CHAPTER II.

Alexandria — Taruja — Damanhur-^Fawwah — Fariskur — Ashmun Elltomman — Samanud — Cairo.

One of the greatest saints in Alexandria, at this time, was the learned
and pious Imam, Borhan“ Oddin El Aaraj, a man who had the power of
working miracles.* I one day went in to him, when he said, I perceive
that you are fond of travelling into various countries. I said yes ; although
I had at that time no intention of travelling into very distant parts. He
replied, you must visit my brother * Farid Oddin in India, and my brother
*Rokn Oddin Ibn Zakarya in Sindia, and also my brother Borhan Oddin in
China : and, when you see them, present my compliments to them. I was
astonished at what he said, and determined with myself to visit those coun-
tries : nor did I give up my purpose till I had met all the three mentioned
by him, and presented his compliments to them.

• Jj ' • “

* It is generally believed among the Mohammedans, that every saint has it in his power to
perform miracles without laying claim to the office of a prophet. This kind of miracle they
term karamet ( ), benevolent action. See my Controversial Tracts on Christianity and

Mohammedanism, p. 2, 352, &c.

8

EGYPT.

Another singular man was the Sheikh Yakut, the Abyssinian, disciple
of the Sheikh ^Abu Abbas El Mursi. This Abu Abbas was the disciple
of the servant of God, ■'Abu El Hasan El Shadali, &c. author of the ^Hizb
El Bahr,'!' famous for his piety and miracles. I was told by the Sheikh
Yakut, from his preceptor Abu El Abbas El Mursi, that the Sheikh Abu El
Hasan El Shadhali performed the pilgrimage annually, making his way
through Upper Egypt, and passing over to Mecca, in the month of Rejeb,
and so remaining there till the conclusion of the pilgrimage : that he visited
the holy tomb, and returned by the '“great passage to his city. On one of
these occasions, and which happened to be the last, he said to his servant.
Get together an axe, a casket, and some spice, and whatever is necessary
for the interment of a dead body. The servant replied : and why. Sir,
should I do this ? He rejoined, you shall see 'Homaitara. Now Homaitara
is situated in Upper Egypt ; it is a stage in the great desert of *Aidhab,
in which there is a well of very pernicious and poisonous water. When he
had got to Homaitara the Sheikh bathed himself, and had performed two of

. JiWi

* The title of Wall seems to be applied to none but such as have attained to the very last
degree of mystic excellence. Jami tells us in the first chapter of the ^^^1 that

the appropriation of this title belongs to those only, who have arrived at the last stage of mysti-
cism, and may be said to be annihilated in the divine essence.

j &c. where also several other definitions, all tending to the same point, are adduced. In the chapter

I ti j given a little farther on, we have the different degrees of these

worthies pointed out.

In the first volume of M. de Sacy’s Chrestomathie Arabe (9d edit. p. 481), we have an
account of the death of this Sheikh, taken from the Jahan Nama, a little different from this :
and, what is the most curious part of it, the discovery of coffee is attributed to a communica-
tion made by him after his death to one of his disciples. Works by this Sheikh are to be found
in the libraries of both Cambridge and Oxford : but they appear to be of no great use.

f In a bibliographical work entitled the J preserved in

Mr. Burckhardt’s collection, we have, under the word, ... ^

the Hizb El Bahr by the Sheikh Abiil Hasan El Shadhali El Jemeni.

J On this place see the “ Index Geographicus in vitam Saladini ” by Schultens under the word
Aidabum, and Burckhardt’s Travels in Nubia, Appendix III. p. 519.

EGYPT.

9

the prostrations of his prayers, when he died : he was then buried there.
Ibn Batuta states that he visited the tomb, and saw upon it an inscription
tracing his pedigree up to Hosain the son of Ali.

I heard, continues the Traveller, in Alexandria, by the 'Sheikh El Salih
El Aabid * El Munfik, of the character of Abu Abd Allah El Murshidi, and
that he was one of the great interpreting saints f secluded in the Minyat
of Ibn Murshed : and that he had there a cell, but was without either ser-
vant or companion. Here he was daily visited by emirs, viziers, and crowds
of other people, whose principal object it was to eat with him. He accord-
ingly gave them food, such as they severally wished to have, of victuals,
fruit, or sweetmeats : a circumstance which has seldom taken place in any
days but his. To him also do the learned come for patents of office, or
dismissal. These were his constant and well-known practices. The Sultan
of Egypt too, El Malik El Nasir, often visited him in his cell.

