The Literary Establishment Is Even More Extensive Than The Executive
And The Menial.
There is a Kazi, or chief judge, sent every year from
Constantinople.
After twelve months at Al-Madinah, he passes on to
Meccah, and returns home after a similar term of service in the second
Holy City. Under him are three Muftis,[FN#62] of the Hanafi, the
Shafe'i, and the Maliki schools; the fourth, or Hanbali, is not
represented here or at Cairo.[FN#63] Each of these officers receives as
pay about two hundred and fifty piastres a month. The Ruasa,[FN#64] as
the Mu'ezzins (prayer-callers) here call themselves, are extensively
represented; there are forty-eight or forty-nine of the lowest order,
presided over by six Kubar or Masters, and these again are under the
Shaykh al-Ruasa, who alone has the privilege of calling to prayers from
the Raisiyah minaret. The Shaykh receives a hundred and fifty piastres,
the chiefs about a hundred, and the common criers sixty; there are
[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.
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