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 ID

THE MOULIDS of EGYPT

Egyptian Saints .. Days
Ptd. N. M. Press, Cairo
1941
.-.,
The MOULIDS of EGYPT.
(Egyptian Saints.. Davs)
By

J. W. McPherson,
M.A. (Oxon), B.Sc. (Bris.), A.R.C.Sc., &c.

Formerly, -Oxford Extension Lecturer .

.~.n Egypt, in the service of the Ministries of Education

and Agriculture, -previous to the war of 1914~18 ,

and of the Ministry of Interior, after the war.

Mamur Zapt, with grade of Bimbashi, C.C.P., &c.

WITH A FOREWORD
by

Professor E. E. Evans .. Pritchard,

M.A. (Oxon), Ph.D. (Lon.), Bimbashi.
···.··:tr:iff"'~~·!j
,, :· ..... _.,' .. ']'~.
 To
H. Em. the Sayed
Ahmad M orad el/Bakri)
Grand Sheikh of the Suji Orders)
Naqib el/Ashraf.
M. A. ( Cantab)

V
L
 CONTENTS.

FOREWORD by PROFESSOR E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD

M,A. (Oxon), Ph.D. (Lon), &c., Bimbashi, 1x

List of MAPS xii

Illustrations xiii
Page
INTRODUCTORY 1
CHAPTER I Moulids,- Their Origin and Objects 29
(With genealogical tree of the
Prophet's family SS)
II , - Their Place : their Times
and Seasons 37
(With List of Moulids, as igned
to fixed day of the week 46)
Ill , - Their Devotional Side- 51
IV , -Their Secular Side 74
V , - Their Individual F atures - 9
(With Cal ndar of approximate
date - 100
, Arn.hic and Cop tic
Months 103
ectional Map - 104 & seq)
, Descriptive Notes on
One Hundred and
twent six Egyptian
Moulids, (Christian
and Islamic) - 129 & seq)
Envoi - 319
Post Scriptum - - 323
GLOSSARY - S27
INDEX - 343

Vll
b
 Foreword.
When my old friend Major l\lacPher on asked me to write
a foreword to his book on Egyptian moulid he broke a con-
vention, for a pupil doe not write a fore\Yord to he writing
of h1s teacher. What I know about the moulid of Egypt I ha e
learnt from him. He has learnt nothing from me about them.
I wa introduced to them by him, and many are the enjoyable
evenings I have spent with him in Yisiting the tombs of holy
men in Cairo, and it neighbourhood, at he time of th annual
fairs held in their honour. A I am an anthro ologi. t, the e
visits were a profit to me a well a an njoym nt, for :M ajor
MacPher on drew my at ention to much that I would not ha
noticed had I been by my elf and xplained much that I could
not have understood by reading book .
An anthropologi t mu tat once be truck by many fund-
amental similarities between Eg ptian moulid and the religiou
festi al of other people . It wa for thi rea on, I fancy, tha,t
the author asked me to write a foreword to hi book, and it was
for thi reason that I accepted the honour of doing o. I hop d
to make in the foreword a hart compara ive analy i of religious
feasts. This study mu t now wait for a mor conyenient
season. When it is undertaken J\Iajor MacPherson' book on
Egyptian mou lids will be on of its main ources. Such an
enterprise needs, however, lei ure and the u e of a library, and
I mu t write thi foreword on a patrol on he Aby inian frontier
as far from the one a from the other.
I may, however, stres a fact of con id rable importance
which Major MacPherson brings out in hi book. To ay that
he bring it out in his book i , indeed, to do him an injustice,
for it i its main theme. He say and I agree with him that a
moulid is not, and cannot be, a purely religious ceremony. It
has, and must have, a secular ide to it. The sports, games,

IX
 theatres, shadow-plays, coffee booths, beer booths, ~ eet stalls,
eating houses, the meeting of friends, the singing, th e dancing,
and the laughter, are as much part of a moulid as th religious
processions, the visits to the tombs of holy men, and the prayers
in the mosques. The gay and secular side to religious cere-
monies is an essential part of all popular religious festivals. No
religion which lives in the hearts of a people can survive there
without its feasts. If the feasting and the religious rites fall
apart it may well be that the feasting outlives th rites. An
acute thinker, Pareto, has well said that in the history of
peoples the reasons given for the holding of feasts may, and
often do, change, while the fea ts themselves show a remarka.ble
uniformity from age to age.

I have frequently observed- and every student of the ways

of primitive peoples has noticed the same fact- that in Central
Africa a religious ceremony of any importance cannot be held
without a banquet. There mu t be plenty to eat and drink and
the meats must be of a kind that are not daily eaten. Very few
ceremonies are held without singing and dancing. So much is
this so that Marett defined one of the principal chn,racters of
primitive religions when he remarked that simple peoples dance
their religion rather tha,n formulate it a a theology. Religious
ceremonies are always a holiday and a feast. I peak of
primitive peoples because I have spent many years in the study
of them, but what I have written of them in this respect might
equally be written of the great religions of civilized peoples, of
the religions of the peoples of Europe ana of the East.

Religious ceremonies always tend to be associated with

secular and festal activities. The secular festivities bring the
people together and make the occasion a memorable one in their
lives. A man remembers w bat he has enjoyed. The religious
rites provide the festivities with a purpose and a centre round
which they move. The festivities pr~vent the religious side
from becoming a formal, lifeless, professional ritual performed

b
by a few persons who have a local, or some other exclusive~
interest in their maintenance. The religious rites prevent the
festivities from becoming formless social gatherings. lacking the
regularity and a special character of their own which alone
enables them to endure. The religious and secular strands are
interwoven together, and those who try to retain the one and
discard the other, show little wisdom.

This is Major MacPherson's main contention, but, though

he tilts bravely at the puritanism and petty bureaucracy which
seek to prohibit the secular side to mouiids in Egypt, his book
is in no way a polemic. It is a de cription of the moulids of
Cairo, and of some of the principal moulids in the pro inces~
and, as such, has great scientific value. It is a contribution to
our knowledge of Egyptian life, a worthy supplement to the
immortal writings of Lane. Major MacPherson ha paid to the
people of Egypt the debt which h freel acknowledges he
owes them for the ho pitality and kindnes he has enjoyed at
their hands for close on half a century.

E. E. Evans-Pritchard
Pocala, Sudan. No . 1. 1940.

XI
 LIST OF MAPS.

Map of DELTA Inside Fl'ont Co ers

, UPPER EGYPT Inside Back Cover

Page

Skeleton Map of Cairo, as Index to Sectional Maps 104

(Alphabetical List of Moulids

giving No. of Sf'ctional Map 105)

Sectional Maps I to XX 106-125

·S ketch Map of Duqqi district 126

(Alphabetical List of Moulids

on Railway Map of Upper Egypt- v. Covers 127)

(Alphabetical List of Moulids

on Railway Map of Delta & Fayum- v. Covers 128)

Xll

b
 ILLUSTRATIONS.

Sheikh' Tomb at Qoseir Frontispiece

Opposite Page
At 1\Ioulid:en-Nebi v
Processional:Boat of Abd.el-Rahim el-Q nawi 5
Funerary Boatlof Tut Ankh Amon, 1500 B. C. 5
The Nahasin: Entrance to Tomb of Sultan Saleh 34
Sheikh Suleiman el-Kredli: at Tomb of Sidi Haroun 42
Saint's Tomb at l\Ierg 51
"Alexandrin " .A. crobat : Prodromoi of a Zeffa 6
Circumci ion Booth & Sign ,-at Moulid of Abu el-Ela 69
A She rabati - 71
A Hawi,- Charming aS rpent 74
Pharaonic Representation of a Serpent - 74
"Aru a" Stall, - at 1\Ioulid of Ashmawi- 0
Husein Foad : Dancer 4
"Berlin, dein Tanz r i t der Tod ! " 96
1\loulid of Abd el-Rahim el-Qenawi 130
do. he Tub- 132
do. :at th
Tomb of El-Lu ha 133
Qoseir: Mid-Shaaban C lebration : Sword Dan ing 135
do. do. : Circling th Tombs 135
Moulid of Sheikh Abdulla: the :Mo qu 137
Bab el-Zuwela 141
Moulid of Abu el-Ela: the Mosque- 144-
do. do. 145
Moulid of Abu Harera: "Buraq," the
winning horse in race 150
Moulid of Ashmawi : The old Suq el-Bakri 160
Bab el-Zarayib: framing Tombs of the Mamelukes 164
The Church of SS. Mercurius and Ba.rsum :
Ikon of Abu Sefein 170
do. Iconostasis 171
do. The "Shammas" 172
Xlll
 Page
Moulid of Damiana: The Con vent 179
Moulid of Fatma el-Nebawiya : Dr. Enayet Allah, doyen
of Circumcision, and his signs 191
Moulid of Fatma el-Nebawiya: an adjacent Tomb:
Murasla Muhammad Mousa - 193
Moulid of Sultan Hanafi- 204
Tomb of Sidi Haroun & corner of the Beit el-Kredli 206
Moulid of Sidna Husein : The Bab el-Ahdar - 220
Tomb of Sidi Maghrabi : the Patron Saint of the
Turf Club 238
Mustarod Ferry : on the way to Moulid of Sitna Mariam 241
Votive Offerings on a Holy Tree: near Merg - 250
Ruined Mosque of Chahin, - Allahu Akbar - 260
do. : the violated Tomb 260
Above the Mosque: Picnic ledge on Moqattam Cliff 261
Some Pilgrims to El-N ebi 265
Mosque of Sultan Sal eh & Guardian of his Tomb - 280
Moulid of Saleh el-Haddad 282
Moulid of Yussef el-Haggag: Theban Types - 806
Moulid of Zein el-Abdin: Invitation to,-- 818
Fete of S. Teresa at Shubra - 822

All illustrations are copyright which 1n some cases does

not belong to the author.

XIV
 INTRODUCTORY

The writer ha, pen more than half of a long life in EgJ pt,
and thanks Allah that uch he been hi prh·ilege, From hi
early boyhood it was hi dream to live in Cairo, and from that
a centre to ee and know a much R po ibl of the places
peopl and langnacre all round h e 1\Iedit rranean, but par icu-
larly in the Valley of the Nile.
He found Cairo an inexhau ible trea m· hou e of intf're t
and delicrht, and "·h n alone " ·and red for hour exploring, till
ut erly lo , kno\Tin cr tha an · arbugy, donkey-boy or per on.

"-a fortunat
too in falling into aood hand during hi week and f I
specially grateful for th ho. pitality of th family of hf' pre n
:M ini er of Hygi n Hamid bey fahmnd, and that of Dr.
Ibrahim Zaki Ra hif a who e hou e in country and in town,
he had wonderfully intere ting and enjoyable tim , and to be
family of be late Mufti, the h ikh l\Ioh. Bikbit, ,,-i Lb whom h
wandered for month in Upper Egypt.
Hi \Vork too, civil and mili ary in la r · ar ga' him
peculiar htcnlLie · ,. r Wend ring almo < nywb re, and acquiring
an othcrwi e impo ibl in imacy ''i b trang 11lace a,nd veopl .
Thi wa,. par icularly the ea e in 1919 he year of b mo t
eriou riot , and the few ub equen year , \\ben hi double
military rank, Bri i h and Egyptian, and hi po t of ":M amur
Zapt",-a ort of Chief lnqui itor at be bea,d of the ecret
police, nece itated frequent acce to the interior of palace and
huts: eYen at time the penetralia of harim , for the ma ter
of the e and the occupant , when gi n the option, in ariably
preferred the officer to take on this delicate task, rather than
one of the detectives of he other sex who e special work that
1 •

(A an extreme case, I may mention,-being instructed to

 -4-
sterious "drop", and even now ther are some who go for that
in the middle of June as well a for the ble sing to be derived
from a pilgrimage to the shrine of the sainted Imbabi .
Wherefore all ye pilgrim to the zawia of idi I mail I mbabi:
come to the banks of the Nile oppo ite the Gezira toward the
end of '~the second m onth of inundation", aabet s n et.,

~~\\I
1\1\/\1\AI\
0
1\1\ /\AI\ 1\
11 1\1\f\1\1\f\
0
the Alexandrian month of fi.s.tenJ till o "Titten in the Covtic
langu age and as ~; -' .Y. and Banna re pPctively in Arabic and
English . That will be when we are nearing the time of the
solstice, whilst the sun is yet in the zodiacal . ian of Ca tor and
Pollux.
The feast of Isis was a boat fe ti \al, for ''a be not the
patroness of boatmen, and did be not teach them her in\ention
of the sail: so a.t the moulid of I m babi the river warm vi"ith
feluccas and rowing boats,-a loYely igbt, especially when I i -
Diana i bright in the h eavens. You will do well t o join them
on t h e water, and above the laughter and the inging and "all
kinds of musick" you will doubtle s bear the bar her rattle of
the sistntm, associated with Cleopatra, the sacred in tument of
I sis used in her worship as it still is in that of the Ethiopian
Copts.
"Quod semper, quod ubique quod ab omnibus!"
The old leaders of I slam and of Catholicism were wise and
re\erent, and respected the traditions of their ancestors, and
those old celebrations which were the expression of the heart
of the people; and far from de pising or destroying them , they
adopted them into their owu cult purif~ ing or modifying with as.
gentle a hand as possible. The great feast of Sham el-Nesirn
 P l'oce ional Boat of Abd el- R <lhim 1-Qena"·i.

Fun erary Boa of Tu nkh mon about 1500, B . C.

 -5 -
<>b erved by Christians and JYioslems and all Egyptians alike i in
a way a Ioulid, (though not included in tJho e which follow), for
1t doubtless wa held originally to celebr::tte the re- birth of the
Phoenix, and is a remnant of the cult of the Sun-god Ra by
Egyptians of Pharaonic time . Tho e who doub it hould i i
~Iataria, the old Heliopoli or city of the Sun, before dawn on
that day and see the crowd who have, lept in the field and the
road to seP the un ri e near the ob li k which mark the i
of be temple of Ra. Few of hese are more a.ware of he pull
which draw them here, than are migratorj bird of he urge
'vhich impels hem to fly at the am time and o he am po
a their ance tor of age ago. Y et hey are gay and happy and
b~tLer for the holiday.

In de cribing the monlid of Abd el-Rahim at Q na, and Yu f

el Haggag at Luxor, I haYc pointed out that th proce ion with
its boat date bae;k to the cnl of Amun, a portrayed on th wall
of tlw temple of Ram e III. Thi i of world wide inte re , and
in 1357 (193 ) picture of the e boat and fa cinating bit of r -
earch on the ubject appeared in" a ure" in" 1an", and other
magazine . Dr. Evan -Pritchard he an hropologi t invi d m
and one or two other to hare room he had taken clo e o th
Qena moulid to witne this uniqu ight. Th moulid wa
indeed impre ive though horn of much of it ol'iginal charm,
but the local authoritie had cut out the boat for no a ignable
rea son. These boat are endeared to th people not onl. by
their antique tradition but by more mod rn I lamic 1 gend
connecting them with the SH.int they are honouring, so why end
half a million poor people including om·selYe away disappointed,
and sacrifice one more of Egypt's real asset ?

