[238]Hence the difficulty surrounding the writing of Ghat, or Rat or Rhat. I have used “gh” through this volume, but the French usually use “r.”
[239]See especially MM. Haardt and Dubreuil’s account of the Citroën Motor Expedition across the Sahara.
[240]In R. Bazin’s life of Père de Foucauld.
CHAPTER IX
RELIGION AND BELIEFS
Nominally at least all the Tuareg of Air are now Moslems with the possible exception of some of the Imghad of the Ikazkazan, who were described to me as Kufara (heathens). Nevertheless, even to-day the Tuareg are not good Moslems, and though, as a general rule, they say their prayers with regularity, they are remiss in such matters as ablutions. These they never perform except with sand or dust, which the Prophet enjoined were only to be resorted to on journeys or where water was scarce.
As was explained at the beginning of this volume, the word “Tuareg” is not used by the people themselves. It is used in the first place by the Arabs, in a somewhat derogatory sense. Barth makes no doubt about the etymology of the word Tuareg, or, as he spells it, Tawarek. “. . . if the reader inquires who gave them the other name (i.e. Tuareg), I answer in full confidence, the Arabs; and the reason why they called them so was probably from their having left or abandoned their religion, from the word ترك (as in), ‘tereku dinihum’; for from other evidence which I have collected elsewhere it seems clear that a great part of the Berbers of the desert were once Christians . . . and that they afterwards changed their religion. . . .”[241] The name is written either with a ك or a ق, but according to the learned traveller more often with the former letter. The form “Terga” or “Targa” would, however, if the word is identical radically with “Tuareg,” point to ق being correct in a country where this letter so often becomes a hard ج in the local Arabic. The singular form of “Tuareg” is “Tarki” or “Tarqi,” with both forms of plural, توارك and تاركيون. Duveyrier[242] and nearly all other authorities agree in accepting this etymology, though some have suggested that it meant “The People of the Sand.”[243] Others add, as an alternative explanation for the ترك derivation, that it was not so much Christianity from which they fell away but Islam after their conversion, and in support of this their laxity in ritual is quoted. Duveyrier says that they were the “Abandoned of God” on account of the delay in their conversion to Islam and the numerous apostasies which occurred, or else because of their evil and violent habits of life. There is no doubt of the reproach attaching to the word, but the etymology is unsatisfactory. In its original usage it seems to have referred rather to a section of the Muleththemin than to the whole race[244]: if this observation is correct the religious flavour attaching to the word is misleading, and it becomes simply a proper name belonging to a section analogous to that of the Sanhaja and Hawara.
The Tuareg of Air observe the usual religious feasts, but their fasting during Ramadhan, which they call Salla Shawal, like their ablutions, is usually excused on the grounds that they are travelling. On the first day of Ramadhan it is customary to visit the graves of ancestors and friends. The feast of Salla Laja or Laya is held on the tenth day of the moon of Zu’lhajja;[245] it is known in Turkey and Egypt as Bairam. On this occasion sheep are slaughtered and the people feast for three days. The feast of Bianu on the 20th of Muharrem is a sort of Saturnalia, and very similar to certain festivities described as occurring in Ashanti. The feast lasts for a day and a half and is marked by scenes of joy and happiness, for it commemorates God’s forgiveness of humanity after the Flood. There is much dancing and love-making and laughter, and the old people, the children and the unmarried persons of the villages and camps are sent out of the settlements while the revelries are in progress. The feasts of the Birthday of the Prophet and of the Beginning of the Year are also celebrated. It is customary when a journey is successfully completed to give a sheep to be sacrificed for the poor, and when there is much sickness among men or camels the same habit obtains. When three of our camels had died in rapid succession at Auderas we were urged to make sacrifice, and did so with three sheep.
PLATE 35