ḤAJJATU ʾL-WADĀʿ (حجة الوداع‎). The last or farewell pilgrimage performed by Muḥammad, and which is taken as the model of an orthodox ḥajj. It is called the Ḥajju ʾl-Akbar, or Greater Pilgrimage, in the Qurʾān, Sūrah ix. 3. (See Mishkāt, book xi. ch. iii., and Muir’s Life of Mahomet.) It is supposed to have commenced February 23, A.D. 632.

ḤAJJ MABRŪR (حج مبرور‎). An approved or accepted pilgrimage (Mishkāt, book xi. ch. i. pt. 2). A pilgrimage to Makkah performed according to the conditions of Muslim law.

ḤAKAM (حكم‎). An arbitrator appointed by a qāẓī to settle disputes. It is not lawful to appoint either a slave or an unbeliever, or a slanderer, or an infant, as an arbitrator. (Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 638.)

According to the Qurʾān, Sūrah iv. 39, domestic quarrels should be settled by an arbitrator:—“If ye fear a breach between the two (i.e. husband and wife) then appoint an arbitrator from his people, and an arbitrator from her people.”

Al-Ḥakam, the Arbitrator, is one of the ninety-nine attributes of God, although it is not so employed in the Qurʾān.

ḤĀKIM (حاكم‎). “A just ruler.” The term Aḥkamu ʾl-Ḥākimīn, “the Most Just of Rulers,” is used for God, Qurʾān, Sūrah xcv. 8; also, K͟hairu ʾl-Ḥākimīn, i.e. “Best of Rulers,” Sūrah vii. 85.

ḤAKĪM (حكيم‎), pl. ḥukamāʾ; Heb. ‏חָכָם‎. Lit. “A wise person.” (1) A philosopher. (2) A doctor of medicine. (3) Al-Ḥakīm, “The Wise One.” One of the ninety-nine attributes of God. It frequently occurs in the Qurʾān, e.g. Sūrah ii. 123: “Thou art the Mighty and the Wise!”

ḤĀL (حال‎). A state, or condition. A term used by the Ṣūfī mystics for those thoughts and conditions which come upon the heart of man without his intention or desire, such as sorrow, or fear, or pleasure, or desire, or lust. If these conditions are stable and intransient, they are called malkah or maqām; but if they are transient and fleeting, they are called ḥāl. (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dictionary of Ṣūfī Terms.)

A state of ecstasy induced by continued contemplation of God. It is considered a divine gift and a sure prognostication of speedily arriving at “The Truth.”

Professor Palmer says (Oriental Mysticism, p. 66), “This assiduous contemplation of startling metaphysical theories is exceedingly attractive to an Oriental mind, and not unfrequently produces a state of mental excitement akin to the phenomena observed during the recent religious revivals. Such ecstatic state is considered a sure prognostication of direct illumination of the heart by God, and constitutes the fifth stage (in the mystic journey) called ḥāl or ecstasy.”

ḤALĀL (حلال‎). Lit. “That which is untied or loosed.” That which is lawful, as distinguished from ḥarām, or that which is unlawful.

AL-ḤALĪM (الحليم‎). “The Clement.” One of the ninety-nine attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, e.g. Sūrah ii. 225: “God is forgiving and clement.”

ḤAMĀʾIL (حمائل‎). Lit. “Things suspended.” An amulet or charm. [AMULET.]

ḤAMĀLAH (حـمالة‎). Compensation for manslaughter or murder, called also diyah. [DIYAH.]

ḤAMALATU ʾL-ʿARSH (حـمـلـة العرش‎). Lit. “Those who bear the throne.” Certain angels mentioned in the Qurʾān, Sūrah xl. 7: “Those who bear the throne (i.e. the Ḥamalatu ʾl-ʿArsh) and those around it (i.e. the Karūbīn) celebrate the praise of their Lord, and believe in Him, and ask pardon for those who believe.”

Al-Bag͟hawī, the commentator, says they are eight angels of the highest rank. They are so tall that their feet stand on the lowest strata of the earth and their heads reach the highest heavens, the universe does not reach up to their navels, and it is a journey of seven hundred years from their ears to their shoulders! (Al-Bag͟hawī, Bombay edition, vol. ii. p. 23.)

HĀMĀN (هـامـان‎). The prime minister of Pharaoh. Mentioned in the Qurʾān in three different chapters.

Sūrah xxviii. 7: “For sinners were Pharaoh and Hāmān.”

Sūrah xxix. 38: “Korah (Qārūn) and Pharaoh and Hāmān! with proofs of his mission did Moses come to them and they behaved proudly on the earth.”