This after all is a mall incident compared with what

moulids all over the country have uffered of recent year , and
therefore what Egypt has lost in popular content, piet and
happiness: and also of its native charm, and rich inheritance of
beautiful customs.
 - ~* ·~ .. ~;
.
~~~~~:·~ ·.~·.::·.~:. ~,:·: . :·.".": .: ~ ~: , .~.~r,.. . ~ .: : ·... ''!

-- 6 -

This book of Moulids, which should be a record of the

popular expres ion of the exuberan ce of faith, goodwill, and light-
hearted merrime nt, i unhappil y full of incidents like the aboye
or far worse which perforce come into the picture of the moulid
and can only depress and grieve the lover of the Egyptian people
and their customs.
The joy of forty year delightfu l re idence in Egypt ha been
marred for the writer, and who can say how many else, by seeing
these ancient popular religious in titutions as in de d o nnwh el e
that is picturesq ue and venerabl e di courag din many wa,y , and
of recent years attacked by open vandalis m and undermi ned by
the sophisms of Pharisee s and Puritan .
People of culture and ta te who come to Egypt now for the
first time and find much to charm and fa cinate them: can hard-
ly imagine how much more there was a few decades ago, and
those who knew it then and return to it now, cannot, I think.
fail to weep over the city. The loss of so many of its beauty
spots, its modern streets, ugly or at la t banal like gashes acro s
its oriental lovelines s: the truncatio n of its picturesq ue cu tom •
-with the conseque nt damp r on its native mirth and light-hea r -
edness: o much that is unlo ely and depressin g: so much that
Cairo might and shonld have escaped : so much indeed that i
irretrieY ably lost. Happily the ya tness of the city hat:. sa\-ed
much of it; ancl of recent years the splendid etforts of a Com-
mittee to protect Yenerabl e sites and buildings has checked mnch
vandalism , but we still badly need some such group to defend its
tradition al customs.
Of course the Zeitgeist , which blew mainly from the fa1~
west, to chill and blight FJurope, has afflicted most of the world.
Egypt included, with its false value , it substitut ion of mechani cal
cacophon ies fr human melodies , of amorpho us skyscrap er for
shapely dwellings , of sordid matmial ism for the disintere ted
pursuit of beauty, of frenzied rush and blazing light and blatant
noi e for gentle living : in short, a nm\ cult of savagery , (not as

l
 -- 7

they would claim,-a new and pecial culture), for an old

civilisation.
The Nebi Mo e would a ·k u a he a ked Beni I rail, when
they got their \alu all wrong,-
cc -'~;.._ _,~ c,>..il~ J..}i .>• c,>..ill j _,lJ.:Li i •
"Would you ba.rt r ble. ed thing for thu e v.·hich ar ba e ?"
But if, a i indeed th case, E ypt ha been more inned
again t than inning, he might haYe done more and ill might
do to check thi out ,ide contagion, thi piritual and arti tic
decadence. By a tl'an paradox the Yirtue of genera ity and
complai ance, o con picuou in the Egyptian ha\e tended to
the lo of ome of their pric le a e , . Born and bred among t
. nch material and: piritnal they do not r ali heir
yalue, and that a little lai er-faire may and do · lead to
irremediable lo .
And they get no retllrn no thank for the e acrifice . All
the e up-to-date lure to tourist are he gro e t mi take. E' n
the We terner al'e rep lled rather than at ra ·ted by he na ty
cinema how , na ty jazzy noi e , na ty bunni -hug · and black-
bottom , hideou building , and the re t of their own con ribu-
tian to an ~ nti-C'i,,ili atiun. The come her to e: ape th
a.bomina.tion · they have brought on th m lv s and much of th
world, and to ba k for awhile in th oft beauty of Ea. tern peace.
They are not, thank God, -vo arie of the idol , not a.ll of them,-
nor do they all a.ppr ciate the \ulgar humour of lark Twain
who made hi 'hero" blow out the acred la.mp' hich pion band
had kept burning for centurie . I ha.ve in my mind at the moment
a recent America.n visitor to Cairo, who although a millionaire
had escaped the littlene e which millions are liable to bring.
He, Mr C ...... bad known our city more than half a century ago,
and bad visited it at interval , and he mourned and deplored be
ru thle s changes.
But I am drifting into generalities, - almost into per-
 -8-
sonalities,-a field which proved too vast for that great foreign
friend of Egypt and the East, Pierre Loti, who wrote about "La
Mort de Constantinople", and "La mort du Caire". He was
also a Prophet, but of the Cassandra type:- almo t a "~ox
clamantis in deserto". Yet I think the East mourns now "La
moTt de Loti."
This little book is simply and solely a plea for Egypt'
moulids, which for the best part of a millenium ha been an
essential valuable element in the religion, happine and Hfe of the
people from the least to the grea e t; but which in l' cent times,
as I have- said for some deplorable rea on,-or la ·k of rea on,
seem to have been pecially mark d out for coercion, re triction,
and what amounts to pet·secn ion, with chilling re ults on the
hearts and the ouls of millions of dear veople. who fol'm the
backbone of the nation. The fellahin and the mass s generally
.are poor enough as regard tbi world's good , but th y are rich
in natural spirit , and capacity for imple pleasures, and innocent
gaiety,-especially when theJ can fit the e in with pi ty. it is a
truism that religion and joy go hand in hand. Ph[tri e and
Puritans who, with pet·hap the be t intentions try to separate
them, injure both, and nnwittingly and unwillingly play into
the hands of the enemy,-the godless, the bezboinik, the bol-
.cbevic who have warned us by the unhappiness of their people,
as in Germany and Russia, that popular expre sion of religion
cannot afely be suppressed.
Though any old stick,-or rather,-new stick seem good
enough to beat the moulids, I ba\e enquired diligently, and have
ne\7er elicited a valid reason for this attitude of antagonism or at
least indifference, though there are plenty of reasons for sym-
pathy and calls for support. The student class and the young
effendis do not as a rule patronise them, but I have never known
them actually hostile. They ha-ye the1r sports, their football,
basket ball, and innumerable games; and an excellent thing too,
and naturally go their own ways, as the coresponding classes in
-other countries. But what have the poor got? Their spades,
 -9 -
their !asses (hoes!) But what games except a wing here ana
there which they put up themselves u uall , and a ride on their
donkey if it i not too tired for \\ork. M window look out on
forty or more acre of play around pro\ided for the "cl as e ",
.and a plendid thing too, doubtle , for the ph · ique of tha
ection of the nation. The ma e do not a k for that: bey
can amu e them el\e if hey ar onl~ allowed to do o: th y an
watch a conjuror or nake charmer or galli-galli man a Punch
and Jucly or a hadow how delightedly for hour or a danc r
to ome imple in trum nt or an acroba 0

but all the e poor

ouL who made a mode t li,ing by amu ing
fe\\ year ago are cha ed from pillar to po and eem to b -
looked on by he authoritie a u plClOU charac er , and the
little cro'\\d of other poor who like my elf enjoy th "c
cattered lik a , edition
mob. Thi i not only the a e in then wand nemootic quart r.
but ha pread like a bli bt o\er th natiYe mallslzielzs ( que re ),
and open pace" tba, of late were full of fun and lif . Re · ntly
on a Friday I a w a ·I Yer conjurer eject cl Y ry l'Oll hly from
among ·t tb tomb n ar I m am 1- haf i wher be an cl hi li Ll
ancli nee had aken an tuary and the la t monk y I saw riding
0

a goa \\a aiT , tecl and dr::tg ed off. " Ianouli" and he bow-
"o" had appeared a happy as the onlooker , but omeone
sngge tecl thn.t an .P.C.A. fan had denounced " uch cruelty,"
to dumb animal , and thought they \\ere fit ubject for the
boon of euthana ia. 'Pity they were dumb !' I thought,- they
might expres other \iew .' 0 her urmi ed that 1\t[anouli wa
only being taken to the caracol (police ta ion) to produc hi
rukh a (licence), or hi pa port or birth certificate, or to fulfil
one of those little formalitie which have become o numerous
and so important of late.
Of course this is an age of repre sion and neurotics not to
mention narcotic , so much abused in Egypt these da s. At the
present rate of ner e de truction and decay, the great Plutoc-
racies, Democracies, Aristocracies and the rest will have
 . -10-

surrendered in a Wa'r of NeTves, and merged befor long

into one grand Neurocracy. The trend of modern times
too is a kill-joy trend, and the mania of mod rn people a
kill-joy mania, and when they have killed joy and nt· "bored to
death" , they kill one another and themsel\'e . Thank God thi
virus is so attenuated before it affects Egypt, that "\Y have
escaped so far its most perniciou ffects, even as th hurricane
which wrecks hips in the Atlantic, and make p ople very
seasick in the Mediterranean, i reduced to lamming n f w door
and raising a little dust in Cairo.
This rage for repre sion, bough mo Yident nL moulid · i
b) no mean confined to ucb, c • indeed I baYe indi aLed above.
If a man may no longer laugh fl'eely at a Punch and J udy bo\\
nor smile at a dancing girl, be i reminded in m!tny of the cafes
that singing i p1·obibited, by order of be GO\·ernm nt,-«t_~
~ _,01 .J.\ .
l.:.all» Women too may no longer indulge in lamenta-
tions for the dead, anyway in public.
The Elders and Notable of the land, like the s ndent ' and
effendi classes are seldom een i t 1oulid , and a a rule profe s
little interest therein, but I have never known on of hem
actually antagonistic. They too have their clubs and port , and
their intere t in art and literature and politics, which the poor
ha Ye not, and they believe in the adage "live and let live".
Many indeed go to the receptions (tash1·ijas), and the religious
and historic ceremonies which mark the opening and the close:
and not a few actually support the popular sides al o with money
and influence. It is, for example, the lavish band of he Minister
of Hygiene, Hamad Pasha Mabmud, which uphold the Tukh
moulid, and tha,t of Dr. T aha Hussein which has saved that of
his native town, :Maghagha. Many Christian and Foreign
notables help to defray decoration and other expen. es, and as
far as I have seen, they are all sympathetic. I have known
them even supply a feast for the poor, and there is one \\ho bRJs
restored the ancient tomb and moulid of Sidi Haroun el-Hu eini
 11 -

on generous and beautiful line

It is a pity that of recent years rich and 11oor ha\e drifted

omewhat apart, at fe ti,al and function common to both.
Typical of thi i the "On ing of the Khalig" Thi ceremony of
tb Bride of the Nile, (Aru at el-Nil. -J)I ~- .J/) ha not changed
materially, but a decade o1· o ago, tb Y ning celebration ,

ta brifa, firework , and the re t wer all together at the Fum

el-Kbt lig, and ther wa a ertain Gem1tJtlichkeit about it which
\\as quite lo t when the r ception ten " r erected in a pecial
n lo ure on Roda I land, and he populace, no pro ided \vith
. pecial tickets, pre\ented by mount d police from cro ing the
brid to it, and only abl to hear tb band and e he firework
fl'Om the other ide of be \Yater. In tb ame We y h intimate
charm and atmo pher of friendly fellow hip ha gone from b
lllabmal and Holy Carpet fe ti,al ex ent.
Thi \\ill be found v ry mark d. in the accoun moulid
of ~lohammadi, Imam 1-Sbafei and om other .
lonlid , a for many ag pa , are ill und r be aegi. of
he Gov rnment. Tb y are not held without a permi ion from
t he :Iini try of l nterior. Many of them ar officially upported
and attended: the greate. of c 11, bat of the Prophe , by tb
king or immediat r pr en a iYe. U lama, Mini ter , thehigbe. t
official mingle at ome of them . Th y ar in fact a pr cion
part of the religion and ocial life of the country. And y t
many of them are being cru bed out of exi ence,- ev n bet
which centre round the bead of the great Z in el- bdin, on of
Sidna Hussein, and the once immen eel bra ion of Sbe1kh
"Tashtousbi" .

Who then or what i behind hi de tru · i\ moYement?

Not e en the kill-joy and freeze-religion tend ncy of modern
times with its almo t univ-er al blight can wholly account for it.
Those who see a moulid poiled by he tupid excesses of askaris
naturally blame the Police, but they are wrong in the main
 - 12 -

ultimately, I believe -and the crowd seem to b realising that

more and more. The writer wa a good many years a policeman
<>f sorts, and in a po ition most favou eable to form an opinion,
.and he cannot remember any antagonism laten or xpressed.
And since he l ft that serYice, he ha never pointed out a specific
-case of violence or interference through exces of zeal on the
part of the rank and file to an officer, but the latter has checked
this and mended matters.
Certainly the police are not blameles . Som of he minor
officers at the qisms carry their re pon ibili ies heavily and eem
to be nnneces arily ner\OU le a little moulid crowd or proce -
sion might disturb the peace or che k the trafic. I wi h they
could ee the crowd about Trafalgar Square or Buckingham
Palace, or in the Piazza di enezia a Rome, or any big towns
and the ab ence of flu ter or coercion on the par of the police.
I am not peaking of com· e about s riker , political demons-
trators O? editious mobs of an ort; the oone1· the) are broken
up the better, and if such i not done the get wor e and things
end badly. But the moulid crowd i the most harmle and be t
·disposed crowd in the world. Politic , tendentious peeches and
sueh like have no part in them and are not tolerated by the
people themselves jf, as very rarely happens, a, little extraneous
_party tries to introduce such. In the worst of the strikes and
riot I haY taken friend including ladies into the thick of a
moulid crowd, and the peaceful contra t and air of safety has
amazed and delighted them .
Of cour e pickpockets and occasionally quarrel ome chara-
·Cters intrude as in any crowd, but such are easily dealt with on
their own demerits, and the police have the sympathy and help
of all the rest, and no reac:;on for spoiling the moulid, and Yisiting
their wrath on well meaning decent people, as unhappily I have
had to r elate in some of the accounts which follow.
T his official nervousness passes do wn in exaggerated form
t o the askaris, who often appear to think that they must
 ·- 13 --

interfere, e\en in thing which they indiddually ::tpprove. The

writer has often een them enjoying the inging of a heikh o1·
·om thing amn ing or edif) ing, and then udden ly become mili-
tant on he ad,ent of omeone who look official, and break np
the happy lit le how ; and sometime the writer ha be n
horrified t o realise that hi arrri,al i he innocen can e of his
demonstration. He i carefu l now to dre and comport him "elf
in a unofficial a manner a pos ible, and to in i t that friends
who come with him do the ame.
It i regrettable too that moulid often n.ffer for e\en fo1·
which they are en irely innoc n and over "·hi h b y can ba,·e
had no control. A on xample of thi , on the 1 tb ha, ban
1357 (1 2-10-3 ), on returnina from the gr at QenrL, mid- b::tal>an
moulid, I went to ha of ultan Hanafi. Thi wa the final
night and it had been working up befor I went to Qena, but now
I found practically notbina bnt lot of a kari with lon
faces and a few rather frightened and ad looking people.
mo que wa mo t par ly at ended, and from the enclo ure
some di tance away where Punch and Jndy, bado\\· how •
swing , and the re t had amn ed a bo t of children, e\erything
had been turned out and darkne reigned. "Whatever ha
happened?" I asked. "Wh}, don't } ou know" omeone aid,
"there wa n. row near the tation, a day or two ago, and ome
state men hurt." That wa deplorable new indeed but I could
not a certain that the mallest u picion att· cbed to anyone
from that di trict, o why the votarie of the holy Sultan bad
to uffer, or why Qara Goz (Punch) wa arre ted remains
a mystery. P eople go to moulids to obtain a ble ing, and I am
sure they ou ght to receive an extra on for paying, a they do.
for other peoples' in .
'l'b e abo"Ve wa written before war broke out, and wa h ld
oYer to ee bow far this would affect u genern.lly and the
moulid in particular. - A was hoped, in general we remain
unaffected in our li\'e ,-a most fn.\oured and happy na ion :-God
 - 14-
so kind to
has beAn indee d kind to us,-b ut man ha not been
ity has been the non-o bser-
His mouli d-goin g poor. One calam
el-Be< lawi, one of the
vance of the great T anta mouli d of Bayed
its po tpone m nt sine die.
,great est event s of I slam, or at least
for more than
It has been a bles ing to and the pride or Egyp t
aid, more pilgri m than
six hundr ed years, bringi ng to it, it i
so o\-er tockc d with
i ts holy places bring to Mecca . Are "-e
of <li tar. t lands ? And
holy men that we freeze out the flowe r
of war, in tead of
is it wise policy to antici11ate the cloud
o preYe n it, and so
carryi ng on as long as there is mothi ng
encou rage the m asses to be of good eheer ?
The 3rd
Cairo mouli d uffere d but not at flr t o badly.
the 19th R< gab (135 ),
Sep. on which war was declar ed wa
befor Rama dan
a date at which they crowd into the 'hort time
ed becau se of
and there wa a rumo ur that they would be check
which I am now
the allege d extra light, thoug h up to the date on
ned rune ville
writin g, 17 Shoua l (28-11-39), Cairo has remai
", and I doubt
lumie1·e excep t for rare and Yery brief "blac kouts
but loca lly it
if this has been officially applie d e\en to mouli ds,
a rea on,-o r
seems to have been adyan ced in some case as
the la t few
a vretex t, - for their di contin uance . - Dm·in g
·from the Bab
nights of Shaab an the region below the citade l
usuall y a most
el-Wa zir to the tombs of the Mame luke i
ds, dimly lighte d shnne , little zeffas
ple:usant sight: tiny mouli
e banne rs, torch es and lanter ns,
(proce ssion) with their simpl
e) and ney (flute) , the rapt faces
the music of the taT (tamb ourin
of childr en ; -but in the year
of sheikh s, and happy enthu siasm
I went. One of these night s
1939 all was gloom, each time
under that beaut iful old arch-
I savi- a few disgru ntled dervis he
and one huge
way nca,r Saida Ayesh a, with folded gonfallons
they had been on their
paper lanter n burni ng dimly . I think
amon gst those of the
way to the tomb of :El-G izi which i
mouli d of Sheik h Saleh
Mctmelukes. Proce eding to the place of the
Qism a ll was dark,
Shahi n el-Mu hamm adi behin d the Khali fa,
l, near the
but happi ly I found the impo rtant mouli d of Bahlu
 - 15 --

Bab el-Wazir proceeding mootbly . It bad been threatened, I

was told, but had bad a ble ed e cape. On the \\·ay there I
O\ertook a de1Ti h w·hom I ha\e known n,nd re pected for a long
time. He was almo t inar icula e with di tre , and emo ion at
the repre ion so I hope Bahlul cheered him . A. king him why
the e little moulid had been dropped oo, h r plied, - " h y
ay Lbe Army object o the light". Who "th y" wer I can 't
a.·. bnt it i ~ impo ibl to believe such an ab. urdity whe her it
emana ed from the de1·,i, h him lf or from "them", for at bat
Yery time in addition to many lighted minaret , the citadel
mo. que wa ' brilliantly flood li t, and hi h up blazed bom.n ncls
of candle power.
Of a bout twenty moulicl I Yi ited n.ft r war wa declar d
that i dul'ing the la day of Ragab and hroughout haaban,
all were ''a bouts, blackout Ol' dol ful un·iyal , excep four, -
El-Azn.im, Bablul, lUatrawi, and la bnt by no mean · 1 a L,
Bar um el-Aryan. Thi la, t \Yas a magnificent moulid, '"orth
a long journey to wi ne , perhap urpa ing that d crib d of
three year ago, (which ee), and indeed peopl had come from
afar and ettled there for a week or mor . On the la ni h
thou and , tens of thou and of .lYio lem mingled wi h the
Coptic pilgrim , at the brine of thi Chri tia,n aint. uch i
the ble sed pirit of oleranc amongst the p ople of Egypt.
All wa piety and joy, and not the mallest friction .

But that this bricrhte and ha-ppie t of moulid , hould be

one of the few urviYing Coptic celebrations is ery ignificant.
It e-ven suggest a clu to he que t which i the leit motif of
this preface, - "who i b hind this repre ion of the moulid. ,
this stifling of the people's natural expr ~ ion of their piety
and joy of life according to their heart ' dictates and the
millenial custom of their Country?' Can it po ibly be theY ry
people from whom they might expect ympath and support, -
an academic section of their leader in religion, who acrificing
the spirit for their own interpretation of the letter of the law,
 -- 16 - ·

with doubtless the best intentions,- tend to the same results

as the modern Zeitgeist which we all deplore. Is it indeed tbe
source to which we look for scholarly, construeti\'e, guidance.
that gives us instead schola tic prohibition which are only
destructive?
If this is the case as, I think, is commonly suppo d, though
I am un"\\illing to believe it, it exonorate the police to a great
extent, for it is the Civil Arm which ha o execut puniti\e
measures on those whom the Church deem "heretic·", as in the
days of the Inquisition.
I am sometimes told by theologicr~J pundit , - "The ·em on-
lids were not ordered by the Prophet, ancl berefore are not in
our religion",- to "\\hich I reply, - "Did h e order your motol'
cars or half the things you haY and clo ? If they are not in
your r eligion why have your holie"t men delighted in them for
ages, your Khalifs your N11qaib el- ·baf, your Wali , your ho ts
of derYishe , acd many ·who e tomb are no"\\ he object of the
very cnlt you discredit: has modernism bed uch n, holy light
that it reveals to yo~t their error and new truths, unseen by
them?
There is a slogan specially applied to moulid , -"Nothing
against morals and rebgion !" Thi sounds excellent, and
certainly is in theory, but the application "\\hich is being given
to it is working out \ery wrongly . No well thinking person
would do other that appro\e the eli mination of anything speci-
fically evil, but the amusements of the pepole ·w hich are being
attacked now are in the main no more evil than eating or
sleeping, indeed they are almost as necessary for the bealtb,
contentm ent and happiness of tbe people and the whole body
politic. I s the graceful stickpla} of tbe Egyptians against
morals or religion , or their dancing and racing horses, or the
Ringas beloved of the Sudanese with their quaint music
to which sometimes dancers fu ll} clad do a pas seul suggestive
of cockroach crushing; is singing wicked, or a li ttle dancing for
 - 17

the matter of that,- (the Nebi Daud danced in procession

before the holy things, and to this day, at what is perhaps the
most beautiful of all sur\iving religious pageants, the Palio of
Siena, I have seen lads dancing the gonfallon dance before the
altar and in the house of S. Catharine) ; i it irreligious to be or
to watch an acrobat, a snake charmer, a clever conjurer, af at man
or a dwarf, or e\en an amu ing clown or a gifted trolling player.
or is it immoral to try your trength, or your skill at hooting
at a micro-target OL' your re i tence to electric shock? The
people who go to make he world a plea ant place will be damned
if it is. Yet everyone of he e li tle joy which I have li ted, I
have een ruthle I · e;hecked or broken up again and again, and
many more of the ame ype. The popular dwarf is now on be
treet elling lottery ticket , the fat man is vi ibly limming, and
the rest,-what ha become of them, poor fellow ? Again, poor
Qara Goz (Punch) is no saint, but he ha flourished for probably
more than a thousand year in Egypt, Turkey Persia, and the
great I lamic states : has he :fallen into heresJ ? And have the
marionettes of the equally ancient and popular Rheil el-Zul.
(shadow how ) come up against religion ?
The great teacher, the Prophet J e u compared the "King-
dom of Hea\en" (on earth) to a field of corn in which an enemy
sowed bad ced. When the zizania (tare , "cockle", nagil)
sprung np the farm men wished to tear that up, but their Lord
said,-" No, lest ye tear up the good wheat with it, leave it to the
harvest.'":'
Though the field in the parable might well be the moulid
ground, the similitude hardly stands as regards the tares, for
that which the husbandmen decide to tear up and do so very
thoroughly are not "tares", but the poppies and corn-flowers
which add colour to the crop, or the helba and teel, which protect
it as well as beautify it and increase its value. The holiday
games which grow up about a holy day shrine become in a way

*(Saint Matthew, Ch. XIII, 24.)

 .;, ;···J ... ~ r
. ..
' ; ...rT'!'"- ~~ · .•
N
~=-~:'::..
~-
v • .- ~• .. • •·, ·, .. :· '~.
.... . . . .
~
• ~'
. . .

-- 18 -

-part of it,-
",-ev en as the trees
That whis per roun d a temp le beco me soon
Dear as the temp le's self,- --"
but misg uided
The stark truth is that these well mean ing
Anyo ne who saw a moul id,
:guid es are teari ng up relig ion itself .
"Bef ore this sad disea se of mode rn time s,"
truth of this by revis -
-even a very few years ago can chec k the
s) and notin g the
iting the same cerem ony, (if it still exist
who visit the shrin e,
dwin dled numb er and enthu siasm of those
and dervi shes.
the brok en zeffa s, and disgr untle d sheik hs
h migh t have
It is curio us too that of the few thing s whic
gami ng table ~ of all sorts ,-sti ll flou-
been regar ded as ta1·e s-the
they did befor e. Perh aps from a
rish, and I think , more than
be deem ed to do more
Mach iavel lian point of iew they may
again st the youn gster s who stake
good than harm , for the odds
are so great , that their inevi table
their milli emes and nickl as,
for the gamb ling habit .
loss shou ld give them a dista ste
w of the moul ids
Thos e who read the acco unts whic h follo
Huse in, of her great niece the
of Sitna Fatim a el-Ne bawi ya bint
ar Sadiq ), of Sidi Ashm awi,
othe r Fatim a el-N ebaw iya (bint Gaaf
seen them for them selve s
and alas of many other s, or who have
are thus in a posit ion
in the past and also in recen t times , and
,-can not fail to detec t
wher e comp ariso ns are force d upon them
ing their whol e-hea rted
a subtl e evil whic h has crept in, unde rmin
lusio n that at least a
since rity, nor can they avoid the conc
tion and appli catio n of
contr ibuto ry cause is the false inter preta
-wor d abou t "mor als and relig ion". Is it a trium ph for
the catch
here refer red to, a
relig ion that in the first of the three cases
, in an erstw hile sol-
very vulga r buffo on shou ld take the place
nt and repre senta tive
emn and digni fied proce ssion , of a desc enda
Or in the secon d ca,se,
of the gran d-da ught er of the Prop het?
is it a mora l gain that
that of the daug hter of the sixth Imam ;
shrin e shou ld beco me
the joyfu l preci ncts of her beau tiful little
 -19-

as gloomy at her moulid as the prison over the way; that the
ea e-like dwellings which reechoed with zikrs should harbour a
silent sulky party reduced to black tea and coffee, sheeshas and
gozas in the semi-dark, and that the pla~ er on the Raghttl, that
fine old reP-d instrument with its deep notes, should be ejected
from the adjoining street as though he had brought the plague?
And in the third case selected in this connection, that of
Sidi A hmawi, I think a very obvious lesson i to be drawn from
the little corner formerly the scene of innocent tick play,
singing and snch like, ub tituting the e by a zikr in intended
conformity with the mot d'ord1·e, with re ult which were
regrettable and profane.
The very virtue of the old moulid was the incerity and
openness of its piety and its joy. Anything, however well meant
that induces secretivene s or hypocrisy, tend , I hold, to unbeli f
and profanity, even o a piritual retrogre ion, for which th
people themselves can hardly be blamed.
Bliss in his work on the Religions of Syria and Pale tine,
attempts to sum up the po ition of the Dervishes in the cheme
of the components of Islam, by aying,- "The Dervishe eek God
in the heart; the Ulama seek Him in the Book." The epigram
suggests that if the former can he too motional sometime in
their zeal, the latter are in danger of laying too much tre s on
formal religion, and putting the letter before the pirit,-of which
indeed too many instance in the history of religion could be
cited; but it i, mi leading in implying a ort of antithesi which
ought not to exi t,-certainly not here in Egypt, where the Ulama
include great leaders of the Den·i h Order , even the "Naqaib
el-Ashraf", and the four "Sheikhs" of the four orthodox sect ,
the Hanafiya, Shafeiya, Malakiya, and Hum baliya.
In point of fact I have never heard that the Ulama in
general are inclined to coerce moulid-goers, or that they are in
favour of these irritating and ometimes iolent repression at
present so harmful: that responsibility seems to be always laid
 -20-

at the doors of a certain potent authority of the great University

of El-Azhar. Chastisement is perhaps a tradition . Certainl y
there are some classic cases on record ;- as that recorded by Lane-
of the El-Azhar profe sor El-Kuwasini, who celebrated hi
nomination as Sheikh Zawiyat el-Aamyan, by having all his
blind men (aamyan), about thre hundred, mo tly tudents, well
flogged: not without rea on, it is aid, though they, failing to
appre0iate t h e reason, eized and bound the Sheikh and flogged
him. I can find no early records howe er of that use of the-
palm r od being extended to pilgrims and pnblic at mou lids.

Whilst penning the above line it ha been pointed out to

me that El-Azhar applies its castigatory rod to bea ·t a well a
man, the latest of God's creature to give offence being none-
ot her than the "Nebi's CAlmel", which bears the Mahmal to the-
Holy Place , which one would ha~e thought indeed 'the last to
give offence'.

There has, I am told, been considerable discus ion of thi

ca use ceU~bre in some of the papers, and it may not be ou t of
phce to append a cop3 of a letter to the Eg} ptian Gazette.
which indicates that this augu t delinquent seems to have been
handed O\er to the civil arm in the distinguished person of the-
Political Leader of the Country.---

25 April 1940.
The Editor, Egyptian Gazette,
Dear Sir,

I had noticed recently polemics in the papers, for a nd

against the elimination of the "N ebi's Camel", from the Mahmal
celebrations,
"---ceu cetera nusquam
Bella forent.----
and had wondered who could have so little useful to do as to

L
 -21-
open an attack on a venerable and picturesque National custom.
Surely Egypt's traditional ceremonies ha\e been ufficiently horn
of their beauty and ignificance in these drab days without
clipping the Pilgrims' camel, the People' camel, be Prophet'
caroel-"ahsan min beni' Adam" (better than th ons of Adam)
as I ha e beard women ejaculate a they pre s forward to tou hit.

A friend of mine and of Egypt who regard the repeated

uncalled for little vandali tic rno e , which have alread~ turned
many of Cairo' brighte t moulids and pageants into lit le better
than "meitums" (wake ), a nothing hort of a menace to th
happine and contentment of the people, ba turned up in you1
back file and ent me a utting from he i u of 1arch 19,1940,
which I find ad reading.-

You commence an intere ting and erudite article, en itled

•'1\Iahmal Ceremony May Be Curtailed", by the information that
Sheikh Fu,lan of Al-Azhar Uni\er i y "ha ugge ted that th
old tradition of exhibitincr th camel carrying the Mahrnal hould
cea c and that only the Ki wa bould be exhibited. Thi
propo al i now under con ideration by the Prime Mini ter."

Poor Hadgi Camel: Has he fallen into here ?

Poor Prime Mini ter too, to be brought into the arena
deuteragoni t in uch a gehad ! His Excellence, the pilot of our
hip of state in these stormy ea !
Having at at thP- feet of thf' late :Mufti in Al-Azhar as be
expounded the Qoran, it i my proud boa t that I can call my elf
a student of that most venerable and noble ource of learning and
culture, and it is something of a shock to find it tending to be-
come also the source of petty pedagogic inhibitions.

I turn, Sir, with serene comfort to the accounts in your

columns of the splendid appeal of the Congress of Social Reform,
and the note of calm constructi'e culture in the spech of its
President, Dr Mansur Fahmi on "The Spirit of Con ervation
 -22-
and National Characteristics". There is much these days which
calls for such an antidote!
Yours very faithfully,
Abu Masaud. (Il

I think the dictum "mens sana in corpore sano" applies to

moulids a to so many things. When the "corpus" (the popular
side) is healthy and happy, the "mens" (the spiritual side) has
every chance of being the same,-not otherwis2.
No plea for moulids can omit their political value : they
make for happine s and content among the people , and therefore
for loyalty and patriotism, in-valuable assets to king and country.
The Greek religious "moulids" with their popular games were
most precious stabilisers of the State, and Rome would never
have satisfied Urbem et Orbem, and kept her great empire to-
gether without lavish expenditure on festivals and games; Panem
et Circenses was not onl} the slogan of the masses but also of a
wise government.
An excellent article signed "R" appeared in the "Bourse
Egyptienne" of Thursday 13 October 1932, headed,-
Nec Panem, Nee Circenses
and pointed out that this was becoming the order in Egypt. He
mention. 1\!(a.zarin's remark when the French Revolution was
brewing, "As long as the people laugh and sing and amuse them-
selve , there will be no rising." The article is too long to quote
in full, but it ends,-
"On ne leur donne pas de pain. On ne leur donne pas de
jeux. M.ieux: on trouble les quelques distractions qu'ils pourraient
trouver. C'est tout juste si on leur pm·met le yo-yo.
D angereuse methode !"
The recent King's Speech has happily spread a certain con-
cern about the B1·ead of the People. Inter alia I noticed in the

(I) Abu Masaud, I am told, was the name of the Prophet's camel.
 -23-

"Balagh'• (~1) near the end of November of the year 1939, an

l-tppreciation of this and ome ati tics showing bow urgent the
matter is. If the Balagh i exact more than three quarters of
the land of Egypt i in the po e ion of 6% of the people, w bicb
leaves not quite a fedda,n a head for he re t to live on, or t?·y to
live on. What a field for the communist propaganda o rife
·a,mong t us ! I wa , hocked in a Cairo re taurant at bearing a
foreign politician remark,-"Tbe condition of the peasantry here
i much what that of the French pea, ant was ju t before the
revolution, and than of he notable will oon be like that of be
French ari toe1·at bortly a,fter be revolution began, if th y do
not soon do a good deal to ameliorate their lot." An impertinent
a,nd exaggerated remark doubtle , but one which ernpha i e he
value of the present movement in high place to amelioTate thei1·
lot. But with the be t intention and he mo t efficient organ-
i ·ation it takes time to give to all the Pane1n qtwtidiantt,m and
o her material nece ari ,-but neither time nor expense to
give them the eqnally desirable Circenses :-

Not by his exhorta,tive word only but by deed ha our

King set a fine example ; and of the e beav,x gestes, none, I think.
i more appreciated by the people than their freedom to enjoy
some of the royal pectacle and mu ic in the Palace parade
ground, and alway the charming sight and ound of be
"Changing of the Guard". On thee e of the asboa of the baby
princess Fawzia (the octave of her birth), an immen e h a ppy
crowd lined the great square enjoying the skirling of the erba
(bagpipes), and the music of many band para,ding like poly-
ohromatic tran parencie in the radiance of great searchlights.
These too in searching for a tia1·a (aeroplane) on which was
inscribed the name "FAWZIA", bracketed the moon and ZuJ•1·a
(Venus) and many a glorious heavenly body, till one half expected
them to find the royal name among t the constellations a Canon
of Samos found the shorn tress of the Empress Berenice, which
bad been snatched up by the Gods.
-~-· '· ':~~:- = . · v. ,., '• r•::.,:· • .... ~ ~- '• ~~~rr~ ·· n~ . • ....,:• ,j
. : '· u
-

-24-
A few weeks later on the occasion of the IVth anniversary
·of his accession,-at the end of a perfect day of music and
pageants, finis co1·onavit opus in the form of a Y r amu ing
cinema in the same royal square, with thousand of seats to
accommodate first the children of the public and then their
elders.
All were supremely happy at these ro) al ntertainment
because they were left in PEACE. No sti le or cane ! No
bullying ! No pedagogic or official fu ing Ol' in erference ! A
rumour that the King bad come out and wa omewhere there
incognito added a deliciou brill. Ev n if thi were not o, I
hope at least His Majes y saw how much hi humbl subjects
appreciated these memorabl eYening , and may him elf come
to realise how hi country's moulid are threat ned.
Would that the royal eye· could haYe been turned for a
moment from that plea ant cene on the night of hi acce sion,
to the seemingly wanton de olation that wa being wrought
.about the shrine of the granddaughter of th Prophet and
throughout a "ide district, on thi which was al o the night of
her once honoured moulid. I will not spoil the picture of the
royal entertainment in the Abdin square by painting here such a
dismal contrast. A note thereon will be found in the account
of the moulid of Sitna Fatima el-Nebawiya which follows later.
As the war only overlapped the moulid season of 1358 (1939)
during forty days and forty night'", (from 19 Ragab to 29 Shaaban
i.e. 3 September to 13 October), it was not conclusive how far its
pretext would be used to further abase them, though things
looked pretty bad when on the last night moulids were blacked
out even in the tombs whilst the citadel mosque was flood-lit,
as mentioned above. Perhaps however it was deemed preferable
to risk the city's stronghold being bombed than the dead being
disturbed. A pious thought indeed!
A cheering incident was the observance after all of the
Tanta moulid, though on a considerably reduced scale on 19
 -25-
Showal (1 December), albeit six weeks after the normal date;
but unfortunately few outside of Tanta knew of this till too late.
It non-ob ervance in October wa probably not entirely due to
the war, but al o to Ramadan beginning in the middle of October,
which would have nece · itated the date being put forward about
a " -eek if held in that month. A the Scotti h people say,-
"We ma.un be tha.nkfu' for sma' mercie !"
·01' as we expre it more elegant! here,-
r

'' Al Ham d Lillah ala kul- h:U''

«Jb. f Jc ~ .>.j.\ »
Ala ! Ala ! the r u citation of Ahmad a. ed el Bedawi,
and a fairly good opening of he ea on by the Bayumi proce ion
in Safr only rai ed fal e ho1)e for 1359 (1940), for whil. t the
war has eau ed ra her a boom in Cairo, and port , in ma ,
fa hionn.ble cafe , bar and uch like have carried on with
m:trked eclat be r pre .'iOn and uppre ion of the immemorial
pr roaatiYe of he people in th wa,y of moulid and other public
event ha.ve gone o far hat the people are mo t undesirabl
scared and up et.
That thi i a king for political trouble, especially at this
time, seem to me and I should think to all who have
studied hi tory, and feel the pul e of the people, ob ions and
serious.
Rather than dwell on thi phase, I will add, in extenso a
letter which appeared in September 1940, (Shaaban 1359) in
one of the papers publi hed in Egypt.--
 -26-
Egypt's Rea1 Danger.
The Editor,
Egyptian Gazette.
Dear Sir,
It is surely of prime importance to any country at any time
that its peasantry and mas es should be contented and happy,
and vitally necessary when it is threatened as ours is now: and
any forces however plausibly in inuated, which tend to lower
the morale, and spirit of the people, naturally so high and
sanguine, and to scare and di gruntle them hould be com batted
with all the Power of those which ha\·e i .
There a1·e such forces, and one of he 'i \ or t in it · effects,
but happily the easiest to re edy, is the r pre ion of the
people's moulids and public fetes, -their only joy , the only
outlets for their natural high spirits and pi ty. Poor dear
souls, they have not much of thi world's good , -an average of
about an acre apiece to live or s ar e on according to an article in
"El-Balagh", no basket-ball, or sport of any sort like the
better-off: perhaps a swing 0!.' two wnich they put up at their
own expense and by th ir own enterpri e, to be torn down
ruthlessly as often as not the e day , as happened at the er twhile
immense Duqqi moulid of Zefeti. At the moulid of the grand-
daughter of the Prophet 16th Ragab, 20th August, I noticed two
swings, a "goose nest" for infants, many little gambling tables
and an expanse of sand, as the recreation section for the half
million pilgrims and visitors expected on thi great celebration.
I am told the swings were reduced the last night. These crowds
could hardly share the holy shrine from noon till midnight, nor
confine themselves to zikrs, so being disappointed at finding
no innocent amusements as of yore, no music, no singing, they
were driven to the Esbekia quarte!s or to a doubtful film or·
perchance to listen to the lying poisonous enemy wireless,
another deadly demoralising force.
What a lesson we might draw from Tinos ! When the Belle
was sunk under the eyes of the pilgrims and visitors to the moulid
 -27-

of el-Ath1'a, the first care of the king and prime minister was to
telegraph t o the leaders of the moulid t o see that that suffered as
little as possible, and bat nothing mu t pre,ent or poil the
zeffa, (processi on), and that all po ible help and protection be
given to the people. And it wa o, - for there were no narrow
or timorous minded peron to thwart the royal olicitude for his
people. Our O'\\n King, God ble s him, Nonld show equal
olicitude for his people as he has proved on many occa ions by
delighting thou and of them in the ro) al quare, h~ cinemas
and bands of mu ic and other en ertainments, as at the "asboa,.
of the baby Fa wzia.
Tbi pirit of repre ion, which i now a political danger,
is to a great extent of cour e the modern kill-joy mania, but
I find the people largely attribute it to a peciou slogan
enunciated by ome, doub le well meaning pundit,- ' Nothing
again t moral and religion". Thi ound allrigh , but by the
way it is being applied it is haYina a more ana more pernicious
affect on the bien etre of the people, and on their religion. Are
swing , shado'\\ how , acrobatic , laughter, mu ic, inging, happy
face and the re t again moral and religion, hat on tha,t
pretext or that of the war, the people hould be deprived of the
festivals that gave colour and brightne s to their lh·e ? The
joyous ceremomy of the Bride of the Nile, wa alway enjoy d
by tens of thou and , until this year when it wa bared,
according to the picture , by two sheikh , a high ciYic official,
and I think, an onba hi. Th next 1ahrnal proce ion, or at
least the prophet's camel, i threatened with ema cnla ion. The
moulids are crushed even in the country: including that of
Ismaii Imbabi, which blended o beautifnlly on land and on the
Nile with that mile.nnial Egyptian fete of "J_leilat el-Nukta".
Last Friday, "Lei1at el-Maarag'', a few people had a pleasant
reminder of the Prophet' ride to J eru alern and Paradi e, by
seeing the cars of the great going to and returning from the
Mosque of Muhammad Ali, with its brilliantly lighted minarets,
and some, the great joy of a glimpse of their much loved king,
 - 28

but the gren.t populace of Cairo, and the thousands who came
from afar, as also the Ubma and leaders of the people no longer
flocked to the shrine of the great Cairene ~iracle worker
Tastoushi to do him and the Prophet honour, and hear of the
shaking of the Late tree of Paradise·
One is taught that the Walis are livng entities. What do
they think of the declining honours paid to them, and their
moulids being turned into meitwns ?
How unfair it seems that the cinemas, the dancing halls,
the cabarets and the like should be benefited by the war, and
only the moulids and time honoured fcsti a ls of the poor blacked
O'U t I

As a matter of the country's welfare how much better to

encourage them in the face of cri es, hen to fill them with
apprehension, and why flatter the enemy in this way, whose
lying wireless has already accu ed u of shivering with fear in
our shelters? It is they and our fifth column who score by these
repressions, and their effects on the people; they who are
rejoicing over this gift of a pricele::; asset.
Aad now Sir,
for the love of the Lord and the people, I implore you to air
these simple truths in your enlightened columns.
Yours very faithfully,
(El-Hag) Abu Masaud.
If this book not only arouses the interest and sympathy of
the general reader in the subject of moulids, and the claims of
the people to be amused or at least to amuse themselves, but
also induces those in power to reflect on the subject and relax
the present restrictions, to grant liberal 'Circenses', and particu-
larly to give full scope to the piety and gaiety of the humble
classes at their Moulids, - the writer will feel that he has
not written in vain, and has repaid to a small extent the debt of
gratitude he owes to the dear people amongst whom he has
made his home, .. . .. . ... and
"Sublimi feriam sidera vertice".
 29

I
1\tiOULIDS -
THEIR ORIGIN ANIJ OBJECT

A 1\tioulid mar be defined as a Religion and Popular Loca.l

Feast in honour of a reputed Saint.
The Egyptian Moulids de cri bed below form what may be
regarded as a pioneer list, as it comprises only those which the
writer has repeatedly een, or those about "·hich he ha direct
and reliable information. It has not eemed to him neces ary
nor e\en desirable to list 1\iioslem and Chri tian moulids epar-
ately, their nature, origin and object being broadly the sa.me.
The word ..0_,.. Moulid, (Birthday) i rather more applicable to th
Moslem celebrations than the Christian, becau e the former are
held for preference on the believed birthday of the Skeikh, whil t
the latter are approximately on the supposed day of death, (the
day of his birthday into eternal life,)
"Hie dies po tremu , aeterni natali e t."
We must eek the origin of moulid in the ancient root of
society and religion : in an instinct of whole ome eneration of
those who have left examples of holine s or merit;, too high
perhaps for common attainment but not too high to be stri en
after: and in the impulse which brings men together to find free
scope for their divine aspirations and their animal spirit . They
crop up in the records or folk lore of most countries and were
great assets in the lives of the Greeks and Romans, who doubt-
less spread their obsPrvance in other lands, in willing oil,
already not entirely strange to them.
The moulid of Anchises at the foot of Mt. Eryx in Sicily,
where Trapani (the ancient Drepanum) now is, was typical,
embracing all tho criteria of our definition. Vergil in the Vth
book of the Aeneid describes vividly the religious observances at
the tomb, and the sports which were so popular with his Trojans
and the natives, and doubtless the veneration in which Anchises
 ...,:,,··~-- •. • . :ni'!"' ··r~ ·•:
, ,·"'" . . . . . . ,- ..• - . . . •- ,,•r,-.:·,.... - .'
0 ·:-\.;

-30-
was held was mainly due to his having been thP- favourite of a
goddess just as Moslem and Christian Saints a~·e with us the
favourites of God. Naturally in ancient times the moulid was
about the shrine of a God. This was the case in Egypt, or of a
deified king, in many instances, instead of hat of a human
saint, but in tbo e da. ·s the anthropom orphic conception of the
Deity was very pronounce d and the distinction bet,,een the
divine and the human not so clearly drawn.
Some of the Egyptian moulids of today retain practices
which have come do" n from Pharaonic time , notably those in
the Theban district. Tho e old cu tom , and then the ob er-
vances at the tombs of Coptic aints centnrie before Islam led
up to the Egyptian moulid as we now know it, though its great
vogue and to a great extent its form seem to date from the
death of Ahmad Sayed el-Bedawi in the VIIth century of the
Hegira, (the XIIItb of the Christian era).
Abroad's transcend ent personalit y, and his reputation for
valour, piety and miracle had not only ITlade a unique appeal
to the masses, but had constraine d the greatest sheikhs of those
days of Faith to acknowled ge him their superior, and that not
in Egypt alone but almost throughou t the moslem world even
befo1·e he was sent as a gift from h eaven to Egypt. He had
crossed North Africa, had lived twenty years at Mecca meeting
and impressing the world's pilgrims, and had been received as a
Prophet in Iraq ; and so as the ne-ws of his death spread, his
tomb became surrounde d, not only bv Egyptians , but by pilgrims
from the In dies and all the Moslem world. Naturally such a
throng over a considerab le time in Tanta gave an impetus to the
markets and the general life and prosperity of the little place,
and the re-meeting of old friends who had perhaps first met at
the Caaba, the making of new acquainta nces and the hospitality
of the people of the town soon lent a social and then a festive
side to the occasion, which, blending with the air of sanctity
about the very body of such a favourite of Allah created the
perfect moulid atmospher e. It was natural to arrange a
 -31-

similar meeting for future years, and the same time of the year
was chosen, the Coptic month Baba, (October), which date has
been retained, without reference to the Arabic date, \Yith two
minor celebrations also following the solar calendar.
The prestige and prosperit~ of Tanta had so soared, that
Desouk which is not far away decided to honour the bones of
their great Wali Ibrabim in the same wa~, and Damanhur and
other towns followed the example. Moulid thus spread, and the
more readily, in districts (like the West of Cairo), where Sayed
el-Bedawi bad posted the apo tles he sent out, notable among t
which i Sidi Ismail Imbabi, whose moulid is still one of the
most typical and attracth·e.
Cairo is fortunate, unique in fact, in that a number of it
moulids centre about the relics or actual bodies of members of
the immediate family of the Prophet. The following list could
not be equalled by any city in the world, I am convinced, not
even by Mecca,-certainly not now that andal Wababis have
shamefully destroyed the tomb of Ayesha and many others.
Sidna Husein boast the head of that "martyred" grand on of
the Founder of Islam.
Sidna Zein el-Abdin (Aly el Asghar) is also represented by his
bead.
Fatma his sister by her body, and
Sakina his other sister by relics.
These three were all the children of
Husein.
Saida Zenab their aunt, sister of Husein has her celebrated
mosque and moulid and a tomb whose
auth nticity is doubted.
Fatima el-Nebawiya daughter of the Sixth Imam, Gaafar Sadiq
and Ayesha her sister are similarly honoured, Fatima's body
being believed to be enshrined in the street
 ~, ~ ·. '. :tt • , , •,~ J >.:J I :;r.
·~ !'•·•

- 32-
of her name near Bab el Khalq. These
two are descended in a stra,.ight line from
Muhammad through Ali, Hu ein, Zein-el-
Abdin, and Gaafar Sadiq.
Sitna Nefisa who shares the moulid of Sakina is similarly
Nebawiya in descent, being the great
grand-daughter of the Imam Hasan,
younger brother of Hnsein. She lived in
Cairo for se\·en year , died and was buried
here.
Haroun whose t omb i on the premi e" of Major Gayer-Ander on,
at Ibn el-Tnlun , and who e mou lid has
been reYiYed might be added, a he is
certainly "Hn iny".
Sitna Rugaiya whose tomb is near the mosques of Nefisa and
Sakina i , I am told locally, closely related
t o these and therefore a lso Hu,seiny. (I
have not been able t o obtain particu lars
or confirm her monlid.)
Sidi Abdalla el-Hagr whose tabut outside of his mosque neat·
Sitna Ayesha is the centre of a tiny
moulid, is testified to be of the Pr9phet's
family, by the inscription,-
«~JI J_i (.r ,lu\ ~ ~:._!1 ~:- i\AA \...iJ. »
"This is the place of Sidi el-Sheikh
Abdulla of the familJ of the H usein ."
Of tha remaining moulids, a very large proportion of the
Saints honoured thereby are Ashraf, descendants of the Prophet .
The term "Huseiny" is applied to such of the Ashraf as are
descended from the Husein branch of the Prophet's family. I t
will be clear from the attached very abbreviated genealogical
tree that Sakina, Zein el-Abdin, Ayesha, and the two Fatima el-
Nebawiya are Huseini, but that term cannot be applied to Nefisa,
 33 -
who i sharifa throuah Ha an . The Agha Khan is of course
both Sharif and H u einy, a well a Ismaili.
The "Tree" will al o how at a glance the exact relationship
of the eight great Saint heading the above li t, to each other
and to the P rophet.-
M HAMMAD
I
Fatima (married Ali)
I I
Zen ab (Abba ) Hu ein Ha an
I I
I ! I
Fatima el-Nebawiya. S kina. Ali el-A ghar Ali l-Akbar
! (Zein el-Abdin)
Abdnlla Gaafar Sadiq (VIth Imam)
I
I l I
Aye ha Fatima el-N eba"i a I mail l\Iu a •
I
Ha bib
I
Ra hid, th ' Old l\1an of
the mountain ", he I mailiya
the "A a in " &c.
I
I
Agha Khan, he "Sultan
Iuhammad hah"

Nafisa,

The influence of the Fatimite who ruled Egypt from the

IVth to the VIth cent. A.H ., (XXth to Xllth A.D .) greatly
favoured the tatu of mou lids, paving the ·w ay to their full
governmental and royal recognition. Their making El-Qahira,
(Cairo), their seat of government, coupled with their cult of the
relic of the P rophet' fami ly, and thA -"ntroduction of many of
these, did much t o bring about Cairo's high position as
 -- 34 -

guardian of the holy things of Islam.

Cairo too is facil~~ princeps in the number ancl eminence
of the Sheikh and Wali ~ it honour , not nece sarily A hraf, who
are strictly local. Egyptian monarch like Sale h el-Din and
Ha an ha e their mos1ue , but King Salch ha. hi mo que, hi
tomb, and his moulid to this cln,y in theN aha. in wh r he sat in
a ragged dilk mending ba ·ket' and exhorting to pi ty, and
through which he passed in triLlllll1h after he had ca11tur d J eru-
salem, Dama cu , and A calon, and when he had. conqu red at
~1an nra and made pri oner the King of France (with hi
army), of whom al o it wa "written" ("mektnb") hat he . hould
be recogni ed a a Saint. Saleh \Vt1.S uouhly Sultan ~L King of
Egypt, and in the religion en e in which the titl0 i appli d to
"Sultan" Hanafi, "Sultan" Maghrouri, and other , as Sovereign
amongst Saints.
Sultan Saleh's tomb at once came into repnte and was
visited by Sultan Bey bars, among t many pilgrim ~ , ancl quite
probably became quickly honoured with a ~oulid, as Saleh died
about 6±7 A. H. (1249 A. D ) ten year after Bayed's death at
T anta had given such an impulse to these observance .
T hen in 890 A. H. (1485 A. D .) the great Abu el-E la died and
was buried near his Nile at Bulaq. The beginning of the Xth
century A. H . (XVIth A. D .) was: singularly notable. In the one
year 930 A. H . (1523 A. D .) died and were buried in their own
"zawiyas", the mirR.cle-worker Da htouti (Tashtou hi), and the
two anchorites, Marsafa-who after fighting in Per ia under
Kait Bey lived 30 years in a :Th!I:oqattam ca'iye- and el-:Th!I:uhammadi
e l-D emardashi; and almost at the same time the other :Th!I:uham-
madi (Shahin) who was also an anchorite of the Cairene Thebaid
t h e Moqattam hills. (v.;i. their moulids.)
T he objects of these moulids are evident from the abo\e,
a nd from their very or igin ;- primarily "to glorify God by
ven er ating one of his fav ourit ies" , as I heard an old Dervish
express it: contingently to ac quire a blessing and a friend a nd
Entry to tlw m qn n.ncl lH'in of nltan aleh.
Th ~'"a ha . in.
 ·- 35

in terce sor in tbe heaYenly court, and hir Uy to recreat and

refre h oul and body, with thankful jo -with fre dom for
e \-crybody to vi it the (local) brine, and to ake pa1·t in he
amu ment .
ceremon} uch a the Commemora ion of he Grea
1\Inhammacl All doe not con t.itute a mould nor et n th Fete
of the Bride of the Nile be on idered uch. Nor are the onlinary
religion ser\ice of church or mo qu , - uch a, · unday m a
or the Friday Prayer,-though perfect in their \\ay : nor h
P r ian Threnody of h A. hura: nor he olemnitie ~ of th
Luuag, (A cen. ion of th e Prophet ) a nd of th e Leile el-Qadr.
1\Iany of the Sain ' Day fea t ~ in Eu r op are tn1e monlicl ~ , and
many of the country Fair are o. nb~ ppily w mu t xclude
the Fairs of "Merry England", ince be Reforma ion and
Puritani m ern bed and chilled the oul of th m, l aYing them
mere market , more or le merry.
Not that a moulid need e'\clude buying and ellincr from i
liberal cherne. ome of th e most typical of Egyp ian rnoulid
are al ·o Fair , for example bat of Sidi Hun idiq, in h d l'
by Lake Tim ab. It great enclosure i almo t made Ul) of booth
'"here fruit, toy , w et , &c. can be bought; bn all the mnl-
titud ,-i it the local tomb, anu enjoy th hors and camcll'< ce
and port .

E...-en the greate t Cairen (and I lamic) monllcl th at of he

N ebi i not so typical, qna mou lid, a ~ tbo. of idna Hn . ein ,
Bar um el -Aryan, Sidi B a yumi and mo t of th e oth ers li t ecl below
because it does not centre ronnel any pot . p cially hallmn•d by
the Prophet. E\en in my tim it ha be n held in at lea. t three
different place . It i a general n1.ther than local fea t.

For the n,me rea. on I lmYe excluded the upreme Chri tiar)
monlid, - Christmas, - becan e it i o g neral, and i s com-
ponent parts divided between church and home, and n ot l ocali ~ ed
popularly at any one spot .
 - 36 --

Likewise we have in Egypt, as far as I am aware, no

Catholic mouli:ls, in the sense of being religions,. recr ative,
local, and free to all ; though there ar many in a more r trict-
ed way. I read, for example m the "Giornale del Orient " of
2nd Feb. 1940
"Domenica 4 febbraio prossimo l'Istituto 8alesi~wa di Rod
el Farag festeggia la solemnita del suo fonditor , 8. Giovanni
Bosco, con una funzione religiosa, al mattino, ed un trat-
tenimento recreativo nel pomeriggio."
Then follow details of the mn,s and it officiants, and the
music, plays, singing &c., -- the features of a moulid, except that
it is more for a community than the generalvopulac ,-inevi-
table in such a case. Perhaps the nearest approach is the Feast
of 8. Teresa at Shubra in October, when all the popubce that
can find room on the premises i there, a crowd much more
Egyptian than Ifrangi, with Mo lems, Jews, Greek Orthodox,
and members of every religion and ea te, taking part or
bringing votive offerings to the shrine of "The Little ~lower".
Naturally it ia only the Egyptian Moslems or Copts, the
adscTipti glebae, who can arrange a typical Egyptian moulid
according to its traditions, and it is one of the many instances
of their blessed tolerance and friendliness, that all dwellers
in Egypt and visitors of whatever creed or nationality are made
perfectly free and welcome.
 37

II

hlO LIDS

..... . THEIR PL E: THEIR TL\IE A D EA 0~

the paramoun objec of thi w·ork i" to intere

p ople in the moulid of Egyp , a nece ary auxiliary objec i to
explain where and \\hen they can be t be een, inc i i n.. ., ton-
i hingly ea y to mi them . For that rea on each monlicl
de cri bed ha been treated omew ha in auide- book fa hi on h
ea~ ie t way of approach being iYen and note a to it mo
1n·obable datt->.
A with almo he ol excep ion of he Ioulid el- ebi. they
centre about "hich are fix d object , th ir location i
imple enough: v'et e\·en 0 the rec n tendency to ke p the
religion and ecular ide apart make it ome ime difficul for
a tranger to find the latter. For .xampl the amu ement
booth of Sidna Hn ein ha\e frin ed the' gabel 'a the extrcm
end of the continuation of the l\Iu ki, but the h"1 t two o1· thre
year , what remain of h m ha\e been crowded into a bi of
wa te land con iderably nearer. Tho e of aida Zenab w·bich
were originally near the mo que in he Baghaln, di rict were
lllO\ d to D arb el-Gamamiz, and then to n, pla e not far from
Ibn el-Tulun. Tho.. ., e of ~Inhammadi ha\e retired from the
main approache o the mo qn , to a qu11. i-concealed fo ld in th
contour of the \illage of Demarda h. At the moulid of idi Hili
the mo que i on one ide of the main road to Rod el-Farag
(\'ia Bulaq) and the amu ement park a\\ay on the other.
When ab a moulid, the manifold light ound and dec -
oration are a erti'e nough: yet one can pa \ery near and
not notice them . Thi i eYen the ea e in o cen ral a moulid
a A hmawi. Indeed o incon picuou are h y that the \\riter
wandered about Cairo for a quar er of a century without
knowing of the exi . ence of more than a dozen or o.
.....-,...,.-_ ................:-··.·--····''"~ - :-"·· .... ;·,·-~-- ..... ,,~~-·
~ ;· ·.. ·:ffiW"' "'~~" ... ,

38 --

If the locality is simple, the date is often most lusive,

especially to tho e not familic r with the lunar calendar, n atnrally
used for 1o. lem feasts, which adyanc son th e Grego ri a n 11 day
every year, making a comple e round of the sola r year hree
times in a cuntury. E\·en so, I can only r ecall abon half a
doz en important moulids where the ame date is rigi<lly adhered
to every time. The e are (giving the eve of th e fen.. in each
case,) :
On 10 Rabia 1 Ashmawi
, 11 Rabia I El-Nebi
, 26 Ragab D a htouti ("Tashtou hi"), and ome
mall one .
, 14 Shaaban Matrawi, and everal minor mou lid
Abd el-Rahim el-Q ena,d
Yussef el-Haggag
(- 29 Shaa ban B ahlul, and a number of quite little ones)

It is to be noted that of these date , the 26th Ragab is a very

special night, the eve of the Prophet's A cension, L eilet el-Maarag,
In L ane's time, a century ago, the T a htoushi moulid wa
the actual great Cairo celebration of El-Maarag. Now the latter
takes place at the Citadel mosque of Mohammed Ali , which
don btles partly account for the a'l:oxof..oxuvta>O'l£ of Sheikh
T ashtoushi.

Some moulids are announced in the Arabic paper , and a

few of the mo t impor ant in the Enro11ean journal . But there
is a pitfall in the fot·m of the e announcements into which the
writer fell more than once, and which is the cans of cores of
person , particularly visitors, mi sing each year the greatest
spectacle of all, the 1oulid el- Nebi. For instance, in the year
1939 , t h e papers stated tha on the occasion of the solemnity of
the 'Ionlid el-Nebi,Tuesday 1\1ay2nd would be obsenTed as a public
holicl a~, all government offi ces would be closed, ::Lnd so on, that
bein g 12th Rabia I, the birthday of the Prophet. Those who
 - 39-

ignored the fact that in I 'ln.m a in Gene i , be e\ening and the

morning constitute the day, and -wer unaw·are that a thoughtful
go\ernrnent fixe the holida y for 'the mornina after the niaht
b efore', naturally went to ee the gren,t function and the fire-
-work on Tue day, and di co\ered t,hat all had been con ummatecl
the afternoon and e\ening of he Ionday. It i for ha rea on
I ha\e gi \-en the elate of the foulicl 1- ebi a the 11th
Rabia I, and follo"-ed thi y tem for all tb It may be
tn,ken that the great night i alway be
day, i.e. the e\ening before it, a w hould reckon on
Gregorian line : thoucrh in ome in tn.nce it continue into
that day, -which may b re, r\ed for he grand proce ion,
(zeffa). Thi i the ea e -with a eel el Beda~i. Abd al-Rahim,
El-Hn,ggag, and a few other , but with h re t, there i th n
only the very mild ob ern'tnce of the "Rhatima", the clo ing
of he whole moulicl.
As for the gre( t majority of moulid ~ . their date i . u bject
to fluctuation from o many can e , antl oft n without apt)arent
rea on, that it i only by careful watchina and enquiry on th
spot that one cR~n be at all ur . E\en the man on the pot, the
very heikh at the mo que door. often mi lead one, probn.bly
through having no certain knowledge him. elf, or through h
d::tte being altered after he has gi \en hi information. At on
time I fancied that they looked on me a a u piciou character,
and purpo ely di\-erted me from their moulid, but on ending
my l\Io lem mura la ~ I till got wrong an \Yer , . om etime a
many a the number of mi a rie. ent. By repeatedly going
bowe--.;-er in sncce ive y ~trs, and noting the clay of the week and
of the Arabic month, it ha been po sible to arrive at something
like a form ala in many, but not in all ea e . The clay and
elate' of the moulids " -hich follow, n,ncl any concln ion \Yhich
can be drawn from them are therefore gi,en as ome guide.
There are many rea on for tbi uncertainty; among them
that the exact birthday of the aint i seldom known, and a date
 ., . .,..,-~,
• • · :l!iH""""'•' ' I~
·~~
,.,._,..,._ v .· ,- . · . · · · .r ""· '' -.
I -:•~ •:1 ,.,:,

- 40-
has arbitrarily to be chosen, ·which it elf may be subject to local
or seasonal change , such as the death of a benefactor-a eau e
which once greatly dela,yed the moulid of Zefcti,-or dele Y in
collecting the eo t of decorations etc., or the date .(,Yhich, if by
the arabic calendar, passes through all the seasons) fallin_g at a
time when the piece of land required i under culti ~1tion. That
is the ea e frequently with country celebrations. I have kn own
it h appen to tho e of Mazlum and Farag.
Imbabi indeed has had such baffling modifications, includ-
ing a postponement be9au e of cat le plague in the cli. ' Lrict, that
r anging from Safl' to Rabia II in eyen year , and e mingly
enjoying snmmer, without reference to tb lunar calendar, I was
completely baffled till I di cm·er d tba it date follo\Yeu that of
-an ancient Fea t of I 1 , which fell shortly before mid umm r ( 1 ).
There ~Lre certain other 1oslem moulids which follow the
solar calendar, instead of the lunar, notobly that of Sayed el-
Bed::twi held always in the Coptic B aba (Oc ober), and therefore
a lso tho e of Desouq and D amanhour which closely follow it :
a lso that of Bayumi ''" hicb 1Uurray writing in 1 aid was
always celebrn,ted in Baba (October), vresumably becau e the
Bay umiya der\i hes are a branch of the Ahmadiya, the ta1·iqa
of Sayed el- B edawi ; but now seemingly in the month of
B aramhat (March). I t results from this that these and a ll such
rnoulids mnst clash every thirty years with Ramad an, which is
mensis non from this point of \ ie\\, ~md then struggle through
the pilgrimage months, \ery lean t imes for local fea t . Such
a coincidence as long as it last involve th e putting back or
forward of the date, and the conduct of the mou lid on reduced
lines : and what is much more unfortunate, it give t hat elfish
element which grudges the people any open expression of their
piety or joy , a pretext for checking the renewal of the rnoulid on
its old lines when it emerges from this sort of eclip e. The
great Sayed el Beda wi h as now entered int o the umbra of this
perilous period, more gloorn3 perhaps than the penumbra of the
war .
(1) Note . ' · Introductory Chapter ; and the detailed
account of the rnoulid of Ismail Imbabi.
 - 41-

Within the gf'neral communion of I lamic aint , there

appear a cer a in $.1J7nbiosis bet ween indi\iduai " sodales sanc-
tonwz civium" ''hich i reflected in a rapproch ement of their
moulicl-. . "A a fir t example I will men ion idi ~[arzuk, about
' bom I kno w nothing but that he ha. a rnoulid with a wonderfu l
zeffa and a mo t puzzling and elu i\e da+e, \arying fr om
Zu' 1-Qaada to Safr between 1352 and 1356 (1933 and 1937) and
that the conduct of hi moulid and zeffa ar u ge ti Ye of idi
Bayumi, particularly in the prominence of reel banne1 . Now
Dn comparing the d< te of Bayumi and I arzuk on the hree
occa ion I ha\e noted both, I find that wice l arzuk ha been
celebrated exactly a w ek aft r Bayumi and on he third xac ly
a fortnigh , and that bo h heir moulid ·fall in Baramha or
Bermu la 0Harch or April). The ra her empirical premi e ,
tbongh not ju tifying a conclu ion, ugge t that -:\larzuk depend
on Baynmi, and like the latter ignore, the Arabic lunar calendar
in fa,-onr of the ol)tic and olar y t m.
Bayumi bad ano her importan a eli be gr at Afifi, { L}
who c moulicl among th omb a lwa · followed immediately
after tbat of B<:"tyumi. I f ar that i i nm..- qui e xtinct . It i
cl ar that hi al o mu t haYe followed the olar not th lunar
calendar.
Sutuhieb at the Bab el -Fattuh, at o1· near tb end of Shaaban,
ha her atelite in Qa id, Gaml Abd el-Kerim and Abd el-Ba at :
and, in Bulaq,-Ga ladin, Wa ti, Kurdi, Kha ou i, and Awlad
Badr , eem o group in time a in place about idi Na r.
T he mo t definite ea that of Imam el- hafei whi h,
normally falling on the fir t W edne day of haaban, pin down
El- Leithi to the following Friday week and Sarnan to th
Thur day week, and control -. a l o Abu D aif, Abu Zaid, Ali
el Gizi, Adawiya, Gamila and sundry mall fry .
There are al o imponderable influ nee , hardly dreamt of in
our pbilo ophy or theolog5, which
.,...,~.,. _ -.. .., . .-.·,······· ··•'''"'!"'"" - = - ---~~- -.

-42-

or ensure the obser1ance of the moulid. In 1357 (1938) I

found on o1· just before the final night that the moul~d of l\1azlum
had been topped for no real rea on, the suggestion that it ''as
on acconnt of the fairly recent death of King Foa.d being rather
a tigrna on the memory of that kind-hem·tetl monarch, who
would ha1e been the last to accept such an equiYocal honour.
Bu t the di gu ted ghost of Sheikh Mazlum appeared to the local
authority respon ible, and so alarmed him that the moulid
started afre h and proceeded to the final night with all honour
and eclat.
An in tance of hi torical note is the appearance of the
Prophet himself to the pious Sheikh el-Ba,bai at the brine of
his grand on Hu ein, to assure him that the nobl head w·a
really there, th u e tablishing the pre tige of the mo t1ne, the
tomb and the moulid. Similar supernatural occurrence are
a ociated wi th the tomb and moulid of Sultan Saleh, and many
others. The la t case with which I am acquainted da e back
only a few months. In Shaaban (1939), 13fi8, the moulid of
Sidi Haroun "el-Huseini", which wa re\·iyed a fe ;\- y ars ago
by Major Gayer-Ander on, on who e ground the li le tomb
sta.nds, failed to eventuate when due at the beginning of the
month, owing to the major's return being delayed by the ou tbreak
of war. When be arrived, Rarn adan (in " ·hich month no
monlids are h eld), '\\as so near, that he reluctantly abandoned it
for a year, t:j:le more nn 'i\illingly a I think be deemed the 'i\ar
no reason for such an omis ion, but rather a calamity calling for
an extra- effort to encourage the people in the . im11le and 11iou
cu toms and pur nits, which tend to their contentment and
h appiness and the 1 e1·y stability of the realm in a crisi . But
alas, it did not seem hnmanly possible to arrange all the details
of a moulid in a few hours! .That, howeyer, wa reckoning
without the ghost of Sidi Haronn. Th at blessed spirit lost no
tim e in appearing in the night watches to Sh eikh Snleiman
el-R\·edli, the guardian of H aroun' hL t re ting place, explaining
that no excuses would be accepted for the omission of the ritual
 Monlid
of
idi H aronn el- Hn . ei ni.

Th uleiman el-Kredli.
Cu to t G niu Loci & d rip u Gl bae.
'"":-""· ..... ,.. ..• · . . . .• _,.,., •. ~. ~,. ·, - . -~-· -~-ill'"-'· . . . ·• .•·jo;Jl'il
 - 43-

du to him. Suleiman i a ancient, ' r.erable and picturesque

a Eli or Simeon, (and a myope a Fatb l' Jacob) . He i a ort
of reincarnation of a long lin of Kredlia, who occupied the Bei
el-Kredlia (in '' hich Gayer nder on Bey now d \\ell ) through
th e centurie , and i definitely aclscriptus glebae. He laim tha
hi ~ silsila, or pedigree, goe ba ·k beyond the e to the on of th
Prophet and friend of Haroun. Thank to thi humble
repre entn,ti\e and de oted adherent of the Saint, and "\\ith th
:l \lajor a fairy Godmother, the moulid blo omed a by magic.
to how r bl ing on hem
add d to th many " -hich
cln . ter about h
It ha~ been mentioned 1 ewher that h da. e of ayed el-
Bedawi follo\\ the olar cal ndar and for ih< rea. on it will cla h
sorne\\hat from no\\ (135 1939) on with Ramadan and the
practically non-moulid month , ill i emerg again into 1nbar-
em. Abu Harera of Giza, thou hI lamic adh r to he Coptic
orde1 of mo,·able fea ·t. bein ahvc y celebrn,tecl on Ea ter
1Y1onday with h areat p~ n-Egyptian holidc y of ha.m el-Ne im.
It ho\Y \er re ain elemen older far than I lam ot·
Chri t~anitY, and may r a. onably be belieYed o be deriv d from
Sun wor hip and the Phoenix cult. D uki, Be yumi and Im babi
take their cue from aye 1 el-Beda"-i, and follow he ea on
not the moon. (Al o, I hink, Iarzuk, an 1 po ibly huhda.)

A for the few Coptic moulid , b y coincicl ' " ·it.h the f a t
of their patron aint, or culminate within a fe w day of it. Of
the e I ha\e li ted the following : -
- ----- -- - -- - -
Note. {I ) Many of my readers are already familiar with th e weirdly attractive
character of S heikh S uleiman, from l\lajor Gayer· Anderson's "Twelve
L egends of the Bayt el-Kredlea" whi c h beg a n to appear in "The
Sphinx" on D ecember 23th . 1939. 1 hi "old mysterious man" is
indeed egr egious, but still illustrative of a type which contin ues to wield
strang e spiritual influences.
 -44-

1\i::"tr Git'gis (8. George) in Ba.rm uda April - Coptjc Catholic

- Ba bans 1\!Iay _Coptic
Orthodox
Sitna Dami::tna in Bashans 1ay
Sitna 1ariam in 1i ra ugu t
Sidi BaL'S u m el- ryan jn Tut September

It is o b hoped that ther ar many others in the l1l'OYinces

and certainly the fea t of the A umr tion in 1\1isra (Augn t 15th.)
take the form of a moulid in a number of ;11lace , n,s i does in
Yery numerou countrie . The Palio at Siena i in honour of
the Assunzione, and I was fortunat in ''itne ing the , ame un-
der the name of 'H K0L~l1<H~ 'tl'l<; e€0'tOXOU nt Cremasto
on the Island of Rhodes. Ample religions obsel'\'ances, including
the visit to ikon of Om· L ady, w re followed by Rhodian lads
and lassies singing the songs and dancing the dance of ancient
Greece most beautifully.

Butler in his book on the "Coptic Churches" rueution · three

moulids which I have not been able to confirm:-

S. Mercurius (Abu Sefein) - 15 Hatur.

SS. Cyru and John of Damanhnr. 4 Abib.
8. Sergius (Abu Serga) 13 Amshir.

In fact in the ea e of the first of these, I went to the Dir of

Abu Sefein on 15 Hatur 1650 (14-11-33), and not only was there
no sign of a m on lid, but people living in the "Skete" a ured me (l)
that it was long since extinct.

(1) Note,-Though the Arabic word_;;:.) dir, and the Greek

crxll"&'fl skete both mean monastery, the) n~ay refer
to a group of such with their ehnrches, and depen-
dencies including the dwellings of lay folk connected
 - 45

The Copts of com· e keep many other f a t which, n ot

being m oulids, are out of the province of thi book : of which
are the Chri tian mo\able fea of P alm Sunday, Ea ter.
Whit untide, etc., and many fixed Holy D ay . Of the e

Eid el -Ghata , I.J" Ihal l .J.~ , Epiphany, in Rihak

Eid el- Salib, ~~ ~ , Fe tivc 1 of the Cro , in Tut

Eid el-Rusnl, J_,.....)l -'-:~ , Fe i\al of the Prophet , in Abib

Al o Eid el- (ilad, .)~1 ..~..!-, Chri ma , \Yhicb though a

moulid in a u prem en e i not included here for rea on
\ given- Cb .I

(Certa,in Fea of Our Lady are kept pn hlicly " ·it h mo of

the characteri tics of a moulicl, of which I hn.,-e inclnclecl

Eid el-Idaa, .. l;.i-11 '"~.)1 ~ A umption, in :Jlj , ra

in an account of Ioulid Sitna Iariam at In tarod, (and at
Duqdu ), with a referenc to

in variou wa. - wiLh th foundation the whole

bein g enclo en by a proteeting wall. The D ir of
Abu Sefein may be u ed herefor (a Wallace Budg
in "The Nile ' use it) in the latter en e to include
not only tbe church and mona ic building of
St. Mercuriu (Abu Sefein) with he enclo ed chapel
of Barsum el-AL'yan, Girgis, Micha l, Buktor, e c.,
but the di tinct churehe of El-Athra (the Virgin),
and Anba henuda, the "Con\ent of the M:-tiden "
and all he little treet and bou e. within the
ancient boundary wall: the Greek " ·ord m 1
colloquial form <1XT}tT} Ckete), I h:tYe alway found
t o h ave this general sense.
 -46-

E id el-Bishara, ;J~\ ..1.~ , Annunciation in Baramhat)

Similarly there an~ of cour e many Moslen~ celebrations
which cannot be included in a book of moulids, as for example,
The two "Bairams"

The two Mah mal (and Kiswa) ceremonies, on the d parture

and return of the Pilgrim .
Cutting the Khalig c::_:d.lc_h;, Ol' Eid Aru at el-NilJ?I(..... .Jf'..l..;f

Leilat el-~1ara.g and Leilat el-Qadr (and Leilat 1-N nqta)

Commemoration of ~1uhamma,d Ali

(T he Ashura, oJ _,.:..WI).
It will save many disap11ointments if it is remembered that
with the exception of the very few moulids assigned to a par-
ticular day of the month, (v.s .), they usually have a preference
for a definite weekday, often adhering strictly to such, e. g.,

Sunday El-Kurdi in Ragab or Shaaban

Galal in Muharem or Safr
~1azlum Muha1·ern to Rabia
IInd

~1onday Fatrna el-NebawiJ a the la t in Rabia I

nsually
Abu Harera Sham el-Ne im .

Tuesday Fatma el-Neba,,iya early in Shaaban.

bint Gaafar Sadiq
Hasan An war Rabia to Shaaban
(on 6 out of 7 \isits) .
Saleh el-Hadd(Ld First after mid-
Sb aa,ban .
Sidna Husein L ast of Rabia I I·
nsua,lly .
Saida Zenab That nea,rest the
m iddle of Ragab
 - 47 --

Wedoe day Imam el-Shafei The fil'st of Shaaban

u ually
ulhm Hanafi Fil'. t af er mid-
haaban.
Thur day Abu Atata From Rabia I t o
nmad I
Abu el-Ela Ee: dy in Rabia II
.Abu 8 baa from Ra bia I t o
Gnmad II
Bayumi Bnramhat (l\1areh)
L.mn.il Imbabi Banna (J nne)
Iarzuk Barambat (l\lal'ch)
or Barmuda (April)
:;.\Ioh . el-Bahri from ::\1u harem to
Safl-.
l\1ubammadi (Demarda hi) in latter half of
baalmn.
Sayed el- Ialak Safr to Gnmad I.
Selim Gumad II o Ragab.
Farag Rabia II to RaCTab.
Friday Abdulla Ragab o Sbaaban.
.Abd el -Daim l\.Iuharem to Ragab.
Emery in baaban.
Hamz:t Gumad II (once on
Sunday in Shaaban).
Imam el- L eithi near the middle of
Shaaban.
:iHaat·uf Ragab to Shaaban
Saud early in Shaaban.
Saturday I an,afa late in Sbaaban.
Zein el-Abdin Gumad II (but has
ranged from Safr to
Sbaaban.)
I am sure this list cou ld be greatly extended, e pecially for
Tb ur day, the e.;;e of Friday, and for Friday it elf, bu t I have
only ventured to put down moulids which I h ave attended.
~,...,.._ -v _,_,r. ,-..• ·•· _,,,,..., -~. -,.-.-~~ ••• - -

-- 48 -

again and again and al'\yays fonnd adhering to one da} of the
week.
Z efeti eem to oscillate bet\-veen Sunday and Thur c1ay, and
a fe"' haYc no apparent preference. El-Hili, for xample, I haYe
known on Tuesday. Thur day and Satnrday, and ranging over
se-veral month .
It would be ea y to draw up a consecutive li t of Christian
Saint ' day fert. t , (On, holic, Orthodox or Coptic), imply
following he ca.lendar in each case, the sec1uence being pre-
served, bu the above li. t wiTl how how impo sible that i · \Yith
the I lamic moulids. I h~tYe, howe\' E'l', preceded the detailed
account which come later in this book by an approximate
Calendar of the Feasts d·e ·cribed. Thi at lea t will indicate
which monlid may be expected abont any gi\·en date. Where
the range in time yaries so hat it ma.y occur in on of se \·eral
month , the fir t of the e i giYen.
It i important to remember that a few Mo lem moulids
follow he Coptic, solar calendar, and not their own lunar
reckoning
Abu Harera The Coptic Easter :Monday, (Sham
el-Nesim).
B:tyumi B aramhat (March).
Is mail I m babi B auna (J nne).
Sayed el-Bedawi Baba (October).
Ibrahim el-Desuki do.
1\!J:arzuk Barmuda
and probabiy this is the case with some others, notably Shuhda
in Ba.rmuda. (v. Shtt,hda)
Apart from supernatural inten·entiou, the dominating
influence most potent in determining the ultimate date of a mou -
lid is that· of the Ministry of Interior. Its permi sion m nst be
obtained, and an~ limitations or postponement it may impose
must be complied with . Occasionally it withholds permission
altogether.
 - 49 -

The indication regardina place and date given in this

chapter, and in list , etc., whjch follow, ar not ba ed in any
way on anything official but imply on per onal ob ervation and
deduction over a eries of years, up to this year of the Hegira
1359 (19±0), and of cour e liable to modification in the future.
Al o, a I have empha i ed el ewhere, the 126 moulid which
follow are far from being a complete li t. They compri only
those I have a i ted at, or about which I ha\e he me t direct
fir t-hand information. I know there are many oth L' , (of which
ome are big and importan ), but how many I have little idea.
For example, I believe that there i a moulid of ome impor-
tance at Damanhur, but not having had an opportunity of seeing
it, and enquiries having elicited only vague and contradictory
reports, it i left out altogether.
Again l\1ajor Gayer-Ander on, who i ited the omb of
Sheikh Selim el-A1yan, on the E. bank of the Nile about a mile
from Nag-Hamadi kindly ent me a long account from he li11
of Sheikh Selim' nephew , who cul iva e he eight fedan about
the tomb presented by th Rhedive I mail in recognition of a
notable miracle witne sed by hi Highne . Thi famous Hag
who never \Yore clothe , to whom all Hnimal were tame, and
who lived in austere sane ity mu t surely ha,Te a mOLllid, but the
1\Iajor not being able to a certain the date or e\·en o confirm
this, I mu t not group it with the rest.
Lane' statement written a hundred year ago, that "where
there i a Sheikh' tomb, there i almo t always a moulid",
confirmed me in my determination to include only twentieth
century celebrations of which I have direct knowledge.
It is strange that the great detailed, \'Oluminou , and con-
scientious writers on Egypt, Lane, Budg , and l\1nrra.y, and tb
rest as far as I know, hould cull only the mo t flamboyant and
conspicuous flowers from the garden of moulids, for in ·over two
thousand pages of the three named, now before me, I can only
fl nd the description of about fifteen, of which some are little
 .~ ··triW"""'~
' . •• - ...'":~ :5-l:' I
~, ... 1•:•

50 -

more than references, and two at least, Sidi Afifi and

Sultan Rifai are, I fear, quite extinct. But "kind heart love
the little flower ", and I am ure the kind hearts of my readers
will be intere ted in and sympatbi e with the e little moulids,
struggling, many of them, to keep their place in the sun . (Of the
two moulids Afifi and Rifai which had a great vogue in 1888
when Mureay wro e about them, the first is referred to in my
account of the moulid of Bayumi. The other, Mul'l'ay ays, was
"one of the most remarkable festi' als bat occur during the
year". At it the Rifai dervishes, encamped in the necropolis
between the tombs of the 1ameluks and Imam el-Shafei, were in
great force, and exhibited their most wonderful feat . The mid-
day proce sion through the city also was unique. The account
in Murray' Handbook of Egypt, 1888 issue, is a re elation of
what a moulid could be in tho e days.)
There ha\e been grea,t changes in the past, and doubtless
will be in the future, but let u hope and pray that they will be
favourable to Egypt's moulid .
.'"'-~-. v ...-.,,-. •···· .,- _,,,...-~. . . . , . . -~~

A{Saint' Tomb (at I er g.)

 51 -

Ill

~IOU LIDS

... THEIR DE\OTION.AL SIDE.

A moulid being the celebration of ome Saint, centre

naturally ::Lbout the pot where his bod , or at lea t a relic, has
been laid. Thi m::Ly be under hi Tabut (~ J'.~-) in a mo que or
in one of the picture que shrine surmounted by a dome (~)
called~Iaqam (i \A:·) hi" place, or Dereh (t~) hi gra\e, or Zawiya
(~___,lj)hi corner. The la t term wa applied by an anchorite to
the cell in which he elected to live and in which he preferred o
be laid for his eternal re t, a in he ea e of for afa and Iuham-
madi, but it naturally extended to h " om b" of cell grouped
sooner or later round about it, forming the rudiment of a
mona tery. <11 JYiar afa' zawiya though ill underground rank
a a mesgid, mo que, ~-- , with he in cription o\er the door,
~)I J&o ...\:.- ~-A

"The mo que of Sidi Ali el-nlar afa" ( Y. hi moulid)

The "Tabut" is ometim<'s in a priYate house, as in the ea es
of El-Ansari and of El-Azaim, who e moulids arf' de cribed below,
and I once witne ed a tiny moulid and aw the tabut in the
house of one of the Romali family, but do not remember the name

Note (1) 1\firalai Gayer-Anderson tell me that the Senu i

regularly make u e of thi natural y em of cell di Yi ion
for the propagation of their tenet . One cell zawia
(zawiyas) are establi bed with the view to each one pro-
ducing a group, till called a zawiya, each new occupant
receiving instruetion from the original anchorite, until
he is qualified to go forth and found another nuclear
cell, and so on.
 -52-

EYen before the l\1ini -try of Interior ha apt) roved and fixed
a period (w·hicb i u..,ually a " "eek, but ma)· b<' wo and even
three, or a little as a single day), the number of ''or hir)per at
the hours of prayer greatly incrc<t e at these places, not only
b ecau e of augmented zeal on be l)ar of the local vcople, but
on account of he afflu x of vi iting pilgrims; and more zikr ,
often preceded by little processions, may be renHtl·kecl. At the
same tim decorations begin o <tppear in the district, little flag ,
coloured lamp ancl globe , anc1 o on. Big fra,mcc1 picture
representing circumcision doctor at their work are l)Ut up oYer
the barber ' hop , often with a notice that thi, operation will
b e performed grati ; and gay talls appea.r for he sale of
"arusa ", little ugar figurines brilliant with tin cl; and swing._
and many other things , to be treated more fully in ·be next
chapter on the pormlar amn ement side of a mouli<l.

The opPning day being fixed, there is an inaugural cerem ony

of a religion nature, often official, with readings from the Qoran,
a panegyric of the Saint, zikrs and other dm-otional exercise .
This may be presided over by a local sheikh, u uaJly of one of the
den·ish orders, (J_)") frequently a spiritual or blood descendant,
or both, of the Founder whose feast is being honoured . Or the
Government may nominate ome high ecclesiastical dignitary,
such as one of the Dlama. Th e greatest of the e, the Sheikh
el-Bakri, lineal de cendant of the First Khalif, Abu-Bakr, used
a lways to lead the moulid of T ashtoushi, w·bich ''as al o the
celebration of "El-1\!I:aarag", taking up temporary residence on
the spot.

H e is the bead of a,ll the numerous Order of D ervishes,

with the title of Nakib el-P.shraf (JI.r:.)'\ ~), Prince of the
Ashraf, (Sherifs, or mel)lbers of the family of the P rophet), and
as descendant of Abu-Bakr Sadiq "occupies" the supreme "carpet"
 • -- 53 -

igada ( t ) oJ~-) of that great Founder, with the further title

of Sahib Sigada ( oJ~..- ~>-\...:.) , he Sigada being the piritual
throne. The direct de cendan of Ali and Omar ha\e each hi
"carpet", but the e rank after tha,t of he Sheikh el-Bakri.
The e der\i he become more and more en eviclence a the
day of the moulid go on, a the zikr , the 'i it to the tomb,
and all the e sential characteri tic work n11 in a rapid ere cendo
to the great apodo i of the fea t. This n ually i at be octave
of the opening ceremony, and then they are the heart and oul
of the culminating zeffa (proce ion), of w hi eh indeed they are
tlw es en cc and nucleu , though multitude of the laity accom-
pany them, vying with them in zeal and enthn ia m.
Iany non-mo lem ha\e a ingularly yague and cramped
idea of what the term "Den·i h" im11lie . Quite recently a
"per on of culture", after a king me, ··what is a moulid ?",and
my e:~q)lanation inYolYin a mention of derd he , added, "Ob, I
know all about the derYi he , : they at·e or were he "bowling"
and the "whirling", n'est-ce pas, but I thought they were done
away '"ith !" •
Apart from "a e · like hi of simple ignorance, the fact that
there i not the same clear line of di tinction between clergy
and laity as exi t in Clll'i tendom, make it difficult to a e
the number and imporbtnce of tho e who may be regarded a in
Holy Order , major or minor. The initiation of the imple t
member into the brotherhood of any of he i'ltruq i a form of
con ecration, but need afford no outward and \i. ible ign to the

Sigada (1) This word, though al o u ed in our ordinary en e

of carpet, has the original meaning of ometbing
pread for prayer. The Yerb to pray i "Sagada" ,.~.~ .....
This am·ed my tic meanina may account for the
strange legends of "flying carpet '', which tran 11orted
their po essor whither they willed .
•• -~--.. ,... .~; .• =-· .. ·.. , ~ .... . , ·rr" 4
~, """"':·· .... ,.. , ....

-54-

outsider, except on uch rare occasion as that of a zeffa. I met

my own yce at a moulid in the white and green of the Order of
the Shazliya, a h and othel' in ignia, and carrying a gonfallon
and ha\' e recogni eel since in the .zeffc~ mao y others \vhom [never
dreamt po e eel the sanacl ancl silsilc~ of a derYi ·h.

In point of fact, hey are botb he hear aucl framework of

I lam, and. haYe been since the time of the great founder , Abu
Bakr, father in-la.w of the Prophet and Ali his son in-law.

The idea, (which particulady underlie ~ Sufi m), of pirit-

uali. iug l\1uhammaclism by m e, n ~, of OL·tler " h a· re ulted in
perhaps al>ont a hundred Tnruq, J)" (plural of Tfl.l'iqa ~~).:~
a "Way") all acknowledging and enjoying th e Baraka, ;s-J.
which though ordinarily meaning a 'blessing' has in his case
the further implication of something resembling "Apostolic
Succe ion". For every derd h ha· been a Talib ~\1.:. ,Po tulant,
and pa ed to lurid .1-J• ..J"' under catechumenical in truction by a
l\1ur hid .>...:.. ..J... , Guide, to full initiation by "\Yard and Zikr", •
receiYing a sort of lR~ying on of hands and complying ·with
numerou crLnon , and acquiring his Sanad bi-Sil ilrL ~ .•.L~ ..l:-
Diploma and Catena, the Sanad certifying to the in \' iolability
of the Sil ila, (ehain) or piritn1ll aneestry which unite him
with the founder of his Order, and through him to the Prophet
himself. l\lrLny of these genealogies are rather awe-inspiring,
eYen some of tnose in the band of quite sirnple ouL, who make
no boa t of t,beir ancestry, or hardly value it seemingly except
in this saered conneetion. They remind one of S. J osepb's
family ttee and s imilar biblical records. (They al o bring home
to one the ghastly irony of Nazi "raci m" --that one without
blood or breed should have the infinite impudenee to tand as
arbiter in sneh matters, and a ign to a lower plane than himself
anybody i revolting enough, but to do so with a race of millennia!
 55 -

descent and immemorial ci vili atio n is beyond comment! This

digre ional lap e ha nothing to do with the war: it i the ci-
tation of a ho<\king freak ea e in natural hi tory.)

The "Ward", ~ )J , corre pond pret y clo ely to be Church's

u e of the "Ro ary" : it in\oh-e a telling of bead ; and i i
ignificl'tot that though in it \erbal en e ..) JJ mean to arriYe,
a a ub tantive it i the rabic name of a Ro e.
Tbe "Zikr" i es entially the repeated u terc nee of the name
God,-"Allah, Allah, Allah,'- he word meanina 'to mention' but
extend to the Witne s of the nity of God, and be Apo tola e
of l\Iuhammad,- « J,1 J_, . . . J .J. r J Jll ')/\ Jl ')/ »
"Tllere i no God but God, and 1\Iuhammad i Hi Prophet"•
This i kno,yn a the Ralima, ~F.( he \\ord), and i of uch ia . .
nificance, that it u terance by a non-mo lem in some countrie
liable to entail forcible ircu mci ion .
It i , I hink, in,·ariably preceded by the Fa hah, 4.iti
the little opening chap er of the Qoran, a beautiful little prayer
not unlike the "Pater o ter'', and may be accompanied b.
many a sacred troph, a rb, nch a
tt~ ~I PI~ ,0,1 L l- ~I
"Allah amaa! Allah ba ir.' Allah aalim!
God hearetb ! God seeth ! God knowetb !
In the ea e of he initiatory zikr, here i muc:h else which
yaries with the Order, of ,,·bich certain part are not up110 ed
to be divulged. The ceremony too contains the elem n of a
"Sacrament of Penance" -the Wadu, _,;.:, _,l l Ablution· and a
general confes ion by the iurid to hi iur hid, (Pir), with vows
of amendment, and ub cription to a Covenant (Ahd, ...1..~)
of heart- service to hi. God, and faithful allegiance to hi pi ritual
father, whose h and he i clasping, from \Vhom he recei\e an
implied ab olution .
...---.
~ ......, ,,,.... · ... ........... -~. ~ , .. - ~ --· - .-.·

-56-

This handclasp, which I have compared to the episcopal

"laying on of bands", with the thumbs raised and pressed to-
gether, and the hands veiled by the sleeve . of the Dervish, is
similar to that of a couple at their betrothal, and has its
counterparts in Coptic and other Chri tian function . , particularly
in the Ea t. I have noticed marked cases in Gl'eek village
which were long under Turki b domination, n,nd recall a dramatic
incident in the Hi tory of the Moor in Spain, when the Lady of
Lara adopted 1V[udarra the illegitimate son of h er deacl husband
by a Mo lem girl, by enveloping him in her very ca prLc iou s sleeve.

Though the DerYi hes date back to the v l'Y early day. of
Islam, their reorganisation on lines which ba-.;;e changed little
to this day, was the work of Abd el-Qadr el-Gilani, J)\~\ J)I.A\1 ->-:.c:.
n the 6th century of the Hegira, (12th, A.D.), so t h, t his fol-
lower , the Qadiriya, con titute the parent Order, el-Ta1·iqa el-
Aslia, ~"'>'I ~A~yhll of which the main branches are th e Rifaiya and
the Saadiya, ~.-~.•.JI_, ~c\9 )I . All three of these are Yery prominent
in Egypt, but the Saadiya has lo t the great presti ge it enjoyed
at the time of the Dosah, when only its ruling heikb was
deemed qualified to ride on borsebaek over th e back of a host
of prostl'ate dervishes. That ceremony which was t h e crowning
feature of the moulids of el-N ebi, Sidna Husein a nd Ta htousbi
ne\er re ulted in any recorded injury, but was abandoned before
thepeesent centuq. The founder \vas Saad el-Din el-Gebawi,
~>:~I j_..JI ..~.a-.

The Rifaiya are remarkable for the wonderful \Yay in which

their spiritual exaltation triumphs over pain and phy ical
limitations. Their walking in fire and eating the white bot em-
bers, also glass and poisonous creatnres,- tbings which normally
cause death oe the most grievous bodily disturbances,-bave never
been e)l.plained on material grounds. Exhibition of this sort
are frequently referred to in the notes on specific moulidst
particularly those of Zefeti and el-Ansari. The case described
 -57-

of the human chandelier whose flesh wa perforated and burnt.

in many place , but who bowed no race of blood or injury afte1~
the "Sheikh el-Rifai" had moi tened hi finger with his own
tongue and touched the wound , i paralleled by ha.t of a dervi h
whom I aw at a.n ob cure zikr in Bulaq . H e held a bundle of
thorn in the fire of a 1neshal (J~ a ort of brazier) till it
blazed, then lifting hi on e flowin g garment for a moment,
cru bed it against hi rib o that the th orn might haYe a firm
grip, and then pun round and ronud lik an E'\ t' brighter and
fuller fire balloon, till ju t a uddenly h ''ithdrew the fiery
ma.s , and ga,-e a fri ndly face- lH.p with it o ome of the heikh
who 'iYere zikring around him.
Na nrally the Order of the great Bayed l-Bedawi of Tanta,
called the Ahmadiya, i 11opular and imporhmt, a al o i
branches, which include the Baynmiya, named after Ali 1-
Bayumi, (v. hi Moulid), the haara,,iya, th hinawiya, and
the Awlad Nooh. The e la, t attract attenLion by their you h,
the conical tm·tur, (.J>l:, )~)on their head , their wooden word ,
beads, and little cord "·hip ,farqila, (~;)). They are much en
evidence at the Tanta proce ·ion.

Th ere are al o the Burhami:ra of heikh Ibrabirn el- D e uki·

the Baknya, the Dernerda hiya, each w1th local and general
repute, and a mall new order, the Aazimiya, and other .

Of he rest the "Way" of the Shazliya, d.}.)t:..JI fcunded b

the Meccan, Abu H a an el-Shazli in the
Hegira, mu t b y no mean b omitted, for it i ingulady strong
and wide spread in the Cairo di trict, and ha , I am ure, a very
b neficent influence amona t the fellahin, aeti an , and th
youth of the villages, b ing par excellence the Order of the
