Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 29, 1918.djvu/283

 The Rosary in Magic and Religion 273

ceremonies take place at the house of the deceased, among them being that of the subhah, or rosary. After nightfall a certain number of fikees, sometimes as many as fifty, assemble, one of them bringing a large rosary of lOOO beads, each bead being about the size of a pigeon's egg. Certain passages from the Our'an are recited, after which the formula " There is no Deity but God " is repeated 3000 times. Count of these repetitions is kept by one of the fikees by means of the rosary. Certain other sentences are recited after this, and then one of the ofhciants asks his com- panions, " Have ye transferred [the merit of] what ye have recited to the soul of the deceased.'' " They reply, " We have transferred it," and add, " and peace be on the Apostles, and praise be to God, the Lord of all creatures." This ends the ceremony of the subhah, which is repeated on the second and third nights if the family can afford it.^

A further interest is attached to this ceremony in Upper Egypt, because a primitive form of rosary is often used on this occasion. A fikee will bring a plain cord with him, and, as he recites each formula or passage from the Our'an, he makes a knot in his cord till he has reached 1000. The merit in this case also is conveyed to the deceased. The cord with its knots is afterwards thrown away.^

The rosary is also used in Egypt in what is called making an istikharah, " application for the favour of Heaven, or for direction in the right course." Lane ^ describes it as follows: The performers take hold of any two points of a rosary; after reciting the FaVhah (first chapter of the Qur'an) three times, he counts the beads between these two points, saying, as he passes the first bead through his

' Lane, Modern Egyptians, pp. 531 f. This ceremony is performed to facili- tate the entrance of the deceased into a state of happiness. Lane says that it usually occupies three or four hours.

mation.
 * I am indebted to Mr. and Mrs. Manzalaoui and Mr. Alam for this infor-

^ Modern Egyptians, p. 270.