É. Apor , I. Ormos (ed.): Goldziher Memorial Conference, June 21–22, 2000, Budapest.
ORMOS, István: The Correspondence of Ignaz Goldziher and Max Herz
THE CORRESPONDENCE OF IGNAZ GOLDZIHER AND MAX H ERZ Mahyä. Herz made the acquaintance of Sayh 'Abd al-Rahlm al-Dimirdäs, the head of the congregation, who promised him more detailed information and to allow him participate in one of their solemn dikr sessions. 5 8 Somewhat later he informed Goldziher of his intention to attend the great dikr session: "I am glad that the note on Malija is useful for you. 1 intend to avail myself of the invitation of Shaykh alDemerdäsh and attend the great zikr in the month of Shaabän. I shall give you a description of it. (Es freut mich, daß Dir die Mahja-Notiz dient. Ich habe die Absicht, von der Einladung des Scheich El-Demerdäsch Gebrauch zu machen und dem großen Zikr im nächsten Monate Schaabän beizuwohnen. Ich will Dir dann davon eine Beschreibung machen ,)" 5" It must be noted however that there is no letter extant with the detailed information promised by Sayh 'Abd al-Rahlm alDimirdäs nor is there one with the description of the dikr; so it can be assumed that, if they had arrived, Goldziher must have removed them from among the letters and perhaps included them in the manuscript of his relevant article/'" Goldziher mentions this in a letter to Nöldeke dated 14. November 1900: "1 have also done some small things that I shall slowly give to the journals: e.g. once again an article, that specially concerns Muhammadanism, about a dervish-ceremony called lS about which I had found nothing in the books, and since I have a lot of material on it, it encouraged me to write... . (Auch einige kleine Sachen habe ich gemacht, die ich langsam und langsam in die Zeitschriften geben will: z. B. einen (wieder einmal speciell muhammadanischen) Aufsatz über eine Derwisch-Ceremonie, genannt < j W^ül über die ich bisher nichts in den Büchern gefunden hatte und da ich einmal viel Material dafür habe, mich zum Schreiben gereizt 5 8 Letter dated Cairo, 17 May 1900. Letter dated Cairo, 13 October 1900. On a similar request by Goldziher see Dévényi's contribution to the present volume. ''" Ignaz Goldziher, 'Ueber den Brauch der Mahjä-Versammlungen im Islam', Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 15 (1901), 33-50 [=Id., Gesammelte Schriften..., vol. IV, 277-294], esp. 41-50 [=285-294]. Goldziher acknowledges Herz Pasha's help in supplying him with information on the Dimirdäsiyya order in footnote 2 on p. 50 [=294]. Cf. also F. de Jong, 'Mahya', in: Encyclopaedia of Islam. New edition, London-Leiden i960-, vol. VI, 87b; Emst Bannerth, 'La Khalwatiyya en Egypte. Quelques aspects de la vie d'une confrérie', Melanges d'lnstitut Dominicain d Etudes Orientales 8 (1964-1966), 47; Id., 'Über den Stifter und Sonderbrauch der DemirdäsiyyaSufis in Kairo', Wiener Zeitschrift fir die Kunde des Morgenlandes 70 (1969), 130. It is stressed that the Dimirdäsiyya employs the term mahyä for a hadra and not for a real mahyä in the strict sense of the word, as Goldziher erroneously supposed. Cf. also Michael Winter, Society and Religion in Early Ottoman Egypt. Studies in the Writings of 'Abd ai-Wahhäb al-Sha'räni, New Brunswick-London 1982, 47, 72. 175
