Holidays and Religious Observances

Sources

Id. The term ’id, meaning “day of celebration,” was introduced by the Prophet Muhammad to designate the two annual Islamic celebrations prescribed in the Qur’an verse 2: 67: “Unto each nation have We given sacred rites which they are to perform; so let them not dispute with thee of the matter, but summon thou unto thy Lord. Lo! thou indeed followest right guidance.” The greater of the two celebrations is ‘Id al-Adha, the feast of the sacrifice, and the lesser is Id al-Fitr, the feast of breaking the fast. The dates of these two celebrations are determined by the lunar calendar, so they shift in the solar calendar by about eleven days each year. Thus, over several decades, they rotate through the seasons.

Jum’ah . Friday is the day of jum’ah, or congregational prayer. This day is not, as in the Jewish or Christian traditions, a day of rest, but the day on which obligatory public worship takes place. From the early days of Islam, following the practice of the Prophet, jum’ah prayer was held in a single masjid in each city. Thus, people from disparate quarters of a city gathered at one large jami’ masjid—a tradition that some jurists considered a condition for proper performance of the jun‘ah prayer. All adult men who were not ill or traveling were expected to attend. Women were exempted, but men were enjoined by the Prophet not to forbid women’s participation in the masjid. At jun‘ah, readings from the Qur’an were followed by the adhan (call to prayer), and the sermon was delivered from minbar (raised pulpit), in two parts, with the khatib (preacher) sitting briefly between the two parts. The service ended with a prayer of two rak’a. By the Abbasid period at the latest, Friday had become a day off for officials and students, but businesses reopened after prayer. The presence of Jews and Christians in Muslim society tended to influence the weekly rhythms of life, and Saturday or Sunday was sometimes a local day of enjoyment for all, though some rulers took action against this habit among Muslims, requiring the market stewards to ensure that Muslims’ shops were not closed in observation of the dhimmi Sabbath.

Ramadan . ’Id al-Fitr follows the fast during the ninth lunar month of Ramadan, the time when all adult Muslims of sound mind and body are obliged to abstain from food, drink, and sexual intercourse from dawn until sunset, for a period of twenty-nine or thirty days. A traveler or sick person may fast a like number of days at another time. People who are ill or in any condition that would make fasting a health risk, including pregnancy or nursing, may compensate by preparing the iftar, or fast-breaking meal for fasting people or the needy. Children often participate in the fast occasionally or for part of a day but are not required to do so until reaching puberty. During Ramadan the day began when drummers walked through villages and quarters beating drums or calling to wake people for the predawn meal, or suhur, which might be as little as a few dates and some water to a communal household meal including meat, rice, sweets, fruit, salads, and beverages. After performance of the dawn prayer, some people slept for a few more hours. During the day, many Muslims in rural areas went about their usual tasks, but in the cities schedules underwent a shift. Much of the afternoon was devoted to preparation of the iftar, served at sunset. The Ramadan fast was a time of increased fellowship among family members, neighbors, and friends, who shared iftar on many nights. Masjids and homes of prominent members of society were open for charity during Ramadan, and it was considered meritorious to provide food for fasting people. People hurried through the streets of cities and villages to arrive on time for the meal served at sunset, which many began by eating a few dates and water, just as the Prophet Muhammad had done. This fast-breaking meal was followed by the sunset (magh-rib] prayer, and in many places the major meal of the evening took place some time later. The streets came to life after iftar, as people went to masjids to take part in extended prayers. Ramadan was a time of increased concentration on worship; reading the Qur’an and remembering Allah accompanied the physical rigor of fasting. Over the course of the month of Ramadan, the whole Qur’an was recited in conjunction with supererogatory prayers called tarawih. According to a tradition of the Prophet, the Lailat ul-Qadr (Night of Power) takes place on a late, odd-numbered night of Ramadan. Lailat ul-Qadr commemorates the night in the cave of Hira’ when the Angel Jibril first transmitted the revelation of the Qur’an to Muhammad. It was traditional to celebrate the occasion with all-night prayers in the masjid, following the tarawih. During the last ten nights of Ramadan, males could take part in the itikaf, or withdrawal into the masjid for worship.

