This Square, The Only Wide And Open Place In The Whole Town,
Admits Through All Its Gates The Cooling Breeze; But This The Mekkawys
Ascribe To The Waving Wings Of Those Angels Who Guard The Mosque.
I
witnessed the enthusiasm of a Darfour pilgrim, who arrived at Mekka on
the last night of Ramadhan.
After a long journey across barren and
solitary deserts, on his entering the illuminated temple, he was so much
struck with its appearance, and overawed by the black Kaaba, that he
fell prostrate close by the place where I was sitting, and remained long
in that posture of adoration. He then rose, burst into a flood of tears,
and in the height of his emotion, instead of reciting the usual prayers
of the visitor, only exclaimed, "O God, now take my soul, for this is
Paradise!"
The termination of the Hadj gives a very different appearance to the
temple. Disease and mortality, which succeed to the fatigues endured on
the journey, or are caused by the light covering of the
[p.161] ihram, the unhealthy lodgings at Mekka, the bad fare, and
sometimes absolute want, fill the mosque with dead bodies, carried
thither to receive the Imam's prayer, or with sick persons, many of
whom, when their dissolution approaches, are brought to the colonnades,
that they may either be cured by a sight of the Kaaba, or at least have
the satisfaction of expiring within the sacred enclosure. Poor hadjys,
worn out with disease and hunger, are seen dragging their emaciated
bodies along the columns; and when no longer able to stretch forth their
hand to ask the passenger for charity, they place a bowl to receive alms
near the mat on which they lay themselves.
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