel. In Egypt, my wife and I, in calling one day on an
enlightened Moslem friend, whose family we knew
quite well, were both admitted to the hareem, by the
mother's permission, «s a special mark of confidence in
me. One of the daughters was engaged on some remark-

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 331
able embroidery. Our surprise and pleasure may be
imagined, when we found that the subject of one
beautiful piece of work was a picture of the Good
Shepherd, drawn by herself after reading the story in
the New Testament, which had greatly impressed her.
The incident brought to my mind an anecdote,
related by Hottinger, of a Bohemian Jew who actually
became a convert to Christianity in consequence of
convictions awakened in his mind by Moslem teachers,
during a long captivity with the Turks.

CHAPTER VI
BELIEFS AS TO THE EQUALITY AND BROTHERHOOD OF MAN
" Islam taught the people sobriety, temperance, charity, justice and
equality as the commandments of God. Its affirmation of the principle
of equality of man and man and its almost socialistic tendency repre
sented the same phase of thought that had found expression on the
shores of Galilee." Ameer Ali Syed, M.A., The Spirit of Islam, p. 160.
" Take away that black man ! " exclaimed the Christian
Archbishop Cyrus, " I can have no discussion with
him ! " when the Arab conquerors had sent a deputation
of their ablest men to discuss terms of surrender of the
capital of Egypt, headed by the negro Ubadah, as the
ablest of them all.
To the scared archbishop's astonishment, he was
told that this man was commissioned by the General
Amr ; that the Moslems held negroes and white men
in equal respect — judging a man by his character and
not by his colour.
" Well, if the negro must lead, he must speak gently,"
ordered the prelate, so as not to frighten his white
auditors. The reply of the negro shows the spirit of those
early conquerors.
" There are a thousand blacks, as black as myself,
amongst our companions. I and they would be ready
each to meet and fight a hundred enemies together.
We live only to fight for God, and to follow His will.
We care naught for wealth, so long as we have where-
33"

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 333
withal to stay our hunger and to clothe our bodies. This
world is naught to us, the next world is all ! "
The spirit of the Christian Cyrus prevails to this day.
Quite recently I heard an English officer dismiss a Cairo
cabman who had responded to the Turf Club call, saying
indignantly to his friend and to the porter, " Why, he's
a black beggar." A very few years since a number of
students of Edinburgh University refused the regular
invitation of a Professor to tea on Sunday afternoon, if
another student were included — merely because he was
a Negro. It is pleasant to record that the Professor
stood by his dusky friend, gaining for him, eventually,
equality of social treatment. The fact should not be
lost sight of that only one in eight of the people of the
British Empire are white.
It is certainly to the East that one must come to
understand absolute equality — a principle, however,
which I fear the English people are especially incapable
of understanding, under any circumstances. The
nature of the gulf which is made to separate the people
of the Orient from Europeans is never realised or under
stood by Moslems, and I believe that to this cause is
due the greater part of the personal misunderstanding
which makes our rule so difficult in Egypt. As for the
gulf which snobbery and class distinction make to separ
ate English people from each other, this is still more
incomprehensible to the Oriental mind.
I have talked with a sheikh of pure Arab descent,
now holding a very dignified position in Cairo, a man
of great learning in the history and religion of Islam,
who has with much gentleness asked me to explain our
Christian principles in the matter of brotherhood, as
he could in no way understand them from what he

334 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
saw of the Englishmen in Egypt and the Sudan, as com
pared with the teaching of the New Testament.
This story was told me of this very gentleman — he
did not tell it himself, or refer to it — but it came from
a mutual friend. When the sheikh was occupying a
chief position in the Sudan, as a Cadi, he had occasion
to travel from Khartoum to Cairo by rail. Having a
first-class ticket, he was sitting in one of the open saloons
which are the rule of the Sudan State Railway, when
an Englishman of the monocled type entered. After
staring rudely, he rang the bell, and informed the guard
that he objected to travelling with " a native."
Gentlemen of -the sheikh class, it should be explained,
always wear the turban and long robes of the East.
The sheikh, when asked to leave the saloon for his private
apartment (set apart for sleeping and useable by day),
refused ; he had a ticket entitling him to travel in this
part of the train. The Englishman now became angry,
and doggedly insistent, and after much argument, in
which he was insulting to the sheikh, he found that the
only way to enjoy the car free from this person to whom
he objected, was to pay for most of the seats and so
reserve the whole car. Can it be believed that this
man actually paid .£20 for the purpose of driving an
Egyptian out of the general saloon !
The mischief of that one insolent act will never be
measured. It is things like this that rankle, and breed
obstacles to our rule which those who have to face
them are at a loss sometimes to understand.
Such a spirit of class distinction is certainly the
greatest hindrance to missionary work in the East, as
every impartial observer has noted. How, for instance,
can any other appeal stand against that of the Moslem

'

*
•

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•'4M8&.

Photo] [Lekegian, Cairo.
One of the Splendid Fountains which are found at almost every turn
in the Streets of Cairo.

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 335
who, in approaching the pagan, says to him, however
obscure or degraded he may be, " embrace the faith,
and you are at once an equal and a brother." Islam
knows no " colour line." There is great reluctance- — or
racial incapacity almost — in Western missionary advo
cates to acknowledge class distinction as the almost
insurmountable obstacle to Christian advance in vast
regions where Islam is conquering. This is shown by
the fact that Mr. Tisdall can even go so far as to claim
for Christianity, as a superior merit, the sole propaga
tion of the doctrine of the Brotherhood of Mankind,
ignoring that it was under Islam that so much was
done to break up the feudal system of Europe by
admitting no privilege or caste in the regions which
it conquered (Note 12).
In pagan Arabia the people took a pertinacious
delight in endless genealogies, and boasted provokingly
to each other of nothing so much as noble ancestors.
" We disregarded every feeling of humanity, and the
duties of hospitality and neighbourhood," was their
own description of their state before " God raised
among them a man who called them to better things."
There can be no question of the teaching of the
Koran on the subject of equality, a teaching which
dictates the conduct, as I have found, of the humblest
Moslem in the desert to the Governor of a province ;
equality is as naturally taken for granted by the one as
by the other. In the Egyptian village the fellah is not
my inferior, but a poor brother ; there is an actual
equality strong and real enough to override the greatest
inequality of position. As in the earliest days, priority
in the faith and spiritual eminence in the brotherhood
of Islam are the only real claims to distinction ; martial

336 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
prowess, and descent, being of course a great claim in
the days of conquest.
" The most worthy of honour in the sight of God is
he who feareth Him most," says the Koran ; the first
words Mohammed spoke to the people of Mecca, after
that tremendous act of his in destroying all the idols
in the Kaaba, were upon the natural equality and
brotherhood of mankind, from this very text. The sheikh
el-Islam at Constantinople in a letter to a Western
convert, a few years since, in defining Moslem doctrine,
said, " Believers are all brothers."
It was, perhaps, impossible to maintain over the
whole world the original arrangement devised by
the Prophet, by which all men in Islam were to
join in a brotherhood of the faith, which was to
be closer even than the ties of family; but that
is still the ideal, and many primitive communities
go a long way towards realising it. The brotherhood
of Medina, when each helper of the Prophet was allied
to one of the exiles, to share each other's joys and
sorrows, was a fine conception, and is still talked of by
pious Moslems in a way that shows how the influence
of it lives on. In this and a thousand similar ways the
religious education of Islam, which dwells so largely
on the history of the Prophet, creates a standard of
conduct where rash critics have said there is none.
Every Moslem knows of the Prophet's self-reproach,
that he could once have been so engrossed in talk with
a group of leading citizens of Mecca, as to frown on a
poor blind man who sought his advice. They know, too,
that all through his life he referred to the incident,
and proclaimed God's disapprobation of his conduct.
That ringing verse of self-denunciation is in the Koran

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 337
itself, and has haunted the imagination of Moslems for
all time ; leading to a most tender consideration of the
blind as their universal rule.
" The Prophet frowned and turned aside,
Because the blind man came to him.
And how knowest thou whether he might not have been cleansed
from his sins,
Or whether he might have been admonished and profited thereby ?
As for the man that is rich,
Him thou receivest graciously ;
And thou carest not that he is not cleansed.
But as for him that cometh unto thee, earnestly seeking his salvation.
And trembling anxiously, him dost thou neglect.
By no means shouldst thou act thus" (Sura Ixxx. i-io).
As an instance of perversity of judgment, coming
from want of sympathy, it may be remarked that Sir
Wm. Muir — who accounts for Mohammed by a theory
of demoniacal possession — can read of this incident, and
so miss its grandeur as to say that it merely signifies
the Prophet's readiness, when the rich rejected him, to
turn to the poor. As Mr. Bosworth Smith remarked,
" Was ever moral sublimity so marred, or heroism so
vulgarised ? How Mohammed towers above his best
historians ! "
Ever after this the Prophet went out of his way to
do this blind man honour ; his greeting to him was,
" The man is thrice welcome on whose account my
Lord hath reprimanded me," and he made him twice
governor of Medina.
In the days of Omar, an incident occurred which
showed how deep-rooted the principle had become of
the absolute equality of all men in Islam. Jabala, King
of the Ghassandies, having become a Moslem, went in
great pomp and ceremony to perform the pilgrimage.
While circumambulating the Kaaba, the robe of a poor
pilgrim was accidentally flicked across the king's neck,

338 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
when the king turned, and, in a fury, struck him violently,
knocking out his teeth. This is how Omar, the Caliph,
wrote of what followed. " The poor man came to me,
and prayed for redress. I sent for Jabala, and when
he came before me, I asked him why he had so ill-
treated a brother Moslem. He answered that the man
had insulted him, and that were it not for the sanctity
of the place he would have killed him on the spot. I
answered that his words added greatly to the gravity
of his offence, and that unless he obtained the pardon
of the injured man he would have to submit to the
usual penalty of the law. Jabala replied, ' I am a king,
and the other is only a common man.' ' King or no
king, both of you are Moslems, and both of you are
equal in the eye of the law.' " The king escaped in
the night, and became a Christian, rather than apologise !
The ancient history of the East teems with instances
of men of lowliest birth — and of negro blood — rising to
the highest posts. And modern history tells much the
same story, or, if it halts at all, it is because of the
prejudices of the West. Slave origin is no disgrace to
this day in Egypt ; a chief lady at the present Court
was herself a slave, and the respect in which she is held
is in no way diminished by the fact. The wife of a
very high Egyptian official, whom I have met, was a
negress, and when she died, no wife was more sincerely
mourned or her children more tenderly cared for.
Indeed, it is only to the Western mind that these facts
would call for the slightest comment, on one side or the
other ; for there is a snobbery of the poor, towards
" their betters " too. It is a touching picture of the
simple affection of her little negro charge which Lady
Duff Gordon gives : " He is very ugly, with his black

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 339
face wet and swollen — with grief, — but he kisses ' my
hand and calls me his mother, quite ' natural like ' :
you see, colour is no barrier here."
Our thousand class distinctions, and our savage snob
bery, which spoil the English character in every part of
the world, are utterly incomprehensible to the Moslem
people. They can, for instance, make nothing of such
an incident as that which took place at the English
Sporting Club at Cairo this year. Certain genial
officers took the Tommys who had been called in to
make up hockey or other teams to give them a cup of
tea in the Pavilion ; but they were soon confronted with
haughty civilian complaints to the committee. It's —
get out, Tommy Atkins, till the drums begin to play !
Pride I have seen, of the most haughty description,
in an occasional Pasha — I generally found that he was
not an Arab but a Turk — who expected acknowledgment
of his position, defying the Koranic instruction by
" seeking to exalt himself on the earth," and thus
running the risk of losing Paradise (Sura xxviii. 83).
But I have sat with a friend of mine, a rich Bey,
with the family grocer and his neighbours, in a shop in
the Mousky, in Cairo, without a trace of any conscious
ness of class, for all the world like the Arabian Nights.
And another Cairo friend, a Pasha of the most dis
tinguished family, a man of great possessions, moves
with delightful grace amongst all sorts and conditions
of men. The snobbery that measures a man's house,
his salary, his father's " position," and cuts the pattern
of recognition exactly to fit with self-advantage, these
things are absent. The great, Mohammed Ali began
life as an illiterate coffee-house keeper, to end it as the
very forceful ruler of all Egypt.

CHAPTER VII
THE POSITION OF WOMEN
" The best men are those who are best to their wives and daughters.
The best Moslems are those who best treat their wives. You are all
shepherds ; every shepherd is responsible for his flock. Man is the
shepherd of his household ; he is responsible for them. Woman is the
shepherd of her husband's house ; she is responsible for it."
A traditional saying of Mohammed.
The persistence through centuries of time of certain
fears and hatreds which have become deep rooted in
the minds of a whole people, with the fallacies and
prejudices they engendered, would make a curious
study. I have seen an Irish lad — of that part of Ireland
where Cromwell's suppressions were most severe, spit
upon the picture of the Protector, actuated by hatred,
purely hereditary. Remnants of the terror inspired
by ancient religious persecutions are to be found still
surviving in remote parts of England. There are
simple folk in out-of-the-way places of East Anglia, to
this day, who speak with an inherited fear of the days
when " Bony " was expected to invade our shores,
quite ignorant of those later fashions in invasion-bogies
which' have supplanted the old terror.
It is somewhat in this way that Western ideas of the
Moslem people survive. An educated Egyptian of my
acquaintance, who, thirty years ago, was sent to a small
town in France to learn the language, said he had the
greatest difficulty in getting lodgings, and when he found

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 341
a decent woman to take him, he was treated with such
eccentric oversight and suspicion as made him wretched ;
every word said to him showed that the woman thought
him a barbarian, who had no idea of the uses of civilised
furniture, or even of the elements of domestic decency.
She even explained how a bed should be slept in,
and used for no other purpose, and that he must
remove his boots, especially, before getting into it.
However, by patience he gradually wore away these
mysterious prejudices ; and some time afterwards the
housekeeper and her husband confessed that they
thought all Moslems to be under the distinct curse of
God. So much so, that they believed, and so did all
their friends, that the very water in which a Moslem
washed developed in three days a peculiar microbe in
the form of a tiny worm. The man had kept such water
under close observation, until he decided that the idea —
one of those vague survivals of an embittered past,
possibly as long ago as the Crusades — was erroneous ;
the end of the connection being a long-cherished friend
ship. A curious instance of this is found in the travels of
Sir Bertrandon de la Brocquiere, the bold Burgundian
knight who journeyed in 1432 a.d. across Asia Minor
and through Turkey. He asserts that the Moslem
ruler of Iconium and his son "had been baptized in
the Greek manner to take off the bad smell. ... It is
thus that all grandees get themselves baptized that they
may not stink." It is remarkable that this belief, which
dates back to the twelfth century, survives in the
twentieth century in Syria, where the Christians fully
believe that Moslems have a naturally evil odour which
can only disappear when they are baptized.

342 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
There is no gainsaying these popular beliefs, just as
there was no appeal against the passions which en
gendered them. Dante, as a man of learning, would have
given Mohammed a place amongst the men of intel
lectual power in the Divine Comedy, but under the
pressure of the intense hatred of the people of Italy to
the Prophet, was impelled to eventually consign him
to the lowest depths of Hell.
It is to the same category that the popular Western
beliefs about the position of women in Islam belong..
" The Moslem does not even attribute the possession
of a soul to women," is the statement I have heard
made, within the last year or two, to a party of well-
known writers in London, by an authoress of some
repute — and there was not one to contradict it.
" So little did the Prophet reckon of woman," I
heard a learned Canon of the Church of England say,
" that she is never even mentioned in the Koran ! "
The sheikh Mohammed Abdu was once taking a
distinguished European through the Mosque of Al
Azar, when a girl passed them on the way to prayer.
" But," said the visitor, " I thought women had no
part at all in religion," which gave the sheikh the chance
of enlightening one man at least. The poet Hood
wrote of Islam, " Where woman has never a soul to save."
As I have had the advantage of discussing this ques
tion of the position of women with all the chief scholars
and sheikhs of Islam in Egypt (some of them deeply
versed in Arabic history), and of comparing their views
with those of other historians, I will summarise the
result, in an attempt to make the matter clear as it is
regarded from within. As recent writers have, as a
further discredit to Islam, begun to affirm that the

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 343
position of woman is worse for the Prophet's rule, I
particularly sought out what information is available
in Arabic history on the subject of pre-Islamic woman.
I have the authority of one of the Grand Muftis —
religious judges — for saying that not only in Arabia,
but in the neighbouring countries, the position of
women was in " the days of ignorance " very bad. In
Persia she was a prisoner, and there were no male relatives
to whom she might not be married. A certain number
of girls were sacrificed to the Goddess Anakida. Woman
was under the absolute control of her husband and
parents, who might kill her, or exchange her for
animals. In Arabia itself marriage was in no way regularised ;
not being limited or bound by any religious doctrines
or traditions, the only restrictions on a man in his
dealings with any woman he took into his house was
the fear of the vengeance of her male relatives and her
tribe. Polygamy was general, a well-to-do Arab having
from fifteen to twenty wives ; a rich man would have
as many as a hundred. The woman had no rights ;
the rules of inheritance took no count of her at all. The
father had the absolute right to do whatever he pleased
with his daughter. He might kill her as an infant by
burying her alive — a not uncommon custom ; or he
might marry her as a young child, to any one he pleased,
and she had no right to object.
The glimpses we get of the domestic life of those
days are, I suppose, what one would naturally expect ;
purity and gentleness of character, in either women or
men, could scarcely be encouraged by the suspicious
tyrant and the untrusting slave-owner at the head of
the house.

