Volume 1

An account of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians, written in Egypt during the years 1833, -34, and -35, partly from notes made during a former visit to that country in the years 1825, -26, -27, and -28 / By Edward William Lane.

  • Edward William Lane
Date:
1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians, written in Egypt during the years 1833, -34, and -35, partly from notes made during a former visit to that country in the years 1825, -26, -27, and -28 / By Edward William Lane. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Many of the tradesmen of the metropolis and other towns of Egypt, place over their shops (generally upon the hanging shutter which is turned up in front) a paper inscribed with the name of God, or that of the Prophet, or both, or the profession of the faith (“There is no deity but God: Mohham’/mad is God’s Apostle’’), the bismil'lah (“In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful”), or some maxim of the Prophet, or a verse of the Ckoor-a’n (as, “ Verily we have granted thee a manifest victory ’’ [ch. xlviii., ver. 1], and “ Assistance from God, and a speedy victory: and do thou bear good tidings to the true believers” [ch. lxi., ver. 13]), or an invocation to the deity, such as, ‘Oh thou opener [of the doors of prosperity, or subsistence]! O thou wise! O thou supplier of our wants! O thou bountiful * !”— This invocation is often pronounced by the tradesman when he first opens his shop in the morning, and by the pedestrian vender of small commodities, bread, vege- tables, &c., when he sets out on his daily rounds. It is a custom among the lower orders to put the first piece of money that they receive in the day to the lips and forehead before putting it in the pocket. Besides the inscriptions over shops, we often see, in Cairo, the invocation ‘*O God +!” sculptured over the door of a private house ; and the words “The Creator is the Everlasting,’ or “He is the Creator, the Ever- lasting,” painted in large characters upon the door, both as a charm and to remind the master of the house, whenever he enters it, of his own mortalityt. These * Ya! fetta’hh! Ya! ’alee'm! Ya! rezza'ck! Ya! keree'm ! + Ya! Allidh! : t See the engraving of a door with this inscription inserted in {he introduction,