Indeed So Rich Is Medina In The Remains Of
Great Saints That They Have Almost Lost Their Individual Importance,
While The Relics Of One Of The Persons Just Mentioned Would Be
Sufficient To Render Celebrated Any Other Moslim Town.
As a formula of
the invocation addressed here to the manes of the saint, I shall
transcribe that which is said with uplifted hands, after having
performed a short prayer of two rikats, over the tomb of Othman ibn
Affan:
"Peace be with thee, O Othman! Peace be with thee, O friend of
the chosen! Peace be with
[p.364] thee, O collector of the Koran! Mayest thou deserve the
contentment of God! May God ordain Paradise as thy dwelling, thy
resting-place, thy habitation, and thy abode! I deposit on this spot,
and near thee, O Othman, the profession everlasting, from this day to
the day of judgment, that there is no God but God, and that Mohammed is
his servant and his prophet."
The inhabitants of Medina bury all their dead on this ground, in the
same homely tombs as those of the saints. Branches of palm-trees are
stuck upon the graves, and changed once a year, at the feast of
Ramadhan, when the family visits the grave of its relations, where it
sometimes remains for several days.
VISIT TO DJEBEL OHOD. - One of the principal Zyara or places of sacred
visitation of Medina, is Ohod, with the tomb of Hamze, the uncle of
Mohammed. The mountain of Ohod forms part of the great chain, branching
out from it into the eastern plain, so as to stand almost insulated. It
is three quarters of an hour's walk from the town. In the fourth year of
the Hedjra, when Mohammed had fixed his residence at Medina, the
idolatrous Koreysh, headed by Abou Sofyan, invaded these parts, and took
post at this mountain. Mohammed issued from the town, and there fought,
with great disparity of force, the most arduous battle in which he was
ever engaged. His uncle Hamze was killed, together with seventy-five of
his followers: he himself was wounded, but he killed with his own lance
one of the bravest men of the opposite party, and gained at last a
complete victory. The tomb of Hamze and of the seventy-five martyrs, as
they are called, form the object of the visit to Djebel Ohod.
I started on foot, with my cicerone, by the Syrian gate, in the company
of several other visiters; for it was thought unsafe to go there alone,
from fear of Bedouin robbers. The visit is generally performed on
Thursdays. We passed the place where the Syrian Hadj encamp, and where
several wells and half-ruined tanks, cased with stone, supply the
pilgrims with water during their three days' stay at this place, in
their way to and from Mekka. A little further on is a pretty kiosk, with
a dome, now likewise half-ruined, called El Goreyn, where
[p.365] the chief of that caravan usually takes up his temporary abode.
The road further on is completely level; date-trees stand here and
there, and several spots are seen which the people only cultivate when
the rains are copious. About one mile from the town stands a ruined
edifice of stones and bricks, where a short prayer is recited in
remembrance of Mohammed having here put on his coat of mail, when he
went to engage the enemy. Farther on is a large stone, upon which it is
said that Mohammed leaned for a few minutes on his way to Ohod; the
visiter is enjoined to press his back against this stone, and to recite
the Fateha, or opening chapter of the Koran.
In approaching the mountain, we passed a torrent, coming from E. or S.E.
with water to the depth of two feet, the remains of the rain that had
fallen five days ago. It swells sometimes so high as to become
impassable, and inundates the whole surrounding country. To the east of
this torrent, the ground leading towards the mountain is barren, stony,
with a slight ascent, on the slope of which stands a mosque, surrounded
by about a dozen ruined houses, once the pleasure villas of wealthy
towns-people; near them is a cistern, filled by the torrent-water. The
mosque is a square solid-built edifice of small dimensions. Its dome was
thrown down by the Wahabys, but they spared the tomb. The mosque
encloses the tomb of Hamze, and those of his principal men who were
slain in the battle; namely, Mesab ibn Omeyr, Djafar ibn Shemmas, and
Abdallah ibn Djahsh. The tombs are in a small open yard, and, like those
of the Bekya, mere heaps of earth, with a few loose stones placed around
them. Beside them is a small portico, which serves as a mosque: a short
prayer is said here, and the pilgrims then advance to the tombs, where
they recite the chapter of Yasein (from the Koran), or the short chapter
of El Khalas forty times; after which Hamze and his friends are invoked
to intercede with the Almighty, and obtain for the pilgrim and all his
family, faith, health, wealth, and the utter destruction of all their
enemies. Money is given, as usual, at every corner, to the guardians of
the mosque, of the tombs, to the Mueddin, Imam, &c. &c.
A little further on, towards the mountain, which is only at a gun-shot
distance, a small cupola marks the place where Mohammed was
[p.366] struck in battle by a stone, which knocked out four of his front
teeth, and felled him to the ground. [This story is related here,
though the historians of the Prophet do not agree on the subject.] His
party thought he was killed; but the angel Gabriel immediately appeared,
and exclaimed that he was still alive. At a short distance from this
cupola, which like all the rest has been demolished, are the tombs of
twelve other partisans of the Prophet, who were killed in the battle.
They form together several mounds of rubbish and stones, in which their
respective tombs can no longer be distinguished.
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