12 illustration(s) from this book
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.