An account of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians

by Edward William Lane

The Muslims have recourse to many superstitious practices to determine them when they are in doubt as to any action which they contemplate, whether they shall do it or not. Some apply, for an answer, to a table called a “záïrgeh.” There is a table of this kind ascribed to Idrees, or Enoch. It is divided into a hundred little squares, in each of which is written some Arabic letter. The person who consults it repeats, three times, the opening chapter of the Kur-án, and the 59th verse of the Soorat el-An’ám (or 6th chapter)—“With him are the keys of the secret things: none knoweth them but He: and He knoweth whatever is on the land and [what is] in the sea: and there falleth not a leaf, but He knoweth it, nor a grain in the dark parts of the earth, nor a moist thing nor a dry thing, but [it is noted] in a distinct writing.”—Having done this, without looking directly at the table, he places his finger upon it: he then looks to see upon what letter his finger is placed, writes that letter, the fifth following it, the fifth following this, and so on, until he comes again to the first which he wrote; and these letters together compose the answer. The construction of the table may be shown by translating it, thus—

┌───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┐

│ d │ w │ w │ a │ w │ o │ h │ a │ b │ h │

├───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤

│ i │ o │ i │ s │ o │ t │ d │ t │ t │ w │

├───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤

│ w │ o │ a │ a │ a │ i │ e │ n │ i │ i │

├───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤

│ t │ s │ d │ n │ t │ h │ i │ a │ a │ e │

├───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