Sūrah xl. 38:—

“And Pharaoh said, ‘O Hāmān, build for me a tower that I may reach the avenues,

“ ‘The avenues of the heavens, and may mount to the God of Moses, for I verily deem him a liar.’ ”

Some European critics think that Muḥammad has here made Hāmān the favourite of Ahasuerus and the enemy of the Jews, the vizier of Pharaoh. The Rabbins make this vizier to have been Korah, Jethro, or Balaam. (Midr. Jalkut on Ex. ch. 1, Sect. 162–168.)

In the Mishkāt (book iv. ch. i. pt. 3), there is a tradition that Muḥammad said he who neglects prayers will be in hell with Korah, Pharaoh, Hāmān, and Ubaiy ibn K͟half (an infidel whom Muḥammad slew with his own hand at the battle of Uḥud.)

AL-ḤAMD (الحمد‎), the “Praise.” A title of the first chapter of the Qurʾān. According to Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrifāt, “praise” (ḥamd) of God is of three kinds:—

(1) Al-ḥamdu ʾl-Qaulī, the praise of God with the tongue, with those attributes with which He has made known Himself. (2) Al-ḥamdu ʾl-Fiʿlī, the praise of God with the body according to the will of God. (3) Al-ḥamdu ʾl-Ḥālī, the praise of God with the heart and spirit.

AL-ḤAMĪD (الحميد‎). “The Laudable.” The One worthy of praise. One of the ninety-nine attributes of God. It frequently occurs in the Qurʾān, e.g. Sūrah xi. 76, “Verily He is to be praised.”

ḤĀ MĪM (حا ميم‎). Seven Sūrahs of the Qurʾān begin with the letters ح‎ ḥ, م‎ m, and are called al-Ḥawāmīm. They are the XL, XLI, XLII, XLIII, XLIV, XLV, and XLVI. Various opinions are held by Muḥammadan commentators as to the meaning of these mysterious letters. Jalālu ʾd-dīn as-Suyūt̤ī in his Itqān, says these letters are simply initial letters, the meaning of which is known only to God, but Ibn ʿAbbās says the letters ح‎ ḥ, and م‎ m, stand for الرحمان‎ ar-Raḥmān, “the Merciful,” one of the attributes of God.

Mr. Rodwell, in his Introduction to the Ḳorân, says, “Possibly the letters Hā, Mīm, which are prefixed to numerous successive Suras were private marks, or initial letters, attached by their proprietor to the copies furnished to Said when effecting his recension of the text under Othman. In the same way, the letters prefixed to other Suras may be monograms, or abbreviations, or initial letters of the names of the persons to whom the copies of the respective Suras belonged.”

ḤAMRĀU ʾL-ĀSĀD (حمرا الاساد‎). A village or small town, the scene of one of Muḥammad’s expeditions against the Quraish. Having reached this spot he kindled five hundred fires to make the Quraish believe that the pursuing force was very large, and, contenting himself with this demonstration, he returned to al-Madīnah, from which it was about 60 miles. According to Burton, it is the modern Wasitah.

“At Hamrâ al Asād, Mahomet made prisoner one of the enemy, the poet Abu Ozza, who had loitered behind the rest. He had been taken prisoner at Bedr, and, having five daughters dependent on him, had been freely released, on the promise that he would not again bear arms in the war against the Prophet. He now sought for mercy: ‘O Mahomet!’ he prayed, ‘forgive me of thy grace.’ ‘Nay, verily,’ said the Prophet, ‘a believer may not be twice bitten from the same hole. Thou shalt never return to Mecca, stroke thy beard and say, I have again deceived Mahomet. Lead him forth to execution!’ So saying, he motioned to a bystander, who with his sword struck off the captive’s head.” (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 276.)

ḤAMZAH (حمزة‎). Muḥammad’s uncle, who embraced Islām and became one of its bravest champions. He was at the battle of Uḥud and slew ʿUs̤mān, one of the leaders of the Quraish, but was soon afterwards himself killed by a wild negro named Waḥshī, and his dead body shamefully mutilated. At his death Muḥammad is recorded to have said that Ḥamzah was “the lion of God and of His Apostle.” The warlike deeds of Ḥamzah are recorded in Persian poetry, in which he is celebrated as Amīr Ḥamzah.

ḤAMZĪYAH (حمزية‎). A sect of Muslims founded by Ḥamzah ibn Adrak, who say that the children (infants) of infidels will be consigned to the Fire of Hell, the general belief of Muḥammadans being that they will have a special place in al-Aʿrāf. (Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, in loco.)

ḤANAFĪ (حنفى‎), ḤANĪFĪ (حنيفى‎). A member of the sect of Sunnīs founded by the Imām Abū Ḥanīfah. [ABU HANIFAH.]

ḤANBAL. [IBN HANBAL.]

ḤANBALĪ (حنبلى‎). A member of the Ḥanbalī sect of Sunnī Muslims. [IBN HANBAL.]

HAND. Arabic yad (يـد‎), pl. ayādī. Heb. ‏יָד‎.