’Id al Fitr . The end of Ramadan and the beginning of Shawwal was called ‘Id al Fitr (Feast of the Fast Breaking). Its arrival was marked by the appearance of the new crescent moon. Watching for it from the rooftops and high

places was a celebration in itself. The night of its appearance was filled with preparations and excited children. After the dawn prayer, Muslims made their way to public prayer, which was traditionally held in a large open space to accommodate the large number of worshipers, who wore festive, new, or holiday-best clothes. The public prayer consisted of two rak’a with many recitations of the glorification of Allah, followed by a sermon, during which worshipers were supposed to keep silent. Following this prayer, Muslims in city and village exchanged greetings and congratulations, visited each other, gave presents and gifts of money to children, and visited the graves of loved ones. Id al-Fitr, though formally considered the lesser of the two festivals, often took on greater prominence because of the communal hardship of the Ramadan fast and the mood of celebration that accompanied its successful completion.

‘Id al-Adha . The second, greater festival of the Islamic calendar was ‘Id al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice. It was celebrated on the tenth of Dju al-Hijja, the month in which the hajj (pilgrimage) rites take place, approximately two months after Ramadan. ‘Id al-Adha was celebrated by Muslims everywhere to commemorate Abraham’s obedience to and faith in God, which he demonstrated by preparing to sacrifice his first-born son, Isma’il (Ishmael), who willingly submitted to the test of faith. Isma’il was ransomed by God through the miraculous appearance of a ram. For Muslims who did not take part in the hajj, ‘Id al-Adha was a festival of public prayer and exchange of visits for the whole community. The prayer service, held in the open air and performed between sunset and the moment when the sun has reached its zenith on the tenth of Dhu al-Hijjah, consisted only of two rak’a with more glorification of Allah than ordinary prayers. Resembling the oldest forms of communal prayer, this ‘Id prayer was followed by a sermon, or khutbah, after which people rose and greeted each other. A major event of the day was the sacrifice of a sheep, cow, or camel, whose meat was divided among family, friends, neighbors, and the poor.

Festivities . At both ‘Id celebrations, each of which in practice lasted three or four days, Muslims wore their best clothes; people visited, congratulated, and gave gifts to each other, especially to children, who often received gifts of money from relatives, friends, and neighbors. People also visited cemeteries, often staying there for many hours, or even spending the whole night there in tents. The annual festivals offered rulers a legitimate way to impress their subjects with their generosity and wealth. Rulers vied with each other to put on lavish displays. The great Muslim geographers compared the virtues of celebrations of various cities and peoples. Ibn Jubayr (1145-1217) and al-Muqaddasi (circa 945-circa 990) described the Ramadan celebrations in Makkah, and others described them in Sicily and Baghdad. Decoration of the city was a common element, with illumination playing a starring role. Ceremonial gates were put up in different quarters, and processions passed through the city gates on the way to the ruler’s palace. These parades featured the ruler dressed in carefully selected, beautiful clothing and included other officials, including the military commanders and wazirs (governors or ministers), dressed in livery and costumes according to their rank, station, and position. Bright banners, riding animals wearing ornamental trappings, and spectacles—such as burning-naphtha throwers, acrobats, and other entertainers—accompanied the parade of notables. Medieval reports of the ‘Id al-Fitr festival in Baghdad have described that city as decorated like a bride with miles of colored fabric, paper, carpets, and lamps everywhere from the humblest houses or shops to the most splendid palaces. The Tigris was filled with decorated and torch-lit boats, from the ceremonial barges and floats of the khalifah, which might be shaped like animals or mechanized with moving parts, to the less spectacular imitations put afloat by persons of means. People feasted in homes, shops, gardens, and palaces. It was a time of generosity when the wealthy hosted common folk and provided them with food and entertainment, as well as gifts of coins and clothing. Similar spectacles took place on ‘Id al-Adha, but the main feature of this celebration was the sacrifice of animals and the distribution of their meat among members of the family and the community.

