ON ISLAM AND ANIMISM. 



97 



we also have a heathen custom that prevails throughout all 

 Moslem Egypt. The crocodile is especially common, just as it 

 is in the Indian Archipelago,* though other animals are also 

 used. I have just received a specimen from Damanhour. It 

 consists of a stuffed mongoose with an Egyptian cobra twisted 

 around its body, and is put on houses or shops to prevent the 

 effects of the evil eye and to ward off robbers. It also pre- 

 serves children from envy and jealousy. This sort of object 

 generally hangs above the door. The common name for it is 

 Hami al-Beit or Ilafiz al-Beit. Yet the people who dwell there 

 say, " There is no God but Allah ! " 



Many animistic customs are in vogue among Moslems in 

 connection with the marriage ceremonies. The reader is 

 referred to a complete treatise on the subject by Edward 

 Westermarck {Marriage Ceremonies in Morocco, Macmillan, 

 London, 1914). One has only to compare such practices with 

 those of pagan tribes to see how much of animism lies behind 

 them. There could be no clearer proof that animism persists in 

 Islam than a comparison of the practices current in the older 

 Moslem lands, such as Arabia and Egypt, with those of the 

 Indian Archipelago. In one of the standard works on the 

 subjectf we note, for example, the following practices, which 

 find their parallel in present-day Islam : Hair offerings, 

 because hair is the seat of soul-stuff ;J the offering of nail- 

 parings to saints or on the tombs of notables. Moslems in 

 Egypt also carefully bury their nail-parings because they are in 

 a sense sacred. We may compare with this a tradition given by 

 Mohammed :§ "His Excellency the Prophet said: 'Whosoever 

 cuts his nails and trims his moustachios on Saturdays and 

 Thursdays will be free from pains of the teeth and eyes.' " 



The rosary is used for three distinct purposes. It is used in 

 prayer and Zihr, for counting pious ejaculations or petitions ; it 

 is used for divining ; and, lastly, for healing. The first-named 

 practice is called Istikkarah. It is related of one of the wives 

 of Mohammed that she said : " The Prophet taught us Istik- 

 harak (i.e., to know what is best), just as he taught us verses 

 from the Book, and if any of you want anything, let him per- 

 form ablution and pray two rakk'as, and read the verse : 



* Kruijt, Het Ammisme, p. 215. 



t Het Animisme in den Indischen Arckipel, by Alb. C. Kruijt (Leyden). 

 X The Moslem World, vol. vi, p. 121, quoted in article by Rev. W. A. 

 Rice. 



§ Mohammed's hair has become famous as a fetish, and has power to 

 heal, Sirat al-Halahi, vol. iii, p. 238. 



H 



