DISCOVERY 



283 



Moslim Saints in Modem 

 Egypt ' 



By Winifred S. Blackman 



Oxford Research Student in Anlhropalogy ; in charge of the Percy Sladen 

 Expedition to Egypt, 1922-3 



A MARKED feature in the life of the modern Eg3-ptians 

 is the veneration which they show for holy men and 

 women, to whom miraculous powers have been attri- 

 buted either during their life-time or after their death. 

 Such a holy person is given the title of Sheikh (fem. 

 Sheikha). The word sheikh, as I explained in a former 

 article contributed to Discovery,- means literally an 

 old man ; it also signifies the head of a tribe, the 

 leading man in a village, a learned man (i.e. one 

 learned in the sacred writings), and a holy man or 

 saint, living or dead. There are a certain number of 

 these holy men who are venerated all over the country, 

 the cults connected with them having become part of 

 the popular religion. But, besides these greater per- 

 sonages, there are innumerable local saints, who, how- 

 ever, often draw their devotees from localities beyond 

 the boundaries of their villages. 



However great may be the veneration paid to a saint 

 in his life-time, the honour he receives after his death 

 is far greater. Among the Moslims it is the custom to 

 erect over the grave of such a person a small white- 

 washed building, crowned by a dome. In many cases 

 a " servant " is also supplied, whose salary is paid 

 out of an endowment in land or money augmented 

 from the donations of those who visit the tomb. This 

 man, or it may be a woman, is known as " the servant 

 of the sheikh," and the office often descends from father 

 to son. Besides the land and trees surrounding the 

 tomb, the sacred precincts may include a well, in which 

 case the water is supposed to be endowed with 

 miraculous properties. Sometimes a heap of stones, 

 or a tree or clump of trees, alone marks the last resting- 

 place of a departed sheikh, but when there is a domed 

 tomb, a tree or trees are nearly alwavs associated with 

 it. (Fig. I.) 



Every Moslim sheikh (at any rate most of those of 

 any standing) has seven tombs, or other burial sites, 

 associated with him. This does not mean that the 

 body of the sheikh is actually buried in any one of these 

 sites, though there are many cases when this is so. 

 A dead sheikh may appear to some man in a dream, or 

 even when he is awake, and tell him to build him a 



1 Most of the material used in the following article was 

 collected by me in the course of my expedition in Egypt during 

 the past winter and spring, the funds being provided out of a 

 grant from the Trustees of the Percy Sladen Jlemorial Fund, 

 and a supplementary grant from the Royal Society. 



2 Vol. iv, p. II, footnote 2. 



tomb on such and such a spot, sometimes personally 

 conducting him thither. It may happen that the 

 inhabitants of a village possessing a venerated sheikh 

 have been guilty of misconduct, or have offended the 

 holy man by neglecting to pay him the veneration he 

 considers his due. In such a case, it is believed, the 

 sheikh will appear to a man in a distant village and 

 instruct him to build him another tomb. The new 

 tomb often becomes more popular and is visited by a 

 larger number of people than the older building. Thus 

 a sheikh whose original tomb is in Lower Egypt may also 

 be associated with a tomb or tombs far south in Upper 

 Egypt. 



Candles, or the money with which to buy them, form 

 a favourite offering. Such lights are kept burning every 

 night in some sheikhs' tombs ; in others they are 

 perhaps burnt on one night only in the week — usually 

 a Friday. A number of votive offerings are generaUj. 

 found hanging on a cord or cords stretched across the 

 interior of the building. The gifts display great variety, 

 consisting of glass and bead bracelets, bunches of 

 human hair, handkerchiefs, first-fruits of the corn- 

 fields, and so on. Each one registers an answered 

 prayer, for the people flock in crowds to these tombs 

 on certain days of the week — usually Thursdaj^s or 

 Fridays — generally to make some special request, or 

 with the object of being freed from some disease which 

 they believe the sheikh can cure. A childless woman or 

 persons possessed by 'afarit (spirits) will come to beg 

 the sheikh to intercede for them. Indeed, the per- 

 formances of certain rites at the tomb may in themselves 

 effect a cure. 



Having removed his or her shoes before entering the 

 building, the visitor then walks from left to right round 

 the catafalque erected beneath the dome, three, five, 

 or seven times, reciting meanwhile special passages 

 from the Kiiran. These perambulations accomplished, 

 the servant of the sheikh takes a broom, kept for this 

 special purpose, and carefully brushes out all the 

 footprints in the interior of the building. 



Sick animals are also brought by their owners to a 

 sheikh's tomb, round which they are driven seven 

 times. 



A Typical Sheikh's Tomb 



In one of the provinces of Upper Egj'pt, on the lower 

 desert, half-way between the cultivation and the 

 limestone cliffs which form the edge of the upper 

 desert, stands the domed tomb of the Sheikh Hasan 

 'Ali. It is surrounded by a low mud-brick wall, which 

 encloses a few small trees, a well, and two or three 

 graves, wherein relatives of the dead sheikh lie buried. 

 Pots of sohara (aloes) also decorate the sacred spot, 

 this plant being believed to bring happiness to the 

 dead. The building is whitewashed and is decorated 



