Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/247

 Where there are many such guests to entertain, the expenses of the feast are vastly augmented for their host, since the adat directs that he should furnish for them a complete separate idang in addition to his contribution to the general feast.

The guests, who are of course all men, assemble in the meunasah usually in the forenoon, and always in the daytime. The Teungku and the leubès appear a little earlier than the others, as they have to recite the Mòʾlōt. This recitation is called meuliké (from ḍikr) in Acheh. Similarly the Javanese speak of the dikir maulut.

Some of the maulids most in use have been handsomely lithographed at Cairo by Ḥasan aṭ-Ṭōchi Aḥmad and published in a single volume along with a number of other formulas used for religious purposes. This collection enjoys the greatest popularity both at Mekka and throughout the whole Indian Archipelago. Two of these maulids are in rhyming prose alternating with songs of praise in verse. One of these was composed by a certain Bukhārī, the other by Jaʾfar-al-Barzanjī. One is entirely in verse; this is also the work of the last-named writer.

All three are also in use in Acheh, that of Bukhārī especially at the official kanduris. It bears the title of Maulid sharafi ʾl-anām (Birth of the Glory of Mankind) and is called Sarapulanam in Java, and Charapha anam in Acheh.

The prose pieces are recited by one person, but others of those assembled may take a turn to relieve the reader. It is the same with the versified portions, the chanting of which in a particular fashion is very popular. About the middle of the Charapha anam comes a hymn of praise of moderate length which all the experts present raise in chorus.

These experts, in an Achehnese meunasah, are the Teungku and all the leubès. While singing they rise from their places, and in their midst is placed a vessel containing incense, the savoury smoke from which blends with the chant in honour of the Apostle of God.

After this hymn of praise the kanduri Mòʾlōt closes with a long prayer which is to be found at the end of the Charapha anam.

Meantime the people of the gampōng have also appeared upon the scene, and where there is no room left in the meunasah, have taken up their position in a neighbouring balè or in the surrounding houses.