344 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
The poets of those days ever hold the woman in
contempt — she is mean and faithless, an artful foe to man,
a hopeless schemer against his true interests when she
is young ; in many cases a screaming termagant when
she is old. It was such a savage virago who, after the
victory of the Meccans over Mohammed at Ohud, in
the person of the wife of the successful general, Abu
Sufyan, is said to have torn out the liver of her victim,
the valiant Hamza, uncle of the Prophet, and chewed
it, stringing at the same time his nails and pieces of his
skin together to bedeck her arms and legs ; an example
followed by many a frenzied hag of Mecca. " I am not
displeased with the mutilation of the dead," said the
leader of the' army (Note 13).
" Women are the whips of Satan," was a pre-Islamic
adage, and another saying was, " When woman was
created the Devil said to. her — you are half my army;
you have my confidence, I need no better weapon ! "
The older generation of the opponents of Islam used
to explain the success of Mohammed by " the gross
ignorance of the people to whom he came." But now
writers like Mr. Zwemer are attempting to prove, as
one means of discrediting the Prophet, that there was
culture and chivalry, courage and freedom, in pre-
Islamic days.
The women of Arabia, it is true, moved about with
some freedom; and supported by her men relatives,
an exceptional woman would sometimes maintain a
leading position. Occasionally a poetess would arise,
having gifts which attracted attention to her verses
celebrating the honour of the clan, but as Professor
Palmer says, women "were for the most part looked
upon with contempt. The marriage knot was tied in

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 345
the simplest fashion, and untied as easily, divorce de
pending only on the option and caprice of the husband."
This is the state of woman in Arabia as Mohammed
found it. Did he acquiesce in things as he found them,
did he further degrade womankind, or did he uplift
them ? If one goes to the modern missionaries' account
one will find such perversion as will declare that, although
Mohammed abolished the slaughter of female infants,
" he discovered a way by which all females could be
buried alive, and yet live on — namely the veil " (Our
Moslem Sisters, edited by S. M. Zwemer).
In the whitewashing of the pre-Islamic Arabs, Mr.
Zwemer even goes so far as to suggest excuses for
temporary marriages ; he can imagine reasons for
female infanticide ; with the one object of proving that
" while the position of women in ' the time of ignorance '
was in some respects inferior, but in others far superior
to that under Islam." He does not hesitate to cate
gorically affirm that the use of the veil was almost
unknown in Arabia before Islam, " nor did the hareem
system prevail in the days of idolatry " (Note 14).
One of the chief Moslem opponents of the veil in
Egypt at the present time is Mohammed Tewfik Sidky,
M.D., and he states that the ulemas have acknowledged
that the obligation to the veil is not binding ; the habit
at the time of the Prophet was to show the face and
hands, in proof of which he mentioned many leading
authorities. Araha heard the Prophet advise the
young daughter of Abu Bakr, who was too thinly clad,
that " a woman should not show but her face and hands."
In those days, and for long after, women attended the
mosque prayers at the same time with men, unveiled,
as they do in some parts of the Sudan and in other

346 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
places now. If a woman to-day went veiled on the
pilgrimage, her pilgrimage would be invalid.
Another learned Moslem, the late Kasim Bey Amin,
expressed himself in this way : " Had the Shariat (the
religious code) any distinct doctrines in favour of the
veil, I would not say one word contradicting such
doctrines, even if I thought them harmful. God's
clear orders must be obeyed without discussion ; but
there is no clear doctrine in favour of the veil as it is
now used. Its use is only traditional as copied from
other nations, and which Moslems gradually exaggerated,
giving to it a religious significance, therefore I see no
objection to discussing it."
The Bey was an advocate of the veil ; he did not
at all approve of women mixing freely with men ; he
thought it better for them to pray at home than in the
mosque. But he admitted that the veil was a part of the
national costume in pre-Islamic times and afterwards, and
that legally woman is permitted to go to the mosques for
prayer, as she is permitted to go on the pilgrimage. She
also has the right to go out on many occasions without
the veil — to visit parents and friends. But he thought it
better that a certain use of the veil should be retained.
One could not help being amused at the recalling by
the Bey of that characteristically feminine remark of
Aysha, the Prophet's wife — with a touch of malice in
it, I suspect, against her own sex — " If the Prophet had
known what women have done after him, he would
have prohibited their going out." This, from Aysha,
the ruler of men, and leader of an army in battle, whose
liberty had scarcely ever been restrained !
Which reminds us that it is the women of Islam
themselves who are almost united against any changes

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 347
in their lot. A cultured young Egyptian of my
acquaintance is most anxious to marry, in the Euro
pean way, an educated girl whom he has had the
opportunity of knowing. It is only out of the natural
attraction possible in the free intercourse of the sexes
that he thinks there is any chance of avoiding the awful
risks of finding himself unhappily mated. But it is
his mother who stands in the way. He will be no
son of hers, she avers, if he marries any girl but the one
she and his father have chosen. Falling back upon
Eastern subterfuge, he constantly puts off the desired
marriage with every sort of excuse ; but he is sad with
the sense of impending trouble.
And this is only one of many such cases I have
known. I can assure the author of The Reproach of
Islam that the work of such reformers as Kasim Bey
Amin is not, as he declares, " all against the stream,"
that it has not " ended in failure." The leaven is at
work in the whole lump of Eastern life.
If we do not like the Moslem testimony on the
question of the veil and the hareem, let us turn to the
impartial historian. Lord Cromer quotes the following
words, as settling the responsibility of the seclusion of
women in Islam : " The system of the hareem is, in its
origin, not Moslem, but simply Oriental. The only
reproach that can be made against the Prophet is that,
by too definite legislation, he rendered subsequent
development and reform impossible." Professor Palmer
considers Mohammed's responsibility to end in the
fact " that he accepted without question the prevalent
opinion of his time, which was not in favour of allowing
too great freedom to women." The professor goes on
to say " that Mohammed had a due respect for the

348 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
female sex, as far as was consistent with the prevailing
state of education and opinion, is evident."
As for the veil, Palgrave declared that " it is a
matter of custom, and not of creed." Professor Mar
goliouth, no lenient critic of Islam, says in his latest
book, " the use of the veil goes back to early times ... to
pre-Islamic antiquity," and " indeed the text of the
Koran seems by the most natural interpretation to
assume that the face will be uncovered, and certain
ceremonies of the pilgrimage require that it should be
so." Is Bulwer Lytton wrong in attributing the veil
to the women of Pompeii in the first century a.d. ?
Khadijah, the Prophet's first wife, wore a veil in
the days before the new religion was founded. One of
the tests she proposed to prove the quality of the
spiritual visitant who troubled her husband was, that if
he was reputable, he would leave the presence of an
unveiled woman.
It is clear that the Prophet never intended the veil
to excuse such seclusion as prevents engaged couples
from seeing each other till after the marriage, against
which custom so many educated Egyptian men are
now rebelling. When Al-Moghera ibn Sheba informed
Mohammed that he was about to marry, he asked him,
" Did you see her ? " " No," was the reply. The
Prophet then said, " You must certainly see each other
before you marry."
As soon as Mohammed had power he abolished in
unmistakable terms the murder of baby girls, and
proceeded to teach his followers that respect is due to
women. The opening verse of the fourth Sura, called
" Woman," asserted a new teaching, against which the
Arabs of the day were at first inclined to revolt — "People

Photo]

[I^ekegian, Cairo.

The Doorway of an Arab House.
The inscription over the door is the number of the house in Arabic.

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 349
be humble before God, who hath created man, and his
wife, of the same soul." " Ye have rights over your
wives, and your wives have rights over you " — an
astonishing doctrine in that day. The men, to their
surprise, understood that the Prophet's teaching was
that man and woman were in spiritual things equal,
and were equally responsible to God. He still, however,
firmly believed that men are superior to women on
account of qualities with which God hath gifted the
one above the other, and on account of the maintenance
supplied by the man ; the wife may even be scourged
by the husband for refractoriness (Sura iv. 38). The
Prophet, however, never scourged any woman, and all
his teaching was on the side of gentleness, forbearance,
and every sort of considerate kindness. " Associate
kindly with women," he said, " for in them God hath
placed abundant good " (Sura iv. 23), and " He hath
put love and tenderness between you " (Sura xxx. 20).
In his last solemn address to the people of Mecca he
said, " Treat your women well."
The reverence Mohammed always taught to mothers
is as fresh in its application to-day as when he was
alive. I have seen the beautiful devotion of mothers
to their sons in the East again and again. " If all your
relatives visited you at once, your first answer must be
to your mother," he is reported to have said. " The
keys of Paradise are at your mother's feet." The death of
his mother was a deep grief to him as a child, and he
never lost his love and reverence for her. More than
fifty years later he turned aside from his pilgrimage to
visit her grave, and he wept there.
As an instance of certain methods of controversy,
Mr. Robert Speer said at the Student Volunteer Con-

350 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
ven tion at Nashville, 1906, " The very chapter in the
Mohammedan Bible which deals with the legal status
of woman . . . goes by the title in the Koran itself of
' The Cow.' " Both the speaker at this Christian con
ference, and Mr. Zwemer, who quotes him, should
know that the names of the Suras were not chosen by
Mohammed ; that they are merely taken from a pro
minent word at the beginning of each Sura ; that " the
cow " is the western translation of the very word which
is rendered " heifer " in our own Bible (Num. xix.),
and the Sura is even called " the Heifer " in Palmer's
translation. One can only suppose these gentlemen
wished to convey to those ignorant of the facts, a vulgar
suggestion which is as unworthy as it is unfair. Mr.
Zwemer adds, " Although, of course, the title of the
chapter was not given it for that reason." Then why,
if may be asked, propagate such an appeal to mere
ignorant prejudice. " The Cow " sura has nothing
whatever to do with any rude nickname the Turks may
use about women.
It must be interesting to English reformers to know
that the Egyptian Arab Muslim thinks all our customs
are very hard upon women. Instead of turning an
erring woman out of society, " the concealing of evil "
is considered very meritorious, and, where women are
concerned, positively a religious duty.
Lady Duff Gordon asked Omar, her servant, if he
would tell his brother if he saw his wife do anything
wrong. (N.B. — He can't endure her.) " Certainly
not. I must cover her with my cloak." She discovered
that, founded on the verse from the Koran, " The
woman is made for the man, but the man is also made
for the woman," there was a distinct sentiment in

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 351
favour of the obligations of chastity being equal ; that
the allowances made for the man should also be made
for the woman. All unchastity is wrong ; " an abom
ination ; " the thunders of the Koran on the subject
testifying to this, but equally so in men and women.
" Scourge (each of them) with an hundred stripes "
(Sura xxiv. 2-3).
It is the Arabs, it must be remembered, whose
traditions go back to the earliest Islamic times, who hold
these views. The Turks and other nations who intro
duced and fostered the hareem system, of necessity,
have other sentiments.
In a recent Arabic book, on the position of women
in Islam, it is stated " A man who will patiently bear
the bad character of his wife will be rewarded by God
like Ayyoub, the Prophet." Husbands, says the Grand
Cadi (judge), should be very patient and tolerant to
their wives, even to those who transgress. A family
conference must be quietly called to consider a serious
charge against her, and the four necessary witnesses
must be disinterested. Before the sentence of divorce
is pronounced she ought to be invited to repent.
Such a statement never ought to have been penned
that " The idea of woman being created by God to be
man's helpmeet, the sharer of his joys, and the partner
of his sorrows, seems never to have entered Mohammed's
mind" (Note 15). Not only are all the sayings of the
Prophet in accordance with such an ideal of marriage,
but the example of his married life with Khadijah
fulfilled it. A more perfect union is, perhaps, not
recorded of any man of genius.
" Of God's mercy He made of yourselves wives to
sympathise with you, and He put kindness and mercy

352 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
between the two," is a traditional saying — one of many.
Khadijah must ever rank as one of those good angels
who, by their ministry of faith and encouragement,
have preserved certain men of genius, in the early days
of their work, from despair. A tradition says of her that
" She believed in Mohammed, and believed in the truth
of the revelation, and fortified him in his aims. She
was the first who believed in God, in His messenger,
and in the Revelation. Thereby God had sent Moham
med comfort, for as often as he heard aught disagreeable,
contradictory, or how he was shown to be a liar, she
was sad about it. God comforted him through her
when he returned to her, in rousing him up again and
making his burden more light to him, assuring him of
her own faith in him, and representing to him the
futility of men's babble."
Many traditions testify to this, as to the suicidal
depressions of Mohammed, in the first years when he
felt himself called to a special work, the import of which
was not yet clear to him. T. W. Arnold declares this
union to be " truly one of the most beautiful pictures
of a perfect wedded life that history gives us " (Preach
ing of Islam, p. 9). The missionary "corrective" is,
however, provided by the Rev. W. St. Clair-Tisdall,
in the words previously quoted.
To show that an appreciation of this sentiment
survives, I may quote from the dedication of the recent
Arabic work on women, by the Chancellor of the Court
of Assize in Egypt — Kasim Bey Amin ; of the work
itself I have already spoken. " To my friend, Saad
Zagloul — In you I have found a heart that thinks, and
a will that acts. To me you have been the image of
friendship and cordiality, and thus it is that I have been

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 353
able to perceive that life is not mere misery, but that
it has sweet hours to those who can appreciate them.
It is from the intercourse of our friendship that I am
able to judge that such cordiality would give hours
of deeper happiness if exchanged between a husband
and wife. Here is the secret of happiness for which
I work — to put woman in her right position, and so
benefit both men and women."
The ideal state of marriage has never been entirely
lost in Islam, I think. It was an Egyptian Moslem who
wrote in this way in the sixteenth century : " We
Sufis have entered into an engagement to espouse only
one wife, and not to associate others with her. The
man who has only one wife is happy. ... A pure-
hearted wife is a great happiness in the house. Oh !
how often while I was weaving have I stolen a glance
at my wife, the mother of my son, sewing garments for
the poor. I understood then that I had happiness in
my house. Often she opened her larder and distributed
the contents to the poor. May God be merciful to
her." The writer, Sharani, died in Cairo, in 1565 a.d.
It was a Moslem saint who sang —
" Love and tenderness are qualities of humanity,
Passion and lust are qualities of animality.
Woman is a ray of God, not a mere mistress,
The Creator's self, as it were, not a mere creature."
(Rumi, 1207 a.d.)
Amongst the educated men this as an ideal of com
panionship and friendship has become almost general.
There is nothing they so much envy in the Western
nations as the capacity for practical comradeship in
our women-folk. I never found an educated youth
who did not favour the education of women in the hope
23

354 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
that the women of Egypt would advance in liberty
and capacity, so that the marriage bond might become
more like that of the West.
My most intimate Egyptian friend has a home-life
which in spite of the hareem is most perfectly happy.
His mother rules her family with wisdom and deep
affection, having been in every sense a companion and
a helpmeet to her husband for close on forty years.
This young man has been in England, and admires
the position of our women, and especially the freedom
of the wife to go anywhere with her husband. He is
too loyal and obedient to the wishes of his parents to
desire to oppose their ideas as to his own betrothal
(which are those customary in Egyptian upper-class
families), but he is all for the education of girls, and
their eventual freedom. This he believes can be
accomplished in accordance with his religion, to which
he is deeply attached.
Without the least desire to minimise the great evils
of woman's lot, it must be admitted that it is one of
the chief errors of the West to imagine that the Eastern
woman's life is generally one of utter wretchedness,
with a constant pining on the part of every one of them
after such emancipation as presents itself to the European
mind. My wife has talked with women of all grades
of society, from the old-fashioned mother of a large
family to the young daughters of the rich Pasha who
have had every advantage of education and accomplish
ment known to the English or French girl of the upper
classes ; to the wife of the Government clerk, and to
the poorest fellaha. Of the purely Turkish hareem I
know very little, from first hand. On the whole, the
restraints of the life, as we have seen it, do not cause

