The condition of the Imáms is very different, in most respects, from that of Christian priests. They have no authority above other persons, and do not enjoy any respect but what their reputed piety or learning may obtain them: nor are they a distinct order of men set apart for religious offices, like our clergy, and composing an indissoluble fraternity; for a man who has acted as the Imám of a mosque may be displaced by the warden of that mosque, and, with his employment and salary, loses the title of Imám, and has no better chance of being again chosen for a religious minister than any other person competent to perform the office. The Imáms obtain their livelihood chiefly by other means than the service of the mosque, as their salaries are very small: that of a Khateeb being generally about a piaster (2⅖d. of our money) per month; and that of an ordinary Imám, about five piasters. Some of them engage in trade; several of them are “’attárs” (or druggists and perfumers), and many of them are schoolmasters: those who have no regular occupations of these kinds often recite the Kur-án for hire in private houses. They are mostly chosen from among the poor students of the great mosque El-Azhar.
The large mosques are open from day-break till a little after the ’eshë, or till nearly two hours after sunset. The others are closed between the hours of morning and noon prayers; and most mosques are also closed in rainy weather (excepting at the times of prayer), lest persons who have no shoes should enter, and dirt the pavement and matting. Such persons always enter by the door nearest the tank or fountain (if there be more than one door), that they may wash before they pass into the place of prayer; and generally this door alone is left open in dirty weather. The great mosque El-Azhar remains open all night, with the exception of the principal place of prayer, which is called the “maksoorah,” being partitioned off from the rest of the building. In many of the larger mosques, particularly in the afternoon, persons are seen lounging, chatting together, eating, sleeping, and sometimes spinning or sewing, or engaged in some other simple craft; but, notwithstanding such practices, which are contrary to precepts of their prophet, the Muslims very highly respect their mosques. There are several mosques in Cairo (as the Azhar, Hasaneyn, etc.), before which no Frank, or any other Christian, nor a Jew, were allowed to pass, till of late years, since the French invasion.
On the Friday, half an hour before the “duhr” (or noon), the muëddins of the mosques ascend to the galleries of the mád’nehs, and chant the “Selám,” which is a salutation to the Prophet, not always expressed in the same words, but generally in words to the following effect:—“Blessing and peace be on thee, O thou of great dignity! O Apostle of God! Blessing and peace be on thee, to whom the Truth said, I am God! Blessing and peace be on thee, thou first of the creatures of God, and seal of the Apostles of God! From me be peace on thee, on thee and on thy Family and all thy companions!”—Persons then begin to assemble in the mosques.
The utmost solemnity and decorum are observed in the public worship of the Muslims. Their looks and behaviour in the mosque are not those of enthusiastic devotion, but of calm and modest piety. Never are they guilty of a designedly irregular word or action during their prayers. The pride and fanaticism which they exhibit in common life, in intercourse with persons of their own, or of a different faith, seem to be dropped on their entering the mosque, and they appear wholly absorbed in the adoration of their Creator; humble and downcast, yet without affected humility, or a forced expression of countenance.
The Muslim takes off his shoes at the door of the mosque, carries them in his left hand, sole to sole, and puts his right foot first over the threshold. If he have not previously performed the preparatory ablution, he repairs at once to the tank or fountain to acquit himself of that duty. Before he commences his prayers, he places his shoes (and his sword and pistols, if he have such arms) upon the matting, a little before the spot where his head will touch the ground in prostration: his shoes are put one upon the other, sole to sole.
