Se ee i a le a 
49. Note on a Shi‘a Imprecation. 
By Lizvur.-Corone, D. C. Pariorr, F.A.S.B., Secretary, 
Board of Examiners 
The following curse is a species of religious exercise 
amongst Indian and Persian Shi‘as. It is specially repeated on 
the 9th of Rabie ‘l-Awwal, the day on which ‘Umar was mar- 
tyred. It is too a belief amongst the i ignorant that if the curse 
be repeated a hundred times on the rosary, any difficulty they 
are in will be removed. 
-FRP cI BP °F BP oF os rre 
Rae nah ol iF ace ae tne ai 
or 
ot wF oF BF Po oF VS | ruF we or poen yo gn 
Jee s08 yeh pd yel y wilele ey gt el po onl peli 
‘*God curse ae ane Abu Bakr, then ‘Umar, then 
‘Umar, then ‘Um : *Q God, curse ‘Umar, then Abu 
Bakr and ‘Usman, het Tiniad, then ‘Umar, then ‘Umar.’’ 
When a small boy in a village school in Persia wishes to 
leave the room for the purposes of nature, he will hold up his 
little finger and say ~~ ai yd la‘n “lah ‘Umar, ‘*‘God curse 
‘Umar’’ (or its Persian equivalent}.! If, however, he wishes 
to drink water he will say GisJ} cle at ale soceeed "lah 
‘ala al-Husayn ‘‘may God send his peace to Husayn.’’ This 
custom has now nearly died out. Instead, one Ussa ms- 
ra see ‘*T want to go and see the Master ”’ is us (Ussa is a 
rruption of Ustad, a term applied to ‘ Umar as being the 
ce of all the dissensions amongst the Muslims). For the 
ormer, too, a boy lifts up his fore-finger and middle finger and 
says adab : for the latter he holds up his fore-finger only and 
says ashra rab, Ar. ‘‘I drink.” 
The Persians show their hatred of the three Khalifahs 
the eRe of their shoes; this custom is referred to in the 
“Arabian Nights ’’ : vide the story of ‘ Ala-Ed-Deen Abu-sh- 
shamat, Chap. XI, Vol. II, of Lane’s translation. 
1 Vide oH Baba of Ispahan, Chap. LIX. 
