Haifa; or, Life in modern PalestineOliphant, Laurence
History
Haifa; or, Life in modern Palestine
Oliphant, Laurence
Palestine -- Description and travel
From Bukeia I followed a northwesterly direction, by a most picturesque
mountain path, and in a few hours reached the romantically situated town
of Tershiha, where I was most hospitably entertained by the Cadi, a
dignified Arab gentleman of a true old Oriental type which is now
becoming rare. This place contains about two thousand inhabitants. They
are nearly all the adherents of a certain sheik, Ali el-Mograbi, a
Moslem reformer, who emigrated to this place from the north of Africa
many years ago, and whose preaching has been attended with remarkable
success. As his fame grew he moved to Acre, where he exercises an
extraordinary influence. The tenets of the sect of which he is the head
are kept a profound secret, though there is nothing to distinguish the
worship of the initiated from that of any ordinary sect of howling
dervishes, to the outside observer, except the sparing use of the name
of Mohammed. It is said, however, that their views are latitudinarian,
and, that, so far from being exclusive or fanatic, are rather in the
sense of extreme toleration for other religions. Whatever be the nature
of their heterodoxy, it is not now interfered with. Indeed, it is hinted
that the sheik counts among his followers some of the most highly placed
officials in the empire, and there can be little doubt that his
doctrines are spreading rapidly among Moslems, while even Christians
have joined the society. A large new mosque is now in progress of
erection at Haifa. The sheik himself, whose acquaintance I made
subsequently, is now a very old man, regarded with the most extreme
veneration by his followers, and the results of his teaching prove that
he must be endowed with gifts of a very high order.
DOMESTIC LIFE AMONG THE SYRIANS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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