Laity, if that is not a contradiction in term .
Bliss, the author of "The Religion of Syria and Palestine"
deem the Shazlia the mo t piri ual of all the "Turuq". It
initiates are neither mendicants nor tbau maturgi t , nor of the
 -58-
whirling, "bowling", or fire-eating type : are singularly unas-
suming and free from camouflage and show, and judging by
manJ I know personally, have been drawn 'into the Shazliyan
fold by an earnest d_e ire for a higher spiritual life. P ople who
are careful that those they employ or bf.l,ve dealings with be in
possession of rukhsas: ~;.. ~ (licen e ), ot' shehada , ,:,b\t':. (testi-
monials) and ucb like recommendation might perhap be till
better advised to attach im11ortance to the guarantee of the
"Sanad" of a Shazli. One can only speak as one finds, but I can
testify that Shazli lads whom I have hac1 as syces have ne\"er
let me or my hor e down, and I cannot r0call ha.,·ing ever known
a real "bad hat" among t them. They are just simple honest
ouls who ne,er quite forget the "Allah samaa, Allah ba ir, Allah
Aalim !" (God hears, God sees, God knows!)
Though the founder was buried near the Kaaba, he has had
worthy repre entatives in }1Jgypt. The name of 1\1uhammad el-
Shazli appears on many of the banners, and in face of the mosque
of Sultan H anafi i , or was, a shrine superscribed,
~}~\.~...)\ o~LII ;~J\j
"Zav:iyat el-Sada el-Shazliya"
("The cell of the order of the Shazliya")
The divers ''Turuq" can be di tingnished frequently by a
prevailing colour appearing in the banners, turbans or caps, the
sash and the brassade. That of the Rifaiya is black: of the
Qadiriya white: of the Saadiya, Burhamia and Shazlia green•
.and of the Ahmadiya red, as al o its branches, the Bayumyia, etc.
Before leaving the special consideration of the Dervish
Orders, it may be useful to tabulate the dates of the founders of
those with which we are most concerned:-
Founder Buried A.D. A.H.
Qadiriya Abd el-Qadir el-Gjlani,
Bagdad 1165 J)l.~\ ;~\A}\ .J..'f' 561
Rifaiya Ahmad el-Rifai, Busra 1182 ~\;)\ .J..l"l 578
 .~ . .. . •......,-;;."!,'~-~q.-!'"- ~
~,..-._.. -:~ ~
.....
"";..-.

59 -

Founder Buried A..D.

Shazliya A.bu Ha an el- Shazli,
l\.Iekk a 125 J;~J\ ~-,_ j .l 657
(Sufi) ) Galal el-Din Rumi, Qonia, 1273 I.:? J) j_..J\ J~ 672
Iaulad f
A.hmacliya A.hmad Sayed el -B edawi,
Tanta 1276 c$J.A:JI ..1.: ... ..1.~ \ 675
Burhamiya Ibrahim el-De uki, De LHJ 127 !.?; _, .... .JI r.-"'IJ.I 677
Saadiya Sad el-Din Geba , J eba 1335 ~~ j)\ ..~.a- 736
(Bn.kta 'hi) El-Hag Bakta hi 1357 l?:.~ clJ-1 759
Senn i 1uh. Ibn el- enu i, J arabub 1 59 "-?- y:_ll u. l ...~. .. ~ 1276
Azaimiya l\.1nh. l\.1adi A.bu el- zaim,
Cairo

The name of Galal el-Din come naturally in thi li t, not

only becan e hi Sufi principle made lo\e and beauty
and renunciation t>f elf ladder up to God and prime factor in
the ultimate apotheo i of man (thu oftening the au tcri ie
and a peritie of the I lam of tho e hard day , lJ.)' the humanitie
of the Alexandrian school, and the poetical conception of Iran),
but becau e his Order of the . . Iaula.vis i rongly repre ented in
Egypt. That wa ' ry apparent up to a few year ago, before the
great and touching Per ian ceremony of the A hura "a cru heel,
and the misunderstood and unapprecia eel c ta ie of he Whirl-
ing Dervishes banned. Still we meet occa ionally with their
characteri tic dres , their garb of Indian mourning, and ee at
moulids the mystic dance of the Samaa ( .. \-"") which Galal
el- Din introduced at Qonia. -

The Baktashi , clo ely allied to the Maulavis in origin,

histor~ and cult, and like them happily ab orbed into Islam, are
little seen at moulid or jn the streets of Cairo, but a vi it to
their monastery and beautiful garden at the mosque cave of
Sultan Magrouri in the Moquattam cliffs, and a talk to the
 - 60 -

m onks and their urbane B~ba is a fascinating and illuminating·

experience.
The Sen usi have little 11lace in thi book of moulid , but
appear in the li t a eYidence of the per istence through the
centurie of the dervish idea, who e mysticism and fn,ith in God
canuot be killed by modernism, materialisr:~1 and athei m. ( r)

A startlingly pleasant local pl'oof of this is th e birth and

development witin the past few years of the Tariqa of the
Azaimiya (v. moulid of Azaim ), who e reigning H ad is th son
of the enshrined founder him elf. A pity that one C<tnnot l'eckon
on a series of n1etempsychoses enabling one to note the
progress or decay of such an infant Order ! Will it va.. into
obli,~ ion, as many, many others mu ba\e done, or will honoured
descendants of the founder point back to him throu gh a long
silsila as a star in the gn,laxy of Walis ?
The ZIKR already referred to in connection w·itb initiation
is the all-pre\ailing religions obseryance at eyery moulid, and is
o named from zakadt, Jj to mention, as its essential is the
reiterated calling on be name of God, Allah, ! (zl It is verformed
inside or outside the mosque or zawia, in the streets, in pri,~ ate
houses, eYerywherP . Some orders . uch as the Bayumiya may

(1) Senusis :- If it is true as I have read and heard, that

the Senusis de troyed :Moslem tombs with the
fanaticism of the Wahabis, and then rai ed a
monument to their own founder, they cannot
be held in much esteem, and in any ea e their
iconoclastic efforts discrediu them .

(2) Allah :- As Major Gayer -Anderson has reminded me

"Allah" may be substituted by some other divin e
appelation ,-sncb as "Hua" (He), "El-Wahidn
(the One) , ' 'Allahu hei" (God liYes), "Ya hei,.
(0 li \ ing One) , etc.
 -61-

introduce word OL' ge ture peculiae to them elye , but the e

&re hardly noticeable to the ordinary ob erver, a after the open-
ing prayer, the Fathah, :til; and ano her exal ing the Prophet
and the favourites of God, there i great cope in what may
accompany or be a ociated with the actual utterance of Allah!
Allah! Allah! Certain troph ba\e been already quoted and
the e may be greatly extended, names or attribute of God being
gener::tlly chosen, a Ya Daim, (1.) ~ 0 Everla ting One, and the
whole "ninety-nine name of God" may be introduced. One of
the mo t venerable of the company u ually lead , frequently
with a 1zeh, a sort of flute, or o her imple in trument, and the
tewpo and rhythm are impeccable. The mu ical element ma.
take a lofty and complex form, as in a zikr I haye de cribed
below-that of Sidi el-An ari. The beau y of the sound
produced by skilled hand in ec tac' wa a memorable treat,
enhanced by the graceful hape and colonr of the in trument
put to such good p~Hpo e,-the neh and the sibs and other
flute , the drum and kettle-drum , nakra an, tabl baladi and
tabl sha1ni and he ba , the cymbal , and trange and p(.'}werful
tarn bourines, and the re t, which I will not further describe, a
that will be found in some detail in the account of the moulid
referred to.
Apart from the rhythmic utterance of "Allah!", and the
chanting of stroph and prayer , singing i not excluded, m~tnshids
being specially called upon to render qasidas, or elegies, often Of
the eroto- piritual type that joy the heart of a Sufi, and remark-
ably resembling the lovely and graceful " ong of Solomon".
It is beyond the scope of this work and the competence of
its compiler to tr::m cribe in detail what i said and sung at a
zikr. In any ea e Lane in that wonderful achievement of hi ,
"Modern Egyptians", ha done o, and I trongly recommend to
those not already familiar with it, the peru al of hi account of
the combined moulids of the Prophet and Sidi A ·hmawi, in
which many qasidas and other matter al'e given, and al o the
 - 62

musical score of the Kalima, the La Ilaha illa Allah, etc., of

which the place in a zikr should be stressed a much as that of
the Fathah.
Another feature of a moulid, closely associated with the
zikr, to be stressed is the recitation of the Qoran. Sometimes
a Khatma, d..;;.. is performed, the reading of the entire Book.
The Hadith, ~...~.,..,the sayings of the Prophet' is also much read.
Lane in the same chapter gives a vivid account of the now
obsolete Dosah, and of the reactions of ome of those who
assisted at the zikr. He mentions, inte1· alia, the ejaculation by
the munshids of the word "meded", ~..u (l) as an inYocation for
divine aid (or trengtb). I have heard the same, and am struck
by the pa,rallelism of this with the word "dynamjs", (BuvaJlL~)
which is ejaculated in parts of the Greek Orthodox mass, and is
quite liturgica.l, and occurs in St. Chrysostom.
Lane's black eunuch who became "melboos", and nltimately
epilept' c, and foamed at the mouth, and his soldier who hook
and groaned horribly, are by no means uncommon sights to this
day. I have seen many on the very spot Lane wrote abont, and
they enter into my account of the moulid of Ashmawi and

(1) Meded, ~...~... :- This word had indeed a profound mystical

significance with the Sufi poets and others.
Nicholson, in his "Divani Shamsi Tabriz"
nommenting an ode of Galal el-Din says,
"this term is employed by Jalalu'ddin to
denote the perpetual replenishment of the
phenomenal world by a succession of emana-
tions from the Absolute."
One wonders if Selah 0 ~, so often inter-
polated in the Psalms of the N ebi Daud
(David) had any such significance.
 -63-

others. It i extremely rare for any u picion to be rou ed that

the ubjeet is 'putting on" hi ymptom or that they are due
to other than the extreme zeal of hi devo ion .

The command t o make mention of the name of God, and

the belief that it cannot be too often repeated has led through
the ages to this extraordinary development. Through the cu lt
of the Sufis and other my tic , the goal of he zikr i the " J azb",.
(Gazb), ":"'..i:" , the ec tatic ranee when the ~ oul beds all earthly
dross and is absorbed for a, time in the "All-So ul. " "!Yiag t"b,',.
o..:J-'~ from ":"'..i~ meaning "dra,wn (by God)" i a better word han
"melboos" for thi condition in \\hich thing terre tria,l have
lost all hold and realitie are apprehended in another phere.

If the uninitiated onlooker find the raucous ej!'tcula,tion of

the zikeers, and their con ortion , and he out\\ard form of a ib·
:1lmo t grote que, and the ultimate ymptom of he "ga b"
rather dreadful, hie wonder and admiration run t be ca.lled for h
at the ec tacy and utter aloofne from he \\Orld arrh·ed at.
and al o at the amount of phy ical endurance hown.

He must remember, too, that the Ea t i freer ban the We t

from self-consciou s re traint, and p'udor 1nalus and means
trange to the conventional eye are aken to hrow off the tram-
mels of earth in cult other than that of I lam :- for example.
flagellation, and " omph alo copy" in Chri tendom.

In Lane' time, eemingly, the whirling dance of the Samaa

''as frequently employed in a zikr, and I am glad to ay I have
seen it more often again in moulid zikrs of \ery recent
years, and marve~led at the entire ab ence of fatigue an d giddiness
after a vertiginous top-like spin of ten or more minutes.

The zikr is by no means confined to dervishes or even

heikhs: the ordinary laity may and do take part freely,-old
men and youths and even young boys, and occasionally women.
 -64-

Sometime groups of tiny children organi e a "zikrlet" of their

own, behaving exactly as their elders, who ·do not interfere a
long as their intention are obviously good.
It i u ual to lead up to these zikrs by proce sions, ''hich
may be of the implest character, just a few sheikhs and others
with a big paper lantern, fan1bS, at the opening of a moulid. As
its apodosis a11proaches, however, they a sume a more and more
impo ing envergure, till on the eve of the feast, or in a few in-
stance on the day it elf, they present, when at their best, one
of the fine t spectacle of a religious nature that the Ea t af-
ford , and even at small moulid may be extremely \Yell worth
seeing.
The paper lantern give place or are added to by cres ets or
brazier of open iron work on 11oles. Each meshal, J\:..... a the e
are called, is constantly fed by quick kindlin O' wood for the
double purpose of illumining the way if the proces ion i at night
and of stiffening the skins of the tars, Jlu : jl; (tambourines),
and similar instrument . The execution of the den·ishe on
these, especially on the great tambourines known a the B adir
Qadiri, l$J,.~.; _;"J.! and Badir Arusi , '-:?" .Jf' ,;"~,is startlingly effec-
tive, sometime re embling a volley of mu ketry, the more so
as they manipulate them mo t gracefully, above their he:td , per-
forming at the same time a kind of dance , sometime. as the
zeffa proceeds and sometmes circling at a halt.

Then there are the Buariq, J~ : J).Y. of the variou orders

bearing Islamic mottos, and the names of Muhammad and his
khalifs, Ali, Omr, Osman, Abu Bakr, etc., or the style of the
Ta1'iqa, and the name of its section. The bey1'aq i a sort of
gonfallon, swung on a pole, topped by a crescent or the
word "ALLd.H" in brass, or some other sacred symbol. The
number of these banners at a big moulid is immense·
Even at that of Abu el-Ela in the year, 1357, (1938), where the
"zeffa" was a sort of compromise held at 10 in the evening.
 -65-

I noticed a bout th irt) o f the Shazli) a alone, wit h the t itle -

"El-Tariqa el-Hawad iya el- Shazliya"- and t h e local name of
he clivi ion, inclu ding t h e name of my own Yillage, B ein el-
Sariat, ~~l_r-JI ~~ a nd n eigh bouring Ezbah s, uch as D uqqi a nd
l it Oqba. (,. Abu el-Ela) .

The dervi he on t h ese great occa ion of course a11pear

with their in ignia and colour , and may t o a great exten be
reco~ni eGl by the e and by the in cription on the gonfallons;
but th ere i ome confu ion about the gr en a iL i not only a
faYonrite colour for the Tuntq bu i , or hou ld be, the di -
tinctiYe colour of a Sharif. The green of th de cendant of
the Pro11h t i howe\·er of a more or 1 di inctive bade and
their turban arc u uall y particularly ample. T he kaleido copic
effect i increa ed by the patchwork of ragged dilks, J b JJ'~
home and hand- p un garments, and traditional robe of many·
colours: al o by the \aried and striking ta\e , wooden word
and the like, and the headgear, turban and cap of innumerable
shape and colour , and the tm·tur, J _,1. )~ which i by no mean
confined to tlw A \Ylad N ooh, [_Y ~ 'i _,1 , but i much affected by
children, and wh ich al o take ...,trangP de,otional forms, by ex-
hibiting. acrec1 ym bol , and inYocation to numerous aints .

Lane, at the celebration of the A. hura (tenth IUuharem)

deciphered on a ta?'f'Lt1' of sort in t h e m o que of Sidna H usei n ,.
Ya Abu B a kr
Ya Omt'
Ya Othman
Y a Ali
Ya Ha a n
Ya H n ein
Ya Sidi Ahmad Rifai
Ya Sidi Abd el-Qadir
 -- 66-

Ya Sidi el-Galani
Ya Sidi Ahmad el-Bedawi
Y.a Sidi Ibrahim D esuki
The central figure in the ::effa i the "Khalifa", cho en as
the neare a\'ailable repre entati\e of he Wali Ol' Sheikh who
is heing honoured, often a direc de cendant.
It is well to be pre ent at he \-ery beginning, when the
different uni a emble with all tb ir panoply, and thi dignitary
i ~ solemnly mounted. on his brilliantly caparisoned teed, fre-
quently wi h a little h-ud of hi tl'ibe ptcttily dre ed in Bedonin
n,ttire . Thi take place often far from the c1esLina ion, a
fayourite l)ln,ce being the precinc of be mos<lUC' of Sic1n::t
Hussein . Thi i the ea e wi h Sidi Bayumi, ( \\·hich ee), at
about 3 in he af et·noon, and the group are most picture que,
and he whole cour e to the rno que (which takes about two
hour ) i through a mo t gloriou bit of the old city. T he
1\I arzuk zeffa a emble at abou he ame time in the hi t oric
tract out ide the B ab el-Na r: he daliya distri . < nd affords
a bra\e ight. It then proceed to the rno que by a round-
abont war, cutting into the 1\luski, and circling Sic1nn, Hu ein .
(v . M.arzuk.)
I n the old day the Zeffa, (or as it eems to baYe been then
called, he I hara, ;;).:..1) wa in the ea e of Tashton hi a nationa,l
and I lamic event, ( ' · Dashtouti) and that of bu Harera at
Giza on he Coptic Easter 1ondn,y morning was until recently
\~tst, most ancient a,nd important, (, . bu Harera), and till ha
some "Vogue and interest. That of Sheikh Hamza a. cmbled till
r ecently, and I trust w·ill again, in the af ernoon a the mosque
of Ashmawi. Sidi Selim in Bulaq still ha a fine afternoon
proce ion, where the di tincti\e in ignia of the RiEaiya, Qadil'iya.
a nd Shazliya can be well studied .
Of t h e e"Ve nin g zeffas,- - n ari' circulates from and back t o
t h e t omb itself, always pausing on its course at t h e underground
 -67-

mo que of Marsafa, who e moulid is on or near the ame date.

That of Abu el-Ela assemble at about 9 a Saptia, where the
Sbazliya has a sort of depot for their banner , etc.
Although the tambourine already referred o are be mo t
triking instrument to be seen and heard on the e occa ion ,
they are by no mean the only one . Among t others a,re the
c rmbals, (U"'\S) kas, variou, reed from the mall Zll mara, (ciJL. _j)
to Lhe immensely long and deep-\oiced arghul (J_,.C;\) aLo flute ,
and ma,ny kind of nuqa,nl., (ci;\.i; ) which latter are of earthen ware
01) n at tbe maller encl and clo eel by a tretched kin at be
other. Then in ome moulicl proce ion drum · in great Yariety
vie with the tar ,-for in tance in the clay zeffa of Sidi Abdel-
Ra,bim where the immen e camel clnun and other of th
kettle type are a ight to see a w 11 as an experience to hear.
Sometime wandering min trel , or 1)rofe ional trolling
musician cut in, as other xtraneou lement , of which ome
through long cu tom enjoy a ort of symbio ic acceptance: of
the e the Alexandrian acrobat who act a forerunners to mo t
bia zeffa are a 1)icture que and harmle in tance (' · photograph .)
Also private celebm,tion , particular! circumCI wn proc ion
frequently join up with a zeffa, to the general- advantage, a a
rule, of both.
Naturally there are pan .,e · at interval en route, and these
may be punctuated by special exhibition of ritual clancjng
including occasionally the whirling " amaa," with mu ic n nally,
and at night 'vith meshal (cre~set ), sin1.g , fa wan is (r) (ln ntcrn ,)
(1) Si1 ag, etc. - Sirag, Surug, (. .r" : C.r"' though u d
in Arabic, Turki hand Per sin,n as a general term fo1· lamp,
, eems here to be applied mainly to a little oil lamp with
floating wick, like an altar lamo, which when fonnd in a
zeffa is carried probably in a meshal (cres et) to be deposit-
ed in the tomb. Fanu , fawani , u-~ I~ : v J"·tt, thouah al o
lantern in general, is in Persian the pecial term for
Chinese lantern .
 - 68

and many ill aminating de vi ·e . The Azaim pataded in 135 ·

(1939) with enormou chandelier connected with vrovortion-
ately large cylinders fitted with a pumping apparatu · as in the
ea e of the Primu sto...-e- a highly luminous but not -yery
picture que innoyation. Th ey pan ed a the Bab cl-Mitwalli
and elsewher for qor:tnic recitation , and the fat ha, and other
prayer , by no m eans an nnu ual proceeding at a zeffa.
The Rifaiya too, or allied ord rs, ometimes amaze all pres-
ent. by fire-eating or other feat of \Yonder, though tha is not so
common a of yore; and indeed one who frequently accornpanies
a zeffa h as many tar ling experience and surpri e . I can-
not better end these remark on the procesaional rm.rt of a
moulid, than by r eferring reader to my sub equent account of
the moulid of Zefeti.
The sali ent feature was a rcYiYal of the D o ah with the diffe-
rences that the reprc 'enta,tiYe of Zefeti were not on horseback
when they walked. upon and o-;.-~r the recumbent dcn·i he , and
that these were only io contact wi h the ground by their finger
and toes, and perhaps some by their heads. Their bodie and
throat were supported on the point of long , rigid, and harp
daggers, of the den·ish type, kno"·n as "Dabus", w hi eh also
are described in detail in that account. The date \Ya 1357 (1938).
B efore coming to the ceremonie which conclude a moulid,
·there are certain r eligious and quasi-religiou s cus oms o refer
to . Of these are "free" circumci ion, street preaching and the
distribution of protective charms-hegabs, ( .:,~\::,.. : ~\::,..) ·
I have already referred to the circumcision booths, and the
barbers' shops temporarily converted into such, to be seen at all
big moulids near the mosque or tomb. They can b e recognised
at once by the large picture sign. Ritual mutilation is performed
on both sexes, certainly with wonderful skill and speAd, and
success, for a few piastres, or quite gratis with the very poor·-
The general atmosphere of a "Figaro's" establishment- anyone
being "·elcome to sit and watch or gossip- is maintained~
-~ ·-- . . , :,~-:--~. . .,-.

e x:tn clri n c
J

c·t·obat.
prodromoi of <

zeff<t.
 be l onlid
of
Abn 1- la .
L..

Tb door of the
mo q ne and
Circumci ion boo b
wi h
picture ign
 -69-
Tho e who desire a fuller and more private ceremony, can have
the operation perform.ed at home, but even then the patien ,
wonderfully attired, are paraded with their harim friends in open
cal'l'ic ge in the street , in preference at the time of a moulid,
when they may augment the zeffa by a bra band a well a
their own colourful corteae. The doyen of the faculty, "Dr."
JUahmud Enayat-Allah, who e headquarter are at Imam el-
Shafei, ha a gorgeous booth there with innumerable coloured
htmp n.nd decoration , and entertain hi friends, clients and
\i itor freely, and di play the same umptuou ne at ome
other moulid , notably at Tanta where black " ambo " in their
'\n"tr 11aint o amu e the li tle Yic im b · their an i · and ta·r turs
anu other lure , that the e become of th mu < harin, J:.;th..
(pmiiied), before they fully reali e why they have been o
brought into the lime-light, or in tubborn ea e their crie are
o drowned, that there is little ri k of their panic preading
amongst 'vaiting candidate for circumci ion. For further note
on this ubj ect, I refer the reader to he ~Ioulid of Fati m a el-
Nebawiya.

A regards preaching there are of cour e in addition to the

authorised and orthodox discour es ::~nd paneg ric from the
1nim.ber, f:(' (pulpit) and otherwi e, rmon of a le . formal
nature introduced into zikr , ometimes \ery powerful of which
<tn example is cited under "El-An ari", but in u ing the term
·" street preacher ", I am referring more to zealou re\i \alis
who take up a po ition where they can attract a crowd, and
thrill their listeners sometime with their fiery eloquence. Such
an extreme case as that de cribed under "Zein el-Abdin", where
the orator literally hypnotised some and terrified others, i
unique in my experience. An extreme in the other direction is
the gentle and reasonable blind Hag Hu ein, to whom referenc
is made under "Sitna Aye ha", who alway rounded off his
homily by the ninety nine sacred names, and the di tribution of
Qoranic texts. I have mi sed him the past year or more, but
. . . . . .· .;-······ ... , ..... -~. - ,. ·~~~ -. 'l"iW'"~...... )

70-

hope he is still "in the bond of life", ;~\ J.-} J as I ha Ye heard

him expre s i.t. I la t sa\Y hi m at a moulid of Sultan Hanafi.,
qui e unmoYed by a torm of orrential rain which oaked him,
and his li tener .
The di tribntion of he gab , ( .:.,~~,..) religions charms or
talismans, frequen ly follows the open-air ermon, anc1 indeed
often a11pear to be the end and object of it. The Hag Hu ein
alway wrote he name of the reci-pient on his begab, and made
no regular charge, though a mall coin ,,a,s usually g],·en him.
This seems to be the u ual uroce ding, and though there are
exception , most dervishes whom I have seen engaged in his
way seemed more bent on pion works than on money making.
I knew a nice old fellow who stood near the door of the mosque
of Sidna Husein at moulid time, who would by no means part
with a begab till after he bad made the applicant long exhorta-
tions accompanied with a panegyric of the Hasanein and
citations from the Qoran, and he refused to part with more than
one at a time. There were so many applicants that whil the
accmnulated a few pia tres he might baYe taken as many francs
bad he been worldly-minded.
N aturall~ the central religion act at a moulid is the vi it
to the brine in honour of he Sheikh who, if a W ali, JI.J ( hat
is, a sheikh of peculiar holine s, one of Gael's fa'!;oul'ites), is
deemed to be stillliYing; and to ob ain a blP sing . (I> , imple
ritual is followed and a few urayers uttered (mainly to the
Sheikh for intercession), and offerings are made for or directly
to the poor . Though there are plenty of willing recipients,
I have very rarely been solicited by religious mendicants, whom
- - · - - - - - - - - - - --
(1) This simple ritual u ually includes the placing of the
hands first on the tomb and then on the face, and of cir·
culating, round it, with eja ulations eulogistic of the
sheikh. The prayers always include the Fatha (opening
chapter) of the Qoran.
 ~- .

Sharabati,
,
w ith ·yn1 b a 1 , ~ nd "do l'"'Cl" of tamarbinc1i.
"'
 - 71

Lan found ubiquitous and p . . r i tent a hundred year ago . I

only remember being pe tered. once, and tha at an en.rly night of
th Tanta moulid, but I ·uppo e I brought it on my elf by the
injudiciouts way in which I di tributed a urn of money deli\ered
o me by a Cairene friend, who could not come him elf, and who
had specia.lly a ked me not to pnt it in the che t for that
l1lll'po e in the mo que, but o gi\-e it to de er\ing ea e . The e
cropped up like the head . . of Briareu , and when the um wa
xhau ·tecl I beat a retreat, rying o coV"er that by unendering
my own mall money. Then it eemed to me that a miracle
hn,d occurred! The blind eyed me from afar: th lame and legle
com· ed after me like tn,g ; pal ied and paraly ed barrel gripped
me like Jiu-jit ·u cham11ion : the bedridden lef their litter and
joined in the pur nit: and it appeared to me that the dead were
rising from the number of gha tly face , hollow orbit ancl flc h-
le , out. tretched arm . I ran, and only fel aJe when I reached
the clocktower in the quare. The form of chari y I ometimes
adopt since then, is to be tow on the thirsty one a Sebil Allah,
J1 J:-!-', a fountain of God. Thi ounds a lot but it im11ly
means buying up ·a qirba, (~.}), kin of water, or a doraq, (JJ.J;))
of tamarhindi, erqs'L~JS, or ome uch iced and ::>ngarcd drink, and
leaving the onus of di tribution on the vendor, whilst I e\al1-
orate. Once I bought up an ice-cream seller' tock of "dundur-
ma", ~J~;) but he hunted me up after to complain of eyer
manhandling (sic) by the mothers of little boy who came too
late, and he wanted compen ation for hi orn clothes and
damaged "machina".

Of the larger forms of charity are go\e.t nment grants and

private gifts and bequest for the upkeep of the brine, the
expense of the moulid, and for the poor : also one \"ery popular
form, dinners for the needy. Tho e ma,y be remarked at the
moulids of the Prophet, of Sidna Husein, 1uhammadi, Saida
Zenab, and other , and on a small private cale at nearly all.
They may be on any or every night during the run of the moulid,
,.,..,,..- -_ -... ,,-.-.- .. • r ,.,,.., • ..._ ~. ·, • ~~-· '!!it!""~ '.;

- 72-

but of cour e mainly on the last. Perhaps the mo conspicuous

feasts at he time of the A ha, ~~~ are on the Ea t ide of the
mo que of idna Hu ein. \ery cm·iou inci<lent I wi ne sed
at a dinner gi yen to the poor of he Ashmawi di tri t i des-
-cribed under that moulid.

Nioulids which are deemed important end, or virtually s o, by

-a ceremony imilar in the m in to that with which they were
opened. Thi ak the form of a Ta hrifa, :U._.r~i , a R ec p ion,
among t the chief of which in Cairo are hose of The Prophet,
Im am el-Shafei, and lYiuhammadi, all described or rcCened to
under those name and, of which the first is quite a national as
"';Yell a I slt mic eyen , under the aegicles of the king, the N aqib
el- Ashraf, the Ulama and the Minister .

The u ual elements are a vi it t o the shrine, reading of the

Qoran wi h a panegyric of the Saint, and a sort of polych1·onion
of his living repre entative , ome speeches, and a word with
the personality who pre ide , who may b e a member of the
Muhammadan hierarchy, or the local "Khalifa", or th doyen of
the particular mo que or Order, or sometimes a lay notable .
The last was the case in 1357 (1938) at Qena, when the Mudir
occupied the chair of honour. (He may be, howm. . er, quite likely,
and for all I know, in D ervish Orders .):

Sometimes ceremonies of pecial solemnity are added, as

one refe rred to under Muh ammadi where whi e robe and light-
ed tapers were brought into requisition. The Ulama, Ministers
and Notables attend these taslwijas, and many of the general
public. Coffee, sweets and cigarettes have been in evidence.
and welcome, at all tash1'ijas I ha\e seen, and sometimes music
has been added. Not infrequently he performers are the lads of
the band of the R eformatory at Bein el-Sariat, who until
recently w ere to be heard also at the moulids of Tashtou hi and
some others dur ing the whole of the final evening.
 - 73 --

The ultimate "Seal" i he Rhatima 4~-from khatama, ;;..

( eal) - ome time on the theoretical day of the aint, following
the great "e,e". At Sidna Hu ein it in\oh·es he circling of th
mo qne at noon by some of the Order with their banner , etc.,
but u nally, (exception being made for the few ea e in which
the great proce ion i merged into the khatima on hi ~ la t
day), the e la trite are o mixed up with the pulling dm\'n of
d coration , the departure of 'i iting pilgrims, and a certain
natural reaction that there is omethina of the air of a katabasis
about it, after the anabasis of the early day and the climax of
the great night.
I am afraid that it will a\'our almo t of e chatology to call
up anything ::tfter thi la t day of the Khatima but I cannot
refrain from noting a little rite I ob erved e\'en days after the
eonclusion of the moulid of Fatima el-Nebawiya hint Gaafer
Sadiq, renewing ome of the moulicl ob ervance at the tomb
on a reduced cale. I hn.dn eYer een or heard of thi , and on my
expre ing urpri e to a heikh at the tabut, he exclaimed -
'seven day after he bir h of a child, we c l brate hi 'a boa', (I) :
so \\hy not that of a great aint e\en day after her birthday?"
I could only repeat, "Why not?"

(1) A boa, t.r.-1 is of cour e, from the word Saba, seven.

' . _.,.. .... _,,.,,..-~. ~-·~-~-· .... ~..... ~ '

- 74

I\

MO LIDS

THEIR SEC1 LAR SIDE.

The word 'sec~~;lar' is u ·e<l h ere in it~ ori ginal proper sen c
of 'saeculaT', as in the "Carmen Sn,ec ulare", in the " Secular>
Hymn", compo ed for the Romn.n 'l)orts, a nd in th e expre ion
"secular bird" as applied to the Egyptian Phoenix:: n,.· som e hing
venerable which has stood the te t of the ages. I ,-ouh1 prefer
the word 'profane', but a perverse generation h as i.milarly
perverted it ignificance, which as pro-fan'l. ~;1n, m eaning before
the temple, exactly describe a moulid crowd before be brine-
of their Sheikh, honouring God and him by wor hip in an
atmosphere of light-hearted joy. Indeed it is with unwilling
obedience to a eonvention that I separate the 'devo ional' from
the 'seculal' ' ides, for surely a thankful appreciation of the·
good thing created largely for our enjoyment is an acceptable
form of devotion.
And is it not clear from the ancient and classical writers of
E ast and We t, that games owe their development , if not their
-very origin to religious observances ? Who in the long pages of
Homer can reeall a single one of the many a ccounts of games in
which they are not the aceompaniment of devotional ceremonies :
an essential indeed when these were of a popular n ature?
I have referred in Oh. I to Vergil's account of a typical
moulid of the olden times-that of Sidi Anchises at his da1·eh
(tomb), in Sicily-worship, games, and a sacrifice for the
people.
Those who are divorcing games from the worship of our
modern moulids are leaving the Saerifice, but a sacrifice whieh
is not for the people, but a sacrifice of the people, of their
inherited rights, of their joys and, with these, of their religion~
 A Ha,yi
and " ~In. nouli ' th e :Jionk ey .
,'""-- . -v.- · r ,rt-•·~· ~. -~~~-· '1''~-,..,..~lfJ'!"!
...--'-, h,.,
 - 75 -

Thi point of ,-iew doe not touch the fact that there is
place and more need than e\Tcr now for the au tere and medita-
ive dervi h soul to whom "res severa est verwn gaudi1tm" of
which the East ha produced o many. The e ge the intuitions
and revelations out of the cope of human cience and rea on,
from which tho e feom whom uch are wi hhcld, by teml)era-
ment or by the whid of life' incident , are wi e to draw
"\Yhat benefit they can.--

"Tra umanar ,'ignificar per \erb::L

non i poria; pero l'e em11io ba ti
a cui e perienza grazia erba".

The monk and anchorite of I lam, (e lJCCi::Llly the Sufi ) ,

hnYe preached lo\e and joy in earthly matter._ a leading up to
rapture in hea\enly thino· ; and the Chri tian Church i uper-
latively hedonistic in the right wa} . The Church which has bred
an army of martyr , and a hos of eremite , a, cetic an d
contemplatives, u e a liturgy which i full of call to joy and
song: the Int1;oit · to it ma e begin frequen ly with uch
exhortations as "Gaudete I Laetare !"and h riou -minded St.
Paul place charity and joy at the head of all thE> fruits of the
Sp i1·it. Solomon, wi est of men, Prophet of I lam, and au hor
of t he lovely "Canticle, " and other canonical book of the
Church, limns in the "Book of Wi dom" the attitude of the
AriA. l:O<I>IA when God was creating th world,-
"Eram cum Eo", ay he Holy and Eternal
wi do m, "cuncta componen , et d lectabor in ingulos
dies, ludens cora,m Eo omni tempore, lud en per orbe
terrarum :"

The Holy Wisdom, though e sential in 'compo ing all thing '.
was playing about, literally skylarking, and gr atly enjoying
Her elf, 'playing every day, playing before Him all the time,
playing throughout the world,' whil t the Almighty wa toiling
in creating a beautiful place for us unworthy and unappreciative
 - 76 -

Dreatnre . Y et She was no indifferent to our race, for Wisdom

Herself adds,-
"-et deliciae meae cum :filiis hominum."
Surely no Pope, Khalif, Monarch, Prince, Potentate, Ruler,
{)l' T each er, no Man who ruthlessly. or unnece arily wipes the
smile instead of t h e tear from the face of the people, can hope
for God t o mile on, him or to wipe awa,y his tears.
Forgive me, dear reader, for thus excursing, and let us away
to a moulid- through the gaily beflagged and brightly lighted
treets, the decorq,ted cafe and hops, guided by the e'er -
augmenting glare and blare, and the recurring report like a
pistol shot, which indica,te that ome lusty you h ha, propelled
the "babur" up the inclined tra,ck with such force a to fire the
-cap at the top : past the glittering rows of "Aru a '' on the
ugar stall , and the swings and goose-nests and round-a bouts,
and innumerable little stalls and hand-ba,rrows, ancl through the
Drowd till we reC~Jch the shrine, and perhap witne a zeffa, or
.at least see a zikr. Then, ha\ing paid our "visit" to the heikh,
on to ee Qara Goz, our old friend Pu nch, and the accompany-
ing shadow show and conjuring di play, augmented perhaps by
fire-eaters, snake charmers and the like. Then a, rest in one of
the more ambitious variety theatres, or a tent of performing
dogs, or ome surprise attraction; or in the open air, join the
ring of people wa,tching graceful stick play and dances, or the
tricks of a "ha,"-i", or li tening to a raconteur . If you are a
horseman you ca,n admire the beautiful creature:,:;, dancing or
prancing, or pa,,ing the ground in search of hidden treas ure, or
.at a country moulid, racing with stal wa,rt and picturesque
bedouins up. If yo u are a crack shot, you can fire with minute
rifles at a tiny target at minimum range, and if you are a dunce
.at the game yo'u will probably be just as s uccessful. If you are
great at throwing-in a cricket ba1l, yonr skill will stand you in
g ood stead at the nine-pins, or other cock-shy; or if your joTte
-is Samsonian deeds, y ou can bring down the h ouse by firing the
 - 77-

percu ion cap with a record weight on the babur, or by ringing

the bell at the top of a pole by a hefty mite with a mallet on
an anvil, or by actual "iett des poids et halteres", or by driving
nail into a log.

If rou are a gambler, and have brought no millieme with

on, you can change your pia tre at one of the "banker " and
squander thecoins so obtained on pin-table of divers kind ; o1·
a game of dice who e coloured ide corre pond o quare on
which you put your take; or a kind of ' hove-millieme' in
which you thro-w your take onto a 'table qnadrillee', gaining if
it fall into one of the many quares -withon impinging on the
line ; or you can gamble on the tation, Cairo, Tan a, B enhn,.
or Alexandria, at -which n, revoh·ing hand stop : or back your
fancy from a team of homing pigeon or rats; or with a nickla
buy a biscuit which may not or may contain a coin up to a
bareza; or acquire a bot le of harbat, or a doll or ome other
trea ore at the very amu ing "ma-lum" able, by pnrcha ing a
lucky envelope. You may even exceed th n ual m ney limit
and lose a big pia tre at the three card trick, if no police are in
sight.
Skill is brought in, in ma.ny variants of ring throwing,-the
objective in one of the e being a wimming duck, which di ap-
pears from the pool if her neck be encircled, to reappear in the
fullness of time, I suppo e, on thrower' table. Luckily for the
duck's feeling , she is now generally represented on the water by
a wooden bird, -which i wapped for the real hing if won.

Fleeing fr0m the snares of the Monte Carlo department,

we hurry theough the freak ,-Zubeida, of sixty years, and le
than half that number of inche , the calf with five legs, on
which he has been going trong for quite fifteen years and doe
not look a day older, (therein the greater marvel), the gia.nt,
" .... and many more too long,
Gorgons and hydras chimaeras dire ."
 -- 78 -

Near the circumcision booth \Ye ' Ce a minor but equal-

l y pm·man nt act of mutilation going op, -tattooing. This is
done with great cxperti e and i intere ting, and l)erhaps still
more o th framed picture of designs painted on glass f1·o m
which to choo e - purely geometrical for the strict Io lem, or
Qorn,nic text in suluth charact r , ot· a nn,me n,nd nc1c1ress, o1· he
record of a, YOI0, (nadr J...l.;): for the re t nake , lions, birds, trees,
their weethea,rt , etc., ancl ometimes very strn,nge elections.
(I onee aw an effeminate long-hairecl youth, '' hom Lane would
ha,ve certainly cla ified a a ''gink" being tattooed \Yith the
names of hi vatron , as far a apt)l'Op1·iate urfa,cc svace \\ould
allow. (That wa near an arch of 1\Inh::tmmad Ali's aqueduct,
fairly remote from the moulid hen proceeding of Ha an el-
Anw::tt· .)
From the Booza boo h we hear a persistent note of metal
struck on metful in perfect rhythm, with other strange music.
Thi i in accompaniment to equally weird Sudane e dancing .
But that call for rather a more pecial notice, as do everal
of the "l:Lttractions" ea alogued above.
We are a ailed but not temp eel by piquant odours from
stalls and from ·izzling t1·ay on little fire ,-sau age , taamia,
1
f["l (bean ),kebab, qtt~fta, 1'tt"z (rice),and many other delicacies, and
offered (al o without falling), iced \Yater, limonata, tama1·hindi,
'm·asus, sha1·bat, and sundry other drink . Cigarette too, includ-
ing Will 's Fln,g, usually bought one at a time for a nickla (two
milliemes) : the seller rather looks askance n,t you if you demand
a whole packet. Subaris (cigarette ancl cign,r encls) was p011ular
till a year or o ago, when legi lation forbade the collecting of
"mego1js" in the street o1· dealing in the ame, giving rise, I fear,
to a good deal of illicit trade therein, and tb.e manufacture by an
enterprising little clique of local HaYana cigar , for which
Spani h labels "-ere locally pl'inted.
One th ing I miss , and indeed baye not seen ince the m oulid
of Sidna Husein in 1357(1938) , t h e " Piste a la l\1orte" of the in-
1 v. Glossar y.
 - - 79 - ·

trepid Canadian, B illy William , which for yc~u· \\·a an unique

attraction. A sort of beal'-pit round who e tall vertical walls
B illy circulated at v-ertiginon 11eed on hi motor-bike .
HaYing lost a near relation or ·wo at the game, he has
carried on <""Llone and it i much to be hoped that be ha not
shared their f~""Lte . B illy'. feat of blindfolding him elf whil t da h-
ing u11 and down to a few in che from the top rmd bo ttom of the
pi t, thus riding 'i\ithout hand OL' eye mu t ha,·e been unique,
and st~e ing that he did th<"t a,t inten-al of le, than half an
hotll' throngllout a moulid, one cannot help fearing the "\\Or t .
In addition to the e chanteteri.'tic a,nd u nal item , there <"Ll'e
plenty of sporadic happenin g., <""1nd urpri cs , ·ometimes di ·a,p -
pointing OL' e\·en hocking, and sometimes \ery much the re,·er ·e,
remindPr of P haraoh' day or of Greek and other bygone influ~
ence ot· tfLrtling up to date innovation , and what i ~ aJ \Yay
iutere ting - the by-play and the reac ion of the onlooker.
\Yho kno"'i\ not boredom .
Of the item which perhap call for rather le ummary men-
tion than that made above i he fir t named, the Sugar Booth .
The eller i perched up n mong t hi hel \·e of ngar fignl'ine ,
to \Yhich the general name of A1'usa i applied, a word which
mean bride, and which may also indicate a doll, becau e th
prevailing type i that of a gorgeously dre ed maiden. I have
seen them pouring the hot . ugar, red or white into wooden
mould., at a place clo. e to the Bah el-Fatuh, but how that i
done and the re ult man·ellon ly arrayed in 11aper garments,
with tinsel of gold, . 11angles, a,od the re and then old a,t
p1·ice. ranging from a . ma,ll piastre (five millieme ) to about
half a franc (twenty mill· me ) is a mystery.
] n addition to the ant -<>rt pl'oper, there are hor emen, duck ,
rabbit , dogs, goat , &c., ole or grouped, ometimes in a manner
c oarsely concei \ ed and rudely executed, th ough recent ly some of
the n au gh t ie t seem t o h ave been suppressed in Cair o, (thou gh
still on show in certain pr ovincial centres). En 1·evanche for
 -80 -

this expurgation, a very u p t o date m odel h as appeared, represen t -

ing a bridal ch a mber with m irrors an d couch and t h e young
couple, t h e aris, '-"'~J~ and aru a, ~..... ~ ..)~ . I am told this i a
revival of an old classic known a Aziza and Yunis,I.Ti y,.~ o)..jt:.
Ot h er popular examples are the heroes Abu Zeid ~j .>!I, and
Antar, .;~ , armed and mounted, and sundry brigand such as,
Abu Ali saraq el -Maza, o; ..11 J.r .. J~ Y.l, (Abu 'Ali-stole-the-goa t).

T he e and other names uggest folk lore, anc1 pre ent scope
for anthropological research, as the resemblance of the e ancient
puppt-'ts to the T anagra figure , and much that wa turned up
at Pompe.ii make them inter sting to the archaeologi t. I n
point of fact, I have found professors of the e branches "Who
h ave accompanied me to moulid rather fascinated by the a?''U Sa
stall, but their fragile selP.ctions have usually crumbled up or
b een devoured by g,nts, before th y ha Ye photographed them or
left any permanent record to science.
I am glad to be now told by Prof. Entns-Pritchard who
rea:l the aboye that h i Antsa figurines did not p rish in the
u su al way, but that after photographing thPm he ga-re the collec-
t ion t o the P itt R iYers Mu eum at Oxford.
The late P r of . Hocart of the Eg:n1tian niversity was
preven ted by his m u ch deplored deat,h from leaYing, (as far as I
am aware) a permanen t record of the collection I helped h im to
build u p.
Miralai Gayer -Anderson B ey k indly took me to a place in
the Gamalia district wh er e t h e e a r e made by p ouring melted
sugar int o wooden moulds . H e h as since had made perman e n t
plaster mod els of some of t h e more striking.
Apart from the T a n agra figu res a nd such like, they remind
one of t h e "Sa ntous de P r ovence" , "les Bonhommes de pain
d'epices'' of Fren ch fairs , a nd the old gilded gingerbread men a nd
animals, from which th e gilt is n o w off, if they are not actu ally
an extinct s11ecies .
 JHoulid
of
A hmawi.

An Aru a a ll.
 81-

A a op to religion, the arusa tall ometimes pre ents

repre ntation of the H aram or the Raaba · and a an extra
temptation to children, a \ariety of minor "cets,- im imia,
homosia, goz el-Hind &c. (,. Glo ary)
Qara Goz merit , I think, a high place in the list of attrac-
tion , for I find my 1)er onal predilection from arlie t youth for
a Punch and Judy hmY, are bared by all the u:alacls (boJ ) of
Egypt and chojokler of Turk ey, and I think aL o by th e petits
gosscs of Europe ·w ho get eith er the classic Punch him elf or at
lea. t the Guignol or other of his ba. tard off pring \Yho inherit
hi quaint bonbomie and petulant audacity. I am told too that
b~' peaceful penetration he ha ~ taken up trong po ition in the
heart of the clzechees of the Far East.
OL'thodox Chri tianity identifie Punch with Pontiu, Pilate,
and Jndy with Juda I cariot, w·ho pre umably betrayed his ex
as he dicl hi 1\Ia ter, To by being no oth er than that very attrac-
i\e boy, Tobia ~ . in -who e reflected light the archangel Raphae l
o hines in the liturgie and 'old ma ter ', the puppy, hi irr-
eparable companion, taking hi . . place in the little drama. But
I u pect Punch of much greater antiquity, and that he apo -
tati ~ ea from some 1)agan cult, a later he seem to ha\e gone
O\er to I lam, nnder the style of Qara Goz, j_,)e ), "Black-Eye",
( uggcstive of the number of black eye he collected on his
X:nuckle in hi attack on policemen and other ). I ha\e cen
thi title otherwi e rendered, a Qara Qoj a, ~ .>; 0.}, "Black (bad)
Hu band", in reference to hi unmarital conduct toward his
wife Bakhita, who, one mu t admit in hi defence, is a bit of a
Xantippe: al o here in Egypt by a somewhat different spelling,
V"~;_}.

The show is too crudely mediaeval to be exactly edifying, and

is not to be recommended to a nun -conducted "crocodile" , but
:Mr. Punch is intensely amusing, and his \oice and gestures are
sustained in the local shows with extraordinary skill. His savoi'r
j aire and versatility t oo are such that he is a rapid expurgator
 -82-

on the arrival of visitors whom he diagnoses as highbrow, to

whom be alludes in hi patter with great bonhomie, with
pretty compliments and ble sings, not forgetting hints concern-
ing cigarettes and niklas, which are u nally fruitful.
Khayal el-Zil,Jl2.11 J\~, a Shadow Show, is generally seen in
the n,me booth under the aegi of Mr. Puneh, a lternating with
his exhibition, and conjuring tricks, fire eating and minor
attraction , for all of which the entrance fee is a nikla (two
millieme ), drum n.nd other mu ic included. Visitor , who are
alwa. ·s wellrecei,ed, are accommodn,ted with chairs, if t h ere are
n,ny procurable, n,ncl if not armf Jl. of children ar thrown into
corners, without their showing the mallest resentment, to make
room on the benches. nfortunately there is no provision for
conditioning the n,tmospher . Beyond veiled hints such as those
of Punch' uokesman, or of the clever manipulators of the
marionette behind he beet, (whose manual acts are worth
watching al o from behind the creen), there is no touting for
bak shee h, and the gift of a pia tre or so to he mu ic or t h e
performers is taken with smiles of gratitude, and sho\\el'S of
blessings.
H ere too the jests and gestures are not of a Yery refined
type, aud the ·d sitor mu t be prepared for sho cks, and to take a
lady to li.hayal el-Zil is as risky as a 'isit to the monkey house
at the Zoo; but there is not hing so essentially immoral nor so
\Ulgar as many of the nasty film we get from the other side of
the Atlantic, which so damage the prestige of the \\estern races in
the eyes of the east, and are said in India particularly to be doing
more harm than all the other propaganda. Incidentally to o
there is nothing in Punch's funny squeak, or in any of the
voices, to disintegrate one's marrow like the awful "twang" or
twyank the "talkies" have added t o the nastinesses of the
"movies".
The conjuring tricks which I have noted as often thro\\n
in with Punch and Kbayal el-Zil are often childishly simple, like
 -- 83 -

the magic ball on a vertical cord, 1\hich top 1n its de cent at

any voint at the word of comm~Lnd, but other ar extremely
cle\er and baffling, and almost al way!3 highly a mu ing, though
of en at the expense of some good tempered per on in the
anclience. The Egyptian conjurors are expert at card trick
and other feats of1lege1·demain, as witne the galli-galli men in
the streets , but the Indians have still greater prestige in the e
matters. Of these a certain Hag Ahmad el-Hindi run an in-
dev endent show in his own booth, and at moulid i the doyen
of the thaumaturgists.
At these performanc e~, "en if 'we are not amused', all the
other present are, and pro \"ide us "\\ith a fine tonic by h ei1·
lau ghter and merry appreciation, occa ionally tumultuou , and
their friendly attitude towards us leaves a plea ant impre ion.
The Variety Theatres are run on the whole on a much more
ambitious scale than the little vlaces just de cribed: yet they
range from a platform outside a cafe, shop, or house; or a creen
of can\"as or tent-,vork in the corner of a court, or in a pa age
between the buildings, where a few comic turns and a little
singing or dancing may be witnessed, to a vast tent with ri ing
tiers of benches about a,n arena big enough for a circu , with a
varied entertainment of tl.!e circus style. In a big country or
gabel moulid there may be quite a number of the e.
The characteristic of the bigger tent-theatres 1s a lofty
"\\ooden platform on each side of the entrance, one of these for
a bra s band, the other to accommodate n.t frequent interval l
some or all of the performers,-singers, dancers of both sexes,
clowns, dwarfs, giants, muscle-dancers, who give samples of their
art, until the enthusia m of the crowd is excited, t o the point of
buying tickets, and then the big performance commences inside.
The last n amed, clad in little but loin clothes, always men, tand
immovable, but fo r their muscl8s,-pectoral, abdom inal, brachial ,
-which dance in a marvellous way, aided by u nbelievable m o\e.
m ents of the dia phra gm. The dan enses, if allowed to bow
.... ~--.....- ,--- . . •- , ..... -~ ~--·~-~--'I"~"'~-·-:

-84-

them elYes at a ll must emu late in sobriety the steps and undula-
tion of the Th mophoria.z.ou . n,i inYoking the C'hnst ' Demeter.
It i true that a few :'i en,rs a.go they were adoptin<' lP~ . lnmhble
cla ... ic tep , n,nd becoming onwwhat too Gt'f'Pl·. but the~'
alwa.ys danced fully dre sed and neYcr \\ith mf'n, and neYer
attrn,cted he gild d youth or he jazz fan, \Yho hw,,- thn,t for
half-nak ed bunny-hu g t h ey m us - seek the rich('l' howPrs of the
most re pecta,ble cabn,rets and hotels. When a f0w _,cn,rs ago,
the city fa.ther (or grandmothers) or whof'Yer it is who arbitrates
somewhat arbitrarily on the the matters of T0rp:id10 ·p vetoed
the ancient "danse de ven re", and the 1mblic .·o clamoured for
it, monotonou though it be, ha the artistes, \\ lw moreoyer
knew nothing el e, lap ed in o it, strange eyasions \YCl'C re orted
to . On one occasion thi dance was interruptctl hy a lad, (set to
watch), announcing that police were approaching thP c>ntrance.
The premiere dn,n euse with great presence or mind, and imitated
at once by the other , turned the other side tom1.nls the door,
and danced wi h the mu cle of that . The1·e being no legi, lation
against "la dan e de lune "that wa3 not deem ed a contra,-ention .
A very well known character. a star unique in hi. \\ay, has
no t been en evidence ver y recently. H e dn,ncc>d always in the
dress , ornaments, h air, lipstick, and manners of "' \Yoman , and
people who watched for the umteenth time could h ardly be made
to believe that he was not what he appeared . He generally made
a simpering round of the audience, and \\ith a smirk pre ented
his photo under which was printed, <ul_j9 ~ .... >- ~r~ll ~fall ~ \ ) \»
"The celebrated Egyptian dancer, Husein Foac1"
and his address for private appointments to weddings, &c.
Whether of his own free will, h e "walked sober off" , or
whether he attracted the attention of the 'city fathers' a nd was
shoved off, I cannot sa} .
T he last time I think, that I saw Husein Foad, was at a
big N e w Year party at an English house near Z eitoun, under the
caste-leader, Mahmud L alu, who himself manages one of the
Hu ein Foad.
 -85-

monlid tents . H e bronght good and amu ing performer , and a

highly conventional party were as deligb ed a they were ur-
pri ed at an a mo phere of fun entirely new to nearly all of
them. (The writer added an almost too ucce fu l thrill, b r
raiding the hou e, after ecretly dre ing up hi own servant ,
one as a police officer, the other a ghafir . The ·wee
blarney, and face of our ladies, who took it entirely a~" se1·ieux
obYiated the execution of the "police" threat to rope u all
together and take u to the caracol, (I think rather to th
disappointment of orne of the men .)
To a gl'ea.t extent the amu ement ide of a mou lid i erved
by <t ~pecial profe ~ ional cln. w·hich follow hem from place to
place, e\-en throughout the proYince , o tlutt \YhereYer one croe ,
he' i · lik ly to ee familiar face and to b him elf recogni d by
their owner , and a ub l ear may recogni e Punch' ,-oice to
be the ame in Cairo, Tanta or A yut. The same applie to the
circumci ion doctor~ , but mo t of all to h managet and ar i t '
of the theatrical how .
The mo t popular of the e show· i.· run b · "Profe or"
Show, 1, a great character and a mighty man of mu cle and
trength . He might be Ca tor or Pollux for hi 111'0\Ye , and
from hi m-ate form pre ervmg the contour of L cht' egg. H
introU.uce each of hi ea te, and in\-ite to the man·el of hi .
theatl' , by a, funny peecb in which he pnnc iliou ly ob erve
the grammatical forms, waqf and wasl and tanwin,-for ''ell h
know that if you do not talk over the head of an Egyptian
andience they \\ill metnvhorically trample you under their fe t.
This rhetorical effort is always applauded, and i. al way the
same, and at its peroration he generally perches the whole of hi
male staff on his head or his. bou lders ot· abdominal prominence,
and lightly reYolve with "all up"-this as an earne t of what
you may expect when he begin to show his trength. He is
exceeding zealous for the reputation and ordcrline s of hi hou e
and its precincts, and never asks for nor allows occasion to bring
in the in "Yidious collaboration of the police. I have seen a h ost
 -86-

of would-be gate-era be1· att mpting to gn,in free admittance

or accumulating o abon hi gates n,s to form n, rather rowdy
mob, but quickly with his little farqila of many.cord , be scatters
the crowd in the imaginnhon of their hen,rts. Once I saw
him go to the assi ance of the police trying o separate and
subdue \YO hefty belligel'ents, (for occasionally a fight starts in
the be t regulated moulid), and picking up a delinquent under
each arm, he gave ach a tender bear-hug, then threw him limp
and ga ping at he feet of the law.
Sbowal' contre-partie in the goa (o}:-, troop), is a dwarf,
mos unprepo 'e ing in appearance, but his sense of ime and
rhythm i o ubtle that hi moYements when be dances are
positively graceful, in pite of bandy little legs. He has a
hundred funny wa} s, but he is not funny when his irascible
temper get the better of him. I have seen him hurl a wrestling
opponent three times his size into the midst of the spectators.
I mentioned rats and pigeons being made acce sories to the
gambling indulged in on a tiny scale. As I haYe never seen them
put to tbi use elsewhere, I will describe the procedure in the
case of the rat . (The pigeon play is imilar.) The rat-table is
a wooden disk of about a metre in diameter, with minute h01.~;ses
round its periphery, who e doorways are big enough for a rat
to enter. Each house bears a number corresponding to those
on a board for the stake . When these are laid, a big white rat
is placed in the centre of the table, and the number of the house
into which he ultimately decides ·to enter indicates the winner.
It is difficult for Abu Fir an, 01) _y,l, the "Father of Rats", to
prevent undue influence being brought to bear on his rodent's
choice. I have seen, for instance, a little lad surreptitiously
projecting fragments of cheese into the house of his chosen
number.
The Sudanese Ringo (or Ringa), which is always associated
with the consumption of their national drink booza, has, (I have
f ou nd) had al ways a special interest for savants, especially those
 -87-

who have tra,elled in the di trict south of Egypt. There are

recondite feature connected with :uhe origin and analogie of
thi w ird in titution that attract these gentlemen, but no one
can fail to be truck by the unique nature of hi urroundings
in one of these booza booth . (The Sudanese at home call thi
form of beer, m.erissa ~ J•, a term hardly ever u ed here in
Egypt).
The tread-mill-like step of the dance, and the weird in tru -
mcnt , which include a bit of a railway line, are not quite like
anything el e, a.nd the rather our and cloudy Sndane e beer
(booza,) er,ed in bowl or gonrd by ebony hands i equally
strange: luckily tea, coffee or q i1ja (cinnamon ten) can be indulged
in in tead. The ere cendo of the 'ogue of the Ringo in Egypt
within the last decade i I uppo e he re nlt of its novel fea-
tures. From being a rarity, it i no'' found at :tlmost every big
moulid, sometimes duplicated or riplicated; and it i es abli bed
in a few places in Cairo on a more 1)ermanent ba i , apart from
the rnoulid .
A it i referred to in the de cription of the rnoulid of
Fatim<:l.. 1-Nebawiya, ::\Iuafaq, and ome other , in t ead of c --
tending remark on it here, I will conclude them by appending
a letter written on the ubj ect to an anthropologi t friend, which
deals pecially with one of the in trum ent employed, the i trum,
and the theorie of an ex-profes or of the Egyptian Uni,ersity
concerning it.

26 No,ember, 1935
(29 Shabaan, 1354)
The Sistrum,-Shakhshaakha ~ \~!.11

Dear Evans-Pritchard,
The quest of the Sistrum has proved a plea ant, if rather
long and not very fruitfnl one. Though, I suppose, originally
Egyptian, and introduced into Greece with the cult of Isis, its
home now, :=tnyway as a musical instrument, seems to be South of
 -88-

Egypt, for though common enougb. here in Cairo, it is always in

t h e bands of Sudanese, or Barberines, or at lea,st in their
''Ringas" or Booza booths, or ceremonies at which they predom-
inate. S rangely enough it seems hardly known :ntermediately.
Mousa., my Theban valet, and others fl'om Upper Egypt as ure
me that they never saw nor heard of it till they came to Cairo.
(I should be interested to know if you found it prominent in
Abyssinia).

With the Sudanese it seems to play the role of the Egyptian

Z'lmw1·a. A that eems hardly to exist ''ithont the Tar,(;\;')
the Shak sb aakha sistrum is ymbiotic with the Rinau ( _,f, J ),
and th e Kuria ( ~-J'\) . You will remember the Ringu, which
either gi,·es its name to the whole show or takes it from it. the
Ringa; that kind of harmonium with vertical ·wooden keys, and
pipes or painted gourds, which wobbles eternally: and the Kuria
w bich is or exactly resembles a ection of a eaihYay line, from
which perfectly rhythmic notes are elicited by t'' o iron rods.

I n reference to a point raised h~ Prof. N., I cannot find that

the sistrum is specially used in ceremonies connected w ith
puberty, but in conjunction with the Ringu and Kuria, at
practically a ll ceremonies such a Ci:r cumcision and 1\!Iarriages,
Moulids and the Zarr, as well as at simple social gatherings for
frolic and the consumption of Booza.

I ha Ye never known the use of this form of Sistrum divorced

from the dance; a dance that is usually suggestive of the
treadmill Ol' beetle crushing, but notwithstan<ling graceful and
rhythmically perfect; but occasionally a dancer with two sistra
in each hand leaps from the circle into the air with great elan.
The u ual motif of the dance is the circling of some half dozen
amorou s s\Yains about a Nigra-sed-fo1'1nosa, di playing their
charm and " sistral" talents and, one by one, ta,king her in his
arms, till at last one is accepted. Their singing if indulged in
at all is ejac ulatory and croony, and 8. J erom e's criticism,-
 -89-

·aemi turn pro can tu babent", \\ould be better ju bfi d than as

he applied it to hi do\e . Occasionally in Arabic, they go a
little further, the limit I haY beard being. -
"Aiwa, aiwa, mine -Sudan,
Sirig e - anduq 1\Iubammad,
L akin 'muftah maai" .
(Oh ye , oh ye , from the Sudan
Iuhammad tole the box
But (the) key'~ "i h me.)
The "Ringa' ''e \\iine ed on the 1 th of Tut, (2 .9.35) a
the Coptic _jJoulid of ~Iar Bm· um el-Aryan, at laasara near
Hel \Van. "· a~ CJnite tn,ical of its form in Eg~·pt, \\heiher accom-
l1~tnying ::\Io lem or Coptic celebrn.tion , and probn.bly only differ'
from the purely Sndane e article, in that bowl of boozn, n.r
npplemented b~- cup of coffe or qirfa. Occa ionallr one ee.
young and Yery hand omc gill ~ d<"tncing, but more often (<"t 1r .
Hocart, \\bo accomp·-v1iec1 me to the moulicl of idi Mm bq with
the Profe or ome nicrht a•to, remarked), they , u(fge t Ep tein
Cl'eations. On the other hand ome of the youth· ha Ye feature
as delicate a one could find in ~ tatuary.
The , i trum i l"t cylinder of hard white metal, rather more
thnn a foot long with handle and conical cap and containing
pebble . From one to four are held high and in front of the
dcu1cer when haken. The form rarely differ from the two I
po teu to you ye terda~, but \ery occa ionall~·, there i a. handle
de lu:xe of ornamented yellow metal. One such, Hnggcsting both
fi.,h and phallu I tried o pnrcha e at a recent moulid, but the
super-Epsteinienne held to it, he e:s:plaineil in memoriam of her
fi bee lover, who peri bed in the Nile (She too "·as a fi her of
sort , by a snmption of the Petrin ma.nda.te.)
I first ob en·ed tbe i trum in 1919 at a Zan; the .Aalima
(or Godeya.) circling with it a. kind of altar, after a blood acrifice
in a rit<., . ngge ting a mourning for Adoni , (et ecce ibi m'ulie'res
plangentes Adonidem,.)
 -90-

In this C"a e neither she nor the family of the possessed

woman were Sudanese, but the djin to be exorcised were, and I
think ome of the a istant .
H ere -Loo the handle of the si trum \\as suggestive of the
icthyphallic cult of 1in in ancient Egy11t before the ague of
Isis, but, I imc gine, by pure coinciuence.
I do not recall seeing it again nntil the moulid of Fatima
el-Nebawiya, at ,-.,.hich there were se,,ern.l Ringas, 27th Rn,bia I,
1353 (9 .7.34), and though probably I had mis eu it wh en vi , iting
moulid , I am ure it \ague and that of he Riu ga have enor.-
mously increa ed recently. You may ha\e noticed, when with
me, Ringas a.t the ::Houlid el-N ebi, ancl the ~1.oulid of Bn,yumi,
Matrawi, 1uhammadi, and Mazlum, (the last being the moulid
in the fields where the brigand wa un\eiled and lynched.) This
month (Sha~tban, which end. to-day, and i a carnival of feasts
before the fa t of Ramadan,) I have \i ited Ringa not only at
Muafaq, referred to abo\e, bu at the moulid of Imam el-Shafei,
:Matrawi, Man i, Saleh Haddad, Sultan Hanafi, and Awlad Badr-
There were two at Sultan Hanafi, one of which I i ited with
Mrs. Wyman Bury, and the other with Prof. Hocart, and at the
very small Moulid of Awlad Badr two days ago there were two
flourishing Ringas. They are prominent also at the Feast of
Sayed el Bedawi.
It is important to note that although an attribute of relig-
ious feasts, it i al\\ays in the "amu ement 11ark", and ne\er in
Egypt brought into mosque or church, or employed at a Zikr.
So far I haYe only dealt with one form of the Si trum, but
I am sending you three of an entirely different type, made of
coloured ba ket work, in the shape of an orb of 3 or 4 inches
diameter, with a handle . Since your letter on the subject, I
visited a Sunday af ernoon ceremony, which takes place even
week in the court of the great mosque of Sitna N efisa, and
purchased those I am sending at the :loor of the mosque. I had
seen this type in the hand of some children at Bein el-Sariat,.
 -91-
a year o1· more;ago. I have now, with the h elp of Gad el-.l'~l[onla
traced the children , and find hat their paren bought the e
si tra at or in Sidna N efi a when \i iting that aint ceremonially;
and I ha\e not been a ble o a certain that they can be obtained
elsewhere. Gad a ure me they are in pioa memory of Sidna
Nefi a,, who was very fond of them . (Thi remind me of Siena,
where the little horse and other toy of S . Catharine, are pre-
serYed, and reproduced a her ou\enir for the faithful. I fear
N efi a's originals ha\e been lo t .)

It may interest Prof. Newberry, a a great Egyptologi t and

sistrwn peciali t, that ome of the children about the mosque
had leng hened their sist7"1Mn into a sceptre-like object, by mean
of a cane.

There is yet a form of sistn,Mn, still more ceptre-like, borne

on a. pole, in the ze.ffa, (proce ion) of many moulid , and I think
on ome other occa ions. Though much more ornate than the
ordinary shakhshaakha, it i called by the ame name. You
mu t ha\e een it, urrounded and fo llo wed by men and ome-
time dervi hes, gorgeou ly attired, and given to whirling and
divers con ortion . Thi I have known for about thirty years,
a,nd it use eem on the Jecline, though I 'vas lau to see it in
all its glory last Wednesday afternoon, though the full ze.fla
with banner , and the mounted "Kharlifa" was not allowed
(on account, they aid, of the riot ).
Now do make any u e of thi you like, (if it ha any) men-
tioning my name or not a you wi h. Ibrabim the black Ringa-
dancer, and others have helped me, but lYiou a, ke non the que t
as he know it is for you, ha be2n by far my mo t intelligent
and reliable informant: he obtained the metal sistra.

The moon of R amadan has been seen, o Ramadan Kerim,

ya Azizi.
You1·s,
J . W . McPheTson.
 - 92 -

In replying to the above letter, Pref. Evans-Pritchard told

me inter alia that the sistra s nt bim from Egypt 'vere now in
the Oxford Pitt Ri,er Iu eum . He mentioned that amongst
the man a ociations of th sistn.tJn with Egyp · , wa tbe use to
which Cleopatra put it at the battle of Actium, ''here it acquired
the name of " Cleopatra's trumpet" .
He, and still more Prof. Newberry, would be intere ted in
the "Dabu " I examined ome years later at the monlid of Z efeti
and who e description will be found under that head, as, apart
from it my tical u e by the den-i hes , it combined all the requi-
si e of the ideal primiti\e royal ceptre,- he typical spherical
shape with long handle, the loaded si tral head, with the addition
of re onant bit of metal for calliug to orde1·, ancl potential death
at each end to enforch such. I was unable at the time to obtain,
and end one to Oxford, but have acquired one re · ntly, by the
kindne of ·M ajor Gayer-And rson, which, howeYer, owes its
rat le qualities wholly to the bell-like bits of m etal on chains,
and bas no loo e particle for hat 11urpose within the hollow
bead.
I think in thi and the preceding chapter, I has enumerated
. enough of the characteristic things which one ees or h ears
at a moulid, ba+ edify, amu or interest, without more than
tbe most pas ing mention of the quacks who tempt 3 ou with
dowa ~1_,, (medicine) to cure all ill , the doctors who charm out
aching teeth, or the fm·tune teller and his writing on sand, "~arb
el-raml" , Ja ) I ~ ~' etc., etc., or even the rarer exhibitions of
tele\ision by looking into ink in the medium's hand, known as
"menda,l", a,nd such like occult matters. There are often sur-
prise , that may constitute the particular interest of the eYening,
on both the deYotional and ecu lar sides. :Much of what I have
described or omitted to mention, is of course highly banal, or
extremely primit i\e, and so far rem o\ed from the conYentional
and fashionable evening's programme, that there must be many
to whom it will have little appeal , but no one can be indifferent
 - 93 -

to the imple piety and light-hearted enjoyment which per\ade

the atmo phere of a m oulid.
Ther is the freedom to mo\e about when and where you
will, 'semel hnc, atq'LW ill'l.te', ::tnd to lea\e at once any item which
di plea es for something better :-none of the pri on atmosphere,
o pecially irksome to a claustrophobe, which discounts eyen
good theatrical performance , concerts, picture bows and the
like, and becomes a martyrdom when one goe for a uppo ed
treat, and instead sit through hour of complete bor dom looking
in Yftin for the happy, enthu ia tic, nnsophi ticated, un abated
moulicl face to cheer one through it.
The writer appreciated and frequented the simple un o-
phisti!2ateu and human attracl~ ions of moulids, more and
moL·c, pari passn with the regre ion of tbo. e qnnJities in
conventional entertainment , due to the on ting of music by its
. pnrion sub titute jazz, with i na y concomitrtnt , rtnd the
ghrtstly error that the l\1u es can be mechani ed. I t wa too
sad a role to as i t at the victory of blatant cacophonies and
nrtu eous croonings over the in pired harmonies and lo\ely
melodies which the genius and the soul of the great ma ters
hrtd beqeathed u though the centuries. Sad too to witness t h e
snrrender of the artistic public to this sou lles inva ion; and
sad to know that the profe ional mu ician who had delighted
us, rertl and good mu ician many of t h em, had to choo e between
murdering their own art or tarving.

But the great tragedy, or o it seems to me, is that the

young generations born into this, ca n have no \ivid idea of all
that was acrificed, and therefore no more or little more urge
to combat this bondage which has enthralled music and the arts,
than a young Fijian, "to the manner born", to renounce the can-
nibalism which from his cradle he has regarded as natural.
Hasan Pasha Anis, who is a keen mu ician as well a a su-
preme m:tster of aeronautic , once told me bat in jazz b e has
frequently recognised primiti'e African music, of the Ringa and
 94-

allied types. That is inter ting but does not console us for
what was better than ringa or jazz, e pecially ss it has lost its
soul and i:mplicity in i s :migration to American negro bawdy
house, and i s exploitation by enterprising purveyor to du biou
taste fir t in the New World and then in the Old, till it has come
to roost a,gain in Africa.
"Who will roll a\\ay the stone from the mouth of the
sepulchre" of the Muses, and deliver us from this cult of the
grotesque, ugly, discordant and indecent, with its objective
repre entation on the Holly~ood creen, and its raucou upport
by the radio, to the eAtent that people of cultnre and refinement,
with revolt it is to be hoped in their hearts, are me merised by
the fa hion of the cult into di torting their haunches with arms
akimbo, lapping their own buttocks and poking their thumbs
out, like stable lads and fish wives, in a way that would h ave
earned them, not so long ago, the stocks or the spinning house
at hom e or the bow string out here. Surely we are a race
of sh eep, caring little whether we be black, white or ring-
straked, and follo\\ing any false hepherd who has such abnor-
mal bluff and impudence as to impo e his fashion,
(Taking np this eYening's "Bourse Egyptienne", I am glad
to ee that my vie\\s a,re not held by an isolated few . I read-
"Se tremousser, se dehancher, frap"(ler de mains et
des pieds, agiter la tete a la maniere d'un pendu, hurler
comme dans la jungle, telle est la symphonie negroide
qu'offrent nos salons a l'heure actuelle.")
Some readers may retort that I base hurled no J eremiads
at the Ringa dancers and their grotesque music, have indeed
written rather sym-pathetically on the subject. To which I
reply that though I have never seen anything actually vicious or
repellent in a booza booth and would h esitate to put the ringa
on as low a plane as our jazz, I do not cite it as an edifying item
of a moulid, but rather as a curiosity to be seen, h eard or studied
once or twice, a nd should resent and resist its being dragged

j
 - 95

into our salons, "best" hotel , and all places of entertain-

ment, to dominate e\erything and e\eeybody and oust the
mu ic of culture and the ma ters. It, like jazz, is too primi-
ti,e and coar e. Happily, unlike jazz, it has no propagandi ts
nor protagonists to bring about thi prepo terou' re ult. The
e\il is in the excess : a spot of jazz might lend piquancy to an
entertainment, like a few freckles on a comelJ countenance, but
when freckles become a confluent pigmentation on the faceB of
ociPt}, it look like an ugly contagion.
If an acid test of real natural gaiety, a oppo ed to forced
hilarity, is the ab ence of all tend nc~y i..o th morbid and the
macabre, then the fun of the rnoulid fair , bows up "·ell. l\Ior-
bidity and intentional irre\erence are unknown, and the macab1·e
has no place e\en if the m oulid is held in a macbara oY!'.. . Nor
do any of its shows suggest the "Cabaret dn Neant", or "Le
Ciel", or "L'Enfer", of La Ville Lumiere, much le s a "Black
l\Iass" in the Catacomb . Happily the atmosphere of this ble ed
country is all again t that ort of en ertainment, though an
article in "La Bour e Egypti nne" of l\1arch 26, 1940 indicate
that the macabre trend i progre ing e\en in Egypt. The
article, entitled, "Le my tere des \Oix d'outre-tombe," de cribe
the in\a ion of Chatby cemetery by fise hundred cars and five
thousand people who left heir cabarets, their fox-trotting and
the rest, to hunt down an alleged ghost.

But any of my readers who were in Berlin some twenty

year. ago, (or since, for all I know), will ha\e reali ed to what
macabre depths J azz can fall, and it is igni:ficant that it was
more eagerly welcomed and cnlti,ated there than elsewhere in
Europe. The changes were rung on "Dances of Death"-Waltz
l\1acabre, Der Tanzende Tod (V ~lse Boston), Shimmylieder-and
Foxtrots of the same; and the P1'og1·amm of a popular Tanzsaal,
or a fashionable Tanzfest for "das vornehme L eben" was hardly
complete without the sung-dance, "Fox Macabre Totentanz", of
which the refrain ran-
-96-
• I • ..,. • • • ,~.,- .. . :,....,.~.~ -- •

-97-
''Berlin, dein Tanzer ist der T od!
Berlin, du wuhlst mit Lust im Rot!
Halt ein! lass sein! und denk ein bischen nach:
Du tanzt dir doch vom Leibe nicht die Schmach,
denn du boxt, und du jazzt, und du foxt auf dem Pulver-fass."
(Berlin, your dance is the dance of Death!
Berlin, with joy you whirl about in filth !
Halt! Stop! and think about it a bit:
You won't dance the hame out of your belly,
for you box, and you jazz, and you fox-trot on a powder-
magazine.)
This was a,dverti ed by a huge nightmare of a picture,-of
gay company dancing on a bridge which spanned the bottomle s
pit , at the moment the bridge \\as collap ing and letting them
down. This was all so near the uperlatrve of ghastly decadence.
that it is difficult to conceive what the Mutterleib can have
produced further for this \\ar, for seemingly the only next tep
would be,-
"Berlin,.dein Tanzer i t die Holle !"
But, to these polemics and cauchema1·s a truce, and let tho e
who love the macabre go to the heart of Germany, and the jazz
fan to the OIKHMATA of the far West where the Congua, the
Bunny Hug and the Black Bottom may be seen and heard 1n
their pristine p~wity,
" ... J uvat integras accedere fontes,
Atque haurire."
or ince
"Non cuivis contingit adire Corinthum."
"Hell's Kitchen" or the bas-fonds of Frisco or Chicago might
serve, not to mention places nearer home,- but those who
prefer an atmosphere of simple natural devotion and joy, and
the fresh air of heaven, without the umbra or penumbra of the
macabre, might do worse than come \\ith me for once in a way
to a 1\foulid, for preference, a c~untry one.
You may even say or think, with Byron,-
... sweet are our escapes
From civ-ic revelry to rural mirth .
 98
V
MOULIDS
THEIR INDIVIDUAL FEATURES.

The preceding pages have envisaged moulids 1n generaL

though drawing illustration from specific cases : this chapter is
of the nature of a guide portraying their individual features or
idiosyncrasies, as far as the writer has obset'ved on repeated
visits to nearly all of them, and in the few remaining instances,
from first-band current information. He has never seen nor
applied for official lists or particulars, which would doubtless
have made this a much more aluable document technically and
statistically, but which he lea e to others ; for this compilation
is intended to be of the nature of very mild research in a neglected
but highly de erving field. Being such pioneer work, there are
very numerou lacunae which want filling up; notably in the
non-inclusion of important provincial moulids, for want of
personal contact and direct reliable information.
Though all moulid must essentially ha\e their devotional
side, this varies from being their sole aspect in some of the
small ones, especially tho e of a quasi-private natn.1·e, such as
el-Azaim, to others such as el-Hili which tend the other way.
Others like el-Nebi have a sort of official character: some borrow
a charm from ancient or beautiful surroundings: desert and
country meetings have their own picturesque items; immemorial
customs are shadowed in a few: dervishes or musicians may
have surprises for us, and so on, so that, in fine, few monlids are
devoid of some points of individuality.
As exp lained in Oh. II, the date on which a moulid is
actually celebrated fluctuates so greatly, sometimes over several
months, that for the Islamic feasts wh1ch are in a very large
majority, it is not possible to construct a calendar which i
anything more than roughly approximate. An attempt at such
is appended, whjch at any rate will give an idea of when to begin

j
 -99 -
looking out for a particular moulid, but reference to the moulid
as described later in this chapter will bring one much nearer.
It will be noted that in the Calendar, I have only ventured
to put in the actual day of the month in eight cases, and one of
these Bahlul, on 29th Shaaban, is not rigorou ly exact as it
is, I believe, intended for the eve of Ramadan, a.nd there may be
30 days in Shaaban, though usually 29. Th e same probably
applies also to several of the small moulids about the Babs of
Fatuh and Nasr, and elsewhere. In Ch. II al o are given the
approximate dates of the relati elJ few Coptic moulids, accord-
ing to that Calendar. It has been mentioned that the Moslem
moulid of Abu Harera at Giza ignores the 1oslem calendar in
fa\our of the Ooptic Easter JYlonday, and that ayed el-Bedawi
follows the solar, not the lunar months, falling in October, the
Coptic Baba. Also Bayumi is in March (Baramhat), and Imbabi
in June (Bauna) .
As importance is often attached to the day of the week,
rather than that of the month, the Table near the end of Ch. II
should be useful.
The 126 Moulids which follow are arranged alphabeticall ,
and appear in the general index, under "Moulid" in the same
order.
Readers not quite familiar with Arabic are reminded that
there is a Glossary of the Egyptian word u ed, arranged
alphabetically according to the English tran !iteration.
 - 100

Approximate Dates of
MOULIDS
which follow the Islamic CALENDAR.
(Where the date may vary more than a month, the first probable month is given.)

Muharem Abd el-Daim Cairo

Abu T arabish Helwan
Galal Cairo
Khalil Shubra
Mob. el-Bahri Cairo
Mazlum Sharabia (Cairo)
Omr Cairo
Qorani W asta District
Shutbi Cairo district
Tunsi Cairo district

Sayed el-Malak Cairo (Saptia)

Safr
10 Rabia I Ashmawi Cairo
Fatima el-Nebawiya Cairo

el-Nebi Cairo (Abbassia)

II
Saleh, Sultan Cairo

Rabia II Abu el-Ela Cairo

Farag Cairo district
Farghal Abu Tig
Husein Cairo
Nasr Cairo
Shibl Shuhda, Manuf
Tarturi, H asan Cairo district

Gamad I Abu Atata Giza district

Abu el-Leil Beni Mazar
Abu el-Seba Cairo (Bulaq)
Ahmadein Cairo
Badran Cairo
Benhawi Cairo
{Desuki Geziret el-Dahab)
Galal el-Din Asyut
Guda Minet el-Qamh
Hamza Cairo
Hilal Cairo
 - 101 -
Gamad I Huneidiq Ismailia
Qraishi Zen in
Sa kin a Cairo
Sa lama Cairo
Gumad II Aarif Tilft, Menufia
Abu Amera Khardassa
Gamal el-Din Kafr Termis, Saft
Gharib (el-Gharib) Mit Oqba
Hasan Anwar 0. Cairo
Itman Pyramids
Lash in Mit Oqba
Oqbi Mit Oqba
Selim Cairo (Bulaq)
Tarturi El-Hat ia (Mit Oqba)
Zefeti Duqqi
Zein el-Abdin Cairo
Ragab Abdulla Cairo
Abu Qafas Helmia, Zeitun
Agami Alex. district
Azaim Cairo
26 Dashtouti (1 ashtoushi) Cairo
26 Ibrahim Mataria
Kurdi Cairo (Bulaq)
Maaruf Cairo
Muafaq Cairo
Qasid Cairo
Shami ( el-Shami) G eziret el-Dahab
Wasti Cairo (Bul aq)
Zenab Cairo
Shaaban A bdulla el-Hagr Cairo, (Khalifa)
Abdulla Kafr-el Darb Cairo (Khalifa)
A bd el-Basat Cairo (Bab el-Nasr)
Abd el-Karim Cairo do.
Abd el-Qasid Cairo do.

14 Abd el-Rabim el-Qenawi Qena

Abd el-Wahid Cairo (Bulaq)
Abu Badir Cairo
.-\.bu Daif Cairo (Imam)
Abu Zaid Cairo (Imam)
 - 102-
Cairo (Mameluks)
14 Shaaban Ali el-Gizi
Ansari (el-Ansari) Cairo
Arbein Cairo
Awlad Badr Cairo (Bulaq)
Awlad Shaab Cairo
Ayesha Cairo (Khalifa)
Ayesha el-Tunisi Cairo (Khalifa)

Bahlul Cairo
29 Cairo (Mob. A li)
Emery
Emery Cairo (Touloun)
Fatima el-Nebawiya bint Gaafar Cairo (Bab el-Khalq)
Gala din Cairo (Bulaq)
Ganib Cairo (Sarugia)
Hana:fi, Sultan Cairo
Haroun Cairo (Touloun)
Khasousi Cairo (Bulaq)
Leithi Cairo (Imam)
Mansi Cairo
Marsafa Cairo

Matrawi Mataria
14
Muhammadi, Demardashi Demardash
Muhammadi, Shahin Cairo (Khalifa)
Qazazi Cairo (Gamalia)
Saleh Haddad Cairo
Saman Cairo (Imam)
Shafei, Im am el- Cairo
Sutuhia Cairo (Bab el-Futuh)

Yussef el-Haggag Lux or

14
(Fuller particulars as r egards date etc., will be found in the detailed
account of each Sheikh, which follows.)
 - 103-

THE AR.A.BIC MONTH S. THE COPTIC Mo THS.

Muharem i.J~
Tut ~ .J;

Safr _j.-.P B aba ~~

Rabia I JJ )/ 1 (:~.) H a tor ).Jil.

Rabia II Jt~\ (!.) Kihak Cl)
~

Gumad I J/)1 .,t~ Tuba ~~Jk

Gumad II _jt· I ~\ ~ Am hir ~.!...I

Rag ab Baramhat ~~ ~
~>:) ..~.

Shaaban j~-.:..
Barmuda o~y J.

Ramadan 0l.;a..) Bashans ~,...... ~~

Shawal Jl_,.:.. Bauna d..;

JY.
I'

Zu' el- Qaada .;~.Al l J,; A bib ~i

Zu' el-Higga ~L I .J,; Misra I.S..r .......

Nasi '"~-i

Notes - 1st. Muharem 1359. 1st. Tut 1657

=9th. February 1940. =1J th. September 1940.
The Moslem Calendar The Coptic Calendar dates
dates from the Flight from the "year of the
of the Prophet from Martyrs" :-
Mecca to Medina:- = A. D. 284.
=A. B. 622. The little "month", Nasi,
Each month has either consi t of 5 or 6 intercalary
29 or 30 days being 11 days to complete the Solar
short of the Solar year, the other months having
year. 30 days each .
(In addition to these New Year's Day - there is a fourth
recognised in Egypt, the Jewish, dating from the Creation.
1st Tishri , 5701 (A.M., anno mundi) 3rd October, 1940
1st Tishri, 5702, do., "Rosh Hashanah" 22nd September,
1941.)
 - 104 -
I DEX 1AP OF C AI R O
TO THE 20
S ECTIONA L MAPS.
L . ' ,M
c D E (;. H I J K N
l

2 .

\8

9 9

L;

.: l'l

12 .· i~

13 '.13
14 ' ' 14.
15 5

16 6
; 17
t
~
18
~·

..
19

.. 2
._....,"!\. B c D E . f' G H I J K ' L M N
.
. ·-- .. . ~~ .---.::.---
,, .
..;.
;;;:- .

- 105 -
SECTIONAL MAPS
OF
CAIRO.
Section Section
A 2 Abd el-Baset V III H 3 Baroun XIII
3 A bd el-Daim X 4 Hasan Anwar XV
4 Abd el-Kerim VIII 5 Hilal VI
7 Abd el-Wahid VI 6 Hili I
8 Abdulla X 8 Husein XII
9 Abdulla el-Hagr XVII
IO Abdulla Khafr el-Darb XVII 2 Ibrahim (Suq el-Silah) XIV
I3 Abu Azaim XIII K 2 Khasousi VI
I6 Abu el-Ela VI 3 Khuderi XIII
23 Abu Sabaa VI 4 Kurdi I
27 Ahmadein VI L I Leithi XIX
28 Ansari XI
29 Arbein XI M I Maaruf X
30 Ashmawi XI 3 Maghrabi X
3I Awlad Badr VI 4 Mansi VIII
33 Ayesha XVII 6 Marsafa XI
34 Ayesha el-Tunisi XVII 7 Marzuk XII
9 Mazlum IV
13 I Badran II IO Muafaq VI
2 Bahlu l XIV II Muhammadi (Demardash) V
3 Bahri VII
5 Bay umi VIII N I Nafisa XVII
6 Benhawi VIII 2 Nasr VI
3 Nebi IX
D 3 Dargham XI
4 Dashtouti VIII Q I Qazazi XII
E I Emery XI s I Sakina xvu
2 Emery (Touloun) XVI 2 Salama XI
3 Saleh Eyoub XII
F I Farag
4 Sal eh H addad XIII
3 Fatima el-Nebawiya XIV 5 Saman XVII
4 Fatima el-Nebawiya IX 6 Saudi XIV
Bint Gaafar Sadiq 8 Sayed el-Malak VI
G I Galactin 9 Selim I
2 Gala! Ill II Shafei XIX
6 Gaml VIII 13 Shatbi XX
7 Ganib XIV I6 Sutuhia VIII
9 Girgis XVIII w 2 Wasti VI
IO Gizi XVII
z 2 Zein el- Abdin XV
H I Hamza X 3 Zenab XIII
2 Hanafi XIII
 - 106-
SECTION AL MAP
I
 - 107-
SECTION AL MAP
II
GEZIRA T B ADRAN.

B 1 Badran
 - 10 8-
SEC TION AL M AP
Ill
SHA RAB IA
 -- 109 -

SECTIONAL MAP
IV
EZB. SAFIHA, (N. of Sharabia).

M 9 Mazlum.
 - 110-
SECTIONAL MAP
V
N-E CAIRO: (nr. Demardasb).
~~~~~v-~-,----------~~M~--_=-~
,"',, " ,' ~1'
~~~'<-'{(y_v
;:~",,''\\'> 0

, , ~0
,,' , 'e\\o
/ , 0

M 11 Muhammadi.
 - 111 -
SECTIONAL MAP
VI
BULAQ.

5.

i -- .
.
c
7 Abd el-Wahid
!A 16 Abu
Abu el-Ela
23 Sabaa.
N 2 Nasr
S 8 Sayed el-Mala
W 2 Wasti
k

A 2(27) Ahmadmn
 -112-
SECTIONAL MAP
· VII
CLOT BE y DISTRICT.

B 3 Bahri
 - 113 -
SECTIONAL MAP
VIII
BABS EL-NASR & FUTUH: and vicinity of Sh. Farouk.

A 2 Abd el-Basat B 5 Bayumi D 4 Dashtouti

A 4 Abd el-Kerim B 6 Benhawi G 6 Gamal
M 4 Mansi 8 16 Sutuhia
 - 114-
SECTIONAL MAP
IX
ABBASSIA .

.. L

N S El-Nebi.
 - 115-
SECTIONAL MAP
X
ABDIN &c.

A 3 Abd el-Daim H 1 Hamza M 3 Maghrabi

A g Abdulla :rvr 1 Maaruf
A 28 A nsari
·
A 29 Ar'b e1n
~ 3 Dargham
4 Fatima el-N .
H M 6 Marsafa
S 2 Salama
bint Ga f ebawiya,
E 1 E a ar
A 30 Asbmawi mery
 - 117-
SECTIONAL MAP
XII
MUSKI DISTRICT.

.10 ·. THE GABAL

10

.J .
H Husein Q 1 Qazazi
M 7 Marzuq 8 3 Saleh Eyoub
 - 118-
SECTIONAL MAP
XIII
S AIDA Z ENAB & IBN TOULOUN
DI STRICT S.

A 13 Azaim S 4 Saleh el- Haddad H 2 Haroun

H 2 Hanafi Z 3 Zenab K 3 Khuderi
 -119-
SECTIO AL MAP

SOUTH-EAST.,CAIRO : - XIIII
neighbourhoods
H . and 8 uq el-Silah.
of Bab el-W azn'

I
B 2 Bahlul 1, 2 Ibrahim
F
G .
G . a e1-N ebaw1ya
37 Fatim S 6 Saudi
amb
 - 120 --

SECTIONAL MAP
XV
''ABATTOIR D ISTRICT."

H 4 Hasan An\\n,r Z 2 Zein el-Abdin

 - 121-

8ECTIO AL M P
XVI
lBN TOULOU DISTRICT.

\
\
.. ·
16 ' \

\
' \

' \
\
\

E 2 Emel'y.
 - 122-

KHALIFS.

l H agr G 1o Gizi
9 Abdulla e hafr el-Darb 1 Nafisa
A Abdulla K N 1 Sakina
~
A 10 ha .
A 33 Ayes el-Tunisl 5 Saman
A 34 Ayesha
 - 123-
SECTIONAL MAP
XVIII
FORTRESS OF BABYLON.
 !8Jruqs-Ie mrurnr 11 S !q ~ner:r-Ie mrumr 1 r:r

.H

6l

S31l:f~t-~n1f

SJ Bl

Ll

1 H
I([.!IVHS -'I c>r J\lVli\II .!!0 SI'IOdO'R O([N
XIX
dVW 'IVNOLL 0([8

- tZl -
 - 125-
SECTIONAL MAP
XX
UNDER THE MOQATTAM HILLS.

15

J -=" K

8 13 Shatbi
 - 126
SKETCH MAP
OF
DUQQI DISTRICT.

z 2 Zefeti.
'1l!"f' ·- .. -,·or- ;,._---:_,- . .

- 127

FROM .A.

R.A.ILW.A.Y MAP

OF
UPPER EGYPT

Seen inside Book Cove1·.

A 6 Abd el-Rahim el-Qenawi Qena

* 18 Abu el-Tarabish Helwan
* 19 Abu Harera Giza
22 Abu Qraish Zenin
*B 4 Barsum el- Aryan Maasara, Helwan.
F 2 Farghal Abu Tig
5 Fuli Minia
G 3 Galal el-Din el-Asyuti Asyut
* 9 Girgis 0 ld Cairo, -St. George
*I I Ibrahim Mataria
* 3 Imbabi Imbaba
4 Itman Pyramids
*M 5 M3.riam Mostarod, Mataria
* 8 Matrawi Mataria
* 9 Mazlum Sharabia
* 11 Muhammadi Demardash
*0 2 Oqbi Mit Oqba
Q 2 Qorani (A we is el-) Wasta district
*R I Rubi Medinat el-Fayum
s IS Shuhda Mazgbuna
*T 2 Tarturi Hatia, Mit Oqba
Note, - Those starred appear also in the Delta map.
 - 128-

RAILWAY MAP

OF
DELTA AND FAYUM.

Seen insicle F1·ont Cove1· .

A I Aarif Tila, Manuf

I8 Abu Tarabish H elwan
19 Abu Harera Giza
21 Abu Qafas H elmia
B I Barsum el-Aryan l\Iaasara, Helwan
D I Damiana Belqa
2 Daniel Alexandria
5 Desuqi Desuq
G II Guda Minet el-Qamh
H 7 Huneidiq Timsa, (Ismai lia
I Ibrahim Mat aria
3 Ismail Imbabi ;Imbaba
M 5 Mariam Mostarod, Ma taria
8 Matrawi Mataria
9 Mazlum Sharabia
I I Muhammadi D emardash
0 2 ~ 0qbi Mit Oqba
R I Rubi F ayum (el-Medina)
s 7 Sayed el-Bedawi Tanta
s I4 Shibl Shohada
T I Takruri (Desert) between Cairo and Suez
2 j Tarturi Hatia, Mit Oqba

w I Wafai Alexandria
 - 129 -

A I (v. lYlap of Delta) J~l .J..f· ->-:- J,~ J)•. <? ~

AARIF (Sidi Aarif Billabi Bayed Mob. el-Gaml)
I have no knowledge of this moulid beyond seeing it men-
tioned in one of the Arabic papers in 1357, (193 ) which indicates
that it is of some importance. It was to be held near Tila in
Manufia province, (two tations from Tanta on the main line),
from Friday, 9th Gumad II to the 15th, (also Friday) =Aug. 5
to 12, 1938.

A 2 (Y. Sectional 1:ap Ill)

ABD EL BASAT (v. Sutuhieb)
This microscopic moulid eem to be alway held at or very
near the end of Sbaaban. In 1355 it was the 29th Sbaaban,
the ''waqfa" of Ramadan. (14-11-36).
It i about the smallest of a group of little moulid held
together in a most impressi\ely picture que bit of ancient Cairo,
about the gates of the Eastern side of Cairo, Bab el-Futub and
Bab el-Na 1·. Abd el-Basat i about equidi tant from the two,
and in the Sh. el-Dobabia. No. 12 'bu , between Beit el-Qadi
and Abbasia, pa ses the end of this street.

A 3 (v. Section::~.l Map X)

ABD EL-DAIM {I..JI ~
I 'aw thi \ery small moulid on Friday 16 Moharem J 354
and on Friday 16 Rabia II 1356, (25.6.37).
The little modern mosque of Sh . .Abd el-Daim is very near
Bab el-Luq station, in Sb. Abd el-Daim, which runs parallel to
Sb. el-Dawawin, and joins Sharias Qowala and Kubri Qasr
el-Nil.
Thi is a very unpretentious moulid, with few or no secular
attractions, but rather impressive from the devotional attitude
of its votaries, who with their prayers and zikrs fill the mosque
and the little street.
 130-
A 4 (v. Sectional Map VIII)
ABD EL-KERIM (•. Sutuhia S 16)
One of the very small moulid held at or near the end of
Shaaban, in the region of the Bab Futuh and Nasr.

A 5 (v. Sutuhia, S 16)

ABD EL-QASID ..~...#till ..>...s.
Another mall member of the Sutuhia group, held in the
district of the Bab el-Nasr and Bab el-Futuh, at or near the end
of Sbaaban.
There i a tomb of a Sidi Qtt id in Sh. Da'im almo t opposite
the mo que of Sh. Abd e) Da'im and near Sh. Qasid (Bab el-Luq),
at which I ftm old a mall mouhd i held. Thi I have not
confirmed.
QENA.
A 6 (v. Map of U11per Egypt.)
ABD EL-RAHIM EL-QENAWI ~Jl:All r:~JI ~ t$-A.:.-
This is one of the leading moulids of Egypt, and of prov-
incial fea ts I should imagine it to be second only o that of
Sayed el-Bedawi at Tanta. Being observed at that very holy
time, mid-Shaaban, it cla hes always with the moulids of
Mataria and Luxor, and with sundry smaller ones. For example
in 1356, (1937), the beautiful little moulid of Sidi Haroun fell on
the same night, but happily that has been avoided since.
Owing to the conflicting attractions of these synchronising
Feasts, and its distance from Cairo, I had never witnessed Sidi
el-.Q enawi until the year 1357 (1938), when by the hospitality of
Dr. E. E. E-P, and a companion, who were studying the ways of
the Thebans in the Thebaid, I was enabled to observe its salient
features during four full days. They had forsaken for the time
their Quarters, then an island, near Qoft, and engaged rooms at
the Hotel Dendara, Qena, looking on the main street, with its
little gardens and canal through which passed streams of gallop-
ing donkeys and camels, music, processions of women, goats, etc.
 Ionhd of
Sidi Abd l-Rahim el-Qemt\ri.
 - 131-

Cros ing t h e bridge t o the va t enceinte enclo ing a splendid

group of acred building , with the brines of Abd el-Rabim and
J1
El-Qre hi, (c,j J Ail ~&. itA.. l.iA) , it was depre ing on the pre-
Jiminary nights, to feel at once that the atm osphere even here
~Ya omewhat chilled by the kill- joy Z eitgeist.
The illuminations were brilliant and beautiful, but the light
fell on marguhahs, which did not swing, goo e-nest wh ich di d
not turn, tmd the disappointed faces of many wh o b ad come
hnnclredtl of miles perhap to give innocent plea ure and earn a
little money, and other who were only too eager to patroni e
them, but were dri,en after performing the religiou ob ervance
to jn t loaf abont, or Yi it one ra her dull theatre, and two or
three stall . Has it suddenly become a in to watch a shadow
how or a hawi, or a nake charmer, or a conjuror, balawani or
fire-eater? And poor Qara Goz, the Punch of the Ea t, who has
been a good Moslem here and in Turkey and el ewhere for
hundreds of years! Has be turned heretic in his old age?
On Friday, the 13th Sbaaban, the dullne s wa relie ed by
the performance of beautiful horses and skilled picture que ri-
ders, but only for an hour or o before sunset. Saturday, the
14th Sbaaban, the great night wa brilliant enough for minor
entertainments t o be little missed, and at last the swing and
goose-nests performed their functions, though Qara Goz came
not to life.
The shrines were thronged, and the groups about the
numerous zikrs were immense, and perfectly orderly. Why the
good people wh o preferred to stand should have been coerced into
sitting down by the gentle application of whip was not quite
obvious, but it tended t o silence and attention . I was greeted
several t imes by t h e "Magzub" the inspir done, who e hypnotic
influence and powers were so wonderful at the monlid of Z ein
el -Abdin on 17t h Gumad el- T ani, 1357, (1938), as de. cribed in
connection wit h t hat celebration, b ut here each t im e I saw
h im h e was just a si m ple unit in a zikr, attracting little inter -
 - 132

est, - illustra ting the scriptur e "A prophet is not without

honour, save in his own country , and amongs t his own people."
We were honoure d by an invitati on to a great "Tashri fa",
and excellen t places, refresh ment , etc, near H. E. the M:udir
of Qena, who presided . There were some eloquen t speeche s, and
quite brillian t rhetoric .
The olou of the whole moulid was the great zeffa on Sunday~
15th Shaaban , (9.10.38) 'which commen ced about 9 and went on
till sunset. It appeare d at about 10.30 in the sacred enclosu re :
the usual music, dervish es with their banners and insignia , and
their "Khalif as" mounte d on fine steed , then after camelee rs
with great brazen drums, flute players and the rest, came the
TUB, a sort of mahma l in honour of Sidi Abd el-Rahi m: then a
repetiti on of this on a minor scale, in the form of a g!·eat number
of TABUT S 9Jrranged like takhtaT awanat on splendid ly capa,ri-
so:q.ed camels, each honouri ng some notable sheikh or wali.
Among t other groups the most impre sive was a host of the
"Shuraf a", waving green boughs and shoutin g paeons, most
suggest ive of a Palm Sunday process ion at it be t, when a
multitud~ · of children wave their palms and shout
their
Hosann as.
Aft~r a ceremon y at the tent of Tashrif a, at which
His
E~cellence w.as· present , the zeffa and thousan ds of the crowd
passed through the great necropo lis and far into the desert,
halting on the return, at the tomb of the Nebi el-Lush a, where
a remarka ble ceremon y of rolling in the blessed sand, within the
enclosu re was enacted . It was hi~hly reminis cent of the rolling
women on Fridays at the tomb of the Sultan Maghro uri at the
Baktash i monast ery under the Moqatt ams.

A detail which seemed to us to somewh at discoun t the piety

of the pilgrims , and detract from the magnifi cence of the passage
of the zeffa through the cemeter y was the deplora ble conditio n
of this resting place of the dead, - though perhaps this is un-
avoidab le and a case of necessit y having no law- hardly a square
::.\Iouli<.l of idi ~ bd el- Rahim cl-Qen< ' i.

Th Tf1b.
Iouljcl of Ahd •1- abim cl-Q na 1.

ebi el-Lu ha.

 - 133 -
metre of the campo santo had e caped defilement by human
deposits, and in many cases e\en the tomb had not been
spared.
But the great shock and disappointment was the a.b ence in
the proces ion of the BOAT, ':' which has been a beautiful and
distincti\e feature of thi moulid, ( bared only by Sidi Yu ef of
Lu:s:or), for centuries; for thou ands of J ears, in fact, eeing that
Egyptologists hold that it was adapted by I lam, as an integral
part of this zeffa from he proce ions of Pharaonic time . It
mu t date back to be. ond he time of Ram e Ill for it is
pictured on his temple wall at Karnac. I know not who or
what eau ed the u pen ion of this time-honoured practice, but