I then left Alexandria (says the Traveller) with the intention of visiting
this Sheikh (may God bless him), and got to the village of™Taruja, then to
the city of "Damanhur the metropolis of the Delta ; then to "Fawwah not far
from which is the cell of the Sheikh Abu Abd Allah El Murshidi. I went
to it and entered, when the Sheikh arose and embraced me. He then
brought out victuals and ate with me. After this I slept upon the roof of

. ajUI! ^U=11

* This woi’d designates an order of the religious, whose business, according to Jami in the
is to attend constantly on the service of God, particularly on works of superero-
gation with a view to their final rewai'd, while a complete Sufi follows truth, purely from the
love of it; his words are: ^

t These seem to be nothing more than perpetuators of the ancient practices

of divining mentioned so often in the Hebrew Bible. The influence these impostors still possess
in the East is very great, as may be collected from the text in this place. It may not be unin-
teresting to the student of the Hebrew to find, that we have here the very word which is used ‘o
designate these pretenders in the Bible, namely, discoverer, revcalet, A

curious note on the methods employed by diviners of this sort will be found extracted from Ibn
Khaldun, in the second volume of M. de Sacy’s Chrestomathie Arabe, pp. ‘iOS-SOl. See also
my Controversial Tracts on Christianity and Mohammedanism, p. 212.

c

10

E G P T.

his cell, and saw in a dream the same night, myself placed on the wings
of a great bird, which fled away with me towards the temple at Mecca. He
then verged towards Yemen ; then towards the east : he then took his course
to the south. After this he went far away into the east, and alighted with
me safely in the regions of darkness (or arctic regions), where he left me.

I was astonished at this vision, and said to myself, no doubt the Sheikh
will interpret it for me, for he is said to do things of this sort. When the
morning had arrived, and I was about to perform my devotions, the Sheikh
made me officiate ; after this, his usual visitors, consisting of emirs, viziers,
and others, made their calls upon him, and took their leave, after each had
received a small cake from him.

When the prayer at noon was over he called me, I then told him my dream,
and he interpreted it for me. He said, you will perform the pilgrimage,
and visit the tomb of the Prophet ; you will then traverse the countries of
Yemen, ^Irak, Turkey, andHndia, and will remain in these some time. In
India you will meet with my brother "Dilshad, who will save you from a
calamity, into which you will happen to fall. He then provided me with
some dried cakes and some dirhems, and I bade him farewell. Since I left
him, I experienced nothing but good fortune in my travels ; but never met
with a person like him, except my Lord 'El Wall Mohammed El Mowwalla,
in India.

I next came to the city of “El Nahriiriat, then toTlMohalla El Kobra (or
the great station), from this I went to ^E1 Barlas, then to “Damietta, in which
is the cell of the Sheikh “Jamal Oddln El Sawl, leader of the sect called
^Karenders.* These are they who shave their chins and eyebrows.

. * . oU J ^ J>j\ ’ . ^

. JU^ “ .

* This, it should seem, is a sect of Sufis, who pay little regard to any thing, but persuading
themselves that they stand well with the Almighty, as may be seen in an interesting note from
Makrizi by M. De Sacy (direst. Arab., tom. i. p. 263, edit. 2). In one instance, however, the
learned Frenchman has mistaken his author, which it is important to rectify. After stating that
they fast and pray but little, Makrizi proceeds, ^ which I

translate thus : “ they care nothing about the enjoyment of lawful pleasures but which stands
thus in M. de Sacy : “ ils ne font point de difficulte d’user des plaisirs licites by which I sup-
pose he means, they make no scruple in indulging in lawful pleasures. In the extract from

EGYPT.

11

It is said, that the reason which induced the Sheikh to shave off his beard
and eyebrows was the following. He was a well made and handsome man ;
one of the women of Sawah consequently fell in love with him ; after
this she was constantly sending to the Sheikh, presenting herself to him in
the street, and otherwise soliciting his society : this he completely resisted.
When she was tired of this, she suborned an old woman to stop him on his
way to the mosque, with a sealed letter in her hand. When the Sheikh
passed by her she said. Good Sir, can you read? Yes, he replied. She
said, this letter has been sent to me by my son ; I wish you would read it
for me. He answered, I will. But when she had opened the letter she
said. Good Sir, my son has a wife who is in yonder house ; could I beg the
favour of your reading the letter at the door, so that she may hear ? To this
he also assented; but, when he had got through the first door, the old
woman closed it, and out came the woman with her slaves, and hung about
him. They then took him into an inner apartment, and the mistress began
to take liberties with him. When the Sheikh saw that there was no escaping,
he said, I will do what you like : shew me a sleeping room. This she did :
he then took in with him some water and a razor which he had, and shaved

. HjLs '

Makrizi, moreover, two sects of these are noticed ; the last of which, termed Melametl,

pay very great regard to their actions and carriage in society.

The account given of these sects in the King of Oude’s Persian Dictionary, entitled the Seven
Seas, is as follows : The term Kalender (or Karender), signifies a being, perfectly relieved
from the forms and objects of earthly usages, which do not confer happiness ; and who
is so far advanced m spiritual acquirements, as to be entirely freed from the restraints of
custom or address. Having freed both body and soul from every person and thing, the
Kalender seeks nothing but the beauty and glory of the Deity; and this he believes he
obtains. But, such an one, feeling the least inclination to any thing existing, is termed a repro-
bate, not a Kalender. The difference between a Kalender, a Melametl, and a Sufi, consists in
this : the Kalender labours to be freed and removed from all forms and observances. The
Melametl, on the other hand, conceals his devotions from others, as he does every thing else
tending to virtue ; while he conceals nothing that is bad and vicious. The Sufi is that person,
who allows his feelings to be affected by no created being, and has no liking or dislike to them.
The degree of the Sufi is the highest ; for perfectly separated and simplified as they are from
worldly concerns, they nevertheless obey their spiritual senior, and walk in the footsteps of him
and of the prophet. See also d’Herbelot, Bib. Or., under the word Calendar, and d’Ohsson’s
Tabl. Emp. Ott., tom. ii. p. 315, as cited by M. de Sacy.

