Note 352 — THE TALE OF THE KAZI AND THE BHANG-EATER.[224] (continued 3)

The “’Ishá”-prayer (called in Egypt “’Eshè”) consists of ten “Ruka’át” = bows or inclinations of the body (not “of the head” as Lane has it, M. E. chapt. iii.): of these four are “Sunnah” = traditional or customary (of the Prophet), four are Farz (divinely appointed i.e. by the Koran) and two again Sunnah. The hour is nightfall when the evening has closed in with some minor distinctions, e.g. the Hanafí waits till the whiteness and the red gleam in the west (“Al-Shafak al-ahmar”) have wholly disappeared, and the other three orthodox only till the ruddy light has waned. The object of avoiding sundowntide (and sunrise equally) was to distinguish these hours of orisons from those of the Guebres and other faiths which venerate, or are supposed to venerate, the sun.