[p.374]forty-five Khatibs, who preach and pray before the congregation on Fridays for a hundred and twenty piastres a month; they are under the Shaykh al-Khutaba.  About the same sum is given to seventy-five Imams, who recite the five ordinary prayers of every day in the Mosque; the Shaykh al-Aimmat is their superior.[FN#65]

Almost all the citizens of Al-Madinah who have not some official charge about the temple qualify themselves to act as Muzawwirs.  They begin as boys to learn the formula of prayer, and the conducting of visitors; and partly by begging, partly by boldness, they often pick up a tolerable livelihood at an early age.  The Muzawwir will often receive strangers into his house, as was done to me, and direct their devotions during the whole time of their stay.  For such service he requires a sum of money proportioned to his guests’ circumstances, but this fee does not end the connexion.  If the Muzawwir visit the home of his Zair, he expects to be treated with the utmost hospitality, and to depart with a handsome present.  A religious visitor will often transmit to his cicerone at Meccah and at Al-Madinah yearly sums to purchase for himself a prayer at the Ka’abah and the Prophet’s Tomb.  The remittance is usually wrapped up in paper, and placed in a sealed leathern bag, somewhat like a portfolio, upon which is worked the name of the person entitled to receive it.  It is then given in charge either to a trustworthy pilgrim, or to the public treasurer, who accompanies the principal caravans.

I could procure no exact information about the amount of money forwarded every year from Constantinople and Cairo to Al-Madinah; the only point upon which men seemed to agree was that they were defrauded of half their dues.  When the Sadaka and Aukaf (the alms and bequests) arrive at the town, they are committed by the Surrah, or

[p.375]financier of the caravan, to the Muftis, the chief of the Khatibs, and the Kazi’s clerk.  These officers form a committee, and after reckoning the total of the families entitled to pensions, divide the money amongst them, according to the number in each household, and the rank of the pensioners.  They are divided into five orders:- The Olema, or learned, and the Mudarrisin, who profess, lecture, or teach adults in the Harim.  The Imams and Khatibs.  The descendants of the Prophet.  The Fukaha, poor divines, pedadogues, gerund-grinders, who teach boys to read the Koran.  The Awam, or nobile vulgus of the Holy City, including the Ahali, or burghers of the town, and the Mujawirin, or those settled in the place.  Omar Effendi belonged to the second order, and he informed me that his share varied from three to fifteen Riyals per annum.