[24] Vide McNair, Perak and the Malays, p. 231. “The children of the Malays are received into the world quite in religious form, prayer being said, and the Azan or Allah Akbar pronounced by the father with his lips close to the tender infant’s ear.” The bang, according to ’Che Sam, a Malay pandit of Kuala Lumpor, ran somewhat as follows:—Allahu Akbar (twice), ashahadun la-ilaha-illa-’llah (twice), ashahadun Muhammad al-Rasul Allah (twice), hei ʿAli al-saleh (twice), hei ʿAli al-faleh (twice), Allahu akbar (twice), la-ilaha-illa-’llah (twice); and the kamat as follows:—
Allahu akbar (twice), ashahadun la-ilaha-illa-’llah, ashahadun Muhammad al-Rasul Allah. Hei ʿAli al-saleh, hei ʿAli al-faleh, kad kamat al-salata (twice), la-ilaha-illa-’llah. [↑]
[26] Mr. H. N. Ridley, Director of Gardens and Forests at Singapore, in a pamphlet on Malay Materia Medica (dated 1894) describes a somewhat similar ceremony as follows:—
“When a child suffers from sampuh pachut, that is to say, when it persistently cries and will not take its food, it is treated in the following way: the leaves of Hedyotis congesta, Br., a tall jungle weed, known as Lida Jin [lidah jin, lit. Demon’s Tongue] or Poko’ Sampuh Pachut, are boiled with some other leaves till one-third of the liquor is evaporated, and the decoction exposed to the dew for a night, and the child is bathed with it; or a quantity of road-side rubbish, dead-leaves, sticks, chewed sugar-cane, etc. is boiled and the child is bathed in the liquid (it is washed afterwards), and it is then smoked over a fire consisting of a nest of a weaver-bird (sarang tampur), the skin of a bottle-gourd (labu), and a piece of wood which has been struck by lightning.” [↑]
[27] Kur, sĕmangat Muhammad ini! Kur, sĕmangat Fatimah ini! [↑]
[28] Vide pp. 353–355, infra. [↑]
[29] Of the Pahang customs Mr. Clifford writes:—
“Umat rushes off to the most famous midwife in the place, and presents her with a little brass dish filled with smooth green sîrih leaves, and sixpence of our money (25 cents) in copper, for such is the retaining fee prescribed by Malay custom. The recipient of these treasures is thereafter held bound to attend the patient whenever she may be called upon to do so, and when the confinement is over she can claim other moneys in payment of her services. These latter fees are not ruinously high, according to our standard, two dollars being charged for attending a woman in her first confinement, a dollar or a dollar and a half on the next occasion, and twenty-five, or at the most fifty cents being deemed sufficient for each subsequent event.”—Clifford, Studies in Brown Hum., pp. 47, 48. [↑]
[30] To each corner of this hearth is fastened a bunch of lemon-grass leaves, each of which is separately charmed by ejecting betel-leaf upon it (di-sĕmbor); at the same time a pillow is prepared for it by the insertion of a needle at each end. The fire (api saleian) is always lighted by the Bidan, and must never be allowed to go out for the whole of the 44 days. To light it the Bidan should take a brand from the house-fire (api dapor), and when it is once properly kindled, nothing must be cooked at it, or the child will suffer. Moreover, whenever during this same period there happens to be a hen sitting on its eggs in the house, the blades of weapons, such as daggers (k’risses) and spears, must not be reset in their handles (mĕmbalau) either over the hearth-fire or the fire of the saleian. [↑]