Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, in her Observations on the Musalmans of India, says:—
“The assemblies of the ladies on this festival are marked by all the amusements and indulgences they can possibly invent or enjoy in their secluded state. Some receiving, others paying visits in covered conveyances; all doing honour to the day by wearing their best jewellery and most splendid dress. The Zanānah rings with festive songs and loud music, the cheerful meeting of friends, the distribution of presents to dependants, and remembrances to the poor; all is life and joy, cheerful bustle and amusement, on this happy day of festival, when the good lady of the mansion sits in state to receive presents from inferiors and to grant proofs of her favour to others.”
Mr. Lane, in his Modern Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 238, thus describes the ʿĪdu ʾl-Fit̤r, as kept in Egypt:—
“Soon after sunrise on the first day, the people having all dressed in new, or in their best clothes, the men assemble in the mosques, and perform the prayers of two rekʾahs, a Soonneh ordinance of the ʾeed; after which, the Khateeb delivers an exhortation. Friends, meeting in the mosque, or in the street, or in each other’s houses, congratulate and embrace and kiss each other. They generally visit each other for this purpose. Some, even of the lower classes, dress themselves entirely in a new suit of clothes, and almost everyone wears something new, if it be only a pair of shoes. The servant is presented with at least one new article of clothing by the master, and receives a few piasters from each of his master’s friends, if they visit the house; or even goes to those friends to congratulate them, and receives his present; if he have served a former master, he also visits him, and is in like manner rewarded for his trouble; and sometimes he brings a present of a dish of sweet cakes, and obtains, in return, money of twice the value, or more. On the days of this ʾeed, most of the people of Cairo eat salted fish, and thin, folded pancakes, and a kind of bun. Some families also prepare a dish consisting of stewed meat, with onions, and a quantity of treacle, vinegar, and coarse flour; and the master usually procures dried fruits, such as nuts, raisins, &c., for his family. Most of the shops in the metropolis are closed, except those at which eatables and sherbet are sold; but the streets present a gay appearance, from the crowds of passengers in their holiday clothes.
“On one or more days of this festival, some or all of the members of most families, but chiefly the women, visit the tombs of their relatives. This they also do on the occasion of the other grand festival. [[ʿIDU ʾL-AZHA].] The visitors, or their servants, carry palm branches, and sometimes sweet basil, to lay upon the tomb which they go to visit. The palm-branch is broken into several pieces, and these, or the leaves only, are placed on the tomb.
“Numerous groups of women are seen on these occasions, bearing palm-branches, on their way to the cemeteries in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. They are also provided, according to their circumstances, with cakes, bread, dates, or some other kind of food, to distribute to the poor who resort to the burial-ground on these days. Sometimes tents are pitched for them; the tents surround the tomb which is the object of the visit. The visitors recite the Fatʾhhah, or, if they can afford it, employ a person to recite first the Soorat Yaʾ-Seen, or a larger portion of the Qurān. Often a khutmeh (or recital of the whole of the Qurān) is performed at the tomb, or in the house, by several fickees. Then men generally return immediately after these rites have been performed, and the fragments or leaves of the palm-branch laid on the tomb: the women usually go to the tomb early in the morning, and do not return until the afternoon; some of them (but these are not generally esteemed women of correct conduct), if they have a tent, pass the night in it, and remain until the end of the festival, or until the afternoon of the following Friday; so, too, do the women of a family possessed of a private, enclosed burial-ground, with a house within it, for there are many such enclosures, and not a few with houses for the accommodation of the females in the midst of the public cemeteries of Cairo. Intrigues are said to be not uncommon with the females who spend the night in tents among the tombs. The great cemetery of Báb en-Nusr, in the desert tract immediately on the north of the metropolis, presents a remarkable scene on the two ʾeeds. In a part next the city-gate from which the burial-ground takes its name, many swings and whirligigs are erected, and several large tents, in some of which dancers, reciters of Aboo-Zeyd, and other performers, amuse a dense crowd of spectators; and throughout the burial-ground are seen numerous tents for the reception of the visitors of the tombs. About two or three days after the ʾeed above described, the ‘Kisweh,’ or covering of the Káabeh, which is sent annually with the great caravan of pilgrims, is conveyed in procession from the citadel of the metropolis, where it is manufactured at the Sooltán’s expense, to the mosque of the Hhasaneyn, to be sewed together and lined, preparatively to the approaching pilgrimage.” [[KISWAH].]
The visiting of tombs on the occasion of the two festivals is not a custom in India. It is generally done in the Muḥarram, both by the Sunnīs and the Shīʿahs.
ʿIFFAH (عفة). “Chastity, continence, purity.” Ahlu ʿiffah, “those who are chaste.”
ʿIFRĪT (عفريت). A demon, or class of demons, mentioned in the Qurʾān ([Sūrah xxvii. 39]). They are said to be giants, and very malicious. The ghosts of the wicked dead are sometimes called by this name. [[GENII].]
IFT̤ĀR (افطار). Lit. “Breaking.” Breaking the month’s fast on the evening of the ʿĪdu ʾl-Fit̤r, that is, at the first sight of the new moon, after sunset. It is also used for breaking the fast every evening after sunset during the month of Ramaẓān. It is, according to the example of the Prophet, to break the fast by eating either dates or salt.