Arabian Society In The Middle Ages Part 12

Few of the children of the Arabs receive much instruction in literature, and still fewer are taught even the rudiments of any of the higher sciences; but there are numerous schools in their towns, and one at least in almost every moderately large village. The former are mostly attached to mosques and other public buildings, and, together with those buildings, are endowed by princes or other men of rank, or wealthy tradesmen. In these the children are instructed either gratis or for a very trifling weekly payment, which all parents save those in indigent circ.u.mstances can easily afford. The schoolmaster generally teaches nothing more than to read, and to recite by heart the whole of the ?ur-an. After committing to memory the first chapter of the sacred volume, the boy learns the rest in the inverse order of their arrangement, as they generally decrease in length (the longest coming first, and the shortest at the end). Writing and arithmetic are usually taught by another master; and grammar, rhetoric, versification, logic, the interpretation of the ?ur-an, and the whole system of religion and law, with all other knowledge deemed useful, which seldom includes the mere elements of mathematics, are attained by studying at a collegiate mosque, and at no expense; for the professors receive no pay either from the students, who are mostly of the poorer cla.s.ses, or from the funds of the mosque.

The wealthy often employ for their sons a private tutor; and when he has taught them to read, and to recite the ?ur-an, engage for them a writing-master, and then send them to the college. But among this cla.s.s, polite literature is more considered than any other branch of knowledge, after religion. Such an acquaintance with the works of some of their favourite poets as enables a man to quote them occasionally in company, is regarded by the Arabs as essential to a son who is to mix in good society; and to this acquirement is often added some skill in the art of versification, which is rendered peculiarly easy by the copiousness of the Arabic language and by its system of inflexion. These characteristics of their n.o.ble tongue (which are remarkably exhibited by the custom, common among the Arabs, of preserving the same rhyme throughout a whole poem), while on the one hand they have given an admirable freedom to the compositions of men of true poetic genius, have on the other hand mainly contributed to the degradation of Arabic poetry. To an Arab of some little learning it is almost as easy to speak in verse as in prose; and hence he often intersperses his prose writings, and not unfrequently his conversation, with indifferent verses, of which the chief merit generally consists in puns or in an ingenious use of several words nearly the same in sound but differing in sense. This custom is frequently exemplified in the "Thousand and One Nights," where a person suddenly changes the style of his speech from prose to verse, and then reverts to the former.

One more duty of a father to a son I should here mention: it is to procure for him a wife as soon as he has arrived at a proper age. This age is decided by some to be twenty years, though many young men marry at an earlier period. It is said, "When a son has attained the age of twenty years, his father, if able, should marry him, and then take his hand and say, 'I have disciplined thee and taught thee and married thee: I now seek refuge with G.o.d from thy mischief in the present world and the next.'" To enforce this duty, the following tradition is urged: "When a son becomes adult and his father does not marry him and yet is able to do so, if the youth do wrong in consequence, the sin of it is between the two"--or, as in another report,--"on the father."[232] The same is held to be the case with respect to a daughter who has attained the age of twelve years.

The female children of the Arabs are seldom taught even to read. Though they are admissible at the daily schools in which the boys are instructed, very few parents allow them the benefit of this privilege; preferring, if they give them any instruction of a literary kind, to employ a sheykhah (or learned woman) to teach them at home. She instructs them in the forms of prayer and teaches them to repeat by heart a few chapters of the ?ur-an, very rarely the whole book.

Parents are indeed recommended to withhold from their daughters some portions of the ?ur-an; to "teach them the Soorat ed-Noor [or 24th chapter], and keep from them the Soorat Yoosuf [12th chapter]; on account of the story of Zeleekha and Yoosuf in the latter, and the prohibitions and threats and mention of punishments contained in the former."[233]

Needle-work is not so rarely, but yet not generally, taught to Arab girls, the spindle frequently employs those of the poorer cla.s.ses, and some of them learn to weave. The daughters of persons of the middle and higher ranks are often instructed in the art of embroidery and in other ornamental work, which are taught in schools and in private houses.

Singing and playing upon the lute, which were formerly not uncommon female accomplishments among the wealthy Arabs, are now almost exclusively confined, like dancing, to professional performers and a few of the slaves in the ?areems of the great: it is very seldom now that any musical instrument is seen in the hand of an Arab lady except a kind of drum called darabukkeh and a ?ar (or tambourine), which are found in many ?areems, and are beaten with the fingers.[234] Some care, however, is bestowed by the ladies in teaching their daughters what they consider an elegant gait and carriage, as well as various alluring and voluptuous arts with which to increase the attachment of their future husbands.