The people who assemble to perform the noon prayers of Friday arrange themselves in rows parallel to that side of the mosque in which is the niche, and facing that side. Many do not go until the adán of noon, or just before. When a person goes at, or a little after, the Selám, as soon as he has taken his place in one of the ranks, he performs two rek’ahs, and then remains sitting, on his knees or cross-legged, while a reader, having seated himself on the reading-chair immediately after the Selám, is occupied in reciting (usually without book) the Soorat el-Kahf (the 18th chapter of the Kur-án), or a part of it; for, generally, he has not finished it before the adán of noon, when he stops. All the congregation, as soon as they hear the adán (which is the same as on other days), sit on their knees and feet. When the adán is finished, they stand up, and perform, each separately, two[[138]] rek’ahs, “sunnet el-gum’ah” (or the sunneh ordinance for Friday), which they conclude, like the ordinary prayers, with the two salutations. A servant of the mosque, called a “Murakkee,” then opens the folding-doors at the foot of the pulpit-stairs, takes from behind them a straight wooden sword, and, standing a little to the right of the doorway, with his right side towards the kibleh, holds this sword in his right hand, resting the point on the ground. In this position he says, “Verily God favoureth, and His angels bless, the Prophet. O ye who believe, bless him, and greet him with a salutation!”[[139]] Then one or more persons, called “Muballighs,” stationed on the dikkeh, chant the following, or similar words.[[140]] “O God! favour and preserve and bless the most noble of the Arabs and ’Agam [or foreigners], the Imám of Mekkeh and El-Medeeneh and the Temple, to whom the spider showed favour, and wove its web in the cave; and whom the dabb[[141]] saluted, and before whom the moon was cloven in twain, our lord Mohammad, and his Family and Companions!” The Murakkee then recites the adán (which the Muëddins have already chanted): after every few words he pauses, and the Muballighs on the dikkeh repeat the same words in a sonorous chant.[[142]] Before the adán is finished, the Khateeb, or Imám, comes to the foot of the pulpit, takes the wooden sword from the Murakkee’s hand, ascends the pulpit, and sits on the top step or platform. The pulpit of a large mosque on this day is decorated with two flags, with the profession of the faith, or the names of God and Mohammad, worked upon them: these are fixed at the top of the stairs, slanting forward. The Murakkee and Muballighs having finished the adán, the former repeats a tradition of the Prophet, saying, “The Prophet (upon whom be blessing and peace!) hath said, ‘If thou say unto thy companion while the Imám is preaching on Friday, Be thou silent, thou speakest rashly.’ Be ye silent: ye shall be rewarded: God shall recompense you.” He then sits down. The Khateeb now rises, and, holding the wooden sword[[143]] in the same manner as the Murakkee did, delivers an exhortation, called “khutbet el-waaz.” As the reader may be curious to see a translation of a Muslim sermon, I insert one. The following is a sermon preached on the first Friday of the Arab year.[[144]] The original, as usual, is in rhyming prose.
“Praise be to God, the renewer of years, and the multiplier of favours, and the creator of months and days, according to the most perfect wisdom and most admirable regulation; who hath dignified the months of the Arabs above all other months, and pronounced that among the more excellent of them is El-Moharram the Sacred, and commenced with it the year, as He hath closed it with Zu-l-Heggeh. How propitious is the beginning, and how good is the end![[145]] [I extol] His perfection, exempting Him from the association of any other deity with Him. He hath well considered what He hath formed, and established what He hath contrived, and He alone hath the power to create and to annihilate. I praise Him, extolling His perfection, and exalting His name, for the knowledge and inspiration which He hath graciously vouchsafed; and I testify that there is no deity but God alone; He hath no companion; He is the most holy King; the [God of] peace: and I testify that our Lord and our Prophet and our friend Mohammad is His servant, and His apostle, and His elect, and His friend, the guide of the way, and the lamp of the dark. O God! favour and preserve and bless this noble Prophet, and chief and excellent apostle, the merciful-hearted, our lord Mohammad, and his family, and his companions, and his wives, and his posterity, and the people of his house, the noble persons, and