A mahmal () is a ceremonial passenger-less

litter Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. The waste is objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, food wrappers, cardboard boxes or plastic bottles, but ...

that was carried on a camel among caravans of pilgrims on the

Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

, the pilgrimage to

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

which is a sacred duty in

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. It symbolised the political power of the

sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

s who sent it, demonstrating their custody of Islam's holy sites. Each mahmal had an intricately embroidered textile cover, or ''sitr''. The tradition dates back at least to the 13th century and ended in the mid-20th. There are many descriptions and photographs of mahmals from 19th century observers of the Hajj.

History

The word "mahmal" comes from the root حمل (''ḥ-m-l'', "''to carry''"). A mahmal consists of a wooden frame made to fit on a camel, with a pointed top. There were textile coverings placed over it: an ornate processional covering and others for everyday use. These coverings are known as the ''kiswah'' or ''sitr al-mahmal''. The earliest surviving covers, from the

Mamluk Sultanate The Mamluk Sultanate (), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks ...

, are yellow, but later instances are red or green. The embroidered decoration would include the

tughra A tughra (; ) is a calligraphy, calligraphic monogram, Seal (emblem), seal or signature of a sultan that was affixed to all official documents and correspondence. Inspired by the Tamga, tamgha, it was also carved on his seal and stamped on the co ...

(seal) of the Sultan as well as verses from the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage arc-pt-0123

The first recorded sending of a mahmal was by

Baibars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari (; 1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), commonly known as Baibars or Baybars () and nicknamed Abu al-Futuh (, ), was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria, of Turkic Kipchak origin, in the Ba ...

, who was Sultan of Egypt from 1260 to 1277. Mahmals were sent from

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

Darfur Darfur ( ; ) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju () while ruled by the Daju, who migrated from Meroë , and it was renamed Dartunjur () when the Tunjur ruled the area. ...

, and the

Timurid Empire The Timurid Empire was a late medieval, culturally Persianate, Turco-Mongol empire that dominated Greater Iran in the early 15th century, comprising modern-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, much of Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and parts of co ...

in different periods. Although the main pilgrim caravan from Egypt departed from Cairo, a separate caravan with its own mahmal departed annually from

Asyut AsyutAlso spelled ''Assiout'' or ''Assiut''. ( ' ) is the capital of the modern Asyut Governorate in Egypt. It was built close to the ancient city of the same name, which is situated nearby. The modern city is located at , while the ancient city i ...

from the late 14th century. On 18 June 1926, Egyptian soldiers playing music while escorting the mahmal, were confronted by angry Najdis, who disliked the ''mahmal'' as an innovation (''

Bid'ah In Islam and sharia (Islamic law), ( , ) refers to innovation in religious matters. Linguistically, as an Arabic word, the term can be defined more broadly, as "innovation, novelty, heretical doctrine, heresy". It is the subject of many hadith ...

'') and considered music un-Islamic. The Egyptians fired on them, killing 25. The tradition of sending annual mahmals to Mecca ended in 1926, although they were paraded in Cairo until 1952.

Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage ARC pp-0163

The arrival of the mahmal in Mecca was a significant occasion which local people and pilgrims came out to watch. Before entry to the city, the simple textiles which had covered the mahmal on its journey across the desert or sea were replaced with the ornate, colourful ''kiswah''. Mahmals from different countries would vie for the best position in front of the

Kaaba The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...

. A mahmal returning from Mecca to its city of origin was regarded as carrying ''

barakah In Islam, ''Barakah'' or ''Baraka'' ( "blessing") is a blessing power, a kind of continuity of spiritual presence and revelation that begins with God and flows through that and those closest to God. The Quran is said to be charged with ''barakah' ...

'' (blessing) which could be transferred by touch. As the procession returned to a city, parents brought out their children to touch the mahmal, and people briefly put their handkerchiefs inside it.

Origins

The tradition's origin is not known for certain. The Turkish traveler

Evliya Çelebi Dervish Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi (), was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman explorer who travelled through his home country during its cultural zenith as well as neighboring lands. He travelled for over 40 years, rec ...

wrote that the earliest mahmals carried relics of the prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

including his shoes, gown and bowl, and hence that the mahmal was seen as representing the prophet's grave. Another theory is that

Shajar al-Durr Shajar al-Durr (), also Shajarat al-Durr (), whose royal name was al-Malika ʿAṣmat ad-Dīn ʾUmm-Khalīl Shajar ad-Durr (; died 28 April 1257), was a ruler of Egypt. She was the wife of As-Salih Ayyub, and later of Izz al-Din Aybak, the first ...

, the first Sultana, made the Hajj journey in a colourful litter and that subsequent leaders kept up the tradition, with the litter empty, after her death in the 13th century.

Contents of the mahmal

Some sources say the mahmal was completely empty, while others describe it containing a

or other holy book. An anonymous account from 1575 describes a mahmal carrying "the Quran all written in great letters of gold". In the ''

Anis Al-Hujjaj The ''Anis Al-Hujjaj'' (''Pilgrim's Companion,'' also transcribed ''Anis ul-Hujjaj'') is a seventeenth-century literary work by Safi ibn Vali, an official of the Mughal Empire, Mughal court in what is now India. Written in Persian language, Persi ...

'' (''Pilgrim's companion''), a detailed record of a Hajj undertaken in 1677, the Damascus mahmal is depicted containing a Quran on a stand. Swiss traveler

John Lewis Burckhardt Johann Ludwig (also known as John Lewis, Jean Louis) Burckhardt (24 November 1784 – 15 October 1817) was a Swiss traveller, geographer and Orientalist. Burckhardt assumed the alias ''Sheikh Ibrahim Ibn Abdallah'' during his travels in Arabia ...

observed the Egyptian caravan in 1814 and wrote that a book of prayers, but not the Quran, would be carried in the mahmal. On its return from Mecca, people would kiss and rub their foreheads against the book to receive blessings. In the 1830s, British traveler

Edward William Lane Edward William Lane (17 September 1801 – 10 August 1876) was a British orientalist, translator and lexicographer. He is known for his ''Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians'' and the '' Arabic-English Lexicon,'' as well as his translati ...

described a mahmal that was empty but had two copies of the Quran — one as a scroll and the other bound as a book — attached externally to the top of the mahmal in silver-gilt cases.

Gallery

File:Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage txt-0442-front.jpg, Mahmal cover and banners,

, 1867–76 File:The National Archives UK - CO 1069-179-83 CROPPED.jpg, The Egyptian mahmal and caravan crossing the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

, 1880s File:Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage ARC pt-522.jpg, The mahmal passing through Cairo: 1791 illustration by the English engraver Richard Dalton File:Carriage of Hussein bin Ali - 1890.jpg, Mahmal of Hussein bin Ali, circa 1890 File:T E Lawrence and the Arab Revolt 1916 - 1918 Q59697.jpg, Mahmal of Hussein bin Ali in

, 1916-1918

References

External links