In Our Popular Accounts, "Mohammed Posted Himself Upon The Hill Of
Ohod, About Six Miles From Al-Madinah," Two Mistakes.
[FN#17] They are said to be seventy, but the heaps appeared to me at
least three times more numerous.
[FN#18] A Zawiyah in Northern Africa resembles the Takiyah of India,
Persia, and Egypt, being a monastery for Darwayshes who reside there
singly or in numbers. A Mosque, and sometimes, according to the
excellent practice of Al-Islam, a school, are attached to it.
[FN#19] Some historians relate that forty-six years after the battle of
Ohod, the tombs were laid bare by a torrent, when the corpses appeared
in their winding-sheets as if buried the day before. Some had their
hands upon their death wounds, from which fresh blood trickled when the
pressure was forcibly removed. In opposition to this Moslem theory, we
have that of the modern Greeks, namely, that if the body be not
decomposed within a year, it shows that the soul is not where it should
be.
[FN#20] In fairness I must confess to believing in the reality of these
phenomena, but not in their "spiritual" origin.
[FN#21] In Ibn Jubayr's time the tomb was red.
[FN#22] In the common tombs of martyrs, saints, and holy men, this
covering is usually of green cloth, with long white letters sewn upon
it. I forgot to ask whether it was temporarily absent from Hamzah's
grave.
[FN#23] All these erections are new. In Burckhardt's time they were
mere heaps of earth, with a few loose stones placed around them. I do
not know what has become of the third martyr, said to have been
interred near Hamzah. Possibly some day he may reappear: meanwhile the
people of Al-Madinah are so wealthy in saints, that they can well
afford to lose sight of one.
[FN#24] Formerly in this place was shown a slab with the mark of a
man's head-like St. Peter's at Rome-where the Prophet had rested. Now
it seems to have disappeared, and the tooth has succeeded to its
honours.
[FN#25] Some historians say that four teeth were knocked out by this
stone. This appears an exaggeration.
[FN#26] In Persian characters the word Umr, life, and Umar, the name of
the hated caliph, are written in the same way; which explains the pun.
[FN#27] That is to say, "to the hour of death."
[FN#28] When Jubayr bin Mutim was marching to Ohod, according to the
Rauzat al-Safa, in revenge for the death of his uncle Taymah, he
offered manumission to his slave Wahshi, who was noted for the use of
the Abyssinian spear, if he slew Hamzah. The slave sat in ambush behind
a rock, and when the hero had despatched one Siba'a bin Abd al-Ayiz, of
Meccah, he threw a javelin which pierced his navel and came out of his
back. The wounded man advanced towards his assassin, who escaped.
Hamzah then fell, and his friends coming up, found him dead. Wahshi
waited till he saw an opportunity, drew the javelin from the body, and
mutilated it, in order to present trophies to the ferocious Hinda
(mother of Mu'awiyah), whose father Utbah had been slain by Hamzah. The
amazon insisted upon seeing the corpse: having presented her necklace
and bracelets to Wahshi, she supplied their place with the nose, the
ears, and other parts of the dead hero. After mangling the body in a
disgusting manner, she ended by tearing open the stomach and biting the
liver, whence she was called "Akkalat al-Akbad." When Mohammed saw the
state of his father's brother, he was sadly moved. Presently comforted
by the inspirations brought by Gabriel, he cried, "It is written among
the people of the seven Heavens, Hamzah, son of Muttalib, is the Lion
of Allah, and the Lion of his Prophet," and ordered him to be shrouded
and prayed over him, beginning, says the Jazb al-Kulub, with seventy
repetitions of "Allah Akbar." Ali had brought in his shield some water
for Mohammed, from a Mahras or stone trough, which stood near the scene
of action (M.C. de Perceval translates it "un creux de rocher formant
un bassin naturel"). But the Prophet refused to drink it, and washed
with it the blood from the face of him "martyred by the side of the
Mahras." It was of the Moslems slain at Ohod, according to Abu Da'ud,
that the Prophet declared that their souls should be carried in the
crops of green birds, that they might drink of the waters and taste the
fruits of Paradise, and nestle beneath the golden lamps that hang from
the celestial ceiling. He also forbade, on this occasion, the still
popular practice of mutilating an enemy's corpse.
[FN#29] The Prophet preferred women and young boys to pray privately,
and in some parts of Al-Islam they are not allowed to join a
congregation. At Al-Madinah, however, it is no longer, as in
Burckhardt's time, "thought very indecorous in women to enter the
Mosque."
[FN#30] I have heard of a Persian being beaten to death, because
instead of saying "Peace be with thee, Ya Omar," he insisted upon
saying "Peace be with thee, Ya Humar (O ass!)" A favourite trick is to
change "Razi Allahu anhu-may Allah be satisfied with him!"-to "Razi
Allahu Aan." This last word is not to be found in Richardson, but any
"Luti" from Shiraz or Isfahan can make it intelligible to the curious
linguist.
END OF VOLUME I.
End of Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah
by Sir Richard Francis Burton
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