'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎126] (135/568)

120
RELIGIONS
has a conductor, who cai'ries a flag inscribed with a text from
the Koran or with the names of the Imams. Pilgrims coming by
land from Persia ordinarily visit Kazimain first, thereafter pro
ceeding to Kerbela and Nejef; and this is the course followed
by most of the pilgrims from the Gulf, who take the river-steamer
from Basra to Baghdad. Arrived at the shrine, the pilgrim first
purifies himself by certain prescribed ablutions. At the threshold
he seeks the saint's permission to approach, circumambulates
the grave three times, and finally prostrates himself twice before
the tomb, to an accompaniment throughout of prayers and reci
tations. The visit to the shrine is called and the pilgrims
provide themselves at the shrines with rosaries, tablets of sacred earth
{t'lirhah), and shrouds for future use, stamped with texts from the
Koran.
ConsecratedShiah Cemeteries. — The desire for burial in sacred
ground at one or other of the holy places in Irak is based upon
the belief that the protection of the saint there buried is thus
assured. The principal Shiah cemeteries, apart from the shrines
themselves, in whose precincts burials also take place, are the
following: the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. es-Salam ('vale of peace') at Nejef; Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
el-Aoman (' vale of security') at Kerbela; Maqabir el-Quraish at
Kazimain ; and Tarmah at Samarra. Corpses are brought for
interment in one or other of these places by caravan in wooden
coffins covered with thick felt. A pack-animal with a coffin slung
each side of it is one of the commonest objects to be encountered on
a journey from Kerbela to Baghdad. The cost of burial in this way
is by no means nominal. Apart from the expense of carriage, the
Turkish Government charged the equivalent of nine shillings for an
import pass, half this sum being levied in addition for sanitary
purposes. Corresponding fees, but on a lower scale, were levied on
the transportation of Ottoman Shiah subjects. Quite independent
again were the charges for actual interment, which varied from £40
(at Euwaq in Nejef) to 7s. 2d. (at Samarra).
The introduction of bodies from countries where epidemic diseases
prevail has been from time to time interdicted by the Porte, and
since 1897 the importation of bodies from India has been prohibited
on account of bubonic plague in that country.
Shiah Mujtahids. —The term Mujtah was originally applied to
any Mussulman divine who had attained the highest eminence in
his profession. But at the present day it 'is in use only among
Shiahs. The modern Shiah Mujtahid combines in himself several
functions: lecturer on Mohammedan law and theology, judge of
ecclesiastical suits, and registrar of wills and other documents, The