(1) It is a rule with Muslims to honour the right hand above the left; to use the right hand for all honourable purposes, and the left for actions which, though necessary, are unclean. The hands must be washed before prayers [ABLUTIONS] and before meals.

(2) The expression yadu ʾllāh, the “hand of God,” occurs in the Qurʾān:—

Sūrah v. 69: “The Jews say, ‘God’s hand is fettered’; their hands are fettered, for they are cursed.”

Sūrah xlviii. 10: “God’s hand is above their hands.”

There is a controversy between the orthodox Sunnīs and the Wahhābīs regarding the expression, “God’s hand.” The former maintaining that it is a figurative expression for the power of God, the latter holding that it is literal; but that it is impossible to say in what sense or manner God has a hand; for as the essence of God is not known, how can the manner of His existence be understood?

HANDKERCHIEFS. The custom of keeping a handkerchief in the hand, as is frequently practised, is said to be abominable (makrūh). Many, however, hold that it is allowable, if done from motives of necessity. This, says Abū Ḥanīfah, is approved; for the practice is abominable only when it is done ostentatiously. (Hidāyah, vol. iv. p. 95.)

ḤANĪF (حنيف‎), pl. Ḥunafāʾ. Lit. “One who is inclined.” (1) Anyone sincere in his inclination to Islām. (2) One orthodox in the faith. (3) One who is of the religion of Abraham. (See Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār, in loco.)

The word occurs ten times in the Qurʾān.

ḤAQĪQAH (حقيقة‎). “Truth; sincerity.”

(1) The essence of a thing as meaning that by being which a thing is what it is. As when we say that a rational animal is the ḥaqīqah of a human being. (See Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrifāt.)

(2) A word or phrase used in its proper or original sense, as opposed to that which is figurative. A speech without trope or figure.

(3) The sixth stage in the mystic journey of the Ṣūfī, when he is supposed to receive a revelation of the true nature of the Godhead, and to have arrived at “the Truth.”

AL-ḤAQĪQATU ʾL-MUḤAMMADĪYAH (الحقيقة المحمدية‎). The original essence of Muḥammad, the Nūr-i-Muḥammadīyah, or the Light of Muḥammad, which is believed to have been created before all things. (Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrifāt, in loco.)

The Wahhābīs do not believe in the pre-existence of their Prophet, and the doctrine is most probably an invention of the Ṣūfī mystics in the early stages of Islām.

According to the Imām Qast̤alānī (Muwahib-i-laduniya, vol. i. p. 12), it is related by Jābir ibn ʿAbdi ʾllāh al-Anṣārī that the Prophet said, “The first thing created was the light of your Prophet, which was created from the light of God. This light of mine roamed about wherever God willed, and when the Almighty resolved to make the world, he divided this light of Muḥammad into four portions; from the first he created the Pen (qalam); from the second, the Tablet (lauḥ); from the third, the highest heaven and the throne of God (ʿarsh); the fourth portion was divided into four sections: from the first were created the Hamalatu ʾl-ʿArsh, or the eight angels who support the throne of God; from the second, the kursī, or lower throne of God; from the third, the angels; and the fourth, being divided into four subdivisions, from it were created (1) the firmaments or seven heavens, (2) the earth, (3) the seven paradises and seven hells, (4) and again from a fourth section were created (1) the light of the eyes, (2) the light of the mind, (3) the light of the love of the Unity of God, (4) the remaining portion of creation.”

The author of the Ḥayātu ʾl-Qulūb, a Shīʿah book of traditions (See Merrick’s translation, p. 4), says the traditions respecting the creations from this Light of Muḥammad are numerous and discordant, but that the discrepancies may possibly be reconciled by referring the diverse dates to different eras in the process of creation. “The holy light of Muḥammad,” he says, “dwelt under the empyrean seventy-three thousand years, and then resided seventy thousand years in Paradise. Afterwards it rested another period of seventy thousand years under the celestial tree called Sidratu ʾl-Muntahā, and, emigrating from heaven to heaven, arrived at length in the lowest of these celestial mansions, where it remained until the Most High willed the creation of Adam.”

(A very curious account of the absurd belief of the Shīʿahs on this subject will be found in Mr. Merrick’s edition of the Ḥayātu ʾl-Qulūb; Boston, 1850.)

ḤAQĪQĪ (حقيقى‎). “Literal,” as opposed to that which is majāzī, or figurative.

ḤAQQ (حق‎). “Truth, justice.” A term used in theology for that which is true, e.g. The word of God; religion. In law it implies that which is due. A thing decreed; a claim. By the Ṣūfī mystics it is always used for the Divine Essence; God.

Al-Ḥaqq, “The Truth.” One of the ninety-nine attributes of God.