Pilgrims . Medieval Muslim literature is full of accounts of hajj journeys made by well-known and ordinary individuals, including the pilgrimages of Ibn Battuta and Ibn Jubayr. The arrival of pilgrims at the major caravan departure cities was greeted with processions, food, and merriment, as was the return of the caravans, and the return of pilgrims to their hometowns. Pilgrim camps on the outskirts of the cities had the atmosphere of a long-running celebration. Like moving cities, the great caravans departed with much fanfare, and preparations for them must have provided an enormous annual economic stimulus to local economies. Whenever a khalifah or sultan went on the hajj (pilgrimage), his retinue displayed the wealth of the ruler and the state. A full retinue of servants, aides, and other hangers-on made up a caravan the size of a town. The khalifahs of Baghdad made gifts of money, fresh vegetables, iced drinks in desert towns, and tens or hundreds of thousands of dirhams in cash in and on the way to Makkah. One of the best-known pilgrimages in history was the 1324 journey of the West African Mansa Musa, king of Mali, whose generosity in distributing gold is said to have depressed the price of gold for some time after he left a place.

Hajj Rituals . A series of rituals were performed in and around Makkah during the hajj season. Rituals during visits to Makkah at other times of the year were called ‘umrah and made up only part of the hajj rituals. These rites commemorated events in the life of Abraham and his family, were established on the basis of the Qur’an, and were performed according to the precedent set by Prophet Muhammad. The rites began at predetermined points distant from Makkah with men putting on the ihram, a white, unsewn two-piece wrap worn with sandals. Women wore ordinary clothing that concealed the body, but their faces and hands had to be left uncovered. The muhrim, a person wearing ihram, was not allowed to hunt or kill any animal, cut his or her hair or nails, wear perfume, propose or enter a contract of marriage, or have sexual intercourse. Upon arriving in Makkah, the hajji (pilgrim) went directly to the Masjid al-Haram and circumambulated the Ka’bah seven times (a ritual known as tawaf), prayed at the station of Abraham, and drank water from the well of Zamzam, which was associated with miraculously slaking the thirst of Hajar and Abraham’s son Isma’il. The hajji then performed the sa’yy, walking seven times back and forth between Safa and Marwa, the two hills where Hajar ran desperately searching for water. The hajj continued on the eighth of Dhu al-Hijjah at Mina, a camp five or six kilometers outside Makkah, where the hajji spent the day and night in prayer. After dawn the hajji left for Arafat, an area about twenty kilometers southeast of Makkah, and remained there until sunset on the ninth of Dhu al-Hijja. Called the standing of Arafat, this stop was one of the most important rites of the hajj. Muslims who were not on the hajj traditionally fasted on this day and, like the hajji, spent the day praising Allah, repenting, and asking for forgiveness and guidance. After sunset the hajji left for Muzdalifah, eight or nine kilometers north of Arafat, where he or she stayed the night. After the dawn prayer on the tenth of Dhu al-Hijja, the day of ‘Id al-Adha, the hajji left for Mina, stopping at the Jamarat al ‘Aqabah, three stone pillars symbolizing Satan. There the hajji threw small pebbles at the pillars to symbolize overcoming evil. At Mina, any time after sunrise, the hajji completed the hajj rites by sacrificing a sheep—or a cow or camel, either of which may be shared among seven people—and distributing its meat in thirds. After cutting his or her hair, the hajji is released from the state of ihram. The last act of the pilgrimage was the performance of a farewell tawaf around the Ka’bah. It was considered meritorious to repeat the hajj, and some Muslims made the journey to Makkah more than once.

