Yemen: Mawlid

Incense burning, scented oils distributed, tea cups clinking, coffee stirring, and people praising Allah. It all should seem more confusing, but it’s very tame.

This weekly Thursday night gathering is a chance to wind-down before the weekend (Friday). Male students, teachers, and members of the community come to Dar al Mustafa and stay from magrib prayer to the ishr prayer. Young and elder come together in the in a great hall to pray and praise during this time.

The program begins and ends with the two daily prayers of magrib (before sunset) and ishr (after sunset). The azan calls over loud speakers into the town, reverberating off the rock walls to the east and west of this valley. It calls people to their various places of worship, which tonight is at the Dar al Mustafa mosque for a couple hundred people. The dua actually starts the prayer; here people quickly line up shoulder-to-shoulder and enter the undisturbed state of prayer led by one man at the front. (The students of this school seem to add an additional step to prayer by remaining seating to chant together before breaking away for extra prayers or anything they need to do).

The mawlid itself begins with a standard program of praises. These praises are in Arabic, of course, but we found an English edition with some searching. The laudations are repeated individually and over the interior speakers. Occasionally people will be moved by the statements and say "…" but no one speaks in tongues or the like here. After we sit and drink water, we stand and sing more praises [well, they sing because my Arabic is nonexistent].

Now the olfactory treats begin. People bring around scented oils rubbed on your right hand; this oil will in turn be rubbed over one’s hands and/or chin. To add more scented pleasure, the burning incense of Ud is brought around for wafting or passive intake. [Good Ud is apparently produced from a certain plant’s anti-bacteria defense system and is noted by lack of irritation by smoke to one’s eyes]. I waft the Ud repeatedly but prefer the esthetics of the oils. Later, tea cups and silver tea kettles of coffee complete the taste and smell sensations of the evening. The drink is sweet and rolls down the tongue with a ginger-like tang but without bitterness.


People sit again for the talk from a leader at the front. This part is an original speech so my translated program is of no use. Some other westerns and I shift to a friend who will translate. This is the only part of the program that has a little ardor to it. The speaker, and subsequently our translator, speak with passion about the duties we hold to obey the Prophet Muhammad and Allah. I am pleased by the excitement but lose the message, as the stream of consciousness of the speaker is hard to follow; stories weave on top of other stories and back through.

The mawlid ends quietly with a sole voice in a great hall. People pray ishr, and depart for home. The peacefulness of the whole evening is the lasting impression for me.