Now, a religion which is lively to-day chiefly through the appeal it can make to what is corporeal and comfortable, as is undoubtedly the case with Islámism at the present time, stands in sore need of a spiritual reformer, the more so because its spirit is still alive, in the pages of the Kurán and in the memory of the mighty dead. Many Muslims still seek the name, and are diligent in seeking it, but they less often try to find the object, forgetting that the moon is not in the stream but in the sky. “He, God, is the Enduring, and all else passeth away”--all except such futile traditions as, heaven knows, are dead enough to have earned a decent burial, and the arbitrary ruling of the priests, to whose pernicious influence there would appear to be no limit. The hearts of these unrighteous stewards deserve to be branded with the two matchless odes, admirably translated by Professor Browne, of Cambridge University, which are inscribed on the tomb of Háfiz, in an orange garden at Shíráz, the two first lines of which run: “Where is the good tidings of union with Thee? for I will rise up with my whole heart; I am a bird of Paradise, and I will soar upwards from the snare of the world.” And again: “O heart, be the slave of the King of the World, and be a king! Abide continually under the protection of God’s favour!” CHAPTER IV COMPASSING OF THE KA’BAH When we reached the outer gateway of the Bábé Salám, which leads into the vestibule, it was to bow humbly and then to prostrate ourselves twice on the threshold, kissing its sacred dust. After this we rose, saying aloud, with closed eyes and outstretched hands: “O God, this city is Thy city and this temple Thy temple. I am come hither in search of Thy compassion, and in perfect obedience to Thy commands. O Lord, I am submissive to Thy power, I am in passive contentment with Thy chastisements, I seek the fulfilment of all my desires from Thee and from none but Thee. Oblige me with Thy divine compassion, O God, and fling open to me the gates of Paradise.” We then passed into the vestibule, and, no sooner did our eyes behold from the inner gateway the surface of the Harem than we stretched out our hands once more to the sky and closed our eyes in prayer, saying: “O Lord, this harem is Thy harem and the harem of Thy apostle. Therefore, since I am here in response to Thy command, preserve my flesh and blood from the fire of Hell and deliver me from Thy punishments on the Day of Judgment.” Then, advancing the left foot, we said: “O God, grant me Thy protection from the temptations of the devil--may he be accursed! I praise Thy prophet, O Lord, and also his disciples; O, forgive me my sins and open on me the gates of Thy mercy.”