# Endnotes explained — The Book of Khalid

> Chapter companion for The Book of Khalid by Ameen Rihani.

## What happens

The endnotes provide editorial commentary on various references in the text, including a monastery in Mt. Lebanon, medical practices, Arabic symbols, cooking critiques, and Syrian medical beliefs.

## Key lines

> A monastery in Mt. Lebanon, a sort of Bedlam, where the exorcising monks beat the devil out of one’s head with clouted shoes.

A monastery in Mount Lebanon functioned like a madhouse, where monks used crude methods to expel demons from the mentally ill.

_Editorial note comparing the monastery to Bedlam._

> And the doctors here practise in the name of science what the exorcising monks practise in the name of religion. The poor devil, or patient, in either case is done to death.

Doctors in the West kill patients with scientific treatments just as monks kill with religious exorcisms.

_Editorial critique of both medical and religious practices._

> Khalid would speak here of poached eggs, we believe. And the Americans, to be fair, are not so totally ignorant of the art of frying. They have lard⁠—much worse than water⁠—in which they cook, or poach, or fry⁠—but the change in the name does not change the taste. So, we let Khalid’s stricture on fried eggs and boiled cabbage stand.

Khalid criticized American cooking, but the editor notes that Americans use lard instead of water, which is worse, yet the taste remains poor regardless of the method.

_Editorial defense of Khalid's culinary critique._

> In some parts of Syria, as in Arabia, almost every ill and affection is attributed to the rheums, or called so. Rheumatism, for instance, is explained by the Arab quack as a defluxion of rheums, failing to discharge through the upper orifices, progress downward, and settling in the muscles and joints, produce the affection. And might there not be more truth in that than the diagnosis of him who is a Membre de la Faculté de Medicine de France ?

In Syria and Arabia, many illnesses are blamed on rheums, and the editor suggests this traditional explanation may be as valid as French medical diagnoses.

_Editorial note on Syrian medical beliefs._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_book_of_khalid_se/chapters/endnotes
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