Saoud Had
Indeed Once Given Orders, That None Of These Turkish Pilgrims, Who Still
Flocked From Yembo To This Tomb,
Even after the interruption of the
regular pilgrim-caravans, should any more be permitted to enter Medina:
and this he
Did to prevent what he called their idolatrous praying; a
practice which it was impossible to abolish without excluding them at
once from the mosque; this prohibition Saoud did not think proper to
enforce: he therefore preferred keeping them from the city, under
pretence that their improper behaviour rendered such a proceeding
necessary. He himself, with all his adherents, often paid a devout visit
to the holy mosque; and in the treaty of peace which his son Abdallah,
concluded with
[p.347] Tousoun Pasha in 1815, it is expressly stipulated that the
Wahabys should be permitted to visit the Mesdjed-e'-Neby, or the mosque
of the Prophet, (not his tomb,) without molestation.
Even with the orthodox Moslims, the visit to this tomb and mosque is
merely a meritorious action, which has nothing to do with the
obligations to perform the Hadj, incumbent upon the faithful; but which,
like the visit to the mosque at Jerusalem, and the tomb of Abraham at
Hebron, is thought to be an act highly acceptable to the Deity, and to
expiate many sins, while it entitles the visiter, at the same time, to
the pratronage of the Prophet and the Patriarch in heaven: and it is
said, that he who recites forty prayers in this mosque, will be
delivered from hell-fire and torments after death. As saints, however,
are often more venerated than the Deity himself, who it is well known
accepts of no other offerings than a pure conscience or sincere
repentance, and is therefore not so easily appeased; so the visit to
Medina is nearly as much esteemed as that to the house of God, the
Beitullah at Mekka; and the visiters crowd with more zeal and eagerness
to this shrine, than they do even to the Kaaba. Throughout the year,
swarms of pilgrims arrive from all parts of the Mohammedan world,
usually by the way of Yembo. The Moggrebyns especially seem the most
fervent in their visits: they are, however, brought here by another
object, for in this town is situated the tomb of the Imam Malek ibn
Anes, the founder of the orthodox sect of the Malekites, to which belong
the Moggrebyns.
The mosque at Mekka is visited daily by female hadjys, who have their
own station assigned to them. At Medina, on the contrary, it is thought
very indecorous in women to enter the mosque. Those who come here from
foreign parts, visit the tomb during the night, after the last prayers,
while the women resident in the town hardly ever venture to pass the
threshold: my old landlady, who had lived close to it for fifty years,
assured me that she had been only once in her life within its precincts,
and that females of a loose character only are daring enough to perform
their prayers there.
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