الأفراح والأحزان في حمص ٨_a .. كتاب حمص

They continue to sing congratulatory songs, praying for the people of the house to continue their glory and happiness.

The women of the Khatam people chant and sigh until the Mahfti’s mother, or someone in her position, comes forward and pays the sergeant / Khatmiya / the sheikh, and the robe, and distributes to the students whatever gifts or sweets he has prepared for them, and some gifts are allocated to the sergeants, and then the sergeant unties the boy and keeps the handkerchief, as it is a traditional gift. For him. The party ends and the students leave, and some of them may go to their father. The student is given good news at his workplace and receives good news from him. This is the tradition, but the excommunication varies depending on the financial status of the families and the status of their children. A poor or middle-class family, or one with a large number of children, carries out the tradition in its narrowest limits and simplest forms. As for the rich woman or whose child is spoiled or lonely, the exaggeration is characterized by exaggeration in appearances and begins with clothing. She dresses her son in embellished, brocade clothes, decorates his face with lace, and crowns his fez with flowers and pieces of gold jewelry until he looks like a beautiful bride. Then, on the path that the procession takes to the house, it must be He may go around the markets, enter public squares, and places where people gather a lot, and then take off his robe, which is presented to the sheikh and the sermons. The sheikh’s robe amounts to a cloak of straw or a robe made of expensive felt. And the `arfa`a’s clothing should not be less than / shuraiya, then in the kind of hospitality offered to the students, some money should be accompanied by it... etc. (1) As for the infidel girl, he did not care about him, unless she was spoiled in a rich family, in which case it would be sufficient to read / the mawlid / in her home.

This is what relates to joys, but sadness or sorrow occurs on the occasion of death. When a death occurred in one of the funeral homes, the women were the first to announce it with a loud voice and wails. Then they calmed down and began to mourn, and the dead person was placed in the bathroom, facing the Qiblah, until he was brought to the bather, and in the meantime a shroud was provided for him (1). The gold and the casket on which it will be washed will always be in the mosque, just as they instruct the gravedigger to dig a grave for him, and designate a place for him. After washing it, he is wrapped in the shroud prepared for him, and his closest relatives are asked to take a last look at him, including his mother, his wife, and his children. After that, it is placed on the casket and a sheet is placed over it. He covers it completely and ties it at the waist with the coffin to ensure its stability during the funeral procession. Then he is walked with it with his head forward and something is placed over his head that indicates his social status, whether he is an old man or a young man. Either a turban on the fez, or a fez without a turban.

The men cooperate in carrying the funeral from his house to the mosque in which he will be prayed for. When he comes forward for prayer, his head will be towards the west and his feet will be towards the east, and the imam will stand in front of him, facing towards the Qiblah, with the worshipers behind him. There is no kneeling or prostration in the funeral prayer.

After praying over him, he is transported in the same manner to the location of the grave in which he will be buried. This job is performed by a man called the grave digger, and there are many who practice this profession. Washing the dead, shrouding him, and digging his grave are the costs of the family of the dead (2), and the dead is buried by lowering him to the edge of the grave. His head is to the west, his feet are to the east, and he is placed on his right side so that he faces the Holy Kaaba.

After the burial, someone calls out, “Condolence from the Sunnah,” and the family and relatives of the deceased line up to accept the condolence, and the phrase that the mourner usually says: “The rest of your lives” and the answer is: “And you may remain or may God reward you greatly.” The answer is “thank God for your effort” or similar phrases, and it was the custom. After the condolence, one of the family members comes forward and invites the sons and brothers of the deceased to his house where he offers them food, and they used to call this invitation: “empty change”. This condolence is not sufficient, directly after the burial, but rather there must be three days following the burial, in which condolences are offered from Men in the house of the deceased. During those three days, the family of the deceased would go out, before sunrise, to visit his shrine, to recite the Holy Qur’an as much as they could, and to pray for mercy and forgiveness from God Almighty for the deceased. Finally, Al-Fatihah would be recited and they would return to their homes.

