Mohammedan saints and sanctuaries in Palestine

CANAAN: Mohamm edan Saints and Sanctuaries in P alestine 171
to save another, and the djinn is satisfied by the offering it has
, / received, and leaves the child.
These two examples show three points clearly:
1. ~o save the life of an important being, that of another less
important one must be sacrificed.
2. The sacrifice is made to please -that' supernatural power which
is thought to be the cause of the danger, or which has in its hands
the power 'of preventing it. .
3. The animal sacrificed must come somehow into direct external
contact with the being for whom or for which it has given its life.
A I ~lose
examination of the practices connected with vowing arid
sacrificing ~nimals, as we have followed them, shows that the same
ideas underly them, with some modification.
Ad 1. The Palestinian thinks that everything, especially disease,
affliction and misfortune comes "from allah" (min allah). , H e has
permitted their occurrence, exactl y as He allowed Satan hi tempt
J ob and afflict him with all sorts of visitations.! Therefore whenever
the peasant is attacked with afflictions, he tries to escape them
by dire cting the wrath of the superior power against some other
being. An animal is offered in his place, to redeem the human
being with its life. Thus the peasant still walks in the paths of his
ancestors, believing that "life shall go for life"> and that "blood
maketh atonement," 3 and that the life of an .animal is accept ed by
the Divine Power instead of that of the offender, who himself deserves
death. 4 This is the only explanation for the wide-spread custom of
sacrificial vows; and while 'other vows are not so strictly executed,
.
a promise of an animal offering is .much more seriously treated.
, This idea of redemption is well founded in all Semitic religion s.
'Ad 2. The Almighty God is difficult of access. This is another
fundamental idea in Palestinian folk religion.! This is why the
Palestinian prefers to c ~ll on saints ,and welts for help. They were
'once human beings and thus understand human difficulties and
temptations. A weli is always ready to assist, more so, if one shows
I J ob 16-12.
2 Deut. 19 21.
3 Lev.17n. ,
4 Compare tilE; sin offerin gs ' of the Mosaic law.
e Exod. 19, etc.