s festivals draw together, in
like manner, great crowds to his birthplace, the town of Desuk. But,
besides the graves of her native saints, Egypt boasts of those of
several members of the Prophet's family, the tomb of the sayyida
Zeyneb, daughter of 'Ali, that of the sayyida Sekeina, daughter of
Hosain, and that of the sayyida Nefisa, great-granddaughter of Hasan,
all of which are held in high veneration. The mosque of the Hasanen
(or that of the "two Hasans") is the most reverenced shrine in the
country, and is believed to contain the head of Hosain. Many orders of
Dervishes live in Egypt, the following being the most celebrated:--(1)
the Rifa'ia, and their sects the 'Ilwania and Saadia; (2) the Qadiria
(Kahiria), or howling dervishes; (3) the Ahmedia, or followers of the
sayyid Ahmad al-Baidawi, and their sects the Beyumia (known by their
long hair), Shinnawia, Sharawia and many others; and (4) the Baramia,
or followers of the sayyid Ibrahim Ed-Desuki. These are all presided
over by a direct descendant of the caliph Abu Bekr, called the Sheikh
El-Bekri. The Saadia are famous for charming and eating live serpents,
&c., and the 'Ilwania for eating fire, glass, &c. The Egyptians firmly
believe in the efficacy of charms, a belief associated with that in
an omnipresent and over-ruling providence. Thus the doors of houses
are inscribed with sentences from the Koran, or the like, to preserve
from the evil eye, or avert the dangers of an unlucky threshold;
similar inscriptions may be observed over most shops, while almost
every one carries some charm about his person. The so-called sciences
of magic, astrology and alchemy still flourish.

AUTHORITIES.--The standard authority for the Moslem Egyptians is E. W.
Lane's _Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians_, first published
in 1836. The best edition is that of 1860, edited, with additions, by
E. S. Poole. See also B. Saint-John, _Village Life in Egypt_ (2 vols.,
1852); S. Lane Poole, _Social Life in Egypt_ (1884); P. Arminjon,
_L'Enseignement, la doctrine, el la vie dans les universites
musulmanes d'Egypte_ (Paris, 1907). For the language see J. S.
Willmore, _The Spoken Arabic of Egypt_ (2nd ed., London, 1905); Spitta
Bey, _Grammatik des arabischen Vulgardialektes von Agypten, Contes
arabes modernes_ (Leiden, 1883). For statistical information consult
the reports on the censuses of 1897 and 1907, publishe