Arabian Society In The Middle Ages Part 15

A slave, among Muslims, is either a person taken captive in war, or carried off by force, and being at the time of capture an infidel; or the offspring of a female slave by another slave or by any man who is not her owner, or by her owner if he does not acknowledge himself to be the father: but the offspring of a male slave by a free woman is free. A person who embraces the Mohammadan faith after having been made a slave does not by this act become free, unless he flies from a foreign infidel master to a Muslim country and there becomes a Mohammadan. A person cannot have as a slave one whom he acknowledges to be within the prohibited degrees of marriage. The slaves of the Arabs are mostly from Abyssinia and the Negro countries: a few, in the houses of very wealthy individuals, are from Georgia and Circa.s.sia.

Slaves have no civil liberty, but are entirely under the authority of their owners, whatever may be the religion, s.e.x, or age, of the latter; and can possess no property, unless by the owner's permission. The owner is entire master, while he pleases, of the person and goods of his slave, and of the offspring of his female slave, which, if his, or presumed to be his, he may recognize as his own legitimate child, or not: the child, if recognized by him, enjoys the same privileges as the offspring of a free wife; and if not recognized by him, is his slave.

The master may even kill his own slave with impunity for any offence; and he incurs but a slight punishment (as imprisonment for a period at the discretion of the judge) if he kills him wantonly. He may give away or sell his slaves, excepting in some cases which will be mentioned; and may marry them to whom he will, but not separate them when married. A slave, however, according to most of the doctors, cannot have more than two wives at the same time.

Unemanc.i.p.ated slaves, at the death of their master, become the property of his heirs; and when an emanc.i.p.ated slave dies, leaving no male descendants or collateral relations, the master is the heir; or, if the master be dead, his heirs inherit the slave's property. As a slave enjoys less advantages than a free person, the law in some cases ordains that his punishment for an offence shall be half of that to which the free is liable for the same offence, or even less than half: if it be a fine or pecuniary compensation, it must be paid by the owner to the amount, if necessary, of the value of the slave, or the slave must be given in compensation.

When a man, from being the husband, becomes the master, of a slave, the marriage is dissolved, and he cannot continue to live with her but as her master, enjoying, however, all a master's privileges, unless he emanc.i.p.ates her, in which case he may again take her as his wife with her consent. In like manner, when a woman, from being the wife, becomes the possessor, of a slave, the marriage is dissolved, and cannot be renewed unless she emanc.i.p.ates him, and he consents to the re-union.

Complete and immediate emanc.i.p.ation is sometimes granted to a slave gratuitously, or for a future pecuniary compensation. It is conferred by means of a written doc.u.ment, or by a verbal declaration (expressed in the words, "Thou art free," or some similar phrase) in the presence of two witnesses, or by returning the certificate of sale obtained from the former owner. Future emanc.i.p.ation is sometimes covenanted to be granted on the fulfilment of certain conditions, and more frequently to be conferred on the occasion of the owner's death. In the latter case the owner cannot sell the slave to whom he has made this promise: and, as he cannot alienate by will more than one-third of the whole property that he leaves, the law ordains that if the value of the said slave exceeds that portion, the slave must obtain and pay the additional sum. When a female slave has borne a child to her master, and he acknowledges the child to be his own, he cannot sell this slave, and she becomes free on his death.

Abyssinian and white female slaves are kept by many men of the middle and higher cla.s.ses, and often instead of wives, as requiring less expense and being more subservient; but they are generally indulged with the same luxuries as free ladies, their vanity is gratified by costly dresses and ornaments, and they rank high above free servants; as do also the male slaves. Those called Abyssinians appear to be a mixed race between negroes and whites, and are from the territories of the Gallas.

They are mostly kidnapped and sold by their own countrymen. The negro female slaves, as few of them have considerable personal attractions (which is not the case with the Abyssinians, many of whom are very beautiful), are usually employed only in cooking and other menial offices. The female slaves of the higher cla.s.ses are often instructed in plain needlework and embroidery, and sometimes in music and dancing.