I have heard Arabs confess that their nation possesses nine-tenths of the envy that exists among all mankind collectively; but I have not seen any written authority for this. Ibn-'Abbas a.s.signs nine-tenths of the intrigue or artifice that exists in the world to the Copts, nine-tenths of the perfidy to the Jews, nine-tenths of the stupidity to the Maghrabees, nine-tenths of the hardness to the Turks, and nine-tenths of the bravery to the Arabs. According to Ka?b El-A?bar, reason and sedition are most peculiar to Syria, plenty and degradation to Egypt, and misery and health to the Desert. In another account, faith and modesty are said to be most peculiar to El-Yemen, fort.i.tude and sedition to Syria, magnificence or pride and hypocrisy to El-'Irak, wealth and degradation to Egypt, and poverty and misery to the Desert. Of women, it is said by Ka?b El-A?bar, that the best in the world (excepting those of the tribe of ?ureysh mentioned by the Prophet) are those of El-Ba?rah; and the worst in the world, those of Egypt.[235]

FOOTNOTES:

[214] The call to prayer which is chanted from the madinehs (or minarets) of the mosques. It is as follows:--"G.o.d is most great!" (four times). "I testify that there is no deity but G.o.d!" (twice). "I testify that Mo?ammad is G.o.d's Apostle!" (twice). "Come to prayer!" (twice).

"Come to security!" (twice). "G.o.d is most great!" (twice). "There is no deity but G.o.d!"

[215] Nuzhet el-Mutaammil, section 9. The i?ameh differs from the adan in adding "The time for prayer is come" twice after "come to security."

[216] The dora? has a long narrow neck, the ?ulleh a short wide one.

[217] See Modern Egyptians, chap. xiv.

[218] Nuzhet el-Mutaammil, section 9.

[219] Compare Exodus xiii. 13; and xii. 46.

[220] Nuzhet el-Mutaammil, section 9; and Mishkat el-Ma?abee?, ii. 315, f.

[221] Nuzhet el-Mutaammil, section 9.

[222] Ibid.

[223] Nuzhet el-Mutaammil, 1.1.

[224] Nuzhet el-Mutaammil, section 2.

[225] Idem., section 7.

[226] ?ur-an, xxiii. 117.

[227] "G.o.d! there is no deity but He," etc., ?ur. ii. 256.

[228] Nuzhet el-Mutaammil, section 9.

[229] Nuzhet el-Mutaammil, section 9.

[230] An a.n.a.logous custom is mentioned in a note appended to the account of circ.u.mcision in chap. ii. of my work on the Modern Egyptians.

[231] Mir-at ez-Zeman, events of the year 302.

[232] Nuzhet el-Mutaammil, section 9, and Mis?at el-Ma?abee?, ii. 86.

[233] Nuzhet el-Mutaammil, section 6.

[234] See Modern Egyptians, ch. xviii.

[235] El-Ma?reezee's Khi?a?, and El-Is?a?ee.

CHAPTER IX.

WOMEN.

That sensual pa.s.sion is very prevalent among the Arabs cannot be doubted; but I think it unjust to suppose them generally incapable of a purer feeling, worthy, if constancy be a sufficient test, of being termed true love. That they are not so, appears evident to almost every person who mixes with them in familiar society; for such a person must have opportunities of being acquainted with many Arabs sincerely attached to wives whose personal charms have long vanished, and who have neither wealth nor influence of their own, nor wealthy or influential relations, to induce their husbands to refrain from divorcing them. It very often happens, too, that an Arab is sincerely attached to a wife possessed, even in the best portion of her age, of few charms, and that the lasting favourite among two or more wives is not the most handsome.

This opinion, I am sorry to observe, is at variance, as far as the Arabs of the _towns_ are concerned, with that entertained by one of the most intelligent and experienced of modern travellers who long resided among this people,--the justly celebrated Burckhardt:[236] but it is confirmed by numerous facts related by respectable Arab authors (and therefore not regarded by them as of an incredible nature), as well as by cases which have fallen under my own observation. The tale of Leyla and Mejnoon, the Juliet and Romeo of Arabia, is too well known to be here repeated; but among many other anecdotes of strong and constant love, the following may be inserted.

The Khaleefeh Yezeed, the son of 'Abd-El-Melik, had two female slaves, one of whom was named ?abbabeh and the other, Selameh, to the former of whom he was most ardently attached: he had purchased her for a hundred thousand dirhems, and the other for ten thousand. In their company he sometimes shut himself up for three months together, utterly neglecting the affairs of his people. At length, being reproved for this conduct by his brother Meslemeh, he promised to return to his duty: but the two slaves diverted him from his purpose; and on the following morning excited by their songs and caresses and by wine, he became frantic with pleasure, and danced and sang like a madman, till a fatal accident put a stop to his joy:--?abbabeh, eating a pomegranate, was choked by one of the grains, and immediately died.

The grief of Yezeed was so poignant that he would not quit the corpse, but continued to kiss and fondle it, until it became corrupt. Being then admonished by his attendants that proper respect required its burial, he consented to commit it to the earth. After five days, however, his desire to behold again the object of his love induced him to open the grave, and though the corpse had become hideous he declared that it was lovely as ever in his eyes. At the earnest request of Meslemeh, he ordered the grave to be closed again, but he was unable to exist when deprived of the sight of the remains of her who was at the same time his slave and his mistress: he threw himself upon his bed, speechless, and after lingering seventeen nights, expired and was buried by the side of ?abbabeh. "May G.o.d," says the narrator, "have mercy on them both!"[237]

In the same work from which the above is taken, it is related that Haroon Er-Rasheed, visiting Suleyman the son of Aboo-Ja?far, one of his chief officers, saw with him a female slave, named ?a'eefeh, of excessive beauty, and being smitten by her charms demanded her as a present. His request was granted; but Suleyman, from grief at the loss of his mistress, fell sick; and during his illness was heard to exclaim,--

"I appeal unto G.o.d against the affliction which He hath sent upon me through the Khaleefeh.

