Since I had not the good fortune to win my way to the windlass, I took a jug of Zem-Zem water, making the attendant a present of ten piastres for it. Then, having performed the necessary ablutions, I went out by the old gate (on the thither side of the Place of Abraham) and ascended the stairs of Safá. We found the platform alive with pilgrims, and there, facing the Ka’bah, we had to pass in review all the blessings we had received from God during our lives, from the days of our birth upward. That done, we repeated seven times in an audible tone: “God is great.... I praise thee, O Lord!... There is no god but God....” Three times: “There is no god but the one God; there is not anyone like unto Him. For His is the kingdom, and to Him do we lift up our praise. He is the giver of life and the giver of death. Death and life He bestoweth on all living creatures, but He dieth not, neither doth He sleep. He is almighty over everything....” Once: “O Lord, I praise Muhammad and his people.” Three times: “I praise the Lord who endureth for ever, I praise the everlasting Lord.” Three times: “I confess there is no god but God, and I confess likewise that Muhammad is His slave and His apostle. We worship Him whom we praise, and none but Him!” Then three times we cried: “O Lord, have mercy on me, and be compassionate to me, and give me justice in this world and in the world to come.... O Lord, give us Thy blessing in this life, and grant us Thy peace in the next, and protect us from the punishment of fire.” Next, having repeated one hundred times the words “God is great; there is no god but God, and Him do I praise,” I said aloud: “O Lord, I praise Thee in death and in what comes after death. In Thee, O God, do I seek shelter from the darkness of the grave, from the pressure of the grave, and the disturbance of the grave. Under the canopy of Thy divine compassion do I take refuge on the day when there is no shelter but Thy shelter.” Then, in my inmost mind, I gave up to the Lord my faith, my person, and my people, crying: “I return to Thee, O Lord, Who alone art compassionate and merciful, my faith, myself, my people, my property, and my progeny. O Lord, make me to act according to Thy Book and the dictation of Thy apostle: make me faithful to Thy people, and protect me from revolution.” As an increase of wealth, so says tradition, this prayer should also be read: “O Lord, I seek shelter in Thee from the punishments of the grave: from its troubles, and its separations, and its awe, and its percussion, and its blackness, and its closeness.” Then, uncovering the back, one should raise the voice, crying out loud: “O Lord, pardon! O Thou who hast commanded to pardon, O Thou who art the first to pardon--pardon, pardon, pardon, pardon! O Generous! O Compassionate! O Near! O Far! make me to achieve Thy satisfaction by acting in obedience unto Thee!” Then, descending from the platform, I said: “I persevere seven times in running between Safá and Marveh,