Formerly many of them possessed sufficient literary accomplishments to quote largely from esteemed poems, or even to compose extemporary verses, which they would often accompany with the lute.

Slaves of either s.e.x are generally treated with kindness; but at first they are usually importuned, and not unfrequently used with much harshness, to induce them to embrace the Mohammadan faith; which almost all of them do. Their services are commonly light: the usual office of the male white slave, who is called "memlook," is that of a page or a military guard. Eunuchs are employed as guardians of the women, but only in the houses of men of high rank or great wealth. On account of the important and confidential office which they fill, they are generally treated in public with especial consideration. I used to remark, in Cairo, that few persons saluted me with a more dignified and consequential air than these pitiable but self-conceited beings. Most of them are Abyssinians or Negroes. Indeed, the slaves in general take too much advantage of the countenance of their masters, especially when they belong to men in power. The master is bound to afford his slaves proper food and clothing, or to let them work for their own support, or to sell, give away, or liberate them. It is, however, considered disgraceful for him to sell a slave who has been long in his possession; and it seldom happens that a master emanc.i.p.ates a female slave without marrying her to some man able to support her, or otherwise providing for her.

The Prophet strongly enjoined the duty of kindness to slaves. "Feed your memlooks," said he, "with food of that which ye eat, and clothe them with such clothing as ye wear; and command them not to do that for which they are unable."[284] These precepts are generally attended to, either entirely or in a great degree. Some other sayings of the Prophet on this subject well deserve to be mentioned--as the following:--"He who beats his slave without fault, or slaps him on the face, his atonement for this is freeing him."--"A man who behaves ill to his slave will not enter into Paradise."--"Whoever is the cause of separation between mother and child, by selling or giving, G.o.d will separate him from his friends on the day of resurrection."--"When a slave wishes well to his master, and worships G.o.d well, for him are double rewards."[285]

It is related of 'Othman, "that he twisted the ear of a memlook belonging to him, on account of disobedience, and afterwards, repenting of it, ordered him to twist _his_ ear in like manner: but he would not.

'Othman urged him, and the memlook advanced, and began to wring it by little and little. He said to him, 'Wring it hard; for I cannot endure the punishment of the day of judgment [on account of this act].' The memlook answered, 'O my master, the day that thou fearest, I also fear.'"--"It is related also of Zeyn el-'abideen, that he had a memlook who seized a sheep, and broke its leg; and he said to him, 'Why didst thou this?' He answered, 'To provoke thee to anger.' 'And I,' said he, 'will provoke to anger him who taught thee; and he is Iblees: go, and be free, for the sake of G.o.d.'"[286]--Many similar anecdotes might be added; but the general a.s.sertions of travellers in the East are more satisfactory evidence in favour of the humane conduct of most Muslims to their slaves.

It sometimes happens, though rarely, that free girls are sold as slaves.[287] A remarkable instance is related in the Mir-at ez-Zeman.[288]--Fatimeh, surnamed Ghareeb, a slave of the Khaleefeh El-Mo?ta?im, the son of Haroon, was a poetess, accomplished in singing and calligraphy, and extremely beautiful. Her mother was an orphan; and Ja?far, the famous Wezeer of Haroon Er-Rasheed, took her as his wife; but his father, Ya?ya, reproached him for marrying a woman whose father and mother were unknown, and he therefore removed her from his own residence to a neighbouring house, where he frequently visited her; and she bore him a daughter, the above-mentioned Ghareeb, and died. Ja?far committed her infant to the care of a Christian woman to nurse; and, on the overthrow of his family, this woman sold her young charge as a slave. El-Emeen, the successor of Er-Rasheed, bought her of a man named Sumbul, but never paid her price; and when he was killed, she returned to her former master; but on the arrival of El-Ma-moon at Baghdad, she was described to him, and he compelled Sumbul to sell her to him. This Sumbul loved her so pa.s.sionately that he died of grief at her loss. On the death of El-Ma-moon, his successor, El-Mo?ta?im, bought her for a hundred thousand dirhems, and emanc.i.p.ated her. The historian adds that she composed several well-known airs and verses.

