The Time Of Aszer (Or About Three O'clock, P.M.)
Approached, When That Ceremony Of The Hadj Takes Place, For Which The
Whole Assembly Had Come Hither.
The pilgrims now pressed forward towards
the mountain of Arafat, and covered its sides from top to bottom.
At the
precise time of Aszer, the preacher took his stand upon the platform on
the mountain, and began to address the multitude. This sermon, which
lasts till sun-set, constitutes the holy ceremony of the Hadj called
Khotbet el Wakfe; and no pilgrim, although he may have visited all the
holy places of Mekka, is entitled to the name of hadjy, unless he has
been present on this occasion. As Aszer approached, therefore, all the
tents were struck, every thing was packed up, the caravans began to
load, and the pilgrims belonging to them mounted their camels, and
crowded round the mountain, to be within sight of the preacher, which is
sufficient, as the greater part of the multitude is necessarily too
distant to hear him. The two Pashas, with their whole cavalry drawn up
in two squadrons behind them, took their post in the rear of the deep
lines of camels of the hadjys, to which those of the people of the
Hedjaz were also joined; and here they waited in solemn and respectful
[p.271] silence the conclusion of the sermon. Further removed from the
preacher, was the Sherif Yahya, with his small body of soldiers,
distinguished by several green standards carried before him. The two
Mahmals, or holy camels, which carry on their back the high structure
that serves as the banner of their respective caravans, made way with
difficulty through the ranks of camels that encircled the southern and
eastern sides of the hill, opposite to the preacher, and took their
station, surrounded by their guards, directly under the platform in
front of him. [The Mahmal (an exact representation of which is given by
D'Ohsson,) is a high, hollow, wooden frame, in the form of a cone, with
a pyramidal top, covered with a fine silk brocade adorned with ostrich
feathers, and having a small book of prayers and charms placed in the
midst of it, wrapped up in a piece of silk. (My description is taken
from the Egyptian Mahmal.) When on the road, it serves as a holy banner
to the caravan; and on the return of the Egyptian caravan, the book of
prayers is exposed in the mosque El Hassaneyn, at Cairo, where men and
women of the lower classes go to kiss it, and obtain a blessing by
rubbing their foreheads upon it. No copy of the Koran, nor any thing but
the book of prayers, is placed in the Cairo Mahmal. The Wahabys declared
this ceremony of the Hadj to be a vain pomp, of idolatrous origin, and
contrary to the spirit of true religion; and its use was one of the
principal reasons which they assigned for interdicting the caravans from
repairing to Mekka. In the first centuries of Islam, neither the
Omeyades nor the Abassides ever had a Mahmal. Makrisi, in his treatise
"On those Khalifes and Sultans who performed the pilgrimage in person,"
says that Dhaher Bybars el Bondokdary, Sultan of Egypt, was the first
who introduced the Mahmal, about A.H. 670. Since his time, all the
Sultans who sent their caravans to Mekka, have considered it as a
privilege to send one with each, as a sign of their own royalty. The
first Mahmal from Yemen came in A.H. 960; and in A.H.1049, El Moayed
Billah, king, and Imam of Yemen, who publicly professed the creed of
Zeyd, came with one to Arafat; and the caravans of Baghdad, Damascus,
and Cairo, have always carried it with them. In A.H. 730, the Baghdad
caravan brought it to Arafat upon an elephant (vide Asamy). I believe
the custom to have arisen in the battle-banner of the Bedouins, called
Merkeb and Otfe, which I have mentioned in my remarks on the Bedouins,
and which resemble the Mahmal, inasmuch as they are high wooden frames
placed upon camels.]
The preacher, or Khatyb, who is usually the Kadhy of Mekka, was mounted
upon a finely-caparisoned camel, which had been led up the steps; it
being traditionally said that Mohammed was always seated when he here
addressed his followers, a practice in which he was imitated by all the
Khalifes who came to the Hadj, and who from
[p.272] hence addressed their subjects in person. The Turkish gentleman
of Constantinople, however, unused to camel-riding, could not keep his
seat so well as the hardy Bedouin prophet; and the camel becoming
unruly, he was soon obliged to alight from it. He read his sermon from a
book in Arabic, which he held in his hands. At intervals of every four
or five minutes he paused, and stretched forth his arms to
implore blessings from above; while the assembled multitudes around and
before him, waved the skirts of their ihrams over their heads, and rent
the air with shouts of "Lebeyk, Allahuma Lebeyk," (i.e. Here we are, at
thy commands, O God!) During the wavings of the ihrams, the side of the
mountain, thickly crowded as it was by the people in their white
garments, had the appearance, of a cataract of water; while the green
umbrellas, with which several thousand hadjys, sitting on their camels
below, were provided, bore some resemblance to a verdant plain.
During his sermon, which lasted almost three hours, the Kadhy was seen
constantly to wipe his eyes with a handkerchief; for the law enjoins the
Khatyb or preacher to be moved with feeling and compunction; and adds
that, whenever tears appear on his face, it is a sign that the Almighty
enlightens him, and is ready to listen to his prayers. The pilgrims who
stood near me, upon the large blocks of granite which cover the sides of
Arafat, appeared under various aspects.
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