Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah Volume Ii Part 22

[p.274] neck, are two tombs, occupied, I was told, by Osman Pasha and his son, who repaired the Mother's sepulchre. I could not help remarking to the boy Mohammed, that if our first parent measured a hundred and twenty paces from head to waist, and eighty from waist to heel, she must have presented much the appearance of a duck. To this the youth replied, flippantly, that he thanked his stars the Mother was underground, otherwise that men would lose their senses with fright.

Ibn Jubayr (twelfth century) mentions only an old dome, "built upon the place where Eve stopped on the way to Meccah." Yet Al-Idrisi (A.D. 1154) declares Eve's grave to be at Jeddah. Abd al-Karim (1742) compares it to a parterre, with a little dome in the centre, and the extremities ending in barriers of palisades; the circ.u.mference was a hundred and ninety of his steps. In Rooke's Travels we are told that the tomb is twenty feet long. Ali Bey, who twice visited Jeddah, makes no allusion to it; we may therefore conclude that it had been destroyed by the Wahhabis. Burckhardt, who, I need

[p.275] scarcely say, has been carefully copied by our popular authors, was informed that it was a "rude structure of stone, about four feet in length, two or three feet in height, and as many in breadth"; thus resembling the tomb of Noah, seen in the valley of Al-Buka'a in Syria.

Bruce writes: "Two days' journey from this place (? Meccah or Jeddah) Eve's grave, of green sods, about fifty yards in length, is shown to this day"; but the great traveller probably never issued from the town-gates. And Sir W. Harris, who could not have visited the Holy Place, repeats, in 1840, that Eve's grave of green sod is still shown on the barren sh.o.r.e of the Red Sea." The present structure is clearly modern; anciently, I was told at Jeddah, the sepulchre consisted of a stone at the head, a second at the feet, and the navel-dome.

The idol of Jeddah, in the days of Arab litholatry, was called Sakhrah Tawilah, the Long Stone. May not this stone of Eve be the Moslemized revival of the old idolatry? It is to be observed that the Arabs, if the tombs be admitted as evidence, are inconsistent in their dimensions of the patriarchal stature. The sepulchre of Adam at the Masjid al-Khayf is, like that of Eve, gigantic. That of Noah at Al-Buka'a is a bit of Aqueduct thirty-eight paces long by one and a half wide. Job's tomb near Hulah (seven parasangs from Kerbela) is small. I have not seen the grave of Moses (south-east of the Red Sea), which is becoming known by the bitumen cups there sold to pilgrims. But Aaron's sepulchre in the Sinaitic peninsula is of moderate dimensions.

On leaving the graveyard I offered the guardian a dollar, which he received with a remonstrance that a man of my dignity should give so paltry a fee. Nor was he at all contented with the a.s.surance that nothing more could be expected from an Afghan Darwaysh, however pious.

Next day the boy Mohammed explained the

[p.276] Man's empress.e.m.e.nt and disappointment,-I had been mistaken for the Pasha of Al-Madinah.

For a time my peregrinations ended. Worn out with fatigue, and the fatal fiery heat, I embarked (Sept. 26) on board the "Dwarka"; experienced the greatest kindness from the commander and chief officer (Messrs.

Wolley and Taylor); and, wondering the while how the Turkish pilgrims who crowded the vessel did not take the trouble to throw me overboard, in due time I arrived at Suez.

And here, reader, we part. Bear with me while I conclude, in the words of a brother traveller, long gone, but not forgotten-Fa-hian-this Personal Narrative of my Journey to Al-Hijaz: "I have been exposed to perils, and I have escaped from them; I have traversed the sea, and have not succ.u.mbed under the severest fatigues; and my heart is moved with emotions of grat.i.tude, that I have been permitted to effect the objects I had in view."[FN#12]

[FN#1] This second plan was defeated by bad health, which detained me in Egypt till a return to India became imperative.

[FN#2] The usual hire is thirty piastres, but in the pilgrimage season a dollar is often paid. The hire of an a.s.s varies from one to three riyals.

[FN#3] Besides the remains of those in ruins, there are on this road eight coffee-houses and stations for travellers, private buildings, belonging to men who supply water and other necessaries.

[FN#4] In Ibn Jubayr's time the Ihram was a.s.sumed at Al-Furayn, now a decayed station, about two hours' journey from Al-Haddah, towards Jeddah.

[FN#5] The favourite Egyptian "kitchen"; held to be contemptible food by the Arabs.

[FN#6] In 1817 Abdullah bin Sa'ud attacked Jeddah with 50,000 men, determining to overthrow its "Kafir-works"; namely, its walls and towers.

