We now turn to Moslem superstitions of this character. A missionary in Morocco writes: "Of all the talismans by which Moorish women ward off the evil eye with all its danger, none possesses so much magic power as a silver ornament worn on the breast and called Khoumsa. Its virtue lies in its five points, that number, in whatever form presented, being the most potent of protective agencies. In Moorish folk-beliefs it means the dispersion to the four corners of the earth, of any malign influence which has been directed against the life of the wearer." In Palestine this goes by the name of Kef Miryam; in Algeria the Moslems very appropriately named these talismans La Main de Fatima, and from this source another superstition has been developed: the mystic virtue of the number five, because of the five fingers of the hand or its sinister power. 27

"The hand of Fatima," says Tremearne,28 " is a great favorite in Tunis, and one sees it above the great majorities of doorways; in Tripoli there is hardly one, and this is only to be expected, since the sign is an old Carthaginian one, representing not the hand of Fatima at all, but that of Tanith. It has been thought, however, that the amulet is so curiously similar to the thunderbolt of Adad, worn in the necklet of the Assyrian kings along with emblems for the sun, the moon, and Venus, that it may be a survival of that.” 28

The hand is often painted upon the drum used in the bori (devil) dances in Tunis. It is held up, fingers outstretched and pointing towards the evil-wisher, and this, in Egypt, North Africa and Nigeria, has now become a gesture of abuse. In Egypt the outstretched hand pointed at some one is used to invoke a curse. They say yukhammisuna, or “He throws his five at us," i.e. he curses. Not only the hand but

27 Mr. Lefebure in his short work, "La Main de Fatima," has gathered all that is known on the subject.

28 "The Ban of the Bori," p. 174.

the forefinger is used for this purpose. It is therefore called, as we have seen, the Sababa. Goldziher gives many examples of how the fore-finger was used in magical ways long before its present use in testifying to God's unity. A controversy arose in Islam very early about the raising of the hands in prayer. It is regarding the position of the hands that the four sects have special teaching and can be distinguished. Perhaps this also indicates a magical use of the hand. In Egypt the hand is generally used as an amulet against the evil eye. It is made of silver or gold in jewelry, or made of tin in natural size, and is then suspended over the door of a house. The top of a Moslem banner is often of this shape. It is used on the harness of horses, mules, etc., and on every cart used in Alexandria we see either a brass hand or one painted in various colors. The following points are to be noted. It is unlucky to count five on the fingers. All Egyptians of the Delta when they count say: One, two, three, four, in-the-eye-of-your-enemy." Children, when at play, show their displeasure with each other by touching the little finger of their two hands together, which signifies separation, enmity, hatred. The same sign is used by grown-up people also to close a discussion.

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The origin of the stretching out of the hand with the palm exposed toward the person was explained by my sheikh in this way: Tradition says that at one time a woman who saw Mohammed became very much enamored with his handsome presence, and Mohammed fearing she would work some power over him, raised his hand (said to be the right one) and stretched it out to one side in front of him with the palm exposed toward the woman, and at the same time he repeated Sura 113. When he did this the covetous glance passed between his two fingers and struck a nail in a tree near by and broke it in pieces!

Finally we may add the curious custom also common in

Egypt, of dipping the hand in the blood of a sacrifice and leaving its mark upon doors, foundations of buildings, animals, etc., in order to consecrate them or protect them from evil influences. In the next chapter on the 'Aqiqa sacrifice we will refer to the prevalence of blood sacrifice in early Islam, and its significance. The practice of dipping the hand in blood and putting marks on the door-post may go back to the story of Israel in Egypt, but the present use of the hand in this way is mixed with all manner of superstition. Who can unravel the threads in the tangled skein of Moslem beliefs and practices? There is much Judaism, as Rabbi Geiger has shown; more perhaps even of Christian ideas prevalent in Arabia at the time of the Prophet; but most of all Islam in its popular forms is full of animism and of practices which can only be described as pagan in origin and in tendency.

CHAPTER V

THE 'AQIQA SACRIFICE

AMONG the many points of contact between Christianity and Islam (and the points of departure, from which the faithful missionary can launch out into the very heart of the Gospel message), there is one which has not received the emphasis it deserves. We refer to the 'Aqiqa ceremony, ob served by every Moslem household throughout most Moslem lands after the birth of a child, and concerning which the Traditions are so full. According to Moslem religious law, the expiatory sacrifice is made on the seventh day; it is commendable on that occasion to give the child its name, shave off the hair on its head, make an offering to the poor, and kill a victim. According to some authorities, if the offering of the 'Aqiqa has been neglected on the seventh day by the parents, it can be done afterwards by the child himself when he has become of age.

The root of the word 'aqiqa is 'aqqa, he clave, split, rent. It is used especially in regard to the cutting off of an amulet when the boy becomes of age. It is also used in the expression "'Aqqa bi sahmi” (He shot the arrow towards the sky), or of the sacrifice of 'Aqiqa (He sacrificed for his new-born child). It is interesting to note that the use of this word in every connection seems to have reference to expiation or redemption. According to Lane the arrow as well as the sacrifice was called 'aqiqa: "and it was the arrow of selfexcuse: they used to do thus in the Time of Ignorance (on the occasion of a demand for blood-revenge); and if the arrow 1 Lane's "Arabic-English Lexicon," Vol. V.

returned smeared with blood, they were not content save with the retaliation of slaughter; but if it returned clean, they stroked their beards, and made reconciliation on the condition of the blood-wit; the stroking of the beards being a sign of reconciliation; the arrow, however, as Ibn-ul-'Arabi says, did not return otherwise than clean. The origin was this: a man of the tribe was slain, and the slayer was prosecuted for his blood; whereupon a company of the chief men collected themselves together to the heirs of the slain, and offered the bloodwit, asking forgiveness for the blood; and if the heir was a strong man, impatient of injury, he refused to take the bloodwit; but if weak, he consulted the people of his tribe, and then said to the petitioners, 'We have, between us and our Creator, a sign denoting command and prohibition: we take an arrow, and set it on a bow, and shoot it towards the sky; and if it return to us smeared with blood, we are forbidden to take the blood-wit, and are not content save with the retaliation of slaughter; but if it return clean, as it went up, we are commanded to take the blood-wit': so they made reconciliation.”

The word 'aqiqa in Moslem literature, however, no longer refers to the ceremony of the arrow, which belongs to the Time of Ignorance. 'Aqiqa in Tradition signifies: either the hair of the young one recently born, "that comes forth upon his head in his mother's womb," some say of human beings only and others of beasts likewise; or the sheep or goat that is slaughtered as a sacrifice for the recently born infant" on the occasion of the shaving of the infant's hair on the seventh day after his birth, and of which the limbs are divided and cooked with water and salt and given as food to the poor." Al Zamakhshari "holds it to be thus called from the same word as applied to the hair; but it is said to be so-called because it is slaughtered by cutting the windpipe and gullet and the two external jugular veins."

The 'Aqiqa sacrifice is referred to in nearly all the stan