The Significance of the Hajj . As a central ritual of Islam, the hajj played a major role in unifying Muslim society. At a time when most people in the world were oriented toward, and scarcely looked beyond, their home village or city and its environs, acceptance of Islam brought a new and wider orientation. The fifth pillar of Islam, the intention to fulfill the obligation of performing the hajj, is also embodied in the second pillar and in the five daily prayers, which are oriented geographically toward Makkah and the Ka’bah. The concept of all believers facing a single central point on earth was a spiritual departure from the traditionally

powerful pull of local orientation and involvement. Through this orientation, even the humblest Muslim, whose possibilities for travel were limited, might dream of performing the hajj and vicariously participate, and find fulfillment in others’ pilgrimages to Makkah. In a worldly sense, the obligation of local officials and knowledgeable persons to determine the direction of Makkah for orientation of the masjid involved a significant re-orientation of the community toward the larger world. Village, province, or state officials had the responsibility of ensuring that pilgrims could complete the annual hajj and faced shame should the ways be blocked. A simple peasant might yearn his entire life to make the hajj journey to a destination that was unimaginably far away but palpably and spiritually near. A neighbor, kinsman, or traveler might return from such a pilgrimage to tell about it, returning with a heightened sense of the scope of the Muslim ummah (community) and its diversity. Different foods, manners of dress, languages, crafts, and technologies spread with this regular traffic of pilgrims. Since the hajj was traditionally combined with scholarly pursuits, returning pilgrims were considered authorities on Islamic practice, reinforcing its unity over the centuries by drawing their knowledge from a single, central source. The annual hajj has never been suspended for more than the briefest of periods because of war or other disruptions.

Social Benefits of the Hajj . Muslim science, technology, trade, arts, and literature all benefited from the mobility of Muslim society set in motion by the institution of the hajj. The hajj created an enduring need to construct roads, to ensure facility of transport, and to perfect navigation from all points of the Muslim state that went beyond the usual establishment of imperial communication and fiscal-collection systems. One of the first uses to which Muslim scientists put their knowledge of geography and astronomy was determining the direction of Makkah and determining the times for prayer and dates for celebrations. This enterprise resulted in advancements in mathematical geography, such as determining the coordinates of cities. Road systems have historically been constructed to meet the need of secular governments and have fallen into disrepair and disuse with the weakening of centralized power. The hajj, however, created an enduring need that required the continued upkeep of roads and ongoing communication among Muslim officials, even as the khilafah broke down into smaller states, maintaining the links among the several centers from which the hajj caravans departed and the lands from which pilgrims originated. Furthermore, after one’s first hajj journey, one was allowed to conduct business on one’s pilgrimage, thus, the practice of going on hajj contributed to the growth of trade among the various regions of the Muslim world. Because the hajji was on a holy pilgrimage, travel became an activity associated with honor, and travelers were not accorded outsider status, as was the case with travelers in many cultures. Hosting a traveler, especially one on the hajj, was an act of charity that enabled the host to share in the blessings of the traveler’s journey. Charitable foundations and donations established drinking places, caravanserais, hostels, and places where travelers were fed. Sponsorship of pilgrims by the wealthy and the powerful was viewed as a way of purifying one’s wealth as well as displaying it. Zubaydah, the wife of Khalifah Harun al-Rashid (ruled 786-809), was well known for sponsoring drinking places along the hajj routes.

Weddings . Among the most common Muslim family observances during the Middle Ages, the ones most closely associated with the Sunnah were weddings and celebrating the birth of a child. Weddings in Islam celebrate the conclusion of an agreement between the man and the woman and the joining of their respective families. In pre-Islamic times the search for a partner and marriage process differed widely according to ethnic and regional customs, but within an Islamic context the center of the event was the marriage contract, which required the full, though possibly silent, consent of the bride and gave the couple the right to cohabit and produce legitimate offspring. Preparing the bride and groom for the wedding night included dressing them in traditional finery and regaling them with entertainment and honors. The details of these customs differed widely across the Muslim world between 622 and 1500. Some typical aspects included bringing the bride to her new home; a procession to deliver the household furnishings; various ceremonies to confer fertility, health, and blessings; and even customs that played on the challenges of marital life.

Celebrating a Birth . During the celebration of a birth, which might occur after seven days or multiples thereof, a child’s locks were cut, charity was given in its name, and one sheep was slaughtered for a female child or two for a male child. The meat was distributed as part of the parents’ obligation, according to their means.