wh ( t a re pon ibilitJ to tamper wi h a beautiful and \enerable
Egyptian custom, part of the Yery pell of Egypt which holds
the admiration, and draws the affection of the elite and cultured
of the world! The Egyptians li\e in uch a wealph of glorious
antiquities, material and piritnal, that they barel · realise their
priceless worth, and are o open-handed and free that the. give
away obelisks, allow ugly modernisations, suffer old customs to
lap e, without realising the irremediable lo s of each acrifice,
and that a fragment of the Glory of Egypt ha departed.
It was well on in the afternoon when tbe shrine was again
reached, and circled se en times by the whole companJ which
composed the zeffa, a ceremony fore hadowed all the day by
galloping crowds of cameleer , donkeJ rider and hor emen, a
most attractive and exhilerating spectacle. Then it mo ed on
hrough the town, in the direction of the ludiria, the good
camel which bore the TUB showing practical di approval of any
deviation from the traditional route by ummarily ba1·aking :
and only consenting to ri e when adjured by a chorus of cries,-
" By the Prophet, rise!" ~ ~1_,

* Note,- Th e Boat though not used was to be seen. v. Photo. It is very

similar to a Cantonese "Slipper Junk", as given in the Illustrated
London News of Nov. 5.1938, p. 836.
 - 134-

At last at sunset, arriving at the Mudiria, the great cere-

mony ended by the ym bolic scattering of m oney am ongst t he
crowd, and great was th eagerness to acquire one of the
glittering millieme and the "baraka" attached t o it. (Li ttle
boxes of the e ble ed milli eme · were also given to some of the
pious notables who t ook part, doubtle in order that the baraka
(bles ing) might be extended to the people of their respective
villages) .
Qena is a treasure house of folklore and legend, much of
which centres about pilgrims and he pilgrimage , for Qena is
at he Nile nd of the old pilgrim road across the desert to the
port of Qoseir, a nd naturall) Sidi Abd el-Rahim el-Qenawi is t he
hero of many of these tales. One of these, of which I beard
sundry ersions when on the spot h as just been retold to me by
my gardener, who him self is a "Qenawi", and put baldly into
English is as follows.-
Sidi Abd el-Rabim was not Qenawi by birth, but rather
because he s:::mctified Qena by dying there. When very old and
feeble be came from his home somewhere remote in the South ,
and leaving the Nile at Qena b e was well on his way to Qoseir,
when his naqa, :i_;\; camel, foundered and died. If he had com-
panions, they went on, leavin g him to follow painfully on foot.
When his poor feet were worn to the bone he proceeded on all
fours, till his hands were in an equally bad way. Rolling,
crawling on hi belly took him a little nearer Qoseir, and there-
fo re his goal of Mecca, and then he tried to move forward by
sitting on the sand and jerking himself along, but that only
increa ed t he abraded surface.
At length lying helple l~ down, h e called on the breljze,-
" Y a Saad, go tell the N ebi, (- .J ~ .. JJ1 J.a , * that I have done
my best, but can go no farther", and the breeze returned an d
* Note,- "Prayer and blessing be on the P rophet"; an ejaculation customary
when the Prophet is mentioned.
 Qo tr.
lid - b an.ba n t>lebrn.tion

word Dancin g.

Circling b e Tomb .
I • - a 1 • .. l·..-- ... •-:.- t.:= "'f
0

'-" .

- 135-

whi pered, "The Nebi takes the will for the deed and forbids
you attempting more, but o return ."
It was n, wonderful thing to get a me sage from the Prophet
though a disappointing one, for how " ·as he to return . He did
at length however get mo t painfully back as far a Qena, but
only to die. On hi death bed the ~~ebi him elf came and cheered
him, and said,- "You made all the efforts that mortal could,
almo t more, to come to me bt1t could not, so I, the Prophet,
have come to you, and bles you".
If tales of a different and more material tamp are to be
believed, the Qena·Qo eir di tric is a trea nre hou e in quite a
different way. There n,re more than trace of the mine the
Romans worked for ilver and gem , where now precious
depo its of phosphate bring weal h to an Italian Conce ion and
to a Scotch firm, Messrs. Crookson and Son, !lnd I dare ay others,
and everywhere, (at Qo eir, Safaga, Qena, etc) one hears tales
of recent finds of preciou tone . I know more than one
wealthy family n,t Qena, who a sure one, sub 1·osa, that their
fortune is founded on emerald the grandfather or some near
ances or lighted upon.
But to return to what i nearer the subject of thi book, I
recommend readers who d - sire an unique holiday without
quitting Egypt, to voyage down the Red Sea, and having staJ ed
long enough at Qo eir to enjoy its fascination , to ride a camel
to Qena, leisurely with an intdligent guide. If by happy chance
they be in Qo eir at mid-Shan,ban, as I wa , they will . ec trange
rites amongst the many tomb rai ed to tho e who died here on
the way back from Mecca :- Arab on brilliantly harnessed and
accoutred camels, with takhta1·awanat, (pn,lanquins) on their
backs ci1;cling the most holy tombs, in the neighbourhood of the
old castle. There is much in thi suggesti\e of a moulid, but
from what I understood locally, the celebration was too general
to be classed as such, anyway to justify me in attributing it to
one particular saint.
 136-

Though the writer has paid many visits to the Tbeban

region of Egypt, finding new beautie and inter sts every time
during nearly forty years' re idence, he will look back on this last
experience of the moulid a something quite unique, and recom ·
mend both Cairenes and Yi itors to do the same. The Nile, the
blending of "the desert and the own". the glorious monum2nts
even in beautiful bub obscure Yillages like El-Awadat, ula.__,.JI'
the hearty kindness and ho pitality of rich and poor, the
associations of such place in th immediate n ighbourbood as
Qof t, which ga\e its name to the country ancl to a great and
ancient cu lt; and in addition thi. great moulid, and this year a
flood forming a ea alrno t from the Libyan to the Arabian bills,
a ll unite to produce a picture':' not easily mat,..hed. I t is only
marred by the fear that th trimming down of thi splendid
moulid will go on, till the clipping of the wings of this bright
bird of hi ' ory and tradition \Yill take awa} all its beauty, but
let us hope it will quickly rise again like the phoenix, and that
without first being reduced to a hes.
A 7 ( v. Sectional Map VI.)
ABD EL-WAHlD .>->-1_,11...~.~
The date on the one occa ion on which I witnessed this
moulid was Sunday, 25 Ragab 1355, (11 .10.36).
Th Maqan is in a little garden on the W. side of Sh. Abd
el-Gawa,d, the big Bulaq street commepcing in front of the
* Note, - Nile flood ; -
Naturally the time of the flood does not necessarily coincide with
that of the moulid, whose date, mid-Shaaba n, recedes annually eleven
days in the solar year. On the occasion described, the ISth Shaaban
being the gth October, about a maxi mum of land was und er water. Mr.
Evans-Pritchard's qu ar ters at Q oft were so isolated tha t a little raft of
ear th en pots bound together with osiers called a r amus (I.)"'_,...) was in
constant requisition for going and coming. This was pushed by one or
two naked lads across a considerable stretch of water, seldom deep
enough to necessitate swimming. Qoft or Qobt is the ancient Coptu!', a
city most famous in Egyptian history.
 ••• • ,J ..
- • ,_; • •' .. "'! ...

I ulicl
of
. h eik h bclulla.

The Mo que.
 - 137 -

mo que of Abu el- Ela, not far from where it i cros ed by the
Darb el-Nasr. Autobus no . 15 passes it. It bears the super-
-scription,- ~ 1_,11 ~ ~~ i\i.. 1-i.
This is a "Very small moulid hardly extending beyond the
garden and a big cafe, in a ra her rough and unintere ting
neighbourhood. The people flocking about were not of be usual
admirable type, but con isted mainly of "turpi simi pue.!:i", who
showed undue intere t in me and some Engli h and Dutch
friends whom I had brought.
A 8 (v. Sectional Ma11 X.)
ABDDLLA J,1 .).,$.
On each of fi:ve occa ions when I ba\e wi nes ed his
moulid, it has been on a Friday, but the date ha Yaried between
24 Ragab in 1353 to 21 Shaaban in 1355 (6 .11.19313) .
The mosque of Sheikh Abdulla is very acce sible not far
from Bab el-Luk station, off the Dawawin, -tram 4, 12, and
7 and e"Veral buse . It i on the N . side of Sharia * Sh . Rihan .
A mall moulid, but up o 1352 (1933) "Very bright- the
mo que well filled, and a good zeffa; with a few s alls anc a lot
of people in the open space adjoining : and at a suitable di -
tance Qara Gnz, Fire Eater. , etc. A pleasant fea,ture was the
singing in the little side treets, mostly arranged by private
parties, often accompanied by simple music.
What gave rise to the avage attack in 1352, (1933) when
the space by the mosque was cleared mo t umma,r ily, even of
women itting under it wall ? Certainly it was not to keep the
way open for traffic, for there is none throu gb this sort of court
yard. It survived rough treatment in 1353, (1934 ) but was
nearly crushed out of existence in 1355, (1936) o that I did n ot
* "ote, - Kemp, in his "Egyptian Illustration" gives a handsome wood-cut
of the Tomb of Sh. Rihan, who doubtless gave his na m e to the
street. I can find no trace of the tomb nor record of the Sheikh :
both seem to have passed into the Ewigkeit in recent times.
 - 138-

go in 1356, (1937) but am- told it a1)peared a vanishing quantity.

In 1355 however (and I dare ay other years), there was a small
zeffa between 10 ftnd 11 in the evening, consi Ling of about
half a dozen ection of tb Tariqa Ham:=t.dia Shazlia
4,;\.:.JI ~.M~I ~~_;h]l. One inging party also bad . urvived, and
proved very popular well away behincl th e mosqu e ; bot this also
seemed to have di appeared in 1357, (193 '), n,uc1 about ::~.11 I sa"
at the door of a nearly empty mo ·qne wns a man with::~. bandcar
and a disgruntled look, hoping to ell \\'eet potato<"

A 9 ('· Sectional Map XVII.)

ABDDLLA EL-HAGR ~!.I ~I~&- (:-:!-ll c$.A.:.-
Tbis very mall one-day moulid wa held in the year 1357
(1938) on 29th Sbaaban, the eve of Ramadan, about the Tabut
f Sheikh Abdulla which is outside his mosque. The super-
scription
«0;JI J-i ;y .l'ul..1.~" ~I c.$.>..:.- ili.. Ll•»
indicates that this saint is Huseini (of the line of the Imam
Husein.)
Being close to Saida Ayesha, trams 13 and 23 pass it. It
seems to be mainly a children's moulid, and being in a very
attractive quarter, is a pretty sight.
The zeffa promised for the afternoon, as I was assured had
been the ea e in previous year , did not a.ppear.
This J ear 1359 A. H. I found the moulid in action, on the
same date a in 1357, the eve of Ramadan, Wedne day 2. 10. 40~
Its characteristics were unchanged, that of being a children's
moulid being decidedlJ emphasi ed.

A 10 (v. Sectional Map XVII.)

ABDULLA KHAFIR EL-DARE
On e::~.ch of the two occasions on which I witnessed this
pjcturesque little moulid, the date was 27 Shaaban, (the latter
date being 27 Sbaaban 1354 (26.11.35.).
 - 139-

The Maqam of the Sheikh is in a weird, rather fascinating

spot, behind the Prison behind l\1anshiah Mob. Ali, and near
the Tombs of the lYiameluke ; but though one feels rather out of
the world there, it is a bare minute from the tram track leading
to Imam el-Shafei, Tram No. 13.
It is a \ery small moulid in one bright street, in which the
l\1aqam is situated. There i a \ery eager crowd, mostly of
children, so that it take the local sheikh all their time to
prevent the holy gate being era hed. Q,er tbi is the in cription
~ ..)..J\ ~ .r,, .).-!' -1.:- ilia u.•
The only counter attractions eemed to be a mall amusement
show and a big cafe.
A 11
ABU AMERA
This elusive little moulid, near Khardasa, requires consider-
able enterpri e. This I am told is rewarded by it general
picture qnenes , and the beaut~ of its po ition between the dese1·t
and the sown.
Having been let down more than once by wrong dates, I
succeeded at last in nearh reaching it by motor bu from the
English Bridge, on Thur day, 11th Gumad II. 1353, (1934), but
found myself separated from it by flooded land. I might ha-ve
obtained a felucca, on the chance of finding a donkey at the
moulid, to take me to Mena Hou e, or po ibly to Giza, but
preferred to return as I came by the bu which brought me, as
it was the la t. It was bhen about 10 o'clock.
I think it would be better approached by donkey or camel
from the P yramids: but now that the ba in s~ stem of irrigation
is abolished it should be approachable by bicyc:le or e-ven by car
via Bulaq Dakrur, Zenin and Saft.
A 12
ABU ATATA
I cannot give an exact date for this moulid, as on the two
 - 140-

occa ions on which I have been p1·esent and noted it, the chief
night was 17 Rabia I, 1348, and 6 Gurnad I, 1353, (16.8.34)
respecti vely.
The tomb of Sidi Abu Atata is in a village called El-Ezba
el-Gbar bia, ~!__,;JI ~ ;JI near the Giza Reform atory, but on the
other side of the level crossing over the railway , and of the
canal, about half a mile to the south.
It i best approac hed from Cairo by taking tram no. 14 or
15, or bu no. 6, via Zamalik to the Giza Mudiria , turning at
right angle up Sharia Bren ate, crossing the line at the end,
turning left and followin g the canal. The road admits of a car.
It is a good t3 pical country rnoulid, with an earnest crowd
about he tomb, and a men·} scene in a field near by, with Qara
Goz and the u ual bows, swing , &c., but I am told that it has
lo t much of its former \ogue recently , and this year 1359
(1940) it appears not to have been hela at all.
A 13 (v. Section al Map XIII.)
ABU AZAIM , (Sidi Muham mad Madi Abu el-Azaim ).
{I;JI yl ~\.. j.;. t$.A.:.-
Sidi ~!fob. Abu el-Azaim is rprobab ly the most recent local
aint to be "raised to the altars" of Islam, having died as re0ent-
ly as 1936 A. D. (1355) A. H., about seven centurie s later than,
for example , Bayed el-Beda wi.
It is reassuri ng and stimula ting to find that the modern
world can still produce a saint, and recogni se his sanctity , even
to ~ its 1Jublic recogni tion by Moulid, Zikr, a.nd Zeffa, and the
other venerab le derYish ceremon ies. The writer deems himself
Yery fortuna te in having made the acquain tance of the little sect
of the Azmia. and i-hs present venerab le head and khalif, the son
of Sidi Madi Abu el-Azajm , - and that through the curious
acciden t of a little vagary of the moon, which upset the
calenda r.
I was returnin g from the Citadel Mosque on Sunday evening ,
B a b El-Zuwela .
 - 141-

lOth September 1939, th e 26th Ragab 1358 according to the

official calendar, and others which I have een, R.nd therefore the
Leilet el-Isra., or Leilet el-Ma.a1·ag, when the miraculous ride of
the Prophet to Jerusalem and P aradise is celebrated- (for.it had
been ru led by the high authorities that the moon contradicted
the calendar and that the following night was the true Night of
the "Ascension"; and minarets which h ad been lit up were put
out, and the ceremony at Muhamm ad Ali mo que po tponed t o
the lYionday evening)- and I was on my_way t o the moulid of
Ta htoushi to see if that had suffered the ame po t11onemen ,
"\\hen I noticed a great confluence under the B ab el-Zuwela,
with innumerable lamps and much chanting.
I think everyone who know Cairo i acquainted with this
wonderful city gate, hung with voti"'e offering of hair, teeth ,
scra11s of clothing, etc., behind which the holy Wali is thought
by some to be concealed. I thought at fir t that the cerem ony
was exclusively in honour of t he Wali of the Gate, but noticed
that a large beirak (banner) was inscribed.
t I ~.r2ll ;~..0~ ~.)I ij!)J I
"The Egyptian Order of the AZMIYA", etc.,-
a sect quite new to me, and on asking th.e bearer of the beirak,
he told me that this was t.he moulid of Sidi Moh. Madi Abu
el-Azaim, and the zeffa had -come from Sidna Hussein and was
on its way to the Tabut (shrine) of the dead saint. Going there
too, I was most hospitably entertained by the living H ead of the
order, the Sheikh Ahmad Madi Abu el-Azaim, Sheikh of the
Order of the Azmiya of the Valley of the Nile,
J?l ~plY. . ~~.) \ ~~LJI t~
H e told me that this was only the ante-penultimate night,
and invited me to the remaining celebrations, especially that of
the final night, Tuesday, 28 R agab, 1358 (12-9-39). ' The tabut
is in his palace in H aret el-Fariq, between Sultan Hanafi and
the Khalig- "Palace of the Azmiya F am ily", «{I;JI Jl
~~ ..r-!>>
 - 142-

Picking up the zeffa on Tuesday evening about 9.30 I was

interested and impressed by the rites which preceded the zikrs,
the reading of an address by "The Sheikh", punctuated by
exclamations from the company of "God is Great",
Allahu Akbar ~)I J,1
and in praise of the dead sheikh, and finally of "Long Jive the
Khalifa. the Sheikh Ahmad Abu el-Azaim".
{lj-11 -".1 ~I (_~I ~t>.ll '-??·

I should like to know what are the initial stages in the

recognition of a Saint, and what rites go to the "making of a
Wali." The Vatican examine a "cause" usually over a period
of many year , though occasionally, as in the case of Teres a,
"The Little Flower", - whose cult at her basilica at Sbubra is
shared by Moslems and Jews as well as by Catholic and Ortho-
dox Chri tians- a few months proves sufficient. A "Devil's
Advocate" is appointed to criticise the postulant' claims, and
advance anything that should preclude canonisation. Miracles
must be pro~ed, and in the g1·adus ad alta1'e a candidate is
"Venerable" and "Blessed", before be is styled "Saint". I have
little doubt that the process is somewhat parallel in Islam, and
crave for "mebr licht".
* * *
Since penning the above lines on this Latte'r -day Saint, the
further light I desired has been supplied by the kindness and
erudition of Dr. Evans-Pritchard, the Sociologist. This in-
form::ttion dissipates my assumption that Islamic saintsbip may
result from hierarchical investment, for in this case at least it is
clearly established by popular suffrage, more or less within the
dervish orbit, for Sheikh Muhammad Madi began as an initiate
of the Sect of the Shazlia, making the "Azmiya" an offshoot
from that great Ta'riqa.
Sheikh "Abu Azaim" as he came to be known was born in
 - 143-

1870 at Desouq but settled in t.he village of Mutaharia in Minia

Province, Upper Egypt, which became the headquarters of his
sect the Azmiya.

He felt that he had the mission of a religious reformer, and

his enthusiasm and on the whole mild and laudable Shazliyan
tenets attracted many, especially minor official in }1Jgypt and
the Sudan, during twenty years' service under the Eg, ptian
Ministry of Education and the Education Department of the
Sudan Government: but in 1915 his views and actions became
so tendentious that he wa di charged from the post he then held
at Gordon College. Hi nightl5 zikr, ., ecret meeting , and
strenuou ermons brought him numerou di ciples, but created
mistrust in official quarters, and he wa ent back from the
Sudan to Egypt .

There he voiced ideas which were on the one hand almost

the stern tenets of the Wahabites, mixed with polemics against
other sects than his own, and political extra\agances; and on
the other liberal, even to alleged laxity, especially in the treat-
ment of women. He is credited with having had a magnetic
attraction for the other ex, and accused by some of ha,ing
acquired much of his considerable wealth by traffic in hegabat
(charms), and such like, not excluding the poculum am,oris.
Some of his money went in the purchase of two printing'presses,
and at that time his political activities included articles to "El-
Akhbar". This side of his "mission" was mo, t marked at the
time of the entry of Turkey into the war.
His enthusiasm for a parliamentary career was damped by
the antagonism of students who actually stoned him on one
occasion at least.
Later, except for occa ional violent political articles, he
reverted to the more saintly character of his earlier years, and
was well known in Egypt as fiqi and a preacher until he died in
1937 (1358) amongst many devoted disciples and adherents.
 - 144-

His vogue in the Sudan was at one time remarkable, but after
reaching its zenith in th e early twenties it has waned ...-ery
considerably there.
On the other hand h e see m o be held in gr eat and increas-
ing esteem in Egyp , especially in the Cairo di trict.
* * *
A 14
ABU BADIR ~~ Y. \ (::~ll
Tbis extremely small moulid i one of many h eld at mid-
Shaaban ; or uch wa th e case on the only date I h aYe seen it.
14 Sbaaban 1352 (1933).
The tomb of the Sheikh i in a n Atfa of his n a me, off the
Bab el-Shaaria. The entrance to the atfa is passe d by bus
No. 12 from the Beit el-Qadi.
A 15
AB DAIF J~ Y.l (::!-11
Reported as one of he Imam el-Shafei group, held 1n
Shaaban, but not so far located by me.
A 16 (v. Sectional Map VI.)
ABU el-ELA ~.ll j.l jlhl_ll
I e~joyed
the fine moulid of Sultan Abu el-Ela repeatedlyt
earl} in this century, well before the war of 1914-18. It was
very big and popular, and extended not only all around and about
the mOS}Ue, but far into the little Bulaq lanes on the other side
of the main street. There was a sober brHliance about it : not
many secular shows but many singing sheikhs in the shops and
houses, and people were allowed to collect and listen and enjoy
in peace, not irritated and hustled, and even beaten, as of recent
years and goaded to a sort of perpetual motion.
Then came tragedy! A part of the mosque collapsed with
tragic results . It \\as taken deeply to heart : not so much the
loss of life and the expense of repairs, but the shock that so
 1Uoulid
of
bu el-Elr.. .

The Mo que.
~lo que of bu el-Ela,
 145-

holy a place should fall down. "Why did not Sultan Abu el-Ela
intervene?" asked some pion imple soul . It was left to
another t o heal broken spirits, for the 3 oung King Farouk, soon
after hi accession made publicly his Friday prayer in the now
re tored mosque and, as it were, took away it reproach, and set
it gloriously up again. I have seldom seen in Cairo so large and
enthusiastic a crowd as that which a sembled in Bulaq on that
propitious day; nor people more joyou than some of the sheikhs
who frequented the mo que. One remarked,-"We have walked
in darkne s these twenty year , and now Farouk has brought
light: he must be our Khalif a well as our Ring!"
This happy event was followed by the joyous renewal of the
moulid on a generous cale, and immensely popular it was . The
apodosis was on Thursday, 15th Rabia II, 1356, (24-6-37), and
it was repeated on Thursday, lOth R abia II, 1357, (9-6-38),
and Thur day, 13th R abia II, 1358, (2-6-39).
This famou mosque is most erusily found even by strangers
to Cairo. It is about a hundred yard to the ea t of Bulaq
B ridge, in Sh. Foad el-Awal, and i pas ed by trams 13, 14, 15
and 33, and autobu es 6 and 15. Tram 7 pa se through th
amusement park.
This collection of booth s, tent theatre, "Pi te a la Morte"
of Billy Willia rn s, and innu merable stalls , is discreetly distant
fro m the mosque where prayers, zikrs, and zeffas are undisturb-
ed, and is beautifully and picturesquely placed on the bank of
th e Nile: and a Ringa and a Qara Goz and some oth er attractions
exist in a small side street.
The popularity of the Sultan Abu el-Ela is largely due to his
being a local saint. Abd el-Wahab el Sharani in El-Tabaqat el
K ub 1·a r efers to the head of the ainted Abu el-Ela being en-
shrined in Cairo, at Bulaq near t h e Nile. N atives of the spot
assure me that that is so, but that his " sir" keeps watch in the
Nile, much as the spirit of another Weli near Qoft, (Sidi Masaud
according to some, Sidi Qenawi to others, or, as claimed at Minia,
 - 146-

their patron saint Sidi Fuli), prevents any crocodile passing

north. If it runs the spiritual blockade it is forced to turn belly
upwards, becoming an easy prey. I have been asked why
steamers blow their syrens in pa sing near Bulaq Bridge. I
have little doubt that it is in honour of Abu el-Ela, though
possibly the whole group of Maqarns in the vicinity of his mosque
are considered al o. ThP.se include Sidi Muafaq who has his own
rnoulid, as has Ahmadein, Hilal whu has, or had his zeffa and
has a \ery beautiful little tomb, and Sheikh MustafFL, and others.
I am told by the Sheikh Abu el-Ela Bedawi of Aguza, that
the rea on why his mosque was allowed to fall into such a
crumbling condition, was a tern injunction against building or
repairing laid by the Su,ltan himself. This is not an unique
instance of uch a veto: the Sultan Hanafi had the same fear
for his beau iful mosque if tampered with, and put such a
vigorous embargo on repairing, that until recently a part of
the structure has been almost bidden by beams and wooden
buttresses.
Florea , Abu el-El a! May nothing but blessing rest in the
future on your head, and your mosque, and your Nile, and your
moulid.
In the war year 1359 (1940), Abu el-Ela presented such an
unusu al aspect, that a special note is necessary.
The moulid was held on its day of predilection, Thursday,
and at the normal date, 16 Rabia II (23-5-40), and its zikrs and
religious side were nearly normal, except that I observed no
procession of sufficient amplitude and solemnity to be regarded
as a proper zeffa.
I taly h ad not then declared war, but there was a practice
black-out whilst the moulid was developing, and throughout
there was no trace of amus·e ment park in its usually charming
site by the Nile and Bulaq Bridge, probably owing to the special
precautions and regulations concerning bridges. But an enclo-
sure on the S. side of Sharia Foad el-Awal, two or three

•
 - 147-
hundred metres E. of the mosque,* contained swings, some
gaming and other tables and a considerable theatre. This ran
for some weeks. I noticed that the dwarf who has been fre-
quently referred to in these pages had found his duplicate, quite
a promising sosie .
On the great night or rather afternoon there were very
amusing attractions behind the mosque and in the regi on of
Sheikh Muafaq, but these were scattered at sunset. There re-
mained many singing groups and large zikr , and perhaps the
most triking thing to a visitor, was the beautiful vie" of the
interior from the immen e door at the back of the mo que,
which had been thrown wide open. The great groups of wor-
shippers, and the fine detail of the architecture and the
decorations were colourful and impre sive to a degree.
The most popular object by the tomb of Sheikh Muafaq was
quite new to me, and I think to moulids. It consisted of a large
canvas globe blown up like an immense football, revolviLg slowly
about a vertical axis, (connecting its north and south poles) and
painted in sections with the name of some country on each.
Owing to the fading light, to the crowd, and to the fact that at
this moment it was raided by the police, I only made out
Germany, I taly and Ame1·ica. Stakes were laid on a board
painted in corresponding colours.

BE I MAZAR

A 17 (v. Map of Upper Egypt.)

ABU el-LEIL ~UI J.l
This is a Beni Mazar moulid, held in 1357 in Gumad I and
said to be important, at least locally, but any definite information
about it is lacking to me.
* Note. - This small amusement park continued to function a fte r the
moulid.
 - 148-

HELW

A 18 (v. Map of Upper Egypt.)

ABU el-TARABISH ~I)JI y,l
Though never there myself, English friends and others who
were, on Friday lOth Zu'el-HIGGA 1355 (1936), told me that it
was a big and intere ting moulid, in a picturesque desert setting.
It is ju t out ide Helwan : an easy walk or donkey ride.
A 19 (v. Map of Upper Egypt.)
ABU HARERA o.;. .;~ Y.l c$~""
I have come across a letter written several years ago to one
of our leading anthropologists, co ering so much of the ordinary
moulid ground, on the secular ide, that I append it verbatim.
As the letter is to illu trate a specific cult of very ancient origin,
it naturally doe not emphasise the religious side. Thi , however,
is by no mean neglected, witness the meetings of the t~bnbq,
the zikrs, readings in the mo ques, pilgrimage to the tomb,
&c., and the dervi h element rather dissociates itself from the
kaleidoscopic cbarivaria which included the "royal" car, and
sundry other of lads dressed up as girl , in its elements. The
elimination of the more carnal parts has not, however, heightened
the spiritual side, if one might judge from the dingy, dismal
condition into which I found the tomb to have fallen when
visited subsequent to the date of the appended letter, and the-
diminished number of pilgrims. It told of poverty and the need
of some wealthy benefactors.
A visit at dawn on the great day of the moulid, which as I
have pointed out, is also the most characteristically Egyptian
feast of the year, "Sham el-Nesim", reveals many people rising
from sleep in the fields to greet the rising sun. That this is a
remnant of the worship of Ra is evidenced by the fact that at
the same moment, a host which has passed the night in the
fields and roads about the obelisk at l\1:ataria is rising for the
same purpose: this on the very site of the Temple of Ra, and of
the rising of the Phoenix.
 - 149 -

In spite of the great \"eneration in which Abu Harera is

held, especially at Giza, I have learnt nothing consistent or
reliable about him by local enquiry.

If, as I suppose, he is the Abu Harera chronicled by the

Sheikh Abd el-Wahab el Shaarani, (v. Vol. I, p 22 of his "el-
Taba.qat el-Kubra") he dates back to the fir t century of the
Hegira, as he is recorded to have died at Medina at the age of
78 in the Khalifat of l\1oawiya, and, as we know, Moawiya
opposed the Imam Ali, and u urped the Khalifat from the Imam
Ha. an, grandson of the Prophet, and was re ponsible for the
grertt revolt in Egypt.

It seems to be one of the many case of the body of an

associate or descendant of the Prophet's immediate famil being
bron ght to Egypt by the Fatimites,- doubtles with a iew to
ingratiating the Egyptian in spite of their di like for the
Fatimite heTesies.

Abu Harera's humble imple character, hi lo\e of poverty

and of God's creatures, human or otherwi e, and his excessi\e
devotion remind one somewhat of S. Franci of A i._j, He wa
passionately fond of a little cat, loved to seJ·ve anyone, rich or
poor, carrying bundles of faggots on hi head, or performing
any menial act. He is aid to ha\e commenced his day by
uttering twelve* thousand praise to God, and to have so di lik-
ed abating his thanks to the Creator that he divided the normal
time of sleep into three periods, during one of which his wife
was responsible for tbi ob ervance, his black woman lave,
.. garia" for another, and he him elf for the third.

It is strange that he bad a marked dread of death, and wept

bitterly towards the end, !:laying "How can I know whether I
shall wake in heaven or in hell?"

* Note,-
 -ISO -

THE MOULI D OF SHEIK H ABU BARER , ( GIZA).

The Profe sor of Sociolo gy,

Eg ptian Univ-er ity.
Dear Profes or,
When the other day we were discu ing the lament able
and
lap e of old Egypti an fe ti al , and picture que ceremo nies,
t
even the threate n d suppre sion of the Moulid s, under presen
my
andali tic and kill-joy influen ce , you were struck by
of a
mentio n of cert::~,in phallic elemen ts in the Giza Zeffa
an
quarte r of a centur y ago. I did not realise that these bad
that
anthrop ologica l and . cientifi c value, but as you assure me
I will put on record from memor y what I
such i the case,
r Englis hman, (whom you know and who
witne sed with anothe
01~
will confirm thi ), at the Moulid of Sheikh Abu Harera in
about the year 1908 ...... .
The Zawia or tomb of the Sheikh is as ~you are awaee
n
close to the Giza Marke t, a vast space enlarge d on this occasio
races to be run. These, which I
to enable primiti ve horse
presum e were the openin g ceremo ny (apart of course from Zikrs
I
and other Moslem observa nces), were about to start when
mounte d on a very swift arab
arrived at about 10 a.m. and being
to
I was rash enough to take part. Compe titors were allowed
hor es, or to baulk the
use a, stick to beat their oppone nts'
of
riders, exactly as in the Palio raced at Siena on the Feast
play to get used to
the As umptio n. After a little prelim inary
ous
these peculia r conditi ons, we raced and I won amidst vocifer
and genero us applaus e, partly becaus e "El-Bu raq" was better
the
fed than the other horses, and had had good practic e at
mild u se
Gezira Sportin g Club, but more I think throug h the
h
they made of their sticks \vhere I was concer ned. My triump
wa short-li Yed, for I was entirel y cutclas sed in the manag ement
of my mount at the finish, they pulling up almost jn a length
stop.
and I commi tting some havoc in the crowd before I could
took this with the same chivalr ous good
Riders and onlook ers
 MOULlD of ABU HARERA

" Buraq"
The winning hor in a B edouin e\ent.
 -151-
temper. Even the people whom I fear I hurt, refused any corn-
pen ation; but a picturesque vendor of Qa1·a Sus or E1·q Sus, a
drink made mainly of sar a.parilla, I fancy, was on t he pot and
I bought up his stock for the liquid delectation of qt6icwnqt6e
V'l."lt . As 1 rode a'Tay I hen,rd hi cry, -0\..:..b ~ J l J~- Sibil
All ah ya Atshaneen! (Fountain of the Lord, Oh ye thir ty ones) ,
and saw him thoroughly well mobbed.
There was a great crowd about the t omb, with acrobats,
conjurors, dancing girl and the rest; and the street were so
thronged thn,t my progre "s wa most difficult, and I had to take a
short cut throu gh the harlot ' quarter, almost deserted at that
early hour, and out of the route of the zeffa. At the beginning of
the Suq, the main street of the little town, further ad-vance was
impo ible, n,nd I was immobili ed for quite an hour wa.tching the
pageant pass, and there I spotted W., another Engli hman in the
sam condition. After the usual "Turuq" with their banner ,
mu ic, ashes, and insignia, came endless cart bearing group
dre sed up t o represent some guild or ome fancy, and others
drawn by one hor e or donkey an d bearing thirty or more
children and women in gala attire, then I noticed approaching
a large cart "ith a rai ed platform at the front . At the centre
of this was a throne, and before it "\\as tanding a, very hand ome
lad of fourteen or fifteen, verfectly naked except for a little
crown, nncl an open bolero of crimson stuff embroidered in
gold, anu bearing little epaulettes, through which almost
in\i ible cords pa ed . Brightly coloured circle had been
painted round his na-vel and nipple . A "Wazir" in gorgeous
robes adopted from syces' costume stood on each side of the
monarch, one holding a gilt chamber pot and the othe1· a basin ,
which with low obeissance they presented to him at intervals.
Mu ician beat tars, toblas, and darabukas on a somewhat lower
platform behind . B ut the amazing thing wa that the little
kin g's virile organ was dancin g to the music in seeming excite-
ment, turning to the right and left, dipping do"\Tn, and then
fl ying up and down as though actuated by a spring. The royal
 - 152-

car paused for a minute or more a, few yards from where I was,
and I could detect a fine cord attached to the anterior portion of
this marionette of flesh and blood, pa.ssing under one of the
epaulette and de cending from behind to the lower part of the
cart, wh re obviously a string-puller was concealed.
I did not witnes any of the subsequent proceedings, but
as far a I am ~"ware, tbey were such as are common to any
moulid.
Though I witnessed the zeffa on two or three rather more
recent occasions, but before the war, I saw nothing of the 1·oyal
car. I do not know if it wa officially suppressed.
The war 1914-1 nearly obliterated this moulid, though of
reeent years it ha recovered ome little of it ancient glory; as
is also the case with the Giza weekly fair,-:.,)1~11 j_,-Suq el-Talat·
I t is worth noting that the Moulid of Sheikh el-Harera
does not, (now at an} rate), follow tbe Moslem Calendar
obserV"ed by nearly a ll the others, but is beld on(':_jJ\ (:., Sham
el-Nesim, the Easter Monday of the Coptic and Greek Churches:
and I su spect the Zeffa, with its phallic elements, dates back to
pre-Isla,mic, and pre-Christian festivals in honour of Spring.
Yours,
J. W. McP.
QO SEIR.
A 20
ABU HASAN EL-ABABDI

Information is required about this, as I ha\e heard it referred

to in the Qose ir district, and to the South of that Red Sea town,
as of considerable importance, but can ascertain nothing definite.
Zu' el-Qaada was mentioned as the month of the moulid, but
this n eeds confirmation.
D r . Evans-Pritchard who has studied the important
Bedawin tribe of the Ababda,which is met with mainly from
 - 153-

na to Aswan, confirms the existence of a moulid which, he

says, is unusual in those rAgions, except in the ea e of that of
the Prophet, (v. Moulid el-Nebi), but cannot at present gi\e me
the exact date and place.

HELhliA

A 21
ABU QAFAS .• I . ..
~)>. ~

Though I have often heard this referred to as well worth

seeing, my information ha always been too late to enable me to
witness it.
Dr.R ... , who lives clo e to the Helmia tation, ays it is held
under his windows, which fairly well locates it. I gather from
what he and others have told me, that the date is in or about
Rag ab.

ZE IN
A 22
ABO QRAISH J.~} J>.l (::~\
I made a rather stormy acquaintance with thi mou lid
about 1348, (1929), as I arrived at about 9. 30, just as the police
raided it, pulled down tents and utterly stopped it. I believe
this step was justified by the moulid having waited for no
authorisation. It went smoothly enough on Thursday, 13
Gumad I, 1353 (1934) and again Thursday 15 Gumad II, 1357,
(11-8-38).
It is situated at the village of Zenin, and may be reached
by the Khardasa bus from the English Bridge. In 1357 (1938)
taxis at one piastre for a place were plying frequently between
these two, long after the very infrequent buses had ceased to
run. It may a lso be visited by motor by the way of Sharia
el-Brinsat crossing the line at the Brasserie des Pyramides, and
following rather rough country tracks. It is a simple country
 - 154 --

moulid, lively and picturesque, and well worth a visit, especially

before the light has gone, and the beauty of Zenin with its
water and encircling egetation can be appreciated.
On the secular side I saw no theatres in 1357, (1938), nor
shows, though plenty of amusing and popular stalls, but was
considerably surprised to find that all the big cafes bad their
music and dancing girl . There was a lot of merry feasting
as eight camels had been slain earUer in the day.
As for the Sheikh, Abu Qraish, I could elicit no inform ation
sufficiently reliable to put do\\n.
A 23 (v. Sectional Map VI.)
ABU EL-SABAA t_~l-".1
Th e date of this seems very erratic, but on each occasion
when I have een the moulid and noted the date, it has been
held on a Thursday, but the month has varied from Rabia I in
1348 to Gum ad I in 1353. In 1356 it was on the 8th of Rabia II.
(17-6-37).
Th e mosque of Abu el-Sabaa is at the Saptia end of Sharia
Abd el-Gawad, the big new street of Bulaq, a rather low district
preservin g ome of the traditions of the old port of Cairo, and
not singularly picturesque. - Bus 15 or Tram 4.
Though much reduced it is a big moulid, with on the secular
side theatres, Qara Go z, ringas , &c., and in several recent years
the famous "Piste a la Iorte" of Billy Williams.
A 24
ABU ZAID ~j J!\
Reported as one of the Imam el-Shafei group, in Shaaban,
but not located.
A 25
ADA WIYA ~_,~I t_:!-
Reported as one of the small moulids in the Imam el-Shafei
district, an d following that of the Imam, in Shaaban.
I have not, however, been able to locate it.
 - 155-

A 26
AGAN
One of the smallest of moulids, but gaily beflagged, held at
mid-Shaaban, in a small treet off Sharia el-Khairat. Saida
Zenab tl'ams 7, 4, 12, and bu e 3 and 9 pa s thi way.
Over the tomb is written,
« 0~11 J..f ~.$.A:- (\i. l..ivt. »

"This is the tomb of Sidi Muhammad el-Agan."

A 27 (v. Sectional lVIap VI.)

AHMADEIN
Though present on Sunday 30 Gumad I, 1353, (16-8 -34), and
on one other occasion, who e date I omitted to note, I have not
been able to hit the right day for everal year , and if still held
it must be at a widely different time.

The Maqam of Sidi Ahmadein in a little treet of the ame

name, off the new broad one in front of the m o que of Abu el-
Ela, is very easily reached, a it i only a couple of minutes
walk from that well known mosque. Bus J 5 passes it; and bus
6 and trams 13, 14, 15 which all tra,~erse Sharia Foad el-Awal
stop by Abn el- E la.

The street is \ery picturesque with two tombs of Sheikhs

in addition to the mo que and maqam of Sidi Ahmadein, which
Jast bears the inscription over its portal, -

("The tomb of Sidi Ahmadein") (JMJ..;r ~~ ':fo.A:;- ('\.Q,.

The secular · side is almost nil, the great feature being the
zeffa in the late afternoon. This comes from the Saptia direction
arri\ing at the tomb by the winding Sharia Wagha. It is very
peaceful and well attended, and I hope to find that it is still
flourishing.
 156-

A 28 (v. Sectional .Map XI.)

ANSARI <$Jla:\11 ~;. <.foJ.:-
This beautiful little moulid bas been held on each of the
occasions on which I have been present in the last wef'k of
Shaaban : On the 26th in 1354 (1935) and 1355 (J 936), and on
the 27th in 1357, (21.10.38) . In 1356 (1937) it was to ha e been
on the 26th, but was put off owing to the death of a member of
the family of Sh. Madbouli, who I understand is an Ansari
descended from the Founder. Thi year, 1359 (1940) it was on
the 26th Shaaban.
It is held in the tiny Haret el-Ansari, off Sh. Muhammed Ali,
a few minute ' walk from the Ataba on the right. The Tabut is
just within the main door of the house at the back of the haTa,
where there i also ample pace for praying and for zikrs.
It is the fascination of moulids, that though one is liable to
shock and di appointment , there is the chance of witnessing
scene of amazing beauty or interest, and of being carried out of
this mechanised blase age, into the sort of oriental atmosphere
one reads and dreams about. Thi tiny moulid has so delighted
and impressed me that I venture to describe what I have beard
and seen in some detail.
On Saturday, 26th Shaaban 1354, (23-11-35), I was enjoying
another very pleasant and clas ic little moulid, oppo ite the
Court of Appeal, in the Qantara el-Amir Husein, that of the
Sheikh Nur el-Din el-Marsafa, when we were visited by a
singularly well appointed zeffa, with "Khalifa" mounted with
his little son on a richly caparisoned horse, and expert musicians
striking huge tambourines above their heads as they danced.
When they had well heated their instruments in the flames of
the mesh'al which a lways accompany these processions, their
uni&ons were so ex:wt and so powerful that they suggested volleys
of musketry. L eaving the unaerground mosque of Sidi Marsafa,
I passed with the little party through the Street of the Thunde1'-
 157 -
bolt, (Suwayqa,) ~;~_,.JI c_;l.:.. where the little mosque of
Sidi Arbein was duly saluted. Thi s I noticed was be-flagged
for a coming moulid. Th en, crossing Sh. Muhammed .Ali, ·w e
were welcomed by a noble and venerable heikh, referred to as
the Sheikh el-Rijai, at the door of the shrine of Sidi el- Ansari.
0\er this is writte n ....
« ~;\,:iJ':JI ,;,f· ~.A:- ..Jy »
(The Moulid of Sidi Muhammed el-An ari)
A religious service with zikr commenced at once, the pat1·ia1·ch
presiding with a whip - and using it on any of the congregation
lax in the observance of the "custodia oculorum", or falling into
the sin of "admiratio populi". They took it in a huJ?lble and
contrite spirit, - except one impenitent who grumbled. He
received a further flagellation and was cast out into "outer
darkne ·s".
Meanwhile under the flags and lamps of the "hash", more
and more musical instruments were brought, quaint and some
of great beauty, particularly the naq'r azan, jl_:,l_ji , a lovely
hemisphere of glowing copper, richly decorated at the rim, a
most attractive form of kettle drum or tabl Shami, 0l.!. J:k ·
The genus drum was largely represented, ranging from the tiny
baz, j~ , to what was, I suppose, an immense tabl baladi,
~~ ~ , but which suggested a British military drum, and the
species nuqa1·a, ; )Ai was conspicuous in variou s forms and sizes,
some of these naqaqir, ~\Ai , being of fine material and chaste
workmanship, almost as decorative as the naq1·azan. Of
tambourines, 01_; , I noticed not only the great shallow tar, .}-,
so effective at the zeffa, called badiT qad1·i, ~.).JJ ...1-~ , bup a
deeper type, the qadi1· aTusi v >.f , and also the little 1·iqq, J;.
There were cymbals of brass, similar to bnt larger than those
u sed in Coptic services, kas U"''6 ; and of wind instruments, the
little sibs, ~ , about eight inuhes long, and the nai, ~ · ,
twice that length. This is sometimes called the dervish's flute,
because employed as on this occasion to lead the sacred orchestra.
 - 158 -

The players seemed trained musicians, and their souls were

1n the music. The time and harmony were wonderful, and
there was mystery in it, enhanced by the 1nise en scene. I have
very rarely enjoyed such a musical treat. It will be noted that
this fine effect wa produced without any brass wind instru -
ments, or any of the common forms of the zu1rw1·a and 1·aghul
J__,-':.)I.J .;;t.• j · Strings also were excluded, such as the qanoon,
0_,;~ , the ood, ~ _,c , and the kamanga, ~...:f', all delightful in
their right places, but perhaps uggestive of awalim, ~~_,~ , or
savouring of the theatre, or concert, or (such as the 1·inga and
sistrum, ~t.:.,;......:,_, d..{ .J) of the booza booth.

Looking forward to a repetition of this, I have been careful

each year since not to miss this moulid, but have been dis -
appointed as far as the music has been concerned. What I have
heard has been quite banal. In 1357 (1938), for instance, there
was a brass band at a zeffa without "khalifa" and a few com -
paratively feeble performers on the ta·r, and so little prospect of
much better things, that I deserted the little haTa, and made
a round of other moulids, which like Bahlul were working up
for the final e\ening, or actually consummating their last night.
Of these were Abdalla near Bab el-Luk, Ayesha el-Tunisi close to
Sitna Ayesha, and Dargham and Emery off Sh. Muhammed Ali.

But passing in a tram about midnjght I saw a much in-

creased company in Haret el-Ansari, watching a whirling dervish .
Getting off at the Ataba, and returning on foot, I found him
still whirling, and commencing to divest himself of his "seven
veils" without interrupting his gyrations. He was succeeded
by a bearded dervish of the Rifaiya, brandishing an alarming
dabus,* who commenced a sermon such as I think has seldom
been beard since the time of Peter the Hermit. His rhetoric
was most powerful: likewise his voice, or rather his voices, -
for he had many, from a trumpet-call to a subtle whisper. He

* Note - for description of dabus, v. moulid of Sh. Zefeti.

 - 159-

could roar, bark or growl: croon or rage: employ staccato :

become hoarse or bell -like, and let his words fall like notes of
music, over a gamut compassing falsetto and deep base.
His subject matter was both revivalist and philosophic,
Sufic in the main . Suddenly without breaking off his discourse,
h e appeared to go berserker, spun round with hi dabus at arm's
length, it chains ringing and its dagger point glittering: then
punctuated his sermon b} jabbing it into his throat, under his
bern·d. Aposiopesis followed: one could have beard a feather fall,
as he sagged, dropped on hi knee , and his head jerked for"ard,
thro,Ying his weight on the pomt, with the spherical bead of
the dabns ,-ertically beneath . J u t as "e half expected to ee
the point emerge from the back of his neck, an ancient
dervish jumped lightly on his shoulders, and proclaimed the
greatness of God, "who alone worketh great marvels" , or words
to that effect.
Certainly there seemed to be forces at work beyond our
human ken, for he rose again, waited a m oment for the leading
dervish to touch and magically heal the punctured spot, then
in an even tone discoursed on the qua i- piritual functions of
the heart. H e might have been quoting Gregory Palamas, or
some Hesychast of Mt. Athos.
But my eyes and attention wandered to a youn g man of our
party, naked but for his libas, wh o was bein g converted into a
living cbandeleer. Small sharp dababis of sorts were being run
through the flesh of his arms, chest and back, weighted at the
lower end and fitted at the top with lighted tapers. The sermon
over, a dabus, not unH ke a sword was pushed through both
cheeks, and whilst h e held the blade in his mouth with his teeth,
candles were adjusted and li ghted at both ends, and he slowly
revolved.
The youth was not excited, as might have been the case
had he just emerged from a zik1·: he was simply normal- if
indeed it is normal to be normal under such abnormal conditions.
 - 160-

He showed no sympton of pain or discomfort, nor of in terest in

the proceeding : not even when the burning candles heeled ovee
onto his fle b. When the ble sed touch of the a,ncient dervish
h ad immuned him from bleeding or any ill consequences, be jnst
took his place amongst the other hds, with no sign of self-con -
sciousness. I leave it to others to explain these things : "hypo-
the es non fin go" . I wa not in a stall below footlights, watching
happenings on a stage with managed curtains, m irrors, lamps
and the 1·e t, but at the close t quarters free to examine and to
tou ch, and could get no material clne. I shall be grateful foe
any light on his mysteriou s cancllema s.

A 29 (v. Sectional Map XI. )

ARBAIN
This very small moulid is held almost at the end of Shaaban :
in the year 1357 (1938) on the 23th. The small and most un-
aMractive mosque is in Sb. el-Su wayqa, a lmost opposite B aret
el- nsari of Sb. l\1ubammad Ali not far from the Ataba end.
The street and surroundings are not beautiful, its most interest-
ing obj ect perhaps being an enormous bott le oflive leeches over
a shop n ear the mo que. This is labeled, -"Sang sues, 1:1 JJ J JJ "·
A 30 (v. Sectional Map XI. )
ASHMAWI
This is one of the comparatively few moulids whose date is
definitely fixed. It is now as it was in the days of Lane, over a.
hundred years ago, on the eve of the 11th Rabia I, always the
day before the great Moulid el-Nebi. It is equally easy to
locate being the most central of all, in the Sbaria el-Asbmawi
behind the Post Office, and the Mu ski OaTacol; (Police Station}
the little street which emerges in Sbaria Abdin, not far from
the opera. It is now however so reduced that it is easy to pass
in the main streets on each side of it without noticing it.
One of the most fascinating parts of Lane's great book.
"The Modern Egyptians", is an account of a Zikr at the Zawiya
 :Jloul id
of
A hmfL\Yi.

The old nq el-B a k ri.

 -161 -

of Ashmawi, the street being then known as the Su,q el-Bak1·i.

That was about 1830 when the palace of the Sheikh el-Bakri
was here, close to the little lake which is now he Ezbekia
Garden, and this part of Cairo was the ite of the Moulid
el-Nebi, and of the dosah. The Sheikh el-Bakri of toda~ dwells in
the Sharia el-Khronfish, and there is a disturbing rumour that
his palace i marked for destruction.

Now, as then, the observances are of almostpurel3 a rel'igious

nature, but a few year ago in addition to the zikrs and zeffa,
there was some very plea ant inging by sheikh and munshids·
and a little zuqaq (court) near the Sharia Abdin end, where tick
play, and innocent entertainments were held. Practicl-tlly
nothing of that remains, but I am told that the discontinued
ze.ffa was renewed in 1357 (193 ).

In 1351 (1932), I witnessed an extraordinary incident,

trongly suggestive of a ·tale in the Alf Leila u;a Leila, of a
farouche but fearle lad \\ho bearded the Commander of the
Faithful in uch violent and tinging terms, that eeming]y the
very excess of his language brought him forgivene . Asha,
(dinner), \\as provided in a tent to a great many poor, and when
nearly O"Ver a tall boy of :-tbout fifteen, in rag , with wild black
eyes and hair, bur t unceremonioo ly in, and wa as uncere-
moniously ejected. He took it ill, and crashed in again, but was
told very gently by a police officer that he had come too late, and
wa given to an aska1·i to be removed. But he kicked, fought,
a nd tried to bite, abu ing the pa rons of the fea t in unmea ured
terms. 'I come for asha", he houted, "and ye gi\e me blow :a
curse on such charity! " Again and again attempt were made
to lead him quietly away, but in pite of wonderful forbearance
his own violence soon reduced his rags to tatters, and there was
blood on his face. At length a high officer, (the mamur I think),
and a couple of ij1·angis who were in the tent talked to him
with all gentleness, calling him a gadaa, (a bra"Ve lad) and smiled
at his intrepid fury, and someone kissed him on the head, and
 - 162-

he wa tamed at la t. Then he was led in and a great dish of

deliciou jath* put before him. Such patience and kindness
were doub les largely due to the piteous plight of the undaunted
and hand ome young fury, but also from a wi b to divert an evil
omen from the fea .
I wi h I had a ked hi name and watched his career ; he bad
the making of an Ataturk.
Lane in de cribing an A hmawi zikr, and the beauty of the
mu ic and the words sung by the munshids, m entions the effect
-on a oldier and on an eunuch of" he Pasha". The eunuch
became YerJ "mel boo ", wildly ejaculated "Allah ! ... la ! la ! la !...
Ya ammee! .:. Ya Ashmawi! ... Ya ammee! Ashmawi! (Oh! my
uncle A ' hmawi !), and finally collapsed in a fit. Had he, Lane,
been at the mould in 1356 (1937), he could not have complained
of any falling off of the fervour inspired by the zikr. The floor
of the 1naqam, of Sidi l\1uhammed el-Beidek, in the little treet
connectincr Sh. A hmawi with Sh. Abd el-Aziz, was like a
tiny bat lefield at one time, as one after another became
"melboos" and then collap ed for a while. So far, so good, but in
the little z~tJqaq already referred to, in which singing, stick play
and such like had been suppressed, and in which for the first
time a zikr was held instead, the scene was far from edifying,
and, I think, showed the danger and inadvisH.bility of repressing
natural exuberance and desire for play as well as p1'aye1'. Two
great lads insisted on cutting in, roughly and with very improper
language, much to the discomfort of the "zikeers", and quickly
became violently "melboos". One subsided fairly quietly, but
the other, a black youth, became so wild that it required severa
people to hold him, and he was ultimately carried away. By-
standers said that "Sambo" had been drinking. The next year
when 1 went a little late, the maqam of Sh. Beidek was closed,
the zuqaq empty, and m osque and street, compared with the
past, rather deserted-
------------------------- ------------------------ ---
* v. Glossary
 - 163

Allah ! Allah! Ya Ashmawi! Oh, my uncle Ashmawi! Oh,

my Uncle!

A 31 (v. Sectional Map VI.)

AWLAD BADR
This little moulid centres about the mosques and tomb in
Darb el-Sheikh Faraq, clo e to Darb el-Nasr and the big new
Bulaq street, Sh. Abd el-Gawad, and should be early jn Shaaban.
It is rather a rough aistrict, and moulids pay dearly for any
disorderly behaviour- which happily is extremely rare. Any-
way, I belie e in 1353 (1934) it was suppresse~ altogether, and on
going iu 1354 (1935) to what shoula have been the chief night,
3rd Shaaban (31-10-35), I found flags and all decorations being
hauled down, and all celebrations (which included a ringa or two
and ome small shows), forbidden. There only remained the
freedom of the mosque, I was told there had been a free
fight. However, after this warning it was allowed to resume,
and the final evening, 27th Shaaban (24-11-35), pas ed quietly.
A 32
AWLAD SHEIB
I have never located this little moulid, but Mousa, my
reliable murasla reported on Friday night, 28 Shaaban, 1355
(13-11-36), that he had just as isted thereat, and bad witnessed
rather a fine zeffa in the late afternoon. It i for this reason
that I include it, for ze.ffas are becoming rather rare.
The position was gi\en as between Sb. Abdin, and Sh. Emad
el-Din, in the Harat el-Fawala. If so, it may be traced on
Sectional Map X, F 8 & 9.

A 33 (v. Sectional Map XVII.)

AYESHA
Although I only once witnessed this moulid-on Thursday
16 Shaaban, 1356, (21.10.37), I think it is held annually about the
middle of Shaaban.
 - 164-

The mosque is near the "Tombs of the Mamelukes", a few

vards to the right of the tram track to Irnam el-Shafei, behind
d. beautiful old city gate, and amid t ancient unspoilt surround-
ings, well worth a i it, apart from the rnoulid. Trams 13 and
23 stop at the station of Saida Ayesha.
It i a small but picture que affair, with little on the secular
side, beyond good stick dancing and pla) ing, though there a:re
cafes in the main road with dancing girls.
A feature, when I was there, was the blind Hag Husein
preaching near the old city gate. He used very good Arabic, and
was gentle and re trained. After his di course he repeated the
"ninety-nine names of God", and wrote the name of anyone
so desiring on an illuminated text, of which he carried a
sheaf.
This Saida, Ayesha was daughter of Gaafar Sadiq, the Vlth
Imam, and therefore in the direct line of the Prophet, and
must not be confused with Ayesha the daughter of Abu Bakr
Sadiq, and wife of Muhammad, whose tomb near Medina was
destroyed by the Wahabis. She is described in the Tobaqat
el-J-[ub1·a a singularly holy: one of her sayings quoted is, "I
will trust God, even if He thrust me into the fire." Almost the
words of holy Job who said,
. "Etiam si occiderit me, in ipso sperabo."

A 34 (v. Sectionall\!lap XVII.)

AYESHA EL-TUNIS! '-?_;., __,kJI d.!:~
A very small moulid very near that of Saida Ayesha bint
Gaafar Sadiq, held in 1357 on Friday, 27 Shaaban, (21.10.38)
B 1 (v. Sectional !lap II)
BADRAN 0\J~ '.?.>.:-
I was present only on 16th Gumad I, 1353 (26-8-34) and
was told that it was a new moulid only inaugurated the previous
year.
"Tomb of h l\Iam luk
and
ncien ity at .
 - 165-
The mosque of Sidi B adran is in Sh. Massara, off Sh. Shubra,
so that any Shubra tram and Autobus 8 serve, getting off at the
station before Tewfiqia school, (jf coming from town) and
turning at right angles to the left. As however thi in olves a
consider able walk along Sh. ~1a sara, it is better to take Bus
No. 15 from JYiidan Isrnailia, as this after a plea ant run along
the banks of the Nile, and through the Gezira Badran district,
pa ses the door of the hlosque.
This moulid was initiated on a con iderable scale, and
promi ed well in 135H (1934). The mo que with the shrine of
Sidi Badran wa thronged ; and in the neighbou rhood, but not
too near was a large tent heatre with the dwA.rf, and fat trong
man, and the mu cle dancers and the rest. Also a Punch and
Judy show, and the "Piste a la Morte", in which Billy Williams
thrilled succes ive audience s with his intrepid motor-c cle riding
on the vertical walls of his "bear pit".
Alas, for reasons quite unknown to me, the police showed
unwonte d ferocity, and it wa a sauve qui peut for a disappoi nted
crowd: and merrime nt and piety alike froze up.
As far as I know poor Sidi Badran ha never lifted up his
head ince, but we hope for better things .

B 2 (v. Sectional Map X I V)

BAHLU L (Sidi 8A.yed Muhamm ad el-Bahlul)
J_,lr,ll ..d- ..~-:- c$~
On every occasion that I have been present on the big
night, it has been t h e 29th Shaaban , the "waqfa" of Ramadan ,
and therefore coinciden t with the R o'ya, the cerem ony of deter-
mining wheth er t h e n ew m oon has been seen , and t h erefore
whether the m ont h of fasting h as beg un .
The tomb of B ahlul is near t h e B ab el-Wazir , in Sh.
M uh a ggar. I t is best r eached by aut obus No. 17, from Gha mra
t o Bab el-Wazir , passing t hrough At aba el-Kbadr a. Also any
 - 166-
tram to the Citadel serves, in which case one leaves the tram at
the Manshia , and walking half up the little hill towards the
Citadel, turns to the left, a few yards from the tomb.
It was a big moulid when I first discovere d it in 1352 (1933)~
for though I had often heard of a great moulid "at the Citadel"~
I was always misinfor med as to date, and failed to locate it. A
sheikh (Abu el-Sbet), who as a youth had helped me in
Intellige nce work in the gabel, to thwart illicit traffic in arms,.
and who now appeared to be in charge of the tomb, insisted on
introduc ing me into the Holy of Holies. An old woman more-
garrulou s than anything I have ever met or imagined , was the
only occupant , and though very friendly, s~ flooded the shrine
with langua.ge , that it was difficult to even read the epitaph or
be consciou s of anything but her tongue.

Some people with whom I dined that evening, including an

Egyptian who wa.s Sharif, and an English P r ofess or from the
Egyptian UniverRi ty, were so int~rested in my account of Sidi
B ahlul, that they asked me to conduct them there. The-
approach to the tomb seemed so changed, that I had difficulty
in finding it and effecting an entrance , but no one opposed any
obstacle or warned u that it was the ladies' hour. Too late we
found that the tomb in the centre was entirely surround ed by
devout women seated on the floor. I apologise d and e_gplained
that a few hours before I had found the place empty, and they
good-tem peredly forga.ve our intrusi on, but insisted, that since
we were there we must process round the tomb in the correct
manner. Thit'l my Sherif compani on said must be in the opposite
direction to the h ands of a clock. We performe d the ritual but
had the greatest difficulty in preventi ng it being of the n ature of
a Dosah (v. Glossary ), so closely packed were the votaries at the
shrine.
I gather that this was once indeed a great moulid, with
importan t zeffa, and bound up with processio n from the Citadel
to the Qadi's Court and the Ro'ya, hence its being always held
 - 167 7"

on the eve of the 1st of Ramadan. It has greatly dwindled,

especially of very recent years, but happily in 1356 (1937), there
were signs of revival, and though small it was pleasant and very
picturesque, and unharassed by police. A feature was the
eloquence of the blind Sheikh Husein.

B 3 (v. Sectional Map Vll)

BAHRI (Muhammao el-Bahri) ~-'~\ .lf
Present on Thursday 8th 1\!Iuharram, 1354 (11.4.35)
Thursday 25th Safr, 1356 (25.5.37)
On the first of these dates, the moulid clashed with that of
Sidi Marzuk. It will be een that it is held on widely different
dates, bat apparently it affects Thur day, as also doe 1\Iarzuk.
The mosque is on the north side of Sh. Bab el-Bahr near
Clot Bey, from which Sh. Bab el-Bahr run off in the direction
of Bab el-Shaaria.

I ha\e nothing but a sad tale to tell about this once brillian
moulid.

As late as 135± (1935), the religious ceremonies were carried

on \\ith all decorum, in and about the mo que , and to a le s
extent in a house situated in a narrow alley to the north of the
mo que. Proyidence had provided an ideal place for lighter
entertainment out of sight and ound of the mosque though not
many yards away, in a terrain vague bet'i"Veen Sh. Bab el-Bahr
and the parallel treet of Bein el-Harat, approached from the
one side by the narrow alle3 by the side of the mosque, alrea.dy
referred to, and from the other by a mall opening near the
remains of the Fatimite Wall, -which by the \\ay i not easily
found.

This enclosure sheltered Theatres, Punch and J udy, Ringas.

and innumerable tails and places of entertainment, "ith plenty
of room for Zikrs at its peaceful east; end. All went happily, far
frojl politics and mundane cares.
 - 168-

In 1355, the moulid was suppressed on account of King

Fuad·s recent death. I doubt if his Majesty would have approved
thi mournful ab tinence, but all gladly accorded this mark of
respect and grief. but in 135G, with Kin g Farouk gloriously
reigning, upporter of the ancient moulid naturally expected to
be allowed o do honour to the Sheikh el-Babri and commenced
preparation ; but on the ni ah of the apodo i , 25th Safr 1356
(25- 5-37), I wa nrpri ed to find police guarding the entrance
from B ein el-Hara , and di gruntled votarie of el-Bahri for-
bidden to Yi it the mosque by tbi public way. I had no difficulty
however in running the blockade, only to find nothing \\ithin
but the mo t depre ing melancholy: ome ingers and such
like thrown out of heir plea urP-giYing \\Ork, and a-hungry:
and a di mal attempt at a Zikr.
So I took my \\ay down the alley, towards the main street
and the mo que, noting on the way that no sounds of the
reading of the Qoran, no zikring proceed from the now gloomy
house, once echoing with religious joy and fervour, - 'the typical
langui hing of the on.l of a moulid when it bod y is oppressed.
On nearing the end my~ progres \\a topped by a much more
effective blockade than that at the entrance from Bein el-Harat,
and I reali ed that with a number of other \ictims, I was
imprisoned between two guard stopping public " "ays in time
of peace, and supposed rejoicing.

"J.J)I c__,:( Mamnoa' el-Murur", said an a kari \\hen I tried to

pass, so feeling that tact and pa ience "\Vere called for, I
replied,- "But, Onbashi, if both ways passing is forbidden,
how am I to go home, or how are the poor people li\ing here to
reach their homes". (Applause from other \ictims). "Mush
aaref, Hadratak, mush shugli, J•..:.
J.A d; ~ .._j.)\&.. ,j• , I
don't know, your Honour, not ~Y business!" "But why" I ask-
ed, "is the moulid crushed in this way?"
"El-Malik mat, .:..L. C\.UI , -The King is dead", he replied.
"But that was over a year ago." I rejoined.
 - 169

"W'ana ma li, hua lissa meit, ..::..~L. u y. JL. ~1_,

what's that to me, he is still dead."

All the time I was manoeuveeing a idelong movement in

t h e desired direction, and ultim ately \\angled an escape: to find
about t h e mosque fe\\ worshippers , no joy or enthusia m, a
fe w t imid looking people , and an impo ing arraJ of police.
"Snr ly", thought I, "Sidi lYiuhammed el-Bahri mu st be the
P atron Saint of 'Bobbies', bu t they need not keep him so
exclusi\ely to themsel\e ".

Still curious to know wh at wa r eally wron O' wit h he

Sheikh el-Bahri, I enquired of a omewhat higher authorit y
than the askari, and he ga ve a t h e rea on "that the moulid
obstructed traffic". A mo t irrit atingly ab urd reason, as the
moulid wa.s always held in the te1Tain v ague where there is no
traffic, and the policy now adopted, by dri,ing everyone into
the main sbreet does obstruct traffic, if only by the plethora of
police, and of people hanging about in vain expectation. This
rea on, (sic) remind one of ome of the paradoxical absurdities
in the police arrangements at home, where I recently wanted a
few bottles of beer, and was told I could not have them unless
I bought a bottle of cognac at the same time: this the shop-
owner explained with a wry grin was to check drinking.
I went in 1357, in Muharem and in Safr, and in Rabia, but
the Sheikh Muhammed el-Bahri, or at least his moulid, seemed
to have been definitely crushed. A disappointed little sheikh
who claimed some sort of spiritual descent from el-Bahri
exclaimed, "This is the work of the Djin". I thought of the
last verse of the Qoran el-Sharif, and went my way.

~.TL:ll '-7 _;, ,; _,~I j;")

C\.rl:liJ ~~ ;.,· . • • . . .
("Say:- May the Lord of the People .. o 0 o

protect us from the Djin and the people" o)

 - 170 -

B 4 (v. 1\1ap of Upper Egypt- in covers)

BARSU1\1 (S . Bar urn el-Aryan) 0~_,..11 i .J-.:. J~
This being a Coptic moulid naturally follows the Coptic
calendar, falling on or near the feast day of the saint, in the
middle of the fir t month, Tut.
Amongst the dates on which I have been present are as
follo ws :-
Wednesday 16 Tut 1651 = 26 September 1934
17 Gumad II 1353
Sunday 18 Tut 1652 = 28 September 1935 =
1 Ragab 1354
Saturday 16 Tut 1653 26 September 1936
10 Ragab 1355
Wednesday 16 Tu 1656 = 27 September 1939 =
13 Shaaban 135
It is held at the monastery of S. Barsum el-Aryan at
Maasara near Hel ;van, and is therefore reached by train from
Bab el-Luq to 1\1aasara station, where donkeys are waiting not
only on the great night but during the p1·evious week . If one
prefers to \\alk it i a pleasant stroll of about twenty minutes
through the little village, and over the canal bridge through the
vegetation.
Coptic moulid ha ye adly \\aned, but this, the only one of
note with which I am acquainted, remains big, popular and
wonderful. No visitor to Cairo in the latter part of September,
(and for the matter of that, no resident) should miss it, if
interested in pilgrimages and popular religious gatherings: and
not only is the apodosis worth witnessing but a visit or two on
the earlier and smaller nightts also. I usually, especially if I
have friends with me, combine a pilgrimage with a picnic, by
going well before dark, and taking a sufragi with me who lays
an al fresco meal in the dura fields by the canal, whilst one is
In- he Church of lercur]u and Bar . . urn,
Old Cairo .

An Ikon of . l\Iercuriu , - '' bu eifeih."

i.e. Fath er of T\YO 8\Yo:.·cl
~A:_, .>! 1
In he hur ·h of • 1(·1·cul'ills and Bar u1n cl-Aryarl,
Old \t iro.

Iconosta i'"' ( creen).

 - 171-
having a preliminary turn by daylight. There is unlimited time
after as donkeys and trains seem to be always available, even
hours after midnight.
I have never, howe\er, ventured to take ladies on the last
night, owing to the cru h on the trains. The e are invaded by
window and doors with no respect for class, and particularly on
the return one has to take a strong position on the platform ..
and try one's luck in a good humoured fight for a place. I have
been mischievously amused to see a dozing magnate in a first
cla s carriage to himself, or an affectionate but high-brow couple,
suddenly invaded, sat on, subjected to all manner of shocks and
pres ure, and snowed under by a boi terous jolly ma s of
humanity sufficient to fill several compartment . The pressure
i soon relieved by a number of the e occupying the luggage rack ~
The fields in front of the monastery, from which the corn
has been cnt, are filled with Ringas, Cafes chantants, how ,
theatre and so on, on which none of the \ery modern lYioslem
restrictions press : but the fa cinating sight i within the wall
in the va t grounds of the mona tery. There, everal acre of
orchard and garden ha\e become for the time a \illage of ten
and wattled dwellings. People ha\e come from far and near
and are li,ing here for the nonce, and ha-ve their bed , cook
their food, and entertain them elve and heir friend with
dancing, music and inging, not forgetting the piou exerci e
which the place and the occa ion claim. Little treet are
arranged, and a water apply, primiti\e drainage, and butcher '
and other hop and the KCene i · mo ,t colourful. There cannot
be much privacy, but thi seem to cause no annoyance, though
the brilliancy of texture and hue in the li tle dwelling , and the
picturesqueness of their occupant , tempt the pas er-by to
glance in unduly. The only reaction i a mile and a hearty
invitation to enter and partake of whate,er there may be. A
gay and innocent freedom pre\ails; though if the whole truth
must be told, I have known occasions when the honours of the
little house have been profferred by a lady so fair, so highly
 - 172-

tinted and scented, so dazzling with kohl and lipstick, and so

mouveme nte about the haunches, and so exiguously and ex-
quisitely clad, that I h ve thought of Tasso's verses picturing
Armida in her bower.
At other Chri tian moulid , and allied ceremonie s, I have
generally found the church doors open to pilgrims well into the
night, so was surprised here to find them closed even on the
last and great night. I uppose it is that pilgrims come heTe to
-stay, sleep in the sacred precincts, and hear mass in the
morning. In 1353 (19 36), the final night falling on a Saturday,
I returned to Cairo in the early hours of the Sabbath morning,
and went to ma s in the church of St. Mercurius , (.A. bu Sefein),
in the D eir of that name near Old Cairo, and was impressed by
hearing a reading about B arsum el-Aryan, and his commem-
moration in the anaphora. I had hoped for this, and for m ore
as Butler in his "Coptic Churches" , declares the screen of Abu
Befein so beautiful that it alone is worth a visit to Egypt, and
·says that the church contains a little chapel of Mar Barsum in
which service is held, once a year on his feast day.
I could not confirm this, but a young archdeaco n kindly
took me down into the cave, (within the church of Abu Sefein)
where he assured me he, Mar Barsum, spent 25 years, in company
with a snake, as a variant to passing 30 years on the roof
unprotect ed from sun and weather. He showed me an ancient
picture of Barsum and his snake, and a little devil the snake
had vomited up. The casting out of this devil was the beginning
of a long and happy symbiosis, in the cave, very different from
the tragic companio nship of Rodrigo, the last of the Gothic
Kings of Spain, and his black serpent in the tom b. I was
assured by the Archdeaco n and his friends, and others in the
Deir, that Barsum acquired from his snake knowledge which gave
him power over all serpents, and that his name is still invoked
in the district for the exorcism of such. (I have been told since
by a high authority on such matters that this power should be
attributed to a certain other Saint, not to Barsum.)
In he Church of .1\Iercuriu and
Old airo.

The oung Archdeacon

"Shamma " IJ~
 - 173 -
In any case, "May Amba BARSUM be Exalted", as they
say in the Coptic Liturgy, ...
«i _,_. .:. ~;I r:\:a..Jl »
It is characteristic of the tolerance of the Egyptians, that
this Christia.n feast is almost as popular with Moslems a,s with
Copts. In fact they gently appropriate Mar B ars um , and I have
heard him referred to as SIDI MOHAMMAD BARSUM. What
a truly blessed trait this is! Never have I found a place, where
Christians of various sects, Io lems, and others so honour one
another's mosques or churches publicly, with graceful friend-
liness, a.pply for blessing at one another's shrines, and where
the Prophet's words in the Surat el-Baqara are so practically
ob erved-
Jr.J .;;._\/\ i_r.IIJ j~ ~A\ ~A ~~l..al1.J ~;WI.J 1_,~1.. ~.i\I.J I_,.:AI ~.ill 01 »
« 0jf-_ r'J.J ~ ~.,;._ ~.J ~) ~ r.)~' ~ u.~
"Moslems, J ew , Christians, and Sabines, who have
believed in God and the Last Day, and have pursued
virtue, have their reward from their Lord, and for them is
neither fear nor grief. "
Note - T hat the moulid of 27 September, 1939 (16 Tu t 1656, 13 Shaaban
1358) sho uld have been enhanced in every way, rather than the
reverse, by the fact of war having broken out, whilst the Islamic
moulids at the same period were most adversely affected, is so
significant that it is specially commented on in my Preface.
I am indebted for the photographs to Miss Barbara Fry, an authority
on the Eastern Churches, who accompanied me to the church on
a different occasion.

B 5 (v. Sectional Map VIII)

BAYUMI (Sidi Ali el-Bayumi)
Though always on Thursday, I found the date most baffling,
for it ranged from Zu el-Qaada in 1351 (1932) to Safr in 1359
(1940), falling intermediately in Zu el -Higga in 1353 and
Muharem in 1355. The advantage of noting both Islamic and
 ~- -
~ - . . ; ,~... ...... .... . - ·-~--
::- . "fT'iW""----~Jjj····~ill
. . -.. ··1:·:· :t~ ··!"~~~~;;-;~~~·~
.......... ·;·~,;;

- 174-
·Christian date over a number of years is exemplified in this
"Case, for all of the e widely differing lunaT dates fall in March,
between the 8th and the 28th. This points strongly, though
empirically to the feast of Bayumi following the solar calendar,
and lead to our expecting it in March, or by the Coptic
reckoning, in the month of Baramhat. I have recently found
confirmation of the fir t of the e conclusions in Murray's
""Egypt". I will quote hi paragraph on the subject, in extenso,
as it how that important change have taken place since he
wrote in 1

"The Moolid el-Beiyoomee-This is a very extensive and

remarkable fair and der i h festival, which is hela annually
in the early part of October. The scene of the fete is the
portion of the desert bordering on the Abbasseeyeh road,
immediately N. of the Bab el-Hassaneeyeh. It is in honour
of the Sey) id Ali el-Beiyoomee, founder of the great sect of
Beiyoomeeyeh Dervishes (a branch of the Ahmedeeyeh),
whose memory is much re pected in Egypt. All the character-
istics of the Moolid en-Nebbee, are here repeated."

It will be noted that it was then a desert moulid and that

-the date was October. Possibly there was a second celebration
in March not mentioned by Murray, as in the case of the parent
feasts of Sayed el-Bedawi about March and October, (with yet a
third).
It is curious that almost the only other Cairo m oulid which
goes by the seasons and not by the moon, is that of Sidi Ismail
Imbabi who was a Tantawi and sent from there to spread the
Ahmadiya tenets. To quote again from Murray it appears that
there was yet another which followed the sun by following
Bayumi, that of Afifi,-which I have failed to trace, and fancy
no longer exists.

" The Moolid el-Afeefee.-This is also a remarkable festival,

always celebrated immediately after that of Beiyoomee. The
 - 175 --

cene IS the E. district of the Tombs of the Circa ian Mem-

looks, in which is the tomb of Afeefee, the founder of a large
sect of Cairene dervi hes. Here amongst the tombs are
pitched innumerable ent , and countr people from all parts
of Egypt, including many Bedaween, encamp around. The
monlid lasts as usual 8 day , and is of the u ual festi e and
semi-religious kind."
The moulid of Sidi Bayumi is now held at hi mosque and
tomb, in the street of hat name, to the North of the Bab el-
Futuh. and i therefore be t re::tched by Autobu No. 11 which,
plying between Abba ia and Beit el-Qadi, pa se the mo que both
ways. As its ecular attraction are on a terrain vague between
Sh. el-Bayumi and Sh. Farouk, and \ery vi ible and audible
from the latter street, any tram going in the Abbasia direction
up Sh. Farouk may be u ed, de cent being made before Ha ania.
It i , when gi\en a fair chance, a \ery fine event, perhaps
the nearest to what moulid were in bygone day : by no means
the biggest or the grande t, but singularly sati fying in its very
primitiveness.
The zeffa from Sidna Hussein to Bayumi in the afternoon
should by no means be missed. It is ea ily he finest to be seen
in Cairo nowadays, at least a far as my knowledge goes, for an
unfortunate predilee;tion for siestas may have robbed me of
man·ellous manife tation about the time of the "asr".
The gathering of the "Turuq" in the early afternoon, in the
courts of Sidna Husein is a brave sight, and the crowd displays
a happy mixture of gaiety and piety, as the "Khalifa" mounts
his steed, and the procession with banners, insignia, and music
proceeds in peace. The Alexandrine balawanis in their pictures-
que boleros and oth er garments, their long meshal and their
quaint musical instruments have already set out, and indicated
to the crowds who line all the way from Sidna Husein to
B ayumi that the "Khalifa" is coming with his dervishes and
varied following, and all the rpeople are agog in expectation.
 - 176

These p1·odTomoi fill up any delay with balancing tricks and

other performanc s, and expect a few milliemes from the bystan-
ders, the only time throughout the moulid that anyone is asked
for money, (except of cour e in the enclo ed shows and cafes,
where the charge may vary from a millieme to a piastre.) This
i. a plea ant change from the days about which Lane wrote,
when every phase of every ceremony seemed to be accompanied
by cu tomary donations.
Descending to the N ahasin, the zeffa passes that glorious
group near the Beit el-Qadi which include the great mosques of
Kalaoun and Barquq, then continuing on the main way to the
Bab el-Fatuh pa t the Sebil and some dear old mosques, and
passing under the Bab, it struggles on through an immense
crowd to the mosque and shrine of Bayumi, where the proper
devotion proceed, quite uninterrupted by the lively assembly in
the te1'J·ain vngue, a hort but sufficient di tance removed.
There are u ually at lea t two large tent theatres, and
smaller shows, and Ringas, and of course the ubiquitous Punch,
and zikrs are held and fiqui employed in many houses in the
neighbourhood . This moulid i u uallv unmolested or nearly so,
because mainly there is no traffic route through the waste bit of
ground, but in 1352 (1933) the interference amounted to some-
thing like persecution. Some eminent professors had accom-
panied me, and wer2 enjoying the merry sights and the tonic
atmo phere of the happy orderly crowd, when for some reason
unknown, (and indeed inconceiv:-tble to us, for no one was in any-
one's way), we were charged by a lot of askaris, and scattered
utter]}, with the greate t difficulty keeping our feet in the stamp-
ede. The forceful way these police soldiers scaled the heights
and laid about them, was worthy of a real and important cauEe.
My poor friends bad the shock and surprise of their lives.
After King Fuad's lamented death in 1355 most moulids were
en deuillong after court mourning had officially ceased, but in
1356 (April 8th, 1937), the moulid was surprisingly fine. Some
 - 177-

minor incidents indeed happened, a for example, at the con-

gestion incident on the topping of the zeffa on arri\' al and the
pressure of those behind, a moun ed a kari herded a gang of us
in the little Atfet Abu el-Ela ju t beyond the mo que, o relieve
pressure in the main street. So far o good, but another, ignor-
ing the fact that the atja i a cui de sac, and pre ty full of
women, children aud carts before we were driven in, attempted to
ride in and force us through. One boy was badly injured but no
general harm done. Also the manoeuvre of storming the heights
''a repeated, but in uch a comparati ely mild way, that only
youngsters were in dange ·. As the e scampered under carts,
into bole or anywhere for afety, a motherly oul near me ap-
pealed to the Askaris in mo\'ing tone , "For be lo\'e of the
Prophet, spR.re the rabbibs."

There are ph-tees about tbi moulid and ome others,

where little "rabbit " can go with impuni y, but grown up 'bucks'
at their peril. This I found to mj di comfiture when exploring
curious little zuqaqso:' , and cavelike entrance to ancient half-
ruined mansion , from which came light and igbt or sound of
zikring, or of mu ic and dancing. Attracted to one of the e by
the zagharit*, that curiou wa\'cring tongue-trill that one bear
at farR.hs and man-y ceremonin.l occa ion , I \entured in, to find,
too late, that I was intruding at some purely feminine function,
uggesti"Ve of a Zarr*. Confronted by a lot of indignant and
threatening women, I was more than alarmed, bu happily had
the inspiration to exclaim <c~ .i· .) ~I ..... ~ ~I»
-· . '-}
"Illi tahib el-N ebi tuzagbrat"
(Let her \Yho loves the prophet warble!)
For a moment I feared I bad made matters worse, but I
bad put them in a dilemma, and I think, rather appealed to
their sense of humour, and my puni hment was no bing worse
than to be chased out with a chorus of zagha1·it.
* Note. v. Glossary.
 - 178 - ·

The m o que of Ba} um i had long ealled for repairs, so wit h-

o n t risking a tragedy such a befel Abu el-Ela, these were taken
in hand in 1356 (1937) and continued for about two year s,
during which time no moulid was held.
I n Ramadan 1358 (1939), the Ring a sisted at the ceremony
-of reinauguration: a most popu lar occasion somewhat similar t o
that on which he restored Abn el-Ela to its high prestige. As
a lso in the ea e of Abu el-Ela, thi was followed by the renewal
·of the moulid, and on Thur day 5 SR,fr 1359 (1940), in spite of
t he depre ion of mou lid , ( w h re there was not actual re-
pression), ascribed to "Tar conditions, Sultan B ayumi was hon-
oured a lm ost in the fine old style. T he zeffa had lost n ot hing of
its es entiR,l elements, an d showed t h e greatness of the B ayumiya,
f or the red banners and insignia of t his branch of the Ahm adiya,
tretched in the afternoon zeffa perh aps a mile or m ore.
The amusement park on the terrain -vague wa considerably
reduced by building which has been and is still going on , but
during an h our or t wo that I wa there all wa peaceful a nd
h appy, and the affluence at t h e shrine correspondin gly
·s atisfactory.

B 6 (v. Sect ional Map VIII)

BEN H AWI c.? .Jtt~ll c.?.J...:.-
I h eard of t his m oulid for t h e fi r st time in 1353, and t h en
t oo lat e t o assist a t the pr in cipal ni gh t , J 3th Gum ad I, and
s aw only wh at sm all celebrations and decorations r em ained t h e
followin g day, at the "Khatama" Friday , 14th Gumad Awal,
(23-8-34). It seemed definitely not held in 1354, and I have not
been able to ascertain if it h as been celebrated since.
I include it mainly because the little mosque is in a uice old
street, in one of the most beautiful and unspoilt parts of Cairo,
close to the Bab el-Futuh. It is best reached by autobus,
No. 12, which plies between Bab el-Hadid and Beit el-Qadi, and
passes through Sh. Benhawi on the way to the Beit el-Qadi, but
The Conven of itna Damiana
 - 179

n ot on the reverse journey. Or autobus No. 11 between

Abbasia and B eit el-Qadi can be used ~s that pas es through
Bab-el-Futuh both "ay , and Sh. Benhawi ends at the Bab on
the north side.

It must ha\e been a primiti\e little moulid, but attractive

from t he ituation, and it \ery simplicity.

BELQAS (Delta)
D 1 (,, Delta. Map,- in co\er )
D.A~1IANA (Sitna) (I ) ~ ~~ :i.-~..11\1

I r egret ne\er ha\ing een thi great Ooptic moulid, n or

even the celebrated con\ent of Saint D amiana, which Marcos, a
Roman Govern or, her father erected as a retreat and pro-
tection for her and her maids, "ho, howe\er were all martyred,
because they refused t o apo tati e at the time of the Diocletian
per ecutions.

The convent is t o the north of Belqas in the Behera

pro\ince, in the direction of D amietta. Belqas is on the E .S .R .
not far from Shir bin, but I do not known how far from the
Convent.

My old friend K emp, who explored the de ert and the Delta
alone more th or oughly and more lovingly than anyone I have
met, gives an interestin g account of his very r ough and bumpy
journey of forty m iles on a mule, with a woodcut of the conven t:
but t h at was n early half a century ago, so perhaps t h e railway
arrangemen t s were t h en very differen t from now.

No_te I Many Delta p eople stoutly maintain that her name is Gemiana.
 - 180 --
<r> Kemp does noli describe the moulid, but gives the
date as
12 Beshan s. That date is still observe d, for several newspa pers
announ ced it for, "from the 12th to 20th May 1938"- the 20th
being 12 Beshan s - and, "for Monday 12 Beshan 1656"
(20-5-40, 13 Rabia II 1359)

ALEXAN DRIA
D 2 ( . l\1ap of Delta)
DANIE L (El-Neb i Daniel)
I have been a ured that the N ebi Daniel has his mouljd at
Alexand ria, and underst and that it centres about the mosque of
his name, but beyond that am lamenta bly ignoran t, not having
been able o far to connect it wjth or disconn ect it from the re-
markab le Nubian process ion that takes place on the lOth Zu'
el-Higg a, the first day of the Courban Bairam .
Judaic and Byzanti ne element s are so conspic uous in the
zeffa which goes from the mosque of Nebi-D aniel to that of Sidi
Morgha ni, that they support certain curious theories concern ing
the religiou s history of the once powerfu l nation of the Nubian s.
My attentio n has been drawn to an article in which this
thesis is develop ed by Dr. P appalex is, - so signific ant in some

Note I Two articles on this subject are contained in his book, "This and
That of Egyptian Illustrati on", a book not only written and
illustrate d by him, but printed, woodcuts and all, by him self
here in Cairo.
The same is true of another book of his with which he presented
me,- a collection of his poems commenc ing with one entitled
"The Bashful Earthqua ke".
Further Note-
There is an excellent note on Sitna Damiana (or Dimiana as he
calls her) in "The Oriflamm e in Egypt", by Dean Butcher of
Cairo, a charming book about the battle of Mansura, &c. His
wife points out in her "Story of the Church in Egypt", that there
is considera ble confusion between the two Saints Catharin e and
Damiana , particula rly as regards their ikons.
 - 181

of its points, that I reproduce the part bearing directly on the

zeffa, regretting that the length of the entire article precludes
my adding his further suggesti-ve and illuminating information
on "La Grandeur et Decadence des Nubiens".
(The extract in my possession is not dated, but I imagine
was written three or four J ear ago .)

Une curieuse survivance religieuse.

(De Not1'e R edacti on D'Alex andrie)

Les Nubiens ont-ils pratique successivemen t les religions juive

et chretienne avant leur conversion a l'islamisme?
Cette hypothese n'est pas inadmissible quand on compare la
procession religieuse en honneur chez les Nubiens, a !'occasion du
premier jour du Grand Bairam avec celles des juifs du temps de
David, ainsi que les litanies byzantines, conservees chez les grecs-
orthodoxes.
Notre concitoyen, le Dr. C. Pi:!ppal exis a fait, a ce sujet, dans
la revue hellene "Pan egyptia" du 20 janvier dernier, la description
d'une procession des Nubiens d'Alexandrie. qui n'a rien des fetes
nombreuses des musulmans du pay .
"La procession" a observe le Dr. Pappalexis, "part de 1:1 Mos-
quee Nebi Daniel pour aboutir a celle de Marghani, qui est speci-
alement affectee aux besoins religieux des Nubiens.
La Mosquee de ebi Daniel est maintenant universellemen t
connue, car c'est dans ses hypogees qu'on place generalement le
tombeau d'Alexandrie le Grand.
La procession nubienne n'a pas la simplicite des autres fetes
musulmanes : elle ressemble plutot a une pompe byzantine et s'il
n'y avait les tres nombreux tarbouches et les gallabiehs qui la
suivent on croirait une solennite grecqu e.
Tout d'abord les servants qui composent la principale partie
du cortege sont habillcs comme les diacres grecs. 11 ne manque
ni les dalmatiques polychrones, ni l'etole ou plutot le "sticharion",
la bande longue et large qui s'enroule autour de la taille, puis
remonte sur les epaules, descend sur la poitrine et retombe jusqu'aux
 182-
genoux. Ensuite nous voyons les divers encensem ents avec des
encensoir es de toutes sortes, ici simples, la luxueuse ment travailles ,
ou brOle un encens de la meme composit ion que celui en usage
dans les eglises grecques , a en juger par le parfum qu'il n!pand et
la couleur de la substance . Mais ce qui attire }'attentio n ce sont
les nombreus es bannieres en soie disposees en longues series entre les
rangs des drapeaux , portees tres haut et couvertes d'inscript ions
brodees en or sur fond rouge, bleu, vert ou d'autre couleur. S'il y
avaient aussi des cierges et si les assistants portaient un autre couvre-
chef, par example le bonnet des Perses, on se croirait a une litanie
chretienn e. Mais la fete a lieu pendant le jour et les cierges.
seraient deplaces.

La fete d' Alexandr ie rappelle aussi cylle des anciens J uifs, au

moins ce lle que fit David pendant le transfert de l'Arche dans sa
nouvelle capitale, Jerusalem . A la tete du cortege marche un
chreur accompa gne de typanons . Tous sont des jeunes gens, des.
ephebes. lis ouvrent la marche comme faisaient dans l'antiquit e
les pretres lorsqu'ils accompa gnaient l'idole de leur dieu, ou les.
levites lorsqu'ils accompa gnaient le transfert de 1' Arch e.
Les danseurs ne sont pas nombreu x, trois ou quatre au plus, et
ils dansent au rythme des tympanon s battus par les cphebes. Puis
vient un groupe de fideles ayant a sa tete des jeunes gens, riche-
m ent vetus qui portent les drapeaux et les bannieres et d'autres
qui chantent des hymnes. D erriere le groupe on conserve un vide
assez large, pour permettr e a ux porteurs des encensoir es de circu-
ler libremen t afin d'encense r tout le monde. Cet arrangem ent se
repete a l'infini. Des nouveaux chanteurs , des danseurs, des ban-
nieres, puis unl'" nouveau vide et ainsi de suite. L'ordre est main-
tenu par des lhommes specialem ent affectes a la surveilla nce de
tout ce mond e et qui sont choisis parmi les vieux. Ils preceden t
chaque serie et veillent surtout a conserve r les vides successifs.
La musique des chanteur s est analogue a celle des Byzantins , c'est-
a-dire onentale ."

D 3 (v. Section a(Map XI)

DARGH AM
This very pleasan t little moulid is held near the end of
Shaaba n. I witness ed it in 1355, and again on Friday 27 Shaaba n
1357, when it seemed to have develop ed conside rably.
 - 183-

It is in a Hara of the same name as the mosque, off Sharia

Mob. Ali, on the right going towards the citadel, and not far
from the Ataba end. It i just beyond the Hara and Moulid of
Ansari. It has no secular ide. In 1357, in addition to zikrs
there was a whirling dervish late in the evening.

D 4 (v. Sectional Map VIII)

DASHTOUTI (Sidi Abd el-Qader el-Dashtouti)
l.?k _,h.!...UI J~\All ,.~.~ f.$.J..:.--

The Moulid of Tashtou hi, (as he is u ually called), is one of

the few limited to a definite date, being held on the 26th Ragab,
coincident with the Leilat el-Ma'rag, or Leilat el-Isra'< 1>, the
night of the miraculous journey of the Prophet on the winged
horse Buraq to the Seventh Heaven. In 1356, (1937) when,
presumably owing to some ambiguity about the moon, the cele-
brations of Leilat el-Ma'rag were on Saturda ' evening, 27th
Ragab, both in Alexandria, and at Sultan Rifai in Cairo, in tead
of Friday, which according to the official calendar was the rue
date, the Tashtoushi moulid was correspondingly put off from
F!·iday to Saturday. (Thi coincidence is probably due o one of
the Sidi's reputed miracle being intimately bound up with the
miracle of the Ma'rag,-fl de cribed below.)
The l\Iosque of el-Da h outi is ea ily reach d from the
Ataba by any tram going up Sharia Farouk to where the Khalig
cro. ses the track. A few minutes' walk to the North, along the
Rhalig, or Yia Sh. el-Adawi, parallel to it brings one to the ite
of the moulid. Or of cour e a Rhalig tram en~ e , in which case
one gets down at the first tram station north of the crossing.
Also Autobus No. 12 from the station to Beit el-Qadi pa es
through Sikkat Baghala which is close to Ta htou hi.
Tashtousbi was a most popular and celebra ed Saint, and
his rnoulid one of the biggest and most olernn events of the

Note I
 - 184 -
Mosle m year in Cairo. He was essent iallj a Cairen e,
associ ated
with Maadi , Giza, Gham ra, and pal'tic ularly with the
distric t of
his mo qne, where a street bear his name.

Abd el-Wa bab el-Sba arani who met him on the 1st Rama
dan
912 (1506 A.D.) give a long accou nt in hi "Tobaq
at"<3>, of
Ta htou hi's affec ionate relatio n ·w ith great and small,(
2) and
of the miracl e he wroug h . He group him with the
JJtJagazib, a
term now u ed, like 1naga nin for fools,C4J but really
meani ng
tho . . e di inely entran ced. Indeed the in gular of thi word,
~ J~
magzu b, ''a the name of many emine nt Sheikh s,
uch a
Sheik h Ali el-Dam eri el-Mag znb, IThalil P-1-Magzub,
Aamr el-
11agzu b, &c.

He neithe i· wore bat nor hoe , e'\en on hi pilgrim

age to
Mecca , and had a lready acquir ed a reputa tion for holine
ss at
Medinn,, and there on arriva l, be ·was too bumbl e to
enter the
anctum sancto rum, but laid hi bead on the thresh old
of the
Bab el-Sala m, and lept. [sl

The Sultan Kaitbe y [61 held him in great affecti on

and
e eem, and on one occa ion obeyed a ummo n to
the grave
where Tashto usbi then dwelt, and accede d to hi deman
d for ten
thou and dinar for the poor. And the poor got it, for
he aint
brooke d no fal e claims , and no pecula tion by his alm
oner , and
regard ed a waqf as a -very acred trust. On e who lapsed
