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The Mahmal of the Moslem Pilgrimage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Arthur E. Robinson
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Extract

It is very improbable that the Mahmal, which formed such a prominent object in the procession of the “Kiswat en Nebi” at Cairo and the pilgrim caravans from Egypt and Syria, will be seen in the Hejaz again.

There are very strong political and religious reasons against its introduction into the ceremonies at Mecca. As the practice of sending a Mahmal to Mecca was adopted by an Indian Prince and the late Sultan of Darfur, it might be of use to trace the origin and purport of this very curious custom in Islam.

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Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 63 , Issue 1 , January 1931 , pp. 117 - 127
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1931

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References

page 117 note 1 The Hejaz is now in the possession of Ibn Sa'ud, a descendant of the great Wahhabist of the 1798–1814 campaigns. The Damascus Mahmal is similar to the one from Egypt but smaller. No Kiswa is sent from Damascus, but a pall or rich carpet for the tomb of Muhammad at Medina used to be sent by the Sultan of Turkey annually.

page 118 note 1 The Sultan Selim I took the “Sinjak es Sherif” and the Caliph Mutawakkil with him to Constantinople (see also Travels of Ali Bey, London, 1816, vol. ii, p. 362Google Scholar). He permitted the continuation of the Cairo and Damascus Mahmal processions, but added an extra Mahmal of his own (Gaudefroy-Demombynes, , La Pélérinage à la Mekké, Paris, 1923, p. 159Google Scholar).

page 118 note 2 “Sacred Litters among the Semites, with reference to the utfas of the Kababish”: Sudan Notes and Records, Khartoum, 1918Google Scholar.

Those who desire to study this point of view are recommended to consult: Breasted, , A History of Egypt, p. 61Google Scholar, etc.; Gore, , A New Commentary of Holy Scripture, London, 1928, pp. 38, 148, 177, 190–2, 217–57, 660, etc.Google Scholar; Encyclopædia Biblica; Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, vol. i, p. 746, and the writers cited by Gaudefroy-Demombynes, Google Scholar (op. cit.) such as Muhammad Labab Balanouni and other non-Christian writers. Burckhardt cannot be cited as an authority as he did not enter the Ka'ba. Ali Bey did not visit Medina, and most of the subsequent writers can only deal with impressions formed after the re-occupation of the Hejaz by Muhammad Aly Pasha and the temporary suppression of Wahhabism.

page 119 note 1 The writer is inclined to think that the Mahmal and the use of the “utfa” in war are both survivals of the precedent set by Ayesha at the battle of Basra (the day of the Camel, in 656).

page 119 note 2 See note by Quatremère, , Histoire des Sultans Mamlouk (Makrizi), Paris, 1837, p. 223Google Scholar, and “Le Kiswa de la Kaaba” by Gaudefroy-Demombynes, in Revue Hist. Religion, 1918Google Scholar.

page 119 note 3 Qalqashandi (Gaudefroy-Demombynes, quoting) describes the Mahmal as covered with yellow satin and surmounted by a dome (qubba) of silver gilt. Yellow was the royal colour of Sultan Beybars (1260–77), who restored the Caliphate and occupied the Hejaz in the name of his nominee the Caliph El Ḥākim (1262–1303). Mustanṣir, the first restored Caliph, was killed by the Mongols after he had enthroned Beybars (1260), who sent envoys to the Sherif of Mecca but was obliged to occupy Suakim and the Hejaz so as to collect the zekāt, 'ushūr, and 'adad for the Caliph (see also Makrizi, op. cit., etc.).

page 120 note 1 See Travels of Ali Bey, London, 1816, vol. xi, pp. 66Google Scholar, etc.

It is extremely probable that until 1517 all the votive offerings were sent from Egypt whenever the Hejaz was in the territorial possession of the mameluke Sultans.

page 120 note 2 Lane, E. W., Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, , Dent's ed., p. 444Google Scholar. No authority is given by Lane, but I have traced in Makrizi (op. cit., p. 25) that “Le Mahmal, le voile destine pour la Kaabah” left Cairo a.h. 664 (or a.d. 1264–5), which is some time previous to the date given by Lane. See also Berchem, , Corpus Caire, pp. 414–15Google Scholar, cited by Gaudefroy-Demombynes.

page 120 note 3 Poole, S. Lane, A History of Egypt under the Saracens, London, 1901Google Scholar, and records in the Khedivial Library, Cairo.