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 355
the woman active unhappiness, and they think their
customs good ; the rich ladies of Cairo frankly admit
that they do not see much to envy in their European
sisters who come under their observation there.
" We are quite happy in the society of our father
and brothers ; we have many interests and ambitions,
in study and accomplishments. We think we should not
like to meet men promiscuously, as English ladies do,"
said the wife and daughters of one of the chief families.
But this was, of course, a case in which there was wealth
and very enlightened parents, and a happy home-life, to
which the hareem was in no way a hindrance. It was
quite a joke with the household that whenever I called
on the Pasha he was always in the hareem part of the
house, and I knew by many signs that his family life was
most cherished by him.
Where there is a want of culture, the evils of seclusion
make themselves manifest in the jealousy and tyranny
of the women towards each other — for it is customary
for families to combine, the sons often taking home their
wives to join their mother's hareem ; with a result
easily to be imagined in England, where one of our
three national jokes (or is it four ?) is that of the incom
patibility of the mother-in-law to the family life. The
whole system under which such ignorant women live
gives a low and mean tone to almost every act and word.
The woman of the lower middle class lives her quiet
life in the belief that if her husband relaxed the rules
of seclusion it would be a sign that he did not care for
her. The poor woman of the village is not more un
happy than is the woman whose life is one of constant
labour in other countries. Often the husband is kind
and considerate, in all classes ; and always the woman's

356 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
greatest joy is in her children ; and the attachment of
sons is the comfort of old age.
Divorce, and the fear of it — this is the black cloud
over woman's existence in Egypt, of which she is most
conscious. In many of the humble village homes there
is a constant dread of a second wife appearing ; with
the chief object that the family may be increased, for
the only chance of a livelihood for the fellaheen family
is " a quiverfull " to join in the labour of the field, which
will scarcely then yield bread sufficient. The number
of the prayers, and charms, and special praying-places,
and sheikhs' tombs, to avert childlessness, is incredible;
not only for the love of children, but again in view of
the horror of divorce, for which childlessness is sufficient
reason. To the middle-class women, as to those of the aris
tocracy, seclusion has many alleviations. The constant
exchange of visits to friends, and the many demands
of friendship in the matter of long visits of congratula
tion, as of condolence, bring a great deal of change and
variety. There is much fancy needlework, and I have •
frequently heard the sound of the piano in the distant
hareem. There are many jewels to display to friends,
and the art of dress is not neglected, as a married man's
accounts (shown to me, but not to be discussed in any
way — for this would be improper) prove.
The position of the elder married woman of this
class gains in freedom with the years. The widow is
almost as free in all her movements as the man, with
control sometimes of large affairs. I know of more
than one widow lady who manages considerable estates
with vigour ; and of married ladies who travel with
their husbands in all countries ; and these not of

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 357
the rank of those rich Turkish wives who visit Europe
as a matter of course each summer, and discard their
pretence of a veil before the harbour bar at Alexandria
is crossed. The tragedy of seclusion and the veil, and all that
they mean, are with those girls, daughters of middle-class
but unenlightened mothers, who have not the happy
home-life I have mentioned. It is the inevitable tragedy
of all transition stages in human affairs. A girl is well
educated, even sent to France or Switzerland, living a
free life with other girls, making European friends, and
for a short time after her return home has respite from
the veil and seclusion, and visits European homes in
Egypt where there are daughters, as well as her Egyptian
acquaintances. But the old-fashioned mother in the
background has issued her fiat : at a certain given time
the sentence of restraint must fall. There is rebellion,
and in some cases disaster.
In a case well known to me in Lower Egypt, a
beautiful girl had been highly educated at home, and
had read many books of romance in English and French,
from which she had gathered a great deal of knowledge
of women's life in Europe, and especially of the poetry
of chivalry and of love. She was sought in marriage —
through her widowed mother — by a relative whom
as a child she had seen, and remembered sufficiently
well to know that she detested him. There was just
enough of the modern element about the home to admit
of a small episode out of which a romantically inclined
girl created an idyll. A letter, a message by telephone ;
the conservative side of the household suspicious. And
then the alarm of the mother, who knew that if a shade
of a breath of such a suspicion got abroad, it would

358 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
mean for her daughter a discredited life. The distasteful
marriage must be pressed forward. The girl had, of
course, the right to decline the marriage, but the grip
that circumstance laid upon her seemed too strong.
The idyll could not be realised ; and the heart quietly
broke. The marriage day was a day of mourning, and
the poor women who had assembled to condole, wailed
as the white burden left the house, " There goes the
bride ! "
This girl was deeply religious, as many of the women
are. I know this is contrary to the opinion expressed
by Lane, — " in Egypt the women seldom pray, even at
home," — but my wife and I constantly heard of women
who were very regular in their prayers, and devout in
their conduct. There is usually a praying-place for the
women in the home, as there is for the men, and the
chief women lead the stated prayers for the family and
servants. Special sheikhs, the very old men, go to the
hareems to teach the women in religious matters and
to read the Koran ; and as the pious men seclude them
selves in the mosques during the fast of Rhamadan, the
women make religious " retreats " for themselves at
home, to read the Koran and to pray. On Fridays they
pray the stated noonday prayer, and all household duties
and work are suspended till it is over (Note 16). There
are, indeed, special rules which adapt the ablutions to
the woman's needs, as well as in the postures. She
need not undo her hair in the one case, or raise her
hands as high as the men in the other ; an obvious
consideration. In the Sudan the women still pray in the mosques
at the same time as the men, but in the back rows, so
that the men may not see them. I have seen rows of

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 359
women behind the men making the Bairam special
prayer in the desert. At Mecca, I was assured by more
than one pilgrim, it is quite usual for the ladies of dis
tinguished classes to appear at public worship with the
men, not even being confined to the use of any special
part of the sacred court of the mosque. In Algiers
there is a special woman's mosque, and I have many
times entered its precincts and seen numbers of women
at prayer there, a fact I mention to show how little
justification there is for the statement that women
have little or no part in religion, so constantly re
iterated. As for the equality of soul, if there is one thing in
the Koran stated and re-stated with legal precision, it
is this. " Truly the men who resign themselves to God,
and the women who resign themselves, and the devout
men and the devout women, and the men of truth, and
the women of truth, and the patient and humble, and
who give alms and who fast, and are chaste, men and
women ; and the men and women who oft remember
God ; for them hath God prepared forgiveness and a
rich recompense " (Sura xxxiii. 36).
Though Mohammed legalised divorce, he never
once divorced a wife, and he left his followers in no
doubt of his detestation of it : " divorce is of all legal
proceedings the most hated by God," he declared.
Added to the respect for woman which Mohammed
taught, there is that remarkable set of laws, instituted
in the Koran, which still in their application (in spite
of the decadence of Islam which has borne with such
terrible hardship on women) place the Moslem woman's
rights higher than those of some of the European
nations. " The laws affecting women," as Mr. Stanley

360 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
Lane-Poole says, " are indeed the most minute and the
most considerate in the Koran."
This is how a Moslem lady — a Turkish princess — of
the present day states the matter (quoted in a recent
number of the Nineteenth Century and After, by Lady
Massie Blomfield) : The Prophet granted woman the
privilege of perfect equality with men, with the exercise
of legal functions. The laws of divorce were remodelled
by him : the husband's power to divorce was restricted ;
women could obtain a separation ; irrevocable divorce
was rendered rarer by the enactment that a woman
thus rejected could not return to her husband unless
she were first married and divorced by another ; and
four eye-witnesses were required before a wife could
be convicted of unfaithfulness. A woman had a legal
right over her own fortune, and could dispose of it as
she pleased.
She could introduce into the marriage contract cer
tain conditions to protect her interests in case of
divorce ; she had the right to vote, and take* part in
theological and legal debates. What is even more
important is that these privileges were not merely
nominal. They were freely used by Moslem women
centuries ago.
At the present day, under Mohammedan law, the
women possess privileges which compare very favourably
with those enjoyed by their sex in other countries. An
unmarried woman, until she is of age, is under parental
control. After that she is entitled to similar property
rights with men. She shares with her brothers in the
inheritance of her parents' property, in different but
relative proportions ; having in this way an immense
advantage over the English custom by which sons, and

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 361
especially the first-born, gain so enormously by inherit
ance over daughters. She cannot be married without
her consent ; a marriage settlement by the husband upon
the wife is demanded and enforced by law ; the husband
is compelled to support his wife ; he has no right to her
goods and property, nor may he appropriate her earnings
or ill-treat her. A father has not full control over a
daughter after she is of age ; she then may manage her
own property, and even choose a husband without
necessarily taking the advice of her parents.
If the legal condition of women be considered in
conjunction with that of their sex in several European
lands, it will readily be seen that technically it need not
fear scrutiny. How recent is the passing of the " Married
Women's Property Act " in England, by which a
woman has control over her own fortune. In France,
a woman is a minor in the eyes of the law. A married
woman there cannot undertake any employment, or
appear before a court of justice, unless her husband has
first granted his consent ; it is only since 1907 that she
has been legally entitled to dispose of her own earnings.
In Germany a husband can, if he wish, forbid his wife
to engage in any business. In Italy a married woman
cannot sign or draw a cheque on her own account for
her own money ; her testimony alone is not accepted
in a court of law ; she cannot engage in trade or dispose
of her own property without her husband's consent ;
he has full power over her earnings, and she cannot
plead in a court of law without his permission.
Islam, I maintain, clearly uplifted woman from a
very degraded position, granting her rights never known
to her before. It is an entirely erroneous notion
which prevails in the West that the seclusion of the

362 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
hareem was part of Mohammed's rule of life for women.
Neither in practice nor in theory was strict seclusion
ordered by the Prophet, as the history of his own women
folk, whom he certainly regarded as worthy of special
guardianship, shows. The hareem of those early days
was merely the necessary precaution of a lawless period,
and not in any way a rule or an excuse for the voluptuous
developments which were afterwards instituted. Sale
declares that Mohammed's law of divorce has operated
as a practical prohibition, divorce being of rare occurrence
among Moslems, and considered shameful. Unfortun
ately the law is so interpreted in modern times, in Egypt
especially, that divorce is made easy, and is very common ;
but what Sale states is still true of the Moslems living
in primitive ways. It was a learned clergyman, of the
Church of England, who stated that, " in point of fact,
the doctrine of divorce inculcated by Mohammed is
plainly a studied copy after that laid down by Moses."
Of polygamy, too, the same writer says : " The restraints
imposed by Mohammed on polygamy were borrowed,
precept by precept, and word for word, from the
practice of the Jewish law, as interpreted by Rabbinical
tradition. The law of Moses yielded a reluctant
sufferance to prevailing custom, in its silent toleration of
a plurality of wives."
The freedom and dignity woman attained in those
early days leads the modern reformers of Islam to turn,
in this matter, as in so many others, to the first days
of their faith.
Sheikh Shawish read a learned paper at the recent
Egyptian Congress protesting against the present-day
facilities for the Moslem to divorce his wife, which is
such a terrible blot, especially in Egypt ; declaring that

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 363
the Koranic laws would make it impossible. It is to
the Koran that many modern Moslems turn for the
settlement of the question of polygamy in a way satis
factory to women, while not utterly ignoring the differ
ence between climate, and physical constitution, in
the East, as compared with the North and West. In
Egypt polygamy is rarely or never practised amongst
the higher classes ; an unanswerable reply to such
sweeping statements as those made in the Bishop of
London's famous speech, so far as it concerns Egypt,being
that the census shows the number of males and females
to be almost equal. The Bishop said : " I hardly realised
that while the law of Islam restricts the number of wives
to four at a time, it allows an unlimited divorce, and
an unlimited number beside the wives who can be
taken into the hareem." Strictly speaking, the number,
whether wives or slaves, must not be more than four.
This is what the Mufti says about polygamy : When
the Prophet appeared among the Arabs, polygamy was
much practised, and it was impossible to abolish it,
and in the early days of Islam the loss of men in battle
and on foreign service made it necessary. I am even
disposed to say — he continued — that under certain
circumstances it is a necessary evil with Orientals, and
that in all Western judgments in the matter, climate
should be considered. Mohammed first limited the
legal number of wives to four, but he instituted such
restrictions as made it almost impossible of fulfilment.
The first condition is that the husband must do them
all equal rights and justice, which the great Imams,
especially Fakhr-al-Razy and Fat'halla, have inter
preted to apply to every relationship of life. To the
vast majority of Moslems this Koranic law must be

364 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
binding.- " If you are afraid you may not do them
justice, marry only one . . . this will make justice on
your part easier " (Sura iv. 3).
Of the freedom of women in early Islam there is
abundant proof, beginning with the Prophet's widows
and children, who not only took a part in the intellectual
life, but also in the practical affairs of the country.
To Hafsa, one of Mohammed's wives, had been
entrusted the chest in which were kept the precious
documents and records from which the Koran was
afterwards compiled. Aysha exercised the influence
of a Prince of the Church, and, in addition, led an army
in battle. Fatma, Mohammed's daughter, was very
influential amongst the people of Medina, where all
the foremost women were accustomed to attend the
lectures and speeches of the caliphs and others.
The inspiring story of a girl-hero of that time,
Khawala el-Kandia, throws a light on the early position
of women. Her brother was a famous knight in the
time of Omar, the second Caliph ; he was taken prisoner
in the battle of Agnadin, when an expedition was
organised by Khalid ibn Ul-Walid, a famous general,
for his rescue. On the way the general observed an
agile horseman, who was veiled save for the eyes, pur
suing the Roman soldiers, with remarkable courage,
killing some, and putting others to flight, by taking
extraordinary risks. Following this warrior with his
troops, he demanded who he was. Dropping the veil,
she said, "I am a girl — Khawala, daughter of Azur,
sister of Darar, who has been taken prisoner. I was
playing with Arab girl-friends when a messenger came
and told me my brother had been taken. I determined
at once to go to his rescue." She joined the expedition

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 365
which rescued her brother ; and, with the experience
gained, she afterwards played a prominent part as a
soldier in the conquest of Egypt and Syria. She was
also a great poetess, her theme being the praise of virtue
and courage, and she was esteemed not only for her
rare beauty, but for her purity.
She does not stand alone. The enthusiasm and
courage of Moslem women in time of war is shown again
and again. In the great battle between Omar and the
Emperor Heraclius (641 a.d.), the women, besides
helping in the fight, ministered to the troops as nurses,
water-carriers, and so on, while all the time urging the
Moslem troops to renewed effort. It was the encourage
ment given by their intrepid women-folk that made it
impossible for the men to turn their backs on the enemy.
In the time of Omieh, women had attained to a
dignified position in every walk of life. There has
perhaps been no time in history when she so nearly
rivalled man. She was thoroughly educated and
trained, in not only writing, poetry, and literature, but
in the deepest religious matters, so that some of them
became professors of traditional lore, even in the
mosque universities. The famous history of Ibn
Khalkan records the names of very many women,
some from the lowest classes, who became excellent
poetesses. Sakina, daughter of Hosein, was amongst
the most cultivated women of her time, her salon attract
ing all the men and women of genius of the day.
At the time of the Abbasides, women played a
prominent part in society, and many became famous
as teachers and lecturers. The Imam Shaffey, one of
the four great pillars of Islam, was taught by a woman.
Another famous woman of that period was Khazaran,

366 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
the wife of Al Mokdy, who was very influential in State
affairs, all historians agreeing that she was consulted in
all important matters, and that she was distinguished
in charitable service. She, too, had a great salon, and
received all the functionaries and governors, ulemas
and poets, at the house of the Caliphate. During the
Caliphate, of her son, she was joint-administrator of
the Empire.
Another wonderful woman was the wife of the
Caliph al-Mahtaded. At the death of her husband,
during the minority of her son, she was the real ruler
of the Empire, and received the ambassadors of foreign
countries in the presence of tbe ministers. She glorified
those early days by erecting a hospital at a cost of £jooo.
It would be tedious to mention the names and
attainments of the women famous as teachers, as rulers,
as social leaders, even as scientists. It may be said that
up to the time of the Abbasides, the opportunities for
distinction, and place, and honour, were almost equal
between men and women. The change has been all for
the worse. As in the past it was the ordinances of her
religion which gave her respect and upheld her rights, so
it is maintained it may be by way of religion that woman's
emancipation from the present bondage may come.
The decadence of the lot of women can be traced,
it is maintained, from the time when the Islamic world
itself fell into degenerate habits, and began to imitate
the indulgent and luxurious ways of other nations,
whilst it tried to stifle its conscience by giving false
interpretations to the Koran. It was when luxurious
living increased, in the ninth and tenth centuries, that
palaces were built, and houses began to be divided into
two parts, one of them entirely reserved for the women

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 367
— a new form of hareem with a new significance — a
custom which Mr. St. Clair-Tisdall so mistakenly
attributes to " the laws of their ' Prophet '."
When the Persians became powerful in Islam, the
position of woman began to be seriously degraded, and
eunuchs were adopted, the sign of a vicious sentiment,
says the Turkish Princess already quoted. " Towards
the end of the dynasty of the Abbasid Caliphs, the
Moslem woman first found herself sinking from her
high place of honour. Luxury and debauchery took
possession of the Court ; woman became a mere chattel,
the instrument of her lord and master's vicious pleasure.
The conquest of Constantinople gave the finishing stroke
to the liberties of the Moslem women, and from that
day the sensuous indulgent life of the hareem, with its
soft divans and silken cushions, its jewels and voluptuous
pleasures, has gradually sapped the intellectual and moral
strength of its denizens.
With regard to the future, it is encouraging to find
the growing sentiment in favour of change, founded on
religion and past history.
The experience in the modern education of men
has been to show that, to abruptly introduce European
training is to run the risk of destroying his religion and
leaving him an Agnostic, as Lord Cromer has rather
sweepingly asserted. " Is there any reason," he goes
on to ask, " why European education should not produce
the same effect on the Europeanised Egyptian woman ?
I know of none." But he urges the importance of
reform, despairing entirely of a civilisation, equal to
the European standard, making any progress in
Mohammedan countries unless the condition of their
women is improved.