Royal Celebrations . The birth of a child to a ruler’s household was celebrated on a grand scale, with processions, gifts, congratulatory audiences, and donations of robes, coins, and sometimes precious scents such as musk and ambergris. During the Abbasids’ heyday coins and semiprecious stones were tossed into the crowds. Similarly, the circumcision of a ruler’s child might be celebrated grandly. Sometimes orphans and poor boys were circumcised with the son of the ruler, and the lucky children received charitable donations. Rulers’ weddings were on a scale corresponding to their means and the tenor of the times, and they also staged elaborate celebrations for events such as a new ruler’s inauguration, naming of an heir, or learning the Qur’an. Chroniclers recorded the moneys allocated, perhaps inflating the sums to show the munificence of the ruler, and perhaps to comment subtly on such extravagance. A victorious return from battle sparked an official celebration. Ceremonial arches and gates were constructed; pavilions and bunting were put up; and carpets were spread for the procession. In this sort of celebration, money and other gifts were thrown to people along the route of the procession.

Mawlid un-Nabi . Among regional celebrations, the most important and widespread was Mawlid un-Nabi, which commemorated the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. It has been said that Muhammad, though he is neither worshiped nor depicted in images (with a few exceptions in courtly illuminated manuscripts not viewed by common people), is nevertheless the most thoroughly imitated human being in history. The Prophet’s Sunnah became the definitive model to follow in remembering God in word, deed, and prayer. Second only to the Qur’an, the hadiths were the standard by which a Muslim’s behavior and religious knowledge were judged. Many details are known about his life, and many of its major events are well known and dated. Commemoration of his birth spread even though there is no evidence that Muhammad himself celebrated this occasion, which was recorded as having been on a Monday, the twelfth day of the month of Rabi’ II. Some evidence suggests that the Prophet’s birth may have been commemorated as early as the time of Khayzuran, the mother of Harun al-Rashid, who transformed the humble house in Makkah where Muhammad was born into a place that was frequently visited by pilgrims. Yet, the practice of celebrating the day of his birth at Makkah may not have begun until much later, when it was mentioned by the twelfth-century Andalusian pilgrim Ibn Jubayr. Commemorative processions, special sermons, and recitation of poems in praise of the Prophet developed in Fatimid Cairo, during the eleventh century, especially at the court, and in thirteenth-century Iran. From about that time onward, the practice spread widely among common people, often in connection with the growth of the Sufi orders and the increase in number of common followers. The Ottoman Sultan Murad III introduced the celebration of the Mawlid un-Nabi at his court in 1588. Because celebration of the Mawlid un-Nabi was not sanctioned in the Sunnah, it was controversial. The Egyptian scholar al-Suyuti (1445-1505) wrote a piece discussing its pros and cons from a legal point

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of view and declaring it not necessarily harmful as long as it was celebrated in a restrained manner, without excessive adulation or inappropriate expression.

Ghadir Khumm . The festival known as Ghadir Khumm was celebrated by Shi’i Muslims in commemoration of the eighteenth day of Dhu al-Hijja in 632, which followed the Prophet’s farewell pilgrimage to Makkah. The name refers to a pool of water at which Prophet Muhammad gave a speech in praise of his cousin and son-in-law ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (circa 596-661), who had just returned from Yemen. This speech was considered by VUi’s followers to form the basis of his claim to be the rightful successor of Muhammad and to rule over the Muslim state. According to hadiths that are also related by Sunni Muslims (who interpreted the speech as only a general statement in support of ‘Ali’s character), the Prophet took ‘Ali by the hand and asked his followers whether he, Muhammad, was not closer to the believers than they were to themselves; the crowd is reported to have replied: “It is so, O Apostle of God!” He then stated, “He of whom I am the mawla (patron), of him ‘Ali is also the mawla (man kuntu mawlahu fa ‘Alimawlahu).” The fact of the speech is not in dispute, but there is more than one version of exactly what the Prophet said and the occasion on which he said it, the ending of the revelation of the Qur’an. After the political and religious split between Sunni and Shi’i Muslims occurred during the late seventh century, writers in those regions where Sunni rulers held sway seemed to avoid reporting the association of the speech with this event, probably because they feared it would lend legitimacy to ‘Ali’s claim. Shi’is have considered 18 Dhul al-Hijja a day of solemn celebration because of the importance in their eyes of Muhammad’s discourse at Ghadir Khum. Its celebration seems to date from the mid-to-late tenth century, when it became one of the most important religious commemorations.