AL-ḤĀQQAH (الحاقة‎). Lit. “The surely Impending.” The title of the LXIXth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in which the word occurs in the opening verse: “The inevitable! (al-Ḥāqqatu!). What is the inevitable?” The word is understood by all commentators to mean the Day of Resurrection and Judgment. It does not occur in any other portion of the Qurʾān.

ḤAQQU ʾL-ʿABD (حق العبد‎). “The right of the slave (of God).” In law the right of an injured individual to demand redress and justice.

ḤAQQU ʾLLĀH (حق الله‎). “The right of God.” In law, the retributive chastisement which it is the duty of a magistrate to inflict for crime and offences against morality and religion. In theology it means prayer, alms, fasting, pilgrimage, and other religious duties.

ḤAQQU ʾL-YAQĪN (حق اليقين‎). “A conviction of the truth.” A term used by the Ṣūfī mystics for a state in which the seeker after truth has in thought and reflection a positive evidence of his extinction and of his being incorporated in the Essence of God. [YAQIN.]

ḤAQQU ʾN-NĀS (حق الناس‎). “The right of men.” A term in law implying the same as Ḥaqqu ʾl-ʿAbd.

ḤARAM (حرم‎), pl. Ḥuram. “That which is sacred.” (1) Al-Ḥaram, the sacred precincts of Makkah or al-Madīnah. (2) Ḥaram, the apartments of women in a Muḥammadan household. [HARIM.] (3) Ḥuram, wives.

ḤARĀM (حرام‎). Lit. “prohibited.” That which is unlawful. The word is used in both a good and a bad sense, e.g. Baitu ʾl-ḥarām, the sacred house; and Mālu ʾl-ḥarām, unlawful possessions. Ibnu ʾl-ḥarām, an illegitimate son; Shahru ʾl-ḥarām, a sacred month.

A thing is said to be ḥarām when it is forbidden, as opposed to that which is ḥalāl, or lawful. A pilgrim is said to be ḥarām as soon as he has put on the pilgrim’s garb.

Ḥarāmu ʾllāh lā afʿalu is a form of oath that a man will not do a thing.

ḤARAMU ʾL-MADĪNAH (حـرم المدينة‎). The sacred boundary of al-Madīnah within which certain acts are unlawful which are lawful elsewhere. The Imām Abū Ḥanīfah says that although it is respectful to the position of the sacred city, as the birth-place of the Prophet, not to bear arms, or kill, or cut grass, &c., still it is not, as in the case of Makkah, an incumbent religious duty. According to a tradition by ʿAlī ibn Abī T̤ālib (Mishkāt, book xi. ch. xvi.), the Ḥudūdu ʾl-Ḥaram, or sacred limits of al-Madīnah are from Jabal ʿAir to S̤aur. According to Burton, the diameter of the Ḥaram is from ten to twelve miles. (El Medinah and Meccah, vol. i. p. 362.)

ḤARAMU MAKKAH (حرم مكة‎). The sacred boundary of Makkah within which certain acts are unlawful which are lawful elsewhere. It is not lawful to carry arms, or to fight within its limits. Its thorns must not be broken, nor its game molested, nor must anything be taken up which has fallen on the ground, unless it is done to restore it to its owner. Its fresh grass or even its dry grass must not be cut; except the bog rush (iẕk͟hir), because it is used for blacksmith’s fires and for thatching houses. (A tradition by Ibn ʿAbbās, Mishkāt, book xi. ch. xv. pt. 1). ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq says that when Abraham, “the friend of God,” placed the black stone at the time of the building of the Kaʿbah, its east, west, north, and south quarters became bright with light, and that wherever the brightness extended itself became the Ḥudūdu ʾl-Ḥaram, or the limits of the sacred city. These limits are marked by manārs or pillars on all sides, except on the Jiddah and Jairānah roads, regarding which there is some dispute as to the exact distance.

HAREEM. [HARIM.]

HARES. Arabic arnab, pl. arānib. Heb. ‏אַרְנֶבֶת‎. The flesh of the hare is lawful, for the Prophet ate it, and commanded his companions to do so (Hidāyah, vol. iv. p. 75). A difference of opinion has in all ages existed as to the value of the hare as an article of food. The Greeks and Romans ate it in spite of an opinion that prevailed that it was not wholesome. In the law of Moses, it is specified amongst the unclean animals (Lev. xi. 6; Deut. xiv. 7). The Parsees do not eat hare’s flesh, nor do the Armenians.

ḤARF (حرف‎). (1) An extremity, verge, or border. (2) A letter of the alphabet. (3) A particle in grammar. (4) A dialect of Arabia, or a mode of expression peculiar to certain Arabs. The Qurʾān is said to have been revealed in seven dialects (sabʿat aḥruf). [QURʾAN.] (5) A term used by the Ṣūfī mystics for the particle of any true essence.

