Memoirs of Napoleon, vol 3 | Page 7

Bonaparte was present at the ceremony of opening the
dyke of the canal of Cairo, which receives the water of the Nile when it
reaches the height fired by the Mequyas.
Two days after came the anniversary festival of the birth of Mahomet.
At this Napoleon was also present, in company with the sheik El Bekri,'
who at his request gave him two young Mamelukes, Ibrahim, and
Roustan.
--[The General-in-Chief went to celebrate, the feast of the Prophet at
the house of the sheik El Bekri. The ceremony was began by the recital
of a kind of litany, containing the life of Mahomet from his birth to his
death. About a hundred sheiks, sitting in a circle, on carpets, with their
legs crossed, recited all the verses, swinging their bodies violently
backwards and forwards, and altogether.
A grand dinner was afterwards served up, at which the guests sat on
carpets, with their legs across. There were twenty tables, and five or six
people at each table. That of the General-in-Chief and the sheik El
Bekri was in the middle; a little slab of a precious kind of wood
ornamented with mosaic work was placed eighteen inches above the
floor and covered with a great number of dishes in succession. They
were pillaws of rice, a particular kind of roast, entrees, and pastry, all
very highly spiced. The sheiks picked everything with their fingers.
Accordingly water was brought to wash the hands three times during
dinner. Gooseberry-water, lemonade, and other sorts of sherbets were

served to drink, and abundance of preserves and confectionery with the
dessert. On the whole, the dinner was not disagreeable; it was only the
manner of eating it that seemed strange to us.
In the evening the whole city was illuminated. After dinner the party
went into the square of El Bekri, the illumination of which, in coloured
lamps, was very beautiful. An immense concourse of people attended.
They were all placed in order, in ranks of from twenty to a hundred
persons, who, standing close together, recited the prayers and litanies of
the Prophet with movements which kept increasing, until at length they
seemed to be convulsive, and some of the most zealous fainted sway
('Memoirs of Napoleon').]--
--[Roustan or Rustan, a Mameluke, was always with Napoleon from the
time of the return from Egypt till 1814, when he abandoned his master.
He slept at or near the door of Napoleon. See Remusat, tome i, p. 209,
for an amusing description of the alarm of Josephine, and the
precipitate flight of Madame de Remusat, at the idea of being met and
killed by this man in one of Josephine's nocturnal attacks on the privacy
of her husband when closeted with his mistress.]--
It has been alleged that Bonaparte, when in Egypt, took part in the
religious ceremonies and worship of the Mussulmans; but it cannot be
said that he celebrated the festivals of the overflowing of the Nile and
the anniversary of the Prophet. The Turks invited him to these merely
as a spectator; and the presence of their new master was gratifying to
the people. But he never committed the folly of ordering any solemnity.
He neither learned nor repeated any prayer of the Koran, as many
persons have asserted; neither did he advocate fatalism, polygamy, or
any other doctrine of the Koran. Bonaparte employed himself better
than in discussing with the Imaums the theology of the children of
Ismael. The ceremonies, at which policy induced him to be present,
were to him, and to all who accompanied him, mere matters of
curiosity. He never set foot in a mosque; and only on one occasion,
which I shall hereafter mention, dressed himself in the Mahometan
costume. He attended the festivals to which the green turbans invited
him. His religious tolerance was the natural consequence of his

philosophic spirit.
--[From this Sir Walter Scott infers that he did not scruple to join the
Musselmans in the external ceremonies of their religion. He
embellishes his romance with the ridiculous farce of the sepulchral
chamber of the grand pyramid, and the speeches which were addressed
to the General as well as to the muftis and Imaums; and he adds that
Bonaparte was on the point of embracing Islamism. All that Sir Walter
says on this subject is the height of absurdity, and does not even
deserve to be seriously refuted. Bonaparte never entered a mosque
except from motives of curiosity,(see contradiction in previous
paragraph. D.W.) and be never for one moment afforded any ground
for supposing that he believed to the mission of Mahomet.--
Bourrienne.]--
Doubtless Bonaparte did, as he was bound to do, show respect for the
religion of the country; and he found it necessary to act more like a
Mussulman than a Catholic. A wise conqueror supports