is said
to hFL\e paid for his cupidi ty with hi life.

Note 2
«i\.JIJ ~I~ il:ll JJ~\ .J»
Note 3
~\,._,ll ~~ <$-l~--~~JI ~tA:hll
Note 4
·"':"'!.~~\ (~ ~J ~:..\.,., 0'6~
Note 5
«~..~.~ ~ly • • i~J i)I_J\ ~L. ~~ ~ o~ ~J ~.r:.l\ ~..UI Jl J~J \l»
Note 6
~~'-!,li 0UJ...
 - 135

When the "gazb", [ll the Spirit of the Lord, came upon him,
bi life was profoundly modified much as were the li\es of S.
Franci and the other sain who recei"\ed the tigmata. He is
reputed to ha"\e fasted from all food and drink for forty days,
and when hi disciples uggested that he had gi,en up praying
he could hardly be ure whether indeed he bad prayed, or at any
rate in the accepted manner, so exalted had been hi ec tacy.

Then rumour of amazing miracles pread abroad. It was

declared. that he slept wi h two different per on during all he
same night in different place., and the Sheikh el-l lam and the
Sheikh Galal el-Din el-Siouti inYe tigated and confirmed thi .
When Kaitbey hesitated about journeying from the Nile to the
Enphrates, and consulted Ta htoushi, and was told to go in
peace and safety, he and hi companion, the Emir Yu sef, were
surprised at repeatedly eeing him at the head of their party,
but di appearing when they di mounted o acco t him, but much
more surpri ed on arrival at Aleppo to find him there, and in bed
ill, where he had been for many weeks according to he neigh-
·bom·s.

Lane, in hi ".lYiodern Egyp ians" tells of another miracle,

which ugge . . ts in an intere ting way the clo ea sociation of
Sidi Da htouti with the Leilat el- Ia'rag. An unbelieving
Sultan whil t playing che with his wazir in a public place•
scoffed at the miracle of the Prophet's ascen ion, on the ground
that Buraq the winged bor e could ne\er have carried
Mubammad to Jerusalem, and then to Heaven, and back again
to ~rfecca so quickly that the Prophet's bed had not had time to
cool. Tashtoushi, who was hard by, hortly after offered to
take on the Sultan at hatrang (chess), stipulating that in the
event of his winning, he wa to be obeyed in a little matter.

Note 7
 - 186 -

The exper t Sulta n, seein g no possi bility of being

beate n by
the Sheik h, willin gly agree d, and when in
effec t he found his
king check -mate d( 8>, he obeye d Tash tou hi's
order to plung e in
a tank. On enter ing the wate r he found that
he was in a royal
palac e, had chang ed his sex and was a fair long-
haire d maid en,
who marri ed a princ e and broug ht up three
child ren. When at
len gth h e came out of th palac e, he also emer
ged from the water ,
and wa amaz ed to find his wazir , T 9Jshto
ushi, and the rest
aroun d the che s board , and on realis ing that,
as they assur ed
him, he could not have been unde r the wate
r a single minu te
witho ut drow ning, he recan ted his unbel ief in
the mirac le of the
Ma'ra g, and becam e a good Mosle m.
T ashto u hi built sever al mosq ues and con\
erted many to
Islam . When once hi scand alised follow ers
blam ed him for
going to the Chris tian quart er, and sleep ing
with a youth who
was "Na rani" , he put himse lf again into good
odou r by assur ing
them that the youth was no N a rani ,- for
he had conv erted
him, and had made an excel lent 1osle m of him.
When he felt a pre entim ent of death , he
order ed the
build ers of his tomb to ha ten with its comp
letion , and to so
const ruct it that no one could share it with him.
Then he wept
and died in the year of the H egira 930, (1523
) and all the g1·eat
ones of Cairo , and many from afar came to do
hono ur at his grave ,
an:l amon gst them Malik el-Em ira, Khei r Bey.
It is no wond er, then, that L ane, writi ng
::t hnnd red years
ago, and descr ibing barel y half a dozen of
the very great est
moul ids, shoul d inclu de that of Tash toush i
in this selec t few.
Besid es the solem n inaug uratio n of the rnoul
id, the Sheik h
el-Ba kri took up his resid ence on the spot some
dayE: befor e the
Nigh t of the Ma'ra g, and enter taine d poor
and rich most
Note 8.
Shatar ang f:_.)2,;.. or chess is of course an ancien t E ast ern game, whose
origin appea rs in such terms as Check -mate,
~L. ~l\ el-She ikh mat, the
Sheikh is dead.
 - 187-
lavishly. An ancestor of his had been made "Wakil" of a waqf
for the poor by Sidi Dashtouti. Then on the 26th Ragab, the
Sheikh el-Sa'idiya, after preaching and praying at noon in the
mosque of Sidna Husein, came riding with a hundred dervishes,
and then when with many others they had prostrated themselves
before the mosque, he rode over their closely packed bodies, -
he alone being reputed to have the powe.c of performing the
"Dosah" to the benefit of ouls and without injury to bodies.
Then the moulid "battait son plein", until late on the 27th,
when, after the "khitama" 19l, bhe Sheikh el-Bakri returned
in procession.
Alas, what a drab and trumpery affair the moulid has
become, under the wet blanket of the modern outlook, and kill-
joy restrictions which pari passu slay also religious fervour.
Even a few years ago the mosque was thronged, and eagerness
shown to join in the zikr ; in the lively streets, stalls were
raised for singing heikh , and the cafes were full of mirth, and
the band of the Reformatory was a bright and tuneful spot
opposite the corner of the mo que, and children could enjoy
swings on the tiny hill by the khalig, and e\en watch the antics
of Qara Goz.
The year of the Prophet 1356 (193 7 A.D.) aw the "apo-
colocynto. is" of poor Tashtou hi : no sheikhs ang, no children
swung, no band played, few people prayed in the mosqne whose
outer wall sho\\ed a line of police askaris, a the one bright spot.
The only thing to intere t the multitude \\a, a prison van , like
a mighty cage from the Zoo, in Sh. el-Dashtouti, into which
offenders were popped to be jeered at or pitied through the bars.
A good thing indeed to immobilise the rare disturbers of the
moulid's peace, but why depress and disappoint a host of poor
and worthy people: why tra~ple on fine old traditions, and treat
the memory of the great miracle worker, and illustrious Cairene-
with such a miserable simulacrum of the old glory.

Note 9. Khitama ~1.:;... , final prayers.

 - 188-
(I think it was in 1357 (1938), that an English visitor to
Egypt accompanied me to this moulid, but remembering a dinner
·engagement, had only time to locate the mosque, and note the
-decoration , and a few circumcision booths and such like.
Having read Lane' account, thf'se seemed promising, and he
asked me to meet him there at 9. 30. This I did, but he had
brought the whole dinner party, an English Professor, and three
foreign diplomats, all in evening dress with tall bats or opera
caps. We proved an immen e attraction, and -were joined by
great number who evidently regarded us as the best show of
the evening, and as the nucleu of an up to date procession, till
a much--worried police officer "besought us to depart out of
their coast ".)
D. 5 (v. Map of Delta)
DESUQI (Sidi Ibrahim el-Desuqi) lr?; _,-..01 r:•I.J:I ;.,fo.J....-
It may seem a little out of place to include this in the Cairo
moulids, as of course the great celebrations are at Desuq in the
Delta where Desuki -was buried in 1278 A.D., but it is inter-
esting to know that at Saqiat Mekka, ~G ~.JL close to Giza, (and
therefo1·e to Cairo), we have representati-ves of the illustrious
line, holding, I am told, the Diploma,-Sanad, ,.c. __ -- of the
Tariqa Desuqia, ~; _,-..01 ~.A~_)JI . These bold zikrs, readings,
and quiet ceremonies in honour of their Founder, though he has
not even a cenotaph there.

I have ne er been, but sent two 1eliable muraslas to it

Monday 17th Gumad I, 1353, (27-8-34) ; and in 1357, it was
reported to me as held on Sunday, 18th Gumad II, (14-8-38),
the same day as Sidi Oqbi, which he said was the case each year.
I know of no reason for this synchronism.

Though Egypt justly claims Sidi Ibrabim el-Desuki, be is far

from being a local saint merely. His cult in Palestine, Syria,
:and some other places perhaps exceeds that in this country.
With the Walis Abd el-Qadir el-Galani, Abmad el-Rifai, and
..... -- . . - ~·<· .;..,..-'"=·- --. . -.- .

- 189

Ahmad el-Bedawi, he is aid to "hold up the earth". These

four great founders of mighty Dervish Orders, Turuq, J>
are therefore known as the "Poles" . They are deemed as pre-
existent in the Spirit of Muhammad, and as trees of which the
other Turuq are the branche . It will be noticed tha'b of these
"Four Poles", Egypt can boast also Ahmad Sayed el-Bedawi,.
buried at Tanta, and honoured by perhaps the greatest monlid
known, and though Ahmad el-Rifai lies at Bagdad his cult in
Egypt is immense.

E. 1 (v. Sectional Map XI)

EMERY I ':?/ t$~
Pre ent on Friday, 20 Shaaban 1352
15 1353
18 1354
in each case the third Friday in Shaaban.
The little mosque is very near the khalig, between it and
Sharia 1Ylob. Ali. Any tram from Ataba el-Khadra going in the
direction of the Citadel will erve. Leave the tram at the first
stop after Bab el-Khalq, and pro"eed for :1 few minutes up the
little street to the right.
It is a small and squalid moulid, attended ometimes by
dirty, offjcious, offensive people, especially of the hooligan
class, and the immediate urroundings are not ery attractive.
There are no secular attractions beyond a few cafe and singing
groups near the mo que, and it i one of the very few moulid '
not much to be recommended to visitors.

E. 2 (v. Sectional Map XVI)

EMERY II ':? _;.r ':?.).:-
Present on Friday, 21 Shaaban, 1355, (6- 11-36)
The small rather modern mosque of Sidi Emery, is m the
hara of that name off Sh. Ibn el-Touloun, near the great
mosque of Touloun, and between it and the gabel.
 - 190 -

Bu 4 which can be picked up at the Gezira, English Bridge,

Bab el-Luq etc., takes one to Touloun; also bus 13 fr om Giza to
the mosque of Saida Zenab, and any tram to Saida Zenab leaves
one a hort interesting walk, but the best way is by bus 18
plying between Darasa and Sitna Nefisa, via Ataba el-Khadra,
in which ea e it should be left at Sh. Ibn el-Touloun, and that
street followed past the big mosque.

It i a tiny moulid, and perhap mainly interesting from its

position near Touloun. In 1355 a great sheikh from Sultan
el-Rifai attracted many in thee ening.

F. 1 (v. Sectional Map I)

F ARAG (_) '-:?.A.:.-
On one of the two occasions on which I saw this moulid I
noted the date-Th ur day, 7th R:1bia II, 1353, (19-7-34) -but
ha e not found it at or about that time since. According to in-
formant on the spot, it can only be held when the piece of
almo t \\aste land in front of the mosque on which it is kept is
free from crops. (Severa.l other moulids, especially provincial
ones, have their dates more or les dependent on the cultivation.)

This spot can be reached by car via Gazirat el-Badran, or

by a walk of about 10 minutes from the level crossing in Sharia
Saptia, to which T ram 4 takes one, or by a rather longer walk
from the Rod el-Farag track, Tram 13, leaving the tram at the
raised part short ly before the site of the moulid of Sidi Hili.

It is a pretty and jolly moulid, or was when I saw it, with

zikrs about the mosque, and theatres, Punch and Judy, perform-
ing dogs and the rest away in the patch of la nd.

F. 2 (v. Map of Upper Egypt) ABU TIG

F ARGHAL J~) c.$.J..:-
This is one of the important moulids of Upper Egypt, and
is held at or near Abu Tig in Rabia II.
 Ioulid Fatim<t el X 'be wiya.

Dr. iahmud Enaye llah, doyen of Cir umci ion.

 191-

F 3 (v. Sectional Map XIV)

F ATI~!IA EL-NEBAWIYA
This important moulid i usually h eld on the last Monday
of Rabia I : anyway this was the ea e in 1351, 1353, 1356, 1359
on which four occasion I wa present, but in 1348 I think it
was on a later date, and in 1357 the great night was :Monday,
7th Rabia II, and in 1358 Monday, 3rd Rabia II (22/5/39).
The little mosque i in th D arb el-Ahmar di trict, one of the
least spoilt and least known bi ts of Cairo, though not far from
Tabana and the popular mo que of Aq unkur, (the Blue ~1osque),
but away to the East towards the gabel.
Though as a function the moulid has dwindled, a ramble is
well worth while, through the narrow streets beneath mighty
buildings, whose stone in places are so immense that one's
attention hardly strays beyond them. - "Quand les pierre
disent de telles choses on oublie le edifices".
It is easily reached by Bu 17 which on its way to Bab el-
Wazir passes the entry to undry gaily beflagged little street on
the left, either of which leads in a v-ery few minutes to the heart
of the moulid.
Whether I had been extraordinarily unobservant in pr~vious
years, or ·whether 1351 (1_932) was ·an epoch in Egyptian m~ulids
I do not know, but I rarPly if ever ·noticed either public circum-
cision booths or Sudanese music and 'dancing before that. date.
In 1351 the former were most conspicuous at Fatima.el-Nebawiya,
and the latter, though too far from the mosque to call attention,
were big and numerous in a side street.
The booth of Dr. M~hmud EnaJat Allah, tl;le doyen of this
guild was at the door of the mosque, and those of Dr. ·Nadi and
other in Hara el-Nebawiya and the Sh'a ria of the same natlte.
Each booth ha,d its large framed picture illustrating the opera-
tion. An European doctor to whom I mentioned this, and who
was in the habit of charging L.5 to parents desiring to mutilate
 - 192-

their offspring, greatly marYelled that anything so delicate could

be achieved so ummarily for nothing or a few piastres, with
results* enviably satisfactory and safe; and desiring to witness
the technique accompanied m on the penultimate day of the
moulid. Though the e medical gentlemen showed no desire to
conceal he secrets of their skill, and were most obliging, we had
come at an off time, when there were few patients, and only one
operation, that on a little girl, in action. · As my companion was
only remaining a day Ol' two in Egypt he expressed his willingness
to pay for anyone the small customary fee, and 5 piastres over to
the patient. The respon e was surprising, and one of the vol-
unteer was an old gentleman ''ho looked about seventy, to whom
it wa,s explained \\ith difficulty that certain things can only
happen once in a lifetime.
In 1353 (1934) moulids seem to have reached their zenith~
for modern time , as witness a notice in the Arabic papers of
that date, which reads,
"MOULID EL-SAIDA FATIMA

The Mini try of ln erior has authori ed the observance

of the Moulid of El-Saida Fatima El-Nebawiya by the
people of the Darb el-Ahmar, Cairo, for a period of fifteen
days beginning today and ending Monday evening, 9 July
1934, and H. E. Abd el-Maqsud Rhadr, Naqib el-Sada el-
Ashraf of Giza Mudiria, has undertaken the decorations and
ceremonies in honour of the night of commemoration of this.
maje tic moulid."
It should be mentioned in this connection that the full title
'Naqib el-Ashraf' is a 1 ery eminent one in Islam, it is at least
as high as 'Patriarch' in Christendom. The Naqib el-Sada or
* Note by an English Doctor, resident in Egypt,-
" This is perfectly true,-European circumcision necessitates half an
hour's anaesthetic, an intimate operation, a dozen stitches, copious.
dressings, and a LS fee. Arabic is instantaneous, needs no anaesthe-
tic, little dressing, and a shilling fee, and gives infinitely better results."
 Moulid
of
1 n < F a im a 1- eba wiya.

An adjacent tomb of con iderable anctity

(Mura la Muhammad l\1ousa)
 193-

Sheikh el-Sada, is the lineal descendant of the Khalif Ali, and

"occupies the carpet" of that great Founder, the spiritual
throne. There is another who "occupies the carpet" of the
Khalif Omr, and yet a third, the greatest of all, and ruler of a,ll
Cairo Dervishes, whose "carpet" is that of the fir t Khalif,
Abu Ba,kr. H e, of cour e, is the Sheikh el-Bakri, Naqib el-
Ashraf, (Chief of the Sharif ) , who figure largely at the 1on lid
el-Nebi, and other great moulids and I lamic function .
(The e N aqa1b are commonly credited with npernatnral
power . Early in the century, for instance, I wa a nred in
the pala,nquin of the Naqib la t named, that the Rbedi\e Abbas
Hilmi had been smitten b~, a dreadful infirmity for peaking
disre peC'tfully about him, bn t on humbling him elf in the dust
before the representative of Abu Bakr, he wa miraculously
cnred.)
Three year later, 1357, .when I went with Eric Gill he
,culptor and other \i itor , the moulid bad still much of its old
charm and characteri tic , and they were eqified and deeply
intere ted: but on Rabia II, 1357 (6 . 6. 3 ), an unplca ant air of
insincerity bad crept into the moulid, demon trating
convincingly the ill results of re training the natural expre ion
of the peopl 's piety and emotions. Gomg in the afternoon to
see the zeffa disappointed people told me there was not to be
one, and I was presented to a forlorn-looking b eikb whom they
bad expected to mount as Kbalifa and follow to ome shrine.
The original of the announcement, transcribed on th e previous page into
English, was as follows :

41 t; ~ ~.•.J) v.!._,..
;..,.,tAJI J _;;r-':J\ ":"'.J..JI .._s?. ~.r.JI :i..k\9 .;J.:.JI ..J_,.. cJ l .)\!·~;._I..JI cJij_, .::..:...r~
' ~ "'t d..:- _,}-'!. -. u:~·':Jl p~M "L. 0 A:J.; J i _,}1 :r -~~; t -"M re. L~ .;..U
u\.:.~ )1 .;~\ ~_;::..~..c• .._;1~':/1 ;.)\.JI ~~ f.:z;.. .)_,...uti ..l.f' ~JI.;.r.:z>- i\;1 ..l.i_,
J~~l ..J)t\ l.i. L>J~ ~ \ . ~>- \ '
 194 -

Whilst talking to him I wa greatly puzzled at hearing music,

rather blatant from some bra s instruments, and seeing a little
crowd escorting a turba,ned rider. A zeffa after all, I thought,
but some rival Khalifa, and ~raightway followed. My first
hock was when we ' ere about to emerge by the side of a
beautiful mo que detached on all ides, into the main road near
the cw·acol ; a carter blocking the way made no effort t o make
room for the "Khalifa", and addressed that dignitary in language
wor e than flippant, to which be replied in terms I can not put
down, starting a duel between the two of coarse badinage, ana
to increa e my amazement the people laughed and chaffed. We
ultimately halted in the court of a large private house, where the
"Kha,lifa" in re pon e to reque t from the windo~s above
de cended from hi hor e, did a comic dance and held up his
garment to catch coins which they were thro~ing down. "What
manner of holy man i thi ?" I a ked. "Oh, he is a Magzub" "'
wa the reply: "i n't be funny?"

So I wa n o longee assisting at the ancient picturesque

devotion of the Z effa, but at a mockery. I came away.

Sitna Fatima el-Neba,wiya wa no less a persona,ge than t h e

daughter of Sidna Hu ein, and great-grand-daught er of the
Prophet. She was therefore great-aunt of the other Fatima el-
Nebawiya, bint Gaafar Sadiq, the Sixth Imam . (The m oulid
of this namesake is held on an early Tuesday of Shaaban in a
street of the same name (Nebawiya) near Bab el-Khalq, behind
the Appeal prison.)
May Allah see that the great-grand-daught er of His prophet
h ave a zeffa this year worthy of her lofty state, and not a
vulgar clown t o usurp so h onourable a position.

* Note (I) Magzub ~ J)~ w hic!l. in its original m ea ning is entranced-

carried away by God-is commonly used , as in this case, for
a fool or buffoon.
 - 195 --

It is painful t o have to add a note on the m oulid of Monda

28 Rabia I (6-5 -40), within the war period, but before that had
a umed al~Lrming proportion . In point of fact I could not
a certain any connection between the war and the happening
about the shrine of the grand-daughter of the P rophet.
Thi is referred to in the Preface, in striking contra t to
the happy peaceful e\ening enjoyed by the people in the royal
square, for this was the occa ion of the king's acce ion.
I had seen the moulid timidly workin~ up on two of the
preliminary e\ening , and though late after the royal entertain-
ment, (after 10 perhaps), went to the great denonenLent . The
usually bright T::tbana di Lrict was gloomy, and on turning up
one of the treets to war ls the mosque I \YU. stopped by an
askari, and told that it was forbidden to go there. Though
this wa repeated el ewhere I finally arri\ed by a round about
way, to find sheer desolation. I enquired the eau e of Sheikh ,
residents, police (including an officer), and visitors, and elicited
no ren,son. One indeed gave me in lieu of valid rea on, thn,t
there had been loo e women in the neighbourhood, and took me
to the place where the e had offended, and in truth I needed a
guide, it was so far fr om the afflicted shrine. All whom I spoke
to, rtnd 'tho e I did not, eemed distre sed, - except perhaps one
Italian-speaking v-i itor, who remarked,- "You are too late for
the raid: except for the eo. tume bow splendidly it would ha Ye
filmed,- a a ghetto in Warsaw with the Gestapo at wot'k !"
F. 4 (v. Sectional 1ap XI)
FATIMA EL-NEBAWIYA BINT GAAFAR SADIQ
J .llo4 _;..>: ..::..~ '~:.>~1 4...-b \! ;~_JI
Always held on a T uesday eftrl~' in Shaaban: in 1353, 1355,
and 135(3, t h e first T uesday: in 135±, 1357 and 1359 (10. 9. 40)
the second.
This must not be confu ed with t h e m oulid of Patima el-
N ebawiya held in the mon t h of R abia in t h e D a rb el-Ah mar
 - 196-
district, (which see). They are both 1n a street called by the
same name, el-N ebawiya, but the tomb of Bint Gaafar Sadiq is
behind the Governo ra.te and prison, and therefore reached b y
any Citadel or Khalig tram or bu .
Thi clearly the daughter of the Six h Imam, Abdalla
Gaafar Sadiq, the inscripti on o\·er the door of the shrine being
« J-'\..., .;A•~ .:...:.! "-!.r.:JI ~li .;~11 (\.i. l.i"' »
"This i the 'maqam' of Saida Fatima el-Nebaw iya
bin t Gaafar Sadiq.''
She is therefore the grand-da ughter of Zein el-Abdin , and des-
cended directl) from the Proph et through Hu ein, and i ister
to Sitna Ayesha and Sitna Sakina, both of whom as well as Zein
el-Abdin have monlids in Cairo.
It is, or wa , a small but lively and attractiv e moulid, and
the shrine well worth a visit: but it has changed characte r in
a curious wa3. When I first saw it in 1353 the very nnmerou
zikrs dominate d everythin g. Th ey were very 1\eird and earnest
in the cave-like " sous-sol" chamber s of the Sikka, and through-
out the range of the moulid. In 1354 more than one of these
caveTns had become cafe of sorts, and two others pre ented
strange sights. In one, youthful dervishe s, or would-be
den·ishe s were whirling , and in the other was a boy ' zikr,
conducte d so sedately and with such apparent seriousne ss, that
I did not see any one of the little chaps rebuked by his elders .
But the really curious change came in 1355 , when except in
the tomb it was difficult to find a zikr, and on the other hand
the street under the prison windows was full of little gaming
stalls and amusem ents of all sorts, to the great delight of the
o ccupants of the cells who joined in vociferou sly from their
windows . This m odificatio n was quite paradoxi cal as it came just
when the mot d'oTd1·e was to raise the spiritual and religious side
of moulids at the expense of what was consider ed profane. In
effect exactly the opposite came n,bout; but a ll was orderly and
happy, and nothing to shock the gentleme n up at their windows .
 - 197-

Another thing in 1355 (1936) which to me was new and

peculiar, was the observance of the asboa, oct~Lve, of the great
nigh t on 11th Shaaban, the official consummation of the moulid
having been on the fourth. That. however, took an almo t
exclu i ely religions form.

I have never seen a zeffa there, but this i probabl~ my own

fault in coming late, as I wa :-t. ured on arriving after sun et
in 1356 (1937) that there had been a ''ery fine proce ion with
mounted khalija in the afternoon .

The daughter of the great Ith Imam wa one of the fir t

t: 'tpe-goa,ts of the war . Her moulid fixed for Tue day, 5 Shaaba,n,
(19-9-39) wa simply ern hed, and her shrine forsaken. Enquiring
the reason at a cigarette hop near the end of the Sharia el-
Nebawiya, I was taken for an official, and informed in tones of
horl'or, that some wretch had had the audacity to play on a
'R·tghn l' in the street under the prison . I wonder what hi fate
W<t , and why this dear instrument with its immen ely long reed,
.n,n l cleep base notes, almost peculiar to Egypt, the delight of
vi itors and the pride of mu ic-loving Egyptian , should have
f<-tllen under a ban. I looked up at the prison window , generally
fnll of happy faces enjoying an annual treat. Not a face! Poor
things, they doubtles found their cells more cheerful than the
look-out.

Findjng a cafe open, I called for a qi1ja (cinnamon tea) and

an Arabic paper. In that I read an exhortation from the ancient
University, to cheerful acceptance of the situation that might
follow from the war, and to carry on as usual. Oth er equally
harmless platitudes followed but the whole tone was so depres -
sing that I felt it should be read aloud in the perfect taging of
thi little corner of dejection, like ~'lark Antony's oration in the
Roman forum.
 - 198-

MINIA
F. 5 (v. Map of Uprer Egypt)
FULl J_,; <$~-
I haYe no information about this mon1id except that it is of
ocal importance in the Minia district of Upper Egypt.
Sheikh Foli is generally credited with being the Wali who
protects us fro crocodiles, by prAventing their passing North
of Minia: but this is conte ted by the votaries of certain other
Walis by the side of the Nile further South.
G. 1 (v. Sectional Map I)
GALADIN ~~~ c.$~
This I saw on 27th Shaaban, 1355 , (12. 11. 36), but on going
more recently about that date I have been informed that I am
too late.
It is in a street of the same name in the Bulaq district, off
the Suq el-Asr, and adjoining the Haret el- Rordi, where the
moulid of that name is celebrated. ( v. Kurdi)
It is small and bright, without any shows, and centres
about the mosque of Ga1adin. A conspicuous inscription in the
mosque is
« .&1 ~~ ~J..I U"'i; >)

r'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom".

G. 2 (v. Sectional Map Ill)

GALAL J~ c$~

Held on Sunday, but the day of the month and the month
itself varies. It was on 4th Mnharem, 1354 when I first
disco-vered it through my murasla, the 20th Muharem in 1355,
and 21st Safr in 1356, (2-5-37).
It is in the Sharabia district, behind the railways, about
half way between the station of Kubri Limoun and the site of
the moulid of Mazlum, (which see). There is no way : or
 -- 199 -

reaching it as far as I know except by walking, (about half an

hour), riding or driving. One mi es the good old donkeys when
going, and still more on returning, as a cab easily obtained at
Kubri Limoun to go there, generally fails to return for one late
in the e\ening.
There is one theatre and a few bows in a long qualid
treet, and it is hardly \YOr h a visit. I uppo e there is a
mosque or shrine, but ha\e not found it. It boa t , however, a
fair zeffa in the afternoon.
AY T.
G. 3 (v. Map of Upper Eg~ pt)
GALAL EL-DIN EL-ASYUTI l..}b .r..- ':JI 0:..J1 J~ ~.A:-
Being in this most ancient city of Lycopoli in the middle
of June 1936, I had the good luck to see the big prodncial moulid
in fnll swing. The great night was on 28th Ra.b ia I, 1355,
(18-6-36). .
Its feature , both religious and secular, were on the whole
tho e of a typical moulid, but being a rare occurrence in the e
parts, there was more excitement and inten ity than i u ual at
a Cairo moulid. A zeal amounting almost to fanaticism
animated a group of dervi hes, as a party of English friends of
mine butted in. These were olemnly \Yarned off the pitch by
a venerable turbrtnned sheikh, to whom their bare ot· billy-cocked
heads and very ifrangy gait wa evidently a shock, I think, quite
understandably so : but what repelled him and hi associates
proved an irresistible charm to a multitude of youngsters who
formed a moving entourage whithersoe\er they wended.
Staying on in my inconspicuous tarboosh, unchallenged and in
peace, I marvelled for the umteenth time at the pecnliar insular
complex still rife which prevents many from appearing in the
Egyptian head-dress except when obliged tc b~ their official
, functions.
The number of sugar figures, "arusas", great at all monlids,
was here enormous, and many of them of a type no longer see nin
 - 200 -

Cairo except rarely, suggestiYe of Tanagra, or of Pomeian figur-

ine , group repre enting he loves of the animals, human and
otherwi e: of much intere t, I am told, anthJ·opologically.
L ycopoli wa of cours a great centre of the 'animal cult.
mummie of which are still abundant, so that the excess of these
figurine h re is suggestiYe.
G. 4
GAMAL EL-DIN
A small moulid reported a held on Thur Clay, 17th Gumad
el-Akhir 135 (3-8 -39) at Kafr TlH·mu nen.r Saft.

G. 5
GAMILA
Reported as one of the Imam el-Shafei group, held in the
tombs about the middle of Shaaban.
G. 6 (,-. Sectional l\1ap VIII)
GA 1L (Sidi 1uhammad el-Gaml)
A member of the group of small moulids held at the end of
Shaaban near the Bab el-Nasr. The very pretty tomb of the
Sicli is in the Harat Guania.

G. 7 ( ,.. Sectional Map XIV) I

GANIB ~~ <$~
I wa conducted to this on its pen ultimate night, on
Satura ay, 28th Shaaban, 1357, (12-10-38), b~ a dervish with
whom I made friends at the little moulid of Ali el-Gizi in the
tombs of the Fatimite Khalifs, but to our di tress found that
for some reason the police had actively discouraged it by moving
on the people who were sitting about in the Sarugia where the
tomb is situated, even those recessed back from the road. I did
not go the next night so that I cannot tell to what extent it was
observed. The district is not nearly as well known as it
det:>erves, though it is very accessible, between Bab el-Mitwali
and the Mosque of Sultan Rifai in Sh. 1\!Ioh. Ali.
 -201 -

G. 8
GHARIB (Sheikh el-Gharib) -../'"' e-:-
_.1 ''\ • ..

One of the three little moulids held in the village of l\tlit

Oqba, the others being Sidi Oqbi and Sheikh el-La hini.
I do not know if it i alw-ays the case, but in 1358 all three
were held on one evening, Thur day 24 Gum ad II (10. 3. 39)
(v. Oqbi) .

G. 9 (v. Sectional :Map XVIII)

GIRGIS (Mar Girgis,-St. George) ~ .r: ;l..
This Chri tian moulid, observed by Copt and Orthodox
Greeks principally, is natm·ally held on or very near the Fea t
Day of the Saint. Thi b eing according to the Latin calendar
oo April 23rd, and the old reckoning being 13 days later, the
observance i at the beginning of May. In 1937 it wa 2nd 1ay,
that is 24th Bermuda 1653, (21 Safr 1356)
It should not be mi ed, for the old fortre of TrFLjan in
which the Church of S. George, and a Chapel benea h belonging
to the Copts are ituated, i a picture of lio-ht and life. The
cil'cular galleries and every pnrt a.ee full of people, vi iting the
shrine or sitting about meditating or engFLged on more social
intercourse: and a curiou woman's ceremony is observed now
a on certain other occasion of circling the head with a mighty
and ancient chain. Out ide the barbican all is lighthearted
enjoyment at the tent cafes and little shows, mo t of which are
just on the ot her side of the level crossing. Inside the fortre s of
Ba,bylon too there is unusual animation and light, but the sombre
majesty of this classic enceinte with its ancien t Coptic churches,
synagogue and buildings seems only to becom e more striking.
L et us hope that thi Feast will not go the way of those of
S. Mercurius (Abu Sefein), and S. Sergius (Abu Sarga), which
according to Butler's notes were brilliant in his day, and now
a las, as far as I can ascertain almost vanishing quantities!
1 am told there are considerable observances at Asyut.
 - 202
G. 10 (v. Sectional Map XVII)
GIZI (Sidi Ali el-Gizi) <$~1 ~ ~P·-:.-
At 9 o'clock of the evening of 28th Shaaban, 1357,(22-
10-38), I accidentally came acro a ' small zeffa, with the usual
lantern and tambourines, and th e da rk bann er of the Rifaiya
approaching the tomb of the Fat imite khalif ; and joining it,
we soon arrived at a tabut, that of Sidi Ali el-Gizi, where a
religious ervice commenced leading up t o a zikr.
The weird surroundings, a nd the zec 1 of a wild-looking,
earne t and picture que little crowd gave a romantic air to this
mall and ob cure rnoulid.
Its position is just off the track of tram No. 13Jio the west,
n ear the beginning of the tombs.
MINYET EL-QAMH c:-
__ .;1\ t.:...._·
G. 11 (v. Map of Delta)
GDDA o~Y." ~I
I am told reliably that this is a big and important moulid,
and was held in the year 1358 on Thursday, 25th Gumad Awal
(13-7 -39 ).
Minyet el-Qamh is on the main line between Benha and
Zagazig, and about half way between the two. I should like to
know whether the name of the next station given on the railway
map as El-Gudaiyida h 9J an ything to do with Sheikh Goda (or
Guda).
H. 1 (v. Sectional Map X.)
HAMZA oj~~
Sheikh Hamza favours a Friday for his moulid, but seems
thankful in these days for any date he can obtain, since he is
under a sad cloud. In 1351 the chief night was that of Friday
14 Gumad II, in 1353 Friday 28 Gumad I, and in 1354 the date
at first fixed, Friday 15 Gumad II, was changed to Sunday 13
Shaaban (10.11.34). Since then it hab been quite irregular. In
1359 it was on Frida3 29 Gumad I (5-7-40).
 -203-

The tomb is at the junction of Sharia Balaq a and Sh. el-

Qowala, the latter being the street at right angles to the old
front of Bab el-Luq station: the mosque is a little up B alaqsa
which opens up at the other end in view of Abdin Palace, and is
near and parallel to Emad el-Din .
The secular attractions were of the simple t, not going
beyond vendors of biscuits which might or might not contain a
prize varying from a millieme to a ba1·iza (10 piastre ), and the
quaint sellers of equally quaint articles to a chorus of "ma'lum"
from the youngsters. Its great feature was the zeffa from the
mosque of El-Ashmawi, which attracted an enthusiastic con-
course, but 1351 was the beginning of sorrows, for the pressure
and excitement of the people \Yas such that on entering the
narrow Balaq a, the old infirm "Khalifa" fell from hi young and
frightened horse. Not that he was physically hurt for his
supporters caught him befor he reached the ground and carried
him to the shrine, but many looked on thi as an evil omen. This
superstition gains support from the fact that things have ne-ver
gone well ince; the moulid has been put off or the zeffa forbid-
den, and in a recent year omeone must have been deemed to
have sinned against "morals ann religion", and t.he moulid \Vas
afflicted in consequence. I had returned with friends from
Meadi, and we weee walking down Sh. el-Qowala ignorant that
it was Sheikh Ha.mza's day, until we were suddenly swept nearly
off our feet by a rush of terrified o;;otaries pursued by a karis \Vith
canes, and the "purge" extended to the walls of the tomb where
women were sitting in suppo ed sanctuary. Disgruntled souls
assured us that Abdin caracol wa like a concentra,tion camp for
the nonce. My poor friends, who had long wanted to ee a monlid,
are cured of that yearning, and have carried away the idea that
such is a pious obser vance, from which a bles ing is looked for
through flagellation .
It sometimes happens that an early minor night i more
edifying and enjoyable than the final: that \Vas the case on J 0
Shaaban 1354, (7-11-35), three days before the apodosis, when I
 - 204 -

went through Sh. Balaqsa with the Professor of Anthropology

of the Egyptian U ni '>'ersity and hi wife, and finding things very
dull, we were about to move on to the moulid of Sidi Muafaq
b ehind Abu el-Eht. But uddenly a whirling dervish appeared,
with the acce sories of mosic, etc., and his performance and
endurance were wonderfol, and the whole scene impressive.
Resurgat Hamza!
H. 2 ( . Sectional Map XIII.)
HAN AFI (Sultan Hanafi) r 0lhl-
On each of seven occasions that I have been present the
main day ha been the First Wednesday after mid-Shaaban, so
that this is one of the moulids whose date can be calculated and
relied on. It is also an example of the utility of noting the day
over a series of years, and e tablishing one's formula, so to
speak, in preference to empirical information ::tbout the expected
time. Sultan Hanafi runs officially for seven days, but decora-
tions are up for nearly a month, and I have again and again
been given a wrong and unduly early date, and should have had
a journey in vain, but for preferring the above generalisation.
The two great contiguous mosques of Hanafi and Saleh are
in a little known region between Abdin and Saida Zenab, worthy
of far better acquaintance. For those not familiar with the
intricacies of the district, they are best reached by tram 17 or
bus 18, getting out where one lea,ves Sh. Emad el-Din at Sh.
Sheikh Rihan. By walking straight on the small remainder of
Emad el-Din and turning down to the left, one is on the spot in
a few minutes.
There was a great charm about this moulid, now unhappily
lost. The1·e never were (in my time) theatres, ringas and such
like, but in the little side streets the people brought out chairs
and musical instruments, and a table decorated with lighted
candles and flowers, and the singing and playing had a most
pleasant effect, and was often really good, a graceful supple-
ment to the more austere ceremonies at the mosque. Then a
 1oulid
of
ultan Hanafi.
·- .- ,... ~ ~ - ~- ~~---~ - ··~~.... -~-~:··~~:"· -~~~.....1
- - - - --- ... , - ·--~ .,
 - 205 -

little o11th of the mo que, on the othee ide of the road, n,nd
well out of sight and sound, a mighty stone gatewa3 and an
arched pas age leading to a great space among t old palaces re-
\"ealed a merry host of young ters on S\Ying an d goo ene t , or
enjoying the quaintest of Punch and J udy bows and ha.c1ow
pictures. That survived until 1357 (1938).
Circumcision booth with their great framed picture ate
still plentiful, and I am glad to ay an innoYation of hanging
huge banners across the street b aring an in cription offering
free treatment, sur\ived only one year, 1351.
A dramatic incident occurred the next year not ea ilr for-
gotten. A most peaceful e\ening was uddenly marred by the
apparition of a mad woman, bla pheming, and attacking anyone
who Lried to restrain her, with teeth and nail . Holy men •;yho
tried to quiet her regretted their temerity, and police and people
were puzzled how to deal with such a fury, whose trength
seemed almost supernatural. When even gallant askaris recoiled
before her fangs and claws, suddenly a merry handsome lad cut
in, laughed cheerily in her face, ,..haffed her, n,nd ultimately led
her quietly away, joking her as they went. He soon returned
and I n,sked him if he knew her? "0, no", said he, "but she's all
right!" I have seen and heard of the youth several times since,
Mahmud Ali by name, and was recently told that he is with the
R. A. F., a fine boxer, and in the running for Olympic honour .
In 1354 the ancient zeffa was suppre sed, in the afternoon.
In the evening there was a little one to a shrine in a neighbouring
street. In that year the Sheikh el-E.houli, of some local impor-
tance, showed me remarkable old buildings in the neighbourhood
of the Punch and Judy enclosure, referred t o above, one immense
place suggestive of the well-known Beit el-Qadi. He a lso offered
to show me a treasure worth L.10,000. The Sheikh Abu el-Ela
of Aguza showed me much of interest about the mo que, and
explained the enormous wooden buttresse and upport which
disfigured it, as the result of Sultan Hanafi's injunctions to his
 - ~~- - - -
• ,,. - -
----- •
•'•';~
- ---- -;- ,- _,,,r - -. ' ·•:" <·:'• :ti:.!' ;., •" •

- 20 6-
foll owe rs aga ins t tam per ing
wit h hi mo squ e by any
rep air . Th at too imp lici sor t of
t obe die nce to suc h exh orta
dan ger ous ha bee n dem ons tion s is
trat ed by the trag edy of Abu
am ong t oth e cas e , so the el-E la,
aut hor itie hav e wis ely tak
ma tter in han d and effe cted en the
con ide rab le rep airs to the
wor k, and rem ove d the tim ber sto ne
. As I wri te in Feb rua ry 193
el-H igg a 1357, Kin g Far ouq 9, Zu
i exp ecte d sho rtly to ina ugu
re tare d mo que. God sav e rate the
the Kin g, and re tor e the dila
mo ulid ! pid ate d

Sin ce pen nin g the abo ve I hav

e see n two mo ulid s und er war
con diti on , and in pite of hav
ing to figh t aga ins t the se and
de trac tive foe at hom e, the mo re
y clid how fav our abl e sym
and at the mo ulid of We dne pto ms,
sda y 22n d Sha aba n of this yea
(25-9-40) old Pnn ch had com r 135 9,
e to life aga in, and was ver y
puc rna ciou in atta cki ng pow act ive ly
ers of e il new to him in the
of Hit ler and Mu olin i. Bu per son s
t a ick mo ulid tak es a lot of
Let us hop e Sid i Han afi has hea ling .
kin d and pio us frie nds to nur
fea t bac k to vig our and bea se his
uty .
The datA of the firs t We dne
sda y afte r mid -Sh aab an was
stri ctly adh ere d to on bot h
of the se occ asw ns.
H 3 (v. Sec tion al Ma p XII I).
H,A RO UN (Sid i Ha rou n el-H
use ini) ~.J.I ,jJ; \• <$.A.:.-
In the se day s wh en eve
n old -est abl ishe d mo ulid s
stru ggl incr for exi sten ce, and are
in som e cas es, as in tha t of
tou ti fall en from the em ine Das h-
nce and mag nifi cen ce of a
and I slam ic cel ebr atio n to Nat ion al
a par ade in fro nt of a mo
neg lec ted shr ine und er pol ice re or less
sup erv isio n, it is a hig h ple asu
be abl e to rec ord the rev iva re to
l of an anc ien t mo nlid , wh
not bee n obs erv ed wit hin ich had
the me mo ry of this gen era
its re-e stab lish me nt a few tion unt il
yea r ago by, the wri ter is
add , the ins tru me nta lity of pro ud to
one of hi8 ow n cou ntr ym
too , wh o has bre ath ed in all en- one ,
tha t is bes t of the atm osp
Egy pt, wh ose tas te and jud her e of
gm ent in suc h Ori ent al ma
abo ve all atta ck, the spr ing tter s is
s of wh ose act ion s are pur ely
a lov e
 Moulid
of
idi aroun el-Hu em1.

The corner of the Beit el-Kredlea, Ibn el-Touloun.

with the tomb of Haroun and it guardian.
 207-
of Egypt and the Egyptian , and all that is venerable and
beautiful in the valley of the Nile and elsewhere.
Sidi Haroun, spoken of a Huseini* owing to his clo e
relation hip to Sidna Hu ein and therefore to the Proph et, ha
his maqam at the corner of the great enceinte of Ibn Touloun.
It form part of perhaps the most beautiful old house in Cairo,
t·endered more so by the lovely antiques introduced by its
occupant. He h as put be tomb in ordel', lighted and adorned
it, and e tablisbed there an ancient sh eikh, Sheikh Suleiman
cl-Kredlea, of the family a sociated for generation with he
shl'ine and tlle hou e, and who boasts his ''sanad" connectin g
him with the wali who e tomb be watches 0\-er.
The new lea e of life comm enced in 1854: (1935), o that th P
gl'eat celebration on 23rd Shaaban, 1357, (17.10.38), wa the fourth.
Each year it has been in Shaaban, though the day of the month
has varied from the 11th to the 26th.
It is best reached from the Ataba by bus No. 18, getting
down at Sharia Ibn Touloun, from which point it is barely t"To
minutes distant. Bus 4 al o passes near, and it is quite a short
walk from the Citadel and froin Saida Zenab, to both of which
sub-cenbres many trams and buses run.
Sidi Haroun is a very colourful and tuneful little mouhd.
It has its zeffa, with vi its to the tomb, followed by zikrs, and
the usual ritual, and a great feature has been a Dervi h of the
Rifaiya whose mastery over fire can hardly be explained on
natural lines. He also fascinate all present by the use of his
Dabus, a straight dagger headed by a ball to which are attached
<""L number of short chains terminating in pieces of metal, to
produce a musical effect, enhanced sometimes by objects
1 uontained in the ball, which is in that case a kind of sistrum .
· The dabus is thrust freely through his face or into his body
' without any appearance of pain or fl ow of blood. A whirling
:. il.ervish and a hawi add als o their qu otum .
----------~------------------

.
(*) Note. Over the portal is wntten,- . -. 1 I '-'"J)\/b
«_~ W~-...-
·.I" ' . . i I\AA ~ ~ l''
• I....,.
 - 208 -
The tomb, ov r who dome floats a mighty gonfall on in
the colour of the Rifaiya , be ides numero us smalle r banner
and the 11roce ional bu,ariq, J;l_,! , has a little window looking
on to a picture sque corner garden known as the "Dorot heum"
,
which on these occasio n i very full of visitors , only lightly
eparate d from the zikr cnclo ure. The overflo w take up
a
comma nding po ition on the roof of the Beit Kredle a, or at
the
m hrabia em bra Lues, or at the door of the tomb with the
old
Sheikh and hi pious compan ion , initiate of the Qadari
ya,
Rifaiya , Shazlia and other "Turuq ", murids and talibs, naibs,
khalifa s and the re t,-a goodly compan y.
The e are not a whit disturb ed by the proxim ity of non-
l\1o lem and Occide ntals, for ha.ppily the irtue of toleran
ce,
mutu::Ll regard, and ympath y are the blessed order of the
day
in Egypt, and indeed the3 soon become so absorb ed in their
mode of throwi ng off all earthly shackl e , that they are rendere
d
obli viou to all \i ible surroun dings.
This meetin g and blendin g of East and West in the home of
::Ln ex-Orie ntal Secreta ry is a hearten ing sight, and the names
or
fnnctic llls of a few of the people I have met at this moulid
of
Sidi Harou n will how what varied types of Anglo- Egypti
an
society hav-e been represe nted, by no means excludi ng those also
of
other nationa lities. I have seen leading membe rs of the British
Embas sy there, and Baron de Bildt and other represe ntative
diplom ats, also the Comm andant of Police, with Lady Russell
,
and sundry disting uished Egypti an Officer s. It is not perhap
s
genera lly known that Sir Thoma s is an author ity on Dervis
h
lore and 1Je1·sona gTata with the Baba and monks of the Bektas
hi
Taqia, at the "Magh rouri" under the Moqat tams, and (so
the
Baba inform ed me with great satisfa ction) is wrjting a
book
about their Order. One of the officers referre d to, Yuzbas
hi
Abd el-Rah man Zaki, showed me the second volume of his work
on Cair.o, "El-Qa hira, ;J.\il\", beautif ully produc ed and illustra
ted.
Other writers presen t of author ity and renown , on the mon-
 209 -

uments of Islam, were Mr . D evonshire, and Prof. Creswell.

In the Poet's corner was Prof. Scaife of the Egyptian Uni,er ity,
whose beautiful qasida on Bayed el-Bedawi \\as read by himself
in these most appropriate surrounding not long ago. Al o the
poet and writer, l\1r. S. F. A. Cole , who, by the wa,y, introduced
a picture of the tomb of Sidi Haroun into his account of the
Beit Kredlea, in the "Sphinx", 9th November, 1935. (*)
Amongst military leaders, Spink P a, ha, with Lady Spinks,
and General MacReady were there, and at least one Egyptian
Lewa.
An intere ting and a,ppropriate guest on each occa ion has
been the Sheikh D aif el-Rhoderi, descended from the founder
of the neighbouring mo que of the same name, who ride
"Khalifa" in the zeffa of his own moulid. Amongst ot h er Sons
of the Prophet werP Ashraf, who e sanads (diplomas) how a
silsila proving- not only their de cen in a clea,r Ene from the
Founder of I lam, but even going ba,ck much farther, till the
old parchment read like a chapter from the Book of Number .
Amongst the guest of great good omen were se\eral
members and the president him elf of the Society for the Preser-
vation of Ancient Monuments against the attacks of material
vandalism, which have, ala , irreparably reduced the grea,t
beauty of Ca,it''), even in places to utter uglification. This
Society had, I believe, much to do in the rescue of thi very B eit
Kredlea, and we know not how much we all, and Cairo itself,
have to thank it for. There i , moreo er, the Society for the
Preservation of Coptic Art, also represented at the moulid of
Sidi H a,roun, and doubtless other groups engaged on this

(*) Pictures of the tomb and th e house also appeared in "Egyptian Radio" of
27th February, 1937; and one of the "Miraculous Well" in the hash in
the issue of 22nd. J anuary, 1938.
v. also ''Country Life" of 13-12-3I, &c.: also a series of I2 Tales told by
Sheikh Suleiman el-Kredli, which came out in the "Sphinx" from Dec. , 39
to May I 40., &c. &c.
 - 2 10 -

splendid work, but I am not aware of any concerted effort to

sa\'e pricele s old Egyptian u om from an equally deadly wave
of spi1·itual vandali m. _ I it too much to hope that committees
similar o the abov will be formed to defend Egypt's dear old
en tom , before it i too late ? Perhap the germ of this lies in
the moulid meetings at the Beit Rredlea. May Sidi Haroun, t o
whom miracle are a cribed by his \'otarie , be propitious here,
and interpo e to save u from what Pierre Loti termed " L a
1ort du Caire."

" BETWEEN THE LINES

A PRI ATE :MuLID

"It i not e\'erybody' pri\'ilege to has a Sheikh's tomb

attached to hi home, and to ba\e, a it were, hi own pri,ate
1nulid once a year at his \ery gate . It is one, however, enjoyed
b~ 1\tlajor Gayer Ander on, the owner of be beautiful old Arab
house overlooking the Ibn Tulun mosque, which be has fi lled
with all the treasure of Arab art, and which mu t be quite
unique of its kind. Attached to hi hou e is the little wh ite-
domed tomb of Sheikh Hu.roun, reputed to be a relation of the
Prophet, who e 1n'u lid is a strictly local affair, celebrated by
the people of the quarter.

THE FIRE -SWALLOWER

"The guests whom :Major Gayer Anderson in\'ited to watch

th e festivities from his house on :Monday night were luck3 ; in
addition to the usual zik1· there was a dancing dervish and a
ragged performer who licked red-hot knives, swallowed fire,
walked on burning ashes, and stuck skewers through his cheek
and t ongue, all with t h e utmost sangfroid. With the man
standing less than a yard away, it seemed indisputable that t h e
Note,- The above appeared in the Egyptian Mail of 19th Oct. 1938.
Thanks to the unknown writer for the appeal for the more liberal
treatment of Moulids I
 - 211 -

skewer wa really ticking through hi cheek, though there "·as

no bole n.nd no blood when he withdrew it, but no one pre ent
c ould explain how it it wa done.
"Such -performance are getting rarer e\ery year . There &.re
al \\ay zikrs at e\ery 1mdicl, but few dancing der\i he can be
seen, and you ha\e to go fairly f<tr afield to find a fire swallower.
The authoritie unfor unately frown on the purely ecular ide
of a mulid; they ha\e gone so fa,r a to weep away the fairground
which u. ed to be a feature of the lJiulicl el- Nebi at Abba ia,
and it eems li kely, unle omeone can 11er nade hem to a
more lil>eral point of \iew, that in a few year tim all the fun
of the fair will be gone.''
In Ch. II, under the rubric of "imponderable influences,
... , which ometime determine the date or en ure he
obser\ance of the moulid", the casei cited, of the apparition
of Sidi Haroun to the old Sheikh Suleiman el-Rredli, guardian
of his tomb, warning him that nothing mu t be allowed to
depri\e him of his moulid rites and right .
In this thirteen hundred and fifty-ninth year of be Prophet,
and second of the war, the per on referred to in the abo\e
connection a the "Fairy God-Mother" , \Yho caused the \ision
to materialise, mentioned to me that though Shaaban, the last
moulicl month, wa far ac1nwced, Sheikh Suleiman had not
reported any uch vi ion a the pre,iou year, nor e\en broached
the subject. Thi I found on a qniet \isit to the tomb wa in
no \\a~· due to apathy, bnt to a perfect confidence that the
F .G.-1\1. would hold the monlid motu, proprio: that were it
otherwise there would hn,,-e already been Yoices from the
penetralia of the shrine. This faith wa..., rewarded by a small
but excellent celebration on the ~first Thur day after mid-
, Shaaban, at which piety and joy were mo t plea antly mingled.
At the t omb was a continual va et vient, and a striking feature
was the earnestness with which a great number of youn g lad
joined the mature dervishes in the zikrs. There was at the
 -- 212 -

opening a zeffa, at which ta1·s and tabls obser\ed impeccable time.

Later a red robed mau,lavi gave us the whirling dance of the
samaa, and then ome marvellou dervi he of th Rifaiya demon-
strated the supremacy of the pirit o er matter, over pain and
the usual phy ical limi ation , in a way thrLt could neither be
explained nor explained away, culminating by defying the dagger
point of the mystic dabus (*), and the edge of the word, and
submit ing to the dosah (*) on a small scale, a rite so rarely
een the e da .
Old Sheikh Suleiman leaning on his stick and his on' arm,
though bent double, paid a vi it to the B eit el-Kredlea ad-
joining, and received a return visit. H e looked ecstatically
joyful, and his lips moved as if muttering a 'Nunc Dimittis'.

H. 4 (v. Sectional Map XV.)

HAS AN AN WAR .; >;~I :_:->- ~~
Originally the date of hi moulid appears to ha\e been 7th
Rabia II, at least this was the case in 1348 and 1351, but since
then it has uffered from chronic postponement, but, I think,
always on a Tuesday. ] have been present and noted the date on
Tuesday, 9th Gumad II, 1353, Tuesday, 22nd Gumad II, 1355 and
Tue day, 3rd Shaaban, 1357 (27 . 9. 38). It is on the fringe of the
gabel beyond the Salakhana (Slaughter Houses) and reached by
Khalig trams 5 or 22 . On e goes to the end of the track and walks
on through the broken mass of MuhammadAl i's aqueduct, then
between groups at stick play and divers diversions on the right,
and theatres, rjngas, and other shows on the slope of the gabel
on the left, and reaches the mosque of Hasan el-Anwar situatea
in the square of a sort of suburban village, a few minutes after
leaving the tram. Sometimes I ha\e seen the egregious Billy
Williams there with his wonderful "Piste a la morte".
The mosque and the square are full of zikrs and groups of
sheikhs, and the amusement place, sufficiently remo\ed, is a

(*) v. Glossary for words in italics!

 - 2 13-
weird, attractive ight in its etting of ruined aqueduct and
Tugged desert.
Hasan el-Anwar had bad l uck in 1353 (1934 ), for after
repeated po tponemen t torrential rain burst many city drains,
and on the last night, the column of sewage cart coming
through was obstructed by the c1'owd which the police could
not keep to the sides, and the local authoritie s broke it np.
I wa told in 1057 (193 ) that I had mi ed a good zeffa at
-5 o'clock.
H 5. (v. Sectional Map VI.)
HILAL J ;A. ~--\.:-
I have included thi micro copic mou lid which I lighted on
by chance on 6th Gumad I, 1353 (16-8-34), the final day of the big
Bulaq moulid of Abu Sebaa, (though I am not certain that it
wa anything m ore than the de tination of a zeffa from the
bigger mo que). becau e of the beauty of the little shrine in a
delightful court ea ily visited, and worth the vi it. I t is just
oif the big new street, Sh. Abd el-Gawad at right angles t o the
fac;ade of the mosque of Abu el-ETa, a minute from that mo que
on the left between the Foad el-Awal end and the Sh. Ahmadein ,
tbe scene of a moulid and the ite of many brines.
(Y. Ahmadein ).
The zeffa came at about 5.30 in the afternoon, but I do not
know if it is a regular institution .
H. 6 (v. Sectional Map I.)
HILI J>- c.,?.A.;.-
Both the day of the week and the date vary greatly. I first
saw this moulid on Saturda}, 17th Safr, 1352, (10. 6. 33), but
when I went early in Safr the following } ear, I was told it was
over. I missed it also the three follo wing years, but was
assured that in 1356 it was held on Thursday, 7th Gumad
I (15. 7. 37). Going early in Gumad I in 1357 I found it in full
swing, and witnessed t h e big night on Tuesday 7th, Gumad I,
(1357), (5. 7. 38).
 - 214 -

It i i uated between Bulaq Workshops and Rod el-Farn.g

and tram 7 anc113 pa s literally through it for the little mo qne,
and th zikrs, &c., are on the we t t:ide of the Rod el-Farag road,
but the amu ement park on the East, in the road which be-
come Sh. Masn.rra and emerges in the Shubra Road, a little
south of the Tewfiqia School. Tents, swings and sho\vS
spread into the te1'1·ain vagt~e on each ide of the road. Anyone
mi incr the last tram, (about 11. 30) to Cairo, can of course
obtain tram or bu by walking along the road mentioned to
Shubra.
Sidi Hili i a strange moulid, the secular side being relatively
more pronounced than that of any other that I have seen,
except perhaps Abu H arera, t h e great Sham el-Nesim moulid
held at Giza. I h ad dif:ficult3 in refinding the m osque, several
good people whom I a ked being equally ignorant, an d coul d
obtain n othing the lea t reliable concerning t h e history of the
Saint. I fancy this, like many Christian local feasts, is a r e-
ligious graft on some ancient fair or perhaps pagan ceremony.
I am sure there is scope here, as at Giza, for a student of fo lk
lore, anthropolog y, and ancient customs.

When I first disco ered this moulid in 1352 (1 933), some

eYening before it, apodosis, I was intrigw?, by the action of
three girls of perhaps 13 to 16, in the rubbish heaps and hole
well away from the crowd. They avpeared in the fading light
to be girding two of their party with ceintu1·es de chastite,· but
their subsequent behaYiour indicated clearly the reverse, and so
absorbed were they in a "game" in \Yhich two of them affected
the part of boys, that I was able io approach near enough to see
that the anterior part of each girdle was armed with a phallus
apparently of tin, but perhaps of cardboard, length about 6 or 8
inches. A scream of pain only partially suppressed from the third,
brought a real lad on the scene, who spake winged words to the
accompanim en t of strokes of an alu ba, (a five-milliem e cane
sold at all m oulids), an d drave t h em t owards t h e houses. There
 - 2 15-
was nothing apparently to connect this with the moulid; yet so
unu ual a ight on thi pot at uch a time seems to nggest the
possibility of the tradi ion of ome ancient phallic obser-
vance.
Hili i fortunate in being one of the few monlid in
ere cendo. In 1352 it wa ind ed big and popular, but in 1357, a
year of the uppre sion or reduction to a minimum of many
great fea t , Hili flouri bed exceedingly. I noticen two big tent-
theatre , a. qara go . a ent for th e display of the dwarf Zubeiu<l,
a Sudane e Ringa, ick combat , aunt Sallie , and endle
stall and ide bow ; and on the mo que ide many more
group , ome more sober and sedate than on be amusement ide,
some le s so .
L AKE TIMSA, ISMAILIA.
H 7 (..-. 1\!l:ap of Delta in eo\ er .)
HUNEIDIQ
About the end of the war I was camped for a hort time with
the R. A. F. , near L ake Tim , ah, (The L ake of Crocodile ), and
heard of a strange B edouin moulid, with wond dul hor eraces,
in the de ert near b y. \Ve a\\· nothing of it and indeed it was
probably u pen~ed in war time,- a.n d there was plenty to occupy
us in the way of fancy flying, looping the loop and uch like, and
a sport new to me, duck shooting from aeroplanes O\er and about
La,ke Timsab, in which o my surprise few birds were lo t, for
Arab boys retrieved tb m from the sand Ol' the \\ater, and
received a piastre a bead. I have enquired abont i often
since, but could ne\er get definite information, a regard
place or time, and cou ld find no Englishma,n or European
who knew anything of it, nor Egyptian, for the matter of
that. Then in 1357, (193 ), my mura la got definite informa-
tion from relatives of his lit le Bedouin wife, who had set led at
Birkat el-Gamus, (Buff< lo Pool), quite near the ite of the
moulid. So I took him and his wife and young ter with me t o
Ismailia, where a lot of her tribe men met u , and 'lousa went
on with them to arrange anything nece sary ,-hor e, t ent &c .,
 -21 6-
whil t I took a room at the Loc::tnda el-Sh
arq a a pied- a-ter re,
clo e o th lake. That wa on the 9th of
Gum ad el-Aw al, 1357,
(7-7-3 ), r nd there were to be t\YO big days,
Satu rday and Sund ay
11th and 12th Gum ad I, the secon d date
being that of the
Khit ama and h e hor play and rac . On enqu iring at the
jetty if it were po ibl to ail to the mou
lid, I was told that
teu,m launc hes wer being pecia lly run,
and that big steam ers
woul d ply the final nigh t .

I took the fir t launc h that went , and bad

a most pictu res-
que honr ' run, in the light of he tar ancl
a half grow n m oon,
acro the lake, and then a lo ng the canal,
till the light s of what
migh t have been a town appe , red, at the
foot of a deser t hill,
cro\v ned by the brine of Sidi Hun eidiq . From
the heig ht of t hat
I aw that we were on a tiny stret ch of
land, its shore s bath ed
by ano her lake, the moon glitte r brok
en in place s by palm
wood . Exce pt for wing s and u, few
shoo ting galle ries, and
ucb like, and of cours e the mo que itself
, the moul id was far
from typic al: treet and stree ts of watt
led huts, and stalls ,
made it more like a fair, and toys, trink
et , garm ents and all
mann er of thing s wer e chan ging hand .
1ost trade was done in
melo n , of whic h came l loads were cons
tantl y arriv ing: the
celeb rated melo ns of Hune idiq, big as the
head of Golia tb and
going at half a piast re.

Whe n I lande d I hard ly notic ed that I had

done so acros s a
plank , long, and less than a foot wide , but
on retur ning to the
launc h, I was very awar e of it and dislik
ed it very much : for
it was not quite level and was sway ing;
and gazin g down into
the deep dark wate rs of the Suez Cana
l, they seem ed to be
swirl ing past, and what looke d like the fluke
s of an old anch or
were proje cting just abov e the surfa ce. Ther
e seem ed to be a
spot of murd er going on in the launc h,
for a little man was
attac king an enor mous fello w with a key
such as they start
cars with, and had a lread y torn his f'.loth
es off and had got him
d own. B ut the giant r ose again , grim and
gory, and the little
 - 217-

one sprang over the side. This did not tend to the stability of
launch or plank, nor to the pro pects of a happy v-oyage, a
presumably these pugnacious gentlemen were our able mariner .
He itating whether to walk the plank and de cend clans
cette galere, I noticed that th launch was moving out motu,
proprio, so to speak, and fearing it might be the la t for th
night, I made a sort of hop, kip and jump, landing on i1Jn upper
story of the colos us, and sliding down his naked and bloody body
into a scat. Someone took effectual charge of the navigation,
and all \rent well. B efore reaching the !open lake, ''e met two
enormou liners, who e eFLrchlight tran formed the sand and
rocks of the canal bank in o now and iceberg , luminou ,
glittering, and eemingly tran parent: a weird FLnd beautifnl
sight.
When I went again two days later, I was decidedly glad to
find that a gangway and excellent landing arrangement had
been made. Several people had slipped in, and there were
some drowniogs, but whether the plank were re pon ible or not
for these I do not know. There wa a great concourse on the
Saturday, but many were complaining that the moulid had been
wet-blanketed the past few years and had lo t much of it eclat.
And that in spite of the fact that the old difficulties of approach by
riding or walking only, are now removed not ony by the launches
but by a motor track from I mailia. There was a row of tents at
the moulid for parking private cars, but what seemed a very cruel
regulation was m~de on the big night, that only p1·ivate cars, no
t taxis might use the road after 6 o' clock. I suppo e there mnst
1 have been some reason for this, but it was indeed bard that the
desert people, old votaries of the shrine, and the many people of
Ismailia and the villages who could have raised the money for a
taxi for the occasion, but could not buy a car, had either to
come and go in the blaze of the sun, and leave before the best
I part, or pass the night in the sand with the privilege of
I watching any flaneur, dilettante, or Saturday e ening pleasure
seeker with a car enjoy the freedom of the road, and of the
 - 218 --
parking t nt . My mura la had ·ome lUtte in the afternoon with
his wife and a party of h r friend in a taxi from Birkat el-
Gamu , and found hem elve maroon d, so to speak . They would
have had to leep soHs la belle etoile, and thank Allah for soft
and and warm air, but that Mou a, who had heard of th launches
from me, had nongb mon y nd 1wus to put a harem of nine
including hi wife, and al o tl1l'cc chilchen into a launch ::~nd
squeeze the lot into one taxi at I mailia, for BirknJ el -Gamus.
Hundred of other of both exeH ithcr slept in thC" sand, or
tramped their w ar way, if ind ed there \Ya. no regnl. tion
forbiddin pede triani m. The sufferer from his .,e2mingly
arbitrary ac ion blamed the Canal Co. rather tbc1n the police
uthori i .
The clou of the moulid was the horse racing and eques-
trian sports on Snnday afternoon, which alone was well \Yorth
coming from Cairo to see; and when the riders, about a dozen
of them, fell to quarrelling, through the fault of one of the
onlooker , and fought on horseback with whips, sticks or
anything they had, nothing could have been more picturesque,
e en back in rnediae\al times. And what a setting of desert,
lake, and a city of wattles, with an unclouded sun!
I have gone rather fully into this little experience, as I
thin k, even apart from the moulid, that Ismailia and its lake
and surroundings are not appreciated as they de erve. There is
fine fishing, bn.thing and sailing, good accommodation , nice
gardens, and lovely walk , some of them in the richest of vege-
tation, and the builders of the attractive little city have shown,
as those who built H eliopoli , that new buildings need not nee-
essarily be hideou . Hs climate too is good, and it is very
accessible.
(I came on to Port Said in time for the French fete of XIY
juillet, with its fireworks on the b re~,kwater; and flew here,
Haifa,* t h e next day, in t ime for the F east of Our Lady of
* Note,- This is a copy of a private letter written home, which at the time
of writing I had no id ea of ever publishing.
 -219-

Mt. Carmel on the 16th J uly, and that of Mar Elias on the 20th,
and tomorrow go on to I kandernn, and wonder if the Sandjak
will have a little moulid on, though I regret leaYing this delight-
ful and hospitable place, Stella Maria, on the Holy Mountain.)
As regards the Sheikh Huneidiq, my purelJ local informa-
ti on i vague and unreliable, but he seems definitely regarded a
a P atron of the Canal and water-way , and thi is upported by
a tablet at the door. People about the tomb told me that it i
sub idi ed by the Suez Canal Company. He is generally
supposed to be Arab, though th re i an idea with a few that he
was a Frenchman. Why not?

H. 8 (v. Sectional fap XII.)

HUSEIN -:--Hk \,).i <.f. J~ <.f. v:J-1
Always a Tuesday in the latter half of Rabia II, after a
fifteen ·days run. Anyway uch was the case over a hundred
years ago, as Lane recorded a \i it on Tuesday, 21 Rabia II, 1250,
(1834), and equally so durin g the present century on the many
occa ions I have been pre ent . In 1357 it occurred on the 20th
of the Arabic month, but in all previous 'ear that I have no ed,
it was on the last Tue day. This was al o the case in 13 59
(1940) .
The position of the great mosque behind the Khan el- Kha-
lili is too well known to require de cription. It i be t reached
from the Ataba by bus 18 which passes through the moulid , or
by tram 19 to el-Azhar, which is on its fringe. (Bu s 3 from Saida
Zenab and busses 11 & 12 from the Station ::tnd Abba sia
respectively also erve.)
·r wo of the features Lane emphasised and which greatly
enhanced the eclat of the moulid, and still obserYed at the
beginning of this century, were the brilliant lighting of the
contiguous bazaars with chandeliers, and the singing sheikhs in
shops and houses in these bazaars, in the N ahasin and other
places. Dancing girls which Lane calls Ghawazee, and which
 220 -
he says were of a di tin et tribe, seem to ·have beP-n much in
evidenc e ; and their modern success ors, (whethe r tribal
Ghawaz ees or not I cannot ay) had a meteori c revival in recent
years, reachin g their z nith in 1353 (1934), when, howeve r, they
did not perform nor accost pilgrim s and isitors in the precinc ts
of the mosque , but were in ringas and other dancing booths, in
a mile-lon g line of tent·, beginni ng at the end of the Sharia
el-Gedid a, and kirting the gabel towards Abbasia . Other tents
in thi row hou ed theatric al troop and all manner of shows,
and the lin e was interrup ted by open spaces for stick play,
hor emansh ip and zikr groups, though these last were of course
much more promin ent near and in the mosque . Previou s to
1353 there had been a few little shows in the rubbish heaps at
the end of Sh. el-Gedid::t, the continu ation of the Muski, with a
"telegra ph", - a long wire stretche d across space, with pulley
wheels and noo es by which lads swung and traverse d to the
other end of the wil'e.
This ort of fair in the gabel had disappe ared in 1355, and
the Ghawaz ee stars had fal1 2n as rapidly as they rose, and all I
saw of the diver ional side then and in 1357 (1938) were a few
little shows and gamblin g cart in a bit of waste land in Darasa,
(beyond the mosque to the right). In ] 359 (1940) only a big and
good circus s urvived to the final night.

The pe1·itom ists are busy as in Lane's day, Dr. Enayat

Allah, the bash-p1'fipucie1· informi ng me that he had already cir-
cumcise d over a thousan d infants, some days before the end of
the moulid. He has a wonder ful erection with towers and boats
quite near the mosque , by the main road.

To refer once more_to Lane, his account in "Moder n Egypt-

ians" should be read . It is full of vivid detail, from the crush
about the tomb and the utteran ces of the zikaki1· to the
manner s of the "Ginks" . These were Greek singing boys, with
effemin ate ways, flowing manes, and often impude nt manner s.
I n contras t were the Mor occan dervish es of the Eysawi ya sect,
 l\loulid
of
idna, Hu ein.

The Bab el-Akhdar.

 221

foUowers of Sidi Mob. Ibn-Ey a, \\hose \\onderful fire-eating

feats when in a state of piritual exaltation, almo t be} ond belief,
are equalled to this day, though not so freely before he public.

Murray, writing half a century ago, say that the KhediYe

went always in state, and describes his pa , age on foot thron gh
the Khan el-Khalili, over rich Persian carpe , spread for the
occasion.
Lane's long account of hi per onal experiences at the bead
of Hu ein embolden me to mention m- brief impri onment in
the mosque the first time I \entured in under be aegiclc of
Sidqi (R. I. P.) a brother of Hamid Bey I ahmud, :l\Iinister of
Hygiene; and the now well known doctor, then pupil, Ibrahim
Zaky Kashif.
With youthful thoughtlessness they chose the time of the
midday Friday prayer, and, though the \\Or hippers bowed no
ign of resentment at their prayers, on our trying to go a\Yay,
every exit door was barred. Pre ently Sidki and Z aki were
taken off in terror, whilst I was left within a ring of silent
sheikh , near the shrine containing the sacred head, the which
I had plenty of time to obser\e, for, as I wa told later, the lad '
wrists had been examined for the Coptic cros , and then re-
taining Sidqi as ho tage, Zaki had been taken under escort t o
his home at Qasr el-Eini. Happily his sainted father was at
home, who assurPd the sheikhs that all our intentions were of
the best, that the Englishman regularly came to his house to
hear the Fiqis read the Qoran, (which was exact) and that he
unequjvocally guaranteed us.
(There encleth my first lesson in mosque-gate "crashing".
the second lesson appears under the account of the moulicl of
Saida Zenab).
Of course all centres round the head of Hu ein, belie\ eel to
be enshrined in this mosqm~. the most sacred I lamic r elic in
Cairo. Its authenticity has been questioned through the
 - 222 -
centurie , bu t found much support in the vision of a very holy
man, Mob. el-Bahai who was as ured by the Prophet himself
that hi grand on head wa truly there.
Abd 1-Gawad el-Shaarani in his "Tobaqat" i. very definite
in the affirmatiYe. He 'ay inter alia,-
"He ( u ein) wa born in th year 4, and made the
pi lgrim~ go \Venty five time on foot, . .... . ... wa lain a martyr
on Friday, (yom l-A bura) lOth 1uharem in the year 61 at
the age of 56, ... hi i ter Zenab, buried in Cairo ........... sang
lamcntin him, rai ing her Yoic and baring her bead; .... .. ..... .
then the head wa. borne to Cairo and buried in the famous
mosque ............ &c."

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.... ~

\t..... i.JJ .::.,;J..a ~J. d. ..... J_).I.r.:~·~... c_l. ...JI ), !~ ~;_,Lul --:--~.) (:.J ~~IJ
~~I;_;.. (.Jl;.
« t.':/1_~.;..\~IJ {w I.)L. * t(j ~~I Jc; 010)_,;; l.)l. >>

~..1... ~A;\.&,.. lyA~ \ v--lJI IJ:.. .. J lr. JJt-.:.11 ..1.~ ~ ..:,...:..;_,J J'~"' Jl ~L ..:...1~ J
(<C.,; J,i ':?~) lt l...~la..; p4A Jl 0.}·

The chronicler is a little misleading in the last passage

quoted, which seems almost to imply that the sacred head was
taken to Cairo shortly after Hu ein's death. This of course is
far from being the case. He lived and died in the first century
of bhe H egira, and it was not till the Fatimite Emir el-Giush
was warring in Syria at the end of the fifth, (by the Christian
reckoning the eleYenbh), that the head was found by him at
Ascalon, and suitably enshrined. Owing to the crusades, fears
were entertained lest it might be desecrated by the Christians,
which may account for its having been kept for a time in
 -223-
Damascus, as the Da,ma cen , allege, and for it ultimate
tran ference to Egypt in A. H. 549 (A. D. 1154), in the time of
the Fatimite Khalif Faiz. There, after lying for a time in the
mosque of Saleh ben Raziq, it wa placed magnificentlj in a
mausoleum in the royal P< lace, the Qa r el-Zumarad, the site
sub ·equently of the mo que of comparatively recent date, where
b~hind one of the ·qiblas, (for th E:· re i another to Hu ein'
brother Ha.san,) it i till n brined.
Reference above o the " shura" rend r it ad·dEable to
<i.ld, that a econd gt·ea cerPmony centr d about the head of
Hn ein lll) to n.bout the ime of the 1914-1 war, on he lOth of
~Inhn.rem. After monrning at the tomb, l1 proce ion, mainly of
Shi'ah den~ishes, proceeded to the Persin,n Takia, sla hing them-
selves with swords and crying, Ya Hasan! Ya Hn ein! These,
when I witne sed the threnody, were led by a boy in ·w hite on n,
white pony, pathetically eager with voic and \\ord. Both
horse and rider wet·e crim on as ''ere indeed th treets before
the takia wa reached. Con · idering how bitt r the feud · ha\e
been between Sunnis and Shi'ah , in many p art of I ·lam, and
that the great majority of Cairenes are Sunnj, it i a groat
tribnte,- one of many,- to Egyptian toler·ance, that tlw Sunnis
and Shi'ahs are united in one bond in the mo que, and nothing
but sympathy shown at the procession.
The A hura i still ob n-ed in man [uhammadan coun-
trie , and in Persia it i perhap the greatest ceremony. Let u
hope the recent union of the t·oyal house of Eg pL and Iran
will bring about the revival of this augu t and ancient
observance.
Oh Ha an! Oh Husein!

I 1 ( v . :Map of D elta.)
IBRAHIM r:•IJ.I (::~11
This moulid, like that of Tashtoushi, is held on the Leilat
el-Ma'rag, 26th Ragab, or at least that has been the case on
 224 -

bree out of four occa ion hen I was present. The fourth
occa ion, it wa on Saturday 27 Ragab, 1356, (1.10.37), that is the
e-ve of the 2 th, in tead of the 27th. Tashtou shi was also held
a day late accordin g to h official calendar , and al o the Ma'rag
celebra ions at Sul an Rifai, and a minor ceremon y ab Abu el-
Ela in honour of that miracle . I uppose the moon was in
ome way r pon ible for this seeming exceptio n .

It i held at Ma aria, but must not be confound ed ''itb the

great moulid of Matrawi , al \Vay held at mid-Sha aban . The
litt le mo que and brine of beikh Ibrahim are well behind the
great mo que, and in the heart of the ancient village. Quite
near i a holy tree on which p ople, particula rly women, hang all
ort of votive offering of an intimate nature. Quite early in
the century at which time I had a cha.let and garden at Mataria,
I frequent ly saw many women visit the tree and then the tomb
of Sh. Ibrahim, but I have not been able to a certain what
relation there i between the two, if any, nor indeed have I been
able to gather anything reliable or consiste nt about the
Sheikh .

Though ob curely placed, so that one might pass up and

down the adjacent main road, without detecting jts existence ,
this moulid is very well attended , especiall y by Bedouin s ; and
the village streets as well as the mosque, and the Ringas, Cafes,
etc., intensely crowded, presentin g a very colourfu l and pictures-
que sight.

If visited by rail, there is a consider able walk from Mataria

station to the site of the m oulid, past the garden in which is
another Holy T ree, that of the B.V.M ., and the spring and well
of the Virgin. It is therefore easier of approach by means of a
Mataria bus from Cairo, getting out immedia tely after the big
m osque and turning down a dark and narrow street to the
right. (The Mataria bus , n ow (1940) N o.1 6, starts from the
Station S quare, Cair o.)
 - 225-

I had a curious experience there in 1354, (on October 20th,

1935), when feeling \\a running trong again Italy. and
great r e entment felt becau e of he aggre ion in Aby inia.
On my \\ay to t he moulid I h ad Yi ited om e Italian friend in
1\ilataria, and one of the e bad accompanied me a far a the lane
by the mo que referred to aboYe, bn left me h ere with alnta-
tion , to which I recitwocated in Italian, in the h earing doubt-
le s of a good many people. Almo t at once I noticed that I wa
per i ·tently dogged by a little group, inclm1ing the black er-
vant of the Italian family I had Yi ited. They regarded me and
di en. ed me \Yith great obYiou intere t, and pre ently one of
them, \\hom I had een at th Sporting lnb, and" ho eemcd
to recogni e me, alnted me politely and ·aid 'Bnona S 1·a,
Signore! en i tante, cb e ora e ?" Falling into the trap, I
replied,- "N oYe me no dieci." He turnecl trinmt)hantly to hi
companion. , aying, "\Yhat n ec.1 haYe ye of further \Yitne se ?"
or word to that effect, and in tantly there commenced a ·horn
of hiahly uncomplimentary remark abon Italy, the Italian.,
and 1\iu . olini. - "Et-Talian n awlac.1 el-kalb: ya. qut ~In olini
ibnel-kalb, hararui," (the Italian . are . 011 of dog ! Down with
Mu olini , on of a dog, briganLl)
Though h ey could not hurt my feeling, by the wor t
thing they might ay about the ma ter gana. ter, I felt that I
wa in danger of becoming hi innocent capegoat, and tried to
beat a dignified retreat, but bigger louts joined my young t or-
mentor and I soon had to defend my elf with my ick. Thi
broke, but an enterpri ing seller of 'aluba " instantly handed m
a tough cane which I bought and u ed. The heikh and people
generally took an academic rather ban an active interest in the
conflict, but when they acted at all they helped rue rather than
the hooligans, and a party of police a kari coming up, o
igorously clouted my adversaries, that they recoiled long
enough to enable me to pa unscathed through the dark and
dangerou lane, into the main road. T here in snppo ed security,
I awaited a bus. Suddenly the gang appeared again from I kno-w
 -226-

not where, and attacked, this time, with real viciousness, and
but foe a stalwart young giant in khaki, who was passing and
took my part, I could :hardly have fought my way to the cafe,
where ab once cafetier, staff and customer put the pack to
-route. Drinking coff e and smoking cigarettes :with these good
people, I could e badowy forms in the di tance both ways,
1ike wolves hanging about a camp, so when a bus was passing
-and I jumped on without topping it. I was prepared for their
raiding thi . And they did, but bhe uonduc or rose to the
.occasion, and when I wi bed the ring leader:"buona notte", he
-wa on hi back in the road.

I went again the next year, curious to kno ,v what would

happen, but took the precaution to have my garden boy,
murasla, and one or two of their friends within rescuing
distance, but nothing whatever of an untoward nature happened;
o I went alone in 1356, (1937) and was urpri ed to find that
l was recognised. But this time I think they realised that I
was Inglizi and not Taliani, and though a little troublesome
there was no attempt at violence. I hope that this personal
.explanation is the correct one, and that they have in no degree
.abated in their wholesome ferocity towards the arch brigand.

I. 2 (v. Sectional Map XIV.)

IBRAHIM r:•l./.1 t,?.J..;;-
This is only the ghost of a moulid. I never saw it, and now
certainly never shall. Its story, tragic and pathetic is perhaps
worth recording.
I bad heard more than once of the shrine of a holy man,
named Ibrahim, in the region of the Suq el-Silah, and being
-assured by a dervish friend that its moulid was on the 27th of
Sbaaban, I gladly accepted the offer of his guidance in 1357
\1938), but a long tiring search was in vain. I mentioned my
fruitless quest to a resident, a Miralai, formerly of the Egyptian
Army, whose knowledge of the intricacies of nati'e Cairo is
 - 227-

unique, particula rly as regards the Suq el-Silah district. I had

lit on the very person who could give me a first-han d account ,-
not of the moulid ,- but of the little shrine. He said, -

"Useless your searchin g! That seems to be the little Qubba

that stood on a property of the Yeghen family, at which time
Sidi Ibrahim 'i as duly honoured : but the land was sold to a
Hebre'i\ in the belief that he at least would realise the sacred
nature of the shrine and re pect it. But the purchase r finding it
in the way of some modernis ation he proposed , blew it up with
dynamite . I saw the beautiful little dome l ing like a broken
egg-shell , near the shattered tabut, and the turban of the Sheikh
on the ground".
Sic transit !
Recently (in 1940), the Miralai, my informan t, kindly
showed me the spot. A great number of houses (over 60 I
believe) now stand on the site of the vast Yeghen Palace. With
difficulty and with the help of some residents and a sort of local
ghajiT we located the scene of this appalling act of vandalism ,
and the ghaji1· (or whateve r his office was) glibly recited what
appeared to us a well-taug ht and oft-repea ted tale, in quasi-
explanat ion of the destructi on of the Qubba. He said,- "It
was no true sheikh buried there, but a false prophet, whom
foolish people regarded with superstit ion, believing that money
buried under the qubba would increase by magic, and so they
came and hid their savings. The only way in the interest of pure
religion was to strike at the object of such gross superstit ion."

This yarn bad by no means the ring of truth, and the ghaji1·
was annoyed when I asked him "how much money was revealed
when the tomb was blown up?".

If there be any truth in this version, it seems to suggest a

worse and more sordid reason, than mere yandalism , for the
sake of clearing the ground for building.
 - 228-

I 3 ( v. Map of D elta.)
IMBABI (I srnail I mbabi)

Th e b eikh Imbabi wa on of the apostles of Bayed el-

Bedawi, or of hi · gr at di ciple Abd el-Aal, and hi, moulid "hi eh
wa probabl e tabli bed oon after his d ath i berefore one-
of the olde t in Eg~ p , befor it b ecame the custom to adopt a
date from the 1o lem calendar cones1)0nding to the birthday of
the aint honour d. Lik e tho e of T anta, D e ouk, and
D amanhur and of Bayumi in Cairo, (which last, a founder of a
branch of the hm:.tcliya dcrYi -. hes, comes into the orbit of Ahmad
Say cl el-Bedn,wi), I mail' moulic1 i fixed by the season of the
year, not by the lunar calendar. It i or should b e a l way held
on a Thur day a little before mid ummer near the J 0 h Bauna,
(1 6 h J un ), absorbing and uper eding an ancient festi v:.tl of
I i , of '"hich trace exi t till thi day . Tbi '"a the L ei let
el-Nuqta, 'vhen once multitudes, and con iderable numbers until
recently '"atched for the falling of a preciou tear of I i into
the Nile near the pot where the rnoulid i now held,-a tear
of grief for her di membered hu band which the riYer refused to
yield up in it entirety. *
Sometime agricultural condition , and once th8 prevalence
of cattle plague, and now the war, have pre\ailed over the
traditional claims of the "Night of the Drop", so that the date is
becoming more and more erratic, a nd early enquiries as n early as
possible on the spot are desirable.
The village of Imbaba i on the Upper Eg3 ptian line, and
the station is close to the mo que and t h e centre of the celebra-
tions, but stopping trains are none too num erous, and there are
none after 9 o'clock either way. The most serviceable tram is
No. 33, which runs t o the village, but that leaves a walk of
nearly a mile t o the mosque. T ram 15 and buse8 6 and 7 which
cro s Zamalek bridge are nearly as useful. The spot, opposite-

*~ote- v. Introductory chapter.

 -229-
the Gezira i well known o Cairene , especially t o votaries of
the cat-goddess B a t, to whom, - judging from i s name
.. Kitcat",- a modern temple ha been erected. Such ha\e only
to ur their car a li tle fur her along a rough road, crowded
with all manner of animal and vehicle, o anive at, to the
visitor, the most picture que part of the moulid, its celebration
on the Nile banks, and on the river itself. They would do well
to take a felucca or other boat and join the laughing, singing
throng on the water, and more con ciou ly than mo t of the e
keep up a more than mill nial cu tom, in honour of I i he
inventre s of the ail and patrones of boat and boatmen.
I have seen fine zeffa in the late af ernoon, and beautiful
horses, and di plays of hor emanship. The e hor es are fre-
quently for sale, and in everal ways this moulid ha character-
istics of a fair , as i so often the ca.se with village and deser
celebrations of the local saint.
It i well to remember that carriage , taxis, and e en
donke s are difficult to obtain late at night, an:l the weary
-pilgrim may have to walk, at lPa.st to the ram, or bare an
open cart with a score and more of men, -women a nd littl
children.
I 4 (v. Map of Upper E gypt.)
ITMAN 01;~ c$-A:-
Though a small moulid, that of Sidi Itman is pe1·hap better
known to visitors and Europe~J,n r~sidents than any except the
three great ones, El N ebi, Sidna Husein, and Saida Zenab, the
reason being that it is held under the P yramids near Mena
House in the village well known to those who go to the
Pyramids, N aslit Si man.
Somehow I have always missed it, which is the more
-strange, seeing that for some years I kept a couple of tent and
a horse-shelter, in the desert quite near. I wa kindly invited
by a local notable, the Sheikh Abd el-Salaam, to the moulid and
 -230-
a banquet at his house on Tuesday 10 Ragab 1354, (8-10-35), but
to my regret wa unable to go. Prof. Sencourt of the Univer-
ity and other gues;ts on that occasion described it as highly
picturesqu e and interesting . especially the equestrain perfor-
mances in the afternoon. Previous and subsequen t moulids
have been reported in irnilar.ter ms.
SHUBRA
K 1
KHALIL
I had never heard of this moulid till Tuesday 9 Muh.arem
1358 (2 .2.39), the eve of A hura Muharem, and not being free
sent a mura la. He w nt by Shubra tram, No.8, to the
terminu , and walked on over the little bridge to Shubra village,
and found that it was the final night. He reported it as quite
small : aw no zikr or ceremonie outside the mo que: a little
theatre and a few talls in the adjoining village treet.

K. 2 (v. Sectional :Map VI.)

KHASOU SI ~ .J~ e-~11
An in ignificant moulid of most indefinite date, Thursday
21st Shaaban in 1353, Wedne day 26 Rabia II in 1355 (15.7.36),
centring about a very unattracti ve mosque in rather a fine old
district, the Dar·b el-Nasr, Bulaq.
K. 3 (v. Sectional Map XIII.)
KHUDER I <$~ e-:!.ll
A small private moulid in Sbaaban when held, but this has
been seldom in recent years. It is not however abandoned ,
as I am invited to it, when next; held, by Rhuderi Bey,
<$~L\ ...A:-4 ..l.f ; ,;JI "':"'>- \..., o.ra>- the genius loci of the mosque of
his name, who himself rides in the zeffa as "Khalifa" . It is in
the Sharia el-Khuder i (the continuati on of Sh. Marrasina , and
part of the street which joins Saida Zenab to the Citadel, the
mosque almost facing Ibn el-Touloun . Bus 4 passes the mosque,
and bus 18 crosses the street quite near it.
 - 231

K. 4 (v. Sect iona l Map I.)

KUR DI or El-K urdi ~.),.,()1 ~..1.::-
0n each of thre e occa sion s whe n I have been pre ent on the
the day of the mon th and
final nigh t it has been a Sund ay, but
In 1352 it was th Shaa -
even the mon th itsel f i very vagu e.
th, and in 1354 the 22nd
ban, in 1353 the 3rd of that mon
for the little mou lid of
Raga b (20.10.34). I wa then look ing
ted on that of El-K urdi by
Was ti in the sam e di tric , and ligh
prob able date but ha e
chan ce. Sinc e then I have been on
been muc h too late or too early .
one i g,cq uain ted
AI o it i by no mea ns ea y to find, unle
t Bula q. It i in a Har a
with the Suk el-A r <li trict of Wes
din : the ntry i very nar-
called Har at el-K urdi , off D arb Gala
wha t near the Tom b of the
row, but the way open s out ome
truc ture .
Shei kh, whic h i a hand ome little
tram 13 or 7, getti ng on ju t
It is perh aps best reac hed !b
turn ing up o the righ t, and
befo re the Bula q work hop , and
r. Or the new main road in
agai n to the righ t at Sh. Suk el-A
may be follo wed abou two
fron t of the JYlo que of Abu el-E ia,
turn ing o he left dow n Sh.
third s of the \\ay o Sapt iah,
be emp loye d.
el-A nsari . Or tram 4 to Sapt iah ma
e, and nota ble zikr
Tho ugh mall , ther e is a good atten danc
acco mpa nied by an Eng li h
near the tom b. In 1353, I \\a
and fa cina ted by a rem arka ble
lady, and we were both ama zed
It wa exec u ed, no by a
whir ling danc e, prec edin g a zikr. seem ed
clad in a gala bia who
derv i h, but by a youn g man
inly he pun at grea t spee d,
imm une from gidd ines , for certa for a
e or turn in direc tion,
and with ea y grac e, with out a pan ter of
muc h le s than a quar
perio d whic h coul d not have been
an hour .
in a kind of caYe, a
Ther e is usua lly a prim ibive thea tre
and a num ber of sball with
Qara Goz, som e mus ic, danc ing &c.,
mou lid is grea tly patr oni ed by
vario us attra ctio ns ; and the
wom en and child ren.
 232

Th e di tric very old and unspoi lt, and neai' el-Rur di is

b fin mo qu of Galadin in tb reet of Lhe :=tme name. This,
owing o h e \Cl'Y limi e<.l pac about the tomb of ('1-Rur di,
i
inval uable a. an O\'Crflo w for zikr , Qorani c reading s :=tnd
so
forth . Galailin ha his own moulid in Shaaba n, and
the
mo que i well fi lleil, bnt on the who le that moulid is not nearly
o popula r a tha cle cribecl n.boYe .

L 1 (,-. cc ional Iap XIX.)

LEITH ! (Imam E l-Leith i)

Thi i one of the compa.rati\ely few moulid who e date

can be r elied on, for on be man} occa ions that I ha\e en joyed
it, the final day ha a hvay been the Friday clo e to mid-Sh aaban,
nine day after the va t ly greater moulid of Imam el-Shaf
ei,
which al o ha a fixed day, t he first Wedne day in Sbaaba n.

The ancien t mo que is in the tombs behind Imam el-Sbaf ei

about a kileme tre' walk from the termin us of tram 13.

Some yea r ago-it wa Friday 15 Shaaba n 1353 (23.11 .1934) -

I called on tourist friend at their hotel and found them rather
di illusion ed . Even the pyrami d bad been spoilt by hideou
s
photo kio ks and the banal caekle of guides and others, and
they
had n e\er succeed ed in getting quite away from jazzy Amerie
an
horrors , and aggress ive modern isation s. "Can you not take
us
somew here with a purely unspoi lt Egypti an atmosp here?"
they
asked m e rather plaintiv ely, - "it need not be pyrami
dal,
monum ental: simple a you like, but that will give us back
the
drea m of myster y that was our :BJgypt before we eame."
"I
promis e you your dream back," I replie d,- "but no cars, which
most of you visitor s dash round the beaten tracks in, seeiug
rather more than if they were in a coffin and rather less
than
in a hearse, and we might begin this evenin g by a walk in
the
tombs and a moonli ght moulid in their midst, if you will take
the
remote sportin g risk of being murder ed."
 - 233 -

Ha an and
The man~· mo que en route, Sulta n Rifai and
, the ancie nt
the re t ·with the citade l flood- lighte d by he moon
pa ed in be
city gate near Saida .Aye ha, and much el e \\ere
bafei down a
tram; aud then on foot going behin d Imam el-
Imam el-Lei hi
narro w way to the ricrh he li crhts and voice ~ of
guide d n to what mu once h eLVe been a tup ndon buildi ng.
n a a mo que,
Its minar et no\\ tand far a\\tty from \\hat remai
which we
.at be corne r of what i now a ort of cour yard,
In that I wa
reach ed from the mo que door by a tiny alley.
leap-f rog, for it
Tejoiced to e reena cted a tran ge kind of ri ual
d. At lea t
eem to have ome conn ection with he monli
ter and
I have never een it at any o her time. Young
mo t complex•
big lad , all exper t , treate d the pec ators o
o leapin g with
gracef ul varian t of th ancie nt game, even
s indulg ed in
.anoth er on the bould er over three at once. Other
Takin g m
whirli ng worth y of a dervis h mu1·id (initia te).
minar et, a truly
.comp anions up a yard or two of ru bbi h by the
prosp ect harme d u . The va t rock~ de ert
weird and lovely
of Babyl on and
glitte red white , and acro s it were the light
t"o mo que in
Old Cairo, and neare r the minar ets of one or
son of Dr.
the wilde rne s silhou etted again t the sky. Tbe
the door of the
Enay at Allah, who e circum cision kio k was at
in notab le .
mosqu e, had een u , and with him some Bedou
mo que it elf,
T hey led us back by a way that took us into the
of beaut y and
showe d u the tomb of the Imam and much
to a numb er of
intere st, and introd uced the wome n of my part~
. These were
their own se~ sittin g demu rely near the shrine
g almo t the live of nun . They were
pious wome n leadin
freely and
mostl y of high famili es, and some of them con versed
When we took
plea antly in Frenc h, to my deligh ted vi itors .
ways, almos t
our leave, we passe d down narro w vau lted
of Ein Sira,
sub terran ean, t o the warm spring s and baths
then cuttin g
and the quarri es and Sheik h's deser t tomb :
matte r of m ore
again into the city of the dead, traver sed it- a
m oulid of Sidi
than a mile, - t o Sitna N efisa, passin g the little
 -234-
Saman, celebrating its khitama, the final rites, an oasis of light
and life, in the gloom and silence of the sepulchres.
My touri t confe ed that I had kept my promise, and left
Egypt with th ir dream at lea t good in parts.
Go and do thou lik ewi e !
A note mu t be added oncerning the celebration on 11
Shaaban 1359 (13-9-40), a it was rendered a red letter day by
the king having elected to bold hi Salamlek, (as the Royal
Friday Prayer \Ya alwa3 s termed in Turkey, in the days of the
Sultan ), at be mo qn of Imam el-Leithi. His ympathetic and
kindly at itude toward hi country's moulids was shown in a
prac ical and aenerou way, by hi insisting on paying all the
expen es of that of the Imam from his own private purse.
The writer wa on the pot, and can answer for the heart-
ening and exhilarating ffect on the people, and their appre-
ciation.
The new paper extract adjoined is from the "Bourse Egypt-
ienne" of the ame evening.
U BEAU GE TE DE S.M. LE Ror
Comm,e nou,s le disons pal' aillew·s, S.JI.f. le Roi a fait ce
matin Ses devotions a la nwsquee d'El-Irnam el-Leissy.
En an·ivant a la mosquee le Souve1·ain appTit que l' on cele-
01'ait pw· un UW'Lbled (fete) l'annive1·saire de l'Imam el -Leissy.
Imm,ediatement, le So1werain o1·donna q'Lbe to'LbS les frais de
la fete soient preleves su1· Sa cassette pe1·sonnelle .
Les habitants d'Lb qua1·tie1· sont vivem,ent tmwhes pw· ce
geste de gene1·osite Toyale.
Certain incidents of this "Salamlek" are faithfull3 recorded
in a letter, signed "El-Hag Abu Masaud", which has appeared in
today's "Egyptian Gazette", and as this bears on. the moulid of
the Imam, and on our subject generally, it is appended in
extenso.
 -235 -

"SALA MLEK"
The Editor,
"Egypti an Gazette ."
Dear Sir,
