Mysteries of the Libyan Desert

by W. J. Harding King

The most interesting festival to be seen in Kharga, which is not, I believe, held in Dakhla, is the Aid el Mahmal, or fête of the Mahmal, which takes place on the 15th day of the Arab month, Sha’aban. This day is a religious anniversary in the Nile Valley, the night being known as “the night of the middle of Sha’aban.”

It is believed that there is a lote tree in Paradise known as the “Tree of Extremity,” which bears as many leaves as there are human beings living in the world, and that each leaf has the name of the being it represents written upon it. On the night of the middle of Sha’aban this tree is shaken and the leaves inscribed with the names of those who are going to die during the year fall off. Many pious Moslems accordingly spend a great part of the night reciting a special form of prayer in the Mosque. But, so far as I know, no other ceremonial takes place in the Nile Valley on this day, so although the date is identical with that of the Aid el Mahmal of Kharga Oasis, there does not appear to be any connection between them.

Nor does this Kharga festival appear to be in any way connected with the Mahmal, whose annual departure from Cairo for the pilgrimage to Mecca is such a well-known sight for the tourists in Egypt. The Kharga Mahmal in appearance much resembles the Cairo one, but its red and green covering is not so gorgeous. It is carried in procession round the village of Kharga, accompanied by the usual crowd bearing flags, beating drums, banging off guns and carrying on the fantasia usual to ceremonial processions.

Instead of being merely an empty litter, as in the case of the Cairo Mahmal, a man sits in it, who collects bakhshish from the inhabitants of the village. Each gives him a handful or two of dates, grain or the produce of some other crop of the neighbourhood. This bakhshish he keeps as a perquisite.

I was unable to find out the origin of the custom. The Kharga natives claim that their Mahmal is a much older institution than the Cairo one, which they say was copied from theirs. They say it dates back to the time of the Fatimide dynasty, who ruled over Egypt from A.D. 908 to A.D. 1171, while the Cairo Mahmal is only supposed to date from about A.D. 1265. The privilege of riding in the Kharga Mahmal is hereditary; the family enjoying the right to do so being described to me as a family of fikis.

When I was in Kharga, the representative of the family was the village schoolmaster—Khalifa Zenata by name—and may possibly be the descendant of some petty sultan who ruled over the oasis, or perhaps of some holy sheykh.

In the latter case possibly the Aid el Mahmal is a form of mulid, or anniversary birthday fête; but I could hear of no other mulids for any of the local sheykhs in either Kharga or Dakhla. Mahmals, however, are used at a few places in the Nile Valley for carrying a carpet to the tomb of a deceased sheykh on his mulid.

The Mahmal that is taken on a camel from Egypt on the pilgrimage to Mecca, consists of a square box-like structure, about five feet square, surmounted by a pyramidal top, and is covered all over with richly embroidered black brocade. It is quite empty, being merely an emblem of royalty.

It has an interesting history. The Sultan, Es Saleh Nejm ed Din, owned a lovely female Turkish slave—Shagher ed Durr—who eventually became his favourite wife. When his last son died, the dynasty of the house of Aiyub, of which he was the last representative, came to an end. Shagher ed Durr then managed somehow to get herself acknowledged as Queen of Egypt; and in that capacity performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, borne on a camel back in a gorgeous covered litter. During the remainder of her reign, she sent this litter empty on the pilgrimage, as an emblem of her sovereignty. This custom of sending an empty litter with the pilgrims to Mecca has been kept up by the rulers of Egypt ever since.

A native doctor in Mut kindly supplied me with the following particulars. During the three years he was in the oasis, 1906-1908, there were 110 male children born in Mut and 106 female, the males consequently being in the proportion of 100 to 96.36 females. In the same period there were 76 male deaths to 70 female, the male deaths being in the proportion of 100 to 92.1 females.