Persian Festivals . Among pre-Islamic celebrations that persisted in the lands that became Islamized between the seventh and sixteenth centuries, Persian festivals were among the most prominent, both because of the influence Persian culture has had in Islam since the Abbasid period and because of Iranian cultural influences over a wide area before Islam. The most important of several pre-Islamic Persian festivals was Nawruz (New Year’s Day), the beginning of the Persian solar calendar in the spring. Although it has no foundation in Islam, it was a popular six-day festival that was widely celebrated by people of various faiths, including Muslims, and it is still celebrated in Persian-speaking regions. At the Nawruz festival people poured, splashed, or sprinkled fresh water on themselves and each other for good luck gesture and to purify their homes and wash away the soot of indoor fires. People exchanged gifts, burned illuminations and incense, dyed eggs in various colors, and served fresh foods, including fruits. Another Persian festival celebrated during Abbasid times and later was Mihrjan (meaning “love of the spirit”), which marked the beginning of winter. It had been a traditional time under the Sasanids for collecting land taxes, nominating governors, transferring posts, minting coins, and performing other acts that required auspicious conditions. The Abbasid governors and khalifahs allowed its celebration and waited in their palaces to receive gifts. People also changed over to winter clothing on this day, a practice said to have been popularized by the courtier Ziryab in Andalusia but quite possibly originating with the Persians. Courtiers and officials who paid their respects to their ruler also received gifts of clothing. Official audiences were held at this time, and the festivities included songs, sporting exhibitions, illuminations, and beating of drums. Mihrjan was also associated with perfumes and certain foods as guarantees against illness. The practice of celebrating Mihrjan spread with the breakup of the Abbasid state, but declined with the dominance of Turkic and Mongol rulers. Earlier these Persian-influenced celebrations had encountered official disapproval from time to time, and survived as festivals without their original religious content. Another old Persian festival was Sadaq (Night of Fires), which took place during the winter. It is reminiscent of yuletide celebrations in Christian Europe (and pre-Christian, Indo-European regions). At Sadaq bonfires were lit, houses fumigated to ward off misfortune, music played, and boats were set afloat with fires and illuminations on board, while people enjoyed themselves through the night.

Cross-Cultural Influences . As in many multicultural societies characterized by a high degree of peaceful co-existence, holiday celebrations in Muslim lands tended to cross religious lines. In Egypt, Sham un-Nasim, which is associated both with the coming of the spring season and with the Christian Easter celebration, also included elements that seem to have been traditional in pre-Islamic Egypt. Similarly, a practice that may be from pharaonic times was absorbed into Ramadan as a lantern procession of children singing about the coming of the holy month of Ramadan. Among the common people eager for a diversion, and sometimes among the courtly classes, who seldom missed an opportunity for celebration and display, any festive occasion was reason enough for festive food, entertainment, and outdoor spectacles. Such practices were discouraged by many rulers, jurists, and other religious leaders, but sometimes with little effect.