Now that Stambn l has lo t the traditio nal ceremon y of the
"Salam lek"- the Friday noon prayer attende d by the Sultan -
it is a great thing that it hould be kept up by royal y here in
Egypt. It is moreov er exceeding} popular , as the enthusia stic-
crowds prove which line the treet between the palace and the
mosque chosen each "\\eek by he k:ng. It is one of be few
bright occasion s left for them now that their moulid are so
crushed , and the old public fe tivals dying out or at least us-
pended in the main, though we mu t grateful ly rememb er the
splendid thought of someon e in the e drab days to relieve them
by the exhibiti on of Italian rophie in the I mailia meidan,
::t

mo\e mo t highly appreci ated by all the populac e, be ide being

the best bit of propaga nda o far.
On the Frida3 before mid-Sha aban, "\\hen the moulid of he
Imam el-Leith i is held, the king cho e the mo que of he Imam
for his "Salaml ek" . The '~~ t pace before the mo que
was entirely enclo ed by tent work, omewh at inarti ically, I
thought , conceal ing the beautifu l old building , and what wa
much more to the point - or o the local people hough -
conceali ng all view of he brillian t cene before the mo que,
and the advent of the royal party. When I arri,ed after a
Sabbath day' journey from many miles on the other ide of the
Nile, and acro s the desert which lie between Old Cairo and
Ein el-Sira, and through a weird and fa cinating corner of the
great necropo lis on the south of Cairo, I found one little opening
on to a wildern ess of tomb which gave tanding room to a mall
but eager little party, but this being promptl y cleared by the
police, there would have been absolute ly nowher e to stand or
sit even in the sun, but that the leading circumc ision 'doctor'
had his little operatin g booth in the corner, as alwa3 s at moulid
time, and promptl y gave me a chair under a welcom e awning .
 -236-
o er which wa an immen e gonfa llon in cribed wi th "Long
live Rin g F a ro u k. " Hi own n a me a nn profe sion,-"Mahmu d
Enayet -Alla h , Free Oircumci ion,"-wa on a small sign below
t h royal welcome. I any other vi it or arri ved a nd all were
gi,en chair , coffee and cigare te by he doctor, t ill present ly
an officer, wi h a crown up, came and ordered him t o t ake his
jan down . Th do ctor pleaded in vain and, t h e sagh becomin g
per em pt ory lo t his h abit ual urban ity, a nd decla eed-"Never
will I take my own ign down ; Mah m ud En ayet -Allah i an
honourabl n am e ! my sign i m y en ian! If you t ear it down
b y force I cannot pr en t you b ut n e"V'er will I commit sabotage"
To which th e g ntlem a n wit h h e crown said, -"Then you will
pay for t hi , a nd dea rly". The dean of the faculty of
Circumci ion, still undaunted, eYclaimed, - "I · care not a
prepuce what I pay or what I suffer, but tear my sign down,
abadan I abadan !''
A bra s band, paid for, I was told, by the doctor, then
arrived, and a picture que group of women at the only window,
thinking the royal party near, began to trill a warble of welcome.
This was instantly suppressed by horrified ejaculations of
"mamnua" (a word I need not turn into English, as it is heard
here now almost as often as "verboten" in Germany), for
"emancipation " of women is not consistent with such indulgen-
ces as wailing oT waTbling, albeit sanctioned by the custom of
about forty centuries.
But now the supreme moment arrives ; the guard springs
to attention: the doctor's band plays the royal salute: the king
is received with due honours and enters the mosque.
Relative silence reigns without, till a distant bleat breaks
it. Excited whispers that two sheep are being brought for
slaughter in our corner-for the poor-reach my ears, and
someone adds, "and two fat oxen". Someone else suggests
that that also is the doctor's largesse, but he will not own to it,
•(from modesty some say), and further enquiries are checked by
 - 237

a prudent member of our little party holding up a warning

finger and saying, "mamnua el-kalam" . So all but their
mouths though continuing o li k heir lip .

Then a, bomb fell t Not a mere bomb from an aeroplane,

but a prohibition, by the ame sagh I under ood again~ bring-
ing bea ts there for laughter, as "the ight of blood might
up et the king" . Not that there wa any rea onable chancP of
the king eeing it in th£ t corner, which was no on hi route.
and if be bad, I can imagine his indignation had he kno\\n that
he \\aS brouctht into a prete x t that nugh do he poor out of their
fea t.
We came a\\ay at bat, hoping th a t thi prohibition \\onld
be oYerrnled a. the attack on th e "en ign" had b en t but the
tram being su pended and not being able to ge a cab till R.fter
t\\o, \\e sat and chatted to the pe011le in a ea£' near the mo que
of Imam el-Shafei. The rumour ee med already to have arriYed
that the donor of the bea t might wit hhold them altogeth er
under the circumstance , and there were omf' dour and glum
face , but pre ently all brighten ed up at a ne\Y rumour that the
king bad e ' pre ed great intere t in the moulid, and intended to
defray (from hi printte pnr e) all the expen e . A dervish of
the Rifaiya told me they \Vonld ha Te a fine zeffa in the evening,
in which Qadiriya, Shazlia, and other Order would take part,
and begged me to come, ( \\hich only iredness prevented m
doing.) As I came a\\ay he last ejaculation I heard \\as re-
markably like Shakespeare'

"N ow is the winter of our di content,

made gloriou ummer by this son of 'Foad'. "

Yours faithfu lly ,

(El -Hag) Abtt JI,Jasaud
 238-
_M , 1 (v. Sectional Map X.)
MAAROF ._jJ.ru ~J.~-
Though alwh s on a Friday, the date has varied on the six
evenings I ha e een it from 21 Ragab in 1352 to 7 Shaaban in
1355. The moulid of Sidi Maaruf coincided with that of Abdulla
on 4 Shaaban 1351 and on 24 Ragab in 1353.
Thi i e sentially the moulid of the Berberines, in their
di trict of Maaruf, and lie between the Mixed Courts and the
Museum, clo e to Sharia Champolion. Trams 17 and 12 pass
within ight and ound of it.
Jt i rather a qualid unattractive little moulid. The best
-thing I have seen there was a zeffa at 11 o'clock at night on 7
Bhaaban 1355, (23-10-36).
M. 2
MADRUS
This minute moulid in the Bab el-Shaaria district was
·seen by me once only, - on Friday 27 Shaaban 1352 (15-12-33).
It i passed by bus 11 which plies from the Beit el-Qadi to the
-station.

M 3 (v. Sectional Map X.)

MAGHRABI cJ. ..,.all (::.!.11
I have never witnessed this moulid, but am informed by
Major G-A who had a house in Sharia el-Maghrabi, almost op-
posite the little shrine, that he saw it some six years ago. It
was a very small private moulid organised and financed by some
local people.
The time of the year seems to have been about Ragab. 'Ihe
tomb is very central and well known, and is beside the Turf
Club, and a considerable piece of that district is aid to have
once belonged or to have been controlled by the Sheikh Maghrabi.
This moulid is included here, though apparently fallen into
·disuse, as it is not rare for a moulid to be dormant for years,
 To mb of beikh I aghraby
P atron am of Turf lnb.
 - 23 9-
the case with Abu el-E la,
and then o be revi \ed . (Th is was
t of Sidi Har oun whi ch wa
and an extr eme in tanc e is tha revi ed a few
from time imm emo rial, unti l
dor man t a.lmo t
year s ago. )
n ly been chan ged , in ac-
The nam e of the stre et has rece
vati on tha t eau e end le
cord ance with an in\i diou inno
(a grea t pit in Cair o, whe re
con fusi on, dLl oca te loca l hist ory,
w re full of igni fica nce) , and
the nam e of stre et and plac
exa mpl e,-- Doe in his ea e the
rais e deli cate prob lem , a for
Wil l the mou lid, if r vi ed,
tom b al o cha nge it de igna ion? e
Sidi Adl i? And whi ch of the
be tha t of Sidi Mag hrab i or Club rega rd
the con tigu ou Tur f
sain ts sho uld piou mem ber of
be app ea ed by liba ion , a.nd reve red as Pat ron ?
as Geni·us Loc i, to

M 4 (, , Sec tion al Map VII I).

MA NSI ':?'_:JI c.$~
1x yea r , has
Tbi mou lid, ince I hav e kno wn it, ome
23 Sba aba n in 1354 to 21
vari ed but ligh t! in date , from of he day of
quit e inde pen den t
Sha aba n in 1355 , and ha been
the wee k.
, nea r the in erse c ion of
The tom b i in be Dah er di tric
and ther efor e ea il reac hed by
the Kha lig and Sba ria Faro uq,
win g Sba ria Man i from the
tram 3, 5, 7, 22, 33, or by follo
lig and th Abb a ia Roa d.
poin t of inte r ecti on of the Kha
e \ici si ude . It wa li el
It has been the vie im of dive r ,
oun ced ecu lar ide up to 1354
and pop ular with a ra her pron foun d the
ope an vi itor "bo
and I took a goo d man y Eur ,
and the \ery mild - cale gam blin g inte re ting
thea tres and sho ws imp re ive.
e pict ures que and
and the con flue nce at he brin
al to a degr ee, redu ced alm o t to no bing ,
In 1355 it wa dism
n, had a fine zeff a at 5 in the
but in 1356 (1937) it ro e agai
ntai n) nea r the Hus eini a, and
afte rnoo n, from the SebH (fou
to a larg e crow d in the even ing.
gav e edif icat ion and plea ure t
in 1357 (1938) but whe n I "en
I do not kno w wha t hap pen ed
 - 240 -

in the evening, sheikhs and others were sitting in the waste

land between the now a l mo t de erted shrine and Sh. Farouq,
more di mally ad han if they had been amongst the tombs,
and all mu ic had been sil need.
What had idi l\L n i done ?
H aring thi year, 1359 (1940) that Sheikh Mansi's Feast
''a to be ob er'l·ed on the la t Sunday of Shaaban, I went on
the Wedne dny preYiOLlS to thi , to confirm the alleged date and
to enquire about the pro pect of a zeffa. A zikr 'IYas in progress
in the nzaqam, Yery impres iYe and colourful, among t the lights
and dec01·a ion , and th rich COYC'l'ing of the tab'ltt . The heikh,
guardian of the tomb, recogni cl me, and informed me that no
zeffa \\'oulcl be attempted, but that on the Friday night there
''ould be a great ;~.ikr by th N ubians, and on the Saturday
night by the Den·i be of the Rifaiya, and some others, who
'Yould do many ma1Tellou bing , and that pos ibly this would
be repeated to ome extent on the next and final night, Sunday.

I ''ent on the Sunday, but only for a hort while, a this

''as al o the main night of the moulicl of idi el-Ansari, and of
the anchorite l\Iarsafa, and found eYen the tomb nearly deserted,
and nothing btrt a few gambling tables and a cafe in the waste
patch of land that used to be so merry. I was assured however
that the progaamme for the earlier evening had been carried out.
I mention this a it i becoming rather frequent for some
of the preliminary nights to go better and more smoothly than
the last, if indeed tbe moulid survi\es to the end.

It seem a little pathetic that fear of interference or re-

pression gives rise t o little manoeuvres and subterfuges in order
to ensure the performance of rites which have been cu tomary
and approved. It reminds one, but happily in only a remote
way, o£ the Christians in ancient Rome going underground for
the peaceful conduct of their services. Here the dervishes are
handicapped by having no catacombs t o use as a last resort.
Iu arod Ferry.
 -24 1-
MOSTA ROD

M 5 ( v. Map of Delta.)

MARI A I r-.r l:-

Onr
Tbi Coptic moulid 1n honou r of the A umptio n of
the date of that feast, Coptic
Ladj i al way held on or very near
7

day,
reckon ing. I aw it on 16 1i ra 1650 (22- -1934) a Wedne
or 5 Gumad II 1355).
and ~tl ·o on 16 Ii ra 1652 (22- -1936
but
It is no ea y to get at, and s ill harder to return from,
bu · from
well repay be troubl e. There i now an occa ional
be f ny near nio tarod, leavin a the felT
~1ataria tation to
bank .
era sing and a short and pl a ant walk along the c::tnal
,,
Before the \\ar, at \\hich time I had a chale at Iatarin
riding partie
though I knew nothin g of the monlid , I often took
k and
to the little village , for the sake of the ride pa t he Obelis
the bea uty of
over the ite of On, the ancien t H eliopol is, and
of Gosbe n,
the po ition of the ancien t Coptic church in the Land
. Tber was no
and it own pricele ss icons and other trea ure
done on
bu in tho e days, but the whole distan ce could be
and bea t. The
hor eback as the quaint ferry carrie man
and willing to how their
priest~ \\ere anu are ahvay most kind
precio us things .
if
The moulid is an extrem ely pretty ight, particu larly
i little but a f w small bows
there is a full moon, thoug h there
hment , on
and a large tent for singin g, dancin g, and light refres
the church into which a tream
the canal bank, :tnd of course
night. Across the canu,l is
of pilgrim passe till well on in the
e Abbas Hilmi in his day.
a palace much fay-ou red by the Rhedi
ng
The buses stop at about nine. I have been lucky in s11otti
broug ht night vi itors and would
a cab at the ferry which ha
an hour's .
have return ed empty to ~1ataria. Other \\ise it means
walk.
 -242-

This is not a moulid in the typical sense of a celebration at

the shrine of a local aint, but is rather of the type of Christmas
or the Moulid el-Nebi,-not connected with the locality -except
perhaps by a relic or icon, bu i included here as being popular
and open to all, and the goal of a pilgrimage : and also as being
an example of the numerou Coptic feasts held at this time in
honour of the Assumption of Our Lady, ~IJ..i..l\ ~"-.)i .>.:-=- • The e
are all, a far as I know, held by the Orthodox Copts.
I wa invited to a moulid to be held in the village of
D aqdn , ...f J-Ab , near Mit Ghamr, / ..::..:.. , on the 14th Augnst
19±0, ( th Mi ra, 1656), the e\-e of the As umption with all
Catholic , Ea tern or W tern, o concluded that I had at last
hit on a Coptic-Catholic moulid, but on going with my host
and informant on that date, it was ev-ident that his carefully
acquired and sifted information was not exact, for instead of
the final night of a Catholic Feast it was the opening of a n
Orthodox celebration who e great night was to be on the octave,
21 t . August, (15th Mi ra). The local prie t showed us with
great urbanity and pride the old icons and other treasures of
his church.

The beating of tom-tom and other merry n oises, mainly

children's voices, call ed ns to the canal banks in front of the
church; where Punch and J udy, and other little shows were
already inaugurated.

I am told that Our Lady i honoured in many parts of

Egypt by m oulid-like fea ts al o at or about the date of the
Annunciation, ;;J\!.~1 ~ , 6th April, (28th Baramhat), that is
thirteen days afte!' the vigil of the feast by the Western reckon·
ing, 24th March.

The public observance of these two Holy D a3 s of the

B. V. M., ;G..i.Jl , the annunciation by the angel Gabriel, and her
translation into heaven, is common throughout Coptic, Ortho-
dox and Catholic Christendom, the second being, I think the
 - 243 -
8d to the beaut i-
more gener al and popul ar. I ha e alrea dy refetT
a t o. My reade r
fu l celeb ration s of that at Siena and Crem
h empb a i ed the
will at once th ink of the foul crime whic
torpe doing of the
pilgri mage to Tino in Augu t 1940, the
ed. That i land is
"Hell e", and ubseq uent bomb ing of the injur
thron ged at both of the e Fea ts .
t care of be
But \\hat a ble ed ountr y wher e the fir
e who atten ded it,
autho rities wa to prote ct th moul id and tb o
peace , malg re tout I
and to ee tba {- the zeffa and all proce eded in
One migh t a k,
And what a differ ence from the attitu de here!
obYious an wer i ,
"But '\\hy tbi diffe renc e?"- to '\\hicb the
here the enem y of
"Bec au e tberP the enem y wa from witho ut,
monl id is withi n."
ial lo but <
But the le on of the Tino crime , a mater
ht out in a letter
mora l gain to the Greek and to Greec e i broug
mber , 1940, which
befor e me in the Egyp tian Gaze tte of 4 Septe
objec t, and on be
is , o full of impo rtant truth beari ng on our
propo e in roduc ing
welfa re of tbi coun try and it peopl e that I
(whic h ee .)
it in exten so into the Intro ducto ry Chap ter.

lU 6 (v. Secti onal Map XI.)

MA.R SAFA ~)I J" ~~-
on the la. t
The moul id of Sidi Ali el-1\iarsafa ha been held
ix occa ion on which I hwre
Satur day of Shaab an, each of
when I wa not there iL was
noted he date, thoug h in 1355
ay 24 Shaa ban (9.11. 36). Thi
repor ted a beicg held on :i\Iond
yeae, 1359 (194-0), it wa on the la t Sund a,r.
died and was
The little stt'ee t in which the Saint lived,
ein i ju t off he Khali g in front
burie d, Qant arat el- Amir Hus
al), or it may be reach ed from Sh.
of the P arque t (Cour t of Appe
Sh. cl Soua qa. The little u n-
Mob. Ali by takin g a walk down
easil ~ be m is ed as only the
dergr oun d mosq ue howe ver may
t, and quite incon picuo us wit h
door is on the level of the stree
 -244 -
its pot , pans and people to be seen inside, but for the epitaphion
over it, "The mo que of Sidi Ali el-Marsafa" :
<c ~)l ~ t$.J..._- ~-->)
It i · a ·mall private delightful moulid un poilt by police in-
terferenc though so near their headquarters: anyway that was
the ea e up to 1355 (183G), but I fertl' it ha, been on th decline
since. Apa,rL from the religiou ceremonie uown in the mosque
and in building oppo jte, the re idents in the Qa,ntara and an
adjoining little street make up most plea,sa,nt little singing
partie with a, few comical cha,racter enterL< ining the people
innocently. A few year a,go I aw a rare anc1 be:=tutiful sight,
which it delight me to record: a large car containing police
officer da bed in o one of these narrow stree s in which one of
the entertainments wa proceeding, and in which the way was
confessedly obstruct2d if not blocked by performers, onlookers
and chairs. An a,,ful pause and frantic effort to clear a way,
when an officer called out cheery salutations, and an injunction
not to disturb themselves, and the car backed out and went off.
The singers were speechless for a moment ancl then their voices
warbled forth the prai es of God and the Hekimdar.
The chronicle1· El-Sharani who calls our Saint, "Nur el- Din
el-Marsafa "records that he died about 930 A. H., and was buried
in his corner zawia 1n Qantarat el-Amir Hussein, where his
tomb is to be seen."

~J .:Jl. • • • LJ:A\ -.:.::. Jll ~JJ Jl.; (_~.J ,_i-4 )I ~..JI .JY (:-:.!-11>)
~- LJ:->- ~\'I o~:.A! .t.:'J I}~ ~.)J ~~...; J ~:'Ju•J 0 d.:- d..~;J ~~ .\:u I
((-.;.~ Jil ~)J\)M IJ.\1; lr. 0~ J
\V-' 'i r./ ~..W?. 1.JIJ.!.ll ~\.. yl ..).~~ l5~5..JI u\.«:h\1

l\1[ 7 (v. Sectional Map XII.)

l\ifARZUQ
Though al"ays on a Thursdrw , this moulid in the years I
have known it, h as varied in date from 29 Zu'el-Qaada in 1352
 - 245 -
i depen dent on the
to ± Safr in 1356 (15-4- 37). In ome way it
ed thi. by eithe r
great er mou lid of Bayu mi, havin g al "\\ay follo,Y
ymbi osis ap11ca rs
seYen or fourt een days. Thi curio u ort of
from the foll owing date -:-
uq 29 Zu'el -Qaad a
1352 Bayu mi Thur sday 22 Zu'el -Qaad a: n1arz
.3.3± 15.3. 34 7 day
23 Zu'el -Higg a: 8 Muha rem
1R53
(1 35±)
= 2 .3.35 11.4.3 5 1± days
3 iubar em 17 Muha rem
1355
= 26.3 .36 9.±.36 14 days
1356 26 fubar em ± Safr
..±.37 15.4.3 7 7 days
1357 Aban doned Aban doned
135 In t h e band of God Likew i e in Hi Hand s.
at time of writin g,
lHuha rem 135
so-fa r
The mo que of Sidi l\Iarz uq i ~ ituated in a beaut iful
the Sagh a (As ay
un poilt bit of Cairo , in Qa r el-Sh oq, near
Sidna Hu sein and
Offices), Gama lia distri ct. It i quite near
el- Qa di. P erha,p the ea iest way of reach ing it i t o
the B eit
at Sidna Ha ein ,
take bu l 8 feom the Ataba , and desce nding
a far as po sible
to walk pa t the geeat door of that mosq ue and
straig ht on for a fe w minu tes.
full of attra c-
Behin d the mosq ue therP- is a long cul de sac
and possi bly a part of t he
tions of a varie d natur e: still nea,re r
·ija (recep tion) at which
mosq ue prem ises, a hall for a ort of tash1
ood Pun ch and Judy,
a band plays : a lso in the neigh bourh
the gronu d for tattoo ingt
booth s for circu mcisi on and space s on
sic , but the great featu re
and occas ional ly whirl ing fire-e atf>rs et
after B ayum i to be seen
is the beaut iful zeffa, the best, I t hink,
the collec tion of
in Cairo . In 1356 (1987 ) I watch ed this, ft'om
t 3 in the aftern oon,
its eleme nts outsi de the B a b el-N asr at abou
arriva l after 5 at the
a splen did sight in a maje stic spot, to its
shes , with moun ted
mosq ue. The vario us comp anies of dervi
 -246-
"khalifa" music, banners and the rest, after a preliminary
march into the desert processed to the muski, rounded Sidna
Husein, and pa t the Sagha, every inch of the way attractive.
e pecially that glorious group of Kalaoun, Barquq and other
mosques and buildings at the end of the N ahasin.
The above hort account of Sidi Marzuq, written in
Muharem 135 (March 1939) begins with a comparison of dates
with tho e of "Sultan" Bayumi, and it will have been noticed
that though these date ad-vanced through Zu' el-Qaada, Zu' el-
Higga, and Muharem in the lunar calendar, they only passed
from March to April in the olar. When then in 1359 (1940)
Bayumi was revived after being dormant for three years, owing to
mo que repairs, hi date had advanced yet a lunar month to Safr,
but returned to March, it was almost conclusively evident that
Sidi Bayumi actually follows the seasons, and that his symbiot
a regard date must do the same. This conclusion as regards
Bayumi was made quite definite by a.n account I found in an
edition of Murray of 1 88 tating that his moulid was fixed by
the season, not by the lunar reckoning.
That the same is the case with Marzuk I have little doubt.
but unhappily when I looked for the final proof in the moulid of
lVI:arzuk being rene\\ed in March 1940, a week after Bayumi
as was expected also by the people of the district, it was said to
ha,ve been postponed, and now six months later we are still
waiting and trusting that it is still in the hands of Allah, and
that He will prev-ail.
It is curious that all the Moslem moulids which follow the
seasons like Sayed el-Bedawi's are, as far as I know, his
dependents directly or indirectly, for to take those in Cairo
alone, Imbabi w:1s Bayed's apostle, Bayumi's sect of the
Bayumiya is a branch of Bayed's great ta1·iqa of the Ahmadiya,
and Marzuk seems a filial of Bayumi.
Writing on the eve of Ramadan, 1359 (1940), a sort of
stop-pTess postscript, and referring to the last clause but one, I
am able to add, that He did prevail, and here are the details : -
 -- 24 7-
the grea t Sain t 1\tlarzuk
The vicis itud e of th mou lid of
mor e than one occa ion, and
of rece nt year s, it aban don men t on
that of Sidi Baj umi , acco rdin g
pa.rt icul adj it faili ng to follo w
7

that hn. com e age in into

to imm emo rial en tom , now that
. Hap pilj thes e were di pelle d
hono ur, rai ed di mal fore bodi ng
mou lid and the anci ent z ffa
by an ann oun cem ent that the
r day of Sha aban of thi Y<'< r
wou ld take plac e on the la t Thu
wa a welc ome a it "\\a
1359 (26 Sep tem ber 19±0). The new
d abov e it hou ld fall abo ut
unex pect ed, for n.s ha been indi cate
at), thu bein g near ly half the
the begi nnin g of Apr il (Bar amh
d a few day befo r h adv nt
year late, and ther e only rem aine
lid seas on for om mon h .
of Ram adan wou ld clo e the mou
day itsel f abou t the tim h
The tidin gs reac hed me on the
el-N asr, 3.30 in the afte rnoo n.
zeff a was to tart from the Bab
Qa r el-S hok, \V here h
A it took som e hou r to reac h
devi atin g a usua l thro ugh the
mos que and tom b are situ ated ,
brin e of Sidn a Hu ein, it We
Nahn. in and Mu ki to vi it the
wer furle d, and a fri ndly
abou t unse b whe n the ban ner
ent mo que, and bow ed me the
derv i h led me into the anci
re s of the Prop het' feet, and
gree n tone whi ch bear s the imp
t's body .
of cour e the tabu t abov e the sain
hipp er , incl udin g man y
The mos que wa veq full of wor
h appr ecia ted he priv ilege of
di ting uish ed peop le, and I muc
dlj attit ude of e eryb ody.
entr j at such a time , and the frien
fasc inat ing, thou gh larg ely
My derv ish's info rma tion was
the vi it of the Neb i to the
apoc rj phal , espe ciall y as r gard s
Ma.rz uk on the occa ion of
mos que, n.nd his rela tion s wi h Sidi
. He conf irme d wha t I have
the imp1·ession of the sacr ed foot
the rela tion s of Mar zuk and
long felt sure was the case , that
i "\\ere very intim ate, thou gh I
the grea t .Ahm ad Saj ed el-B edaw
Ab mad 's on also apoc ryph al.
thin k the asse rtion that he wa Sidi
led us into the hall of
A door in the side of the mos que
mu jcian s who had enha nced
tash Tija , whe re a band of youn g
a cons ider able com pany .
the zeffa , were givi ng plea sure to
 -248-

The zeffa I need not de cri be, as it was on it ow·n tradition-

al line , and tho e of Sidi Bayumi, and of course the dominant
colour ''a the red of the hmadiya and the Bayumiya. The
allied Order of the Awlad Nooh \Ya well repreRented, and was
a. picture qne and popular a ever.
It wa rea uring to hi very ancient and venerable
moulicl hared an d protectecl by high official per ouages, and the
Khalifa in the zeffa a lineal de cendant of the great Khalif Abu
Bakr, father-in-law of the Prophet, in the person of the Sheikh
!Iuhammad Sham el-Din el-Bakri. He was hailed by the crowd
a Sahib Sigada,-Naqib el-Ash1·aj. Thi is not trictly conect,
though I under and he come very clo e to El-Sayed el-Bakri
who recently ucceeded to hi father's supremely high position as
Sheikh el-Bak1'i, which carrie the e titles.
It we. a little unfortunate that this belated moulid was
assigned to the same date a those of Mar Barsum el-Aryan at
nlaasara, and Sidi Mubarnmadi at Demardash, by that is \astly
ontweighed by the moral upport it official recognition lends to
Egypt's traditional cu toms in this hour of their depression.

MAT ARIA
l\1 8 (~1n,p of Delta.)
MATRAWI
T hi moo lid, almost unrivalled for the beauty and fascination
of its position and associations, is one of the most easily acces-
sible, for, unlike most others, its date can be relied on, always
the 14th of Shaaban, and bus No. 16 passes through it and past
the doors of the mosque of Sidi fatrawi. Or the train may be
taken to Mataria, and a walk of about a mile enjoyed past the
J esuit gardens, and the Holy Tree and Well of the Virgin, and
.t hat in the light of the full moon. Those who wish to combine
the Moulid with a Yisit to the Holy Tree and V/ ell should, how-
ever, go before sunset, lest the gate be fcund locked; and then
retrace their steps a little, before they become absorbed in the
 -249 -

Fea t of 1\llatrawi, to ee the obelisk on the site of the Tem11le of

Ra, and the ancient city of On, a the Sun-God goe ore t and the
great full-moon of Shaaban come up. Thi i ~ th home of the
phoenix; and I think here mu t be omething of -he Phoenix
about Sidi el- Iatrawi, for before th war for many year I bad
a piecl a terre at lataria, (the original Heliopoli ~ ), and pa ed
the mosque constantl~' and through the pre ent place of the
moulid, and ne\er saw it nor heard of it exi tence. Once
certainly, about 1321, (1903), the mo que and the cafes were
crowded, and there was an unusual concout e of Bedouin and
other , but I ha\e no direct re:1 on to associate tbi with the
Sa.int.

I saw it first in 1351 (1932), a first cl a moulid: a crowded mos-

que on one side of the road, and on the other so gay and happ a
crowd that it did one's heart good; picturesque al o o a degree.
Prof. E-P of the UniYer ity had motored me ther , and a we
flitted from attraction to a traction, we halted where a crowd
wa watching a trength conte ,-pu hina a cannon, wi h e\er
increa ing load np an in ·line till it rang a bell. Some hero bad
achie\ed great thing , when my companion cut in. I hE>ard
amu ing comment ,-"He can't be Yery strong, I don 't uppose
he hn, eyer had a fass in hi band in his life." When E-P beat
the record here was mo t g nerou applau e, and I confess I
wn, ~nrpri ed for the Egyptian are be mo t powerful people
mn cularly that I ba\e e\er come acro . Three year later I
wn, a ·ked b) a Bedouin at the moulid,- "Where is your friend
who rang the bell with top w ight on?"

I think be moulid reached its zenith in 1353 (1934). The

following year, the police in clearing the road for traffic, with
exce s of zeal drove the crowd back and away from the road till
there was a considerable mix up -with the guy ropes of the show
tent ; but a 1nulazim, awel coming along told them to keep to
tbeiL' orders, and maintain a way for traffic only. They obeyed
absolutely, and all went happily, but I was much amused at a
 - 250-

swing of the penaulum to the other extreme : - a doddering

carter came along, swung cart and donkey athwart the road,
and gaped at he sho\\, till an askari came to him and in honeyed
tones said,-"Have the kindness, ob, my uncl , to move on juEt
a little, and no offence!"
o..i.S_,.. ') .J 4.:_,.:.. r..u .J ~,S.r~ J .Jfll Jri
At the beginning of this short account of the moulid of
Ma,trawi, I mentioned ome of the sights which render Mata1·in,
one of the mo t fascinating pot in EgJ pt, which could be easily
Yi ited at the same time. There i much more to be visited and
studied which require rather more time. For example, in
addition to the Holy Tree of the B.V.l\!L, there are at least two
other tree acred to local Islamic saints, hung with votive
offerings of a very simple nature, unless they have gone in recent
years like the beautiful sebil and grove of fig trees near the
obeli k, and the a enue of mulberry trees which connected them .
.One of these i at the back of the old ·d llage behind the mosque.
The other is about a mile in the direction of Marg, near the
railway, where the canal is cro sed by a b1idge. I had the tem-
erity to photograph the fir t of these one Friday morning, in
what evidently was the ladie' hour, and incurred considerablP
displeasure. Excusing mJ self on the ground of a shocking co]d
in the bead, and the de ire to hang up my handkerchief ana
obtain the benefit of the Sheikh's intercession for my cure, I
was ultimatelJ forgiven and allowed to perform this act of faith.
Tbi i not fundamentally as incongruous as it may seem:
many Moslems come to the Coptic relics of Mar Tadros in
the hope of cures or blessings, and hundreds of non-catbolics,
largely Moslems, to the Catholic shrine of St. Teresa at
Shoubra, bearing their votive gifts. Very numerous similar
ca,ses could be cited, and cases reciprocally where Christians
seek cures or blessings at Moslem shrines.
Going this year 1359 (1940), on the 14th Shaaban, according
to the official calendars, somewhat after the time of the asha,
A Holy Tl· e e:1r 1 rg.
 -25 1-
much reduc ed.
I was not surpri sed at findin g the recre ati\e side
e. On enqui r-
but distin ctly o at a closed and unligh ted mosqu
were all wrong .
ing the reason , I wa as ured that the calen dars
he 13th, and
and for luna1· reaso n this wa decree d to be
n.
tomor row night the e\e of the 15th,- mid-S haaba
ets and the
This:i nform atjon \Va correc t, a the lit-up minar
mmed Ali, and other indica -
celebr ation at the mosqu e of Muha
to repea t my vi it to Sidi
tions showe d, bnt I \\a unabl e
Matra wi, so canno t repor t on that.
time, of
The impor tance of fixing the date exactl y at thi
eve of mid-
cours e arises from the pecul iar olemn ity of the
~-- ..._i..a.:ll ~ :
Sbaa ban,- Leila t el-Nu sf 1nin Shaab an, - 0~._:..
i e, "El-S idr"•
for on this night is haken the Lote Tree of Parad
mity, a it i called in the ura.t el-Nig m,
the Tree of the Extre
the 53rd. of the Qoran ,- "~\ o;~- ~", and each leaf which
js to die in the en uing year.
falls bears the name of one who
make tiny
My little neigh bour , and childr en el 8\\her e
proce ssions , and sing
(( l::;;J ~· ~)~))
l:.; .)~_!, ~
};.... c~..J L::o-.i J
which may be transl ated,-- -
"Lord , keep our lea\es
Firm on our tree ,
For we're Th y little kjddy \\ees."
Amin .

M 9 (v. Sectio nal Map IV.)

MAZL UM
nce those
A short accou nt of Sidi Mazlu m \\ill, I hope, convi
and amuse ment, that if
addict ed to seden tary forms of worsh ip
t the maxim um of
the non-m oslem and unini tiated canno t expec
 - 252-

edification, he can at least look fonval'd to movement and excite-

ment, life and colour ; avarL fl'Om the interests of anthropology,
folk lore and the like; and the great tonic of an atmosphere free
from boredom and feigned int rest and enjoyment, where fun and
piety ar qually whole hearted.

Th great night m always to be a Sunday, but has var-

ied in th five year 1353 to 1357 from the 22nd Muharem to
the 27th Rabia Tani. It date depends omewhat on the state
of cultivation on its ite, a is the case with Embaba, Farag, and
doubtle others.

The "Maqam" i in the field beyond Sherabia, past the shrine

of Sidi Galal, who al o has a moulid; and unless you have at
your dispo ala car built for rough roads, the best way is to take
a c::tb out ide Kubri el-Limoun tation. But do not rely on the
cabby' promise to fetch you back at night. You must be
prepared for a walk of two or three miles, or a rough mount,
or a place on ::t cart of sort .

I made the acquaintance of Mazlum in 1353 (1934), some

evenings previous to the big night, and found a circle .of tents,
theatres, ringas, qara goz, kheil el-zil, conjurm·s, performing
dogs, push-cannon, Aunt Sally, shooting galleries, and all manner
of shows and games surrounding a group of trees picturesquely
en hrining the Maqam of the Saint. There was an outer circle
of stick players, performing horses, hawis &c. &c., but having at
the time an injured leg, I could do little but sit near the shrine,
at the cafe of Amin, a well-known character, and enjoy the va
et vient of the Pilgrims to the Maqam, a colourful, and impres-
sive sight.

1\tly cabby failed me, and I much regretted the army of don-
keys and donkey boys of a few decades past, available almost
anywhere: a picturesque and usefu l asset to Egypt, brutally
crushed out alas, by the rage for mechanisation . I was in luck
ho wever for a B edouin of quality pressed on me h is h orse which
 - 253 -
A lo vely beast , but
had been perfo rming early in the eveni ng.
when we .met a zeffa
with a diffic ult mout h, and prone to dance
show me how neatl y
with tamb ourin es, and anxio us at times to
he could lie down and prete nd to be dead !
ing a mu1·a sla
I came again the next day, and early , bring
enjoy ed a picni c dinne r in
with pro\i ion in the cab, and much
vr cauti on of withh oldin g the
an adjoi ning field. I had taken the
but the cabby did no ap -
fare, prom i ing a big one on re nrn,
ted me in town c1n,y after,
pear. At lea t not then for be accos
andee red by a group who
swea ring he bad come but wa comm
sla ough t for a donke y in
mn.de him dri\e them back. The mura
but he enter pri e of thei1·
yn,in : donke y indee d were till ali\e
of coini ng mone y.
owne r was dead, and they mi ed a, chanc e
mule, surm ounte d by n. pyra-
Ultim n.tely he produ ced a colo sa,l
moun t, and what n. time he
mid of leath er and bra . . Wha t a
owne r wa, not to be een, as
ga\e me and my grogg y lea! His
de pa.ir at ha.\in g hi umpt er
arra.n ged, at Pont Limo un , but my
di ipn.te d by bi arriY al.
mule 1 ft on my hand wa oon
age both ways
On the last and great night , I had the ad ,-an
desire , as rnfe or of Anthr opolo gy to
of Dr. E-P's car, but hi
keleto n at the
ee a typic al mouli d, was ba.rdl y fulfill ed. The
sunse t, in the form of a huge -veiled
feast appea red soon after
annoy ance by his freed om with the
Arab, who cause d inten e
which he helpe d himse lf at any-
wome n, and the audac ity with
shado wed by two police agent in
body' s tall. H e was soon
his move ment s hamp ered, and their
plain cloth es, but findin g
ly produ ced a murd erous file and
qu e tions awkw ard, be udden
law-a bidin g crow d immo bili ed and
laid one of them out. The
It was a dram atic mom ent! Some
unvei led him at once.
the hm·an ~i that kidna pped my
woma n cried, "Why , that's
And a man excla imed, "And stole my
little Must afa !"
ni ed a a briga nd chief, a hated
cattle !" H e was in fact recog
act . The furiou s
terror , an d this was to be the end of his e\il
and be wa lost to my igbt,
villag ers close d in uron him,
was torn to piece s.
and I have grave hopes that be
 - 254 -

News reached the authorities with more quickness than

accuracy, and in a very few minutes m ounted askaris with sticks
charged and recharged the a embly with m ore zeal than discri-
mination: t ut. came down: artistes dres ed o1· otherwise fled
into the field : the moulid wa utterly wiped out. I was sorry
for the hone t crowd, who in 1. nching the villain had done good
service, if a bit irregular, but that could hardly have been known
to the police till after, and their job wa ob\iou ly to stop blood-
shed and di order, however caused.

Appended i ~ the account of he lynching affair as given by

"La Bour e Egyptienne" . -

Un malfaiteur est lynche par la foule.

6/ 5/34 22/ 1/ 53
A I' occasion du mauled dn cheikh El-Mazloum, a Charabia la
police a ait charge deux agent de veiller au maintien de l'ordre
a l'endroit ou se deroulait le mauled. Les agents remarquerent
qu'un certain l\Iohamed Kas em, grand malfaiteur sorti de prison
il y a deux mois a peine, faisait le t our des etalages et ranQonnait
les rnarchands, en les menaQant avec une grande lime. Ils dur-
ent inter-.,Tenir pour empecher le malfaiteur de continuer ses me-
faits. Ils lui enlevel'ent la lime. Furieux, Mohamed Kassem
sortit de dessous ses vetements, une barre de fer et plessa un des
agents, nomme Mohamed El-Sayed. L a foule accourut. Corn-
me elle en avait assez de l\!I:ohamed Kassem, elle e rua furieuse-
ment ur lui et le roua de coups. On l'assomma a coups de gou r-
dins, de bouteillas et de chai es .
L e cadavr-e du malfaiteur fut transporte a,u poste de police
de Mahmacha et le Parquet fut saisi de l'affaire. Plusieurs in-
dividus furent interroges. Ils confirmerent t ous les depositions
des agents.

L'agent blesse a ete transporte a l'hopital. Son etat est ser-

ieux . L e cadavre du malfaiteur a ete soumis a l'autopsie.
 - 255 -
35), an
The follow ing year , Sunda y, 25 Moha rem 1354-, (28-±-
the Yeme n,
Engli sh lady who had wand ered throu gh Arabi a and
of this mouli d,
attrac ted rathe r than the revm· e by mJ tories
g this tempo r-
accom panie d me in my cab, but when appro achin
soft earth at
ary city of a hundr ed tents, a wheel ub ided in the
Bump ing
the edge of the emba nkme nt, and the cH.b o\erbu rned.
we e caped
acro s a well filled ditch into some rich \egeta tion,
witho ut broke n bottle s,' for we had
witho u t broke n bone :-and
d after gettin a t ogeth er a willin g fat-
broug ht picnic ratio ns-an
tz; Dump ty up again, and obtain ing the
igue party to g t Hump
olemn oath that he would end a cab for
arbng y' bles ing a,nd
gly \ery gratef ul for what he consid ered lib-
u , a h wa eemin
the ten s, &c.,
eral trea,tm ent, a.nd after a prelim inary round of
There wa a
we sat down bJ runni ng water in a field clo e by.
s, for we were
bucoli c atmos phere of fre h soil and spring onion
the one lacun a in our menu was suppli ed on
in a salad field, and
I ha e not seen
the pot. One item was a succu lent plant which
elsew here. The local swain called it Ki1·at .
comp anion
The mouli d went smoo thly this time, and my
ted by th e conju ring of El-Ha g Mahm ud, by
was specia lly attrac
ed in mild
the h adow show , and the danci ng horse s. She indulg
the benef it of
gambl ing of variou s sorts with enorm ous luck for
end, histor y
some appre ciati e young ters. But at the latter
repea ted itself -bTea ch of p1·omise by the a1·bug
y, and nothin g
ter mule with
that my mw·a sla could find to ride but the sump
aft of thi ap-
the braze n pyram id on its back. To sit fore and
of wome n and
pealed to neithe r of us, but a donke y cart load
,- and so to
childr en conse nted to our squee zing in with them
Cairo.
conve r-
\Vhils t seated , p1'o fanum , I ha\e bad consid erable
but their infor-
sation with pilgri ms to the shrine of "Maz lum",
Some say that
matio n has been neithe r consi tent nor reliab le.
applie d to him,
his name was not Mazlu m, but that the term is
havin g been
almos t in the sense of Marty r, on accou nt of his
have a.gree d
falsely accus ed and put to death . My inform ants
 - 256 -
that he was a friend of tb fellah and patron of agriculture. He
might a] o be patron of We ngl r , for he u ually obtains abnor-
mally long run and gracious cone ssion for hi moulids : twenty
day or more again t -he Feophet' seven. Even the death of
King Foad, in 1355, which checked all such celebrations, only
held up thi for a time, and really prolonged it; and in 1357 it
mu t h a ve run for more than a month. When nearing the date
of its a podo. i , it wa topped (for rea. ons nnknown to me), but
I ::tm told bat be heikh of h e tomb made trong representa-
tion to the 1amur, not ;vitbout a ou1190n of menace, which
that high functionary had in hi mind, when at night 1Y1azlum
him elf appeared in a vi ion and told him roundly that lives
could be cut hort a well a moulid . The good man, (so the
local people aJ ), a sured his ghostly visitor that he, the ghost,
had been misinformed about the curtailment of the m oulid, and
that it bould be consummated with all "honour and five nights
added to its duration. And it was so :-and the writer was pre-
sent th e final night, Sunday 27th Rabia Tani, 1357, (26-6-3 ), and
enjoyed "quietam noctem et perfectum finem", with the usual
picnic m eal in the salad field, and rough ride home.

Floreat 1azlum,-and the Mamur, and may the latter have

five yea1 and more added to his valuable life.

M 10 (v. Sectional Map VI. )

l\1UAFAQ

Thi moulid seems to have a precarious existence and the

votari of the Saint to be glad of any day of the week or month
when they can celebratelhis memory, and invoke his intercession.
In 1353 it was Sunday 26 Ragab : in 1354 Tuesday 10 Shaaban :
in 1355 Thursday 27 Shaaban: in 1356 Tuesday 28 Shaaban: and
i n 1357 (1938) I fear it was relegated to the Greek E.alands.
It is just b~hind t h e great mosque of Abu el-Ela, and there-
fore passed by trams 14, 15, 13, and bus 6 and 15.
 257-
The squalid little street which contains the tomb of Sidi
• Muafaq has nothing el e to redeem it except just opposite, ano-
ther tomb, that of Sidi Mustafa. Their names are uperscribed,
~h..- (_~I t_-ri l.i,.. ~ y c;_.~. .. ~ ~.A:.- t_f4 \.i.

When I found thi moulid in 1353 (193±) it wa a big affair,

with good attendance at the shri~es, and the u ual show , with
a large tent theatre under the Mosqne of Abu el-Ela. This di -
appea.red in 1354 and Qara Goz did not l1l'\i ve till the last night,
but there were some "Ringa " ~w ith highly primitive Sudane e
music and dancing; a subject of intere t and research to the late
Profe sor of AnthropologJ of the Uni\ersity and other a\' ants
who accompanied me. I n 1355 (1936) another sort of dancing
place was violently raided, but ,yent on again in a few minute .
In 1356 (1937) there were a few gaming table and an odd pilgrim
or so at the shrines.~ and an attempt at a tiny zeffa at 4. 30. In
1357 (1938) nil! and I fear ince!

M 11 (V. Sectional Map V.) ~..4JI J-1..) ~:l c_~l s~

NIUHAMMADI (Sidi el-Sheikh Demarda h el-1\1nhetmmadi)
This is one of the moulids recogni ed officially, (lik e that of
Imam el-Shafei), by ceremonie of considerable enve1·gu,re, attend-
ed by many of the Dlama, 1\1inisters, High Functionaries, and
Notables, de cendants of this great local Cairene Saint, and
bearing his name, being included.
On the site of the little zawia, A.~_,lj Cr> where Sidi D emarda h
meditated, there is now his tabtd, and on the patch of land which
" he cultivated for the poor and for the state four hundred years
ago, there is now a splendid mosque and buildings, supplemented
at his monlid by pavilions for a great tash1·ija. I haYe had the
honour of attending this on se,eral occasion on the final night
which is always a Thur day of the second half of Shaaban, vary-
ing from the 17th in 1352, o the 26th, 1357, (20. 10. 38). It is
quite splendid, and rendered more impressive by the white-robed

<'....:~ j1 ~; ":~_,, . J:lJ ~la-i~ ~:wJ ~ ~ . . . ..:.,\..» (,)

 - 258 -
candle-bearing devotees. I have not witnessed a zeffa, but that
may be because I have not come sufficiently early. Before the
tash1·ija many of the poor are entertained to dinner.
It is be t reached by motor-bus No. 10, but if the train be
preferred it is but a hort walk from Demardash station, and in
any ea e the lofty illuminated minaret is a beacon guiding one
to the zawia, which will be found surrounded by a dense con-
course of pilgrims.
This moulid until 1353, was not only the goal of a pilgrimage
but a highly popular event, and the road from the Abbasia boule-
vard to the mosque was a gay cene of booth , stalls, zikr groups
&c. on both sides, and an immense crowd, but on going in 1355
(193u), thi track wa quite deserted except for automobiles
going to or returning from the tash1·ija. Doubtless the blending
of the two was deemed incongruous and inadvisable, but the re-
sult wa depre sing and disapp01nting to many, so that in 1356,
I rejoiced with many to find that the amusement department
still carried on, but in the village at a respectable distance from
the track referred to. The same was the case in 1357, and all
passed tranquilly and eyeryone was edified and happy. (Old
friends of the people reappeared,-the strong man and his d wad
and company, lVIahmud el-Hindi the conjurer, some performing
dogs, and the great favourite, Qara Goz.)
In most cases it is very difficult to obtain consistent infor-
mation about the life and origin of the Saint one is honouring,
but from readings at the tash1·ija, and the chronicles of Sbaar-
ani, Muhammadi stands out a very real and attractive character
tilling his plot of almost desert soil, till many attracted by his
holy life, or benefited by his prayers or the produce of his labour
settled about his zawia and formed the nucleus of the village
which bears his name. It comes down to us that his wife, an
earnest disciple, shared his cell, and was awe-stricken at the fre-
quency with which he rose throughout the night to perform
ablutions, pray, or study the Qoran el-Sherif. His motto like that
of most of Weste1·n monasticism was evidently, "Ora et labora".
 -2 59 -

M 12
h El-A abud Cha hin
MU HAM ct:ADI (The She ikh Sale
el-l\ !Iuh amm adi)

l?~l ~·\.!. ~\.JI t_UI (_~I

a book of mou lids beca use
1 he~itate to incl ude this Sain t in
cult , almo t limi ted a far as
I bn \·e no defi nite proo f that hi
r vici nity , actu ally exte nd to
I kno\Y to the Moq atta m and thei
doin g o i to diss ipat e the
a mou lid. My mai n rea on for
cont emp orar y recl u e of the
conf u ion bet" een him and hi ed
SH.IlH~ nam e, D ema rdas h el-lU
nh amm adi, a conf u ion tran mitt
only now clea red by the help of
to me by my info rma nt , and
aran i.
Tlw Tobn .qat el-R ubra of Sh. Shn
sold ier in the arm y of the
Sh. Sale h el-M uham mad i was a
a grea t fa ouri te of the latte r.
1Ylamelu ke Sult an Kait bey, and
his expe ditio n to Per ia, but
*He n,cco mpa nied the Sult an in
n to an anch orite ' life, livin g
retu rned to Cair o and settl ed dow
the Moq atta ms, dyin g in grea t
30 year s in a ca-ve or a grav e of
the lOth cent ury, A. H., ( he
sanc tity abo ut the begi nnin g of
end of the XVt b, A. D.).
u , wi bou t the ad~'antage
He wen t a nak ed a St. One phri
his feet . H seem to ha e
of that aint ' bear d whi ch reac hed d not
,j itor and di ciple coul
mad e a vow of- silen ce, for hi be piou s
ed edif icati on from
per uade him o talk , but gain
aust erity of this asce tic.
in the 1oq at R.m • .
I ha-ve been unab le to trac e hi cell

* Not e:
(~ ~~ ':5.;,; ) <?-l.JI ~·L!. ~WI t_UI c~l
• •. L-)J ~~~ c_l;. · • ~\~_(; ~,~
\ j\h1. JI ~~A
Jl J ;_}....
jp~ j l -':~ ~ ....:.- ~ • ~;J ~All
(.:.- ~1\.; ~I o\s y • • ~
 -260-
One of our Sheikh's names being Chahin or Shahin*, I was
inclined to identify him with Abu Shahin, who e lovely ruined
mosque merge into the rock, south of the Gei~tshi, from which
it can be approached by a narrow track skirting in one place a
preCipiCe. From this you crawl like a rabbit up through a hole
cut in the live rock, avoid falling into a great dark cave on the
left, or mi taking a sort of natural O'u bliette on the right for the
track, and so hurtling into pace, squeeze through a long rock
gallery, and emerge on one of the beauty spot of Egypt, perhaps
of the world, commanding a view of the Nile, green Maadi .
distant Howamdia, tb Saqqara pcyamid, and much else, (an
ideal spot for picnic and a iesta). Thence you climb down to
the old mo que with its fine minaret vertjcally beneath you, and
find a gaping hole which once contained the mortal remains of
the Sheikh, dug up and violated unhappily abont 1918, at which
time also the wonderful green tiles and all things portable were
stolen.
* Note,- Chahin or Shahin ?
Either spelling may be used, according to whether we transliterate from
the original Turkish E, chin; or from the Arabicised from c_} , shin;

there being no t:_ in the Arabic alphabet. By a paradox therefore it is more

correct to write this and similar words of Turkish origin with initial uch",
but better Arabic to employ "Sh".
There are lots of similar cases, e.g.
Chalabi (a foreign gentleman, noble person) from k... . , or Shalabi <.Sl,..:.
".

Chawish (sergeant) ,
~ A\.::... Sh aWlS h I.,F"...;
~,.-"...; o: ,
. ~ AL.:.
A

Chai (tea) ":fo b." , Shai ._rl!.

':?
Chamashirgi {laundryman)

( from if" .Y::""'·~~ or Shamashirgi if" .Y::""'·~ )

The last shows well the subtle difference between the letters E , chin and
J. shin.
~tlo que of Cbah in.
- ' ~ ~ -~-..-~~-- .,-iW"'--~,,:"ft!*;~4H!i ·
. ·-·-~--. '":.

Picnic or: Moqattam Hill .

 -26 1-
others
That the clearin g up of these point must be left to
an 1358 (1939),
was broug ht home to me at the end of Shaab
ee of
when I was as ~ ured by a heikh, (witho ut an} guaran
accura cy) that the tomb and monlid of ~1uhammadi were behind
l, an 1 the
the man hieh of !I:aham mad Ali, and the new Caraco
and cro,,d of
moulid then on. Tbe l)Ot I found in darkn e
many of
childr en showe d me what might have been the tomb,
moulid lHtcl
them declar ing that thi wa the first year that the
been suppre ssed.

N. 1 (v. Section n,l Map XX.)

NAFIS A
ha
Strictl y speaki ng a far as I am aware, Si+,na Nafisa
but he bare in a way that of Sitna
now* no moulid of her own,
middle of
Sakina , (who was, I think, her great- aunt,) near the
occasi on her tomb seem as much in
Guma d el-Awa l. On that
, and the amu ement park i in a bit of
favour as that of Sakina
close to Sitna N afisa's great mosqu e,
wa te land facing the gabel
and ome di tance from that of Sakina .
in
Ba 1 from Daras a via the Ataba run to the gabel
most fascin at-
questi on passin g Sitna Sakina . This i one of the
mend a
ing bits of Cairo and should not be mi ed. I rec0m
age to the
vi it on Sunda y, when there is always a little pilgrim
Sidna Hasan ,
tomb of the great Sa.i nt, (great -grand -daugh ter of
and collate ral
and theref ore directl y de cended from the Proph et,)
celebr ations sugges tive of a small moulid .
e one
Nearly always on the Sunda y at the door of the mosqu
for three milliem es a little orb-sh aped
finds wome n sitting , selling
a stalk, which one of them inform ed
si tr.um of wicke rwork on
Nafisa as a girl, these si tra having
me was in remem brance of
remind s
been her favour ite toys. This touchi ng remem brance
the house of Santa Catari na, with
me much of toys shown in
Nafisa referred to
*Note :- I have seen in an old book, the moulid of Saida
as an importa nt occasio n.
 -262-

which she played a a little girl, and of which replicas can be

purchased in the cont1·ada at the time of the Palio race, at Siena.

There i a more scientific interest in this sistrum, in that

it upport Prof. Newberry' theory that the royal sceptre was
in origin a i trum.

Sitna Nefisn. is held in such esteem and affection by the

Cairene , especially their womenfolk, that she perhaps rivals
in that re pect her great-great-aunt Saida Zenab. That is
largely due to her having pent the last se en years of her life
in Cairo, and bringing up a on and daughter here. She married
late in life, her early day having been taken up in devotion and
good work . Born in 1ecca in 145 A. H. (762 A. D.), she
pas ed away in Ca.iro in 20 A. H. (823 A. D.) at the age there-
fore of 63 years (Eastern reckoning).

The great Imam el Shafei was an ardent votary of h ers.

praying constantly at her mo que, which is only separated from
his tomb, and the beautiful mosque built over it, by the
necropoli , qarafa, (;I.) , which contains the tombs of the
Fatimite Khalifs, and a lways praying the special prayers of
Ramadan with her.

I " Till conclude with a citation from the Chronicles of Abd

el- Wahab el-Shaarani concerning her,-without translation, as
it conyeys practically what hn,s been written above .....

~,_:~ J\ ~:.;'"='"'IlL, ~.1 0-.1 J~ ~! ~-J.I j. -ll_jiJ. ~-J..I ~~\ ~~ o.J.~I»

-~~~ J .::,l!.;_, 4;~_, ~·!).J ~~ ~- t...J.J.. 0~_, ~G-.\;~~\~.) .::,..J_,
I ~

J;_,
\~ Jl ~;,; .:.....~1_, i .fh" ri _, r. \.o:ll ~)y ~.:,.,..:.,.; j;_, ~.~:~)11 J-l,. ..::..~
~~ _, 0\c" L j \.; ~I~.; Jl ~ .Ji.J ~~c.;_- .r~.

J t _,1~1 lr, ~ _, ~~ ~~fi.. 0~ ~ ":." J,, LS;,;I.5.!l!.ll iL.':11 y.~ u_,

( 0 ".,::..:.d~ I.S~(j~ ~\A~\ ~A J-' ':/1 .. ,;~i) (( L.;t j\.j .:r,, ':?:..)'·~A J 0l.:aA)
 263-

N 2 (v. Sectional Map VI.)

N AS R .ri' c$.>.:-
On the one occasion on which I was present, Thursday 14
Rabia II, 1353 (26-7-34), thi moulid was faid big and lively.
It i held in the Darb el-Nasr, Bulaq, and i reached in a few
minu e from Sh. Foad el-Awal, by leaving tram 13, 14, 15, 33 or
bust), 7, at Abu el-Ela and going Nor h along the new big street,
Sh. Abd el-Gawad, till that i crossed by the Sh. Darb el-N asr .
In the open pace near the crossing there was a ve1·y big Zikr,
and in the D arb, an amu ing little theatre and Punch and Judy.
The Darb el-N asr i a long picture que tree full of people
at all times, and crowded wh n this moulid i on, or the moulids
of Kha ou i, and of Awlad Badr, which are both held here in
Shaaban.

N. 3 (Y. Section&.l Map IX.) j.f ~\

NEBI (El-Nebi) ~
(-J ,J,I j,.,
I was introduced on 11 Rabia I, 1320 (1902) to thi most
augu t of Moslem festival , by the late nfti , and "-a amazed,
as all mu t be who visit it, at it magnitude and magnificence.
I went the following year a night too late, owing to the mislead-
ing notice which I think till persi t in the European papers,
announcing the day corresponding to 12 Rabia as the Prophet's
Birthday, and a public holiday, but omitting to point ont that the
great celebration is on the eve of the feast. Again and again I
have met disappointed people who have mi sed the great occasion
in the same way.
Lane in his Modern Egyptians, writing over a hundred years
ago, gives a splendid account of the moulid in detail, even the
word and music employed in the zikrs and other religious
ceremonies. Those were the days of the "Dosah", when the
Sheikh of the Saidiya rode over the prostrate bodies of a
multitude of dervishes. This was suppressed before the present
 264

century owing, it is aid, to the Khedive listening to earnest

repre entation m::tde by a European visitor. Butler' name is
mentioned, but I cannot beli ve that the author of the "Coptic
Churche of Egypt" could have been capable of uch a display of
arl!ogant_in erfer nee and ignorant narrow-mindedne s, and I
hope it was not an Engli hman. There is no record of anyone
having been injured at he Do ah during all the years it was
obsen ed, wherea · in 1353 (23-6-34) European and Egyptians
alike were . hocked by the number of people injured by the zeal
and impatience of the police, ·w ho expected the great square clear
the minute the fireworks cea ed.
In Lane's days, the Sheikh el-Bakri had an important role
in this moulid as he had in that of Da htouti, and all occasions
oE the closah, but a custom which concluded the ceremonies in
his hou e, that of eating n3.ke by Saadiya dervi hes, had been
forbidden already, one rea on given being that serpents are un-
clean and unfit for food. 'l'hat, I think most people will agree,
was "a cu tom more honoured in the breach than he
observance''.

The Sheikh el-Bakri then dwelt on the shores of the little

lake which occupied during a big part of the year, the site where
now we base the Esbekia gardens, and it wa there that the
mouli<l was celebrated,-by the lake or in its dry bed according
to the season in whi eh Rabia fell. The religious ceremo.nies
took place largely at the mosque and tomb of Ashma\\i.in what
was then the Suq el-Bakri, now Sharia el-Ashmawi. The
moulid of that great Saint is till held in conjunction with that
of the Prophet, the final night being always the e\e of II Rabia.
The site has long since been transferred. For a time it was
at Fum el-Khalig. All the ea.rly part of this century,. it was a
desert tract close to the Abbasia tram, now built over. Then
for some 3 ears on the Abbasia parade ground just beyond the
Rasadkhana (the old Observatory), where the ceremony of the
Mahmal is now held, and quite recently in the desert between
ome "Pilgrim '' to the Moulid of El-N ebi.
 - 265 -
tmv rs.
Abba ia and the tomb of the Khalif , neFLr the water
a walk ot about a, quarte r of
From the termin u of tram 7 it i
lt to obtain there. Tram 3
an hour. Cab or taxi it i difficu
g accom modat ion for tho~e
pas e the same pot. There i parkin
the great
who come in car , and bn e rnn on the e\enin g of
city, pa sing Sidna, Hus in.
night betwe en the moulid and the
accom rnodat ion in he
There fore thoug h there i rega,l sitting
cominc r ma)' be tiring.
great pavilio n whilst there, going and
Some year ago the Carme lite monks of S. Ten~ a
, (Shubr a),
Carme 1, were invited , and
includ ing the presen t Vicar of 1\lt.
way on the return ,
were intere ted and impre ed, but lo t their
with fatigue from the
and at last, after midni ght and half dead
the op of
long tramp in the sand crot into Cairo omew here near
at the little mona tery
the Muski . When at last they arrive d
monk , who had
at Shubr a at an unhea rd-of hour, the other
their no e . The Yery
probab ly compl eted m~1.tin , looked down
ag were
Re\. Vicar remar ked to me that " 1oslem Pilgrim
more au tere and a,rduou s than many Christ ian one ."
mag-
Amon gst the moulid of Cairo, thi for sumpt uou
en no celebr ation of its
nificen ce is facile prince ps. I ha\e
it. Three ide of an
sort, I lamic or Christ ian, to touch
are enclos ed by va t and
immen se square coveri ng many acre
h~tnd ome tents: · in the centL·e of the
outh ide, the !'Oyal
pa,vilio n, and royally indeed i it appoin ted. On each ide are
the almos t equall y upurb tent of all the 1ini tries, carpet ed,
and adorne d with palms, parter re of flower s, and decora tions
tr), that of War being
indica tive of the functi on of each Mini
and canno ns. The
a great favour ite with it di play of arms
the Sheikh el-Bak ri.
Pa,dia ment has its pavilio n, and o ha
rows of tents of the
The East and We t ide con i t also of
of emine nt Sheikh .
vFLrious Turoq (Order of Der\i he ) and
ion are provid ed in
R efresh ments and lordly sitting accom modat
the royal
all of these, and after the openin g cerem onies in
e, the readin g of
pavilio n before the king or his repres entativ
parts of the Qor::tn, and the Life of the Proph et, ~.1...,
,-the
 -- 266-

Ministers and others of the high company, go to their tents and

visit the other , where sheikh on a dn,is are alren,dy intoning.
A beau geste of very recent years is th n,dmission of those of
the multitude who wish into prn,cticn.lly n,ll of the tents abont
sunset, wh n in many of then~ zikrs begin. They appreciate
this enormously and do not tn ke ad vantage, or crowd inordinn te-
ly. The mighty space hold the oYerflow, whi h crowd becomes
denser and den er, till all are r warded ~:tnd entrn,nced by Sll('h
a brilliant di play of firewo1·ks as could ha,rdly be seen n,t the
Crystal Palace.
The marvellous opening procesEion which Lane describes
passed long ince into the Ewigkeit, with the dosah and much
else, to be replaced by thi city of tent-work palaces, and the
fireworks. Early in the century, there was rather a sordid little
amusement park without the main preeincts; carts and booths
of taamia and other edibles prevailing, but this developed until
a vast assemblage of theatres, ringas, circuses, Qara Goz,
(Punch and Judy), and the like, occupied a big piece of desert
sufficiently remo\ed from the official part. That died in 1355
(1936) with Ring Foad, for in that year even the fireworks were
suppressed as a sign of mourning : and though these were restored
in 1356, little remained of the Fair but a few stalls and inferior
shows, and happily as a redeeming feature that most popular
attraction, the Piste a la MoTt of the intrepid Billy Willlams.
Though this deprivation is a disappointment to the poor people
who come from near and far, it does ·not hit them as at other
monlids, owing to the eclat of the tents, and the brilliance of
the myriad of coloured lamps which illumine them, and of the
fireworks.
This major feast of the prophet is, curiously enough, one
of the shortest, officially only a week, and in reality hardly fre-
quented at all till the great night. Not so in the villages and
the provinces, where zeffas and zikrs are held most nights of the
week, and almost all night, and alms and food are given to the
poor. In the Ezba where I live, swings and goose-nests are put
 26 7-
k prom inen t villa gers supp le-
up for the chil dren : all the wee
r hou es h~ tent s, for cere -
men t the acco mm oda tion of thei
ing on the roof as I do, I hea r
mon ies of con sequ enc e; and leep
phe t from b min aret , and
peci al com mem orat ion of he Pro
alm o t tlll the daw n culm inat -
the . oun d of mu ic and zik.r ing
diya , Rifa i. a and othe r derv ish
ing in a zeff a of the Sha zlia , Saa ,
a and tar , zum aras and ka
orde r with thei r dab abi , tobl , on the old
I bou ld ima gine
heir ban ner and insi gnia , muc h,
orig inal line s.
re bow far heir de\o tion
I thin k few Egy p ian can be awa
show jn oth er land , even in
n
to the Pro phe t exce ed tha
Rec en lJ I cam e dow n from
tam bul befo re it yan kifi cati on.
11th Rab ia, to B rout b, the
the top of the Leb ano n on he ning
S~ rian capi al and larg ely
a 1o lem city , ::Lnd in the e\
and pap r and ligh ing tiny
foun d ome boy s coll ecti ng tick ing a cand le
few \\in do\\ bo\\
bon fires in ope n plac e , and a
nt red pap er · and a few poc ket
flam e beh ind a bit of tran pare
tha t the follo win g mor ning a
fire \\or ks wer e let off. It i true
ted : ome heik b mou nted to
uniq ue littl e cere mon y wa nac
ang, and afte r the noo n praJ r
the top of a lead ing mo que and
mo'"'que , but voil a tout .
wen t in proc es ion to an outl ying
E vans - Prit cha rd ha gi en
I gath er from aeco nnts Pro f. *
far outh of Upp er Eg pt, In
me of Bed awi n trib e in the
, with who e " -ay be i m-
Nub ia, the Sud an and Aby inia
thin k, peci al refe renc e to the
tima tely acq uain ted (wit h, I
thou gh the cul of heir aint
Bi hari n and Ab::Lbda trib e ), hat
not invo h e a cele brat ion of
is by no mea n neg lect ed hi doe
e of the Pro phe t him elf. In
thei r mou lids , exce p in he ea
min or She ikh all part icip ate
that , how ever , thei r Wal i and the
urer in Afri can Soci olog y at Ox-
* Dr. Evan s-Pr itcha rd, Re earc h Lect is well
e serv ice on the Aby sinia n fron tier)
ford, (but at the mom ent on activ esso r of Soci olog y at the
havi ng been Prof
know n to very man y of my read ers,
Egyp tian Univ ersit y. the
raft, Orac les and Mag ic amo ng
Amo ngst his majo r work s is "Wi tchc le entit led "The Nuer .''
on the Nilo tic Peop
Azan de", and very rece ntly a book
 - 268 -

in a way, and are duly commemorated, with naturally special

empha i on any local saint of each district. They too-the
tribe men-at the time of the Prophet's birthday aspire to hum-
ble communion with thi great company, and to participation in
the divine benefit in the gift of these "javoU1·ites, j1·iends and
companions ofAllah".
Th e la t verse of the "Lauda, Sion, Salvatorem," does not ill
express their vague yearnings, and generally indeed those of
Pilgrim and moulid-goer of the right type,-
" Tu, qui cun ·ta cis et vales,
Qui nos pasci hie mortales :
Tuos ibi commensales,
Cohe1·edes, et sodales,
Fac sancto1·um civium."

(The only exception to the above generalisation that I am

at all sure of is in the case of Sidi Abu H asan el-Ababdi, who
has hi own moulid near Qoseir, in addition to his commemora-
tion at that of El-Nebi. (v. moulid of }...babdi, A 20.)
The Aswan "Pantheon", if I may venture to so term it, is a
mysterious evidence of the solidarity of the community of
I slamic Walis and Sheikhs, and holy men generally. Mysterious
to me any way, who have not visited it, and whose sole informa-
tion thereon is derived from one Sharif and two or three sheikhs
who have been more fortunate, and whose testimony may be
summed up as follows : -

"About a kilometre from Aswan, in the gabel sacred to the

Prophet, ~- J ~" ~I J..., , where his blood still is to be seen on the
ro cks, all the Walis and Sheikhs who have moulids are re-
presented. The Awlia (walis) and those with special repute for
holiness have their "dareh", with dome and tabut, whilst the
rest have at least their names inscribed on a tabut or some-
thing to testify to their being of the select company.
 -2 69 -
(~),as she is ther e
The y hav-e ~ts guar dian , or Naq iba
el-H akim , ((Ll l . . 7.c:. ~~ ),
term ed, a sbei kba nam ed Sofb ia Abd
the tomb s unti l one of the
who lived a \ery aust ere life amo ngst
d atten tion to her priv a-
Awl ia appe ared to the mud ir and calle
a hous e buil t ther e for her,
tion . His Exce llenc e at once bad
.
with wate r- uppl y and all requ irem ents
:muc h mor e abou t
It is the writ er's hope to ee and know
mou lid .
this mys tic epito me of all Egy p ian
o pape r indi cate s a
The follo wing extr act from a Cajr
weet on the occa ion of
trad ition al cu tom of di tribu ting
Heik al' mov e wa natu rall)
the l\1oulid el-N ebi. Hus ein Pash a
is not conf ined to Cair o,
a very popu lar one. Thi cust om
the ub titut e of mon ey. I
thou gh it has its -vari ant , uch a
be "Bey " ride amo ng t
was info rmed in Tuni -. year ago that
rjng pur e . I fanc y that
the crow d on thi occa wn catte
in the pre ent Vich yated
noth ing of that sort will surv iYe
atmo sphe re.
Les dragees du Mauled El Nabi
ionna ires de 1' Etat des drage es
Il est de tradi tion de distri buer aux fonct
iversa ire de la naiss ance du Proph ete).
a l'occa sion du Moul ed El abi (a1m
ont deja prepa re les listes des
Les minis teres et les admi nistra tions
ers temp orair es qui benef iciero nt de
fonct ionna ires, des empl oyes et c!es ouvri
cette di~tribution.
es sont prele ves sur le budg et
Les credi ts neces saire s a l'ach at des drage
du Moul ed.
affec te aonu ellem ent aux cerem onies
re<;:oivent une part bien plus impo r-
D'ord inaire , les hauts fonct ionna ires
et des "fan· aches ".
tante que celle des petits fonct ionna ires
au minis tere de !'Inst ructi on
Il n'en sera pas de mem e cette annee
S.E. le Dr. Huss ein Heik al pach a a voulu profi ter de
Publi que. En effet,
au sein de famil ies des petits fonct ion-
!'occa sion pour appo rter un peu de joie
leur offrir des douc eurs en abon dance , en redui ant la
naire s. Il a decid e de
part des hauts fonct ionna ires.
time in 1357 (193 )
King Faro uk's pre iden cy for the first
as will be seen from the
lent a spec ial ecla t to the cele brati ons,
 -270-

attached extracts from "La Bourse Egyptienne" of that date. (It

i regrettable that he was not left in peace on the Prophet'
birthday, but his petitioner seemed very harmless.)

I have included the tract distribution incident, as it is

unique,- the only example I know of politic being dragged into
a, moulid, (except on one trifling occasion, when a few students
ail'ed some slogan, and were promptly and effectively checked.

A la Cou1'
Cabinet du Grand Chambellan,
Le mercredi, I I mai, 1938.

A 4 h. 38 p,m. Sa Majeste le Roi accompagne de Son Excellence Mohamed

Mahmoud Pacha, President du Conseil des Ministres :}uitta en voiture le
palais d' Abdine pour assister, a Abbassieh, a la fete de Mouled el Nabi. A son
arrivee a la tente royale Sa Majeste fut recue par LL. EE. le President rl u
Senat et les ministres, par le Recteur d'el Azhar, le President du grand meh-
kemeh, le grand Mufti, le Nakib el Achraf, le chef des confreries religieuses,
les sous-secretaires d'Etat, le vice-president du Senat, le Charge d'Affaires
de la Legation d 'Irak en Egypte, le gouverneur du Caire et les hauts fonc-
tionnaires de la Cour Royale. La force de l'armee prenant part a la fete ren-
dit Jes honneurs militaires et sa musique entonna l'hymne royal pendant
qu'une salve saluait l'arrivee de Sa Majeste, lorsque Sa Majeste eut pris sa
place. S. E. le grand chambellan s'avan9a pour prier Sa Majeste de daigner as-
sister au defile militaire, ensuite les chefs des confreries religieuses se pre-
senterent pour exprimer leurs voeux et temoigner leur devouemcnt a
1' Auguste Souverain.

Sa Majeste daigna ensuite se rendre a la tente d'El Sayed Abd Hamid el

Bakri pour assister a la recitation d'El Kissa. Une salve fut tiree en l'honneur
de cette solennite, Sa Majeste rentra ensuite avec le meme ceremonial a u
palais d' A bdine.

Sa Majeste le Roi a delegue S. E. le gouverneur d' Alexandrie a la

fete organisee par la municipalite d' Alexandrie a !'occasion du Mouled el
Nabi.
 271 -

Sur le Terr ain du Mou lad el Nabi

ts Anti -Jui fs
Un lnge nieu r Dist ribu ait Des Trac
Il est arre te par la Polic e
duM ul ed El Nabi, a Abha ssia,
L a p lice a arrete , hier, sur le terrai n
buer de tracts sediti eux contr e les
u n ingen ieur de 1' Arsen al en train de distri
Juifs.
t'inge nie ur il a ete incar cen! pour
Les broch ures ont ete saisie s. Quan ta
les besoi ns de l'enqu ete.
Juif de P ale tine qui sont con-
L<t broch ure se resum e en ceci . Les
s sont aides mora lemen t et
ti ·luelle men t en c0nfii t avec le Arabe
corre ligion naires d'Egy pte. Il impo rte done aux
fi. 1anci ereme nt par leurs
les Juif.:; d'Egy pte qui sont en rappo rts
i\{Jsu lmans et aux Arabe de boyco tter
etroit s aver: les Juifs de Pales tine.
ront toutes le mesu res utiles pour
ll e t a esper er que les autor ites prend
etat de chose s qui ne ea re nullem ent avec l'e prit de
m ettre fin a cet
entre t outes les races et les religi ons
tolera nce et d'ami cale collab orati on
de la vallee du il.
vivan t sur le sol hospi talier

A la Cere mon ie Du Mou led el Nabi

Un jeun e hom me oula it pres ente r une peti tion

a 5. M. le Roi
Roi se renda it hier au i\Ioul ed El
Pend ant que le corte g e de Sa Majes te le
t la cerem onie r eligie use, un jeune
Nabi et, pres des lieux ou se derou lai
ns de police se dirige ant vers la calec he ou
homm e trave rsa en hate les cordo
ier minis tre.
avaie nt pris place le Souv erain et son Prem
r, plus precis emen t une petiti on
11 tenait en m ain un roule au de papie
te. Les solda ts de la garde royal e arrete rent
qu"il voula it reme ttre a Sa Majes
ois a jeter la petiti on qui vint echou er
le jeune homm e. Celui -ci n!uss it toutef
au pied de Sa Maje ste le Roi.
part au Souv erain de son etat
Dans cette petiti on, le jeune homm e fait
zoun" .
d'indi gence et dema nde a etre nomm e ''maa

Une enque te est ouver te.

 - 272-
I am supplementing the above account by t wo mor e
cuttings from Cairo paper .
The h ort one indicates the lavish way in wh ich t h e
Prophet' Birthday is honoured in he Egyptian capital,
L.E. 8,500 being pent to begin with, in levelling the site an d
putting on water from the reservoirs close by.
The long r one giye some interesting particulars and
ta i tic . It will be noted that it d~te is 1358 (1939) .
fay nothing ever happen in Egypt to dim the lustre of the
Birthday of he Prophet.

Ou se t iendra le proch a in
Mouled EI-Nabi
N ou avions ann once que les autorites avaient decide que
le prochain 1ouled El Nabi deyait se tenir a l'Abbassieh pres
de re erYoirs et filtres de la Cie des Eaux du Caire.
N ous apprenons que les frais necessaires a l'aplanissernent
du sol et a la fourniture de l'eau potable ont evalu8s a
L. E. 8500. De son cote la Cornpagnie Lebon s'est engagee de
poser a ses frais }'installation electrique n ecessaire.
Cet emplacement servirait egalernent aux autres cer emonies
telles que le depart et l'a.rrivee du T apis Sacre, etc.

Mouled El-Nabi
Moslem World Celebrates Prophet's Birth
Mouled E l Nabi, " T he P rophet's Birthday" was celebra.ted
last night by 400,000,000 1\1oslerns all over the world. 1,358
years ago, yesterday, Amina, a " noble lady of Koreish" \\ho
h ad been a widow for some mont h s gave birth t o an infan t who
 - 273-
was destined to proclaim a faith which revolutionized the life of
the Arabs and had far-reaching effect on the peoples of the
East.
Y esterday, the Imams of mosques recited the Prophet's
life story, the miracles which took place on the day of hi birth,
the adversity he had to uffer, the fact that although born and
brought up among idolator , be bad always worshipped one God,
and the first inspiration he had as a Prophet and Apostle of
God.
Lik e Cbristm a for Christians, the Mauled El Nabi is an
occasion for bringing joy to children. Doll and toys made of
ugar are presented to young folk , and . although there i no
Santa Clau , parents do all the could to make their children
happy.
Owing to King Farouk' indisposition, Aly 1\iaber Pa ha,
Chief of the Royal Cabinet, attended the official ceremony as
the Ring's repre entati\Te. He \\as recei,ed on anival at the
offi~ial marquee at Abba ia by the Iini ter , the lema and
the high officials.
After a militA,ry di play, :M aher Pa ha went to the marquee
of Sheikh El-Bakry where he listened to the recital of the
Prophet's life t.ory.
The marquees of the various government departments,
pa.rticularly that of the Iinistry of Waqfs, were gaily illuminat-
ed and the fireworks were admired by the huge crowds which
took part in the celebrations.
All Government offices will be closed today to celebrate he
occ:::tsion.
Celebrations in Alexandria.

Over twenty marquee were erected to celebrate the mauled

in Alexandria, in the different quarters of the city and refresh-
ments and alms were distributed on the occasion.
 - 274-

An official marquee was erected by the Alexn,ndria

Municipality on the eastern Quay, near the National Court
building. Mohamed Hu ein Pasha represented King Farouk.
Ulema, notables and officials wei·e present to hear Sheikh Ri faat
read the hi tory of the Prophet's life. The celebrations continu-
ed until well after midnight.

0 J (v. Sectional Map XX.)

OMR (Omr Ibn el-Farad)
I haV"e been assured by Miss G ..... , a person deeply
interested in Moulid that "one is held in honour of Sidi Omr
somewhere behind the citadel, in the Imam el-Shafei direction".
I ha\"e never been able to confirm it in place, and no date was
indica ed, but e\idently thi must centre about the little mosqne
and takia of Sidi Omr el-Farad, behind the rather gruesome
little village of Abagiya, at the foot of Moqattam precipices
immediately under that most picturesque 1·nined mosque, Abu
Chahin.
The fortress-like wall of the Moqattams confronting the
citadel teems with weird beauty and interest, and lovel3 vistas,
much obvious enough; but much also hewn in the living rock
by monk, Christian and l\1o lem, for seclusion, security, a nd
worship preserves a good deal of its secrecy t.o this day, and
requires a lot of learning. Some particulars of one part of this
are given in the account of the moulid of Chahin el-Muhammadi,
M 12, the photograph sho ing the goal of many an unique
picnic adventure.

I take this opportunity, (though late), of thanking the good

dervishes of Sidi Omr Ibn el-Farad, for coming to my rescue in
a desperate situation. I had introduced a large party,- the
Cairo Catholic Association-to some of the mysteries of the
places: they had scaled the cliff front, squeezed up vertical
shafts, and through holes and galleries, and arriving at the spot
shown in the picture were more than ready for a picnic tea,
 - 275 -

the tea it elf, and for that

alrea dy prea d by my boys exce pt for
wind less cave . Then my
a kettl e was boili ng in a deep and
not :find the pack et of
batm an whis pere d to me that h could
felt that my gue t were
tea, n nd mu t ha,·e left it behi nd. I
from this Tarp eian rock,
E>ntitled to hurl me and the batm an
df the cape -goa t. He
but the gard en boy Saye d made him
flew o Sidi Omr , and up
lithe red down thi eemi ng preci pice,
tea and the pion and
aanin . b e<"tring a cani ~ ter of exce llent
frien dlr gree ting of the mon k .
God ble s'em !

0 2 ( ,-. ~1ap of l pper Egyp t.)

~ 1$~
OQB I Ol' OQB A
light ed upon it ac-
I had neve r hear d of this moul id, but
acro the field from my
ciden tally in 193 , (1357) when ridin g
h at Zam alek, and pass-
hom e at Bein el-Sa riat to a footb all matc
ge of 1\1it Oqba . The
ing thro ugh the big pictu re que villa
deco rated , but it wan ted
prec incts of the tomb of Sidi Oqbi were
not bein g free then , I ent
three days to the big celeb ratio n, and
ni, 1357, (1±-8-3 ), who
a mud·asla on Sund ay, 1 th Gum ad el-Ta
even t, with a grea t con-
repo rted that it wa quite a con 'ider able
of sort in the amn e-
cour eat the ..,brine, and e en a thea tre
le coun try moul id type,
men t depa rtme nt. It wa of the simp
ts prev iou ly at Zeni n .
simi lar to that of Abu Qrai h two nigh
was a ured that u ually it
. (whi ch see, A 22) ; but my me. enge r
by the comp etitio n, o to
is muc h large r bein g redu ced hi year
Ibra him Desu gi th ame
spea k, of a pleth ora of mou lids, -Sid i
foun der of the sect of the
even ing at the ceno taph of that grea t el-
ahib ; Abd el-R ahim
De uqiy a by the Nile at Gezi rat el-D h
El-H atia, and Abu Qrai
Tart uri in the neig hbou ring \illag e of
and place I am not snre of,
of Zcni n, and anot her, who e nam e
grea t mou lid of Zefe ti, thro ugh \rhic h I
only just over, and. the
to 1Hit Oqba work ing np
pa sed on my way from Bein el-Sa riat
ad II.
for a gran d final e on the 22nd of Gum
 - 276 -

It may be reached by Gizn, tram No. 15, getting out at t h e

fir t top a.fter Zamalek bridge, a.nd taking the road at right
angle o the Ba.hr el-An,mn. A it i nea.dy a two-mile walk, a
car i prefera.ble, and the road is not bn,cl.
I hn,ve not ucceed d in obtaining a.ny 1' lin,ble informatic,n
about idi Oqbi.
In 135 he same 11mrasla r parted Sidi Oqbi's moulid to
hav b en kept up on Thnr day 24 Gumn,d II (10-8-39) in conjunc-
tion \Yith two minor monlicl in the same village . These were
El-Sheikh el-La hine and Sidi Gharib.
There i a mo qne and mall cemetery of a Sidi Oqba a little
south of Imam el-Leithi, but I am ignorant of any connection
between the e and the brine at Mit Oqba.
Q J ( ,-. Sec ionc 1 ln,p XII. )
Q Z ZI <.S ·\ ·.~ • ...!.l\
- __, ./ C-
Thi mall moulid I came across accidentn,lly on 28 Shaaban,
1354 ( 25-11-3- ), a, little after 10 at night, for whilst interested
in the tomb of Sidi Iu tafa el-Gaml in the Dara a district, a
small zeffa appeared from the direction of Siclna Husein, and
following this we halted at the little modern mo que Qazazi in
the Sharia, Tamain el-Guwani. It was a p1'ivate moulid but well
attended though this I was told was only the~penu l timate night.
I wa not free to go on Shaaban 29th.
WA TA
Q 2 (v . Map of Upper Egypt.)
QORANI (Aweis el-Qorani)
I have found this the most elusi\e of moulid , and have been
misled about it, to the extent of going to Ma:-:.ghuna and wit-
ne ing that of Bayed el- Sh uhda on the assurance that I was
present at the Qorani monlid.
The frequent men ion of it as an important event induces
me to include it, and I belie\e it is in the direction of Wasta
b ut h ave no idea of the date.
 - 27 7-
rega rd the imp orta nce of
A1 o ther e is no que tion a
el-W aba b el-S baa rani gi\'<', a
Awei . el-Q oran i in I lam . Abd
of his ayin gs, and doin g nnd
*lon g (but to me ob curP ) acco unt at the
iest den ·i hes alm o
roup him amo ngs t the earl
amm adan i m.
beg inni ng of the prea d of 1:uh
orit y with the Djin , o the t
He eem to ha\ e had grea t auth
leay e hi hou e ome time for a
he wn. not een to ente r or
dea th his bod) ruir acul on 1
yea r or two a a time , < nd at hi
di app eare d.
F Y M ( ~)

R 1 ( v. Map of Upp er Egy p .)

RU BI
am told , in beau tifu l ur-
A big and imp or ant mou lid, I
o ee. At pre en I kno w
roun ding s, whi ch I am anxi ou
xpe rien ce but beli e ing it to be
noth ing abo ut it from per ona l 1359
held n,t mid -Sh aab an, I nt thi yea r of the Pro phe t,
com e back full of enth usia m,
(19±0,), m) gard en boy, and he ha o mou lid
urab ly with the Cair
a he foun d it com pare d \ery favo
ayu m wa crow ded wi h pilg rim and
of oday . Med inat el-F
of life by nigh t and by day.
vi itor , and the plac e was full
at the brin e and at hat of a
The re wa a grea t con flue nce
repu te, with w horn Sidi Ru bi
loca l heik h of grea t holi ne s and
e to Egy pt - for acco rdin g to
con orte d con tant ly afte r he cam
"Ru mi" by orig in and birt h,
Say ed, (the gard en boy, ) Rub i was
to the Fay um.
and cam e so mew hat late in life
Unfortun~tely ther e wer
e no hors e race s nor perf orm ing
disa ppe ared in rece nt year s.
hors es, and othe r bea utie s bad
ived , and also a littl e thea tre.
Qar a- Goz and a shad ow sho w surv
the eve of mid Sha aba n , 14
Acc ordi ng to all the Cale nda rs,
16th Sep tem ber, but ome one
Sba aba n, coin cide d with Mon day,
the moo n, as the We st (and
seem s to hav e play ed abo ut with
 - 278

unhappily the Ea t i following uit) has taken to monkeying

with the un, A~nd the baking of the Lote Tree of Paradise was
pnt off to the Tue day. This ga 2 two last nights to Sheikh
Rubi, a the news only filtered through slowly to the Fayum.

(In Cairo and doub less el ewhere, the minarets were lighted
up on the Tue day, not the Monday, and the Citadel celebration
was held then.)

S 1 (v. Sectional Map XVII.)

SAKINA tl.-1..:.1-
Though I have witnessed this curious moulid several times,
I only once p.oted the date. That was Wedne day, 12 Gumad
el-Awal 1353 (22-8-34).

Bus 18 which run via Ataba from Darasa on the edge of

the desert on the East to Sitna N efisa at the beginning of the
desert to the South pas e, the mosque of Sitna Sakina near the
latter terminus. Sitna Sakina in a way shares her moulid with
her great-great niece N afi a, especially on the secular side, the
theatre and all the show being on the edge of the "gabel" close
to Nafisa's mosque, which excels in beauty the celebrated place
which contains the remains of Sakina, daughter of Sidna
Husein. This district, which lies south of Ibn el-Touloun, and
north of the great necropoli ending at Imam el-Shafei, remains
unspoilt, and abounds in splendid monuments, including these
t'i\o great mosques, some majestic tombs, and a remark[l,ble
tower which was probably used as a beacon: no vi itor or
resident hould omit exploring it. Apart from moulid time, the
best day is Sunday, as Sitna N afisa is always then en fete.

The moulid is big, bright and popular, but on two occasions

I have seen it broken up by ragamuffins who swarm on the
"rubbish heaps". These are expert stone throwers, often
dividing into camps and indulging in pitched battles amongst
themsel Yes.

--=;.;..;..,;,=-- - - - -
 -2 79 -
e whi te tent whi ch hou ses
The num erou s ligh ts and the larg
attr acti ons to the tone
a thea trica l troo p prov e il'l'e i tible
enra ged pers ons, som etim es
thro wer , and it is path etic to see
heig hts in pur uit of the
aide d by the polic e, char ging the
tone s up at them at a hope -
atta, cker s, and pm·h ap thro win g
clothP.s men , polic e, or just
le di ad,a ntag e. A few plai n
cted , uno tent atio u ly taki ng
from the pri\ a.te indi \idu als affe
conc ealin g good stou t hip ,
up po ition s on the high er slop e ,
or and disc oun t the chan ces
wou ld tnrn the tabl es on the aggr e
on he wo occa sion o whi ch
of a repe titio n. Inst ead of tbi
orru er of the heig ht ,-to re-
I ha\e refe rred , the unsu cces ful
wi b the idea that if the tent
lieve thei r feeli ngs, and I uppo e
cou ld not ha e hap pen ed-
had not been ther e be inci dent
, topp ing the perf orm ance ,
have mad e an onsl aug ht upo n that
ndin g thei r atte ntio ns to
ejec ting the spec tato rs; then , exte
ctio ns, ha e fina lly brou ght
Pun ch and J udy and othe r attra
the mou lid to a regr etta ble end.
al exis tenc e of the re-
I have hear d dou bts cast on the actu
m Hus ein in the mos que of
mai n of the dau ghte r of the Ima
haar ani stat e uneq uivo cally
her nam e, but Abd el-W ahab el-S
a Nefi sa.
that Sitn a Sak ina is buri ed near Sitn

pres s,) by an inte rest -

I am rem inde d (whi l t this is in the
on "Ma usol eum of Cair o",
ing broa dcas t by Mr . Dev on hire
) that in refe rrin g abov e to
(v. "Ca iro Call ing" , Dec . 14-1940,
refe renc e to the Man oleu m
"Ma Jest ic Tom bs", I omi tted all
Mr . De on hire rend ered her
of Sitn a "Ru ggey a", (a I thin k
t is illu trat ed in "Ca iro
nam e). Mrs . De onsh ire's broa dcas
b.
Call ing" , by a pict ure of this tom
ciall y on Sun day : is
It i a shri ne muc h freq uent ed, espe
ost oppo site the mo que of
pa sed by Bus No. 1 , and is alm
h.
Sitn a Saki na, a shad e to the sout
lid is held in this Sain t's
I have been told that a sma ll mou
conf irm this .
hon our, but have not been able to
 - 280-

: In the broadcast mentioned above, it was pointed out that

she was a relative of Sidna Husein.
I have referre:i to her in this connection in Ch. I, under
the name of Rugaiya, taken down phoneticall~ from the words
of a local heikh, but he may have been Upper Egyptian in
origin, wh re the3 pronounce the J , q, as r::_ , g; but if I read
her epit aph aright, her name in Arabic is ~; , which may
perhaps be transliterated simply as Ruqiya, though without the
diacritical igns to indicate the weak vowels, the doubling of a
letter by the "shadda", &c., there is scope for several other
pronunciations my Yariou informants have given me.
Ala , this is only one in tance of the baffling problem of
transliteration!

S 2 (v. Sectional .Map XI.)

SALAMA ..._.)1._. (_:!-11
Thi moulid I aw in full wing on Thursday, 13 Gumad I
1353 (23 -8-34), and on one or two previous date not noted, but
have not been able bo find it at that date since.
It :s mo t easy of acces , jnst behind the Ataba, and its
two opvosit o parts overlooking Sh. el-Azhar; the tomb of the
Saint being on the North side, and a number of dancing cafes,
ringa etc., on the South .
Like 1aaruf, this is essentially a moulid for Sudanese and
Barabra. It is lively but rather squahd, and though in an old
district, there is little about it attractive.

S 3 ( v. Sectional Map XII) .

SALEH (Sultan Saleh)
Many years ago, at thP. monlids of Sidna Husein, there was
always a crowd about singing sheikhs in the Sharia Nahasin at
the far end of the Khan el-Khalili, but I did not understand the
significance of this, until recently reading Lane's "Modern
 - 281 -
ago I came acro s an
Eg, ptian s", writt en over a hund red years
tan" (King 'of Shei kh }, buri d at
am~ount of a great Wali , a "Sul
held on the same nigh t as that
thi pot, and who e moul id wa
he mo que and tomb a dirty ,
of Sidn a Hu ein. Lane descr ibe
decay , o my urpri e and de-
negle cted and in the la t tag of
ago, !I:iral ai G-A, an au hori-
light were great when , a fmv da.
, to find the \ast cham ber in
ty on these matt er took me there
body , clean and perfe ctly kept .
whic h a "tabu t" i still O\er the
•
Th e m osqu e indee d i mo tly gone , but a part i till u eel for he
in i well looke d af er, and
cu toma ry praye r , and what rema
d a in L ane's time by
very imp re i Ye. The tabu t is surro unde
sura ', and bear in cr.ip-
a wood en fence , "hic h he call a "mak
o the fami l} of E l-Bak ri, Naqi b el-
tions , one of "hic h refer
Ashr af.
much of inter e t
A wort hy sheik h bowe d and expla ined
ys on the nigh t befor e
and tated that Saleh ' moul id i now alwa
that it will be certa inl}
the final nigh t of Sidn a Huse in, and
held t his y ar.
ellou s group of
The spot is well knO\Yn : near that marv
the other ide oppo ite
mo que , Kala oun, Darq uq, etc., but on
the gold baza ars.
", whic h in L ane's
We enqu ired n,bout the "Rom an Cand le
but are no lon ger there ;
day towe red at eithe r end of the tabut ,
Arab Mu eum. The}
and "ere told that hey are no\Y in the
by ome migh ty but eYil
were pre ented , it i aid, to the shrin e
a visio n to the guard ian
per on, but the Wali Saleh appe ared in
e cand les were full of gun-
of his tomb , "arn ing him that the
whic h was done .
powd er and must be enca eel in plast er,
in the side of
This J\1alik el-Sa leh Eyou b was a grea t thorn
ghold of Ascalon, the
the Cru sader s, takin g from them the stron
uero r al oat D ama cus
last posit ion held by them . H e was conq
Mans ura, takin g King
and the Holy City, and on the field of
ly gift of cand les may have had some -
Loui s priso ner. (The dead
thing to do with this.) Y. al o Ob. I.
 - 282-

The famolls Shagarat el-Dun· was Saleh' wife. The tomb

of his mother Fatima Ha.tun wa hown me in that plendid
group of ruins between Sitna Sakina and Sitna Nafisa.

The "muhaddits", a Lane call · th~m. ( t ory-tPller ), thirty

in Cairo alone, in hi da), o c u pied t hem eh cs exclu i ,-ely in re-
counting the Romance of El-Zahir, (El-Sul t an Beybars), which
turns on El-Malik el-Saleh, and bis on n.nd s ncce sot· El- IRlik
Eysa and the rivals and contemporar!es oe BeybaL\' \Yho
ascended the throne of Eg) pt in A. H. 658 (A. D. 1260), and
vividly de m·ibes the pious visit of Eysa and Bey bars to the tombs
of Saleh and the Iman el-Shafei. This recital has become
rare in Cairo. Lane's charming ersion is well worth reading.

S 4 (v. Sectional Map XIII.)

SALEH EL-HADDAD
On the very numerous occasions on which I have been
pl'esent, the main night has invariably been the first Tuesday
after mid-Shaaban : that is the night before the moulid of Sul-
tan Hanafi.

As the two mosques are contiguous, and the moulids of

S.a leh and Hana:fi so nearly coinciding, I refer readers to the ac-
count of the latter, which applies to Saleh in almost every
detail.

S 5 (v. Sectional M~.p XVJI.)

SAMAN 0~JI ~\
A colourful little moulid, all light and shade, amongst the
tombs ~f the Fatimite Khalifs, not far from Sitna Nafisa, and
therefore be t reached by bus 18. From the bus terminus at
the mosque of Nafisa it is about five minutes walk through the
great necropolis. Or tram 13 may be used, getting off at the
straight which leads to Imam el-Shafei, and taking a rather
longer walk, winding in and out amongst the sepulchres, and
almost requiring a guide.
 IMoulid
of
< leh H ac1da d.
 - 283 -

there on the
On the four occa ion on which I have been
been the secon d Thur sday in Shaab an,
princ ipal night , that has
el-Sh afei, and the day befor e Imam
eight day after Imam
el-Le ithi.
a longe r but
In the accon nt of Imam el-Le ithi (whic h ee),
id is descr ibed, via
more fascin ating way of vi iting this moul
el-Le ithi, and
the Imam el-Sh afei di tric , the moul id of Imam
e who have gone
throu gh the city of the d ad. Amon g t peopl
place were Prof.
with me and fallen unde r th pell of thi weird
intrep id wife. She
Hoca rt of the Egyp tian U niver ity, and hi
on the board ,
con ented to put a nickl a (a two millie me viece)
had lost heavi ly
(or perha ps it \\a a tomb ) for a tin. lad who
d there . Neve r
on the dice and colou r game that ·was being playe
in urgen t reque st
have I seen such a run of luck. She was soon
we were re cued
a a masc ot, but nothi ng broke the spell, till
fancy , who led us
by ome kindl y sheik hs, omew hat shock ed I
(a sort of recep -
throu gh tails and tomb to a little Tash1·ija,
voice, and "her e
tion}, wher e singin g men and fiqi were in full
we were most hospitabl~ treate d .

S 6 (v. Secti onal Map XIV. )

SAU DI (Sidi el-Sa udi el-Rif ai)
J, 7 Shaab an
I enjoy ed this plea ant little moul id on Frida
"" told that it shoul d have been held in
1355 (23-10-36), and wa
Rag ab.
almo tan
It is stran ge that the beant iful Suq el-Sil ab eems
i mo t accP-s ible,
unkn own stree t to Europ eans, and yet it
Sulta n Rifa.i, past
em"'r ging a it does into Sh. Mob. Ali near
Its other end near Taba na is
which run trams 13 and 23.
azir. The s~tq has
pas ed by bus 17 from the Atab a to Bab el-W
and fine old build ings and i almo st unspo ilt,
glorio us stone work
gh some of the
and it is appro ached from eithe r direc tion throu
on the West side.
grand est bits of Cairo . The little maqa m is
 - 284-

I was fortunate in seeing an impressive zeffa at about 9.30,

"-ith the usual mu ic and banners and an effendi on horseback
a Rhalifa, with a little child: and also a whirling dervish.

It was held thi year, J 359 (1940), on the last Friday of

Shaa.ban, and judging from the night before, Thursday, 26-9-40,
when I witn ed a zikr in a large room adjoining the 1naqam,
it followed the ame modest but pleasant lines.

Som local heikhs think that the tomb is that of the great
Sultan Abu Baud, whose name is invoked almost as often as
that of the Companion of the Prophet, particularly in con-
junction with that of Saida Zenab and Imam el-Shafei. There
i a mosque however in the gabel, not far south of Hasan el-
Anwar and the Aqueduct of 1\1uha.mmad AH, which has far
ju ster claims to the honour of en hrining the remains of this
great Wali.

Thi is well worth a visit, especially on a Tu esday when there

is a fair, with visits to the tomb making the occasion ve1·y like a
moulid. I cannot ascertain that there is any definite moulid
bey ond this. The walled enclosure of the mosque is very ex-
ten:;ive, and near it there is a great confluence of camel tracks
named 1\1idan Abu Baud. The full title of the mosque is Sidi
Abu Baud el-Garhi.

In re-reading Lane I find ample confirmation to the above

views. He states without reserve,-"The tomb of Aboo-So'ood
is among the mounds of rubbish on the south of Cairo." It is
interesting that he notes also that on the return of the pilgrims,
he was urged in the Mosque of Sidna Husein to offer up a
pra.yer in the names of Saida Zenab, Imam el-Shafei and
"Aboo-So'ood": interesting because the::;e three are neighbours,
so to speak, all their shrines being within easy walking distance:
also because this prayer was at the shrine of the brother of the
first of the three.
 285

corn er of sect iona l map

The pot is situa ted at the N-E
ing sout h from the term inus
XVI II, and is best reac hed by walk
from 1\!J:alik el- Sale h Brid ge at
of Tram 5, or by the new road
due east.
righ t angl es to the river , that is

TA TA.

8 7 (v . Delt a Map .)
asib el-N a ib
SAY ED EL- BED AWI El-SD.yed el-H
i el-S harif .)
Abu el-A bba Sayi di Ahm el-B edaw
ad

~rJI <:?.J,.~.}\ ..~.~\ '-?.J..:- IJ'~\ Y.l "':"'~ \ ~ ~_ll

ing tbe brill ianc e and
This prov ineia l mou lid, thou gh laek
ebi, as cele brate d at bbasin,, is
maje sty of the Mou lid el-N
lid , draw ing mor e pilgr ims
Prob ably the mos t popu lar of all mou
the old day , and verh aps till,
than any othe r, and even mor e in
d that the crow d from all part s
than Mec ea it elf. I am a sure
on, at the prin cipa l mou lid
of I lam amo unt to mor e than a milli
ndar i alwa y held in the
whic h, inde pend ent of the Mo leru cale
On each occa ion that I
Cop tic mon th, Bab a, our Octo ber.
has alwa ) s been the Frid ay
have been pres ent, the grea t final e
to the 26th Octo ber.
zeffa , vary ing in date from the lOth
the stati on, cont ains
The beau tiful mosq ue, not far from
el-A al, Abd el-M egid and
not only the body of Saye d, but of Abd
distr ict i deco rated , and
othe r of his disci ples . The who le
ion boot h , and s all for
ther e are num erou publ ic circu mcis
ecul ar attra ctio n , unle ss
