286 



DISCOVERY 



him that 'Abdii'l-Latif had remonstrated with him for 

 coming to his village and had bade him remain in his 

 own neighbourhood. Doubtless jealousy was at the 

 root of this ill-feeling. A few- days later the servant 

 noticed very early in the morning that his master's 

 fingers were all burnt at the tips. He immediately 

 questioned him as to the cause of this injury, and the 

 sheikh told him that it was his custom to go every night 

 to all the sheikhs' tombs in the neighbourhood and 

 light candles for them, and that while he was engaged 

 in this pious work his fingers got burnt. 



The Sheikh Suliman is now dead, but his piet}' is still 

 remembered. He is buried in his native village, but 

 six other tombs are erected to his memory in various 

 parts of the country. Moreover, the inhabitants of 

 his village hold a niulid every year in his honour. 



Fig. 3.— tomb of the sheikh Aiuiri. i.atif 1,1/,..;, ,,_,.i, HI. 



SHEIKH UMB.ARAK ON THE LEFT. 



One of the most celebrated Moslim saints in Egypt 

 is the Sheikh Ahmed el-Bedawi of Tanta, where a 

 great mulid is celebrated in his honour every year. 

 It lasts for a week and is attended by thousands of 

 people from all over the country. Huge sacrifices of 

 sheep and oxen are made at the saint's tomb on this 

 occasion, while his devotees seize the opportunity of 

 invoking his aid for every possible want, and for 

 protection from every form of evil fortune. 



A False Wife Shown Up 



The following story connected with the sheikh was 

 recounted to me this year by one who vouches for its 

 truth. There was once a darwlsh (a member of a 

 Muhammadan religious order) who lived in a village 

 near Tanta, and whose custom it was to pay a yearly 

 visit to the tomb of the Sheikh Ahmed el-Bedawi on 

 the occasion of his mulid. The darinsh always took 



sheep and oxen with him to slay at the sacred tomb, 

 besides bringing other offerings. 



One year, when the time of the null id approached, he 

 found himself without any money, and he did not know 

 what to do about his yearly visit to Tanta ; for how 

 could he approach that holy shrine without his 

 customary gifts ? The darwlsh was married, but his 

 wife did not love him, and she longed to become the 

 wife of a rich neighbour. The darwlsh told his wife of 

 the difficulty he was in, owing to his poverty, and 

 when she had heard all, she thought to herself that 

 now was her opportunity to get rid of her present 

 husband and to secure the richer man. Accordingly 

 she went to the rich neighbour privately, told him of 

 the difficulty they were in, and suggested that he 

 should lend them one hundred pounds, on the solemn 

 promise from her husband that he would 

 pay it back on the day that he returned 

 home from Tanta. In order to make this 

 promise secure, the husband was to swear 

 by the triple divorce that he would fulfil 

 it. Having satisfactorily hatched this plot, 

 she returned to her husband and suggested 

 that he should go to their w-ealthy neigh- 

 bour and ask him to lend him one hundred 

 pounds to enable him to attend the undid 

 at Tanta. The husband at once fell into 

 the cleverly contrived trap and set off to 

 make his request to the rich man. The 

 latter, after pretending to think over the 

 matter carefully, consented to lend the 

 woman's husband the money, on the con- 

 dition that he swore by the triple divorce 

 that he would pay back the whole sum 

 on the day that he returned from the 

 '" ^'"- iinllid. To this the dariensh readily as- 

 sented. 

 The poor man and his wife then set off for Tanta, 

 where they stayed for the whole week of the festival. 

 By the end of that time all the money had been spent 

 on gifts to the sheikh and the man had no money 

 with which to pay his debt. He was at his wits' 

 end, for he knew that if he could not produce the 

 hundred pounds, he was bound by the most solemn 

 oath to divorce his wife. But on the last night of his 

 stay at Tanta, while he slept, a man appeared to him 

 and handed him one hundred and fifty pounds, saying, 

 " Take this and repay your debts." He also told 

 him how bad and false his wife was, and revealed to 

 him the whole of her treacherous conduct. 



The darwlsh thankfuUj' accepted the mone}', returned 

 to his house, repaid his debt, and divorced his faithless 

 wife. The man who had come to his aid in this 

 miraculous manner was the Sheikh Ahmed el-Bedawi, 

 who in such ways, it is believed, often helps his faithful 