ḤARĪM, or HAREEM (حريم‎). A word used especially in Turkey, Egypt, and Syria, for the female apartments of a Muḥammadan household. In Persia, Afghanistan, and India, the terms ḥaramgah, maḥall-sarāi and zanānah are used for the same place.

The seclusion of women being enjoined in the Qurʾān (Sūrah xxxiii. 55), in all Muḥammadan countries it is the rule for respectable women to remain secluded at home, and not to travel abroad unveiled, nor to associate with men other than their husbands or such male relatives as are forbidden in marriage by reason of consanguinity. In consequence of these injunctions, which have all the force of a divine enactment, the female portion of a Muḥammadan family always resides in apartments which are in an inclosed court-yard and excluded from public view. This inclosure is called the ḥarīm, and sometimes ḥaram, or in Persian zanānah, from zan, a “woman”. Mr. Lane in his Modern Egyptians, has given a full account of the Egyptian ḥarīm. We are indebted to Mrs. Meer Ali for the following very graphic and interesting description of a Muḥammadan zanānah or ḥarīm in Lucknow.

Mrs. Meer Ali was an English lady who married a Muḥammadan gentleman, and resided amongst the people of Lucknow for twelve years. Upon the death of her husband, she returned to England, and published her Observations on the Musalmans of India, which was dedicated, with permission, to Queen Adelaide.

“The habitable buildings of a native Muḥammadan home are raised a few steps from the court; a line of pillars forms the front of the building, which has no upper rooms; the roof is flat, and the sides and back without windows, or any aperture through which air can be received. The sides and back are merely high walls, forming an enclosure, and the only air is admitted from the fronts of the dwelling-place facing the court-yard. The apartments are divided into long halls, the extreme corners having small rooms or dark closets purposely built for the repository of valuables or stores; doors are fixed to these closets, which are the only places I have seen with them in a zanānah or maḥall (house or palace occupied by females); the floor is either of beaten earth, bricks, or stones; boarded floors are not yet introduced. As they have neither doors nor windows to the halls, warmth or privacy is secured by means of thick wadded curtains, made to fit each opening between the pillars. Some zanānahs have two rows of pillars in the halls with wadded curtains to each, thus forming two distinct halls, as occasion may serve, or greater warmth be required; this is a convenient arrangement where the establishment of servants, slaves, &c. is extensive.

“The wadded curtains are called pardahs; these are sometimes made of woollen cloth, but more generally of coarse calico, of two colours, in patchwork style, striped, vandyked, or in some other ingeniously contrived and ornamented way, according to their individual taste.

“Besides the pardahs, the openings between the pillars have blinds neatly made of fine bamboo strips, woven together with coloured cords; these are called chicks. Many of them are painted green; others are more gaudy, both in colour and variety of patterns. These blinds constitute a real comfort to everyone in India, as they admit air when let down, and at the same time shut out flies and other annoying insects; besides which, the extreme glare is shaded by them—a desirable object to foreigners in particular.

“The floors of the halls are first matted with the coarse date-leaf matting of the country, over which are spread shat̤ranjīs (thick cotton carpets, peculiarly the manufacture of the Upper Provinces of India, woven in stripes of blue and white, or shades of blue); a white calico carpet covers the shat̤ranjī on which the females take their seat.

“The bedsteads of the family are placed, during the day, in lines at the back of the halls, to be moved at pleasure to any chosen spot for the night’s repose; often into the open court-yard, for the benefit of the pure air. They are all formed on one principle, differing only in size and quality; they stand about half a yard from the floor, the legs round and broad at bottom, narrowing as they rise towards the frame, which is laced over with a thick cotton tape, made for the purpose, and plaited in chequers, and thus rendered soft, or rather elastic, and very pleasant to recline upon. The legs of these bedsteads are in some instances gold and silver gilt, or pure silver; others have enamel paintings on fine wood; the inferior grades have them merely of wood painted plain and varnished. The servants’ bedsteads are of the common mango-wood without ornament, the lacing of these for the sacking being of elastic string manufactured from the fibre of the cocoa-nut.

“Such are the bedsteads of every class of people. They seldom have mattresses: a white quilt is spread on the lacing, over which a calico sheet, tied at each corner of the bedstead with cords and tassels; several thin flat pillows of beaten cotton for the head; a muslin sheet for warm weather, and a well wadded razāi (coverlid) for winter is all these children of Nature deem essential to their comfort in the way of sleeping. They have no idea of night-dresses; the same suit that adorns a lady, is retained both night and day, until a change be needed. The single article exchanged at night is the ḍupaṭṭa (a small shawl for the head), and that only when it happens to be of silver tissue or embroidery, for which a muslin or calico sheet is substituted.