368 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
But the gathering opinion of the men of Islam
is that emancipation can be found from within. In
Egypt the sentiment in favour of education seems
secure enough to make advance certain. " The study
of the Moslem religious code will give us most solid
support," says the Princess, " will arm us with the
most cogent reasons in our favour, and will also guide
our first steps in the struggle to retain our legal rights
and lost liberty of action."
As for what that regained liberty is to mean, the
Chancellor at the Court of Assize put it in this way :
When the Western woman began to receive education,
and to train her mind, her character developed at the
same time. She realised her rights, and proclaimed
them, until she came to co-operate with man in his
daily life. She joined him in aspiring to knowledge and
in pursuing it. She went with him to church, to public
gatherings, and on his travels, becoming his constant
companion and helper. This is the place we aspire to
put our women in in Islam ; especially I want to see the
Egyptian woman attain to the same degree of progress ;
this would be the greatest event in the history of Egypt.
That some of the ulemas are against us must not deter us,
for many of the leading authorities of Islam are with us,
indeed, many ulemas of the present day have declared
that even the veil is not insisted upon in our creed.
Where there are two opinions, and alternatives, surely
all sensible men will follow that most useful to
human liberty, and for the good of society.
It is my firm belief — the Chancellor went on, — that
the political and social conditions of a nation progress
simultaneously. Wherever man has degraded the
position of woman, the nation was doomed to fall, and

[DMrich, Cairo.

Taking a Drink at a Public Fountain.

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 369
wherever woman enjoys her personal liberty, man has
enjoyed his political liberty. In the East man has en
slaved woman, and he has been enslaved by his ruler ;
indoors he is the oppressor, out of doors he is the
oppressed. The position we have assigned to women
in Egypt deserves our own enslavement. We have been
avenged upon by nature too ; true happiness has been
denied us by our own tyranny over women ; our char
acter has been spoiled — we are sick at heart.
But we must strive to change all this, to recognise
the true worth and dignity of woman, and to give her
the liberty which is her due, and which will benefit our
manhood and the future of our nation in every way.
Surely we are all agreed that the fortunes of the whole
household are in the hands of the woman. Shall we
deny her every sort of education to fit her to perform
her duties nobly. The character of our children is
in the mother's hands. I assert that unless we put
woman in her right position, making her the equal
mate and friend of the man, no advance is possible to
us. I believe with the poet Schiller that no great man
ever succeeded in attaining his end without having a
woman whom he loved nearest him.
I am sure myself, he continued, that no man will
be happy unless he is devoted to a woman who is at the
same time devoted and true to him. No doubt the
Islamic peoples are in a backward condition, that needs
a speedy recovery. Let us face the facts of the disease,
and then seek the cure. I am convinced that in Egypt
our retrogression is not due to climate, for great things
have been accomplished in the past in this country.
It is not due to Islam ; many are the appeals in our
religion to strenuous labour and to progress ; and the
24

370 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
history of the glorious period of our advance shows
that the obstacles to a great civilisation lie not in our
creed. Indeed, we are in our present state, because
the principles and the practice of primitive Islam have
disappeared. Fables and false traditions have imposed
upon the people, and we have yielded ourselves up to
softness and vice. The core and heart of our disease —
and I think no one who has studied the life of the East
will say that this is not true — is that the younger genera
tion, after they have completed their course of study,
even to the highest degree, are found lacking in character,
in proper feeling, in spontaneous honest action. This
is the punishment for our treatment of women (Note
17). It is because our sons have not been trained in
their conscience by their mothers in childhood. They
lack refinement of feeling — that overwhelming power
in shaping one's actions — because we have degraded
the women, who should teach us refinement. Oh ! this
is why we are unstable and corrupt, and why advance
is so slow. Men are not true to themselves. Thus we
see our poets write excellent verses on love, while they
are not inclined to love, themselves. Our orators give
the most rousing speeches of fiery patriotism, while
they do not live the lives of patriots. Our young men
profess inviolate devotion to truth, but can be bought
by those who wish to silence them. Our religious
teachers, whose lives are devoted to instructing the
people, are often the last to have true religious feeling.
Lord Cromer was right. What the Egyptian so
much requires is not so much that his mind should be
trained, as that his character should be formed. That
would settle most of the sad questions arising from the
decadence which overtook Islam.

CHAPTER VIII
A NEW WAY WITH MOSLEMS
" If unjust arguments are employed against the faith of the Koran,
either the Moslems must have lost all their characteristic intelligence
and penetration ... or we may with moral certainty predict the, result.
From what they know to be wrong in the teaching of the Christian
missionaries, they will naturally argue that what they know not is wrong
also. From our false estimate of Mohammedanism in its civil and
intellectual influences, they may, without further examination, infer
the falseness of our estimate of its spiritual claims. In this way every
door may be barred against the admission of conviction, before the
saving truths of the Gospel have so much as sounded in their ears."
Rev. C. Forster, Mohammedanism Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 377.
The existence of such a vast number of people as the
Moslems (it is estimated that at the present time there
are about 260,000,000 of them in the world), all of one
religion, and acknowledging the authority of one Caliph,
has of necessity always demanded the attention of any
man who dreamed of power in world politics.
There was a period when the contemplation of Islam
fascinated Napoleon. When in Egypt, he went to
pray in the mosques, dressed as an Arab, and he debated
with keenest interest on all religious matters with in
telligent sheikhs. He sought in many ways to conciliate
himself with the great ulemas of Al Azar, in Cairo,
gathering them around him and taking their counsel
on all occasions, when circumstances permitted. When
his troops were starting for Egypt he impressed upon
them the duty of showing the greatest respect for the
Koran, the mosques, and the Imams. Indeed, it was

372 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
said that he seriously contemplated becoming a
Moslem. In his proclamation in Cairo Napoleon said, " The
French are the true Moslems. We become better
Christians than before by becoming Moslems. By the
political alliance of France with Islam we create a
military power with which the world must count. By
the religious alliance of the Gospel with the Koran we
will make to shine such a light for the souls of men as
they have not yet seen " (Note 18).
If this seems to savour somewhat of the gaudy periods
of the political opportunist, we may remember that
when the hopelessness of St. Helena gave candour to
his opinions, Napoleon still often expressed his sympathy
with Islam, and spoke of many of its tenets with praise.
Mr. Carl Peters has not hesitated to preach to the
German people the importance of an attempt to cultivate
a friendship with Islam, in the hope of one day using its
power to help the modern ambitions of their fatherland.
The history of German enterprise in Egypt during
the last few years goes to show that these are not mere
words. Mr. Carl Peters was in Cairo this winter (1912)
and proved that he has abated nothing of the brutal
frankness which characterises his awful suggestion to
fashion out of Islam the dynamite to blow into the air the
rule of England and France from Cape Nun to Calcutta.
There is no doubt that the influence of Germany,
so studiously and daringly cultivated in Constantinople,
hasbeen weakened of late by the suspicions of the Moslems
that the war in Tripoli would never have occurred but
for the encouragement given by Germany to Italy,
and later by suspicions that she was suggesting to Russia
the break-up of Turkey. And yet it seems but the

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 373
other day since the German Emperor suggested to his
" friend and ally," the Sultan, that a Holy War (Jihad)
should be preached in China against the Manchu tyranny.
If Pan-Islamism is one of the nightmares which
occasionally visit some parts of Europe, the " Yellow
Peril " has never lost its terrors for the rulers of Germany.
That both these " perils " may be closely allied has
never been sufficiently realised.
There is an immense Moslem population in China,
which,as knowledge of that land of mystery has grown, has
been found to be larger than had been previously sus
pected. Indeed there have not been wanting men who
have asserted that this is destined to be the national faith
of the China of the future. " If China," wrote Professor
Vasil'ev, a Russian, " which contains at least one-third
of the human race, were to be converted into a Moham
medan empire, the political relations of the whole
East would be considerably modified. The world of
Islam, stretching from Gibraltar to the Pacific Ocean,
might again lift up its head. Islam might and would
threaten Christendom, and the peaceful activity of
the Chinese people, which is now so profitable to the
rest of the world, would, in the hands of fanatics, be
turned into a yoke upon the necks of other nations."
" Again, if Islam some day succeeds in establishing its
political supremacy over China, and then claims the
allegiance of the mass of the population to its faith,
will it meet with a refusal ? We think not, for such a
change will seem infinitely easier to the Chinese than the
change of costume which took place on the accession
of the reigning dynasty." With regard to numbers,
a Moslem writer several years ago declared that the
people of Islam were increasing enormously ; that

374 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
they then numbered 70,000,000, not including the
people of Kasgar, though other estimates vary from three
to twenty millions.
Whether we consider these alarmist views seriously
or not, there is no doubt that recent developments in
China have rekindled the alarms of Germany Mr.
Carl Peters believes that the changes of this very year
in the Far East, which have turned the most ancient
monarchy in the world into a " modern republic after
the American pattern," whose first act was to decide
on conscription of the whole gigantic nation after the
German model, will before long make it imperative
for the British, German, and American nations to safe
guard the future of our race and the development of
our culture. " For Europe the Yellow Peril has become
a reality." He thinks that necessity from the Far East
will one day press Great Britain, France, and Germany
into a " United States of Europe."
It might seem an unnecessary thing to press the
importance of a careful study of Islam on the British
people, in whose Empire are more followers of this faith
than belong to any other power — in India alone we rule
65,000,000 Moslems. But the fact should be faced,
that our ignorance on this subject is nothing short of
appalling, and comparatively little is being done to
lessen it by those who are sent to govern these people,
or even by those who go to them with the Gospel of
Christ. We seem to carry with us a constitutional
dislike of the Eastern people, which makes sympathy
almost impossible, while our preconceived notions lead
us to misjudge them in almost every particular.
Ruskin makes use of some very remarkable words,
which may be pondered in this connection. In the

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 375
East, it is asserted, the people all manifest in a hundred
ways the great fact of their belief in God. With the
Western, on the contrary, the outward form of pr^tising
a belief in a God, is a thing to be half-ashamed of —
something to hide — a deep difference between the
East and the West lying beneath the incompatibility of
temper on the part of modern Englishmen to accept
the religious habit of thought in the East. The first
law of the East is prayer to God ; and whether the shrine
be Jerusalem, Mecca, or Lhassa, the sanctity of worship
surrounds the votary and protects the pilgrim. All
prayer is holy in the sight of the Oriental, whatever
the creed or the form ; it is inconceivable to him that
any man can show scorn at the sight of any other man
whatever engaged in prayer.
Into this life comes the Englishman, frequently
destitute of one touch of sympathy with the prayers of
any people, or the faith of any creed ; hence our rule
in the East has ever rested, and will ever rest, upon the
bayonet. We have never got beyond the stage of con
quest, never assimilated a people to our ways. It
almost seems that the qualities which render the Anglo-
Saxon successful in conquest — sternness, and a proud-
ness of self-trust which can be repellant — disqualify
him for the subtle and delicate task of assimilating
subject races, and winning their confidence and affec
tion. It is curious, for instance, how frequently a
well-meaning Briton will speak of a foreign church or
temple as though it had presented itself to his mind
in the same light in which the City of London appeared
to Blucher — as something to loot.
Not only are we wanting in sympathy, but we so
cultivate our insularity of mind as to make it almost

376 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
impossible for us to gain any real knowledge of the
people we govern. Contempt, allied to a narrow pre
conception, must breed ignorance ; for scorn of the
sensitive and proud people of the East closes all avenues
to anything approaching understanding of their ways
of thought and the manner of their lives.
Lord Cromer has said " nothing is commonplace
in these strange lands." It is true. The mere fact
that everything the Oriental does or thinks is almost an
exact opposite from the acts and thoughts of the people
of the West would alone account for this. I give a
few instances — the subject might fill a volume : —
In the West we wear our best clothes when we go
to church. It is not seemly to attend the mosque in
anything but plain apparel ; at the great prayers of
the Feasts the desert Arabs lay aside all their gorgeous
robes and don plain, undecorated white.
With us punctuality is taught as a virtue ; and to
this end our earliest ambition is to possess a watch.
My Arab friends always good-naturedly laugh at the
idea that I should give myself so much trouble in keeping
appointments — even uncongenial ones. In his pictuesque
way one of them said to me, " Sir, you carry about
with you in your pocket a little Sultan who rules over
you ! "
It seemed strange to me, at first, on leaving the
hotel in the desert oasis, to find that my humble
friends, who were sitting on the mats by the door, did
not rise when I spoke to them. I should have " ordered
the beggars to stand up." But with patience I soon
discovered that they remained sitting because they
would not do me the injustice of suggesting that I was
an arrogant man who would require a poorer man to

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 377
rise at his approach. The Prophet — on whom be
blessings and peace — would never do such a thing.
In the hotels in Egypt the native servants have positive
instructions always to stand when a European appears.
I have heard an Englishwoman soundly rating her own
Arab servant for momentary forgetfulness in this matter.
I have also heard the private opinions of native men,
fresh from primitive Moslem communities, on the
subject of Western manners.
A short time since a poor tramp in Egypt, shivering
with cold in the night, lay down to sleep on the top of
a brick kiln. Later on the kiln was fired, and in the
morning the charred remains of the wayfarer were
found where he had slept. At the inquest, to the English
official's intense surprise, the native jury found a verdict
of " died from cold." " But the poor man was burnt
to a cinder," he insisted. " No ! what he died of was
the cold that led him to go to sleep on the kiln ! "
An Englishman (Lord Cromer mentions this), who
was a keen observer of Egyptian manners and customs,
tells that as a test of intelligence he once asked a fellah
to point to his left ear. A European would certainly
have taken hold of the lobe of his left ear with his left
hand. The Egyptian passed his right hand over the
top of his head, and with that hand grasped the upper
part of his left ear.
A lady who has lived the greater part of her life
with Arab people told me this anecdote. She had
often talked to men, who were fathers, about the idea,
so distasteful to her mind, of the daughters being sold
in marriage. This was near Algiers, where there are
many rich English residents. One day one of these
Arab fathers appeared at the lady's house, and asked

378 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
naively if it was true that a certain young English lady
living near was betrothed. Yes, it was true. Was
it true, as the Arab had heard, that her father was
giving her a handsome fortune to take to her husband.
" Yes ! it is the English custom for a rich father to give
his daughter a dowry on her marriage." " Ah ! " he
retorted reflectively, but with a provoking twinkle in
his eye, " I see how it is. In England the fathers hold
their girls so cheaply that they give them away, and even
pay their husbands for taking them. With us, they are
so dear to us that before we will let them go the man
who desires them must pay a handsome price."
The very arrangement of the Koran itself is an
instance of this appositiveness ; the long chapters are
put first, and they gradually fine down to the shortest
chapters, although the longest Suras were in nearly
every case the last to have been written, and the shortest
were the ones first written. No one has altogether
realised, I think, the misapprehension and confusion
this apparently small matter has brought to European
minds. One glance at Sale's arrangement of the Koran,
which is the translation Carlyle read, and one under
stands why he found it " a wearisome, confused jumble,
crude, incondite." In Rodwell's arrangement I find
the Koran continuously interesting.
And so on ad infinitum. What I hope is clear is,
how impossible it is for the European to look at the
world with the same eyes as the Oriental. Reasoning
from the same premises, the two peoples will nearly
always arrive at diametrically opposite conclusions ;
which all shows how much care needs to be exercised
hefore we criticise the things — and especially the
religious things — of the East, drawing arguments from

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 379
English experience to apply them to circumstances
which do not admit of any such reasoning being applied
without great qualifications ; and how more than foolish
it is to give any excuse for the intelligent Oriental to
say of us — "he regards everything with contempt for
being so un-European, or more particularly, un-English."
No one can claim, I believe, that we have been careful
to study the life and religion of Islam (life and religion
here are entirely inseparable) before we have scorned,
and often contemned or denounced it. And such
ignorance as is shown has not been confined to casual
observers, or to those writers who take their foreign
travel in pilules, and care only to be breezingly amusing
(in the way of Mr. Douglas Sladen, for instance), and
are utterly harum-scarum and irresponsible. In that
great work on Modern Egypt, in which all the facts
concerning the material position of the country are set
forth with such a masterly hand, Lord Cromer yet
falls into errors about the Moslem religion which are
surprising. It was in commenting on this work that a distin
guished sheikh said to me, " How easy your task would
be in Egypt if you only approached the people in a
different spirit. It is only by true respect and under
standing of their faith and their religious principles
that Europeans have any chance of making themselves
sympathetic to the Moslems. All that you can say to
us about prosperity and budgets will touch us but
feebly. And this is all you want to talk to us about ;
and Lord Kitchener apparently is determined, from
the repression he is now practising in Egypt, on the
Press and the students' religious demonstrations especi
ally, that we shall talk of nothing else."

