Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/176

142 for time to get the shroud from the next market, and for the requisite washing and praying to be accomplished. The corpse is carried on the bier, or simply in a carpet, by men, all repeating, "There is no God but God," &c., in two parties. They put the corpse in the court or on the roof of the mosque; the washing usually takes place there also, the Khateeb reading passages of the Koran. When this is done, he says, "Congregation! what witness give you to your dead?" (the angels listen unseen). The people, if he was good, say, (bil Kher), "He was virtuous"; if he was bad,  (bil wail), "Woe to him." When they arrive at the grave the corpse is set down, and all the people sit down, the Khateeb praying and repeating passages of the Koran whilst the grave is made. The corpse is now placed so as to face towards the Kibléh, the legs towards the south. It is laid between two rows of stones, and a kind of ceiling is formed, so that no earth can touch the body directly; this is then covered with earth, and when this is done all the men fall on each other's necks and kiss each other, as an atonement. The women wail all the time, men never wail. At a woman's funeral in Artas I heard the men talking about her grave. Her husband loved her very much, and when they put her in the tomb the husband said it would be good to repair the roof, for the rain might penetrate to the body. One answered, "Let it be, Ibrahim, her body will be raised on Resurrection Day all the same, for, though worms eat the body, all must be reconstituted." But Ibrahim said, "I believe it is all bosh, my wife is dead, and withered as the grass, to return never more to any kind of life, either here or hereafter. I suppose," he continued, "the Khateebs and learned men, (Ulama), only tell us this for consolation, but what does it avail for thinking persons?" The women tear their hair, beat their faces, dance and jump in a circle, put away all their head-ornaments, or simply hide them by sewing rags over them, take away their bracelets, rend their garments, which for decency's sake (for the Fellahin women have mostly only one on the body) is sewed up in big stitches, but so that it is seen to have been rent, throw earth on their heads, and some blacken their faces with soot. Women only continue to mourn by not washing either body, face, or clothes, and the widow is expected to mourn one year, in that she does not marry before this lapse of time. Men do not mourn, and utterly condemn every outward and visible sign of mourning, as the bereavement is God's doing, (Amr Allah), and it is considered sinful to show any sorrow. In fact I never remarked in men the least outward show of mourning, whilst women almost always will show that they are mourning, ('Hedâd).

Question 26. ''Is there ever a ceremony of eating bread at the grave? Ir, there any feast after the funeral?''

Answer. Not at the grave; but as soon as the men have done