“The very highest circles have the same habits in common with the meanest, but those who can afford shawls of Cashmere, prefer them for sleeping in, when the cold weather renders them bearable. Blankets are never used except by the poorest peasantry, who wear them in lieu of better garments night and day in the winter season; they are always black, the natural colour of the wool. The quilts of the higher orders are generally made of silk of the brightest hues, well wadded, and lined with dyed muslin of assimilating colour; they are usually bound with broad silver ribands, and sometimes bordered with gold brocaded trimmings. The middling classes have fine chintz quilts, and the servants and slaves coarse ones of the same material; but all are on the same plan, whether for a queen or the meanest of her slaves, differing only in the quality of the material. The mistress of the house is easily distinguished by her seat of honour in the hall of a zanānah, a masnad not being allowed to any other person but the lady of the mansion. The masnad carpet is spread on the floor, if possible near to a pillar about the centre of the hall, and is made of many varieties of fabric—gold cloth, quilted silk, brocaded silk, velvet, fine chintz, or whatever may suit the lady’s taste, circumstances, or convenience. It is about two yards square, and generally bordered or fringed, on which is placed the all-important masnad. This article may be understood by those who have seen a lace-maker’s pillow in England, excepting only that the masnad is about twenty times the size of that useful little article in the hands of our industrious villagers. The masnad is covered with gold cloth, silk, velvet, or calico, with square pillows to correspond, for the elbows, the knees, &c. This is the seat of honour, to be invited to share which, with the lady-owner, is a mark of favour to an equal or inferior: when a superior pays a visit of honour, the prided seat is usually surrendered to her, and the lady of the house takes her place most humbly on the very edge of her own carpet. Looking-glasses or ornamental furniture are very rarely to be seen in the zanānah, even of the very richest females. Chairs and sofas are produced when English visitors are expected; but the ladies of Hīndustān prefer the usual mode of sitting and lounging on the carpet; and as for tables, I suppose not one gentlewoman of the whole country has ever been seated at one; and very few, perhaps, have any idea of their useful purposes, all their meals being served on the floor, where dastark͟hwans (table-cloths we should call them) are spread, but neither knives, forks, spoons, glasses, nor napkins, so essential to the comfortable enjoyment of a meal amongst Europeans. But those who never knew such comforts have no desire for the indulgence, nor taste to appreciate them.

“On the several occasions, amongst native society, of assembling in large parties, as at births and marriages, the halls, although extensive, would be inadequate to accommodate the whole party. They then have awnings of white calico, neatly flounced with muslin, supported on poles fixed in the court-yard, and connecting the open space with the great hall, by wooden platforms which are brought to a line with the building, and covered with shat̤ranjī, and white carpets to correspond with the floor-furniture of the hall; and here the ladies sit by day and sleep by night very comfortably, without feeling any great inconvenience from the absence of their bedsteads, which could never be arranged for the accommodation of so large an assemblage—nor is it ever expected.

“The usually barren look of these almost unfurnished halls, is on such occasions quite changed, when the ladies are assembled in their various dresses; the brilliant display of jewels, the glittering drapery of their dress, the various expressions of countenance, and different figures, the multitude of female attendants and slaves, the children of all ages and sizes in their variously ornamental dresses, are subjects to attract both the eye and the mind of an observing visitor; and the hall, which when empty appeared desolate and comfortless, thus filled, leaves nothing wanting to render the scene attractive.

“The buzz of human voices, the happy playfulness of the children, the chaste singing of the ḍomnīs fill up the animated picture. I have sometimes passed an hour or two in witnessing their innocent amusements, without any feeling of regret for the brief sacrifice of time I had made. I am free to confess, however, that I have returned to my tranquil home with increased delight after having witnessed the bustle of a zanānah assembly. At first I pitied the apparent monotony of their lives; but this feeling has worn away by intimacy with the people, who are thus precluded from mixing generally with the world. They are happy in their confinement; and never having felt the sweets of liberty, would not know how to use the boon if it were to be granted them. As the bird from the nest immured in a cage is both cheerful and contented, so are these females. They have not, it is true, many intellectual resources, but they have naturally good understandings, and having learned their duty they strive to fulfil it. So far as I have had any opportunity of making personal observations on their general character, they appear to me obedient wives, dutiful daughters, affectionate mothers, kind mistresses, sincere friends, and liberal benefactresses to the distressed poor. These are their moral qualifications, and in their religious duties, they are zealous in performing the several ordinances which they have been instructed by their parents or husbands to observe. If there be any merit in obeying the injunctions of their law-giver, those whom I have known most intimately, deserve praise since ‘they are faithful in that they profess.’

“To ladies accustomed from infancy to confinement, this kind of life is by no means irksome; they have their employments and their amusements, and though these are not exactly to our taste, nor suited to our mode of education, they are not the less relished by those for whom they were invented. They perhaps wonder equally at some of our modes of dissipating time, and fancy we might spend it more profitably. Be that as it may, the Muslim ladies, with whom I have been long intimate, appear to me always happy, contented, and satisfied with the seclusion to which they were born; they desire no other, and I have ceased to regret they cannot be made partakers of that freedom of intercourse with the world we deem so essential to our happiness, since their health suffers nothing from that confinement, by which they are preserved from a variety of snares and temptations; besides which, they would deem it disgraceful in the highest degree to mix indiscriminately with men who are not relations. They are educated from infancy for retirement, and they can have no wish that the custom should be changed, which keeps them apart from the society of men who are not very nearly related to them. Female society is unlimited, and that they enjoy without restraint.

