On my way to sketch one day, I saw an Arab funeral at the graveyard and watched for a time. The body, wrapped in folds of stuff and covered with a red cloth, lay on a light bier carried shoulder high, followed by a procession of men intoning verses from the Koran. There was a service held at the grave side, the professional mourners sitting in a circle chanting and swaying backwards and forwards. In this case it was the funeral of a woman, but no women were there, their presence not being allowed by custom. The foot of the grave had been bricked round and the corpse was taken from the bier and laid sideways in it, being then bricked in and the earth filled in on the top. The leader of the procession went round giving money to each of its members, and one by one the mourners condoled with the eldest son, kissing him on the shoulder.
Mansour watched from afar, for the dead woman was the mother of a friend of his, and he should have been attending the funeral.
“Life is but a short gift,” he said, “and soon over. To each of us must come an hour like this. We come from the dark and we enter the dark again.”
He told me the near relatives of the deceased must take off all jewellery, must fast for two days, and for the space of several months must not cut their hair nor attend entertainments of any sort. I asked how soon a man usually re-married after his wife’s death and was told in about six months’ time. He was shocked at our English custom of two years of widowhood. “It is not good for man to live alone,” he remarked sententiously.
On the death of one of the family, the women shriek and tear their faces with their nails. Everything is taken out of the room and the body is wrapped in a fine cloth and laid on a mattress on the ground, with its face towards Mecca, where it is visited by relations and friends. The burial takes place within twenty-four hours of death. When the corpse is lifted on to the bier, all children who are too young to talk are taken away from the home, there being a popular belief that they might hear the three cries said to be given by the dead when leaving his dwelling place, and so become dumb. Many willing helpers give assistance in carrying the bier, the Koran promising the remission of ten sins for every step taken in this way. It also promises forgiveness of a sin to all who follow in the procession. A piece of reed is placed in the tomb, containing copies of the prayer recommending the soul of the dead to the angels who will enquire of him regarding his orthodoxy. The assistants, before the grave is filled in, say, “Thou hast come from the earth, and to the earth thou returnest, whither we shall follow thee.” They each throw a handful of earth into the tomb, and it is then filled in, the gravedigger, when his work is finished, crying, “May he be forgiven!” The near relatives may cook no food for three days after the death, but may eat of what is brought to them. On the third day, readers of the Koran recite verses of it in the house of mourning, and the ceremonials are then finished.