The a.s.sault is described as ludicrous. All the inhabitants aided to garrison: they waited till the wild men flocked about the place, crying, "Come, and let us look at the labours of the infidel," they then let fly, and raked them with matchlock b.a.l.l.s and old nails acting grape. The Wahhabi host at last departed, unable to take a place which a single battery of our smallest siege-guns would breach in an hour.

And since that day the Meccans have never ceased to boast of their Gibraltar, and to taunt the Madinites with their wall-less port, Yambu'.

[FN#7] Al-Idrisi places Meccah forty (Arab) miles from Jeddah.

Burckhardt gives fifty-five miles, and Ali Bey has not computed the total distance.

[FN#8] Abulfeda writes the word "Juddah," and Mr. Lane, as well as MM. Mari and Chedufau, adopt this form, which signifies a "plain wanting water." The water of Jeddah is still very scarce and bad; all who can afford it drink the produce of hill springs brought in skins by the Badawin. Ibn Jubayr mentions that outside the town were 360 old wells(?), dug, it is supposed by the Persians. "Jeddah," or "Jiddah," is the vulgar p.r.o.nounciation; and not a few of the learned call it "Jaddah" (the grandmother), in allusion to the legend of Eve's tomb.

[FN#9] In Chapters iii. and vi. of this work I have ventured some remarks upon the advisability of our being represented in Al-Hijaz by a Consul, and at Meccah by a native agent, till the day shall come when the tide of events forces us to occupy the mother-city of Al-Islam. My apology for reverting to these points must be the nature of an Englishman, who would everywhere see his nation "second to none," even at Jeddah. Yet, when we consider that from twenty-five to thirty vessels here arrive annually from India, and that the value of the trade is about twenty-five lacs of rupees, the matter may be thought worth attending to. The following extracts from a letter written to me by Mr.

Cole shall conclude this part of my task:- "You must know, that in 1838 a commercial treaty was concluded between Great Britain and the Porte, specifying (amongst many other clauses here omitted),- "1. That all merchandise imported from English ports to Al-Hijaz should pay 4 per cent. duty.

"2. That all merchandise imported by British subjects from countries not under the dominion of the Porte should likewise pay but 5 per cent.

"3. That all goods exported from countries under the dominion of the Porte should pay 12 per cent., after a deduction of 16 per cent. from the market-value of the articles.

"4. That all monopolies be abolished."

"Now, when I arrived at Jeddah, the state of affairs was this. A monopoly had been established upon salt, and this weighed only upon our Anglo-Indian subjects, they being the sole purchasers. Five per cent.

was levied upon full value of goods, no deduction of the 20 per cent.

being allowed; the same was the case with exports; and most vexatious of all, various charges had been established by the local authorities, under the names of boat-hire, weighing, brokerage, &c., &c. The duties had thus been raised from 4 to at least 8 per cent. * * * This being represented at Constantinople, brought a peremptory Firman, ordering the governor to act up to the treaty letter by letter. * *

* I have had the satisfaction to rectify the abuses of sixteen years'

standing during my first few months of office, but I expect all manner of difficulties in claiming reimburs.e.m.e.nt for the over-exactions."

[FN#10] M. Rochet (soi-disant d'Hericourt) amusingly describes this manuvre of the governor of Al-Hodaydah.

[FN#11] Many of them were afterwards victims to the "Jeddah ma.s.sacre" on June 30, 1858. I must refer the reader to my "Lake Regions of Central Africa" (Appendix, vol. ii.) for an account of this event, for the proposals which I made to ward it off, and for the miserable folly of the "Bombay Government," who rewarded me by an official reprimand.

[FN#12] The curious reader will find details concerning Patriarchal and Prophetical Tombs in "Unexplored Syria," i. 33-35.

[p.277] APPENDICES.

[p.279] APPENDIX I.

OF HAJJ, OR PILGRIMAGE.

The word Hajj is explained by Moslem divines to mean "Kasd," or aspiration, and to express man's sentiment that he is but a wayfarer on earth wending towards another and a n.o.bler world. This explains the origin and the belief that the greater the hards.h.i.+ps the higher will be the reward of the pious wanderer. He is urged by the voice of his soul: "O thou who toilest so hard for worldly pleasures and perishable profit, wilt thou endure nothing to win a more lasting reward?" Hence it is that pilgrimage is common to all old faiths. The Hindus still wander to Egypt, to Tibet, and to the inhospitable Caucasus; the cla.s.sic philosophers visited Egypt; the Jews annually flocked to Jerusalem; and the Tartars and Mongols-Buddhists-journey to distant Lamaserais. The spirit of pilgrimage was predominant in mediaeval Europe, and the processions of the Roman Catholic Church are, according to her votaries,[FN#1] modern memorials of the effete rite.