“Those females who rank above peasants or inferior servants, are disposed from principle to keep themselves strictly from observation; all who have any regard for the character or the honour of their house, seclude themselves from the eye of strangers, carefully instructing their young daughters to a rigid observance of their own prudent example. Little girls, when four years old, are kept strictly behind the pardah (lit. “curtain”), and when they move abroad it is always in covered conveyances, and under the guardianship of a faithful female domestic, who is equally tenacious as the mother to preserve the young lady’s reputation unblemished by concealing her from the gaze of men.

“The ladies of zanānah life are not restricted from the society of their own sex; they are, as I have before remarked, extravagantly fond of company, and equally as hospitable when entertained. To be alone is a trial to which they are seldom exposed, every lady having companions amongst her dependants; and according to her means the number in her establishment is regulated. Some ladies of rank have from two to ten companions, independent of slaves and domestics; and there are some of the royal family at Lucknow who entertain in their service two or three hundred female dependants, of all classes. A well-filled zanānah is a mark of gentility; and even the poorest lady in the country will retain a number of slaves and domestics, if she cannot afford companions; besides which they are miserable without society, the habit of associating with numbers having grown up with infancy to maturity: ‘to be alone,’ is considered, with women thus situated, a real calamity.

“On occasions of assembling in large parties, each lady takes with her a companion besides two or three slaves to attend upon her, no one expecting to be served by the servants of the house at which they are visiting. This swells the numbers to be provided for; and as the visit is always for three days and three nights (except on ʿĪds, when the visit is confined to one day), some forethought must be exercised by the lady of the house, that all may be accommodated in such a manner as may secure to her the reputation of hospitality.

“The kitchen and offices to the zanānah, I have remarked, occupy one side of the quadrangle; they face the great or centre hall appropriated to the assembly. These kitchens, however, are sufficiently distant to prevent any great annoyance from the smoke—I say smoke, because chimneys have not yet been introduced into the kitchens of the natives.

“The fire-places are all on the ground, something resembling stoves, each admitting one saucepan, the Asiatic style of cooking requiring no other contrivance. Roast or boiled joints are never seen at the dinner of a native; a leg of mutton or sirloin of beef would place the hostess under all sorts of difficulties, where knives and forks are not understood to be amongst the useful appendages of a meal. The varieties of their dishes are countless, but stews and curries are the chief; all the others are mere varieties. The only thing in the shape of roast meats are small lean cutlets bruised, seasoned and cemented with pounded poppy seed. Several being fastened together on skewers, they are grilled or roasted over a charcoal fire spread on the ground, and then called kabāb, which word implies roast meat.

“The kitchen of a zanānah would be inadequate to the business of cooking for a large assembly; the most choice dishes only (for the highly-favoured guests), are cooked by the servants of the establishment. The needed abundance required in entertaining a large party is provided by a regular bāzār cook, several of whom establish themselves in native cities, or wherever there is a Muslim population. Orders being previously given, the morning and evening dinners are punctually forwarded at the appointed hours in covered trays, each tray having portions of the several good things ordered, so that there is no confusion in serving out the feast on its arrival at the mansion. The food thus prepared by the bāzār cook (nānbai, he is called), is plain boiled rice, sweet rice, k͟hīr (rice-milk), mutanjan (rice sweetened with the addition of preserved fruits, raisins, &c., coloured with saffron), salans (curries) of many varieties, some cooked with vegetables, others with unripe fruits with or without meat; pulāos of many sorts, kabābs, preserves, pickles, chatnīs, and many other things too tedious to admit of detail.

“The bread in general use amongst natives is chiefly unleavened: nothing in the likeness of English bread is to be seen at their meals; and many object to its being fermented with the intoxicating toddy (extracted from a tree). Most of the native bread is baked on iron plates over a charcoal fire. They have many varieties, both plain and rich, and some of the latter resembles our pastry, both in quality and flavour.

“The dinners, I have said, are brought into the zanānah, ready dished in the native earthenware, on trays; and as they neither use spoons nor forks, there is no great delay in setting out the meal where nothing is required for display or effect, beyond the excellent quality of the food and its being well cooked. In a large assembly all cannot dine at the dastark͟hwān of the lady hostess, even if privileged by their rank; they are, therefore, accommodated in groups of ten, fifteen, or more, as may be convenient; each lady having her companion at the meal, and her slaves to brush off the intruding flies with a chaurī, to hand water, or to fetch or carry any article of delicacy from or to a neighbouring group. The slaves and servants dine in parties after their ladies have finished, in any retired corner of the court-yard—always avoiding as much as possible the presence of their superiors.

