Alighting at the gate of a large mosque-like building, Barakah and her companions were conducted through a courtyard to the women’s quarters. Fitnah and Murjânah, who had spent the night there with attendants, made them welcome; after which they paid a visit to the mausoleum proper, or the women’s side of it⁠—for the house of death itself was subdivided by a harem screen. Here, in a gloom made spectral by the hanging lamps, women of repute for sanctity, hired mourners, were reciting the Koran, and through the screen some male professors could be heard performing the same office in strong nasal tones. The visitors bestowed their flowers and bits of palm among the graves, and, having said some prayers, returned to the apartment, where preparations for a feast were being made.

Already the muezzin’s chant announced the dawn. Murjânah Khânum was at her devotions on a corner of the dais. The other ladies, who deemed prayer the man’s affair, helped in the work of setting out the breakfast. While this was going on, a woman and three children rushed in from the twilight court, and with loud blessings began kissing hands.