Every Moslem is bound, under certain conditions,[FN#2]

[p.280] to pay at least one visit to the Holy City. This const.i.tutes the Hajjat al-Farz (the one obligatory pilgrimage), or Hajjat al-Islam, of the Mohammedan faith. Repet.i.tions become mere Sunnats, or practices of the Prophet, and are therefore supererogatory. Some European writers have of late years laboured to represent the Meccan pilgrimage as a fair, a pretext to collect merchants and to afford Arabia the benefits of purchase and barter. It would be vain to speculate whether the secular or the spiritual element originally prevailed; but most probably each had its portion. But those who peruse this volume will see that, despite the comparatively lukewarm piety of the age, the Meccan pilgrimage is religious essentially, accidentally an affair of commerce.

Moslem pilgrimage is of three kinds.

1. Al-Mukarinah (the uniting) is when the votary performs the Hajj and the Umrah[FN#3] together, as was done by the Prophet in his last visit to Meccah.

2. Al-Ifrad (singulation) is when either the Hajj or the Umrah is performed singularly, the former preceding the latter. The pilgrim may be either Al-Mufrid b'il Hajj

[p.281] (one who is performing only the Hajj), or vice versa, Al-Mufrid b'il Umrah. According to Abu Hanifah, this form is more efficacious than the following.

3. Al-Tamattu ("possession") is when the pilgrim a.s.sumes the Ihram, and preserves it throughout the months of Shawwal, Zu'l Ka'adah, and nine days (ten nights) in Zu'l Hijjah,[FN#4] performing Hajj and Umrah the while.

There is another threefold division of pilgrimage:-

1. Umrah (the little pilgrimage), performed at any time except the pilgrimage season. It differs in some of its forms from Hajj, as will afterwards appear.

2. Hajj (or simple pilgrimage), performed at the proper season.

3. Hajj al-Akbar (the great pilgrimage) is when the "day of Arafat" happens to fall upon a Friday. This is a most auspicious occasion. M. Caussin de Perceval and other writers, departing from the practice of (modern?) Islam, make "Hajj al-Akbar" to mean the simple pilgrimage, in opposition to the Umrah, which they call "Hajj al-Asghar."

The following compendium of the Shafe'i pilgrim-rites is translated from a little treatise by Mohammed of s.h.i.+rbin, surnamed Al-Khatib, a learned doctor, whose work is generally read in Egypt and in the countries adjoining.

CHAPTER I.-OF PILGRIMAGE.[FN#5]

"Know," says the theologist, with scant preamble, "that the acts of Al-Hajj, or pilgrimage, are of three kinds:-

[p.282]

"1. Al-Arkan or Farayz; those made obligatory by Koranic precepts, and therefore essentially necessary, and not admitting expiatory or vicarious atonement, either in Hajj or Umrah.

"2. Al-Wajibat (requisites); the omission of which may, according to some schools,[FN#6] be compensated for by the Fidyat, or atoning sacrifice: and- "3. Al-Sunan (pl. of Sunnat), the practice of the Prophet, which may be departed from without positive sin.

"Now, the Arkan, the 'pillars' upon which the rite stands, are six in number,[FN#7] viz.:-

"1. Al-Ihram ('rendering unlawful'), or the wearing pilgrim garb and avoiding certain actions.

"2. Al-Wukuf, the 'standing' upon Mount Arafat.

"3. The Tawaf al-Ifazah, or circ.u.mambulation of impetuosity.[FN#8]

[p.283]

"4. The Sai, or course between Mounts Safa and Marwah.

"5. Al-Halk; tonsure (of the whole or part) of the head for men; or taksir, cutting the hair (for men or women).[FN#9]

"6. Al-Tartib, or the due order of the ceremonies, as above enumerated.

"But Al-Sai (4), may either precede or follow Al-Wukuf (2), provided that the Tawaf al-Kudum, or the circ.u.mambulation of arrival, has previously been performed. And Halk (5) may be done before as well as after the Tawaf al-Ifazah (3).

"Now, the Wajibat (requisites of pilgrimage, also called 'Nusuk') are five in number, viz.:-

"1. Al-Ihram, or a.s.suming pilgrim garb, from the Mikat, or fixed limit.[FN#10]

"2. The Mabit, or nighting at Muzdalifah: for this a short portion, generally in the latter watch, preceding the Yaum al-Nahr, or victim-day, suffices.

"3. The spending at Muna the three nights of the 'Ayyam al-Tashrik,' or days of drying flesh: of these, the first is the most important.

"4. The Rami al-Jimar, or casting stones at the devil: and- "5. The avoiding of all things forbidden to the pilgrim when in a state of Ihram.

"Some writers reduce these requisites by omitting the second and third.

The Tawaf al-Wida'a, or the circ.u.mambulation of farewell, is a 'Wajib Mustakill,' or particular requisite, which may, however, be omitted without prejudice to pilgrimage.