E. Sell was the author of The Faith of Islam (London, 1880), a work cited by Snouck Hurgronje in The Achehnese for its account of the Ashura ceremonies observed in British India. The citation places Sell’s volume in the small comparative literature on the popular religious customs of Mohammedan peoples that Snouck Hurgronje drew upon when situating Achehnese practice within the wider context of the Eastern Archipelago and the Deccan.
Citation in The Achehnese
Sell is cited in the discussion of the cooking of special viands on Ashura — the tenth day of Muharram, observed by Shi’ites as the day of the martyrdom of Husain at Kerbela. The custom of cooking such foods is, in Snouck Hurgronje’s words, “really no more than an insignificant adjunct of the Hasan-Husain festivals, but … exists elsewhere as an independent usage”. In Hindustan, the chosen dish seems to be that known as khichri; in Cairo it is called hubub, i.e. “seeds” or “grains” — a usage recorded by Lane (Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, 5th edn., II, p. 149). The custom in Hindustan is referred by Snouck Hurgronje to the Qanoon-e-islam of Jaffur Shurreef (p. 144), “also see the Faith of Islam by E. Sell, London 1880, p. 242”.
Place in the comparative study of Mohammedan customs
Sell’s Faith of Islam thus stands alongside Jaffur Shurreef’s Qanoon-e-islam and Lane’s Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians as one of the standard European or Anglo-Indian authorities by means of which Snouck Hurgronje was able to trace the wide diffusion of popular Mohammedan usages — from the Deccan to Egypt, from the Straits Settlements to Acheh — and to demonstrate the formative influence that the Deccan, with its strong Shi’ite colouring, exercised on the Islam of the Eastern Archipelago. The inclusion of Sell’s volume in this comparative apparatus indicates its value as a contemporary account of Indian Mohammedan belief and practice in the late nineteenth century.
See Also
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.
E. Sell was the author of The Faith of Islam (London, 1880), a work cited by Snouck Hurgronje in The Achehnese for its account of the Ashura ceremonies observed in British India. The citation places Sell’s volume in the small comparative literature on the popular religious customs of Mohammedan peoples that Snouck Hurgronje drew upon when situating Achehnese practice within the wider context of the Eastern Archipelago and the Deccan.
Citation in The Achehnese
Sell is cited in the discussion of the cooking of special viands on Ashura — the tenth day of Muharram, observed by Shi’ites as the day of the martyrdom of Husain at Kerbela. The custom of cooking such foods is, in Snouck Hurgronje’s words, “really no more than an insignificant adjunct of the Hasan-Husain festivals, but … exists elsewhere as an independent usage”. In Hindustan, the chosen dish seems to be that known as khichri; in Cairo it is called hubub, i.e. “seeds” or “grains” — a usage recorded by Lane (Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, 5th edn., II, p. 149). The custom in Hindustan is referred by Snouck Hurgronje to the Qanoon-e-islam of Jaffur Shurreef (p. 144), “also see the Faith of Islam by E. Sell, London 1880, p. 242”.
Place in the comparative study of Mohammedan customs
Sell’s Faith of Islam thus stands alongside Jaffur Shurreef’s Qanoon-e-islam and Lane’s Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians as one of the standard European or Anglo-Indian authorities by means of which Snouck Hurgronje was able to trace the wide diffusion of popular Mohammedan usages — from the Deccan to Egypt, from the Straits Settlements to Acheh — and to demonstrate the formative influence that the Deccan, with its strong Shi’ite colouring, exercised on the Islam of the Eastern Archipelago. The inclusion of Sell’s volume in this comparative apparatus indicates its value as a contemporary account of Indian Mohammedan belief and practice in the late nineteenth century.
See Also
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.