ON ISLAM AND ANIMISM. 



91 



to Islam, but still persists and has spread to Morocco. In 

 Tlemcen the Moslems in time of drought gather 70,000 pebbles, 

 which are put in 70 sacks during the night ; they repeat the 

 Koran prayers over every one of these pebbles, alter which the 

 bags are emptied into the ivacly with the hope of rain.* 



Although the practice of casting out demons by the perform- 

 ance called the Zar is not in accordance with orthodox Islam, 

 and has met with protest on the part of Moslems, it is still 

 prevalent in North Africa, Arabia, and Turkey.f According to 

 Snoucke Hurgronje all nationalities in Mecca practise the Zar. 

 Even if they give it another name in their own country, they very 

 soon adopt the word Zar, although the national differences continue. 

 The Zar is an evil spirit which can only be cast out by cere- 

 monies that are Pagan in their character and consist of animal 

 sacrifices, the drinking of blood, etc. The Zar spirits in Egypt 

 are divided into several classes. In Cairo there are the Lower 

 Egypt, the Upper Egyptian, the Sudanese, and the Bedouin- 

 Arab Zars ; some writers refer also to Abyssinian, and even 

 Indian spirits. Another subdivision is tha,t of sex ; there are 

 male and female spirits, and child spirits, belonging to the high, 

 middle, or lower classes. In Cairo, according to one report by 

 Kahle, the animal is killed by the sheikha above the head of the 

 Zar bride, who must open her mouth and drink the warm blood, 

 the remainder running down her white garments. The theory 

 is that it is not she who drinks, but the spirit in her. In Luxor 

 one drop of the blood is placed on the forehead, the cheeks, the 

 chin, the palms of the hands, and on the soles of the feet. 

 Probably the blood has to be drunk also. The claws and feathers 

 of the fowl are laid aside carefully as a special gift to the spirit.| 



Conjuring spirits, or exorcising demons apart from the Zar, is 

 also common by the use of certain prayer formulas. These 

 formulas compel God to do what is requested, and indicate a 

 belief in the fetish power of the words themselves. It is 

 especially the use of the names of God and the great name of 

 God that produce these results. There are many different lists 

 of the names. Kastallani points out no fewer than twenty-three 

 variants. In later days, under the influence of the Sufis, the 



* See quotation in the " Goldziher Festschrift," from the Journal des 

 Dehats, 1903, " Au Maroc." 



t D. B. Macdonald, Aspects of Islam^ p. 4 ; Paul Kahle, "Zar- 

 Beschworungen in Egypten," in Ber Islam, Band III, Heft 1, 2, Strass- 

 burg, 1912. 



\ For an account of these ceremonies as practised to-day all over 

 Egypt, see The Moslem World, vol. iii, pp. 275-282. 