"The world heareth of his justice; but he is a tyrant in the affair of ?a'eefeh.[238]

"Love of her is fixed in my heart as ink upon the surface of paper."

Er-Rasheed, being informed of his complaint, restored to him his mistress, and with her his peace of mind. This anecdote is given as a proof of strong love; but perhaps may not be thought much to the purpose. The following, from the same work, is more apt.

During the hottest hour of an excessively sultry day, the Khaleefeh Mo'awiyeh the son of Aboo-Sufyan was sitting in a chamber which was open on each side to allow free pa.s.sage to the air, when he beheld a barefooted Bedawee approaching him. Wondering what could induce this man to brave the scorching heat, he declared to his attendants that if he were come to demand of him any favour or aid or act of justice, his request should be granted. The Bedawee addressed him in verse with a pathetic appeal for justice against the tyranny of Marwan the son of El-?akam (afterwards Khaleefeh, Mo'awiyeh's fourth successor), by whom he had been forcibly deprived of his beloved wife So?da. The Khaleefeh requiring a more particular account of his case, he related the following facts. He had a wife, the daughter of his paternal uncle, excessively beloved by him, and possessed a number of camels, which enabled him to live in comfort; but a year of terrible drought deprived him of his property and reduced him to utter want: his friends deserted him, and his wife was taken away from him by her father. To seek redress he repaired to Marwan, the Governor of his district, at El-Medeeneh, who, having summoned the father of his wife, and herself, was so smitten by the beauty of the woman that he determined to obtain her for himself in marriage. To accomplish this, he threw the husband into prison, and offered the father of the woman a thousand deenars and ten thousand dirhems for his consent to his marriage with her, promising to compel her actual husband to divorce her; and this latter object, having obtained the father's approval, he gained by severely torturing the unfortunate Bedawee. It would have been vain for the woman to attempt resistance; and so she became the wife of Marwan.

The oppressed Bedawee, having related these circ.u.mstances, fell down in a swoon, and lay on the floor senseless, coiled up like a dead snake. As soon as he recovered, the Khaleefeh wrote a poetical epistle to Marwan, severely reproaching him for his baseness, and commanding him, on pain of death, to divorce the woman and send her with his messenger. She was accordingly divorced and sent, with an answer composed in the same measure and rhyme, a.s.suring the Khaleefeh that the sight of So?da would convince him that her charms were irresistible; and this proved too true. Mo'awiyeh himself no sooner saw her than he coveted her, and offered to give the Bedawee, if he would resign her to him, three virgins from among his female slaves, together with a thousand deenars and an ample annual pension. The Bedawee shrieked with dismay, as though he had received his death-blow, and indignantly rejected the offer. The Khaleefeh then said to him, "Thou confessest that thou hast divorced her, and Marwan has married her and acknowledged that he has divorced her: we will therefore give her her choice: if she desire any other than thee as her husband we will marry her to him, and if she prefer thee we will restore her to thee." She, however, had the merit to prefer the dest.i.tute Bedawee, and the Khaleefeh gave her up to him, with a present of ten thousand dirhems.

Numerous instances of unreasonable love are recorded in the writings of Arabs. It is related that a man fell in love with a lady from seeing the impression of her hand upon a wall; and, being unable to win her, died.

Many men are said to have conceived a violent pa.s.sion for damsels seen in dreams; others, again, to have been affected thus merely by the ear.

An author relates his having been acquainted with an accomplished schoolmaster who lost his heart from hearing a man sing the praises of a woman named Umm-'Amr, and two days after shut himself up in his house to mourn for her death, in consequence of his hearing the same man sing,--

"The a.s.s went away with Umm-'Amr; and she returned not, nor did the a.s.s return."[239]

The reader should have some idea of the qualifications or charms which the Arabs in general consider requisite to the perfection of female beauty. He must not imagine that excessive fatness is one of these characteristics, though it is said to be esteemed a chief essential to beauty throughout the greater part of Northern Africa: on the contrary, the maiden whose loveliness inspires the most impa.s.sioned expressions in Arabic poesy and prose is celebrated for her slender figure,--she is like the cane among plants, and is elegant as a twig of the oriental willow. Her face is like the full moon, presenting the strongest contrast to the colour of her hair, which (to preserve the nature of the simile just employed) is of the deepest hue of night, and falls to the middle of her back. A rosy blush overspreads the centre of each cheek; and a mole is considered an additional charm. The Arabs, indeed, are particularly extravagant in their admiration of this natural beauty-spot; which, according to its place, is compared to a drop of ambergris upon a dish of alabaster or upon the surface of a ruby. The Anacreon of Persia affected to prize the mole upon the cheek of his beloved above the cities of Samar?and and Bukhara.