Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T11:59:03.476Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Rain Rituals as Rites of Spirtual Passage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Nadio Abu-Zahra
Nadio Abu-Zahra
Affiliation:
Oxford University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The Sahel of Tunisia is part of the arid zone that extends from Morocco to Afghanistan. People in this region profess the religion of Islam. Their views on the links between divine power, human actions, and rain are based on the Quran and are expressed in the rain prayers (salat a1-isrisqa') prescribed by the Prophet and therefore common to all of them. This article refers to North Africa, centering on the village of Sidi Ameur in the Sahel of Tunisia.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , November 1988 , pp. 507 - 529
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

NOTES

Author's note: I thank Miss P. E. Hodgkin for reading the final draft of this paper, and Dr. H. al-Modarressi who drew my attention to sources I should otherwise not have known. I thank the Canada Council for kindly financing my second expedition to Tunisia in 1972. I am grateful for the kind help of the librarians of interlibrary loan and of the Oriental reading room of the Bodleian Library. I transliterate Tunisian words as uttered and not as they ought to be written. In translating Qur'anic verse, I made use of A. J. Arberry's translation in The Koran Interpreted (London: Oxford University Press, 1964). All numbers of quoted Qur'anic verses are based on the al-Azhar system of numbering, as found in the edition of 1390 A.H. (Cairo: Al-Hay'a al'amma li-shu'un almatabi' al-amiriyya).Google Scholar

1 Rain prayers are practised in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, the Sudan, North Africa, Saudi Arabia (The Guardian, London, 6 January 1981), and in Iran (Encyclopaedia of Islam [Leiden, 1978], p. 1978). Miss P. E. Hodgkin also tells me that rain prayers took place in Timbuktu.Google Scholar

2 Van Gennep, A., The Rites of Passage, trans. Vizdom, M. B and Caffee, G. L, with an introduction by Kimball, S. T. (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1960), pp. viii, 1, 3, 182–83, 189–90.Google Scholar

3 Turner, V., “Betwixt and Between: the Liminal Period in Rites de Passage,” in The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1967), pp. 94–99, 101.Google Scholar

4 Leach, E. R., “Two Essays Concerning the Symbolic Representation of Time,” in Rethinking Anthropology (London: London School of Economics Monographs on Social Anthropology and The Athlone Press, 1961), pp. 124–32, 133–35.Google Scholar

5 Westermarck, E., Ceremonies and Beliefs Connected with Agriculture, Certain Dales of the Solar Year. and the Weather in Morocco (Helsingfors, 1913);Google ScholarRituals and Beliefs in Morocco, 2 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1926).Google Scholar

6 Marçais, W. and Guiga, A., Textes arabes de Takruna (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale,1925);Google ScholarTextes arabes de Takrouna: glossaires, 6 vols. (Paris: Librairie orientaliste, Paul Geuthner, 1958–1961).Google Scholar

7 Bel, A., “Quelques rites pour obtenir la pluie en temps de secheresse chez les musulmans maghrébins” in Receuil de mémoires et de textes publiés en l'honneur du XIV Congrès des orientalistes à Alger (Alger, 1905), pp. 49–99.Google Scholar

8 Monchicourt, Ch., ‘Moeurs indigènes: les rogations pour la pluie (thoib en-no),” Revue tunisienne, 109 (1905), 65–81.Google Scholar

9 Menouillard, , “Moeurs indigènes: pratiques pour soliciter la pluie,” Revue tunisienne, 82 (1910), 302–5.Google Scholar

10 Sir Frazer, James, The Golden Bough: A Study in Religion and Magic (London: Macmillan, 1980).Google Scholar

11 Westermarck, Ceremonies, pp. 109, 113;Google ScholarMonchicourt, “Rogations,” 74;Google ScholarBel, “Quelques rites,” pp. 66, 73, 83, 93–97.Google Scholar

12 Bel, pp. 60–61, 77–78, 91–94;Google ScholarMenouillard, “Pratiques,” 304–5;Google ScholarMonchicourt, “Rogations,” 65–67.Google Scholar

13 Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed. (Cambridge University Press, 1911), XX, 85.Google Scholar

14 Despois, J., La Tunisie (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1930), p. 123.Google Scholar

15 Encylopaedia Britannica, XX, 85.Google Scholar

16 Abu-Zahra, N., Sidi Ameur: A Tunisian Village (London: Ithaca Press, 1982), pp. 2–8.Google Scholar

17 Ibid., p. 9.

18 Qur'an II;163, VI:98, VII:56, XV:21, XXII:4, XXIII:17, XXV:47, XXXI:9, XLI:38, XXV:53, XXXII:7, LXXVII:19.Google Scholar

