It
Is A Favourite Belief Of The Monks Of Mount Sinai, That Mohammed
Himself, In One Of His Journeys, Alighted
Under the walls of the
convent, and that impressed with due veneration for the mountain of
Moses, he presented to
The convent a Firmahn, to secure to it the
respect of all his followers. Ali is said to have written it, and
Mohammed, who could not write, to have confirmed it by impressing his
extended hand, blackened with ink, upon the parchment. This Firmahn, it
is added, remained in the convent until Selim the First conquered Egypt,
when hearing of the precious relic, he sent for it, and added it to the
other relics of Mohammed in the imperial treasury at Constantinople;
giving to the convent, in return, a copy of the original certified with
his own cipher. I have seen the latter, which is kept in the Sinai
convent at Cairo, but I do not believe it to be an authentic document.
None of the historians of Mohammed, who have recorded the transactions
of almost every day of his life, mention his having been at Mount Sinai,
neither in his earlier youth, nor after he set up as a prophet, and it
is totally contrary to history that he should have granted to any
[p.547] Christians such privileges as are mentioned in this Firmahn, one
of which is that the Moslems are bound to aid the Christian monks in
rebuilding their ruined churches. It is to be observed also that this
document states itself to have been written by Ali, not at the convent,
but in the mosque of the Prophet at Medina, in the second year of the
Hedjra, and is addressed, not to the convent of Mount Sinai in
particular, but to all the Christians and their priests. The names of
twenty-two witnesses, followers of Mohammed, are subscribed to it; and
in a note it is expressly stated that the original, written by Ali, was
lost, and that the present was copied from a fourth successive copy
taken from the original. Hence it appears that the relation of the
priests is at variance with the document to which they refer, and I have
little doubt therefore that the former is a fable and the latter a
forgery. Notwithstanding the difficulties to which the monks must have
been exposed from the warlike and fanatical followers of the new faith
in Syria, Arabia, Egypt, and the Desert, the convent continued
uninjured, and defended itself successfully against all the surrounding
tribes by the peculiar arms of its possessors, patience, meekness, and
money. According to the statement of the monks, their predecessors were
made responsible by the Sultans of Egypt for the protection of the
pilgrim caravans from Cairo to Mekka, on that part of the road which lay
along the northern frontiers of their territory from Suez to Akaba. For
this purpose they thought it necessary to invite several tribes, and
particularly the Szowaleha and the Aleygat to settle in the fertile
valleys of Sinai, in order to serve as protectors of this road. The
Bedouins came, but their power increasing, while that of the monks
declined, they in the course of time took possession of the whole
peninsula, and confined the monks to their convent. It appears from the
original copy of a compact between the monks and the
[p.548] above Bedouins, made in the year of the Hedjra 800, when Sultan
Dhaher Bybars reigned in Egypt, that besides this convent, six others
were still existing in the peninsula, exclusive of a number of chapels
and hermitages; from a writing on parchment, dated in the A.H.1053, we
find that in that year all these minor establishments had been
abandoned, and that the great convent, holding property at Feiran, Tor,
and in other fruitful valleys, alone remained. The priests assured me,
that they had documents to prove that all the date valleys and other
fertile spots in the gulf of Akaba had been in their possession, and
were confirmed to them by the Sultans of Egypt; but they either could
not or would not shew me their archives in detail, without an order from
the prior at Cairo; indeed all their papers appeared to be in great
confusion.
Whenever a new Sultan ascends the throne of Constantinople, the convent
is furnished with a new Firmahn, which is transmitted to the Pasha of
Egypt; but as the neighbouring Bedouins, till within a few years, were
completely independent of Egypt, the protection of the Pashas was of
very little use to the monks, and their only dependance was upon their
own resources, and their means of purchasing and conciliating the
friendship, or of appeasing the animosity of the Arabs.
At present there are only twenty-three monks in the convent. They are
under the presidence of a Wakyl or prior, but the Ikonómos [Greek], whom
the Arabs call the Kolob, is the true head of the community, and manages
all its affairs. The order of Sinai monks dispersed over the east is
under the control of an Archbishop, in Arabic called the Reys. He is
chosen by a council of delegates from Mount Sinai and from the
affiliated convent at Cairo, and he is confirmed, pro forma, by the
Greek patriarch of Jerusalem. The Archbishop can do nothing as to the
appropriation of the funds without the unanimous vote of the council.
Formerly
[p.549] he lived in the convent; but since its affairs have been on the
decline, it has been found more expedient that he should reside abroad,
his presence here entitling the Bedouins to great fees, particularly on
his entrance into the convent. I was told that ten thousand dollars
would be required, on such an occasion, to fulfil all the obligations to
which the community is bound in its treaties with the Arabs. Hence it
happens that no Archbishop has been here since the year 1760, when the
Reys Kyrillos resided, and I believe died, in the convent.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 186 of 232
Words from 188885 to 189890
of 236498
