been at the burial ceremony, he shakes hands with all and expresses sympathy.
Chahlum being over, there is no other formal function till a year has gone past. Then the mourning called sālī (Persian, pertaining to year, yearly) is held. All relatives go to the grave and spend a whole day there in mourning. The lamp-lighting takes place each Thursday for long after- wards, and a Mulla may be appointed to read the Korān regularly over the grave for a number of years. On Fridays after the prayer, people visit the graveyard and read a portion of the Korān and send blessings to the soul of their relatives.
On Thursdays, after 'ishā' (last prayer or night prayer), one may see a whole household sitting round the lahd, where the body of the dead has been washed. Chapters from the Korān are read for the benefit of the departed. The scene is one of great solemnity and is very touching. The mourners read a portion of the Holy Texts and pause with uplifted beseeching hands. With deep reverence they first send the blessings of the Koran to the soul of the Prophet Muhammad. Then very tenderly, their sorrow sweetened by piety, they send heart-felt blessings to the soul of their own remembered dead. So do Love and Duty endure, for Death cannot cause them to wither and decay.
