Note 15 — Chapter IV

Note 15.—Customs observed after a Death. Though the men, in Arabian countries, make no change in their dress in indication of mourning, they observe other customs after the death of a relation. By the term here used in the original for "mourning" ("'azá," the primary signification of which is "consolation" or "condolence"), an allusion is made to receiving the visits of condoling friends. On the night immediately following the burial, several persons are employed to perform recitations of portions of the Ḳur-án, &c. The most remarkable of these ceremonies consists in repeating thrice one thousand times, "There is no deity but God:" one of the performers having a string of a thousand large beads by means of which to count these repetitions. Some persons are also hired to perform a recitation of the whole of the Ḳur-án in the afternoon or evening of the first Thursday after the funeral, and often on other days; and the merit of these and the former religious acts is transferred to the soul of the deceased.—These customs I have fully described in my work on the Modern Egyptians, vol. ii. ch. xv.