Note 41 — Introductory material

Note 41. Both religion and climate make the Muslim an early riser. It is his duty to perform the first of the five daily prayers at, or soon after, daybreak; and he generally awakes before this period. While Shahriyár, therefore, was waiting for the dawn of day to acquit himself of this duty, in accordance with the common custom of Mohammadan kings, Shahrazád amused him by the recitation of her tales. That he should be described as thus strict with regard to religious exercises, when about to give orders for the murder of his innocent wife, needs not excite our surprise: such conduct is consistent with the character of many Muslims. In the year 1834, when I was residing in Cairo, a General in the service of Moḥammad 'Alee hired a large party of men to perform a recital of the Ḳur-án, in his house in that city, and then went up into his ḥareem, and strangled his wife, in consequence of a report which accused her of incontinence. The religious ceremony was designed as preparatory to this act, though the punishment of the woman was contrary to the law, since her husband neither produced four witnesses of the imputed crime, nor allowed her to clear herself of the charge by her own oath. Another case of diligence in the performance of a religious duty, accompanied by the contemplation of murder, but murder on a larger scale, occurred in the same city shortly after. Suleymán Ághà, the Siláḥdár, being occupied in directing the building of a public fountain, as a work of charity to place to the account of a deceased brother, desired to extend the original plan of the structure; and to do this, it was necessary that he should purchase two houses adjoining the plot in which the foundations had been laid: but the owners of these houses refused to sell them, and he therefore employed a number of workmen to undermine them by night, and cause them to fall upon their inhabitants. His scheme, however, but partially succeeded, and no lives were sacrificed. This man was notorious for cruelty, but he was a person of pleasing and venerable countenance, and engaging manners: whenever I chanced to meet him, I received from him a most gracious salutation. He died before I quitted Egypt.