vend ing souv enir s and food, but no
one follo w the mul titud es
tatto oing be so rega rded . But if
kirt of the town , one
unde r the railw ay arch , to the outs
the plac e of firew orks , and
reac he the official and othe r tent s,
impr ovi8 ed dwe lling , in
a perf ect city of boot h , thea tres, and
so it eem to me, with out
whic h one can wan der for hour , m·
oYerflow n,t nigh t and
reac hing its limi ts. Yet its occu pant
stree ts, and open spac es.
sleep anyw here and ever ywh ere in the
 -286-

The moulid la t a week, pilgrims rtt'L'l \'Jng rtll the time,

till on Thur day, the great night, the whole might} multitude is
gathered toge hf'r in one place to ee the :fil'e\Yorks, then scatter
to the innum erable zikr , and entertainments. But the clou of
the fe tival i he zeffa beginning on Frida,y morning and lasting
half the day, Egypt' greate t zeffa, though Luxor and Qena n1n
it clo e in their great fea ts of Abn Haggag and bd el-Rahim
el-Qenawi respecti,el3. Of conr e all the tuntq are represented
by their dervi he , banner , in ignia &c. , the Ahma,diya, the
order of Ahmad el-Bedawi naturally predominating with its red
turbans and banner , and he branches of this great order, the
Bayu mi a, the Shaarawiya, the Shinawiya and the A\\lad :s-ooh.
The red turban borne in the proce ion is part ly that of Ahmad
bub as he never di carded a turban till it fell off with \\ear,
it i h elped out by red material from the "libas" of Abd
el-Aal.

. Se\eral years ago, I think 1933 (1352), I witnessed a queer

sight at dawn of the last day, from my window in the square, a
sort of burlesque, but harmles at the time, called locally "zeffa
el-Sharamit". It was a proce ion of gail3 decorated carts
bearing the pro itutes of the town with tbeir admirers, with
much music and song . At that date the secular side of moulids
had become rather too like ancient Greek and Roman feasts,
,vith Lesbian and mixed dance of a pronoun ced character, and
oth er uL eem ly hings. The e have been vroperly uppressed,
but it would be a disaster if the pendulum were forced to swing
too mu ch the o her way, and Puritans and Pha,risee knocked all
life and oul out of these ancient rites. "Stulti qui vitia ,itant
in contraria currunt."

Thi moulid stands uniqne, as doe, its grea,t founder.

Long before the Fatimites brought saints and relics to Egypt,
and ga\e great impetus to the moulid cult, a,nd material to sup-
port it, pilgrim crowded from a ll Moslem countries to the tomb
of Ahmad Bayed el-Bedawi, three times in the yea,r, tmrticularly
 - 287 -
o muc h piety and incid enta lly
ju t befo re the wint er, and brou ght
u k a,nd othe r c;ities more or
mirt h and mon ey to Tan ta, that Deso
taile d thei r own Wal i and
l e s in the neig hbou rhoo d pede
ur, w· bich in due cour se
inau gura ted cele brat ion in thei r hono
ent mou lid .
cry. talis ed into defin ite and 11er man
ninte d ance tor Rhu deri
Rhu deri Bey who , repr e ents hi
, a sure s me hat befo re
at the mo que and mou lid of that nam
know them did not exis t in
tbi pel'iod, mou lid uch as we now
in hono ur of som e holy
Egy pt, and the e early cele brati on
to the date of hi birth or
man were held with ont refe renc e
deat h.
, the wide trav el and
rhat e' n the anct ity, the noto riety
~ h<trif de cent , and be mira
cle be w-ro ught coul d e tabli h
, 11arti ·ulal 'ly whe n we re-
uch a vogu e is hard ly to be adm itted
in a coun try boas ting man y
mem ber that Ahm ad was a stran ger
Why is hi tar still in the
of the outs tand ing aint s of I lam.
Egy ptia n mira cle-w orke r
a cend ant whe n for exam ple that of the
Dash tou i who e cult in
Da htou ti is in dang er of exti ncti on?
lid wa a natio nal even t!
Eg) pt wa enor mou and who se mou
inar y appe al of his
Th e expl anat ion lies in he extr aordJ_

Ahm ad Saye d el-B edaw i is

char acte r-fo r I am con\ ince d that
11er onal itie . Hi po 1 wn
one of the worl d's ont tand ing
Ohri tend om, thou gh thei r
in Islam is muc h that of S.Fr anci in
few note s on his ~dvent in
indi ,·idu al trait s diffe red wide ly. A
imm ense \iril ity and spir-
thi coun try may help to sugg e t his
ticis m ....
itual ity, his hum an appe al and hi my
if in origi n; and had
Ahm ad' _ fami ly '\\a ~1eccan and Shar
lims , in Mor occo . He wa
take n refu ge from a laug hter of Nius
596, (1199 A.D. )
born in Fez in the year of the Heg ira
(( -:-'.,;11 (J"' ~~ ~ ..H'. ~ Js1 ~J o..Uy»
603 A.H . , his fath er the
so that he was only seve n whe n in ate to the Holy City
a <lrea,m to migr
Shar if Ali was warn ed in
Jl .)~ I ol• ;_r ~I ~ ~ o~..-b '-=~ .J J~
:>\f~ oY. I c_t:" ~.:.... c:;- c~ lJ;
dJrl l ~
 - 288 -
and straightway set out on that pilgrimage which occupied four
year . Ali's elder son, Hasan, 'vho eems to hR~ve idolised his
young brother, became to a con iderable ex~ent his chronicler,
and recounts how warmly they were received by the Meccans,
particularly Ahmad, and how the lad grew in tature and in
grace, and in favour with God and man-"Et proficiebat sapi-
entia et aetate, et gratia. R~pud Deum et homines." How Ahmad's
Meccan companions r cogni ed his hor emanship and heroic
qualiti , and declared that "bra,7 er knight neYer strode a horse",
and tyled him, "El-Bedawi." How after twenty happy years,
the father Ali died and was buried there in great odour of sanc-
tity, in 627 A. H. (1229 A. D.)
The brother notes a profound mystical change soon after
this date. Ahmad (now Ahmad el-Bedawi),was constantly rapt
in meditation, communicated only by signs, and began, like his
father, to see visions and dream dreams. His. "voices" told him
to go fir t toward the dawn, then toward the sunset, and he
interpreted the oraculR~r commands as indicating Iraq and then
Egyp , and he lo t no time in responding.
At that time Iraq wa particularly strong in its spiritual
leader, and they at once recogni ed Ahmad a a Prophet, and two
of heir chiefs, Sidi Abd el-Qadr and Sidi Ahmad Rifai repre-
senting them all, told him that they had the keys of Iraq, of
Yemen and the Indies, of Rum and of the West and East, and he
could take which he chose. He declined with the reply, that
"he could take no key except from the Great Opener",
« C:All j .. ':JI cbil ..b.\') »
and having visited the tombs and holy places, journeyed with
his brother Basan to Egypt ; and they were about to enter
Tand~Lta (Tanta), when a rough gang opposed them. He used his
pugili tic strength and skill flooring the lot, gR~ining at least their
respect, and a further title of 0\::ill j.l Champion Bruiser.
He retired for a time to Urn Aabida, without giving up the
idea of settling in Tandata, but Hasan had had enough and
returned to Mecca.
 289-

Into this time of trial, entered the romantic episode of

Fatima bint Biri. Her supreme beauty captured hearts and
fortunes, and she doubted not that Ahmad el-Bedaw i would
prove her crowning conque t, but at his hands she fell penitent.
and like the Magdale n became a model of saintly virtue. Ahruad
was by no means indiffere nt to her charms, but he escaped the
fate of the lover of Th ai -belned by a h eavenly apparitio n, as
Aeneas was by the vision and words of 1\!Iercury. A "Hatif"
stood by his bed and told him hi destiny was to enter Tanta,
and live there, and named to him Abd el-Aal and ome of his
future disciples. Obeying, he entered hastily the city and the
house of Sheikh Ibn el-Shabe t and mountin g to the roof con-
summate d his P assion . Alway standing be gazed up to bea\en,
and for forty days and night neither ate nor drank nor slept,
till his eyes turned to the fiery red of burning coals.
Then he came do"n, and once more went out of Tanta, but
followed by Abd el-Aal, bd el-1\legid and many others. He ask-
ed an egg of Abd el-Aal, which the lad promi ed in exchange for
Abmad's green palm stick, (a \eritable palmer's taff), but his
mother, who violently opposed her boy as ociating with the
Sheikh, sent back word that there were no eggs. Abd el- al
was sent back to look again in the Soumaa* (egg box) and foun d
it full, and fulfilled his word by bringing back a sample. (It is
curiou that one of the first miracles attribute d to St. J oan,
" as her causing the hens to lay inordina tely for the supporte rs
of her cause.) Yet the mother did not repent at the bands of
the Sheikh; but-as she said-sh e "repente d at the horns of the
bull" which was about to gore her son to death, and was only pre-
vented by the superhum an courage and strength of Bayed el-
Bedawi, who seizing the bull literally by the horns, threw it
down.

*Note,-T he soumaa, ;;.,.,. y4, or sa fat, .kA....., a mud structure much used in
Egypt, for storing grain, often lends itself when empty to the lay-
ing hens.
 -290-

This exodus of the saint from Tanua is attributed to jeal-

ousies and aversiono of some of the leading sheikhs and
authorities of the town; and uch .an overruling of the tra-
ditional hospitality of Egyptian , eems to have been part of the
trial which purified him for hi mi sion.
A delightful qasida on tbi event by Mr. C. F. 0. Scaife of
the Egyptian Uni ersity, was read by the poet himself, in the
perfect arabic surrounding of Major Gayer-Anderson's house
at Ibn el-Touloun. Th e writer and a big company of Egyptians
and Engli ·h were much intere ted and impressed. The Scaivian
saga portrays e en the tree and the little houses following
him to exile till Tandata was empty, and the holy man bad to be
appeased with entreaties to return from those who had in vain
attempted to rid their city of him who was to be its pride and
its glory.
I venture to give a few quotations from Scaife's "Sa'id el
Bedawi", but the whole poem should be read to feel its full
beauty and enjoy the atmosphere of old "Tanda:ta", so admirab-
ly recreated. Incidentally these citations illustrate the eternal
la\ that the Saint wins in the end, and his detractors reap no-
thing but confusion.
" 'Who is this man?' the Caliph asked-they told him all the
tale:
At last the holy prince arose and looked both stern and pale.
'0 arrogant, blind souls,' he said,
'Yours is the most unhappy sin,
You have cast out the man of peace God put your restless town
within.'
He ordered th<?m to bring there cla.y, and straw and joists of
wood,
And -they rebuilt the beggar's hut in the place where it had stood.
When all was done the Caliph went
On foot towards the north,
And as the twilight died away the stars in heaven came forth.
 291 -

kis ed hi ragg ed hem ;

The Calip h knel t upon t he grou nd and
iful t o them ,
'The hous e is read y' then he said, 'be merc
Thes e child ren know not wha t they do.'
The begg ar sighe d and rai ed hi bea d-
go back ' he said. ' '
'God is comp a iona te. my lord ; let us
ad' life were pa ed
The rema ining forty year s or so of Ahm
auste relJ, e pecia lly he
tranq uilly in Tand ata, thou gh mos t
de\o ted Abd el-Aa l was a
fir t twel ve s11ent on the roof. The
and looki ng after him, and
g1·eat com fort and help, cook ing for
. As a mu1· id (disc iple)
takjo g mun dane care off his shou lders
inist rator be pro\ ed his
this yout h was exem plary , and as an adm
h. "The comp anio n of
geniu in Ahm ad' life and after his deat
ciple , were the nucl eus
the roof" , «e-h- I ~~ \>) Ahm ad's chief di
all direc tion . Abd el-Aa i
of man y, and sent as it were apos tles in a nd
of Isma il Imba ba, I 3),
sent Sidi I smai l to Imba ba, (v. Mou lid
the villa ge of El-H atia
Abu Tart ur to the dese rt near it, no w
Oqba . H e also h as his little moul id, (whi ch ee
adjo ining 1\'Iit
his tomb in Qasr el-Ei ni,
T2). Sidi Yuss ef, fathe r of Imba bi has
these Ahm adiy a apos tles.
Cair o, and desc enda n t livin g near , of
away , or lik e Sidi
His old rival and oppo nent s eithe r went
to him ; and few if any
Selim , whos e tomb i in Tant a, came over
to the bad: unle the
of hi follo wer are repo rted to have come
This early mu1·id impl or-
case of Abd el-M egid be so cons idere d.
h he kept doub ly \eile d,
ed his mast er t o show him hi face, whic
was a life. H e aid he
and was warn ed that the price of a look
et hi mind oo, FLnd
woul d di e rath er than foreg o wha t he bad
remo \ed. (Thi sugg c ts
die be did befo re the seco nd veil .vas un-
", but is the only
rath er "the veiled Prop het of Kho razin ver
saint .) Thos e howe
avou ry story I have h€ar d abou t the
the cent uries had a bad
who cont emn ed his moul id throu ghou t
they repe nted . Abd el-
time , (in this worl d at leas t) , unle ss
men tions amo ng t othe r
Wab ab el-Sh aara ni in his Toba qat
at the t im e b e poke
offen ders a man wh o was ea,ti ng fish
givin g him unsp eaka ble
fooli shly, and a bone stuc k in his thro at,
 - 292 -

t orture for n ine months, till he went repentant to E l-Bedawi s

tomb at Tanta, and immediately neezed up the bone. L ane.
writing a centun ago, mentions a friend of his in Egypt then
suffering fro the same rea on, and within the la t 3 ear or two
I have heard everal instances.
There are people now who eem bent on bringina down this
great moulid at Tanta, and shocking and di appointing a million
poor people. Those who per ecnte moulid goer at Tanta and
elsewhere should think of he man with the bone in his throat.
and consider too the feeling of those who come froiD all over
Egypt and mo t of the world for pen.ce and ble ing .
1any records exi t of miracle he wrought, before his death
and since : how he appeared and e-ven spoke to some, and h ow
he re cned a man in an unfriendly countn and fie'IY 'IVitb him
safe to anctuary in Egypt, and so on . Visitors at his brine have
not been the poor only . Among t the great ones of the earth
who enriched ancl honoured Ahmad's resting place exceedingly
was the great Sultan Bey bars, protege of Sultan Saleh now lying
in Sbaria el-Naha in. Indian pilgrims of the highe t class have
stated that e ery child in their provinces swears by Bayed el-
Bedawi, and monntains and seas ha\e not kept away his votaries
from still more remote regions.
Scaife is not the onl3 poet who has honotll'ed him in song.
Lane beard the people singing, -
(( ~ ~ ":" .).l\ i:::.!-' ~))
Oh, Sheikh of the Arabs ! Oh Sayed !
and I have often heard the ame and the like. He is in-voked
on all sorts of occasions in similar and other words, a favourite
expression being E) .Y.I ~Oh. Deliverer! Even in the liturgical
prayer fr om the m inarets before dawn, the "Aabed", he is
called upon with other of the Walis, the friends of God,-
« ":" .)JI (:·:..!. ~ c_l ) .>:I ~ » "Ya Abu Farag, Ya Sheikh el-Arab !"
" Oh , thou Deliverer, thou Sheikh of the Arabs .. " 1\!I:ay he deliver
his Moulid from all for m s of van dalism !
 -2 93 -
war
this , the sec ond yea r of the
The onl y new s I hav e in 194 0,
urs e Egy ptie nne " , 15 No \.
is a not e in this eve nin g' "Bo , on the
I wil l sen d to the prin ters
(15 Sho wal , 135 9), wh ich ng alread3 in the ir
late , (the MS S bei
cha nce of its not bei ng too
han d . )
rbie h pon r les
ienn ent au mou dir de la Gha
DE nom breu ses don atio ns parv
mou led de Sidi Ahm ed El Bad aoui
dist ribu er aux pau vres a !'oc
casi on du
qui se tien t a Tan tah.
me sera repa rtie
don de L.E . so. Cett e som
S.M. le Roi a daig ne fair e un
cere monie de clot ure.
p arm i les indi gen ts dura nt la

S . (, . Sec tion al Ma p I.)

SA YE D EL -M AL AK hat
mo ulid a ver y big one at
In 135 2, 53, & 54 thi Bul aq in 135 6 hou gh
Thu r day of Saf r, but
tim e, wa hel d on the la t I, (3-6 -37) .
he la t of Rab ia
till on a Th ur day i was
d, the
tia end of Sh. Abd el-G awa
The ite wh i h is the Sap and is nea r the
pa ed by bus 15,
sam e a Abu el-S aba a, i 23.
tram s 4 and
term inu of Bus e 2 and 9 and
lar
tee n day s, and on the ecu
The mo ulid has a run of six J ud3 r and Sha dow
ring as, Pun ch and
ide had big the atre , ma ny her e
la Mo rte of Bil ly Wi llia m , but
sho w , wit h the Pi tea ut wh ich red uce d
san t cha rac ter abo
wer e ofte n rou gh and unp lea I did not enc our -
. For tha t rea on
it attr act i ene s for vi itor 5), Mr . Col . R ... ,
me, but in 135 4 (193
age frie nd to acc om pan y ulid was like . We
h to see wh at a mo
a re ide nt, exp re ed a wis ery
ons et, wh en as a rule thin gs are
we nt in her car , bef orn sist ible attr act ion
we pro ved an irre
qui et, but on thi occ asio n like flie s
wh o swa rme d on and in the car
to the Bul aq gam ins, ty in ma nip ula ting
uff eur had diff icul
on sug ar. The ala rme d cha at lea st six tee n
tha t we she d
a retr eat , and cal cul ate s ain ed Sha ria Fua d
&c., bef ore we reg
kid die s fro m roo f, win dow s
el-A wal .
ro
ple of this old por t of Cai
The turb ule nce of the peo the ir mou lid, for
nce wh ich cam e on
per hap s bro ugh t the dec ade
 - 294 -
in 1356 (1937) it wa badly wet-bla nketed , in spite of the marvel
s
of Billy William s, and a much cen ored theatre . I am
not
aware if it has been held since.

S 9 ( v. Section al Map I.)

SELIM ~ l$~
I enjoye d thi plea ant little monlid on Thursd ay, 27 Ragab,
1352, (16.11.33), but mis edit in subseq uent years until Thursd
ay
29 Gumad Tani 1357, (25 .. 3 ), owing mainly to its date
being
put forwar d, and being \ariabl e.

It is situate d not far from the Nile in the old "Port,.

of Bulaq, near the Caraco l, in Sbaria Suleim::~,n Pasha
el-
Qadim, and easily reache d by tram No. 7 or 13, getting
off at
the second stop after lea ing Bulaq bridge, and walkin g first
at
right angles to the tram line and then to the left, when it
is full
1n ight. The walk takes about three minute s.

Going in the hope of a zeffa at 4 in the afterno on, I was told

the Tu1·uq were already on the move, but not bP.ing very success
-
fnl in picking up the e I settled down and waited in a nice
cafe
in the centre of the street, drinkin g qi1ja, and reading
the
"Moqa ttam" ' accoun t of the ancien t ceremo ny of "Arusa
t el-
N il" , which bad come off the day before with tremen dous
eclat.
A little before 6 the zeffa came into sight and sound, to the
enthus iasm of the picture sque little crowd which had gather
ed~
first branch es of the Qadiriy a with their white, and Rifaiya
, with
their black banner s, and \igouro usly played tambou rines
and
cymbal s: then after a discree t interva l, for the Shazliy a
are a
little exclusi ve, came over twenty branch es of that ancien
t and
most praisew orthy Order, with their caps, sashes and banner
s of
white and green, all chantin g, book in hand. Each beiraq in
addit-
ion to the design ation of the Tariqa Shazlia ~.)t!.ll ~.>.A\J..\
~)~H
bore its local name, among st which I notice d-
 - 295

Bein el-Sariat, (my village) u~l_r-11 ~~

Geziret Mit Oqba, ~:~ -=--:· o. .o~
Sidi Farag, Bulaq, J':J .Y.! C)
1$..>-.:.-
Akhwan Hei Bab el-Sh aaria ~~ .rJI ·A !.?>- jl_,;..l
Waraq el-Arab, ~..I'll Jl;_,
El-Duqqi .,i.J)I
Zawiat Sidi Atia, - ~~ ~$..>..:.- ~
_,lj
Zawiat Sidi Abu el-Dalail ~-)1..1)1
Y. I l$..l..:.- _,lj ;_~
Last of all came the "Khalifa", of the same name as his sainted
ances or of over 400 hundred years ago, mounted on a very
beautiful black horse. I had the honour of meeting thi hon-
ourable but most gentle and unassuming sheikh at the tomb of
Sidi Selim, later in thee ening, where a pavilion filled the little
street, and a goodly company including the Head of the Shaz1ia,
Sheikh Abd el-Salaam, listened to a Fiqi.

:Making a round al o of the little places for acting, dancing,

singing, and so on, I was st1·uck by the even more than usual
happine sand good temper and behaviour of the people, and the
less usual gentleness of the police, who never beat, harried or
coerced the people in any way. but looked smilingly on,-but very
ready to act if necessary-this too in the very roughest bit of
Cairo, with the tradition of the old port of Bulaq. I under-
stood why we were enjoying this paradisaic state when I met an
old friend of nearly forty years standing, the Kaim aqam A ...
fl ...... , a high inspector of the Interior, "ham the people so like
and respect, that (a some of them told me after) they would
h ate to do anything which could ann oy him, even if it could be
done with impunity. 0, si sic omnes !
I recommend any old resident who can find little that "is
beautiful in Bulaq, to go round with the zeffa at the next moulid
and see the magnificent cupolas and bits of architecture, cul-
minating in the peaceful little square with the Mosque of Sal-
mania, just before one regains the street of the moulid.
 -296-
I gathered little about the history of Sidi Selim, beyond
what his s uccessor and namesake told me,-that he was a holy
and fa mou follower of the Tariqa of Abu Hasan el-Shazli in the
tenth cen t ury of the Hegira.
s 10
SHAARAWI
Year ago I saw a moulid in the Bab el Shaaria district
which I uppose was thi , but I noted neither name nor date.
In 1353 (1934) Dr. Enayet Allah described it as rather big and
impor an t, and it must has been so for him to establish a circum -
cision booth there.
I do n ot know if this moulid is in honour of the Sheikh el-
Sha~u awi who founded th e Tariqa of the Shaarawiya as a branch
of th e Ah rn ::tdiya, (the great order of Ahmad el-Badawi) but hope
to in\"estigate thi .

S 11 (Y. Sectional M::tp XIX.)

SHAFEI (Imam el-Shafei)
. Thi m oulid in honour of the great founder of this leading
sect of I lam, as far a s Cairo is concerned, always terminates on
the first W ednesday _of Shaaban, except perhaps that when
Shaaban J1egins with a Wednesday, the moulid may begin on
that day a nd end on the 8th.

Tra m 13 takes one to the spot where normally the celebra-

tions comm ence, though the} retrench more and more every
year, and a few minutes' ~Yalk brings one to the mosque, and to
the place of the Tashrifa (reception) where the representative of
the Imam receives the Dlama, Ministers and other visitors.
This "Ta sheifa" used to be on the previous night, the Tuesday,
leaving Wednesday to the populace; but since 1351 (1932) it
seems to be held on the Wednesday. The solemnity of this
overshadows the simple amusements with which both sides of
the street from the tram terminus to the mosque were filled, and
even the Qara Goz and similar shows which favoured the side
 - 297 -
froz en out. It was till left
stre ets towa rds the gabe l have been
t of the goin g and com ing of
to the popu lace t o adm ire the ecla
to enjo y the mu ic at the en-
thei r bett ers in thei r cars , and
(193 ) they were driv en awa y
tran ce to the Tash rifa, but in 1357
from that .
or , Ena} et Alla h Eff., is
The doye n of the circu mcis ion doct
here at his head quar ters and facil
e p1·in ceps : his boot h with
iant illum inati on, ingin g
its elab orat ions and deco ratio n , brill
ct of the mou lid. Betw een
men , etc. is the mos t cons picu ous obje
ther e has alwa ys been a
his plac e and the door of the mos que
zikr at the side of the stree t.
picu ous obje ct in the
Ove r the dom e of the mos que is a cons
arda b of corn for the bird , -
form of a bo:-Lt, inten ded to hold an
nt. Yea rs ago that was
prov ided for by a char itab le endo wme till
mou lid, but if uch i
filled, at any rate at the time of the , for
appr ecia tion for grain
the case , the bird s have lost thei r vain for
I ha\'e look ed in
dnri ng the mou lid and at othe r time
pt som etim es a haw k.
birds , but have neve r een one, exce
of the Dosa h (v. Da b-
In the good old day , the cere mon y
a at the mou ld. of the
tout i) wa annu ally perf orm ed hert>
Sidi D a htou ti, and the
Prop het and of Sidn a Hu ein and
peop le wen t hom e edifi ed and cont ent.
full tyle, Ima mna Abn
Imar n el-S hafe i or, to giYe him his
i wa Pale stini an by birth ,
Abcl ulla Iuh :Lmmad Ben Idris el-S hafe
he wa born to :r-.1ekka whe n
but \':""as take n from Gha za \\he re
Ahm ad Saye d el-B edaw i, he
he was only t\\o year s old. Like
the Yem en and Iraq , and
was a, gt'ea t wan dere r, e peci ally in
ed FL repu tatio n as doct or
nltim atels in Egy p t , and early esta blish
such by the Ulam a of tbe
and teac her, and was reco gnis ed a
The last four year s or some -
coun tries men tion ed, and gene rally .
199 to 204 (A.D . 814 to 819}
wha t mor e of his life, from A.H .
Cair o whe re his mem ory and
were pass ed in Egy pt, main ly in
his tom b are illu trion ' .
 - 298-

There is a kind of spiritual romanc.e about the affectionate

attachment which sprung up between him and the Lady Nafisa,
each recognising the great and saintly character of the other,
and withal the attracti e and magnetie human qualities. A~
she lived in Cairo from A. H. 201 till bee death in 208, they were
able to associate and to pray together, (a they made a point of
doing each Ramadan), for about three years, 201 to 204. The case
of these two is, I think, closely parallel to that of Saint Frn,ncis
and Clare.
Abd el-Wahab, el-Shaarani, though he give th date of the
Imam's death a above, A.H. 204, refers to him as the P 'r ophet's
cousin, <c{-.J "-:k ~I j.., ~~ J_,-; ~ 0:11. This expression, mys-
terious to me, is, I daresay, clPar enough to my Moslem readers.
s 12
SHAM I 1/W\~1
My murasla reports a tiny moulid at Gezirat el-Dahab, close
to Giza in celebration of this saint. He tells me he was there
on the final night and noted the date as Sunday, 5th Ragab,
1358 (August 20th, 1939).

S 13 (v. Sectional Map XX.)

SHATBI
On Friday, 9 Muharem 1354 (12-4-35), I visited this most
picturesque little desert moulid, by walking under the guidance
of the son of the circumcision doctor, Enayet-Allah, from his
"clinique" by the mosque of Imam el-Shafei, half way to the
Moqattams. The little shrine is near· the line and embankment
which run parallel to the hills, not far from the Monastery of
Omr, as I have heard it called, and the ruined mosque of Abu
Shahin on the side of the cliff, (Imam el-Shafei is reached by
tram 13).
It was not yet sunset, but there were many poor pilgrims
there a.nd zikrs were proceeding. There was also a little theatre
and stalls for simple refreshments.
 - 299 -
ss of the little gath er-
The beau ty of the view and quai ntne
so each way .
ing well repa ys the walk of a mile or
(EL- SHU HDA, MEN ODF )
S 14 (v. Delt a Map )
l el-A swad )
SHI BL (Am ir el-G esh Muh amm ad~ Shib I ~

J _,_ 'YI ~J~ .J.f !J~- if.~ I

~~
d the mou lid of Sidi
Tho ugh neve r prese i1t, I have hear
stica lly, and I gath er it par-
Shib l freq uent ly refe rred to enth usia
a coun try fair . The only
take s cons idera bly of the natu re of
appe nded shor t extr act from
defin ite info rma tion I po ess is the
ered as foll ows -
an Arab ic pape r, whic h may be rend
"MO ULI D SID I SHI BL"
ed the hold ing of
The Min istry of Inte rior has sanc tion
y Sidi Muh amm ad Shibl
the mou lid of the Ami r of the Arm
que at Shuh da, for a
al-A swad , (who is) lying in his mos
from the 6th July (the
perio d of two week s, begi nnin g
the mou lid has beco me
pres ent mon th); and the plac e of
ors (pilg rims ) and the
crow ded with mer chan ts, and visit
lead ers of Sufi derv ish OrJe rs ...... "

: LL-I ) - l: ..... -""'

.JI ;;lj.J ~ .r"'
Jl<'J\ .) _,- \!1 J:..!.. J.f c.,fo-4.;.- ~I ~j ..J_,A oJI J~ ~l.::..i.
0:-'- y-1 ;..J. ~l.,.~.t~JI .;~ o.>v: .....
c.:... L ..:..~.) jl ..u _, • c.,foJ~j r.1 y. ii y. ;_r ~1..~.:! I
·d.~ _,.al l J)JI ~~JiJ ;I_,) IJ _;~:l~ ..J_,ll
~ ~~ .!J~:JI.J o)~ )I ;l_,j l u• ul.!ll
..J _,11 ~ \~ i\AA ~ \:- y. ~.J
·~~ .)\:.11

If, as I belie ve, the cutt ing is from

a 135 3 (193 4) pape r, that
t as 19th July, t.hat is
fixes the date of the final nigh
This mou lid at El-S huhd a
Thu rsda y, 7th Rab ia II, 1353.
 - 300 -
must not be confused with the moulid of El-Shuhda (or Bayed el
Shahid) held in Upper Egypt, nea.r Mazghuna. (v. Shuhda, 8 15)
El-Shuhda i on the ea. t bank of the Rosetta branch of the Nile,
not far from Menuf, on the line between Benha and Kafr el-Zayat.

MAZGHUNA
8 15 (v. Map of Upper Egypt)
SHUHDA (El-Shuhda or Bayed el-Shahid)
(~:rJI ..1.:- ~~-:-) .. I¥JI
I enjoyed this great desert moulid on Thursday, 22 Moharem
1354 (25-4-35) under the impression that it was that of Aweis el-
Qorani. On sending my Murasla, Mousa, with some of my
n eighbours of this village. on Thursday 17 R abia Awal, 1359 (25 -
4-40),they assure me that El-Qorani is nearer Vlasta, and that
t his i in honour of a great number of Moslems who fell fighting
in a Holy War (gihad), and are therefore mar tyrs (shuhda), and
that their leader was a famous sheikh, el-Shahid Sayed,-(shahid
being the singular of shuhda). The word means "one who
testifie , bears witness to the faith", and so co1responds to the
Church's word "confessor", rather than to "martyr", though its
aeceptation approaches nearer to the latter.
Mazghuna is on the Upper Egyptian line, about half way
between Cairo and Wasta, and less than an hour's walk or half an
hour on a donkey, (always to be had near the station at moulid
time) from el-Shuhda. Motor buses also run to and from Giza.
It is curious to note that the two dates of which I am cer-
ta,in, though nearly two months apart by the lunar calendar, to
which one would expect them to conform, are the same to a day
by the Gregorian reckoning, and by the Coptic, (17 th Bermuda).
This is one of the few cases of a moulid being in crescendo,
for though it was big when I saw it five years ago, my murasla
who was also present then reports it as very much bigger now.
The religious observances centre about what might be re-
garded as a. sort of cenotaph of tent work, put up for the occasion
 - 301 -
e are zikuT al o amo ngst
by the tariq a of the Shaz lia, but ther
the old necro polis of the
the num erou s ston es whic h still mark
mart j r .
mos t dese rt mou lids
Like Sidi Hun eidiq near I smai lia, and
ue elem ent of perfo rm-
it is also a fair, and exhi bits the pictu resq
e is foun d al o at least
ing and racin g hor es and came ls. Ther
.
one thea tre and Punc h ~nd Judy show
and eaten on the
Buff alos (gam us) are slain for the poor
paste , (jati1 ·), know n as
sand , with a curio us kinc of puff
Egyp tian brea d, (aesh mas1'i), or "ma1
·ah1·ah".
. Info rma ion I
Ther e is muc h scop e here for re earch
so cont radic tory or
have accu mula ted is very bulk y, but
few poin t state d abov e.
impo ible that it canc el down to the
fanc ying that this
It is pure spec ulati on but I cann ot help
ur of the Chri tian
Mos lem mou lid was origi nally in hono
MaT GiTg is, ;:tgain t he
mart yrs who foug ht unde r St. Geor ge,
Mo lem calen dar be
"infi dels" . Wh. othe rwis e shou ld the
and 1359 (1940 ) fall on the
igno red, and the rnou lid in 1354 (1935),
of the Fea t of St. Geor ge?
same Chri stian date, and that the time
Copt ic mon a tery
One recal ls in this conn ectio n that the
s furth er up the river ,
of St. Geor ge at Biba , some fifty mile
be unde r the prote ction
claim ed in a time of riot and outra ge to
mon ks allea ed, dwel t as a
of a myth ical sheik h Biba wi who, the
ing man y a piou s ~1o lem
Wali with in the wall s of their di1·, caus
befo re a pictu re of St.
to recit e a fat ha and leave an offer ing
Geor ge and the Drag on.
S 16 (v. Sect iona l M:ap VIII .)
SUT UHI A (Said a Ayes ha Sutu hia)
this little moul id,
On thre e occa sions on whic h I have seen
being 1355 (1936).
the date has been 29 Shaa ban, the last
a Rabi a n estle unde r
The little shrin e of this siste r of S::~,id
is there fore pas ed b3 bus
the grea t mass of the Bab el-Fu tuh, and
Abba sia.
12, whic h plies betw een Beit el-Q adi and
 -- 302 -

There i o m nch doing on this eve of Ramadan, including

the moulid of Sidi Bah lul n ear the Bab el-Wazir, that one is apt
to miss thi mall celebration, but at least a short visit should be
paid t o t hi maje t ic par of the old and still unspoil t city, the
r egion of t h e Gat e of el-Na rand el-Futuh. T he lighting up of
the tiny om b in t h e shadow of the mighty gate, and that of the
little mo que j u t beyond the gate t o the north, i an impressive
sight, and t h e sam e may be aid of the groups of pilgrims and the
zikrs, and a li ttle way to the south, on the main street, the
concour e of imple oul about a cafe where comic tur ns
are intersper ed wit h more serious performances and singing.
On t h e am e night there are a number of microscopic
moulid b et~ ee n and in the neighbourhood of t h e " B abs" , whi ch
shou ld be seen: of the e are Abd el-Basset in Sharia D ababia
Abd el-Qa id
Moh. el- Gaml (bar et Guania , Bab el-Nasr).
Abd el-K erim.
(Since writing t h e a bove, t his t om b, uniqu e in style and in
beauty has disappeared, a na the Saint h as been dug up.
The Bab however is still standing, or was wh en I passed through
it a week or so ago.)
Si c t1'ansit dec01· A egypti I

O N THE SUEZ ROAD.

T 1 (v. Map of D elta .)
T AKROURI or DAKROURI
1 h ave no knowledge of t h e date nor of t h e conditions of
this little desert m oulid, but t h ere are poin ts of interest about
the tomb which induce m e to intr oduce it .
Crossing t h e desert from Cairo to Suez in December, 1911 ,
on a push bike, I visited this picturesque shrine, and was struck
part icularly by the number a nd quaint variety of votive offerings
on the tabut, considering that the door was open and, I am told,
 - 303 -
and in view of the dese rt
is alwa ys o, and the tomb is quite near
certa inly, inclu ding teeth ,
track . The offer ings were not valu able
ine tin and smal l coins .
hair, rag , pipes , bead , little flags, a Rard
e I notic ed the vi iting
Amo ngst and attac hed to some of thes
rece ntly in read ing the
card of the late W. G. Kem p, and quite
whic h was writ ten and
book calle d "Egy ptian Illus trati on",
I came acros::; a hart
illu trate d and I thin k prin ted by him,
cut of the inter ior. He
acco unt of thi tomb , with a wood
rt Arab s colle ct here to
men tion that "lar e num bers of dese
He unfo rtuna tely does
celeb rate" Shei kh Takr ouri' s moul id.
there I left my lit le
not gi'i-e the date, and a I met no one
on.
offer ings with out obta ining any infor mati
een Cairo and Suez ,
T he tomb i roug hly half wa betw
and a little to the righ t
after Dar el-Ba ida is left on the left,
p men tions that it is
befo re reac hing Stati on No. 9. Kem
the outle t of the J enda li
near the "ven erab le Pilgr ims' Tree at
Valle y".
ed, some say, -on hi
The Shei kh died at this spot ,-mu rder
retu rn from pilgr imag e to Mecc a.

T 2 (v. Map of Delt a.)

TAR TUR I
the little villa ge of
This smal l but attra ctive mou lid is at
Imba ba distr ict, no t far
El-H atia adj oinin g Mit Oqba in the
ama, betw een Zam alik
sout h of the tram track by the Bah r el-A
a plea sant r ide from my
and the Engl ish bridg es. I foun d it
15th Gum ad Tani 1357
hom e at Bein el-Sa riat on Thur sday ,
the surro undi ngs were
(11-3-38). The t omb of the Sain t and
in the day to see the cere-
bra\'"ely deco rated bu t I was too early
wha t over shad owed by
moni es, and I expe ct they were some
of Sidi Qrai shi at Zeni n
thos e of the very cons idera ble mou lid
the same even ing.
is burie d and hon-
I have little doub t that the Shei kh who
uri", who was place d
oure d here is the "Sid i Ahm ad Abu Tart
 - 304 -

in the wilderness near Imbaba by Abd el-Aal, the celebrated

disciple and friend of Bayed el-Bedawi . (Some local people
howe er refer to him as Abd el-Rahim el-Tarturi.)
T3
TARTURI (Hasan el-Tal'turi)
I have heard from a fairly reliable source that there is a
moulid in honour of one Ha an el-Tarturi in the Rod el-Farag
district, and that its date in 1353 was Thursday 28 Rabia
el-Tani (9-8 -34).
T4
TUN SI ~ _,:ll
I regret never having een this moulid, which has -been
reliably reported to me several times, but too late, notably on
Friday, 2nd l\1uharem 1354 (1935).
It is the opening moulid, or nearly so, of the Moslem year,
and the more popular from that fact, and from its ituation in a
wild and lovely district beyond Imam el-Shafei. Friends
of mine who went and enjoyed it took tram 13 to its terminus,
then walked the rest with an amateur guide picked up near the
mosque.
(ALEXA DRIA)
W 1 (v. Map of Delta.)
W AFAI (El-W afai)
My ignorance about .Alexandria moulids is complete, and in
this compilation I have already attempted much more ground
than I had intended, so I must not try to fill this great lacuna,
and a number of minor gaps.
This ignorance is the more discreditable, as I have spent
much time in "Alex.", living once in Ibrahimia over two years,
and I attended Commemorations of l\1uhammad Ali, Celebrations
of Leilet el-Marag, Leilet el-Qadr, &c., and in honour of the
P rophet, but never saw a moulid, and only heard of this one,
El-Wafai, which I am t old is in t h e m onth of Mu h arem .
 -305 -

Though I have certainly missed much I feel sure that

compared with Cairo , "Alex." has kept little of the old and
beautiful in buildings and in ceremonies. A an example of the
awful iconoclasm from which this great port has suffered: there
is hardly a really ancient and un 11oilt Coptic church left, hough
they form one of the pric le s riche of the metropoli .
The appended new paper account of a [oulid of the N ebi
el-Wafai, bows it to be of considerable note in Alexandria, and
a happy occasion for the poor of the di trict.
COMMEMORATI G THE PROPHET EL WAFAY
To celebrate the anniversary of the prophet "El Wafay" Maher Hassan
Farag Effendi, concessionary for the sale of newspapers in Alexandria and
Lower Egypt, has organised for this evening a ceremony over which the
Governor of Alexandria, Hussein Sabry Pa ha, will preside. A large
gathering of notabilities is expected to be present.
A marquee has been erected near the Sidi Abdel Razzak El-Wafay
Mosque, where verses of th e Koran will be chanted by eminent Sh eikhs.
As usual, food will be di tributed in the afternoon to the poor and needy
of the quarter.

W 2 (v. Sectional Map VI.)

WASTI (El-Wasti)
My murasla, Mousa, discovered this cheery little moulid, and
conducted me to it on Thur day 30 R agab 1353 (8-11-34), but
though I have looked for it se\eral times since at about that
date, I ha\e never found it in progress.
It is in the Suq el-Asr, Bulaq, and perhaps best reached by
leaving bus 15 in Sh. Abd el-Gawad at Sh. el-An ari, (which is
near the Saptia end on the left going from Sh. Fuad el-Awal) :
then following that little street which nearly cuts it till its
lights and music are apparent.
The little mosque is good and there is a certain picturesque
gentidlichkeit about its surroundings, albeit the district is one of
the poorest, and without striking monuments.
 - 306 -

L XOR
Y 1 (v. Map of Upper Eg3 pt.)
YUSSEF ABU'L HAGGAG
T his moulid falling on 14th Shaaban, rather unfortunately
clashe with that of Sidi Abd el-Rahman el-Qenawi held at Qena
which i al o in the Theban re ion, as well as with Sidi Matrawi
at Mataria, and often with other minor moulids, and in 1357
(1938) it coincided with the great Tanta moulid of Sayed el-
Beda\\i, but thi was purely accidental, because Sayed el-Beda"i
does not follow the 1o lim Ralendar but is always in October,
a nd in 1357 mid-Sbaaban happened to fall in that month. This
year, 1359 (1940), it synchronised with Sidi Rubi of the Fayum.
(v. moulid R 1).
As explained elsewhere Shaaban is crowded wit h moulids, be-
cause the next month, R amadan , excludes these celebrations,
and in the following months of Pilgrimage they are extremely
rare. More ee of the nights of Shaaban, none i o solemn as t he
eve of mid-Shaaban when each mortal's term of life is determin-
ed and written on the leaves of the Lote tree of Paradise, the
mo1·itw·i loosing their leaves this night on the shaking of the
tree, and their lives in the ensuing year.
I n addition to the characteristics of moulids generally, and
the additional attractions of Arab races and trick riding, and the
extra freedom and colour of a prm-incial moulid, there is a
peculiarity-shared as far a I know only with the sister moulid
·of Abd el-Rahim el-Qenawi,-and that is the carrying of boats in
the Zeffa, two in the case of Luxor.
T his is explained lo cally by he tradition that the holiness
a nd fen·ent effectual prayers of Sheikh Yussef Abu el-Haggag
saved the ship in which h e was returning from Mecca, \\hen the
rest of the pilgrim-fleet foundered, but anthropologists recognise
in it one of the cases, and an unusually clear one, of the adapta-
tion into an I sla mic ceremony of something far more ancient than
 Moul id
of
Yu f 1-Hagg g.

""''7 ..."!~~~ .... ~~~

( " .....

\',
'i i.tt. }
·~
~

Theb an T pe.
 - 307 -
Islam or Christiani ty. Hornell 'ha n,n interesting article in
.. 1an" of September , 1938, illu trn.ting the boats* carried m the
Lnxor Zeffa, and pointing out their re emblance to "the
cnl11tured record on the exterior of the we tern wall of the
temple of Ramses Ill, within the great enclo ure of Amun
at Karnn.c", which represent the towing of the royal barge, and
tluLt of Mut and Khons . He tate that Egyptolog ists in the
main regn,rd the Loxor proce ion as "a hadowy m·vival of the
great water festivn.l of Opet, when the Theban Triad, Amun and
hi divine companion , 1ut and Khons, journeyed up -river from
the ,a, t temple of Karnac to \isit their brine m the Luxo1·
temple" .
The e boat gail r decorated, like the "Aqaba" in the Cairo
.cerC'mony of the "Bride of the Nile", do not n,ke the wn,ter as in
the ea e of the Aqaba, but mounted on car s are dragged by
you h connected \\ith the various "Turuq", filled with children
who e parents are opposed to po sess a "Sanad" bowing their
de cent from Sidi Yussef.
Z 1 (v. Map of D oqqi district.)
Z EFETI (Sidi 1\1uhamm ad el-ZPfeti)
This is an extraordin ary instance of a moulid coming into
existence, or if it lived years ago, rising Phoenix-li ke from its
ashe , n,nd after a rapid ere cendo becoming absolutely fortissimo ,
the m ore so as its meteoric ri e has been during a period in
which Z eitgeist and the authoritie s have been anything but
propitious . I have been living since the beginning of 1922 with-
in a mile of the little qarafa of Sidi Zefeti, where the imple
tomb of my neighbour s are grouped n,bout the almost equally
unpretent ious la t resting place of thi ob cure saint, and still
nearer the Bolaq Dokrur road, 'Yhence a merry din and even
voices can easily reach me, n.ncl for O\er ten years I neither heard
the moulid, nor rumours of its exi tence. I cannot think that it
was held at all , or if it were, thn,t it was anything more than a
zikr or two at the tomb, or at th8 mo que of Duqqi.
* v. also "N at ure" -about O ctober I938
 - 308-

It cry talli ed into a definite moulid, but a \ery minute one.

in 1351, when the main night was Sunday, lOth Gnmad Tani .
(11. 9. 32). Though away when it wa held in 1352, I aw it-
still mall bu grown a li le-in 1353: and in 1354 it was reported
on return from absence o ha e become a big affair, and to have
bad a long n1n. In 1355 I left Egypt for a couple of month
~arly in Rabia Tani, and left it de\eloping-swings, Qara Goz, and
·nch like already \ery popnla,r, and I was much surprised on my
return to find it till going rong, much stronger, in fact. A
record run I should think, but I am told it was omewhat inter-
mittent. It culminated that year on Thursday, 24 Gnmad Tani.
(10. 9. 1936}, imply immen e, a tring of booth and tent of all
sorts, with paces for zikr , sw·ing , Arab singers, and the rest·
extending from the Waqf building , at the cross road , (Bulaq
Dukrur and the road fron1 the Orman Gardens to the Agricul-
tural 1(u eum), pa t Duqqi nearly to the line at Bnlaq Du krur.
I have only een thi side of a moulid exceeded in Cairo at that
of Sidna Hu ein in 1353, (193 4), when the booths fringed the foot
of the gabal from he end of Sharia el-Gedida, (the continuation
of the Mu ki), to the necropoli out ide the Bab el-Nasr .

In the year of the Prophet 1357, (1938), it was even greater,

especially in the magnitude of the theatres and their castes, and
of the dancing cafes and ringas, and though the last night and
the culmination was 22 Gumad Tani, (18-8-38), and the next day
the Khitama only, I could then till hear the sonnd of tars and
naqaras, the cracking of the percussion cap when a strong man
pushed the little engine up to the limit of the rail, and the
varied sounds and voices of a moulid.

But the clot6 was the marvellous zeffa in the afternoon.

Sections of it made preliminary tours of the fields before 4
o'clock, and by about 5 all had met in the village of Duqqi.
Duqqi is a stronghold of the Qadiriya, ~-;~\All ~_?JI, that great
primitive and original sect founded by Abd el-Qadir el-Galani,
who was buried in Bagdad in 1165 A. D., (A. H. 561), and of the
 - 309 -
branc h of the
Rifai ya, ~\t) l ~)J \, an imme nsely powe rful
by the "Sult an" Rifai,
Qadir ia, found ed, a i s name impli es,
black bann ers " ·ere
burie d in Bo rain 1182 A.D., (578) (1) . Their
nt, as they rotat ed,
very prom inent , and their den·i hes \ery ferve
of tar, JU, ,kas, V"\(,
dab us in hand, in a circu lar dance to the sound
nuqa ra, • .J\.A; etc.
t, c n ordin ary
The clab'us is not as its name would sugge
ion, ortur e and
pin, but an anom olou instru ment of devot
about two feet
mu ic. It is a traig ht and point ed rod of steel
in which ea e it
in lengt h, with a spher ical head, eithe r of wood
hollo w metal , and
re embl es the "Jack " playe d at in bowls , or of
er of little chain s,
in each ea e fringe d at the top with a numb
Thes e play the part
beari ng at the free end a tl'ian gle of metal .
young derYi b, with a wild cheY elure which would
of bells . One
y bowi ng me his
have been startl ing even on a Be hari, in kindl
tm, as it conta ined
dabus , ca.lled it a shakh shakh a, -~.;..I..!.;.;. a sistn.
T his wou ld intere t
objec ts whic h conve rted it into a rattle .
ersity , for in his
Prof. Newb erry, late of the Egyp tian Univ
y that the royal
book on Ancie nt Egyp t, be Yoices his theor
the king could call
scept re was in origin a si trvm , with which
ideal scept re for a
to order or reduc e to silenc e. Wha t an
it did not produ ce
despo tic mona rch the dabus would make ! If
"·ith the head or a
the desire d effec t when used as a rattle , a blow
royal ty.
prod with the point , would effec ti ely asser t
i was buried in
(I) My author ity for the statem ent that "S ultan" el-Rifa
tine" ), but I unders tand from
Bosra is Bliss (v. ''Relig ions of Syria and Pale
Confe rences and Books on the mosqu es and other
Mrs. D evonsh ire, whose
m uch apprec iated, that the great
m onume nts of Cairo are so well known and so
opposi te that of Sultan H asan was built compa rativel y
m osque of S ultan Rifa i
includ ing Mi r alai Gayer -
re cently about the shrine of El-R ifai. O thers,
of accura te inform ation on such matter s, ar e con-
A nde rson Bey, who is full
but actual ly holds the body
fident that the shrine in questi on is no cenota ph
of that g reat found er.
to the F atimit es for this
Is Egypt (and Cairo in particular) indebt ed
precio us posses sion? I wonde r 1
 - 310

But I am delaying the proce ion! It is preceded by the

traditional lexandrian , in their picturesque boleros, and baggy
libas, ome holding up long pole bearing a kind of highly deco-
rated and ta elled istrum, om dancing or spinning, and in
thi ea one, n, bicycle exp rt, holding his in\erted machine in
hi te th . Then the del·vishes of the "turuq", followed by the
"Khalifa" qn hor eback with a couple of baby Bedouins, most
picture que in laa a ~-~, and aaqal, JtA~. As th word implies
~}1. 1 , the khalifa, repre nt the heikh in whose honour the
moulid i held, and i cho en from hi family. In thi case the
Sheikh Abu Zaid filled he role with dignity. Then more of the
tu1''lbq with their banner and their a hes, bearing the insignia,
nishan, 0l:.i of the sect, and other playing all kinds of music, or
gyrating a lone or rotating with their fellows in the dance of the
dababis; ome also carrying ere sets, mishal, (J•!..-) to keep the
skins on the tambourines taut, hough this wa not nece ary as
the thoughtful 'illager had kindled tiny fires by the wayside for
this purpose. To varj the dancing, cm·tain of the dervishes
thru t their dabus though the lip or cheek; then suddenlj going
down and impaling them el\e with their dababis, in the fac e.
throat, che t or abdomen, they formed a human causeway -
gisr, F"">:" , with their bodie , and a local sheikh of note, Sheikh
Ayed, repre entative and descendant of El-Rifai, walked upon
them, making a short prayer and exhortation at intervals. An
effendi of the tribe of El-Rifai did the same, and this was
repeated everal times before the zeffa had pa sed out of th e
village. L agging behind to see the rest of the zeffa pass, I
noticed that the theatre companj of "Saida Fatima el-Kisara",
in two well-filled carts, brought up the rear with songs , music
and belly-dances. T hej were a pied g,nd multicoloured and lively
party. They gave out paper with some of their photograph , ,
and which notified that Fatima and her caste were there to
honour the Sheikh Muhammad el-Zefeti,-
( J..U~ 4j-! jl .J.'f 1$.A:- ..u-'"· y lA:>. I ))
 -3 11 -
the Bula q Dukrur road ,
At leng th the zeffa eme rged into
brid ge was reac hed, shed ding
follo wing it wes twar d till the cana l
the Alex andr ines and Fati ma
all secu lar elem ents on the \\ay,
the beau tiful spot , whe re
Ki ara' part y. Fina ll} it reac hed
, unde r migh ty tree , an
Z efeti 's body rests in the lush gras
as Gray 's eleg y mig ht ha\e
Eng lish- look ing coun try pot, such
com men ced and \i it paid
been com pose d in. The n zikr s were
take n hour , for neve r in
to the tom b : vi its whic h mu t have
uch a conc ours e. It was a
mod ern time s can Zefe ti ha\e seen
n the mer ry side of a mou lid
sign ifica nt as it is typic al, that whe
le is enor mou s!} enha nced .
is not chec ked, the piety of the peop
mou lid pret ty well . To
The abov e desc ripti on loca te the
ser\ es till near ly 9 o'clo ck,
get ther e from town , No. 4 bu
6, or t1am 15 take one to
pass ing righ t thro ugh it. Bns No.
of a few min utes due wes t
the Eng lish Brid ge, whe nce a wn,lk
Taxi s and cabs are a lway s to
lead s to Duq qi and the mou lid.
and that is the start ing poin t
be foun d at the Eng li h Brid ge, but is
es thro ugh the mou lid,
for the Kha rdas a bu whic h pass
at or befo re 9.
very infre quen t and cea e to run
ted from the de crip tion
A rath er strik ing incid ent wa omit
hand "'Om e and patr ician little lad
of the zeffa . A rema rkab ly
took from a derv ish, doub tle a rela ti'\'e, his dab'l.t,S and thru st
chee k. Was thi I won der,
it in and, I belie ve, thro ugh hi own
the initi ation cere mon ie of zik1·
a vari ant on, or an addi tion to
nded one of the "blo odin g" of
and war d ~ .JJ , (rosa r}) ? It remi
deat h in a hard hun .
a youn g r ider who is well in at the
I hav no relia ble or
A for Sidi Zefe ti, I regr et that
of hi tory or trad ition .
cons isten t info rmat ion, in the way
mor e mete oric than his
Aln,s, Shei kh Zefe bi's fall was even
mou lid was held on Sund ay,
rise! I was in Euro pe whe n the
was told on my retu rn that it
27 Gum ad II, 1358 (13-8 -39), but
reas on gene rally a igne d was
had been drea dful ly redu ced. The
hs, tent s, etc., who had paid
that the cafe tiers , own ers of boot
 -312-
well the previou year for the use of the waste land by the side
of the road, had been unable to come to terms with the Waqf
officials and others concerned.
This year of the Prophet 1359 (1940), the specious war
pretext seems to have given almo t the cottp de gTace, for even
swing and such like put up by local enterprise (possibly ir-
regularly in ome technical waJ) were pulled down before the
final night on the 18th Ragab, (22-8-40), and the people of Duqqi
and \i itors were bitterly disappointed. I am told, howe er, that
there was a zeffa in the afternoon, but by no means like that
of 1357 de cribed abo,e; and that there was no crush of pilgrims
at the tomb.

Z 2 (v. Sectional Map XV.)

ZEIN EL-ABDIN
The moulid of Ali el-Asghar, Zein el-Abdin, was formerly
one of he great celebrations of Islam, and certainly should be
still, seeing that Cairo is pri \·ileged to guard the shrine of one of
the leading characters in the History and Religion of the Prophet,
who was Zein el -Abdin' great-grandfather.
It wa still big and impre sive when I saw it on Saturday,
5th Shaabl'tn, 1351, (3.12.32), in its weirdly wonderfu l setting of
tombs and mighty mosques, but it Wl'tS not held at all in 1352,
because, I am told, there was a murder somewhere in the qarafa,
4Jij , necropoli , in which the shrine is situated, though I
cannot trace any connection between the crime and the
moulid.

On Saturday, 6th Safr, 1353, (19.5.1934), I witnessed a

miserable simulacrum of the moulid, and even this poor ghost
was laid until ] 357, when gallant attempts were made by the
friends of the saint to bring him into his own again. The
zeffa and the great night were fixed for Saturday, 17th Gumad
Tani, (13.8.38), and a week before that the Qarafa and the
approaches to the shrine were thronged by pilgrims. The treat-
 -31 3-
was heart-
ment it then suffer ed from the Police of Saida Zenab
ds perha ps it has the
rendin g, the more so as of all Cairo mouli
in a cemet ery where
most purely religio us charac tet·, and being
seeme d almos t wanto n.
there i no traffic whate ver, the aggre s ion
last night wa peace ful
Thou gh the zeffa wa · not allowe d, the
stic and goodly crowd ,
and happy *and attend ed by an en husia
had been sent out, and
many from remot e part , for invita tion
the fame of this great Wali i as wide a Islam .
g tram ,
The appro ach, by the way, is \ery easy, by Khali
hkhan a and
No. 5 or 22 ; the Qaraf a being near the Salak
Muha mmad Ali's Aqued uct.
and the
There was no secula r side, no amus emen t park,
did not eem to call for
gener al chara cter of this celebr ation
Fiqis who ang in th cafes
the e, thoug h I regret ted tbat the
were o much appre ciated in
and hops of the di trict, and \vho
heard , or at lea t I neithe r , aw
the good old day , are no longe r
the shrine an d
nor heard them ; but I did not wand er much from
I wa pri\ile geJ to enter the
its imme diate , urrou nding s.
grille in metal with a floral
holy of holies, where a beaut iful
ds and bouqu et of fre h
de ign, enclos es the tomb, and gadan
of these I was prese nted.
ro es add b ea nty to it. With some
in? That I hould be still in
But WHA T doe the tomb conta
difficu lty there is to ob-
unoer tainty illns trates the ext raord inary
matte r . Abd
tain defini te or rclia.b le iu.for matio n about these
autho rity, in hi Tob aqat ,
el -Wab ab el-Sha arani, a recog ni ed
ht to Cairo and buried n ear
clearl y state ,-"Hi s head \Ya broug
the Citad el,-in Old Cairo ."
the aqued uct which brings water to
~I _r4 r., d..lAll Jl ,. \ll ol?, ;.r ~ _,Al~ .::..;J., _, ~ Jl .t.-i; .::...U-_,
I en joy d,t
Yet the Sheik h El-Sa yed Ali Abclin, who e hospi tality
piritu al if not the blood succe ssor,
who is, I under stand , the
Govern orat , which checke d
*Note -the result of r eprese nta t ions made to the
the des tr uctive zeal of the local a uthorit ies.
under strange tragic
t - This sheikh 's sudden death was recentl y anno unced
circum stances .
- - - .... ~ ~ -~---------~-- ..... "'..... --~~··!~~:·:. ··.: .• _,_

-314-
(but I am told both), of Zein el-Abdin in unbroken "silsila", at-
te ted by diploma, "sanad", and who would, I suppose, have
ridden as "Khalifa", had he zeffa been allowed, assured me that
the entiTe body of the Waly lies there, and was supported by
relative and heikhs who natura,lly ha\e inner knO\ ledge. If a
casting vote can be taken to decide the question, the Sheikb directly
in charge of the tomb, on being a ked by me if the tomb contained
the body, replied,-"No, only the Noble H ead, u __,..:.H u-iJI·
In the qa1·aja, not many yards from the great door of the
daTeh, through which there was a perpetual passing of a crowd
of pilgrim o and from the inner maqam, a gaunt and terrible
creature fa cinated literally an immense ring of people. He was
a Magzub from Upper Egypt: in the army once, I was told, now
a religious maniac : and never have I met in real life, a being
with such a powerful and terrible personality. He hurled Jere-
miads at the people and kept them entranced and terror-stricken
by his voice, his fearsome gestures, and his marvellous whirling
and contortion . He wa~ a born witch doctor, and now and again
melt out a heretic or a piou fraud, and hypnoti ed him on the
spot. Some ime the ring wa like a spot on the island of Circe.
bodies with the head bent back nearly to earth, or cireulating
upside-down on all fours and looking like scorpions, or bleating
cries for mercy in ovine voices, or in the attitude of an ass car-
rying the magznb on their back or shoulders, whilst be himself
emitted sound which were anything but human, roars, grunts,
and animal note inde cribable. When he took a new victim in
ha,nd, be generally fixed him with fierce wild eyes, and with
fingers vibrating like claws a ked him,-"Are you laughing at
me ?"-for he was as sensitive to ridicule as Cyrano de Bergerac,
and I ::~,m m·e, would just as willingly have run the offender
through the body. Without waiting for a reply, and indeed the
subject wa u ually rendered speechless and helple s, be seized
him by the hair, nose, or any member, swung him into the ring,
made a few more rapid passes with his hand and if necesBary
again usf'd his eyes and \oice on him, and then at once proceed-
ed to the Circe transformations .
 - 315 -
some
Early on he had not come into his power , and used
scruti nJ, though only just.
restra int, and even pa sed police
sly gene and very consci ous of
When I ,vas near he wa obviou
with his sphinx questi on, with
me, and in fact challe nged me
not quite
balefu l eye , and cla" workin g like snakes , but had
"ith truth that I wa not
his usual confid ence. I assure d him
ten ion bluffed him by asking
laughi ng at him, and to relieve the
moulid of Abd el-Rah im el-
if he did not remem ber me at the
I h ad never then been, but
Qenaw i, (to which in poin of fact
and he re1)lied -"Yes , by God,
gue ed he as a Saidi would have,)
Eg 'P ian
I remem ber you well". Thi I think was purely the
all otl:rer feeling . It was
in tinct of poli tene , which conqu ers
upon him with unu ual
toward midni ght that the Spirit came
Then the police kindly
po"·er , and he came into "hi hour".
" aff zabat" who thoug ht,
and wisely left us a lon e, except one
his duty o interfe re . He
but wa not quite ure, that it wa
I con-
shudd ered away,- in time,- like a falling "ither ed leaf.
l\1amu r of the Qi m in he
fes I should have liked to see the
like Saul of the per ecut -
magic ring : he might have been cured
credite d. The la t occu lt
ing tenden cies with which he i locally
of a highly re pec a ble-
triump h I witne sed was the subjug ation
him to be
lookin g sheikh , wearin g a green turban , procla iming
t ou!.' ring at
of the seed of the Proph et. H e was walkin g pa
tb veople
some di tance, but he witch- doctor dashed throug h
g off his
and had him into the charm ed circle in a fla h, tearin
, and daring
green aama, and accu ing him of being a false Sharif
of cere-
to approa ch Zein el-Abd in whilst "niggi " (in a state
monia l impur ity).
,
With fl ashing eyes, the "Shar if" indign an ly expo tulated
face expre -
bu t he met other eJ e , and his \Vent dull, and his
after many
sion!e s, and his voice lapsed into a11osiopesis; and
was down
antics worth y of Qara Goz, at word of comm and he
of Ulysse s.
and grunti ng on a ll fours, like the compa nions
zikr-
Then after dancin g a pas seul, b e perfor med a lonel)
cry, so full
Allah! Allah! Allah! - which chang ed into a mere
 -316-
of pain and pathos, and so high-pitched, that it resembled no
sound I have ever heard except the dying cry of an animal
poisoned by pru sic acid. We a.ll appealed to the Magzub to
de ist, to which he responded making a few counter passes, and
thru ting the Sharif out of the ring with words that sounded
like an ab olution. Heal o dealt with two or three other of his
subjects still lying about, absol ing some, but heaping unheard-
of and horrible curse on one and hurling him among the tombs.

Out of curiosity, I followed the "Sharif", and got into

conver ation with him, asking him the name of the Magzub.
He said he did not know, though he had seen him once before,
and he was "a very good man". "But", I said, "what he has
ju t put you through must have been dreadful for you." "Any-
thing but dreadful", he replied,- "I love a Zikr". And he
looked at me with an expre sion of great surpri e, as though
entirely unconsciou of his recent canine, ovine, porcine and
Punch-like ariants.

Seated on a tomb tone to meditate on the strange beauty of

the surrounding , the whispering of veiled women- vaguely
seen- came to me, with the ound of zikrs, and the singing
or droning of holy men, and the animal cries of the untiring
magz'L~b. Tombstones all abont and a few trees, and in the
di tance veritable mansions of the dead, some of them fresh
with flowers and greenery, and festooned minarets, and their
ancient domes glowing softly in some hidden light: partly the
effect of the now risen moon. I tried to place him whom we
were honouring in the scheme of things. Grandson of the Imam
Ali and Fatma, daughter of the Prophet, he escaped death on
the field of Rarbela with his father Sidna Husein, "the martyr,"
and elder brother, Ali el-Akbar, through his being too sick and
too young to fight, and died in the year 99 at the age of 58,
having founded a line illustrious to this day in t.he person of the
Agha Khan and others. For Zein el-Abdin, Ali el-Asgha1·, was
father of Gaafar Sadiq, the sixth Imam, whose son Ismail was
 - 317 -
the A sas ins
the first of the sect of I muiliy a, which embra ced
Old Man of the Moun tains, who proYe d
under Ra hid el-Din , the
r in the sides of the Crusa der , and
such a thorn , or rathe r dagge
some call it blackm ail), which tens of
who levied a tribut e, (or
till pay to hi succe sor, the great
thous ands of Ismai liyans
We owe many Cairo mouli d to
Derby winne r at Bomb ay.
from that of Sidna Husei n: Sitna
hi imme diate family , apart
amon g them,
Sakin a, Saida Aye ha, and Fatim a el-Ne bawi 'a
ter Fatim a, havin g her JJ1aqam
the last named , hi grand daugh
gover norate , benea th the windo ws
and her mouli d, behin d the
a yearly sourc e of deligh t to the
of the I tyana f pri on-
prison er .

Z 3 (v. Sectio nal Map XIII.)

~~j o~
ZENA B (Saida Zenab )
Saida Zenab is
After the birthd ay of he Proph et, that of
o her of cours e
one of the two leadin g l\1ou lid of Cairo, the
being chilJr n
being that of her broth er Sidna Hu ein : the two
the Proph et, and
of the Imam Ali and Fatim a daugh ter of
Thoug h don bts
theref ore grand childr en of J\1uha mmad him elf.
in the Cairo
have been throw n on the authe nticit y of the tomb
enoug h to deaw
mosqu e, ancie nt tradit ion and belief are strong
d shrine each
the best part of a millio n pilgri ms to this repute
old nor famou s
year. Tbe mosqu e itself, thoug h attrac tive, is not
older mo que 140
archit ectura lly: it wa built on the site of an
t mode rnisat ion
years (lunar ) ago by Muha mmad Ali. The recen
of a fine old tree
of the squar e of Saida Zenab , and destru ction
diate neigh hour-
and tomb and other such objec ts in the imme
posse ssed a few
hood have depriv ed it of much of the charm it
years ago.
on the
After a run of three weeks , the mouli d termi nates
as far a my
neare st Tuesd ay to the middl e of Ragab , at least
also 16th Rn,gab ;
exper ience goes: in 1348, 16th Ragab ; 1351,
Ragab ; 1357,
1353, J 4th Ragab ; 1354, 17th Ragab ; 1355, 13th
(20.8.40).
18th Ragab ; 1358, 14th Ragab ; 1359, 16th Ragab
 -318-

The writer made an early and strange acquaintance of

mo que, tomb and moulid in 1319, (1901), being smuggled into
the very exclu ive penetralia, on one of the early nights, by two
of the on of Arabi Pa ha and the son of my host, Hamad
Iahmud, later friend and doctor to Zaglul, and now Minister of
H giene. I was introduced to Sheikhs and notables who knew
the lads, a a Turki h vi itor of great piety, and Harold Ea e,
whom many of my readers must have met, and who al o \\as
muggled in, a a dumb den·i h ; and we were rec~eived with a
kindly ho pitality which smote our consciences. Seated and
drinking qi1ja (cinnamon tea) I made the most of my \ery
limited Turki h and Arabic, and we \\'ere all happy, till someone
had the mauvaise idee of bringing over to our little group a B ey
from Stambul who, he thought, would Jove a chat with
a fellow count1'yman. Hamad and the Arabi boys were in the
greate3t consternation, and before Base and I realised what
cour e the proposed taking, the Arabis bolted across the mosque,
and H amad, not then perfected in the ways of diplomacy, did
the same. The dumb de1·vish and I, ribt knowing what fate
might await us, followed them out of . the mosque and down
Baghala at high speed.
Any of the Saida Zenab trams, 4, 7, 12; and busses, 2, 9,
etc. take one to the door of the mosque. So well known is Saida
Zenab that this information may seem superlative, but some
resident ha\e so concentrated on certain parts of Cairo to the
neglect of others, that I dare not omit it, - having in mind an
jncident of some years ago. Dining a fe" e\enings before the
big night, with 1r. Humpbreys of Bulaq Duqrur, who had been
resident here since about the end of last century, I asked him
if he '\\ould like to come with me to the moulid, and be replied,
"I should lo\e to, but what is a moulid and where is Saida
Zenab ?"
A feature of this moulid has always been the numerous zikrs
in and about the mosque, and in the side streets and courts,
and until recent years the singing sheikhs in Bid el-Barani, who
 - 319 -
come under the El-
seem unhap pily to have, to a large exten t,
on or mora ls". Al o the
Azha r ban on anyth ing "agai n t religi
chara cters have been
fi\e-l egged cow, Qara Goz and other
en 1·evan che, quite a big
chase d from the preci ncts. Bnt
the ea t, by the Darb el-
amu emen t park prang up a\ ay to
al theat res and many
Gama miz, and the Khali g, with sever
I ha\e not seen a prope r
show s, stalls and enter tainm ents.
In 1353 Billy Willi ams
zeffa with moun ted "Rha lifa" since 1351.
g riding in his "Pi te a
amaz ed thou anrl of peopl e by his da1·in
in vague which was
la Iorte ". Rece nt build ing on the terra
utili ed \Yill make thing s diffic ult. *
s bagar re
Some ten years or more ago there was a serieu
, mostl y Saidi . A
at which a nnmb r of peopl e were killed
full of piety and fun,
most rare occur ence, as a monli d crowd is
taken into the thick
and good Lemper. And ladies whom I haYe
ers", for a way
of the Saicla Zena b crow d would add, "good mann
pleas antly , and every
is alway s made for them , polite ly and
lady comp anion s
consi derat ion sho" n. On one occas ion my
tomb , a favou r which
were invite d into the mosq ue to visit the
ciativ e and grate ful.
delig hted them and left them most appre
rema rked, "a.nd her
"Said a Zena b was a lady," one of them
votar ies here a.re gentl emen ."
ENV OI
of writin g I am
It is the hour of sunse but at the mom ent
t,
er it be this mont h, last mont h or
not sure of the date ,- ''heth
has been alrea dy chang ed recen tly,
the next. The official date
ids of Matr awi and Rubi, and now
as ment ioned unde r the moul
the cresc ent of Rama dan to decid e
the Ro'ya is looki ng for
whet her Shaa ban
whet her the mont h of Fasti ng is to begin , er
is to claim anoth er day.
on of Ibn el-Tou loun, by
* Note, - A fresh spot was selecte d in the directi
the new garden s.
d on in a letter to
The up-to- date aspect of this moulid is touche
tian Gazet te" of 4 Septem ber, 1940, (2 Shaab an, 1359),
the "Egyp
end of my "Intro ductor y" Chapt er.
and quoted in extens o at the
 -- 320 -

Anyway this is the 2nd October, 1940 A.D., and the ~2nd
Tut in the Coptic year of the martyrs 1657, and the eye of the
Jewi h New Year, 5001 A. 1., a well as being the year 1359 A.H.
and the cannons will fire and the minarets be all ablaze, if we are
to welcome Ramadan.
1y li t of Egyptian Saint ends appropriately enongh with
two of the greate t of I lam, the great grandson and the grand -
daughter of the Prophet, but i i strange and regrettable that
the Nebawiya group of the near relative~ of 1uhammad, of
uprerne valu in religiou hi tory, hould seemingly ha\e suf-
fered e\. . en more than ome of th le exalted. The account of
Zein el-Din' moulid, as in the ea es of the two Fatimas, is just
a "Tale of Woe", and one who has witnessed recently their agony
is tempte:i for a moment to repeat the despairing words of Keats
in his "Hyperion", -
"Leave them, 0 Muse! for thou anon wilt find
1any a fallen old divinity,
Wandering in \ain about bewildered shores."
or to paraphra e tbe 1\ord of the same poet-
Ay, the count
Of mighty Poets is made up; the scroll
Is folded by the Muses; -
substituting "Poets" by Moulids: but what are we to put in the
place of ":Muses"?
I had proposed holding up the MSS of this compilation till the
end of Shaaban, the completion of the moulid season, but passed
all in to the printer on the 18th of this month, rather on the
"de mortuis nil nisi bonum" principle, for I found some old
friends dead, and others reduced to such lifeless condition
that I felt NIL to be the word.-
But- to adapt the old h3 mn ! -
"Sometimes a light urprises,
The pilgrim on his road",
 -32 1-

e of Sidi Haro un
the \ery next day I was umm oned to the shrin
citate d mou lid very much
el- Huse ini, and found his recen tly resus
ual enthu siasm , and joyou s
ali ,-e, an inspi ring little scene of spirit
piety .

nearl y six
Then came the welco me surpr ise that, altho ugh
his own, when the
mont h late, Sidi ~Iarzuk wa to come into
of his moul id being de-
hopes of his votar ies had faded ; and in spite
zeffa was o maje tic
nuded of some of its few popul ar items , its
e were hardl y mi ed,
and o true to tradit ional lines, that the
ensib le with the
and Qara Goz suppl ied the pabul um o indisp
I mu t induc a
youn gster s. Some accou nt of the. e t"'-o at least
246)
the print er to find a pln,ce for. (v. pp. 211 and

disco very
I canno t ask them to do so in the case of a small
d me to make on the 27th
the "Kha lifa" of Sidi el-An sari helpe
Sheik h el-Go udari in a little
of Shaa ban,- the tiny moul id of the
from the Bab el- litwa li.
stree t of the ame name , not far

ban, - Saleh
Of the other I saw in the latter part of Shaa
Hasa n el-An -war, 1an i, An :-tri, Mar afa
Hadd ad, Sulta n Hana fi,
y so, Bahlu l a little bette r, and Saud i
were black -outs or nearl
far as they went.
and Abdu lla H agr very small but good as
beaut iful little tomb of that emin ent
But when I sough t the
ancie nt place under the Bab el-Fa tub
saint, Sitna Sutuh ia, in it
d, and local peopl e expla ined that she
it bad imply disap peare
e her moul id must be struc k off the
had been dug up. Of cours
scroll .

the two great

I canno t speak for the impo rtant moul ids of
of D emar dash, as
he1·mits Barsu m el-Ar yan, and ~1uhammadi
Shaab an, clash ing
they both fell on the eve of the last Frida y of
ration s. They
with that of Sidi Marz uk, and some mino r celeb
told that the mona stery groun ds at
were both held, and I am
 - 322

Maasara were thronged much as usual, and that the usual

tash1·ija was held at the zawia of Sheikh Muhammadi.
Their date coincided with 16th Tut 1657, (26th Sept. 1940).
The Fea t of S. T 're a on October 3rd wa mentioned, at
the end of Oh. I, as perhaps the neare t Catholic approximation
to an Egyptian moulid that we have. This is the last night of
the Novena of the "Little Flower", and at more than one minor
celebration at which I have as isted during the past week, the
vast Ba ilica, ( prung in a few years from a tiny room used as a
chapel), ha been crowded and the precinct.s full of life, with
people of all denominations of Catholic and Orthodox christen-
dam, and many l\Io lems and Jews, invoking the miracle-
working saint or bringing voti e offerings to her shrine. (The
phenomenal rise of thi cult ha , I fear, thrown into the shade
the ancient miracle shrine of the Emir Tadros, (S. Theodore) in
the Haret el-Rum, which though in Coptic hands is equally in
vogue with Mo lems.) The ight at Shubra tomorrow afternoon
at the time of the Bl8s ing of the Roses, will indeed be a striking
one, especially for the comparative few who succeed in finding a
place within the church.

But there is no longer any doubt about the date. The

Cairenes are all agog, and, leaving this emJoi for a few minutes,
I witnes ed the beautiful sight of the glowing minarets. About
th2 manshieh of Muhammad Ali alone, on the two mosques of
Sultan Rifai and that of the citadel, there must be the best part
of a thousand lamps ablaze, and the domes of these and of Sultan
Hasan are either flood-lit or show up as if they were in their
light.
I am being gr8eted by

RAMADAN KERIM
to which I say in reply, as I do to all my kind and patient readers.
ALLAH AKRAM
FET E of S. TERESA.
 - 323 -

Post Scriptum.
It is with the gr atest he itation that I take up my pen
.again after completing he "Envoi" : but from one cause and
.another, an unexpected!. ' long time has elap ed since that date,
1st. Ramadan, 1359 when the 1\ISS were pa ed in to the
printers and the appearance of the book. So that nmv, at the
eleventh hour, seeing in an Engli h paper, a leading article
entitled "A PLEA FOR IOULIDS", completely endorsing my
point, the temptation to display to my reader such a 1·ara avis
is too strong for me.
As the writer-to me unknown,- of thi "1 ader", refer
to a letter the "Egyptian 1\lail" had pn bli bed a few days
earlier, I have obtained the issue which contained this, and al o
their issue containing an account of the Return of the Mabmal
referred to therein. Here follow therefore,-
From the "Egyptian 1\Iail" of Sunday, 16 February, 1941,
(20 l\1uharem, 1360)
- the shorter of two articles on the "Return of the
l\1ahmal".
From the "Egyptian Mail" of Friday, 21 February,-
-a letter on "The l\1ahmal Camel", signed
"Abu Ma aud".
From the "Egyptian Iail" of Sunday, 23 February,-
-the leade1· entitled , "A PLEA FOR l\10ULIDS".

Return of Mahmal

Yesterday morning Hussein Sirry Pasha the Prime Minister, as the

representative of H.\1. King Farouk, d rove in state from the Presidency of
the Council of Minister to the Mouled el-Nebi Midan at Abbassia, where the
ceremony of the return of the Mahmal to Cairo took place.

The usual review of Egyptian Army units was held, the Prime Minister
taking the salute in place of the King, and then the processions of Sufi
dervishes went past the great marquee with their banners and drums.
- - ... ~ ~ -~-~~ . .... H" ~~·~: .... ·:'--->..:

- 324-
The most interesting part of the programme was that of the camel
carrying the 'lahmal making the seven rounds in the square, at the end of
which the Emir El-Haj handed its halter to the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister drove back to his office with the same ceremonial
while a salvo of guns was fired.

The Mahmal Camel

To The Editor of The Egyptian Mail

Sir,
The articles on page 2 and 3 of the unday Egyptian Mail coucerning
the Mahmal ceremony were pleasant and interesting reading, and still more
so the view of this fine old function in the eyes of the tens and tens of
thousand of people who came from near and far to witness it.

You mention that "the most interesting part of the programme was that
of the camel carrying the Mahmal--", and so say all of us, though the
military and other elements were brave sights.

As on the occa ion of the departure of the Kiswah, everyone wanted the
camels, and there wa~ some anxiety until they appearec and great relief and
joy then, for it was well known that some pressure had been put on the
Prime Minister last spring, by-it was believed-a high personage, to mu-
tilate the ceremony by cutting the camel out.

It is a mystery why such people cannot find evils to combat, or good

objects to promote, without letting what looks like sheer ignorance and
arrogance lure them to such limits as to urge the destruction of a picturesque
and majestic ational and Islamic custom, which had met with the approval
and support of Egypt's leaders and saints for many centuries.

It seems indeed heartless also to wish to deprive the populace, partic-

ularly the poor, of one of their remaining innocent and legitimate joys.

I feel confident, Sir, that I have the whole of Saturday's great multitude
with me, in thanking the Government and the Prime Minister for preserving
the Mahmal ceremony intact, and w~ utter a heartfelt chorus of
El H amd Lillah !
am, Sir, Yours etc.
ABU MASAUD.
Cai1·o, Feb. 18, 1941.
 32 5-
A Ple a For Mu led s
ting
r from one of our read ers, prot e
few days ago we publ ished a lette
A agai nst the grad ual but relcn tle _s
appl ied by tho e in auth ority to
proc e
the
s
old
of supp
tradi
ressi
tiona
on
l
whic h is
cere mon ies and
bein

lar life for

g

ed the core of Egyp tian popu

merr yma king whic h have form
cent uries . s.
natu ral unde r chan ging cond ition
Trad ition s die out. Tha t is only be oci ally harm ful,
tradi tions m ay well
Othe r tradi tions arise , and some ee dis-
s of uper stitio n and igno ranc e, whic h no one woul d regr et to
relic disap prov ing eye, and
as casti ng a cold and
appe ar. But that is not the same at its com man d, on the
offic ialdo m ha
enfo rcing it with all the pow er
and the poor er class e of Egyp t.
ordi nary plea sure s of the fella hin mpa ny
fun and gaie ty whic h used to acco
The repre ssion of all the secu lar nces of this ort of
of the most strik ing insta
saint s' birth days in Egy pt i one loca l saint ' birth day,
cele brati on of the
intol eran ce. For gene ratio ns the only brea k in the drab and
been abou t the
com mon ly calle d a 'mul ed', has Swin gs, roun dabo uts,
peas ant's exist ence .
colo urles s mon oton y of the and cheR p finer y, flari ng
of swee tmea ts
tumb lers, danc ers, plays , boot hs in hand with
the fun of the fair, went hand
light s and sizzl ing 'fela fel', all ious sway of the 'zikr ', the
tomb , the delir
the reve rent visit to the saint 's holy mosq ue. It is a
ts and field s to the
solem n proc es ion throu gh the stree the very word holid ay, so
over the wor ld-
proc ess whic h is dupl icate d all Day, and
merr imen t, bega n its life as Holy
full of gay relie f and light hear ted with relig iou festi vity.
hand in hand
popu lar rejoi cing has alwa ys gone soon be
hand of offic ialdo m has its way, these rejoi cing s will
If the dead ed on the secu lar
day new restr ictio ns are plac
a thing of the past. Ever y else to
of the fact that the peas ant has little
cele brati on of mule ds, rega rdl ess s no gam es. He cann ot
not read . l-ie know
brig hten his life. He does if they
ern m etho ds of distr actio n, even
affo rd cinem as, or radio s, or mod long as noth ing bette r is
more desir able. As
were , as they often are not, shou ld at
whtr e are there signs of it? -he
prov ided for his recr eati on- and stoo d the test of cent uries .
plea sure s that have
least be left the old tradi tiona l
lett er in the Intr odu ctor y
My read ers will rem emb er a
and date d 25-4-40, Toic ing the
cha pter , sign ed Abu la am1
tion had been mad e to the
indi gna tion of the pPople th3, t ugge
el-A zhar , to aba ndo n the cam el
Prim e Min iste r by a shei kh of
(a pub lish ed in the "Eg ypti an
par t of the Mah mal cere mon y,
the pres s cutt ings in this post -
Gaz ette " of 9-3-40). Tha t mak es
scri pt clea r.
 -326-
I understand that the further letter of Abu Masaud of
21-2-41 appeared in the "Egyptian Mail" verbatim, except for the
deletion of its heading,- "Cacoethes delendi",- and the prudent
omission by the editor or censor in the last clause of "the P1·o-
phet's camels", who were included with the writer and the
multitude in returning thanks. I think Abu Masaud had in
mind the Qoranic text in the OhapteT of the Pilg1·image.
«~I o)J44"»

«~ y f-l J,1 Jl..:.. ~.. fl \•W~ 0~1_, »

which is rendered in the only translation I possess, and which is
rather archaic Italian, -
"I camelli devono participare all' omaggio che rendete all'
Altissimo."
One wonder whether tbe learned Sheikh had forgotten
this, wheu he tried to fore;e the hand of the 1ini ter, and to
deprive people and camel of a rightful and beautiful fragment
of their heritage:>, and indeed whether the injunction in the
Chapter of the Sanctlta1·y, << ulf.J..l oJ.ra » , i not sometimes
overlooked:-
« 1?.:11 .;:.;.J-.4 J _,! fl.J.ol I_,.;; ':/ ,

"Raise not your voices above the voice of the Prophet."

Oh, if the multitL1de of Egypt's faithful poor were not
almost as Yoicele s as their camel , my feeble plea and the few
1Joces clam,antiwm in dese1·to in defence of their priceless heir-
looms would not be needed, for the roa,r of their chorus would
drown the voiceful few who would deprive them of their rightful
joys and traditions, and barter Egypt's real gold for dross; and a
happy people would continue to enjoy its lovely old customs,
which make the charm and fascination of Egypt, and not least
of these the MOULIDS OF ITS SAINTS.
• J
• ~ .,, J)I
.
_..~ J., ~.... .
.
~ 'tl
.
.)., <.S.v 141 ) .-.4-J
• •t
 GLOSSARY.
J~ Ornaments of a Bedouin's headdress.
Aaqal
Aalim, pl. Ulama
•~ t~ A learned person.
4.1.~ Generally applied to a professional
Aalima (fern.) woman expert, e.g., the leader (Godeya)
of a zarr.
~ Uncle. Much used to other than rela-
Aam
tions, or a mere ejaculation.
~V' J l Blind.
Aama, pl. Amyan
j',\ _,I Father, much used in the names of
Ab, Abu persons and things, without necessarily
the idea of paternal relationship.
Slave: sometime used of black people.
Abd Much used in names in conjunction with
one of the "names" of God.
Adhra ·')~ Virgin: The B. V. M.

Bread : (life)
Aesb ...?-"
Abd ..l.f' Covenant.

....All A thousand .
Alf
A thousand and one nights, "The Ar-
~ ;.~J ..._jl\
Alf Leila wa Leila -J - abian r·ight ".

Amyan - v-Aama
(."- T he name of the ship which bears the
Aqaba "Bride of the Nile" .
v-~ ~ .. Bridegroom
Aris
;__ .J f' Bride : sugar fig urine.
Arusa
t_ >:-\ Octave
A bo'a
,\..:..~ Th e time of the fifth and last prayer
Ash a dinner, dinner time.
J _r.l Nobles : descendants of the Prophet.
Ashraf, sing. Sharif
~ The time of the third prayer: after-
Asr noon.
o) _,;.~ The tenth day: particularly the lOth
Ashura Muharem. The great Persian
Threnody observed on that date.
 - 328-
Ataba ~.:"' Threshold: HThe tram centre".

AtR.ba el-Khadra (The thre~hold of the vegetable market,

- th e tra m centre, (recently afflicted
with some new na me.)
Atfa Court or v ery s mall street: usually a
cttl de sac.
Bab Door : A city gate, e.g., Bab el-Nasr,
so me oth er important gateway. , e.g.
Bab e l-Ahdar a t Sidna Husein.

Badir A large tambourine,

Badir Aru ~J./-...(~ a deep form
Badir Qadri t,?J.JJ ~~ a shallow form.

Barak(a) !}--':' To kneel (of a camel)

Baraka ~.f. A blessing .
Bariza A ten piastre piece
Baz ) A very small drum.
Beiraq pl. buariq J)~ J~~ Gonfallon: processional banner.
Birka ~ Pond
Booza (or Meeissa) 4.1 Y. A fermented barley drink.
Caracol (Turkish) J_,~l_,; Police Station
Dabus pl.Dababis Pin : the dervish dagger used mys-
teriously, particularly by the sect of
the Rifaiya. ( v. Moulid Z-I)

Daim, Ya D:-..im! {b ~ {b Th e Everlasting, Oh, Eternal One !

Dalail el-Sughra ;; _,;....all JfV ~I A book in praise of the Prophet.

Darabuka ~).:1 A large musical instrument of earth-

enware, open at one end, but covered at
the other and larger, by skin.
Darb el-Raml J .. )\ "':"' .ri Fortune telling, by tracing figures &c.
on sand.
 - 329 -

Dareh t .).a The grave of a sheikh, with dome, &c.

~J)) An Initiate into one of the Islamic

Dervi h "Order " (Turu~) (v. Ch. Ill pp 52-60)

Dilq pl.-duluq J_,b- Jl) A patchwork coat of many colour ,

worn by some dervishes, and many
soi-disant "Holy Men"

J..) Mona tery

Dir
Spirits recognised by religion: usually
Djin ~~
evil or mischievous but may be good.

JJJ) Jug: the vessel used by sellers of

Doraq pl. doariq tamarhindi, erq sus, limonata, &c.

~-J) The riding by the mounted Sheikh of

Dosah the S'adiya over the prone bodies of
many dervishes, at the moulids of el·
Nebi, Imam el-Shafei, & Tashtoushi,
( Leilet el-Madtg)

·'J) Medicine
D owa
;IJ) Ink stand, writing having a supposed
D owaiya
medical force .

t./ J ) ) J~ Leeches (sangsues) in a bottle as a sign

"Dud Rumi"
over a door. v. Moulid A 29 pp. 160

(_..) '.J.i) Ice cream.

Dundurma
Erq sus ,_,., _,_.. J.,.~~ A cold sarsaparilla decoction.

Fagr j. Dawn : time of the first prayer.

Far, pl. firan 01);t; Rat

Farah c_) Rejoicing : specially used of wedding

festivities.

Farqila m) Dervish small whip of cords.

Fass lf\s Egyptian hoe

A favourite dish of rice, b read, meat
Fath ~
and rich sauces.
 - 330 --
Fatha ~-\; The little opening chapter of the
Qoran.

Fatur ;_,k; Breakfast: the sunset meal of Ramadan

after the day's fast.
Feddan ~I.;.; An acre approximately.

Fiqi ~ A professional singer of the Qoran.

Fu11 Ji An exquisitely scented flower.

Ful J_,; Beans

ful mudames ...r".M cooked and eaten with butter

or oil
ful -nabit ~~· sprouting, (a decoction of these
is a mild medicine )
Gabel ~ D esert, wilderness, rocky hills.
Gadaa (Gazaa) ~~.i:-- c_.i:.: A gallant lad, a" young buck".
Galli -galli
J+ The opening and oft repeated words of
a street conjurer, (galli-galli ma n.)
Garia ~ ;!:-- Black (slave) woman.
Gazb ~~ State of religious ecstacy.
Ghada ., , .A~
Mid-day meal.
Gihad ~t. :.: Holy war.
Go'a d.; Y."" Theatrical caste.
Godeya ~-A>- The leading woman at a Zarr, who
exorcises the djin .
Gumad I & I I >·.\ ~t~- J.Ji ~ l~ T he fifth and sixth A rabic months.

..);,.. 91 ~~\~ J.Je'J\ l).)t~ Jl

Hadith ~~> Th e collected sayings of the Proph et.

Hag (.~ Pilgrim : one who has been to Mecca

or Jerusalem.
Hara (t) o;~ Lane or small street.

Harami ~·lr Brigand: any kind of villain.

 - 331

Hatif Apparition

Hawi Snake-charmer, magician conjurer etc.

Hegab Charm: Talisman: usually containing

Qoranic texts and mystic figures.
Heg(i)ra The transfer of the Prophet from
Mecca to Medina ;
A. H. The year of the Hegira, the Islamic
calender dating from the above event.

Hei, Ya Hei T he living (God) 0, living One I

Helba Plant bearing fine flowers: tea is in-

fused from its leaves.
Homosia A sweet containing homos seeds.

Hosh Courtyard.

Ibn (ben) Son: much used in names as Ibn-

T ouloun.

Ibn-kalb ~ 0:1 Son of a dog,-a much-used expression.

Ishara o;L:..l Sign: U ed by L ane for" zeffa", a

religious procession.

J azb ~o..~..l> ( v. Gazb)

Kaaba (Caaba) W T he "Sanctum sanctorum" of Islam, the

central object of the pilgrimage to
Mecca, round which the pilgrim must
go seven times to become "Hag".
Covered by the Kiswa, Holy carpet
from Egypt. (Th e Kaaba is a Mosque).
Kabab ~lf Roast meat, (preferably on a spit).

4..J(' Word : specially applied to the confes-

Kalima sion of the faith, "There is no God but
one, and Muhammad is his Prophet".

Kamanga y Fiddle.

Kas u-\( Cymbals.

Kashaf J\!f" Search-light.

 - 332

Kashafa ~H~ Boy Scouts.

Khalifa ijJ;.. "Commander of the Faithful'
The rider in a zeffa representing the
sheikh who is being honoured.
Khayal el-Zil Jt.ll J~ Shadow show.
Khalig e:6- Canal : especially that which traversed
Cairo, from Nile at "Fum el-Khalig."
Khatma :t.:;.. Th e recital of the entire Qoran.
Khitama (..l:;.. Final rites at a moulid.

Kho s ify>- Palm leaves: often placed on tombs:

used in basket-making, &c.
Kufta w Rissole eaten with Kabab
Laasa ~'} Large scarf
Leila
~ "Eve":
Leilat el-Eid ..l.JI ill Eve of the Feast
el-Isra ~l.r" VI 4.~ Ascension (Prophet)
el-Maarag (1_,.11 ~ , eve of
27 Ragab
el-Qadr ;..lAJI~ 27th Ramadan.

el-Gbatas V" \h;.,JI (1~ , , IIth.Tuba,Epiphany

Libas
lfl:l Drawers
Maara.g The ride of the Prophet to Paradise and
(.IJ'"
Jerusalem on the horse Buraq celeb-
rated on eve of 27th Ragab.
Magnun ·~
c) .r. Fool: in the- power of the Djin.
Magzub
~J~ Idiot : entranced (v. Gazb.)
Mahdar J"'6 Proces verbal.
Makri t$,;c. Selection from Qoran.
Malkaf ~tAL Roof opening for air
Mameluk (memluk) .!l) .... White slave : feudal nobles, and a line
of kings.
 - 333 -

Mand el (darb el- J...w Divina tion, usually by vision in ink in

the palm of atboy' s hand.
man del)
"Man ouli" J~ A Greek proper name : comm only
applie d to a monke y, especi ally of
the perfor ming type.

1Ians bia 4.. __....

... A "squar e" or open space, (such as that
below the citade l).

Maqa m li.. Tomb of a Sh eikh, about which a mou-

i lid centre s.

1Ylaqbara ciY;i• Cemet ery

Mara brah (..f'" ..)A Flaky bread, specia lly used at the
Mazgh una moulid .

Marg uha ~Y."-f Swing

Masg id (masj id) .b.;_. Mosqu e: from S agada =to pray.

Jil • L!. L. An expres sion of wond er and admir -
Ma sba'll ah
ation : lit.-O h, what God hath willed t

M&.sri (misri ) t.fpA Egypt ian

Maul a·d t.f)y Sufi dervis h.

Mede d ~_.\A An interp olated ejacul ation in singin g;

(more or less equiva lent to ''dynam is" in
th e Byzan tine liturgy , and "Selah " in
the Psalm s.) (v. note in Ch. Ill p. 62)

~.; ... Sunse t : the time of the fourth prayer .

Megb rib

A Sudan ese fermen ted barley drink,

Meris sa
known in Egypt as "booza "
Minb ar (Mim bar) Pulpit .

Mish al Torch : a brazie r used in zeffas, for

solem n effect, light and for tighten ing
the skins of the tambo urines .
Story teller: especi ally a recoun ter of
Moha ddith
the exploi ts of ''El-Z ahir", Beyba rs.

Moul id "A popula r religio us feast in honou r of

some Saint" .
 - 334
Mufti Chief Doctor of the Law,-with very
considerable ecclesiastical and civil
jurisdiction,-e. g.-no capital sentence
can be executed without the "Fetwah"
of the Mufti.
Mu harem if First Arabic month (v. Ch. V p. 103)
Munshid .J.!..:.o Professional singer .
Murasla .;j_l.r Messenger.
Mu rid .J.~.,.r- Postulant for initiation in one of the
"Turuq" (of dervishes).
Mursbjd ..>..!. .)• Initiate :Religious leader and guide.
Mutahir Jth.. Circumcised: lit. - (ceremonially)
purified.
Nadr ;..).j Vow
Nagjl J:f Coarse grass
Nai l,)li Flute, much used by dervishes.
Naib _:~ Deputy
Naqara ~; .ii ; .)l.ii Small musical instrument of earthen-
ware closed at the larger end by taut
skin.
N aqib, pl.N uqaba "l.Qj - "':":Ai Ecclesiastical rank like Qutb, and Wali,
but generally inferior to these :
Descendants and representatives of the
First Khalifs.
Naqib el-Asbraf ~I.F:.':JI "":""~ The highest Naqib :representing Abu
Bakr, the Sheikh el-Bakri of Cairo.
(v. Moulids of el-Nebi, Tashtou. hi &c.)
Naqrazan 0\j.}i A beautiful musical instrument of
hemispherical shape, of the T abl (drum)
class.
Natiga (~ Calendar (v. Ch. V. p. I03 for names of
months)
Nebi (el-Nebi) pl.-Anbia ,.~.;i ~ The Prophet Muhammad
Many bi 1 lical and qoranic characters,
e. g., El-Nebi Daniel, Daiid (David),
 -335-
El as, Suleiman (Solomon),Yahya (John
Baptist). Also ma ny non scriPtur:al
ch ar acters are given the title "Nebi".

A 2-m ' m piece, (wor th a ha'penny).

Nikla 4.tG
0l!.i Decoration, medal, military badge, &c.
Nishan
Oud ~>"
A kind of lute: da1ing back to 1600
A. D.
Pir (Persian) ~.. Spiritual father.

Qabr, pl. qubur .;>j ._,_.; Grave

Qadr ;...U The mystic subject of the 97th. Ch. of

the Qoran .
Leilet el-Qadr .)..lill ~~ Eve of the 27th Ramad an, when the
Holy Spirit came down, ~ hich night is
said to be "more blessed than a thousand
months."

Qaimaqam (Turkish Military rank entitling to crown and

two stars, and the title of Bey.

Qalaa Citadel.
A musical instrument of 72 chords,
Qanon
much on the principle of the harp,
played by two plectra.

~\} Cemetery : necropolis.

Qarafa = Maqbar a
Qara Goz d.~; 0) I,)" J; • .); A variant of Punch (and Judy)
(v . Ch. IV, p . 81)
jj'"o}
Qaseda Ode : Elegy.
Praying niche of a mosque.
Qibla
Qirba Water skin (of goat or sheep) carried
by "5aqqa", water carrier: smaller
skins are used for churning cream into
butter: Bagpipes.

Cinnamon: q irfa is much drunk in cafes

Qirfa and private houses in place of coffee or
tea.
 - 336-

Qoran JGAll §) The sacred book of Islam, of 114

chapters.
Qubba t.; The dome of mosque or tomb.
Quridati ~..il.)} Showman of performing monkey .
Qutb . . .w Axis : Pole: Pole-star: The most holy
Wali, only occasionally seen by mortals7
still sometimes looked fur behind the
Bab el- Mitwali, (Bab el-Zwela).
Rabab (rababa) (! ~.J - '":'L.; The one-stringed viol with which the
"muhadit", (''raconteur"), accompanies
the recitation of his romance.
Rabia el-Awal & el-Thani The third and fourth months of the
J'l:ll (i.JJ J}il C:J Arabic year.

Ragab "':"'~; The seventh month of the Arabic year.

Raghul (Arghul) (J~ )) - J_,.i:.; A deep bass reed instrument: very long.

Ramadan 0l.;z..; The ninth month of the Arabic year,

the"month of Fasting.

Ramus tJ' yJ Raft of earthen pots bound together by

osiers.(v. Note on moulid of Abdel-
Rahim el Qenawi, Ch. V, p. 136)
Raqs ~;; Dancing

Rasadkhana ""'""" J~' - d.; I.;...\...,.,; Observatory (the old Turkish name).
Ringa ~f-; Sudanese entertainment of music, danc-
ing, and "booza" drinking:
The chief musical instrument used, a
sort of piano. (v. Ch. IV, p. 88)
Riqq J; Small tambourine
Rukhsa (~.) Licence
~

Ruz j;l - j.; Rice

Sad a ;.)1- Dervish "Order", ( = "Tariqa")
Safr _;...,., The second month of the .Arabic year.
Sahar )~ Magician; conjurer.
 - 337-

Samaa c_\c. .. Th e whirling dance of the Sufis, (in-

troduced by Galal el-Din at Iconium.)

San ad J..:..,... Diploma o~ Initiation to a Dervish

Order.
Saqqa -.l.i- Water se ll er ; bearer of the Qirba.

Sebil J~ Public fountain.

Sebil Allah Jil ~- Free drinks (to the populace.)
Sena Hegria ~r. d.:- The year of the H eg(i )ra : ''A .H."

Shaaban 0~ The eighth month of the Arabic } ear.

Shababa d..L!.. R eed pipe

Shagarat el-Durr ;..JI of....:... Queen of Egypt : contemporary of
Bey bars.
Shahada ;J~ Witness: T estimonial : R ecom-
mendation.
Shahid, pl. Shuhada Martyr (witness to the Faith)
Shakhshakha Rattle: Sistrum: particularly the cyl-
indrical metal rattle of the "Ringa".
(v.letter quoted in extenso,
Ch. IV, p. 87)

Sham el-Nesim A pan-Egyptian feast held on the

Coptic Easter Monday, (meaning the
smell of the breeze.)
The date of the Giza moulid of Abu-
Harera .

Sharbat (sharabat) ..:,~ ...,...:. A general term for "drinks" but spec-
ially a sweet fruity concoction to be
got in bottles or from the "Doraq".
S eller of the above: the picturesque
Shar(a)bati .v;~.1 .;....: character who hawks divers sweet and
(Sharbatly J=~ .r~) iced drinks in the streets.
(v. picture, p. 71)

;. );. Street or Road.

Shar(i)a ~
Descended from the Prophet: noble.
Sharif, pl. AshrcH JI? I -.....A~..r~
 - 338 -

Shatran jl)a..!. Chess.

Shawal Jl_,;. The tenth month of the Arabic year.

Sibs ~ Small flute.

Si gad a oJ~ Carpet (properly, - for praying. V.

Note Ch Ill p. 53)
Sahib sigada One of the great hereditary leaders of
Islam, e.g. in Cairo. the Sheikh el-
Bakri.
Sigat Castanets of brass

Sikka A street, smaller than a Sharia.

Silsila Pedigree : " tree'' : the dervish's line of

descent from the spiritual founder of
his "Order". {lit-chain.)
Simsimia A sweet full of coriander (sesame)
seeds.

Sir ~ The watching spirit of a sheikh (long

since dead.) (v. Moulid of Abu el-Ela
Ch. V, p. 145)
Skete ~KHTE Monastic enclosure, (v. p. 44)
Subaris ...,-;l:- Tobacco consisting of cigar and cig-
arette ends picked up in the street.
Sufi J~ Persian dervish sect, particularly as-
sociated with Gala! el-Din; tenets
hedonistic and loose from Qoranic
standpoint.
Suluth (Thuluth) ~A Large decorative Arabic writing.

Suq J.,- Market: often applied to street or

district, where marketing is or has been
customary : -
Suq el-Asr ..rw:'JI J.,- A district in Bulaq, (lit.-Afternoon
market.)
Suq el-Bakri l.S..~(JI J.,- Now Sharia Ashmawi, (v. moulid of
Ashmawi, Ch. V, p. 160)
Suq el-Haramia ~ .. I_.~J..1 J _,_ Market for stolen goods,
 - 339-
Suq el-Silah A street joining Sh. Muhammad Ali by
Mosque of Sultan Rifai, [lit. market for
arms, (weapons.)]
Suq el-Talat (thalatha) Tuesday fair,(at Giza and elsewhere) as
~~~~ J_,- for other days of the week, according
to place.