FOOTNOTES:

[284] Nuzhet el-Mutaammil, section 9.

[285] Mishkat el-Ma?abee?, ii. 140, 141

[286] Nuzhet el-Mutaammil, 1.1.

[287] See Modern Egyptians, ch. vi.

[288] Events of the year 227.

CHAPTER XI.

CEREMONIES OF DEATH.

The ceremonies attendant upon death and burial are nearly the same in the cases of men and women. The face or the head of the dying person is turned towards the direction of Mekkeh. When the spirit is departing, the eyes are closed; and then, or immediately after, the women of the house commence a loud lamentation, in which many of the females of the neighbourhood generally come to join. Hired female mourners are also usually employed, each of whom accompanies her exclamations of "Alas for him!" etc. by beating a tambourine. If possible, the corpse is buried on the day of the death;[289] but when this cannot be done, the lamentation of the women is continued during the ensuing night; and a recitation of several chapters, or of the whole, of the ?ur-an is performed by one or more men hired for the purpose.

The washing consists, first, in the performance of the ordinary ablution that is preparatory to prayer, with the exception of the cleansing of the mouth and nose, and secondly, in an ablution of the whole body with warm water and soap, or with water in which some leaves of the lote-tree have been boiled. The jaw is bound up, the eyes are closed, and the nostrils, etc., are stuffed with cotton; and the corpse is sprinkled with a mixture of water, pounded camphor, dried and pounded leaves of the lote-tree, and sometimes other dried and pulverized leaves, and with rose-water. The ankles are bound together;[290] and the hands placed upon the breast.

The grave-clothing of a poor man consists of a piece or two of cotton, or a kind of bag; but the corpse of a man of wealth is generally wrapped first in muslin, then in cotton cloth of a thicker texture, next in a piece of striped stuff of silk and cotton intermixed, or in a ?af?an (a long vest) of similar stuff merely st.i.tched together, and over these is wrapped a Kashmeer shawl.[291] The colours most approved for the grave-clothes are white and green. The body thus shrouded is placed in a bier, which is usually covered with a Kashmeer shawl, and borne on the shoulders of three or four men, generally friends of the deceased.

There are some slight differences in the funeral ceremonies observed in different Arab countries; but a sufficient notion of them will be conveyed by briefly describing those which prevail in Cairo. The procession to the tomb is generally headed by a number of poor men, mostly blind, who, walking two and two, or three and three together, chant, in a melancholy tone, the profession (or two professions) of the faith, "There is no deity but G.o.d" and "Mo?ammad is G.o.d's apostle,"

or sometimes other words. They are usually followed by some male relations and friends of the deceased; and these, by a group of schoolboys, chanting in a higher tone, and one of them bearing a copy of the ?ur-an, or of one of its thirty sections, placed upon a kind of desk formed of palm-sticks, and covered with an embroidered kerchief.

Then follows the bier, borne head-foremost. Friends of the deceased relieve one another in the office of carrying it; and casual pa.s.sengers often take part in this service, which is esteemed highly meritorious.

Behind the bier walk the female mourners, composing a numerous group, often more than a dozen; or, if of a wealthy family, they ride. Each of those who belong to the family of the deceased has a strip of cotton stuff or muslin, generally blue, bound round her head, over the head-veil, and carries a handkerchief, usually dyed blue (the colour of mourning), which she sometimes holds over her shoulders, and at other times twirls with both hands over her head or before her face, while she cries and shrieks almost incessantly; and the hired female mourners, accompanying the group, often celebrate the praises of the deceased, though this was forbidden by the Prophet. The funeral procession of a man of wealth is sometimes preceded by several camels, bearing bread and water to give to the poor at the tomb; and closed by the led horses of some of the attendants, and by a buffalo or other animal to be sacrificed at the tomb, where its flesh is distributed to the poor, to atone for some of the minor sins of the deceased.[292]

The bier used for conveying the corpse of a boy or a female has a cover of wood, over which a shawl is spread; and at the head is an upright piece of wood: upon the upper part of this, in the case of a boy, is fixed a turban, with several ornaments of female head-dress; and in the case of a female, it is similarly decked, but without the turban.