preserve them amply! O servants of God! your lives have been gradually curtailed, and year after year hath passed away, and ye are sleeping on the bed of indolence and on the pillow of iniquity. Ye pass by the tombs of your predecessors, and fear not the assault of destiny and destruction, as if others departed from the world and ye must of necessity remain in it. Ye rejoice at the arrival of new years, as if they brought an increase to the term of life, and swim in the seas of desires, and enlarge your hopes, and in every way exceed other people [in presumption], and ye are sluggish in doing good. O how great a calamity is this! God teacheth by an allegory. Know ye not that in the curtailment of time by indolence and sleep there is very great trouble? Know ye not that in the cutting short of lives by the termination of years is a very great warning? Know ye not that the night and day divide the lives of numerous souls? Know ye not that health and capacity are two blessings coveted by many men? But the truth hath become manifest to him who hath eyes. Ye are now between two years: one year hath passed away, and come to an end, with its evils; and ye have entered upon another year, in which, if it please God, mankind shall be relieved. Is any of you determining upon diligence [in doing good] in the year to come? or repenting of his failings in the times that are passed? The happy is he who maketh amends for the time passed in the time to come; and the miserable is he whose days pass away, and he is careless of his time. This new year hath arrived, and the sacred month of God hath come with blessings to you—the first of the months of the year, and of the four sacred months, as hath been said, and the most worthy of preference and honour and reverence. Its fast is the most excellent of fasts after that which is incumbent,[[146]] and the doing of good in it is among the most excellent of the objects of desire. Whosoever desireth to reap advantage from it, let him fast the ninth and tenth days, looking for aid.[[147]] Abstain not from this fast through indolence, and esteeming it a hardship; but comply with it in the best manner, and honour it with the best of honours, and improve your time by the worship of God morning and evening. Turn unto God with repentance, before the assault of death: He is the God who accepteth repentance of His servants, and pardoneth sins.—The Tradition.[[148]]—The Apostle of God (God favour and preserve him!) hath said, ‘The most excellent prayer, after the prescribed,[[149]] is the prayer that is said in the last third of the night; and the most excellent fast, after Ramadán, is that of the month of God, El-Moharram.’”
The Khateeb, having concluded his exhortation, says to the congregation, “Supplicate God.” He then sits down, and prays privately; and each member of the congregation at the same time offers up some private petition, as after the ordinary prayers, holding his hands before him (looking at the palms), and then drawing them down his face. This done, the Muballighs say, “A′meen! A′meen! (Amen! Amen!) O Lord of all creatures!”—The Khateeb now rises again, and recites another Khutbeh, called “khutbet en-naat,” of which the following is a translation:—[[150]]
“Praise be to God, abundant praise, as He hath commanded! I testify that there is no deity but God alone: He hath no companion: affirming His supremacy, and condemning him who denieth and disbelieveth: and I testify that our lord and our prophet Mohammad is His servant and His apostle, the lord of mankind, the intercessor, the accepted intercessor, on the day of assembling: God favour him and his family as long as the eye seeth and the ear heareth! O people! reverence God by doing what He hath commanded, and abstain from that which He hath forbidden and prohibited. The happy is he who obeyeth, and the miserable is he who opposeth and sinneth. Know that the present world is a transitory abode, and that the world to come is a lasting abode. Make provision, therefore, in your transitory state for your lasting state, and prepare for your reckoning and standing before your Lord: for know that ye shall to-morrow be placed before God, and reckoned with according to your deeds; and before the Lord of Might ye shall be present, ‘and those who have acted unjustly shall know with what an overthrowal they shall be overthrown.’[[151]] Know that God, whose perfection I extol, and whose name be exalted, hath said (and ceaseth not to say wisely, and to command judiciously, warning you, and teaching, and honouring the dignity of your Prophet, extolling and magnifying him), ‘Verily, God favoureth, and His angels bless, the Prophet: O ye who believe, bless him, and greet him with a salutation!’