They used to call this morning morning prayer, and there is a more general morning morning prayer that was held after the afternoon prayer of the three mentioned days in the Al-Ha Mosque, where relatives and friends of the deceased gathered in the form of a circle with some reciters in the middle, and each of them recited whatever verses of the Holy Qur’an he could, and then concluded with the usual supplications. For the mercy of the dead and all believers. These two morning prayers existed in the era of our study and began to disappear in the late sixties of this century, and among the social customs that existed in the second half of the nineteenth century, and then began to disappear after the middle of the twentieth century: visiting the tomb of the deceased on the first Thursday after his death. The visit would begin after the noon prayer. The men would gather around the shrine, recite Surah Yasin and whatever they could from the Holy Qur’an, and mention the Most Beautiful Names of God. Then the supplications would be recited. After that, the men would go to the house of the deceased, take the thoughts of the people of the house, and then eat what had been prepared for them. Sweets and then they leave.

There is a final / ritual / of the death ceremonies, which is the forty-day anniversary of his death. Relatives and friends are invited to the house of the deceased, and they gather after the sunset prayer. One of the reciters attends, and everyone recites Surah Yasin, and the Sheikh presents to it ten of the verses of the Wise Remembrance, then prayers for the deceased and all the believers. In conclusion, Al-Fatihah.

Then everyone is presented with sweets and other things prepared for them according to the ability of the family of the deceased, then the gathering is dispersed. This is the last death ceremony for men. The fortieth day developed after the end of World War I, and became a party held in one of the public places, if the deceased was one of the prominent men in the country. It is recited. It contains ten verses from the Holy Quran, then speeches are received from some of the deceased’s friends, glorifying his morals and praising his conduct, then ending with a speech to the deceased’s family delivered by the people closest to him.

The same period witnessed another development in the Arba’een, which was helped by the decrease in the cost of printing and the cheapening of the prices of books. The Holy Qur’an was printed individually, each part separately, and the sum of the parts was called a quarter, which is thirty parts, the number of parts of the Holy Qur’an. In the Forty, a quarter or more is brought, According to the invitees, it is placed on a table in the middle of the hall or room. When one of the invitees comes, he takes a portion, then sits in his place and begins reading the portion silently until he finishes it, then returns it to its place. When all the portions are read, the four ceremonies begin, as we mentioned above.

There is something specific to Muslims of other sects in eastern and western Homs, which is charity, which is an invitation to men in which food is offered as charity for the soul of the deceased, and its timing is after a week if the deceased was a man and after three days if it was a woman, and relatives and friends contribute to its expenses. As for the forty days, only the well-off can do it.

The method of burial is different for Christians than for Muslims. Christians place the deceased on his back, lying down with his hands crossed over his chest in the coffin, and then they hold a funeral for him at home: men and women. The women put black headbands on their heads and wear black. Note the picture on the opposite page. Then it is transported to the cemetery, on the shoulders of men, in the nineteenth century, and on special carts after World War I.

When the funeral arrives at the cemetery, the coffin and its contents are transported and placed in a corner of it with its head facing east and its feet facing west. Then its door is closed, and the cemetery (vault) is underground. Shelves may be placed on its walls on which the coffins are placed. Each family has its own cemetery. If the family is large, it may have more than one cemetery in one cemetery. Christians allocate a special cemetery for children who die under five years of age. They call her the rattle.

In the late nineteenth century, Christians had customs that they followed to show their grief over the deceased. Women would go out after the funeral, and each of them would wear a piece of the deceased’s clothing. One would put a fez on her head, the other would wear a glove, the third would wear a girdle, and the fourth would wear a coat, and they would carry wails and mourning on their way to the cemetery, and it has disappeared now. All these appearances.

During the period of mourning, women did not enter the bathroom or church, and abstained from making and eating kibbeh. As for the men, they would dye all their clothes, even the fez, black, and they would not cut or comb their hair for forty days, and they would not approach their women during the period of mourning.

As for Muslims, men do not change their clothes, but women wear black and abstain from making the food that the deceased loved throughout the period of grief. This period varies according to the relationship of the grieving person to the deceased. Some grieving mothers and sisters may remain grieving for a period that may reach two years. As for aunts and uncles, they may be sad. / The family of the deceased for a year or more. Those who are sad abstain from everything that brings joy to the heart, such as attending receptions, decorations, listening to songs, or attending other people’s weddings.