A short prayer is recited over the dead, either in a mosque or in a place particularly dedicated to this service in or adjacent to the burial-ground. The body is then conveyed, in the same manner as before, to the tomb. This is a hollow, oblong vault, one side of which faces the direction of Mekkeh, generally large enough to contain four or more bodies, and having an oblong monument of stone or brick constructed over it, with a stela at the head and foot. Upon the former of these two stelae (which is often inscribed with a text from the ?ur-an, and the name of the deceased, with the date of his death), a turban, cap, or other head-dress, is sometimes carved, showing the rank or cla.s.s of the person or persons buried beneath; and in many cases, a cupola supported by four walls, or by columns, is constructed over the smaller monument.

The body is laid on its right side, or inclined by means of a few crude bricks, so that the face is turned towards Mekkeh; and a person is generally employed to dictate to the deceased the answers which he should give when he is examined by the two angels Munkar and Nekeer. If the funeral be that of a person of rank or wealth, the bread and water before mentioned are then distributed to the poor.[293]

Towards the eve of the first Friday after the funeral, and often early in the morning of the Thursday, the women of the family of the deceased repeat their wailing in the house accompanied by some of their female friends: male friends of the deceased also visit the house shortly before or after sunset; and three or four persons are hired to perform a recitation of the whole of the ?ur-an. On the following morning, some or all of the members of the deceased's family, but chiefly the women, visit the tomb; they or their servants carrying palm-branches, and sometimes sweet basil, to lay upon it, and often the visitors take with them some kind of food, as bread, pancakes, sweet cakes of different kinds, or dates, to distribute to the poor on this occasion. They recite portions of the ?ur-an or employ people to recite it, as has been already mentioned.[294] These ceremonies are repeated on the same days of the next two weeks; and again on the eve and morning of the Friday which completes, or next follows, the first period of forty days after the funeral; whence this Friday is called El-Arba'een, or Jum'at el-Arba'een.

It is believed that the soul remains with the body until the expiration of the first night after the burial, when it departs to the place appointed for the abode of good souls until the last day, or to the appointed prisons in which wicked souls await their final doom; but with respect to the state of souls in the interval between death and judgment, there are various opinions which Sale thus states.[295] As to the souls of the good, he says, "1. Some say they stay near the sepulchres; with liberty, however, of going wherever they please; which they confirm from Mo?ammad's manner of saluting them at their graves, and his affirming that the dead heard those salutations as well as the living, though they could not answer. Whence perhaps proceeded the custom of visiting the tombs of relations, so common among the Mohammadans. 2. Others imagine they are with Adam, in the lowest heaven; and also support their opinion by the authority of their prophet, who gave out that in his return from the upper heavens in his pretended night-journey, he saw there the souls of those who were destined to paradise on the right hand of Adam, and those who were condemned to h.e.l.l on his left. 3. Others fancy the souls of believers remain in the well Zemzem, and those of infidels in a certain well in the province of Ha?ramot, called Barahoot:[296] but this opinion is branded as heretical [?]. 4. Others say they stay near the graves for seven days; but that whither they go afterwards is uncertain. 5. Others that they are all in the trumpet, whose sound is to raise the dead. And 6. Others that the souls of the good dwell in the forms of white birds, under the throne of G.o.d. As to the condition of the souls of the wicked, the more orthodox held that they are offered by the angels to heaven, from whence being repulsed as stinking and filthy, they are offered to the earth; and, being also refused a place there, are carried down to the seventh earth, and thrown into a dungeon, which they call Sijjeen, under a green rock, or according to a tradition of Mo?ammad, under the devil's jaw, to be there tormented till they are called up to be joined again to their bodies." But the souls of prophets are believed to be admitted immediately into paradise, and those of martyrs are said to rest in the crops of green birds which eat of the fruits of paradise and drink of its rivers.[297]

