An account of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians

by Edward William Lane

[601]. A name of the Arabian Prophet.

[602]. The Virgin Mary.

[603]. The daughter of the Imám ’Alee.

[604]. The daughter of the Prophet.

[605]. Vulgo “fikee.”

[606]. This and the following words distinguished by inverted commas are the titles of chapters of the Kur-án, which the boys, as I have mentioned on a former occasion, learn in the reverse order of their arrangement, after having learned the first chapter. The chapter of “The News,” is the 78th: the others, afterwards named, are the 67th, 55th, 36th, 18th, 6th, and 2nd.

[607]. The looking-glasses. This is said to amuse the ladies.

[608]. The 37th chapter of the Kur-án.

[609]. What follows this describes the ceremonies which are performed both after the siráfeh and after the more common zeffeh, of which I have given an account in a former chapter.

[610]. Some Muslims turn the head of the corpse in the direction of Mekkeh; others, the right side, inclining the face in that direction: the latter, I believe, is the general custom.