The “zikkeers” (or the performers of the zikr), who were about thirty in number, sat cross-legged, upon matting extended close to the houses on one side of the street, in the form of an oblong ring. Within this ring, along the middle of the matting, were placed three very large wax-candles, each about four feet high, and stuck in a low candlestick. Most of the zikkeers were Ahmed′ee darweeshes, persons of the lower orders, and meanly dressed: many of them wore green turbans. At one end of the ring were four “munshids” (or singers of poetry), and with them was a player on the kind of flute called “náy.” I procured a small seat of palm-sticks from a coffee-shop close by, and, by means of a little pushing, and the assistance of my servant, obtained a place with the munshids, and sat there to hear a complete act, or “meglis,” of the zikr; which I shall describe as completely as I can, to convey a notion of the kind of zikr most common and most approved in Cairo. It commenced at about three o’clock (or three hours after sunset); and continued two hours.
The performers began by reciting the Fát’hah, altogether; their sheykh (or chief) first exclaiming, “El-Fát’hah!” They then chanted the following words:—“O God, favour our lord Mohammad among the former generations; and favour our lord Mohammad among the latter generations; and favour our lord Mohammad in every time and period; and favour our lord Mohammad among the most exalted princes,[[534]] unto the day of judgment: and favour all the prophets and apostles among the inhabitants of the heavens and of the earth: and may God (whose name be blessed and exalted!) be well pleased with our lords and our masters, those persons of illustrious estimation, Aboo-Bekr and ’Omar and ’Osmán and ’Alee, and with all the other favourites of God. God is our sufficiency; and excellent is the Guardian! And there is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! O God! O our Lord! O Thou liberal of pardon! O Thou most bountiful of the most bountiful! O God! Amen!” They were then silent for three or four minutes; and again recited the Fát’hah, but silently. This form of prefacing the zikr is commonly used by almost all orders of darweeshes in Egypt.
After this preface, the performers began the zikr. Sitting in the manner above described, they chanted, in slow measure, “Lá iláha illa-lláh” (“There is no deity but God”), to the following air:—
Lá i - lá - - ha il - - lal- - láh.
Lá i - lá - ha i -l - la - l -lá -h.
Lá i - lá - ha il - la-l láh.
bowing the head and body twice in each repetition of “Lá iláha illa-lláh.” Thus they continued about a quarter of an hour; and then, for about the same space of time, they repeated the same words to the same air, but in a quicker measure, and with correspondingly quicker motions. In the meantime, the munshids frequently sang, to the same, or a variation of the same, air, portions of a kaseedeh, or of a muweshshah; an ode of a similar nature to the Song of Solomon, generally alluding to the Prophet as the object of love and praise.