380 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
The Bishop of Lahore, who has over a hundred
clergy in his diocese, called his staff together when he
had been a short time in India, to tell them of his great
disappointment at the want of knowledge he found, on
their part, of the details of the religion of the Moslem
people amongst whom some of them had been working
for many years. When he had inquired of his own
clergy concerning points of traditional lore which
affected the everyday customs of the people — ignorance
of which I suspect would completely shut any man out
of their lives — not one of them could enlighten
him. Just as the people of the West in the middle ages
had to learn how much they had been deceived by the
foul abuse which was flung at the Moslems by the Popes
and others who were interested in stimulating the
fanatical zeal of the Crusades, and respectable historians
began to drop those vulgar charges ; so, I think, the time
must come, if we are not altogether to fail of our oppor
tunity to help these millions of our fellow-men, when
we too must advance beyond the ignorant prejudices
of the eighteenth century, which still limit the judgment
of most Englishmen.
We do not now speak of the " dogs of infidels," as
did Catherine of Sienna, following the custom of her
day. The vulgarity of the introduction to the first
English translation of the Koran, published in London
in 1649, belongs happily to a past age : " Good reader,
the great Arabian impostor, now at last, after a thousand
years, is, by way of France, arrived in England, and
his Alcoran, or Galli-manfry of Errors (a brat as deformed
as the Parent, and as full of heresies as his scald head was
of scurf), hath learned to speak in English."

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 381
I fancy that very few men now seek, as Martin
Luther did, to identify Mohammed with Daniel's
" Little Horn," to show that fire and brimstone must
come upon him. Luther's translation of Brother
Richard's exordium is as much out of tune with these
times as his own epilogue is, in which he arrived at
the final conclusion that of two monsters, " the Pope
is worse than Mohammed," who is thus described :
" At the time of the Emperor Heraclius there arose a
man, yea, a Devil, and first-born son of Satan . . .
who wallowed in . . . and he was dealing in the Black
Art, and his name was Machumet."
Melanchthon thought Mohammed was inspired by
Satan, and " his sect is altogether made up of blasphemy,
robbery, and shameful lusts." As for the Koran, " it
needs not concern us any more than the portents of
the Egyptians, who invoked snakes and cats." Eventu
ally, however, these things, and the silly curses of such
men as Prideaux and Spanheim and d'Herbelot, gave
way, step by step almost, to more temperate protests,
more decent names, less outrageous misrepresentations
of b6th the faith and its founder ; until Goethe and
Carlyle on the one hand, and the modern phalanx of
investigators — Sprenger, Amari, Noldeke, Muir, and
Dozy — on the other, have given the world at large the
opportunity of knowing that " Mohammedanism is a
thing of vitality, fraught with a thousand fruitful
germs ; and that Mohammed, whatever view of his
character is held, has earned a place in the golden book
of Humanity " (Note 19).
Unfortunately prejudice has been slow to give way
to such a presentation of the truth, and a more polite
mode of speech does not hide a contempt which lingers,

382 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
or disguise views which are almost as wanting in under
standing as their coarser forerunners.
When a Moslem review — Arafate — was started in
Cairo, a year or two since, to discuss, in the French
language, the affairs of Islam, a strong protest was
entered by a number of leading Moslems, who said,
" Do not let us speak of our religion in a European
language : these strangers do not understand us."
It is this conviction which accounts for the reserve
towards us which has become a habit, and puts almost
insuperable difficulties in the way of those who seriously
desire to understand the Eastern peoples. The Moslem
expects the European to ridicule him, or, what is worse,
to refer to the Prophet in terms of insult, or to pour
scorn upon the Holy Koran. A pious young friend of
mine declined an introduction to a missionary of my
acquaintance, although I explained that he worked as
a doctor of medicine in Egypt, on the ground that " all
missionaries refer to our Prophet in a way that is insult
ing." Many of the great ulemas are against the dis
cussion of the Koran with unbelievers, because they say
that the few Europeans who have ever read it did so
with the object of turning it to ridicule (Note 20).
" Keep away from the insulters " was the recent advice
of a leading sheikh in Cairo to young men.
It was interesting to me to find how keen was the
Moslem's appreciation of such European writers as had
dealt seriously, and with respect, with their religion.
Lamartine, for instance, Ruskin, Pere Hyacinthe, and
Tolstoi are famous authors whose works are all read by
cultured Moslems with appreciation, because they know
that the tone they adopt towards Islam is fair and
generous ; and in some cases the influence gained by

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 383
these writers for anything, on whatever subject, they
have to say, is founded on nothing more than a kindly
passing reference to the religion of the Prophet.
As far as Egypt is concerned, it has been the fault
of nearly all books dealing with that country, that the
writers have been occupied with everything but an
attempt to know the living people. The glories of
ancient Egypt, the charm of the Nile, descriptions of
the sunset over the minarets of Cairo, or over the red
hills of Nubia, word-painting of the externals of native
life, such as Harriet Martineau did so perfectly : these
have been produced to infinity. And almost always
the people, so far as they have come into these books,
have not been real people, but part of the scenery. Miss
Martineau, who never showed a trace of understanding
of the dwellers by the Nile, could yet write with senti
ment of the Pharaohs, and of " him who sleeps in Philae."
She thought a hareem was a brothel, and indiscrimin
ately spoke of Moslems, Copts, and Greeks as though
an unfathomable gulf divided them from English people
(Note 21).
We smile, perhaps, at the idea of the hareem, but
have we really advanced much beyond such crude
notions of the inner life of the East. A leering use of
the word hareem (I have spelt it in this way because the
accent is on the e, and not as English people always
pronounce it), which simply means " reserved," is good
enough to make the success of a play which still travels
the provinces of England. In many towns I have seen
the placards announcing " The Secrets of theH****m "
— the thing having gained an advertisement from the
protest of the Turkish Ambassador in London, when
the word was spelt without the stars.

384 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
And for our guidance we take such widely read
melodrama, with its " green turban " and backsheesh
fictions, and cut-throat thrills of Sir Gilbert Parker, or
the false colouring of Miss Marie Corelli, who does
not know one side of the Nile from the other, and can
speak of the shade of an avenue of palms from Cairo
to the pyramids ! Or of all Mr. Hall Caine's misleading
though sympathetic raving in A White Prophet.
But what are the usual views on the religious subjects
dealt with in the foregoing chapters, but equal travesties
of the truth ? The savage libels of the Popes, invented
— in Rome — to stir the Crusading fire, have, to some
extent, become embedded in the Western mind, and
many people still think with Peter the Hermit, that the
Moslem is " the enemy of God," a savage fanatic, an
unbridled debauchee, and that the " sword of Islam "
is ever raised to strike the Christian's neck if he will not
" protest the faith " ; that the Moslem invariably
enjoys a plurality of wives (and other inmates of the
hareem) as a matter of course, that women are denied
even the possession of a soul, and that he looks forward
to an entirely sensual Paradise. " Islam defies your
King ! " was the motto cabled by Cairo student
volunteers to the London Conference, 1900.
My opinion is that until we get close to the real
people, no understanding of any of these questions is
at all possible. Detached from all the modifications
and limitations which come into man's life, and taking
no count of his power of adaptability, any Western
statement of such questions as those of divorce, for
instance, or polygamy, will be utterly misleading. It
could never be supposed from the ordinary generalisa
tion of the West, that the liberty of women is in some

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 385
ways greater under Islamic than under Christian laws ;
that infinitely greater justice is done her, for instance,
in the matter of inheritance and the control of her own
fortune, or that, if a husband fails in justice in the
material affairs of life, the wife may sue for divorce, or
that polygamy, the mere mention of which causes
horror to the Western mind, can cover the most self-
denying and even chivalrous acts. In Egypt many a
man has married a brother's widow, or other poor
relative, for no reason but to give her the protection
of his name, while in this way alone was he able to offer
her a home.
The life of the Prophet himself can never be under
stood until the savage onslaught in the matter of the
hareem is stayed while the attempt is made to under
stand the nature of most of his marriages. To speak of
his nine wives, is always thought to establish the charge
of gross sensuality. Scarcely a Christian writer has
paused to explain that it is quite honestly maintained
by reputable Moslem historians that with the exception
of Ayesh — whose father begged the honour of marriage
for his daughter — all these women were widows, and
many of them old, when the Prophet married them.
One — Sawdah — he saved from an inevitable return to
idolatry ; others from poverty and neglect ; Zeinab,
they assert, he married for no reason but to set right a
point of law, for she was hopelessly ill at the time, and
died a few months later ; while other unions were
arranged for political ends, and to extend and strengthen
his religion and government.
The great point is — it seems to me — what were the
principles of Mohammed's mind on the subject of
women ? It is abundantly clear that he always preached
25

386 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
the kindness he never failed to show ; to wrong a woman
he denounced as great wickedness. Mohammed never
divorced a wife, nor chastised one, although he con
sidered this allowable, and he was certainly provoked.
It was because of an outrage by a Jew on the modesty
of a Moslem girl that the Prophet's first rage against
the Jews was raised. As Sheikh Rashid Rida reminded
me, one of the best known sayings of the Prophet is, " Do
no harm to a woman ; he who does her harm is a very
wicked man." His constant advice to his followers was
to live in such a way as to show a pure example to their
wives and children ; for " religion is good character."
But Mr. Zwemer does not hesitate to go to the
coarsest of Eastern writers to traduce the Prophet in
this matter, "which must be shrouded from decent eyes,"
quoting a recent writer in " a leading Missionary
Magazine " : " We must pass the matter over, simply
noting that there are depths of filth in the Prophet's
character which may assort well enough with the de
praved sensuality of the bulk of his followers, . . . but
which are simply loathsome in the eyes of all over whom
Christianity in any measure or degree has influence."
These disgusting things, asserts this writer, are the
fireside literature of educated Moslems. This sort of
abuse really carries us back again to Crusading times, when
men were told that the Koran was a " bestial work,"
not to be read, but burnt ; and that Mohammed was
" of all monsters the greatest — more filthy than mud."
The Sheikh Rashid Rida, as well as every educated
Moslem to whom I referred this terrible charge, gave
the lie direct to such a statement. They said that
Insan el Ayun and Ibn Ishak were mere story-tellers,
and not historians at all ; but that Bakhari, whose name

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 387
Mr. Zwemer links with theirs as his authorities, is a
reputable historian, and he never tells of such things as
are hinted at.
Do these writers forget the sort of talk Chaucer's
pilgrims indulged in whilst on a religious errand ; or
the indecent references (to present ideas) on every
page of Shakespeare, which were apparently suited to the
English fireside in the sixteenth century ; to say nothing
of the more grossly lewd writings of Shakespeare's con
temporaries. Have they no sense of justice sufficient
to cause them to realise what the standard in such
matters would be in Arabia in the seventh century ?
And as a literary sheikh, a man with an Oxford
degree, said to me, with an impulsive rage at certain
recent attacks upon Islam : " There is polygamy and
massacre enough and to spare in the Bible, and its
heroes are in no way exempt from human frailties. Why
do your writers act as though all the Christians must be
angels and all the Moslems tigers ? And what do the
Christian missionaries think they gain by showing such
contempt and even hatred for the Oriental people ?
Do they think we could ever be induced to listen to any
message they may wish to deliver to us after they have
covered all that we hold most sacred with such abuse ?
We do not insult you, or condemn your religion. It has
been said that, notwithstanding the copiousness of the
Arabic language, it has no forms of expression, to describe
any race, which are contemptible or insulting. The
insults to our Prophet by some modern writers are atro
cious ; in the case of a man likeProfessor D. S. Margoliouth
(particularly in his Life of Mohammed), they show that
entire lack of understanding of Islam, which appears
in all these writings ; but on the .part of missionaries

388 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
they betray, to my mind, not only want of just historic
judgment, but an egregious folly. Every mention a
Moslem makes of the Prophet shows our veneration
for him. No one of us believes of him such charges as
Christian writers concoct. All we know of him teaches
us that he had elevation of mind, delicacy and refine
ment of feeling. ' He is more modest than a virgin
behind her curtain,' it was said of him. Khadijah, the
one wife with whom he lived so many years, paid con
stant tribute to the purity of his character. ' Thou art
of a good life,' she said. His earliest converts reported
of him to the King of Abyssinia : ' A Prophet arose
whom we knew from our youth, with whose descent
and conduct and good faith and morality we are well
acquainted.' He always exhibited a noble forbearance
and forgiveness. He hated shams and lying, and —
strange as it may seem to Western critics — the Prophet
himself gave no encouragement to the superstitions
which crept into Islam — just as our Lord Jesus, on
whom be blessings and peace, said no word that could
excuse the superstitions which later crept into the
Christian religion, and still linger there in the races
which are predisposed to them (Note 22).
" Men who knew the Prophet intimately conceived
for him a profound attachment. One of the first
martyrs, Urwah ibn Mas'nd, counted it an honour to
run all risks to carry the message he received from the
Prophet's lips to his fellow-countrymen in Ta'if. While
he was preaching he was mortally wounded by an arrow,
and died giving thanks to God for having granted him
such a glorious end.
" But I grow enthusiastic in defence of the Prophet
against the slanders of men who are ill-fitted to form a

Photo] [Lekegian, Cairo.
Outside one of the Old-fashioned Koran Schools — Kuttabs —
in Cairo.

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 389
just judgment," continued the sheikh. "You will
suspect my special pleading. Happily, not all English
writers are so ignorant and unfair. Some years since,
a great Christian Oriental scholar (whose work I believe
inspired Mr. Bosworth Smith to so ably defend Islam
against such attacks) went to all the available docu
ments, in a scientific and historical spirit, to learn the
character of Mohammed from the testimony of his
contemporaries. This is the genial picture which he
painted of our hero : —
" ' Mohammed was most indulgent to his inferiors,
and would never allow his awkward little page to be
scolded, whatever he did. " Ten years," said Anas, his
servant, " was I about the Prophet, and he never said as
much as ' uff ' to me." He was very affectionate to
wards his family. One of his boys died on his breast,
in the smoky house of the nurse, a blacksmith's wife.
He was very fond of children. He would stop them in
the streets and pat their little cheeks.
"'He never struck anyone in his life. The worst
expression he ever made use of in conversation was,
" What has come to him ? May his forehead be darkened
with mud ! " When asked to curse someone, he replied,
" I have not been sent to curse, but to be a mercy to
mankind." He visited the sick, followed any bier he met,
accepted the invitation of a slave to dinner, mended his
own clothes, milked his own goats, and waited upon
himself, relates summarily another tradition.
" ' " He never first withdrew his hand out of another
man's palm, and turned not before the other had
turned." " His hand," we read elsewhere — and tradi
tions like these give a good index of what the Arabs
expected their Prophet to be — " was the most generous,
his breast the most courageous, his tongue the most
truthful ; he was the most faithful protector of those

390 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
he protected, the sweetest and most agreeable in con
versation ; those who saw him were suddenly filled
with reverence, those who came near him loved him."
" ' He was of great taciturnity, and when he spoke,
he spoke with emphasis and deliberation, and no one
could ever forget what he said. He was, however, very
nervous and restless withal, often low spirited, downcast
as to heart and eyes. Yet he would at times suddenly
break through these broodings, become gay, talkative,
jocular, chiefly among his own. He would then delight
in telling amusing little stories, fairy-tales, and the like.
He would romp with the children and play with their
toys.'