Her tomb in Cairo is much frequented by poor and ignorant women who pray there. The Eunuch Emir Jamāl ad-Din as Ṣaliḥi Ayyubi took the votive offerings sent from Egypt to Mecca and Medina for many years. He was one of the eunuchs attached to the harem of Sultan Aṣ-Ṣaliḥ Ayyūb. I cannot trace any evidence of the reputed pilgrimage of Shajar ad-Durr in 1247, but Makrizi mentions the Hajj of a.h. 647 from Cairo and that of 648 from Irak (op. cit., vol. i, pp. 33–8). She had lost her son prior to the death of Sultan Ayyūb on 21st November, 1249.

page 121 note 1 Shajar ad-Durr concealed the death of Ayyūb from the troops and the litter in which he had travelled (as an invalid) from Cairo was used by her. She was instrumental in the defeat of the French at Mansura on 9th February, 1250, and Turanshah (27th February–2nd May, 1250) was murdered by the mamelukes for accepting a ransom; but the Emirs elected Shajar ad-Durr as the Queen of Egypt.

page 121 note 2 E. W. Lane, op. cit., p. 488.

page 121 note 3 Edition, Rome, 1906, C. Schiaparelli's translation, etc.

In 834 the Caliph Mutassim (833–42) sent a gold brocaded portière from Irak to celebrate his accession to the Caliphate, but it was repudiated by the Sherif of Mecca. It is this curtain or portière which is described as a door in Hakluyt and other contemporary writers. There was a wooden door for which the Caliph provided the key and entrusted it to the Sherif of Mecca, who abused the privilege and extorted illegal fees for admission from the pilgrims on many occasions. See Makrizi (op. cit., vol. i, pp. 32–71) re the action of Beybars in this matter.

page 122 note 1 Eldon Rutter (op. cit., vol. ii, p. 199) states that the tomb of Fāṭima can be seen. See Frazer's Golden Bough and similar works for further details.

page 123 note 1 In 1154 Nur ad-Din ibn Zengi of Mosul, a supporter of the Abbasides, occupied Damascus. He extended the walls of the Medina mosque and is believed to have hung his Kiswa on the Ka'ba, as there is an inscription dated a.h. 550 (a.d. 1154) relating to the Caliph Muḳtafi (1136–60) on the door.

In 1262 Melik Muẓaffar Yusuf ibn Omar ibn Rasul made the pilgrimage and hung his Kiswa on the Ka'ba.

In 1282 the Sherif of Mecca renewed the vow that he had made to the Sultan Beybars under which his predecessor had guaranteed that no other Kiswa than that from Egypt should be hung on the Ka'ba (Makrizi, op. cit., pp. 11, 12).

Since the recent Wahhabi occupation of the Hejaz, Ibn Sa'ud has provided a black hair Kiawa (1925) and the Ḥezām has been made in India.

For further information regarding the assumption of temporal power by the Caliphs see Zaki, Mahmud, Le Livre de la Couronne, CairoGoogle Scholar, and Makrizi (op. cit., vol. ii, p. 91), etc.

page 124 note 1 It must not be overlooked that the Moslem canopied tomb is apparently an adaptation of the Byzantine pattern and there are few in Egypt which have been constructed since the Turkish occupation. Graves are indicated by a headstone surmounted by a representation of a turban or tarbush. These graves are frequently in domed buildings (qubbas) and sometimes a pall is placed over the grave. The introduction and disuse of the catafalque by the Moslems of Egypt seems to be mediaeval.

page 124 note 2 Qalqashandi, (vide , Gaudefroy-Demombynes, op. cit., p. 165)Google Scholar states t hat the Mahmal returned to Cairo in 1419. I am indebted to the Secretary of the Egyptian Legation, London, for information regarding recent practice.

page 124 note 3 A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem in 1697, Oxford, 1703, pp. 127Google Scholar, etc.

page 125 note 1 Ali Bey (op. cit., p. 222, vol. ii) states that Qurans 4 feet long and 2½ feet wide were at Jerusalem in 1807, and like those at Cairo and Mecca were attributed to the Caliph Omar.

Qurans were also taken as presents to shrines. The Morocco pilgrim caravan of 1305 took a magnificent Quran bound in gold plates and inlaid with precious stones to Mecca for the Ka'ba.

See also History of the Moorish Empire in Europe, Phil., U.S.A., 1904Google Scholar.

page 125 note 2 See also Burckhardt, , Travels in Arabia, vol. ii, pp. 49–54Google Scholar; Doughty, , Arabia Deserta, vol. i, p. 61Google Scholar (unabridged ed.); A. von Kremer, Cult des Or; El Aghani, Cairo, 1323; Mercier, E., Hist, de l'Afrique, Sept., Paris, 1888Google Scholar; and Hastings (op. cit., vol. x, p. 11) for other views regarding the Mahmal.

page 126 note 1 The tribal and sedentary Meks of the Sudan adopted the practice of the Emir aṭ-Ṭablkhanat who used to have their drums beaten at sunset and sunrise outside their residences, permanent or temporary. These drums were of copper and Father Alvarez described tho Abyssinian drums as made in Cairo.

See also E. W. Lane (op. cit., pp. 528, etc.) for Turkish influences on Arab customs, architecture, etc.

page 126 note 2 The word Kiswa is not always applied to the curtain for the Ka'ba; vide letter of 8th April, 1930, from Egyptian Legation. It seems to have been used, similarly to Mahmal, in a collective sense, and it is most probable early Moslem writers used the word Mahmal for the procession and Kiswa for any coverings or palls, etc.