19 Ibid., L:8–10, XL:12, XLV:4, L1:21. See also al-Afriqi, Ibn Mansur, Lisan al-'Arab (Beirut, 1956), X, 115.Google Scholar

20 al-Bukhari, M. I., Sahih muslim, ed. al-Kirmani, , 25 vols. (Cairo, 1933–1939), Vol. VI (1933), “Bab salat al-istisqa',” pp. 99–126;Google Scholaral-Jaza'iri, A. J., Minhaj al-muslim (Beirut, 1972), pp. 267–68;Google Scholar and al-Tabrizi, M.I.A Khatib, Mishkat al-masabih, ed. al-Albani, M. N. (Damascus, 1961), I, 476–80.Google Scholar

21 Monchicourt, “Rogations,” 69.Google Scholar

22 Bukhari, VI, 125–26;Google Scholaral-Warthilani, H. M., Muzhat al-anzar fi fadl 'ilm al-tarikh w'al-akhbar, 2nd ed. (Beirut, 1974), II, 222–30.Google Scholar

23 Tunisians also speculate about the mystery of rain and why God sends more rain in some countries and less in others. People of the Sahel wonder why Egyptians, who share the same faith of Islam as Tunisians, receive less rain. In 1977, when I was in Kuwait, I was asked about the amount of rainfall in both Egypt and Canada, and how they compared with Kuwait.Google Scholar

24 Qur'an VI:98, XVI:10, XXIV:34.Google Scholar

25 Abi-al-Diaf, A. Ibn, Ithaf ahl al-zaman bi-akhbar muluk Tunis wa-'ahd al-aman, Vol. II (Tunis, 1964), p. 130; Vol. VI (1965), pp. 86, 136.Google Scholar

26 Bukhari, VI, 101–2, 112–13;Google Scholaral-Bahuti, M. I. Y., Kashshaf al-qina' 'an matn al-iqna', Vol. II, ed. Hilal, H. M. (Riyadh: Maktabat al-Nasr al-Haditha, n.d.), pp. 67–68;Google Scholaral-Jaza'iri, Minhaj, pp. 266–67;Google Scholaral-Fiqh 'ala al-madhdhahib alarba'a, Vol. II (Istanbul: Maktabat Işik, 1977), pp. 358–63.Google Scholar

27 Bukhari, VI, 99–101, 103, 113.Google Scholar

28 al-Muttaqi, A. D. H. D. H., Kanz al-'ummal fi sunnan al-aqwal w'al-af'al, Vol. IV (Hyderabad, 1313 A.H.), p. 197.Google Scholar

29 Monchicourt, “Rogations,” 66–69.Google Scholar

30 Menouillard, “Pratiques,” 305. In Tunisian daily speech hiya is used to indicate an immediate action to take place.Google Scholar See also Marçais, and Guiga, , Glossaires, Vol. VIII (1961), p. 4222.Google Scholar

31 Bukhari, VI, 118;Google Scholaral-Bahuti, Kashshaf, pp. 67–68;Google Scholaral-Hilli, H.I.Y Ibn al-Mutahhar, Tabsirat al-muta'limin fi ahkam al-din (Damascus: Matba'at al-Tarraqi, 1924), p. 24;Google Scholaral-Jaza'iri, al-Fiqh, p. 362.Google Scholar

32 Ibid., p. 363; Mutahhar, Ibn, Tabsirat, p. 42.Google Scholar

33 Al-Bahuti, Kashshaf, p. 68.Google Scholar

34 Al-Jaza'iri, Minhaj, p. 363;Google ScholarMutahhar, Ibn, Tabsirat, p. 24.Google Scholar

35 Al-Jaza'iri, Minhaj, p. 363.Google Scholar

36 Monchicourt, “Rogations,” p. 68.Google Scholar

37 Westermarck, Ceremonies, pp. 116–117.Google Scholar

38 Menouillard, “Pratiques,” 303–4;Google ScholarWestermarck, Ceremonies, pp. 120–24.Google Scholar

39 Bukhari, pp. 105, 110, 115;Google Scholaral-Bahuti, Kashshaf, p. 72;Google Scholaral-Qayrawani, I. A. Z., Risalat al-Qayrawani (Cairo: al-Babi Halibi Publishers, 1936), p. 38;Google ScholarSabiq, A. S., Fiqh al-sunnan, Vol. 1 (Beirut: Dar al-Kitab al-'Arabi, 1969), p. 219;Google ScholarMutahhar, Ibn, Tabsirat, p. 42;Google Scholar and Mukhialaf al-Shi'a fi al-Shari'al, Vol. 1 (Tabriz, 1905), p. 126.Google Scholar