" That is the man whom Moslems revere. If the
Western people would forget their preconceptions and
their hostility, and would approach a study of Islam
and its Prophet in that spirit, it might be possible for
them to find some sort of understanding of the problems
of the Orient, which, by general agreement, holds
mysteries the missionaries and others have progressed
but a short way towards solving."
It has been my hope and desire to do a little (no one
can be so conscious as I am of how little I have the cap
acity to do, in comparison with what I think is necessary),
towards presenting not only the views of the Islamic
people, but pictures of them " in their habit as they
live," so that their customs and their laws may be con
sidered as they fit into their everyday lives, and thus
take their right adjustment and proportion.
It is obvious that to understand any people one must
bring sympathy to the study of them, and if they are of
a different religion, an effort must be made to detach

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 391
the . mind as far as possible from preconceived ideas,
and above all things not to judge by excrescences
(" It is like judging of the health of a people from its
hospitals, or its morality from its prisons," said Professor
Max Muller), and to seek the good rather than the bad,
bringing to the study a genial and not a hostile spirit.
It is our duty to seek for the ideals of the people we
would help, and to avoid showing ourselves, if not the
enemies of advance in culture and morals, at least not
an obstacle to them, although they -are not along the
lines which we should choose. It would almost appear
sometimes that certain missionaries and other Christian
critics of Islam would prefer to see the people " sit in
darkness," if they will not take the light immediately
from their hands.
It is indeed a strange thing that it should be the
missionary whose judgment speaks of " a fell system of
religion which blasts all that is true and noble," calling
it a " curse hanging over the people " ; and who will
believe nothing good of the Prophet or of his followers.
And yet the missionary who seeks to dismiss the
Prophet's well-known detestation of divorce by stating
that " Mohammed is said to disapprove of divorce,"
will not hesitate to draw upon anything that is said of
the Prophet in the traditional sayings and anecdotes,
nothing being too trivial or absurd to be credited if it
will make a knot in the whip to flay his followers with.
In seeking an interpretation, however, of Biblical texts
which please him, Mr. St. Clair-Tisdall speaks of going
to " the best MSS " (Religion of the Crescent, p. 215).
The bias shown becomes ridiculous when Gibbon's
historical tribute to the Arab people is put down to
' poetic fancy " ; the only time, I imagine, that such a

392 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
tender quality has been associated with the author of
the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. We are even
told, " of the contribution of the Saracens to learning ! "
is the most that this same writer will allow to the davs
of Islam's greatness.
It is the impartial scholar like Dr. Butler who can
appreciate the debt which even Christianity owes to
early Islam for " its chastening and ennobling fires."
In those early days, before the era of misrepresentation
set in, the Christian tributes to Islam were simple and
sincere. It was Sebolos, not only a Christian, but a
Bishop, who wrote : " At that time a certain man of
the sons of Ishmael, whose name was Mohammed, a
merchant, appeared to his people, as it were by the
order of God, preaching the truth. . . . Inasmuch as
the command was from on high, by his sole behest all
the nation came together in a union of law, and forsaking
vain idols, returned to the living God, who had appeared
to their father Abraham. Mohammed bid them . . . not
to drink wine, or to tell a lie, or to commit fornication."
It is significant that Mr. St. Clair-Tisdall, in his
savage onslaught, asserts positively that Omar burnt
the Alexandrian library, to prove that Islam is " essenti
ally the foe of all forms of progress " (Religion of the
Crescent, p. 203), utterly ignoring the overwhelming
mass of evidence adduced by Dr. Butler which shows
the injustice of the charge (The Arab Conquest of Egypt,
ch. xxv.). One is tempted to ask if this critic has never
heard of this evidence, so amply confirming Gibbon's
doubts as to Omar's guilt, which doubts Mr. Tisdall
has declared to be "vain." Or has he never heard of the
Christian burning of books, not in Cordova only, but in
every Moorish town in Spain ; of the destruction by the

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 393
Crusaders of an immense library at Tripoli in Palestine ;
or of the burning by the Christian French, when they
took Constantine, in North Africa, of invaluable books
and MSS. Or of how the English, when they captured
Magdala, found a large library of Abyssinian books,
which they carried away haphazard, and, because trans
port was troublesome, abandoned the greater part.
The few they selected at random to retain have shown
what treasures have been lost to the world.
If Mr. St. Clair-Tisdall finds himself logically con
fronted with a Christian doctrine, or a Biblical passage,
which may suggest misgivings in his denunciations of
Islam, he at once declares that this is " contrary to many
passages " in the Scriptures, and to the spirit of Chris
tianity. But there is no verbal or patristic bond too
small to imprison his opponents from any hope of
growth or development.
The very legends which grew up round the life of
the Prophet, those childish miracles attributed to his
birth, and sayings and doings, and to his death, and
which every word of Mohammed's own teaching went
to disprove in advance, these are good enough to be
brought against the religion of the Crescent, regardless
of the fact that similar fables were associated by early
Christians with the Life of our Lord, and in Egypt
are still treasured as articles of faith by the Coptic
Christians to this day. Mohammed said: "I never
claimed that Allah's treasures are in my hands, that I
knew the hidden things, or that I was an angel — I,
who cannot even help or trust myself, without God's
will. Will ye not reflect a little ? "
And as though this were not enough, one of the
latest books coming from men and women who are

394 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
engaged in the work of trying to save, these people to
a nobler and more generous faith, the very service
that the Prophet did for humanity, in for ever putting
an end to the cruel practice he found in Arabia, of
burying girl infants alive, is referred to in these scandal
ously unfair words, " Mohammed improved on the
barbaric method, and discovered a way by which all
females could be buried alive and yet live on — namely,
the veil " (Our Moslem Sisters, edited by S. M. Zwemer),
the ignorance of which statement should have been
manifest to any student of the Bible, for seclusion of
women goes back to Old Testament times (Esther ii. 3).
It is the hareem alone, guarded by the " keeper of the
women," as the Bible puts it, that matters ; the veil
may easily come to mean little more in the way of
restraint than those worn by fashionable women in
Hyde Park.
Well might Max Muller declare that " No judge, if
he had before him the worst criminal, would treat him
as most historians and theologians have treated the
religions of the world."
Why must it be confessed that, in so very many
cases, we must go to the ordinary traveller, or to the
secular resident, in Eastern lands especially, and not
to the missionary, if we want anything like a kindly
view of the people ?
In China, as an instance, the venerable Dr. Griffith
John of Hankow, whose recent death is so much deplored,
constantly penned the most scathing and damning
indictments of the people for whose spiritual welfare
he was at work — people who " disgust and dispel "
(The Supreme Motive in Foreign Missions, p. 7). I
suppose Sir Robert Hart, after fifty-four years' work

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 395
amongst the Chinese, had opportunities as great as
the missionary for knowing their character. In almost
the last speech he made in England, Sir Robert spoke of
his respect for the Chinese, and enumerated their fine
qualities — and this when his diplomatic career was over,
so that he could speak without reserve. Mrs. Arcihbald
Little, who has travelled so much in China, never loses
an opportunity of telling of the affection and respect
she has conceived for its people.
The kindly word about the Egyptians is spoken by
such people as Lady Duff Gordon, and, in the present
day, by Mr. Talbot Kelly, the artist, who have lived
familiarly for long periods amongst them.
Going farther, towards Central Africa, it is such
travellers as Miss Mary Kingsley, Lady Lugard, A
Resident's Wife in Nigeria (Mrs. Constance Lary-
more), Mr. E. D. Morel, the unbiased students of
humanity, who find excellent, and even lovable qualities
in the people, and who are able to see that, although
so different from those of the West, moral qualities and
pious inclinations may be commendable in them.
No one could have been present at the meetings of
the Universal Races Congress held in London recently,
and have heard the growl of dissent which always met
any reference to the missionary version of the distant
races, or the cheers which always responded to the
kindly word spoken by such travellers as I have men
tioned ; or could have seen the warm encouragement
which the Congress extended to the race representatives
themselves, when they appealed for our help and our
recognition of the good after which they were striving,
without being convinced that the English and American
position as missionary nations demands serious reflec-

396 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
tion, and possibly a deep-reaching reformation, in both
its spirit and its methods, if public opinion is not to
rise as a flood against it. It may well be seriously
pondered (especially in view of the failure, almost
universally confessed, to really conquer the regions to
which spiritual siege has been laid) if the history of
missions in Islamic lands may not, when the long tale
of hopeful years is told, have written against them by
the inexorable hand of time, the words with which
Herodotus closed his account of the hopeless venture of
Cambyses into Ethopia : " Thus ended the expedition."
Mighty Christian Churches have fallen away from
this continent in the past, leaving not a vestige of their
existence behind, and Christian colonies, started with
highest hopes by brave men, have vanished like clouds,
before the insistency of human type, and its natural
predilections, to which the pioneers of a differing
civilisation and faith could not fit their message.
Just as I believe the Christian gospel to be the
highest message to mankind, so I believe there is a way
by which it can be commended to every people. When
I contemplate the methods of many of the modern
missionaries at work in Moslem lands, I always feel
inclined to turn away from their adverse writings on
Islam, to consider the example of that greatest Missionary
to mankind — the gentle Teacher who avoided contro
versy, and " went about doing good." How often has
His doctrine been commended to the minds of men by
just following His divine example ? It is this that can
break down opposition, otherwise invulnerable ; the
benevolent human contact teaches lessons before which
the barriers of creed fall away, and men, in getting
nearer to God, see each other as fellow-creatures of His,

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 397
standing apart from the artificial limitations they have
created for themselves, and which have caused ^them
to ignore the eternal verities. Faith, Hope, Charity
abideth — and the greatest is charity.
When Lady Duff Gordon attended with her own
hands to the needs of her poor Moslem guest at Luxor,
who died with his hand in hers, she did more to remove
the barriers which separate the creeds than any sort of
controversy about them can ever do. It was she, a
Christian woman, who turned the dying man's face
towards Mecca, and nodded to the Moslems present
to chant his last profession of Faith in the One God ;
and she closed his eyes. She followed the body to
the burial-place, with the women, who " Wailed for
a brother who had died far from his place." No one
thought to object to her presence in the mosque, and
her " Frankish hat " in the midst of the veiled and
wailing women caused no comment. And after the
burial " the Imam, Sheikh Abd-el-Waris, came and
kissed me on the shoulders, and the Sherif, a man of
eighty, laid his hands on my shoulders and said, ' Fear
not, my daughter, neither all the days of thy life, nor
at the hour of death, for God is with thee ! ' I kissed
the old man's hand and turned to go, but numberless
men came and said, ' A thousand thanks, O our sister,
for what thou hast done for one among us,' and a great
deal more." Here is a true way for missions.
Intellectually we shall, I feel sure, lose nothing by
exercising care to do the Arab people historical justice.
We must be wanting in frankness if we do not admit
that the religion of Islam brought a great advance to
the idolatrous and warring people who first received
it ; the debt we owe to the Islamic East for maintaining

398 VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT
the light of knowledge while Christendom was in its
" dark ages " is incontestable.
Religion we may admit to have its basis in the truth
of things, and that all great religions have proved
blessings to the peoples among whom they have origin
ated, marking a stage in their history. Each has a
calendar crowded with the names of saints and martyrs.
They are identified in the affections of their votaries
with venerated names, an insult to whom is as unpardon
able as an insult to the Hebrew prophets or apostles, or
even the Founder of the Christian faith, would be to
Christians. And these religions have proved themselves
enduring and so suited to the spiritual needs of men on
a great scale that they should compel respect. If we
can add to respect, impartial justice and courtesy, and
a love of mankind enough to eliminate all traces of
contempt or of pharisaical judgment, then we may hope
to advance — if genuine advance, rather than mere
proselytism, is our aim.
There is no need for discouragement because mis
sionary proselytism seems to fail. The Pharisees had
that kind of zeal, and what Jesus thought of them and
their zeal we learn from His words, " Ye compass sea
and land to make one proselyte, and when he is become
so, ye make him twofold more a son of hell than your
selves." Dr. Grant has truly said, " Proselytism detaches
individuals, who as a rule are worth little, but it arrests
internal development. It is Prophetism that gains in
dividuals, who become centres of force, and it thus
initiates movements which may be delayed or defeated,
but cannot be destroyed " (Note 23). It was God
Himself who " made of one blood all nations of men for
to dwell on all the face of the earth " (Acts xvii. 26).

THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF ISLAM 399
The Christian message, and all the moral splendour
which has come from its advance, does not need, as a
preparation for its conquest, anything of abuse or unfair
depreciation towards Mohammed or his religion, or in
deed towards any religion. These things occupy our time
unprofitably and impede our progress. Our work is to
be Christians, in the simple way of Christ, and then to
say to men of other beliefs — Here is Jesus, what think
ye of Him ? " The most earnest men will gradually
draw nearer and nearer to Christianity, and the end
will come gradually and almost imperceptibly, the dark
ness fading into twilight, and the twilight vanishing
in the full glory of the dawn of the Sun of Righteous
ness." 1
1 Religion of the Crescent, p. 230. For once I am glad to be able to
quote with consent the words of the writer with whom I have shown so
much dissent.

NOTES
There is Nothing Good in Islam. — Note i (p. 260).
" It is asserted that, according to the philosophers of old, the first
thing to be done in searching for a knowledge of God was to learn to know
oneself. Such an idea would have seemed impious to Mohammed, if it
had occurred to him." " However, it is said that Ali asserted, ' Whoever
knows himself knows his Lord.' But this is contrary to ' orthodox '
Islam, and is explained away. . . ." — The Religion of the Crescent, St.
Clair-Tisdall, p. 57.
Was the Vision of the Prophet a Dream ? — Note 2 (p. 262).
With regard to this vision, out of which adverse critics have made
much capital, a great Oriental scholar has said : " Mohammed is not
to be made responsible for some of his enthusiastic admirers when they
transformed this vision — a vision as grand as any in the whole Divine
Comedy, which indeed has unconsciously borrowed some of its richest
plumage from it, but which Mohammed, until he was sick of it, insisted
on calling a Dream — into insipidity and drivel." — " Islam," Quarterly
Review, October 1869.
Missionary Antagonism. — Note 3 (p. 269) .
Religion of the Crescent (p. 217). May I inquire how it is that such
books as this, and Islam : a Challenge to Faith, are written, not in Moslem
lands, but the one from Bedford and the other from New York. Such a
spirit of prejudice and antagonism is, I believe, absent almost always from
the writings of missionaries whose life-work is actually all accomplished
amongst the people. It seems to me that it is the missionary who, for
reasons a layman cannot understand, leaves the social work of the mis
sionary to labour at his desk, and to constantly appear on the Western
platform, who usually writes without sympathy and understanding of the
Moslem world.
The Koran as a Confirmation of Previous Scriptures. —
Note 4 (p. 270).
The Reproach of Islam (p. 312). The Moslems do not claim that the
Koran came to replace the Bible, but to supplement it. The exact words
of the Koran itself are, it " confirmeth what was revealed before it, and is
an explanation of the Scriptures." — Sura x. 38. (Repeated again and
again. — Sura xxxv. 28 ; Sura xii. 3.) To every nation a Book has been
sent, was in effect the theory of the Prophet, and this my nation has not
been left without a witness. He had deep respect for the Book of the
Jews 'and Christians, and even told his followers to seek instruction
therein if they were in doubt about matters of their own faith.
400

NOTES 401

Fiction on Egypt. — Note 5 (p. 276).
Mr. Marmaduke Pickthall has written a great deal of fiction about
the people of Egypt (Children of the Nile, Said the Fisherman) which has
had a wide acceptance in the West ; and Mr. CutclifEe Hyne has also
written a number of vivid sketches of Arab character. And Sir Gilbert
Parker has written fiction about Egypt which betrays in every page a
want of knowledge of all things Islamic — he even builds on the commonest
of errors, that the Prophet's tomb is at Mecca. There is a cruel and
relentless note in these authors which I have never found in any work
by a responsible writer not concerned to produce thrilling fiction, but to
describe the lif e of the people as he has actually experienced it : to record
facts rather than to draw pictures. At random I instance Village Life,
giving a simple account of the fellaheen, sixty years ago, and Adventures
in the Libyan Desert, by Bayle St. John, Miss Kingsley's works. Lady
Lugard's, Lady Duff Gordon's simple letters from Luxor to her family,
and recently Mr. Talbot Kelly's notes to his beautiful pictures, chiefly
of country life in Egypt, and Mr. E. D. Morel's work on Nigeria. Mr.
Morel only a year or two since did great service to humanity in leading to
the suppression of the Congo atrocities, for which he was enthusiastically
commended by the Christian public. A kindly word for the Moslem,
however, in his later work, and the editor of East and West, the S.P.G.
journal, dismisses him as a man who has " considerably shaken " his con
fidence in the accuracy of his information 1
An Agent's Report on Egypt. — Note 6 (p. 294).
The Arab Conquest of Egypt (p. 434). It is worthy of note that one
passage in a report of Amr of his work as Governor of Egypt reads
strangely, as coming from a representative of " that scourge of God " —
as it became the Christian fashion to call the Moslems: "The land-tax
is not demanded before its due season ; a third of the revenue is spent on
bridges and sluice-gates. If the governors continue to act thus, the
revenue will be doubled, and God will reconcile the different religions and
the variety of worldly interests." Written by Amr in Egypt, to the
Caliph Omar, in Arabia. These words might almost have come from the
pen of a modern British agent.
An Error of the Bishop of London. — Note 7 (p. 295).
That the old historical fallacies are slow to die, is shown by the fact
that the present Bishop of London could declare — before he had visited
Moslem lands — that Islam turns out the name of Christ as evil. The
Crusaders were urged on their quest by being told that the Moslems
" defiled the Holy Sepulchre." The name of our Lord Jesus is as sacred
to all Moslems as is the name of Mohammed, and is used with exactly the
same terms of reverence. Their veneration for the tombs of saints is
profound ; how then do they regard the tomb of this great prophet
Christ ? It is to Jerusalem, Islam believes, that He will come again a
second time. It is in Jerusalem that one of the three most sacred of all
the Moslem mosques is found, to which many pilgrims journey after
visiting the Prophet's tomb in Medina.

