Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/174

140 white shirting, (called kaffan, the shroud), and sewed over. No woman, except his sister and mother, may again look at him after the washing—a look from his own wife "on the clean," (taher), would be identical to committing adultery—for the fact of his pardoning her before death is equivalent to a divorce. Should she still have looked on him after this ablution,, the washing is useless, , and has to be done again. In the same way some of the sects are rendered unclean if they are touched by anything unclean after ablution before prayer. A woman's corpse is completely washed as above by the midwife or some other woman knowing exactly how to perform the washing, and when the corpse is sewed n) it is dealt with like a man's corpse. No charms are placed on the corpses. But in some places the kaffan, is perfumed, and henna put on it. For fearful men or such as were not very faithful to their religion a paper is put in a reed and placed on the neck with this witness written upon it for the examining angel "Sidna Rôman,", who appears as soon as the man is buried: I witness that there is no God but God and Mohammed, His prophet, and that the Ka'aba is my Kibléh, &c. But the strong-hearted need not this witness, for when the angel appears and asks him for his good and bad deeds done during his lifetime, and says, "Write down what you did," the dead man sits up as described in the Quarterly Statement, 1893, p. 317. The man says, "I have no inkstand"; (Dawa), the angel, tells him, "Your mouth is your inkstand"; the man says, "I have no pen"; the angel, "Your linger is your pen"; the man says, "I have no paper"; the angel, "Tear a piece of your wrapper". The man now proceeds to write his good and bad deeds, and is punished by Naker and Nukeer for the bad deeds. Should he omit his bad deeds, or falsely increase his good deeds, every finger, the ears, the eyes, the nose, legs, will tell him where he is wrong. When the examination, ('Hesâb), is terminated, he lies down and goes to the Well of Souls, Whilst washing the corpse, the Khateeb, in a chanting voice, sings continually:

"La illaha-ill Allah wa Muhamad Rasoul Allah Sail-Allah 'aleihi wasallam."

There is no God but God, Mohammed is the Apostle of God. God blessed him and greeted.

Question 24. ''Do the people employ hired mourners? Do they wait Do they wave cloths or handkerchiefs?'' Answer. The Fellahin do not employ hired mourners, as the townspeople do the wailing, though they have an acknowledged leader in the