Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Islamic
Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Arabian Peninsula -- Description and travel
was erected, he says, by Kait Bey of Egypt, and had fallen into decay.
It has now been repaired, and is generally considered neutral, and not
Sanctuary ground, between the Harim of Meccah and the Holy Hill.
[FN#14] Mr. W. Muir, in his valuable Life of Mahomet, vol. i, p. ccv.,
remarks upon this passage that at p. 180 ante, I made Muna three miles
from Meccah, and Muzdalifah about three miles from Muna, and Arafat
three miles from Muzdalifah,a total of nine. But the lesser estimate
does not include the outskirts of Meccah on the breadth of the Arafat
Plain. The Calcutta Review (art. 1, Sept. 1853) notably errs in making
Arafat eighteen miles east of Meccah. Ibn Jubayr reckons five miles
from Meccah to Muzdalifah, and five from this to Arafat.
[FN#15] Those who die on a pilgrimage become martyrs.
[FN#16] I cannot help believing that some unknown cause renders death
easier to man in hot than in cold climates; certain it is that in
Europe rare are the quiet and painless deathbeds so common in the East.
[FN#17] We bury our dead, to preserve them as it were; the Moslem tries
to secure rapid decomposition, and makes the graveyard a dangerous as
well as a disagreeable place.
[FN#18] Arabs observe that Indians, unless brought young into the
country, never learn its language well. They have a word to express the
vicious pronunciation of a slave or an Indian, Barbaret al-Hunud. This
root Barbara ([Arabic]), like the Greek Barbaros, appears to be derived
from the Sanscrit Varvvaraha, an outcast, a barbarian, a man with curly
hair.
[FN#19] Alis charger was named Maymun, or, according to others, Zul Janah
(the winged). Indians generally confound it with Duldul, Mohammeds mule.
[FN#20] These visions are common in history. Ali appeared to the Imam
Shafei, saluted him,an omen of eternal felicity,placed a ring upon his
finger, as a sign that his fame should extend wide as the donors, and
sent him to the Holy Land. Ibrahim bin Adham, the saint-poet hearing,
when hunting, a voice exclaim, Man! it is not for this that Allah made
thee! answered, It is Allah who speaks, his servant will obey! He changed
clothes with an attendant, and wandered forth upon a pilgrimage,
celebrated in Al-Islam. He performed it alone, and making 1100
genuflexions each mile, prolonged it to twelve years. The history of
Colonel Gardiner, and of many others amongst ourselves, prove that
these visions are not confined to the Arabs.
[FN#21] There is a Consul for Jeddah now, 1879, but till lately he was
an unpaid.
[FN#22] This vale is not considered standing-ground, because Satan once
appeared to the Prophet as he was traversing it.
[FN#23] According to Kutb al-Din, the Arafat plain was once highly
cultivated. Stone-lined cisterns abound, and ruins of buildings are
frequent. At the Eastern foot of the mountain was a broad canal,
beginning at a spur of the Taif hills, and conveying water to Meccah;
it is now destroyed beyond Arafat. The plain is cut with torrents,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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