Taamia Ulb A kind of vegetable rissole, eaten hot.

Tabl tabla J:~ Drum

Tabut ~ _y,l; Structure usually of wood over the

body of a Sheikh.

Tahur ;_,,!.. Circumcision, (lit. purification)

Takhtarawan .j\J;i Palanquin on back of camel or two

camels .
....J\1 Candidate (e.g.-for initiation)
Talib
. Fruit from which sweet drink is made.
Tamar hindi L>~ .)'
iJ.._,:; A grammatical observance concerning
Tan win
the letter ''nun"= "n".

~\~ ;l:i Tambourine

Tar, pl.tiran
Tarb ~.J- Meat sausage
"Way'' :Sect: Order of dervishes.
Tariqa pl.-taraic Jl).,. -~_)"

turuq j..,b
Tarkiba U"
.• .J
Metal Tabut.

;~). Conical cap worn by children and

Tartur dervishes of the Awlad Nooh.

~• ..r-
•i Reception.
Tashrifa
Tekiya (Persian) ~ Cell : monastic retreat.

;;~ A~roplane : child's kite.

Tiara
Flax
Til J:i
Tilsam ~ Talisman

(_Li
Crocodile
Timsah
 - 340

Bil·kat el-Tim 'ah (.\.......:ll ~../. Lake Tim ah a t Ismailia

Tob (t ub) ~y T he centr . tl object of veneration in the
zeffa of Sidi Abd el-Rahim el-Qenawi,
omewhat of the nature of a miniature
mah mal. (v. Qena moulid Ch. V (A. S)
p. £30 and illustration p. 132)

Turn iY Garlic.

Tun bur ).J~ T dmbur. an Archi medean screw for

r aising water to irrigate land.
Turba, pl.-tul'ub ~..)' ~; Grave
Turmus ._r y Lu pines
Ulama .. ~~· Leading she ikhs of el-Azhar.
Wadu &,Jj.J Ablution before prayer.
Wakil Jf'.J Deputy: Representative.
Wala,d, pl.-awlad ~'J .Ji ~I.J Boy
Wali, pl.-Awlia "~I.Ji JI.J A very great Saint, deemed not utterly
to die, but to reveal himself and even
be seen occasionally of men .
Waqf ......,A;.J A grammatical rule, suppressing the
terminal sound of a word, when at the
end of a sentence.
Waqf, pl.-Awqaf ~l; Jl ~; J A pious gift or bequest in permanence.
Wazarat el-Awqaf ~t;.J ':JI oJij.J The Ministry in charge of the govern-
ment "waqfs", corresponding in a way
to the English Court of Chancery.
Waqfa d.~.J Eve.
waqfat el-Eid ..w.JI ~ .J Eve of the Feast.
Ward ~).J Rose.
Ward
~).J Rosary rite in initiation to dervish
''tariqa''. (v. Ch. Ill, p. SS)
 - 341 -
Wasl ~J A grammatical rule concerning the
"liaison" of the final letter of a word
with the first of that following.
Wa.zir .J.)J Minister.
Ya! ~ Oh!
Yom ri- Day.
yom el-eid ~\ \ j_ Feast-day

yom el-Ashura ;;_,..:..W\ i j_ lOth Muharam: the Persian Feast of

Husein.
yom el-Qiama d...~ I i Y- R esurrection day.

Zawiya pl. zawa. a ~\Jj - 4.ulj Cell: small mona tery: (lit. corner.)
Often equivalent to "maqam" and
''dareh" as th e tomb of a Saint.
A marvellou tongue trill, which women
Zaghrota, pl.-zagharit
produce at "farahs", at the passing of a
~)~ j 4.;J..J- j
zeffa or the mahmal, and other great
occasions.
Zarr ;lj The ceremony of the expulsion of
(Sudanese) djin from po~sessed women.

Zeffa 4! j D ervish procession, the great feature

of a complete moulid, brought up by
th e "Khalifa'', the representative of the
Sh eikh who e moulicl is beingtobserved.
(v. Ch. Ill, p. 64 et seq.)
~)':; One who takes part in a ''Zikr".
Zikir
Zikr
J) A religious observance, whose essential
is the repeated utterance of "Allah"
(or one of the "names" of God.,)
(v. Ch. Ill, p. 6o)

•.rAll J(' ':; A congregational zikr.

Zikr el-Hadara
Th e twelfth and last Arabic month:
Zu' el-Higga ~J..I J":;
(the month .of Pilgrimage)
o.>..Al I J~ The eleventh Arabic month .
Zu' el-Qaada
Zuhra, (El-Zuhra) efjl- Of_} Venus.

e;l. j A r eed instrument : the general name

Zumara
for that class of musical reed.
 ERRATA.
Li t of illustration For pv. read 273

1.22 For ab3olutey read absolute ly

Page 2
£5 tremenous tremendous
3
gonfallon gonfalon
14 30
and elsewhere wh ere thi word occurs.
20 xxth read Xth.
33
2 individuai individual
4I
strophs strophes
61 24
sidna sitna
9I 5
Insert l\14 in middle of map, left of FAROUK
II3
II6
Insert name of street (Muhammad \i) in mile le
of map.
u8 For H IO (in map) read H 2
H 2 H aroun (below map) H 3 H aro un
I I9
Insert B 2 at S. end of Sh. Mahgar
126 For Z 2 Zefe ti lb:!low map)
read Z I Zefeti
12 B I B4
29 qadir badir
IS7
Abd el-Gawad Abd el-Wahab
222 4
route rout
226
f7 by but
24g
12 Z ein el-Din Zein el·Abdin
320

The author has not found it practicable to standarcli e co mpl~tely the

English spelling of Arabi c words.
Many of the terms and nam es were transcribed from verbal accounts
where the pronunci at ion differed from place to. place and time to time.
The difficulty will be appreciated by anyone with a knowledge of the varia-
tions in Egyptian colloquial.
In the case of the R ailway and other maps, and of newspaper extract a nd
such like, he has left the spelling as found.
 - 344 -

Billie Williams, 79, 212, 266, 319 lids, 43, 170, 179, 322; C. Churches, 305
Birkat el-Gamus; 215, 218 Crocodiles, 198
Blackout, 28 Crookson, 135
Bliss, I 9, 57 Cyrus & John of Damanhur, SS., 44
'Blooding" 311
Dabus, 158, 207, 212, 309 & v. Glossary
Blue Mosque, (Aqsunkur} I 91 Damanhur, 31 , 40, 228
Boat, Processional, 5, 133, 306, 307
Oar el-Baida, 303
Booza, 78, 86
Daud, el-Nebi (David) 17, 62, 182
Bosco, san Giovanni 36 Demardash, 37, 258
"Bourse Egyptienne" 94, 234, 254, 270 Dervish, 19, 53 et seq., 148, 158 ; whirling,
"Bride of the Nile" , 1I, 27, 46 183, 207
Buckingham Palace, 12 Desuq, 31, I43, I88, 228
Budge, Wallis 45, 49 Devil' s Advocate, 142
Bulaq, 34, 214, 293, 294 Devonshire, Mrs., 279
Bulaq el-Dukrur, 307, 308 Diocletian, I 79
Buraq, 150, l 83, 185 "Divani Shamsi Tabriz" , 62
Burhamiya, 57, 58 Ojin, 2, 90, I 69, 277
Bury, Mrs Wyman 90 Donkey boys. 252
Butler, 172, 264 Dosah, 56, 68, 212, 263, 297 & v. Glossary.
Caaba, (Kaaba) 30, 58, 81 Ouqqi, 65, 307, 308, 311, 312
Cabaret du Neant, 95 Easter, 43
Cairene, Saints 34, I 84, 257; Sunnis, 223; "Egypt's Real Danger." 26-28
Cairo populace 322 Ein Sira, 233, 235
Calendars, Coptic months I 03 ; Islamic El-Awadat, 136
(48), I00 et seq. to I03 El-Hatia, 275, 291
Caracol, 9 & v. Glossary Elias, Mar, 219
Carpet, 52, 53 Emir el-Hag (Haj), 324
Cassandra, 8 Enayat- Allah, "Dr.", 191, 220, 233, 236,
Catharine, St. 17, 91, 261 297
Chess, 185 "Envoi" , 319-322
Christmas, 35, 45 Epiphany, (Eid el-Ghatas,) 45
Chrysostom, St. 62 Eric Gill, 193
Circe, 314 Euphrates. 185
Circenses, Panem et 22, 23, 28 Evans-Pritichard, Dr. ix, 5, 80, 87, 92, 136,
Circumcision, ?2, 67, 68, 78, 88, 191, 192, 142, I 52, 249, 253, 267
205, 220, 236, 245 Ezbekia, 264.
Citadel, 15, 38, 140, 166, 233 Farouq, King 22, 23, 27, I 45, 168, I 78,
Civil Arm, 16 I 95, 206; Salamlek 234 ; at Moulid
Cleopatra, 4 ; Cleopatra's Trumpet 92 el Nebi, 269, 274
Coles, 209 Fathah of Qoran 55
Conon of Samos 23 Fatima hint Biri, 289
Copts, 4, 36 ; Coptic Saints, 30; C. Mou- Fatimites, 33, 286, 309
 345-

Fawzia, 23, 27 Heliopolis, 5, 241

Fayum, 277 ''Helle", 26, 243
Fez, 287 Helmia, 153
Fireworks. 11, 266, 273, 285 Helwan, 148
Flagellation, 63, 203 Hocart, Prof., 80, 90, (257), 283
Foad, King, 42, 168, 176 Holy Carpet, (Kiswa) I 1, 21
Foreword, ix Holy Orders, 53
Francis, St. of Assisi 149, 287 ; Stigmata of, Holy Trees, 224, 248, 250, 303
185 ; & St. Clare 298 Holy Wisdom (at play) 75
French Revolution, 23 Homer, (piety in games) 74
Fruits of the ' pirit, 75 Hornell, (on processional boats) 307
Fulan, Sheikh - of el-Azhar 2 I Hyperion, 320
Fum el-Khalig, 264. lbn Touloun, 37, 207, 290
Oaafar Sadiq, 31, 33, 164, I 94, 31 6 Ibrahim Zaki Kashef, Dr. 1, 221
Gabriel, Archangel, 3, 242 Iconoclasm, 31 , 305
Gala! el-Din, (Sufi Poet) 59 Inquisition, I 6
Galli-galli, 9, 83 & v.Giossary Inscription, 32, 137, 141, 196, 207, 236
Gayer-Anderson, 42, 49, 51, 60, 80, 92, Insular \.. omplex, 199
238, 290 Iran, 223
Gazirat el Daheb, 298 Iraq, 30, 288, 297
"Gazette'', 20 Isis, 3, 40, 87, 90, 228, 229
Geiushi Mosque, 260 lsmail, lsmailiya 33, 317
Genealogical Tree of the Prophet's Family Ismailia (town) 215, 218
33 Italy, 225
Gestapo, 195
Jazz, 93, et seq. to 97,
Ghawazee (dancing girls), 219
Jerusalem, 34, 185, 281
Gihad, 21, 300
Jesus, 17
Ginks, (Greek singing boys) 78, 220
Jews, 36, 322
Cordon College, (Khartoum) 143
Joan of .~\ re. 289
Goudari Moulid, Sheikh, & Street, 321
Judas Iscariot, 81
Greeks, 22, 36, 243
judy, 81
Gregorian Calendar, 38
Gudaiyida (station), 202 Kaaba, (Caaba) 30, 58, 81
Hadith, v. Glossary Kaitbey, 34, 184, 185, 259
Hag Husein, (Blind fiqi) 69, 70, 164, 167 Kalima, 55 . & v. Glossary
Hamad Mahmud Bey, I, 10, 221, 318 Karnac, 138, 307
Hambaliya, 19 Kemp, W G. 179, 303
Khalif, 145; Abu Bakr 193; Faiz 223;
Hanafiya, 19
Tombs of Fatimite Khalifs 262, 282
Haram 81
Hasan, (Grandson of Prophet) 33 ''Khalifa", (at zeffa) 66, 132, 156, 203, 230,
246, 248, 295, 310; mock khalifa 133
Hegab, 68, 70, 143
Khalig, cutting the, 11 ; Fum el- 11, 264
Hegira, 3, & v. Glosssary
 346-

Khan el Khalili, 219, 221,280 Maghrouri, Sultan, 34, 59, 132, 208
Khardasa, 139, 153 Magzub, 137, 194 & note on 194,314 et
Khayal el-Zil. 82 seq.
Khi.tama (Khatima) 73, 308 ; & v. Glossary Mahmal, 11, 264 ; Mahmal camel, 20, 27,
Khedive, 221, 264 ; Abbas Hilmi 193 323
Khuderi, Sheikh el-, 209, 230, 287 Malakiya, 19
Kiswa (Kiswah), Holy Carpet, 324 Mamelukes, 14 ; Tombs of the- 139
Ki.tcat, 229 Mamur Zapt, I
Ki&ar.,, Fatima el-, 310 "Man", 5, 307
Kredlea, Beit el- 43, 209 ; Sheikh Suleiman Manouli, 9
el-, 42, 207 Mansura, 34
Kuwasini, Sheikh el-, 20 Maps, Index Map to Sectional Maps of Cairo
I04 List of Sectional Maps, I 05, Sec.
Lalu, Mahmud 84
Maps I06- I 26 Railway Maps of Delta &
Land of Goshen, 241
Upper Egypt in covers. Lists of Moulids
Lane ("Modern Egyptians",) 49, 61, 62, 63,
showninthese, 127,128
65. 71. 78, 160, 162, 176, 186,263, 281,
Maqam, 51
284, 292
Mark Antony, 197
Lauda, Sion, Salvatorem. 268
Leap-frog 233 Mark Twain, 7
Leda, 85 Mataria, 5, 223, 241, 248 et seq.
Leilat el Ghatas, 45 Maulevi, 59
Leilat el lsra L.el-Marag, 27 .46, 14 I, I 83, Mazghuna 276, 300
185,186,223,304 Meals for the Poor, 71, 305
Leilat el Nuqta, 3, 27, 228 Mecca, 30, 31, 185, 262, 297, 303;
Leilat el Nusf min Shaaban, 25 I, 277 Meccan 287
l..eilat el Qadr, 3, 35, 46, 304 ~ Meded, 62, & note at bottom
Lesbian dances, 286 Meitum, 21,28
••Little Flower" 36, 142, 322 Menouf, 299
Mercurius, St. v, Abu Sefein
Late tree, 25 I, 278, 306
Loti, Pierre, 8, 2 I0 Mid-Shaaban. 135, (248), 251. 277
Louis, St., King of France 281 Min, 90
Lusha, el-Nebi 132 Minia, 198
Luxor 5, 306 Ministers, 72, 296 ; Ministry of Interior
I J, 48, 52
Lycopolis, 199, 200
Minyet el-Qamh, 202
Lynch, 254
Miracles, of T ashtoushi 185 ; of Sayed
Maadi, 184 el-Bedawi 292 ; Mir. Shrine 322
Maarag, 35, 38, 52 Mit Ghamr, 242
Maasara, I 70, 322 Mit Oqba, 65, 275
Machiavelli, 18 Modernism, 16
Maghagha 10 Moqattams, 34, 59, 208, 259, 274, 298
..Mail", Egyptian 323 Mort du Caire, 210
 347-

Moses, v. Mousa 163, Awlad Badr 41

MOULIDS, note,-the numerals on the left 163, Awl ad Sheib
indicate the detailed account, those on 163, Ayesha (4, 31-33, 69
the right give cross references.) 164, Ayesha el-Tunisi
129, Aarif Badir v. Abu Badir
129, Abd el-Basat 41 , 302 164, Badran
129, Abd ei-Daim 165, Bahlul 14, 15, 38, 302, 321
130, Abd-el Kerim 49, 302 167, Bahri
130, Abd el Qasid 41,302 170, Barsum el-Aryan 15, 44, 89
130, Abd ei-Rahim el Qenawi 5, 38, 39, 173, Bayumi 25, 40, 66, 228, 246
67,306 178, Benhawi
136, Abdel-Wahid,
Daif v. Abu Daif
13 7, A bdullah
Daim v. Abu Daim
138, Abdulla el-Hagr, 32,321
Dakrouri v. T akrouri
138, Abdulla Khafr el-Darb
179, Damiana 44
139, Abu Amera
180, Daniel
139, Abu Atata 182. Dargham
140, Abu Azaim, (el-Azaim) 15, 57 , 59, 183, Dashtouti (Tashtoushi) 34, 38, S2,
60, 68, 98, 56, 72, 287
144, Abu Badir 188, Desuki 31 , 40
144, Abu Daif 41
144, Abu el-Eia 34, 67 El- Ansari v. Ansari
147, Abu el-Leil EI-Azaim v. Azaim
148, Ab~ T arabish El-Bahri v. Bahri
148, Abu Harera 43, 66, 152 El-Hili V. Hili
152, Abu Hasan el-Ababdi 267,268 El-Kurdi v. Kurdi
153, Abu Qafas EI-Marsafa v. Marsafa
153, Abu Qraish EI-Nebi (EI-Nabi) v. Nebi
154, Abu Sabaa El-Shatbi v. Shatbi
154, Abu Zaid, 41 189, Emery
154, Adawiya 189, Emery(Touloun)
155, Agan 190, Farag 40
155, Ahmadein 146 190, Farghal
Ali el Gizi, v. Gizi 191, Fatima ei-Nebawiya 18, 24.31
156, Ansari 51, 56, 66, 69,321 195, Fatima el-Nebawiya hint Gaafar
Anwar v. Hasan el-Anwar Sadiq 18, 31, 33, 73, 194
160, Arbain 198, Fuli 146
Aryan v. Bar sum el Aryan
160, Ashmawi 18, 37, 38, 61, 62, 66, 72, 19 8, Galadin 41
203. 264 198, Galal
Asyuti v Gala! el-Din ei-Asyuti 199, Gala! el Din el·Asyuti 18 5
Awais el-Qorani v. Qorani 200, Gamal el-Din
 - 348 -

200, Gamila 41 239, Mansi

200, Gaml 41, 302 240, Mariam 44
200. Ganib Marsafa 34, 51, 67, 156
24 '{,
201, Gharib 27 6 244, Marzuq 41, 66, 321
201. Grgis 44, 301 248, Matrawi 15, 38
202, Gizi 200 251, Mazlum 40 ; Apparitwn of 42; 90
202 Guda 256, Muafaq 87, 146 147
Hagr v. Ahdulla el-Hagr Muhammad Agan v. Agan
Haggag v. Yussef el-Haggag ,, el-Ansari v. Ansari
2l'l2, Hamza 66 el Bahri v.Bahri
204, Hanafi 13, 34 70; Fear of building ei -Gaml v. Gaml
146 257, Muhammadi (Demardash) 11, 34,
Harera v. Abu Harera 51
206., Haroun 10, 32. 42, 43, 321 259, Muhammadi (Shahin) 14; Anchorite
2l2, Hasan Anwar 78, 2~4 34, 274
Hasan el-Tarturi v . Tarturi 261, Nafisa 32, 33, 278; lmam el-Shafei
213, Hilal and'-, 298
213-. Hili 37, 98 263 , Nasr 41
215, Huneidiq 35. 301 Nebawiya v. Fatima
219, Husejn i I, 31, 33, 57, 42 ; Dosah 56, 263, Nebi (EI -Nebi) 38, 39; Dosah 56 ;
187;66 308 98, 160
22-3. Ibrahi m (Mataria) 274, Omr 298
226~ Ibrahim (Suq el-Silah) 275, Oqbi 18R, 201
Ibrahim ei -Desuqi v. Desuqi Qafas v. Abu Qafas
Imam el-Leithi v. Leithi Qasid v. Abd el-Qasid
Tmam el-Shafei v. Shafei 276, Qazazi
228. lsmail Imbabi: EI-Nuqta 3. 27; 31, Qenawi v. Abd el-Rahim ei-Qenawi
40, & note ; 246 276, Qorani 300
22~, ltman
Qraishi V- Abu Qraish
Kerim v. Abd el- Kerim 277, Rubi
230, Khalil
230, Khasousi 4 l 278, Sakina 31 , 33, 261
230, Khuderi 209 280, Salama
231, Kurdi 41 280, Saleh Eyoub Sultan 34, 42
282, Saleh Haddad
Leil v. Abu el-Leif Sal eh Muhammadi v. Muhammadi
232, Leithi 41 (Chahin)
Lashini v Oqhi 282, Saman 41 . 234
Z38, Maaruf 283, Saudi 321
238 Madrus 285, Sayed e\-Bedawi 14, 25, 30, 31, 39,
238 Maghrab1 40 ; ''Pole" I B9; 228
 349-
293, Sayed el-Malak Nahasin 34, 176, 219, 246, 280
294, Selim 66 Naqib el-Ashraf 16, 19, 32, 72, 192; and
296, Shaarawi the Khedive 193 ; 248
296, Shafei 9, 11, 41 ; & Nafisa 262 Nebi Daud 17, 180
Shahin (Chahin) v. Muhammadi , Eysa 17
(Chahin) , Lusha 132
298, Shami , Mousa 7
298, Shatbi , Muhammad 133 ; Apparition to Sh.
299, Shibl Bahai 42, to Qenawi 134-5 ;
300, Shuhda Ascension 38, 141 , J 83 ; 's camel
30 I , Sutuhia 20, 27, 324-6 ; Moulid el-N. , 37,
302, Takruri 39, 263 -274; "Tree" 33
Tarabish v. Abu Tarabish , Suleiman 75
303, Tarturi (El -Hatia) 291 Neurocracy 10
304, Tarturi (Rod el Farag) Newberry, Prof. 88, 91, 92, 262, 309
T ashtoushi 11 , 28 ; & v. Dashtouti Nicholson 62 (note)
T unisi v. Ayesha el-T unisi Ninety nine Names of God 61, 69, 164
304, Tunsi Nubia (Nubian) 26 7 ; - procession
304, Wafai 181 ; -Zikr 240
Wahid v. Abd el-Wahid Old Cairo 20 I, 233, 235
305, Wasti 41 Omar 53
306, Yussef el-Haggag 5, 38, 39, 133 Ompbaloscopy 63
Osiris 3
Zaid v. Abu Zaid
Palio 17, 44, ISO
307, Zefeti 26, 56, 275
Panem et Circenses 22, 23
312, Zein el-Abdin 31-33 69
Pappalexis, Or. 180
317-319, Zenab 26, 31 , 33, 37, 222
PaterNoster 55
Mousa (Moses) 7, 215, 300, 305 Paul, St. 75
Mudarra, adoption of, 56 Peter the Hermit 158
Mufti I, 21, 263 Phallic rites (89) 90, 150-152, 214, 215
Muhammad Ali celebrations 25, 46, 304 Pharisees and Puritans 6, 8, 286
Murray's ''Hand-book Egypt" 1888 Phoe~.;x 43, 249
edition, (Bayumi) 174, 246 " Piste a la Mort" 78, 145 165
Muses 93, 94 Pitt-Rivers (museum) 80, 92
Music 14, 7~, 157, 158, 162, 182, 194, 197, "Poles" 189
297 Post Scriptum 323-326
Muski 37 Propaganda 235
Mustarod 45, 241; picture of Mustarod Prophet v.Nebi; Prophet's Footprint 247
ferry facing 241 Punch 9, 10, 13, 76, 131, 167; Hitler &
Mut and Khons 307 Mussolini 206 ; alias Pontius Pi late 81 ,
Nag-Hamadi 49 242
 - 350-

Pyramids 229, 232 ; Saqqara Pyramid 260 Sarugia, 200

Scaife, Prof. C. F. 0. 209, 290, 292
Qadiriya 56, 58, 308 Sceptre 91, 309
Qara Goz 17, 81 ; & v. Punch Sehil 239; Sebil Allah 71, 151
Qasr El-Eini 291 Selah 6S (note)
Qasr el-Shoq 245 Selim el ·Aryan, Sheikh 49
Qasr el-Zumarad 223 Senusi (s) 59, 60 & note ; Senusi zawia 51
Qena 5, 13, 72. 130, 134, 135 Shafeiya 19
Qoft 130, 136 & note, 145 Shagarat el·Durr 282
Qonia (lconium) 59 Shahid 300
Qoran (Al-Qoran) 72, 221, 326 Sheikh el-Islam 185
Qoseir 134, 135 152, 268 Sham el-Nesim 4, 43, 148
Shamsi Tabriz 62 (note)
Ra 5, 249
Racism 54 Sharabia 198, 252
Raghul ( Arghul) 197 Sharif, (Ashraf) 32, 65, 166, 287
Ramadan 14, 40 ; "Ramadan Kerim" 3 22 Shatrang 185· 6
Ramus 136 (note) Shazliya 57-59, 138, 294-5
Rasadkhana 264 Shi'ahs 223
Rashid el·Din 33, 317 Shoo 3
Shubra 165, 230, 265, 322
Rats B6
Siena 17, 44, 91, ISO
Red Sea 135
Sigada 52-3 ; Sahib Sigada 53, 248
"Reformation" 35
Sistrum 4, 87 et seq., 207
Rhodes 44
Snake charmer 9; v.picture facing p.74
Rifai (Rifaiya) 50, 56, 58, 188, 207, 20~.
Society for the Preservation of Ancient
288, 309, 322; Where buried? 309 note
Monuments 209
Rihan, Sheikh 13 7 & note
Society for the Preservation of Coptic
Ringa (Ringu) 86, 88, 215
Art 209
Roda Island 11 ,
Solomon 75
Rod el Farag 37, 214
''Stella Maris" 219
Rodrigo, King of Spain 172
Stigmata 185
Rosary 55
Subaris 78
Roy'a 165, 319
Sudan (Sudanese) 87-88, 143-144, 267,
Ruqiya 23, 279, 280
280 ; S·music 88, 191 257
Sadiya & Sad el Din el-Gebawi 56-59; Sufi(s) 59, 62 (note), 75
Dosah 187, 263 Sunni(s) 223
Salah el-Din (Saladin) 34 Suez 216 219; S. C. Co. 218, 219; S.road
"Salamlek" 234 et seq. 202-203
Samaa 59, ( 158, 183) Suq el·Asr 198, 231, 305
Sanad (bi-Silsila) 54, 209 Suq el Bakri 161 , 264
Sangsues 160 Suq el Giza (150) 151
Santous de Provence 80 Suq el-Silah 226, 283
 351 -

Tabut 51 , 132, 227, 281 Vatican 142

Taha Husein, Dr. 10 Visions 40, 132, 256, 287, 296
T anagra figures 80, 200 Votive offerings 141 , 224, 302, 322
Tandata, Tanta 3, 14, 24, 25, 31 , 71 , 285 Wababis 31, 143, 164
288-293 Wali (Awlia) 28, 141, 188; &v.Glossary
Tares 17 Walking the Plank 217
Tariqa (turuq) 54 War (conditions) 13, 14 24, 25 , 26-28
Tashrifa 72, 132, 257, 258 296 '·Ward" 54, 311
Tashtoushi v. Dashtouti (moulid 183) Wasta 276, 300
Tattoo 78, 245, 285 Week-days adhered to by certain moulids
T eresa, St. (''The Little Flower" ) 36, 142 46-47
265, 322 & pictures facing Whirling Dervishes 53, 59, 183, 204, 207,
Theban 30, 307 ; Theban types,- picture (231), (233)
facing 306
Theodore, St. (Tadros) 322 Xantippe 81
Timsah, Lake 35 215 Yeghen 227
Timsah, Crocodile 198 Yussef, Emir 185
Tinos 26, 243
Tob (Tub) 132, 133 &picture facing 132 Zaki 1
T obias {Toby) 81 Zarr 2, 89
Totentanz 95. 96 Zawia 51; "Zawiyat el-Aamyan" 20
Trafalgar Square 12 Zeffa 39, 132, 155, 163, 194, 239, 245 , 267 ,
Trapani (Sicily) 29 284, 285-6, 294-5, 306, 308
Tukh 10 Zeitgeist 6, 131, 307
Turf Club 238, 239 Zenin 153, 275
Zikr 55, &c.; Boys' Zikr 196
Ulama 17, 52, 72, 274, 296
Zubeida 77, 2 I 5
Vandalism 31, (302) (305), (317) Zuhra 23.
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