“Before anyone touches the meal, water is carried round for each lady to wash the hand and rinse the mouth. It is deemed unclean to eat without this form of ablution, and the person neglecting it would be held unholy. This done, the lady turns to her meal, saying, “Bismillāh!” (In the name or to the praise of God!), and with the right hand conveys the food to her mouth (the left hand is never used at meals); and although they partake of every variety of food placed before them with no other aid than their fingers, yet the mechanical habit is so perfect, that they neither drop a grain of rice, soil the dress, nor retain any of the food on their fingers. The custom must always be offensive to a foreign eye, and the habit none would wish to copy; yet everyone who witnesses must admire the neat way in which eating is accomplished by these really ‘Children of Nature.’

“The repast concluded, the lota (vessel with water), and the laggan (to receive the water in after rinsing the hands and mouth), are passed round. To every person who, having announced by the ‘Ash-Shukru liʾllāh!’ (All thanks to God!) that she has finished, the attendants present first the powdered peas, called besan,—which answers the purpose of soap in removing grease, &c. from the fingers—and then the water in due course. Soap has not even yet been brought into fashion by the natives, except by the washermen; I have often been surprised that they have not found the use of soap a necessary article in the nursery, where the only substitute I have seen is the powdered pea.

“Lotas and laggans are articles in use with all classes of people; they must be poor indeed who do not boast of one, at least, in their family. They are always of metal, either brass, or copper lacquered over, or zinc; in some cases, as with the nobility, silver and even gold are converted into these useful articles of native comfort.

“China or glass is comparatively but little used; water is their only beverage, and this is preferred, in the absence of metal basins, out of the common red earthen katora (cup shaped like a vase).

“China dishes, bowls, and basins, are used for serving many of the savoury articles of food in; but it is as common in the privacy of the palace, as well as in the huts of the peasantry, to see many choice things introduced at meals served up in the rude red earthen platter; many of the delicacies of Asiatic cookery being esteemed more palatable from the earthen flavour of the new vessel in which it is served.

“China tea-sets are very rarely found in the zanānah, tea being used by the natives more as a medicine than a refreshment, except by such gentlemen as have frequent intercourse with the “Ṣāḥib Log” (English gentry), among whom they acquire a taste for this delightful beverage. The ladies, however, must have a severe cold to induce them to partake of the beverage even as a remedy, but by no means as a luxury. I imagined that the inhabitants of a zanānah were sadly deficient in actual comforts, when I found, upon my first arrival in India, that there were no preparations for breakfast going forward; everyone seemed engaged in pān-eating, and smoking the ḥuqqah, but no breakfast after the morning namāz. I was, however, soon satisfied that they felt no sort of privation, as the early meal so common in Europe has never been introduced in Eastern circles. Their first meal is a good substantial dinner, at ten, eleven, or twelve o’clock, after which follows pān and the ḥuqqah; to this succeeds a sleep of two or three hours, providing it does not impede the duty of prayer—the pious, I ought to remark, would give up every indulgence which would prevent the discharge of this duty. The second meal follows in twelve hours from the first, and consists of the same substantial fare; after which they usually sleep again until the dawn of day is near at hand.

“The ḥuqqah (pipe) is almost in general use with females. It is a common practice with the lady of the house to present the ḥuqqah she is smoking to her favoured guest. This mark of attention is always to be duly appreciated; but such is the deference paid to parents, that a son can rarely be persuaded by an indulgent father or mother to smoke a ḥuqqah in their revered presence; this praiseworthy feeling originates not in fear, but real genuine respect. The parents entertain for their son the most tender regard; and the father makes him both his companion and his friend; yet the most familiar endearments do not lessen the feeling of reverence a good son entertains for his father. This is one among the many samples of patriarchal life, and which I can never witness in real life, without feeling respect for the persons who follow up the patterns I have been taught to venerate in our Holy Scripture.

“The ḥuqqah (pipe) as an indulgence or a privilege, is a great definer of etiquette. In the presence of the king or reigning nawāb, no subject, however high he may rank in blood or royal favour, can presume to smoke. In native courts, on state occasions, ḥuqqahs are presented only to the Governor-General, the Commander-in-Chief, or the Resident at his court, who are considered equal in rank, and therefore entitled to the privilege of smoking with him; and they cannot consistently resist the intended honour. Should they dislike smoking, a hint is readily understood by the ḥuqqah bardār to bring the ḥuqqah, charged with the materials, without the addition of fire. Applications of the munhnāl (mouthpiece) to the mouth, indicates a sense of the honour conferred.” (Observations on the Musalmāns of India, vol. i. p. 304.)