The first scene we witnessed on the day of our arrival was the boarding by customs agents, in the name of the governor of [Alexandria], to inspect the entire cargo.
All Muslim passengers appeared in turn; the agents recorded their names, descriptions, and countries of origin. Each one was questioned about the goods he was transporting and the currency he was carrying, in order to collect the zakat [tax for charitable purposes levied against certain possessions of Muslims that had not been used for a year], without bothering to find out whether or not a year had passed since he had taken possession. Most of the passengers had undertaken this voyage only to fulfill the obligation of pilgrimage and had only brought along provisions for the voyage . . . . Then the Muslims were ordered to disembark their baggage and remaining provisions. On shore, they met agents who took charge of bringing them to customs and carrying all their things. Then they were called one by one, and each one presented his baggage to the crowd. All the baggage was searched, whether it was of any value or not, and it was all jumbled together. Agents stuck their hands under belts to find anything that might be hidden there. Passengers were asked to swear that they had nothing besides what had been found. In the midst of this crush, a good deal of baggage disappeared, either stolen or lost in the crowd. Finally the Muslims were released after this terribly humiliating and degrading process. (Verdun, pp. 94-95)
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