The Crusaders Wading in Moslem Blood. — Note 8 (p. 295).
en J
d mc
26

When Jerusalem was retaken by the Crusaders — in July 1099, there
followed most revolting scenes of fanatical cruelty, resulting in the indis-

402 NOTES
criminate slaughter of countless thousands of Moslem men and women.
So great indeed was the massacre, that in a public letter to the Pope tha
leader of the Christian forces boasted that in the Mosque of Omar they
rode up to the horses' knees in the blood of the Saracens. The Crusaders
led out of the town Moslem hostages to the number of five thousand, and
slaughtered them in cold blood. It is indeed true that the history of the
Crusades was -written in letters of blood. Saladin took reprisals at
Tiberias, and in the murder of the members of the Order of Jerusalem,
two hundred and thirty in number.
Moslems Charged with Toleration as an Offence. — Note 9 (p. 297).
Renan, Averroes et averroism. As Arnold has pointed out, "this very
spirit of toleration was made one of the main articles in an account of the
Apostasies and Treasons of the Moriscoes, drawn up by the Arch
bishop of Valencia in 1602, when recommending their expulsion to
Philip III., as follows : " That they commended nothing so much as that
liberty of conscience, in all matters of religion, which the Turks and all
other Mohammedans suffer their subjects to enjoy." — The Preaching of
Islam, pp. 123-24. Christian Fanaticism. — Note 10 (p. 298).
More enlightened days have, unfortunately, not been without the
most appalling instances of Christian fanaticism. During forty or fifty
years of the seventeenth century the Catholic Poles inflicted the most
fearful atrocities on the Russians of the Orthodox Eastern Church. They
killed 70,000 to 80,000 souls. Well might Macarius, Patriarch of
Antioch, exclaim, " God perpetuate the empire of the Turks for ever and
ever 1 For they take their impost, and enter into no account of religion,
be their subjects Christian or Nazarene, Jew or Samaritan." During the
Reformation period the Protestants of Hungary and other places pre
ferred the rule of the Turks to that of the Catholics, and cases occurred
of Protestants who fled into Turkish territory to find under Islamic laws
the freedom of religious worship and opinions, which were denied them
in Christian Europe. In judging of the persecutions and atrocities in
Turkey during the last century, such facts as these should be kept in mind ;
and the religion of Islam should not be made responsible for the crimes
of its followers who have fallen away from its teaching. One of the
latest Christian persecutions was that of King John of Abyssinia, who
in 1878 ordained that men should all be of one religion throughout the
whole of his kingdom ; even Christians were forbidden to belong to any
other sect than the Jacobite. By 1880 he is said to have compelled
50,000 Moslems, amongst others, to be baptised.
A Genuine Dislike of Usury. — Note 11 (p. 299).
It is interesting to note that when, in March 1901, the Post Office
Savings Bank was established in Egypt, the Moslems very generally
indicated that they regretted they could not put their money into it
because they were offered interest. After a time, however, the con
venience of such a safe place of deposit so appealed to them, that many of
them placed their money in the Post Office, but steadfastly refused the
interest, no less than 3195 persons doing this in two years. The
authorities now consulted the Grand Mufti, and other officials of Islam,
and as these men recognised that such interest was earned by the money
and had no connection with " usury," the extortionate use of money which

NOTES 403
the Prophet intended to forbid, a law was framed making it possible for
Moslems to use the Bank without breaking a religious law. In the
very next year nearly 30,000 Moslem depositors were using the Bank,
including ninety-four of the ulema and sheikh class. I do not think that
Mr. Gairdner should suggest that such men are not much troubled by
questions of " trade and morality." — Reproach of Islam, p. 200.
First and Second-Class Funeral Palls. — Note 12 (p. 335).
Religion of the Crescent (p. 206). I cannot refrain from noting, that as
I was writing these words I looked from my window in Siena and saw
passing a misericordia funeral ; the deceased was evidently poor and
obscure, for the pall allowed by this charitable Christian brotherhood was
that of the second, class ; the one for the rich and distinguished — of the first
class — is embroidered in gold. The two covers may be seen thus labelled
in a room of St. Catherine's House.
The Depravity of Arabia as the Prophet Found it. —
Note 13 (p. 344).
This terrible picture seems to accord with Professor Palmer's state
ment of the degradation of the religion of the time. " At the time of
Mohammed's appearance the national religion of the Arabs had so far
degenerated as to have scarcely any believers. The primeval Sabaeanism
was all but lost, and even the worship of the powers of nature had become
little more than a gross fetishism ; as one of Mohammed's contemporaries
said, when they found a fine stone they adored it, or failing that, milked
a camel over a heap of sand and worshipped that." — Sacred Boohs of the
East, edited by Max Muller, vol. vi. p. 15.
Mr. Zwemer's Quotation. — Note 14 (p. 345).
Islam : a Challenge to Faith (pp. 6-7). It is difficult to know what to
say of a writer's views who will quote such stuff from the seventeenth
century as, " Now consider this Moamed, or Machumed, whom Godjgave
up to a blind mind . . . falling sickness and being tormented by the
Devil," etc. etc., with the comment " not altogether bad for a seventeenth-
century synopsis " (p. 40).
Mohammed and Divorce. — Note 15 (p. 351).
The Religion of the Crescent (p. 195). Over and over again Mr. St.
Clair-Tisdall dismisses the traditional sayings which are creditable to
Mohammed ; " he is said to have disapproved of divorce," and over and
over again he accepts without question any tradition on this subject which
brings a discredit. What the Prophet is said to have said or done then
becomes evidence.
Moslem Women and the Prayers. — Note 16 (p. 358).
" Women are bound to perform the prescribed prayers as well as the
men," says the Rev. F. A. Klein in The Religion of Islam. This author's
object is not to state his version of the religion, but to go to the Moslem
authorities. He finds that women's prayer was so much taken for granted
that it is an instruction for the worshippers in the mosque : " When prayer
is ended the men remain standing in their places for a short time to
allow the women who may have been sitting behind to retire first "
(p. T40).

404 NOTES
Moslem Women not Restrained of Necessity. — Note 17 (p. 370).
It is interesting as showing that the restraints put upon women are
not due altogether to Islam, to find Palgrave constantly stating that in
primitive Arabia the women have considerable freedom. I myself saw
something in North Africa of a great Moslem brotherhood, which has its
centre at Bou Saada, and only a few years ago was governed very ably by
a woman, who inherited her position from the Marabout (sheikh) as his
only child.
Do the French understand the Moslems better than the English ?
— Note 18 (p. 372).
It is generally thought that the French people (in Egypt, at any rate),
have — and do — always come nearer to a sympathetic understanding of
the Moslem people here than those of any other nation. It was, I think,
only a Christian Frenchman who could have written these words of the
Moslems : " We wait also the return of the Messiah, though we do not
know when or how He will appear. Nevertheless, the Spirit of Jesus,
who is light and love, can spread itself abroad in the hearts of men with a
power and a new purity to accomplish between brothers, too long enemies,
a reconciliation which is altogether beyond their own efforts. Be then
Christians of Islam and Moslems of the Gospel." — Hyacinthe Loyson, in
1895- Victor Hugo's Abuse. — Note 19 (p. 381).
A writer in the Quarterly Review, October 1869. Victor Hugo, how
ever, speaks of Mohammed as " the brother of vultures."
No Moslem Translation of the Koran. — Note 20 (p. 382).
The Koran itself is always at a disadvantage with Western students,
as it has never been translated by a Moslem. In the discussion of vital
passages with learned ulemas I have often found how wide of the meaning
put upon it by Moslems is the most careful English translation. At
present it is almost useless to hope that any great Arabic scholar, who is
both an Arab and a Moslem, will undertake the work of translating the
Koran into English. For one thing, every pious Moslem is afraid to risk
the loss of the true meaning by translation ; and they do not believe that
the West cares to know the truth about their religion and their " book."
Old Books of Travel or New ? — Note 21 (p. 383).
" It is curious that all old books of travel I have read mention the
natives of strange countries in a far more natural tone, and with far more
attempt to discriminate character, than modern ones. Have we grown so
very civilised since a hundred years, that outlandish people seem like mere
puppets, and not like real human beings ? " — Letters from Egypt, Lady
Duff Gordon.
Mohammed Opposed to Superstitious Rites. — Note 22 (p. 388).
Among the last words Mohammed spoke was a strong protest to
those members of his despairing family who had resorted to superstitious
rites and formulas to find a cure for his disease.
A Special Acknowledgment. — Note 23 (p. 390).
Religions of the World, G. M. Grant, D.D. I am indebted to this
little work, unique in its spirit, as it is forcible and clear in its style, for
several thoughts in this chapter.

CHIEF BOOKS REFERRED TO
AND QUOTED
Ameer Ali, Syed, M.A., The Spirit of Islam.
Arnold, T. W., B.A., The Preaching of Islam : A History of the Pro
pagation of the Moslem Faith.
Badr, Mohammed, F.R.S., The Truth about Islam.
Boer, Dr. T. J., The History of Philosophy in Islam.
Butler, Alfred J., D.Litt., The Arab Conquest of Egypt.
Blyden, Ed. W., LL.D., Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race.
Cromer, the Earl of, Modern Egypt.
Field, Claud, Mystics and Saints of Islam.
Forster, the Rev. Charles, B.D., Mohammedanism Unveiled.
Gairdner, the Rev. W. H. T., The Reproach of Islam.
Gordon, Lady Duff, Letters from Egypt.
Johnstone, De Lacy, M.A., Mohammed and his Power.
Klein, the Rev. F. A., The Religion of Islam.
Lane, Edward William, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians ;
Translation of The Arabian Nights Entertainments.
Lane-Poole, Stanley, Cairo : Sketches of its History, Monuments, and
Social Life ; Studies in a Mosque ; Speeches and Table Talk of the
Prophet Mohammed.
Margoliouth, Professor D. S., Mohammed and the Rise of Islam;
Mohammedanism.
Palgrave, William Gifford, A Year's Journey through Ctntral and
Eastern Arabia.
Palmer, Professor E. H., Translation of The Koran.
Robinson, the Rev. Charles H., M.A., Mohammedanism, has it any
Future ?
Rodwell, the Rev. J. M., M.A., Translation of The Koran.

406 BOOKS REFERRED TO AND QUOTED
Sale, George, Translation of the Koran (with Notes and Introduction of
great value).
Smith, R. Bosworth, M.A., Mohammed and Mohammedanism.
Stanley, Dean, Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church.
St. John, Bayle, Village Life in Egypt.
St. Clair-Tisdall, M.A., D.D., The Religion of the Crescent.
Watson, Charles R., Egypt and the Christian Crusade.
Whinfield, E. H., M.A., Masnavi I Ma'Navi.
Zwemer, Samuel M., F.R.G.S., Islam : A Challenge to Faith ; Our
Moslim Sisters (edited by S. M. Zwemer and Miss A. Van Sommer).
The author has had the advantage of many original translations from
Arabic and other Eastern writers, including the works of most of the
living authorities on the subjects dealt with.

INDEX

Abbassieh, tbe Mahmal at, 207.
the Prophet's birthday celebration at, 241.
Abdu, Mohammed, reforms of, 248.
Ablutions, the spiritual significance of, 130, 2S0.
the, Mr. S. M. Zwemer's contemptuous re
ferences to, 278.
Abraham, Islam the religion of, 265.
Al Azar University, the riot caused by photo-
_ graphy, 93.
an informal sermon there, 145.
the aims ofthe students, 189.
the frankness and courtesy of the Ulema,
146.
Alexandria, preaching rooms established at,
122.
AH, Ameer Syed, on the attributes of God, 262.
Allah, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, 268.
Almshouses, the Menshawi, 89.
Amin, Kasim Bey, on the veil, 346.
Amr, origin of the mosque of, 278.
Amr's report on Egypt to Omar, 401.
Angels, the guardian, 126.
Animals^ treatment of, 81.
Antagonism, missionary, 400.
Apostasy punishable by death, 290.
Arab, the, and ecstatic phenomena, 171.
rule welcomed by Christians, 293.
Arabia, why it was closed to non-Moslems,
292.
depravity of pre-Islamic, 404.
Arnold, Mr. T. W. , on the perfect married life
of Mohammedand Khidijah, 352.
Ashoora, the procession on the day of, 227.
Ass, tbe, an admirable beast in Egypt, 97.
Azabam, evening prayer at, 123.
Azenfeld, Herr K., on the early use of the
sword, 304.
Backsheesh an insult to the country people,
50, 7*.
Badawi, the Saint of Tanta, story of, 91.
Bamyia, a neckless of the vegetable, 59.
Banquet, a native, 161.
Bankruptcy of Islam, 65.
Bedouin village, visit to, 47.
Bekr, Abu, descendant of, in the birthday
procession, 247.
Bekri, the Sheikh Abdul Hamid, 73.
Bible, Moslems and the, 321.
Bigots, barbarians are, everywhere, 290.
Birds, the story ofthe young, 261.
love of, 160.
Birthday ofthe Prophet in Cairo, 241.
Black Stone, why it is revered, 219.
Blomfield, Lady Massie, on the position of
women, 360.
Blunt, Mr. Wilfred, 6.
Books, Christian burning of, 393.

Boys, Egyptian, at play, 23.
small, education of the village, 63.
Brigandage, threats of, to the Holy Carpet
_ Caravan, 209.
Britain, importance of Islam to, 374.
Butler, Dr., on the debt early Christianity
owes to Islam, 392.
Cadi and Englishman, a story of, 334.
Cadis school in Cairo, the, 329.
Cafe", talk in the village, 53.
Caine, Mr. Hall, The White Prophet, 384.
Caliph responsible for the Friday prayers,
183.
Call to prayer, the early morning, 119.
the mid-day, in Cairo, 144.
Camels, the sacred, ofthe Mahmal, 202.^
Carlyle, why he found the Koran wearisome,
378.
Character, nobility of, from what is it drawn,
65.
Charitableness, Moslem, 20.
Charity, is there any organised, 85.
the bequests ofthe Pasha Menshawi, 107.
Chastity, obligation equal as between man and
woman, 351.
Children, rich and poor, brought up in pairs,
82.
China and Islam, 373.
Chinese views upon Islam, 394.
Christian Church, the, state of, in Egypt at the
Arab Conquest, 293.
Churches, the fall of, m Africa, 396.
fatalism, a Moslem on, 314.
message does not need abuse of other
religions, 399.
Christianity reviled by the Jews, 3ir.
Christians, why they are excluded from the
mosques, 139.
are they cursed in the mosques on Fridays,
140.
tolerance of, 288.
Citadel, the festival of the Holy Carpet at,
204.
Class distinction a hindrance to missionary
work, 334.
Cleanliness, a comparison between East and
West, 63.
Moslem, 279.
Climate, has it changed, 70.
Coarseness ofthe talk ofthe fellaheen, 7, 53.
Condolence, a visit of, to Sayyed Sadat, 77.
Conversation in the village home, 26.
in the village cafe', 53.
Conversion, do the Moslems attempt, 317.
Copt, the, as owner of the ' ' chicken houses "
Si-
Coptic monks and dirt, 279.

