The Streets Of Mekka Abound With Beggars And Poor Hadjys, Who Are Supported By The Charity Of Strangers; For The Mekkawys Think Themselves Privileged To Dispense With This Duty.

Of them, however, many adopt mendicity as a profession, especially during the Hadj, when the pilgrims are bound to exercise that virtue which is so particularly enjoined by the precepts of Mohammed.

The greater part of the beggars are Indians, others Syrians, Moggrebyns, and Egyptians: the Negroes are but few, as these generally prefer labour to begging; but a large proportion comes from Yemen. It is generally said in the East, that Mekka is the paradise of beggars: some perhaps may save a little money, but the wretched aspect of others plainly shows how much their expectations must have been disappointed. The Indians are the most modest among them; they accost the passenger with the words "Ya allah'ya kerim!" "O God, O bounteous God!" and if alms are refused, they walk away, without a word except the repetition of "Ya allah, ya kerim." Not so the Yemeny or Mekkawy; "Think of your duty as a pilgrim," he cries; "God does not like the cold-hearted; will you reject the blessings of the faithful? Give, and it shall be given unto thee; and with these and many other pious sentences they address the passenger, and when they have the alms safe in their hand, they often say, as my delyl did, "It is God, and not you, who gives it to me." Some of these beggars are extremely importunate, and seem to ask for alms as if they were legally entitled to it. While I was at Djidda, a Yemen beggar mounted the minaret daily, after mid-day prayer, and exclaimed loud enough to be heard through the whole bazar, "I ask from God fifty dollars, a suit of clothes, and a copy of the Koran; O faithful, hear me, I ask of you fifty dollars," &c. &c. This he repeated for several weeks, when at last a Turkish pilgrim, struck by the singularity of the beggar's appeal, desired him to take thirty dollars, and discontinue his cries, which reflected shame upon the charity of all the hadjys present. "No," said the beggar, "I will not take them, because I am convinced that God will send me the whole of what I beg of him so earnestly." After repeating his public

[p.211] supplication for some days more, the same hadjy gave him the whole sum that he asked for; but without being thanked. I have heard people exclaim in the mosques at Mekka, immediately after prayers, "O brethren, O faithful, hear me! I ask twenty dollars from God, to pay for my passage home; twenty dollars only. You know that God is all- bountiful, and may send me a hundred dollars; but it is twenty dollars only that I ask. Remember that charity is the sure road to paradise." There can be no doubt that this practice is sometimes attended with success.

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