An account of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians

Product Description This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1836 Excerpt: ...or more sects, passing through the streets to the Hhasaney'n, preceded by two or more men with drums, and generally with hautboys, and sometimes with cymbals also; accompanied by bearers of mesh',als; and usually having one or more lanterns. They collect their party on their way, at their respective houses. Whenever they pass by the tomb of a saint, their music ceases for a short time, and they recite the Fa't'hhah, or a form of blessing on the Prophet, similar to that preparatory to the zikr, which I have translated in my account of the Moo'lid of the Prophet. They do this without stopping. Arriving at t'he mosque, they enter; some of them with candles; visit the shrine; and go away; with the exception of their sheykh and a few others, who sometimes remain in the ckoob'beh, and join in reciting prayers, &c. One of the nights which offer most attractions is that of the Friday (that is, preceding the Friday) next before the night of the Moo'lid. It is the night of the sheykh El-Go'heree, a person of wealth, who illuminates the mosque on this occasion with an unusual profusion of lights. On this night, I went to the mosque about two hours after sunset; before any of the ceremonies had commenced. The nearer I approached the building the more crowded did I find the streets. In one place, were musicians: before a large coffee-shop, were two Greek dancingboyB or gink) elegant but effeminate in. appearance with flowing hair, performing to the accompaniment of mandolines played by two of their countrymen; and a crowd of admiring Turks, with a few Egyptians, surrounding them. They performed there also the evening before; and, I was told, became so impudent from the patronage they received as to make an open seizure of a basket of grapes in the street. On enterin... About the Author Edward William Lane (1801-76), a name known to almost everyone in all the many fields of Middle East studies, was the author of a number of highly influential works: An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (1836), his translation of The Thousand and One Nights (1839-41), Selections from the Kur-an (1843), and the Arabic-English Lexicon (1863-93). In 2000, his long-forgotten manuscript Description of Egypt was published for the first time by the AUC Press.