40 Wehr, H., A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, ed. Cowan, J. M. (Wiesbaden, 1961), pp. 215–18.Google Scholar

41 Al-Bahuti, Kashshaf, p. 72;Google ScholarBukhari, p. 105;Google ScholarMutahhar, Ibn, Mukhtalaf, pp. 212–17.Google Scholar

42 Wehr, Dictionary, pp. 212–17.Google Scholar

43 Bukhari, pp. 118–19.Google Scholar

44 Bel hints at this order: “Quelques rites.” pp. 70–71.Google Scholar

45 Marçais and Guiga, Textes (1925).Google Scholar

46 Monchicourt, “Rogations,” 68;Google ScholarBel, “Quelques rites,” pp. 59, 66, 70;Google ScholarMenouillard, “Pratiques,” 304.Google Scholar

47 Westermarck, Ceremonies.Google Scholar

48 Menouillard, “Pratiques,” 304;Google ScholarWestermarck, Ceremonies, pp. 118–19, 124.Google Scholar

49 Al-Bahuti, Kashshaf, p. 68;Google Scholaral-Jaza'iri, al-Fiqh, p. 363;Google ScholarMutahhar, Ibn, Tabsirat, p. 42,Google Scholar and Mukhtalaf, p. 125.Google Scholar

50 Monchicourt, “Rogations,” 68, 71–72.Google Scholar

51 Bukhari, pp. 106–8.Google Scholar

52 Abu-Zahra, N., “Baraka, Material Power, Honour and Women in Tunisia,” Revue d'Histoire maghrébine, 10–11 (1978), 6–8.Google Scholar

53 “El-wad” means rain; Marçais, Textes, p. 203.Google Scholar

54 These lines are identical with part of the song sung in Takrouna for Mother Tambu; MarçaisGoogle Scholar, Ibid., pp. 24–26.

55 Bukhari, p. 104.Google Scholar

56 Menouillard, “Pratiques,” 303–4.Google Scholar

57 Abu-Zahra, N., Sidi Ameur, p. 38.Google Scholar

58 Monchicourt, “Rogations,” 74–75.Google Scholar

59 Bukhari, pp. 108–14.Google Scholar

60 Marçais, Textes, p. 207;Google ScholarWestermarck, Ceremonies, pp. 117–20;Google ScholarMonchicourt, “Rogations,” 70–76, 77–78;Google ScholarMenouillard, “Pratiques,” 302–5.Google Scholar

61 Westermarck, Ceremonies, pp. 117–19;Google ScholarHilton-Simpson, M. W., “Some Algerian Superstitions Noted among the Shawia Berbers of the Aurès and their Nomad Neighbours,” Folklore, 26, 3 (1906), 24.Google Scholar

62 In Tunisia people use the word khubz to refer to bread and 'aysh to refer to porridge.Google Scholar

63 Marçais, , Glossaires, Vol. VI (1959), pp. 1625–27;Google ScholarMonchicourt, “Rogations,” 68.Google Scholar

64 Marçais, Textes, p. 18.Google Scholar

65 These themes recur throughout the Qur'an. See the following suras: The Indubitable, LXIX; Resurrection LXXV; The Pluckers LXXIX; The Splitting, LXXXII; The Rending, LXXXIV; The Enveloper, LXXXVIII; the Clatterer, CI.Google Scholar

66 Bel, “Quelques rites,” p. 80.Google Scholar

67 Al-Bahuti, Kashshaf, p. 73.Google Scholar

68 Bel, “Quelques rites,” pp. 66–68.Google Scholar

69 Marçais, Textes, p. 20.Google Scholar

70 Westermarck, Ceremonies, pp. 121–22.Google Scholar

71 Tapper, R., “Holier than Thou,” in Ahmed, A. S. and Hart, D., eds., Islam in Tribal Societies From the Atlas to the Indus (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984), p. 247.Google Scholar

72 Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. IV (Leiden, 1978), pp. 269–71.Google Scholar

73 “Al-tasawwur al-sha'bi lil-ju'wa alshaba' fi ba'd al-bilad al-'arabiyya,” Alif: Journal of Coniparative Poetics, 7 (Spring 1987). Forthcoming article on “al-Hubb aw al-nur 'inda zuwwar alSayyida Zaynab fi-l-Qahira,” Alif, 8 (Spring 1988).Google Scholar