Funerals . Rituals surrounding the death of a Muslim were most often carried out according to Islamic precedent, displaying considerable unity of practice across time and space. The Sunnah encouraged the dying person to recite the testimony of faith and to turn his or her face toward Makkah. As it was not acceptable in Islam to postpone the burial unless it was night, preparation of the body was simple and prompt. Except for martyrs who fell in battle, a corpse was in most cases washed by a person of the same sex, who poured on water in a specific order similar to the ritual washing for prayer. Camphor, or other herbs, was added to the water. The eyes and mouth were closed, and a woman’s hair was plaited in three braids. The grave clothes, or winding sheet, put on the corpse were usually white in color and of simple construction and material. For rulers and the wealthy, richer and more elaborate materials were sometimes used. Some Muslims reserved their hajj garments for use as shrouds, underlining the significance of the hajj as an analogy for the believers’ appearance before God on the Last Day. The body was carried on an open bier covered by a cloth and taken quickly to the place of burial. To avoid lamentation that would add to the suffering of the dead person, in early Islam women did not customarily accompany the corpse to the grave site. It was customary to stand as a funeral passed, to walk in the procession, and to help carry the bier, which was brought to a masjid and placed in front of the first row of worshipers. They stood during the funeral prayer, as the imam stood by the head of a man or by the side of a woman. Prayers were also said at the grave site. Graves were dug so that the corpse could be oriented on its right side, facing Makkah, and only one body was placed in each grave. The grave was dug as a narrow trench with a niche or roof of stones to allow the body to sit up when questioned by the angels. Relatives went into the grave to loosen the shroud and position the body with its face toward Makkah. No grave goods were supposed to be placed with the body, but in some outlying regions people followed pre-Islamic customs and placed simple possessions of the dead person in the grave. The grave was covered with earth, sometimes with a slight mound. The earliest Muslim graves were unmarked, but grave markers were gradually introduced, and marked and inscribed headstones became widespread after the first few centuries of Islam. Coffins, mausoleums, and tombs with raised burial chambers became more common after the twelfth or thirteenth century, and about the same time women began to take more prominent roles in funerals, including as professional mourners. After the burial, family members received condolences and held Qur’an readings for the deceased. With the help of neighbors and relatives, the family hosted a funeral meal and in some areas made gifts of food to the poor. It was the custom in some places, especially in Persian-influenced regions, to commemorate the death forty days after the funeral. Other customs varied from place to place. If they were modified by Islamic norms, they changed gradually. After the deaths of parents or children, Muslims remembered and honored them often, making regular supplications on their behalf. It was permissible for the heirs to fast on days when the deceased had intended to do so, and as an act of piety, if the person had been unable to perform the hajj in his or her lifetime, to use funds from the inheritance to make the pilgrimage on the deceased’s behalf. The Sunnah outlined limits on mourners, prescribing that the period of mourning and withdrawal from normal life should not exceed three days for anyone except a wife, whose mourning period, or ’iddat, should last four months and ten days. During that time, a widow should abstain from wearing dyed clothing, kohl, or perfume, and not entertain proposals of marriage. According to a hadith collected by al-Bukhari:

We were forbidden to mourn for more than three days for a dead person, except for a husband, for whom a wife should mourn for four months and ten days. [While in the mourning period] we were not allowed to put kohl in our eyes, nor perfume ourselves, nor wear dyed clothes, except a garment of ‘Asb [special clothes made in Yemen]. But it was permissible for us that when one of us became clean from her menses and took a bath, she could use a piece of a certain kind of incense. And it was forbidden for us to follow funeral processions” (7: 254).

The color of mourning clothes was black in some regions and white in others. In practice, local and pre-Islamic traditions and customs made the mourning period and its outward expressions differ from place to place. An eleventh-century Andalusian poem by al-Kalif al-Husri Kairouan (died 1095) provides an eloquent comment on the color of mourning worn there: “If white is the color of mourning in Andalusia, that is only just. Don’t you see that I have put on the white of old age out of mourning for my youth?”

Sources

Muhammad M. Ahsan, Social Life Under the Abbasids (London & New York: Longman, 1979).

James Bellamy and Patricia Owen Steiner, trans., The Banners of the Champions: An Anthology of Medieval Arabic Poetry from Andalusia and Beyond (Madison: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, 1989).

Timothy Insoll, The Archaeology of Islam (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999).

J. Knappert, “Mawlid,” in Encyclopedia of Islam, CD-ROM version (Leiden: Brill, 1999).

Ian Richard Netton, Seek Knowledge: Thought and Travel in the House of Islam (Surrey, U.K.: Curzon Press, 1996).

F. E. Peters, The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994).