Of the opinions above mentioned, with respect to the souls of the faithful, I believe the first to be that which is most prevalent. It is generally said that these souls visit their respective graves every Friday; and according to some they return to their bodies on Friday, after the period of the afternoon prayers, and on Sat.u.r.day and Monday; or on Thursday, Friday, and Sat.u.r.day; and remain until sunrise.[298]--I believe also, from having heard frequent allusions made to it as a thing not to be doubted, that the opinion respecting the Well of Barahoot commonly prevails in the present day. El-?azweenee says of it, "It is a well _near_ Ha?ramot; and the Prophet (G.o.d bless and save him!) said, 'In it are the souls of the infidels and hypocrites.' It is an 'Adite well [_i.e._ ancient, as though made by the old tribe of 'Ad], in a dry desert, and a gloomy valley; and it is related of 'Alee (may G.o.d be well pleased with him!), that he said, 'The most hateful of districts unto G.o.d (whose name be exalted!) is the Valley of Barahoot, in which is a well whose water is black and fetid, where the souls of the infidels make their abode.' El-Asma'ee hath related of a man of Ha?ramot that he said, 'We find near Barahoot an extremely disgusting and fetid smell, and then news is brought to us of the death of a great man of the chiefs of the infidels.' It is related, also, that a man who pa.s.sed a night in the Valley of Barahoot, said, 'I heard all the night [exclamations] of O Roomeh! O Roomeh! and I mentioned this to a learned man, and he told me that it was the name of the angel commissioned to keep guard over the souls of the infidels.'"[299]

FOOTNOTES:

[289] "When any one of you dies," said the Prophet, "you must not keep him in the house; but carry him quickly to his grave:" and again he said, "Be quick in lifting up a bier; for if the deceased be a good man, it is good to take him up quickly, and carry him to his grave, to cause the good to arrive at happiness; and if the deceased be a bad man, it is a wickedness which ye put from your neck." (Mishkat el-Ma?abee?, i. 374, 387.)

[290] Two customs, namely, tying the toes of the corpse, and placing a knife, or rather a sword, upon the body, are still common in some Muslim countries; but I did not hear of their being observed in Egypt, nor the custom of putting salt with the knife or sword. Iron and salt are both believed to repel genii, and to prevent their approach, and hence, perhaps, are thus used.

[291] It is a common custom for a Muslim, on a military expedition, or during a long journey, especially in the desert, to carry his grave-linen with him; for he is extremely careful that he may be buried according to the law.

[292] More than one is unusual; but at the funeral of Mo?ammad 'Alee, which I witnessed in Cairo, about eighty buffaloes were thus driven in the procession.--E. S. P.

[293] See further Modern Egyptians, ch. xxviii.

[294] See above, 23 and 24.

[295] Preliminary Discourse, section iv.

[296] So in the ?amoos, and in my MS. of the 'Ajab el-Makhloo?at of El-?azweenee; but by Sale written "Borht."

[297] The Mohammadan law distinguishes several different descriptions of martyrs. This honourable t.i.tle is given to the soldier who dies in fighting for the faith, or on his way to do so, or who dies almost immediately after his having been wounded when so engaged; to a person who innocently meets with his death from the hand of another; to a victim of the plague, who does not flee from the disease, or of dysentery; to a person who is drowned, and to one who is killed by the falling of a wall or any building.

[298] Murshid ez-Zoowar ila ?uboor, el-Abrar (the Director of the Visitors to the Tombs of the Just) by 'Abd-er-Ra?man El-Khazrejee El-An?aree: MS. in my possession.

[299] 'Ajab el-Makhloo?at.