C 2

12

EGYPT.

off his beard and both his eyebrows. He then presented himself to the
woman, who, detesting both his person and his deed, ordered him to be
driven out of the house. Thus, by divine providence, was his chastity pre-
served. This appearance he retained ever after; and every one who
embraced his opinions also submitted to the shaving off of his beard and both
his eyebrows.*

It is also said of the Sheikh Jamfd Oddin, that after he had gone to
Damietta, he constantly attended the burial-grounds of that place. There
was at that time in Damietta a judge, known by the surname of Ibn Omaid,
who, attending one day at the funeral of one of the nobles, saw the Sheikh
in the burial-ground, and said to him, you are a beastly old fellow. He
replied. And you are a foolish judge, who can pass with your beast among
the tombs, and know at the same time, that the respect due to a dead man,
is just as great as that due to a living one. The judge replied, worse than
this is your shaving off your beard. | The Sheikh said, mark me : he then
rubbed a little alkohol on his eye-brows, and lifting up his head, presented
a great black beard, which very much astonished the judge and those with
him, so that the judge descended from his mule.j: The Sheikh applied the

alkohol the second time, and, lifting up his head, exhibited a beautiful white
beard. He then applied the alkohol the third time ; and, when he lifted
up his head, his face was beardless as before. The judge then kissed his
hand, became his disciple, and building a handsome cell for him, became
his companion for the rest of his life. After a while the Sheikh died, and
was buried in the cell ; and when the judge died, he was buried, as it had
been expressed in his will, in the door-way of the cell, so that every one
who should visit the tomb of the Sheikh, would have to pass over his grave.

* A very different account of the origin of this practice is given in a note from Makrizi, by
M. de Sacy (Chrest. Arabe, tom. i. p. 264, 2d edit.), in which it is said, that it must have
originated about four hundred years before Makrizi’s time; but, as Ibn Batuta lived more than
one hundred years before Makrizi, it is probable that his account is the true one. Makrizi, besides,
cites no author in support of his opinion, and probably says only what he might have heard.

f From this, as well as from what is related above about this woman, it may be seen how
exceedingly reproachful it is considered in the East to shave off the beard. Compare Leviticus,
xix. 27 ; xxi. 5. 2 Sam., x. 5. 1 Chron., xix. 5.

f Rebecca, we find, alighted from her camel (Gen. xxiv. 64), in order to pay respect to her
future husband Isaac, just as the Judge here did to the Sheikh.

EGYPT.

13

I then proceeded from this place to the city of ''Fariskur, then to ® Ashmun
El Romman, then to the city of ■'^Samanud, then to ^Misr (Cairo), the prin-
cipal city of its district. The Nile, which runs through this country, excels
all other rivers in the sweetness of its taste,* * * § the extent of its progress, and
the greatness of the benefits it confers. It is one of the five great rivers of
the world, which are, itself, the * Euphrates, the 'Tigris, the *Sihun, the
'Jaihun (or Gihon). Five other rivers too may be compared with them,
namely, the river of “ Sindia, which is called the” Panj ab (or five waters) ;
the river of India, which is called the ®Gung (or Ganges), to which the
Indians perform their pilgrimages, and into which they throw the ashes of
their dead when burnt : they say it descends from Paradise ; also the river
^Jun (or Jumna): the river ®Athil (Volga) in the desert of ’’Kifjak, and
the river *Sarv in Tartary, upon the bank of which is the city of ‘Khan
Balik,'!' and which flows from that place to “El Khansa, and thence to the
city of "Zaitun in China, of which we shall give accounts in their proper
places. The course of the Nile, moreover, is in a direction from the south
to the north, contrary to that of all other rivers.

When I entered Egypt the reigning prince was “"El Malik El Nasir Mo-
hammed Ibn El Malik El Mansur Kalawun. J The learned men then in Egypt
were, "'Shams Oddln El Isphahanl,'^ the first man in the world in meta-
physics; ^Rokn Oddin Ibn El Karia, one of the leaders in the same

. ^ ^ .jtA< ^ ^

.JjT’

a-. jc. ‘

* That the water of the Nile was commonly drunk as early as the times of Moses, we are
informed in the book of Exodus, chap. vii. See also Diodorus Siculus, lib. i, p. 49, edit. Wes-
seling. The Arabs, too, generally term this river the siveet sea in order to distin-
guish it from the Mediterranean, which they term the salt sea Sacy’s

Chrestomathie Arabe, tom. ii. p. 15.

f Pekin, as will be shewn hereafter.

X See D’Herbelot, under Nasser Ben Calaoun: Annales Muslem., tom. v. p. 116, 331, &c.

§ See D’Herbelot, under Schamseddin.

14

EGYPT.

science:* and the Sheikh ^Athir Oddin Abu Haian of Granada, the greatest
grammarian-t