[salutation!’][[152]] O God! favour Mohammad and the family of Mohammad, as Thou favouredst Ibráheem[[153]] and the family of Ibráheem; and bless Mohammad and the family of Mohammad, as Thou blessedst Ibráheem and the family of Ibráheem among all creatures—for Thou art praiseworthy and glorious! O God! do Thou also be well pleased with the four Khaleefehs, the orthodox lords, of high dignity and illustrious honour, Aboo-Bekr Es-Siddeek, and ’Omar, and ’Osmán, and ’Alee; and be Thou well pleased, O God! with the six who remained of the ten noble and just persons who swore allegiance to thy Prophet Mohammad (God favour and preserve him!) under the tree; (for Thou art the Lord of piety, and the Lord of pardon,) those persons of excellence and clemency, and rectitude and prosperity, Talhah, and Ez-Zubeyr, and Saad, and Sa’eed, and ’Abd-Er-Rahmán Ibn-’Owf, and Aboo-’Obeydeh ’Amir Ibn-El-Garráh; and with all the Companions of the Apostle of God! (God favour and preserve him!); and be Thou well pleased, O God! with the two martyred descendants, the two bright moons, ‘the two lords of the youths of the people of Paradise in Paradise,’ the two sweet-smelling flowers of the Prophet of this nation, Aboo-Mohammad El-Hasan, and Aboo-’bd-Allah El-Hoseyn: and be Thou well pleased, O God! with their mother, the daughter of the Apostle of God (God favour and preserve him!), Fátimeh Ez-Zahra, and with their grandmother Khadeegeh El-Kubra, and with ’A’ïsheh[’A’ïsheh], the mother of the faithful, and with the rest of the pure wives, and with the generation which succeeded the Companions, and the generation which succeeded that, with beneficence to the day of judgment! O God! pardon the believing men and the believing women, and the Muslim men and the Muslim women, those who are living, and the dead; for Thou art a hearer near, an answerer of prayers, O Lord of all creatures! O God! aid El-Islám, and strengthen its pillars, and make infidelity to tremble, and destroy its might, by the preservation of Thy servant, and the son of Thy servant, the submissive to the might of Thy majesty and glory, whom God hath aided, by the care of the Adored King, our master the Sultán, son of the Sultán, the Sultán Mahmood[[154]] Khán: may God assist him, and prolong [his reign]! O God! assist him, and assist his armies! O Thou Lord of the religion, and of the world present, and the world to come! O Lord of all creatures! O God! assist the forces of the Muslims, and the armies of the Unitarians! O God! frustrate the infidels and polytheists, thine enemies, the enemies of the religion! O God! invert their banners, and ruin their habitations, and give them and their wealth as booty to the Muslims![[155]] O God! unloose the captivity of the captives, and annul the debts of the debtors; and make this town to be safe and secure, and blessed with wealth and plenty, and all the towns of the Muslims, O Lord of all creatures! And decree safety and health to us and to all travellers, and pilgrims, and warriors, and wanderers, upon Thy earth, and upon Thy sea, such as are Muslims, O Lord of all creatures! ‘O Lord! we have acted unjustly towards our own souls, and if Thou do not forgive us and be merciful unto us, we shall surely be of those who perish.[[156]] I beg of God, the Great, that He may forgive me and you, and all the people of Mohammad, the servants of God. ‘Verily God commandeth justice, and the doing of good, and giving [what is due] to kindred; and forbiddeth wickedness, and iniquity, and oppression: He admonisheth you that ye may reflect.’[[157]] Remember God; He will remember you: and thank Him; He will increase to you [your blessings]. Praise be to God, the Lord of all creatures!”
During the rise of the Nile, a good inundation is also prayed for in this Khutbeh. The Khateeb, or Imám, having ended it, descends from the pulpit, and the Muballighs chant the “ikámeh” (described in page [66]): the Imám, stationed before the niche, then recites the “fard” prayers of Friday, which consist of two rek’ahs, and are similar to the ordinary prayers. The people do the same, but silently, and keeping time exactly with the Imám in the various postures. Those who are of the Málikee sect then leave the mosque; and so also do many persons of the other sects: but some of the Sháfe’ees and Hanafees (there are scarcely any Hambel′ees in Cairo) remain, and recite the ordinary fard prayers of noon; forming a number of separate groups, in each of which one acts as Imám. The rich, on going out of the mosque, often give alms to the poor outside the door.