408

INDEX

Coptic Christians, the Prophet's consideration
for, 292.
Corelli's, Miss Maria, false colouring on
Egypt, 384. p
Corruption, early, in Cairo, 37.
Corvee, memories of the, 36.
Courbash, memories of the, 36.
Courtesy, Arab, 9.
Cromer, Lord, native appreciation of, 34, 36.
a misquotation by, 158.
errors in writing of Islam, 379.
on the question of the veil and the harem,
347- .
on education of women and agnosticism,
367-
Cross, do the Moslems hate the, 323.
Crusaders, the,_wading in Moslem blood, 402.
Cursing Christians, the Sheikh of Tanta on
the charge of, gs.
Cyrus, the Archbishop, and the black general,
332-
Demerdache Mosque, a visit to, 163.
Dervish performances and medical science,
172.
Dervishes, whirling, what their gyrations
symbolise, 173.
Divorce, the evils of, in Egypt, 356.
the Prophet's laws for, taken from Moses,
362.
disapproved of by Mohammed, 404.
Dog, how Moslems regard the, So.
Doseh, the observance of, in old days, 76.
Dream ofthe head of Hosein, 154.
Dress, the simplest, worn in the evening, 22,
Drink, intoxicating, how it is introduced into
the villages, 55.
Eating with the fingers, T5.
Egypt, the Hvingpeople of, never studied, 383.
Equality of Moslems, 13.
as shown in the mosques, 116.
as shown on the pilgrimage, 223.
and brotherhood in Islam, 332.
Etiquette, Eastern, to guests, xo.
Evil eye, the, 39.
Fanaticism at Al Azar, 146.
Christian, 298, 403.
Moslem, 287.
the easy way in which the word is used,
302.
Fatalism, 307.
leading present-day sheikhs on, 312.
Father, the name of, absent from the Moslem
names of God, 260.
Fatherhood of God in the Moslem belief,
265.
Fathers and sons, relationship between, 67.
Feast, a great, at Tanta, 87.
Fellah not a barbarian, 63.
Fellaheen, coarseness of speech of, 7.
great age reached by, 18.
the house of, 19.
Fiction on Egypt, 402.
Food, what the poor eat, 59.
Forgiveness, the constant prayer for, 285.
Formalism in prayer, 130, 134, 276.
Freedom, religious, introduced by the
Moslems, 294.
French understanding of the Moslems, 401-
Friendsbip, a traditional story about, 84.
Furn, or oven, importance of, 19.

Gairdner, Rev. W. H. T., on Moslem prayer,
128.
on the Black Stone, 220.
on God as an autocrat, 262.
on vulgarity ofthe Moslem, 276.
quoted by the Bishop of London, 319.
on lack of trade morality, 404.
Garden of Allah, the, 102.
Garden, the wonderful, of the late Pasha
Menshawi, 98.
Genii, belief In, 25.
a mistaken idea of, 31L
Gentleman, qualities that make a, in the
East, 66.
German Crown Prince, how he was hood
winked, 149.
German expansion, Dr. Carl Peters on, 301.
Germany, and Pan-Islamism, 373.
and the " Yellow Peril," 373.
Ghazzali, the early theologian, 41.
on the ablutions, 280.
one of his discourses on the love of God,
267.
Gibbon charged with " poetic fancy," 391.
God, the love of, as Mohammed interpreted
it, 261.
the Moslem conception of, 259.
Gordon, General, and the religion of Islam,
324-
Government, local, of Egypt, 16.
Grant, Dr., on Religions ofthe World, 401.
Gratitude, is it absent from the East, 83.
Greetings, Eastern, 11.
Guilds, the, of Islam, 250.
Gullah (water-jar), when it is broken after a
guest, 69.
Halima, the freed slave, 21.
Hanbury, Sir Thomas, the garden of, at La
Mortola, 102. .
Hareem, a visit to the village, 57.
the palace, 74.
Lord Cromer on, 347.
a perfect home life sometimes found in the,
354-
had its origin in the days of luxury, 366.
" the secrets ofthe," 383.
Harriet Martineau thought it a brothel,
383-
Hart's, Sir Robert, kindly views of the Chinese,
393.
Heart, attempts to gain a religion of the,
171.
Hitchens, Mr. Robert, and the Garden of
Allah, 102.
on Arab pride, 275.
Holy Carpet, an account of, 190.
seeing the sewing of, in the mosque, 137.
Horse, the Arab love of the, 97.
Hosein, mosque of, visits to, 135.
the head of, 152.
celebration of death of, 227.
Hospital, the Menshawi, 89.
Hospitality, Arab, 3, 4, 14.
etiquette of, 85.
Hostility to Christians^ not required in
' Mohammed's teaching, 143.
Hottinger, a Jewish convert to Christianity,
33i-
Hugos, Victor, abuse, 401.
Husband, the, acknowledged as master,
61.
Hygiene, religion and, 280.

INDEX

409

Ibrahim, the cover for the tomb of, in Mecca,
201.
Ignorance, the duty of confessing, 145.
Infants, unbaptized, Sheikh Yussef'b misery
about, 263.
buried alive, 394.
Infidels, Christians not regarded as, 143.
" dogs of," 380.
Insularity of the British people, 376.
Itinerant preachers, one of the, 254.
Jerusalem, Moslem clemency at the taking of,
395-
sacred to Moslems, 402.
Jesus, veneration of Moslems for, 141.
what do the Moslems think of, 319.
the one sinless Prophet, 321.
the great Missionary, 396.
Jews, Moslem friendship for, 162.
the, reviled by enemies, 311.
Jihad, 303.
Johns, Dr. Griffith, disgust with the Chinese,
394-
Jokes, enjoyment of verbal, 40.
Kekhia, evening prayer at, 113.
Kelly, Mr. Talbot, on the Egyptians, 395
Kempis, Thomas k, Imitation read by
Moslems, 330.
Keneh, the Cadi of, and Lady Duff Gordon,
288.
Khadijah, happy married life with Moham
med, 351.
Khedive as builder of the Mosque of Azabam,
123.
the, as supreme director ofthe Wakfs, 176.
supreme over the Friday prayers, through
the Caliph, 183
the, his reception ofthe Holy Carpet, 2rs.
the Court of, at the Prophet's Moolid, 253.
Kismet, an instance disproving, 132
Kitchener, Lord, his repression of students
and the press, 379.
Koran, ceremonial reading of, 124.
Arabic of, the language of heaven, 124.
the one miracle ofthe Prophet's life, 239.
an abominable Latin translation of, 310.
why Carlyle found it wearisome, 378.
the first English translation of, 380.
the, a confirmation of previous scriptures,
400.
no Moslem translation of, 401.
Kunafa, a special Eastern dish, 167.
Kumm, Dr. Karl, on the Black Stone, 220.
Lahore, the Bishop of, and ignorance of the
clergy on Islam, 380.
Lane, on egg-hatching in Egypt, 53.
ignorant of cause of reverence for Mahmal,
203.
on Arab pride, 287
Lane-Poole, Stanley, on Islam as a preserva
tive against slavery, 46.
on good manners of Egyptians, 67.
on fanaticism at Al Azar, 146.
on fanatics and concealed infidels, 158.
Language, use of pictorial, 40
Library, the burning ofthe Alexandrian, 392.
Little's, Mrs. Archibald, viewsjof the Chinese,
395*
London, the Bishop of, on the Moslems and
Christ, 3T9.
error of, 402.

Luther, Martin, on the Prophet, 381.
Luxor, Sheikh Zussef of, 263.
the Sheikh at, on fatalism and self-help, 316,
Maghraby, Sheikh, 225.
Mahmal, cost of the Egyptian, 196.
the puzzle of Egypt, 203.
reverence for, 206.
Ma'aleesh not a proof of fatalism, 315.
Martyrdom of Hassan and Hosein, celebration
of, 227.
Marriages, the Prophet's, misunderstood, 385.
Married life ofthe Prophet, 351.
and Mohammed, 387.
Margoliouth, Prof. D. S., on lack of preaching,
120.
Martineau, Harriet, on Egypt, 383.
Martyn, Henry, on the Sufis, 268.
Mary, the Virgin, 322.
Masnavi, the great mystical poem, 26s.
Material gain, pursuit of,'frankly admitted, 299.
Maxwell, Sir W. Stirling, on Christian slavery,
44-
Medina, a place reserved there for the grave
of Jesus, 323.
Melanchthon on the Prophet, 381.
Menshawi, Pasha, the bequests of, 85,
Miracles of saints, 92.
Missionary zeal in early Islam, 301.
College, a Moslem, 317.
Missions, a true way for, 396.
Mist in Egypt, 70.
Mohammed, early vicious stories of, 310.
different views of, 381.
the character of, according to his contem
poraries, 388.
Mr. Z wemer's abuse of, 386.
" tormented of the Devil," 404.
Moolid, the, of Sheikh Demerdache, 167.
Moral teaching in Islam, an instance of, 119,
the Sheikh of Hosein on, 143.
Moslems to be baptized to take off the evil
odour, 341.
Mosque, visit to the village, 21.
the Menshawi, 88.
confab in, 35. v
tbe, of Tanta, 90.
the first need of a Moslem community, 133,
Mosques, the sacred, visits to, 135.
why Christians are excluded from, 139.
organisation of the, 174.
the village, how organised, t86.
Mother, reverence taught to, 349,
Muir, Sir W., and the story of the Prophet's
frown, 337.
Mysticism, 171.
the, of Mohammed, 264.
Muller, Max, on treatment of religions of the
world, 394.
Napoleon and the Sadat family, 74.
and Islam, 371.
Nationalist, the views of, 31.
Nights for God, the celebration of, 236.
Nile, veneration for the river, 54.
Omar, the question of his burning the library
of Alexandria, 27.
at the taking of Jerusalem, 295.
dealing with the haughty Jabala, 337.
did he destroy the Alexandrian library, 392,
Onion, the Prophet's hatred of the smell of,
59-

410

INDEX

Oppositiveness of East and West, instances of, i
376-
Palace, a visit to the home, of the late Pasha
Menshawi, 90.
Palaces, visit to Cairo, 72.
Palgrave on Arab hospitality, 4.
on the veil, 348.
on the freedom of women in Arabia, 401.
Pan-Islamism and Germany, 373.
Parker's, Sir Gilbert, backsheesh fictions, 384.
limited knowledge of Moslems, 402.
Passion Play, the, in Persia, 235.
Persecute, have the Moslems an obligation to,
. 303-
Persian tiles, rare, in an old palace, 74.
Persians and the martyrdom of Hassan and
Hosein, 229.
Peter the Hermit, fanatical zeal of, 304.
Peters, Dr. Carl, on the need for German
expansion, 301.
on the use Germany could make of Islam, 372.
Physical importance of the postures of prayer,
129.
Pickthall, Mr., on early Moslem attitude to
Christians, 295.
Pictures, why they are absent from the homes,
79-
Pilgrimage, the Egyptian Court historian on,
218.
Polygamy, the grand Mufti on, 363.
in the Bible, a Moslem sheikh on, 387.
Popes, the savage libels of, 384.
Praise, the prayer of, 238.
Prayer, evening, at the Mosque Kekhia, 114.
evening, at the Mosque of Azabam, 123.
the conduct of the Moslem at, 127.
men must not pass between the worshipper
and the Kibla, 128.
physical importance ofthe postures of, 129.
evidence of a deep devotional spirit in, 129.
private, 131.
the charge of formalism in, i3r.
always the first thought, 133.
the Semitic mind moved by, 221.
a, by the Prophet, 270.
the theme of the Moslem's private, 273.
the women and, 358.
attitude of the East towards, 375.
attitude of Englishmen towards, 375.
women bound to perform the, 404,
Preachers, itinerant, r2i.
a definite duty, 122.
Pre-Islamic times, 3.
women in, 344.
Pride, Arab, 275.
Lane on Arab, 287.
Prophetism not proselytism, 398.
Prophet, tbe legends of his life, 393.
the Moolid of the, 24r.
Proverbs used in conversation, 29.
Puerilities of the ablutions, Mr. S. M. Zwemer
on, 281.
Reformation of missionary methodsand spirit,
396.
Relics ofthe prophet, a visit to, 149, 151.
Repentance, 131.
necessity for, 284.
Repetition, the use of, in the East, 249.
Repression, a native view of, 35.
Rida, Sheikh Rashit, on the character of the
Prophet, 386.

Ridicule, fear of, accounts for exclusion of
Christians from the mosques, 139.
the Moslem expects, 382.
Rights, women's, in Islam higher than in
Europe, 359.
Roman spies report of their Moslem foe at
prayer, 277.
Rosary, the Moslem, 313.
Ruskin on the incompatibility of modern
Englishmen to the East, 375.
Moslem appreciation ofthe writings of, 382.
Sadat, visit to the historic house of, 73.
family, Napoleon and the, 74.
Saints' tombs, on visiting, 147.
Scamps, village, 68.
School, government, little provision for re
ligious teaching at, 158.
Seclusion of women, the real tragedy of, 357.
Sermon, an informal, in the Mosque Kekhia,
118.
a modern example, 189.
Shaffey, Imam, visit to the tomb of, rs6.
Shakspeare, Arab love of the works of, 240.
Shawish, Sheikh, on divorce in Egypt, 362.
Ship, the, ofthe Imam Shaffey, 159.
Shrews, the old women as, 62.
Sidi Okba, tolerance of a Christian at, 288.
Sidky, Mohammed Tewfik, M.D., on the
veil, 345.
Siena, the first and second class funeral palls,
404.
Catherine of, on the Moslems, 380.
Simplicity, the duty of, 181.
Sin, what the Moslems think of, 271.
the guilt of, recognised, 250.
Slaves and Islam, 42.
Smith, Bosworth, on the Moslem treatment of
animals, 81.
Snobbery, Christian, in the matter of funeral
palls, 404.
Socialism in an Egyptian village, 27.
Spain, Moslem toleration in, 297.
Speer, Mr. Robert, on ,( The Cow," 350.
St. Clair-Tisdall, Rev. W.,on Moslem prayer.
128. J '
on purity of the heart being impossible for a
Moslem, 250.
on Moslem formalism, 276.
his views strongly objected to by the sheiks,
327-
on the Moslems and Jesus, 325.
unfairness of method of criticism, 391.
Stoicism, outward, misleading, 313.
Stone, the Black, 220.
Students of Al Azar, the aims of, 189.
Sugar-cane, the craving for the, 60.
Superstition, Mohammed opposed to, 401.
Sword of Islam, T. W. Arnold on the, 298.
the Christian, in modern days, 300.
the use of, denied by Christian missionary,
304-
Tanta, a visit to, 85.
the sheikh of, on the organisation of school
mosque, 187.
Teeth, cleansing of the, 281.
Tertullian on the libels on Christians, 311.
Titles, the trade in, 69.
Tolerance as shown in the Pasha Men-
shawi's bequests, 89.
Toleration taught in the original records,
143-

INDEX

411

Toleration a slow growth, 291.
instances of Moslem, 296.
Moslems charged with, as an offence, 403.
Tombs, saints visiting, 224.
Traditions, the, what is the rule of acceptance,
329-
Travellers views on Eastern people, 395,
Travel, old or new books of, 401.
Tribute, how it was exacted, 299.
Trinity, the only doctrine of, which known to
Mohammed, 322.
Truth, does Islam encourage the, 38.
Turf-Club, the spirit of, 34.
Universal Races Congress, reception of the
missionary views at, 395.
Usury, a genuine dislike of, by Moslems, 403.
Veil, the, said to " bury alive all women, 345.
pre-Islamic, 348.
where the tragedy of seclusion is felt, 357.
a cruel missionary charge, 394.
Village, an Egyptian, 17.
Vision, the Prophet's, 400.
Vixer, Mr. H., experience with the Senussi
brotherhood in the Sahara desert, 294.
Votes for women, an Egyptian advocate of,
27.
Wakfs administration, the, 176.
administration, encouragement of preaching
by, iai.

Weather, has the climate changed, 70.
Whirling dervishes, a mystical order of, 173.
Whisky, the disgrace of the advertisments of.
56.
Witch, the drowning of, in England, 96.
Womenfolk of the village, 58.
Women, the position of, 340.
English customs, hard on, 350.
the piety of, 358.
and prayer, 359.
not necessarily restrained, 401.
freedom in Arabia, 401.
bound to perform the prayers, 404.
Wordsworth quoted by an Egyptian, 24.
" Yellow Peril " and Germany, 373.
Zikr, of the Demerdache order, 169.
the, a modern Moslem on, 169.
Zikrs, the, at the Prophet's Moolid, 253.
Zwemer, Mr. Samuel M., on bankr
Islam, 65.
on the Koran and salvation from sin, 276.
on the puerilities of the instructions for
cleanliness, 281.
charges of fanatic zeal, 29S.
on Jihad, 303.
on fatalism, 507.
on pre-Islamic virtues, 345.
and " the Cow," 350.
abuse of the Prophet, 386.
17th century quotation, 404.

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