There Are Mimosas
In Syria; But No Tree, Save The Fabled Zakhum, Could Produce The
Terrible Apparatus With Which Certain
French painters of the modern
school have attempted to heighten the terrors of the scene.
[FN#13] For what reason
I am entirely unable to guess, our dictionaries
translate the word Sidr (the literary name of the tree that bears the
Nebek) "Lote-tree." No wonder that believers in "Homeric writ" feel
their anger aroused by so poor a realisation of the beautiful myth.
[FN#14] The only pears in Al-Hijaz, I believe, are to be found at Taif,
to which place they were transplanted from Egypt.
[FN#15] Travellers always remark the curious pot-bellied children on
the banks of the Nile. This conformation is admired by the Egyptians,
who consider it a sign of strength and a promise of fine growth.
[FN#16] I believe Kuba to be about three miles S.S.E. of Al-Madinah;
but Al-Idrisi, Ibn Haukal, and Ibn Jubayr all agree in saying two miles.
[FN#17] Osman, the fourth Companion, was absent at this time, not
having returned from the first or Little Flight to Abyssinia.
[FN#18] Some believe that in this Mosque the direction of prayer was
altered from Jerusalem to Meccah, and they declare, as will presently
be seen, that the Archangel Gabriel himself pointed out the new line.
M.C. de Perceval forgets his usual accuracy when he asserts "le Mihrab
de la Mosquee de Medine, qui fut d'abord place au Nord, fut transfere
au Midi: et la Mosquee prit le nom de ‘Masjid-el-Kiblatayn,' Mosquee
des deux Kiblah. In the first place, the Mihrab is the invention of a
later date, about ninety years; and, secondly, the title of Al-Kiblatyn
is never now given to the Mosque of Al-Madinah.
[FN#19] This degrading report caused certain hypocrites to build a kind
of rival chapel called the Mosque Zarar. It was burnt to the ground
shortly after its erection, and all known of it is, that it stood near
Kuba.
[FN#20] Some say on Monday, probably because on that day Mohammed
alighted at Kuba. But the present practice of Al-Islam, handed down
from generation to generation, is to visit it on the Saturday.
[FN#21] There is on this day at Kuba a regular Ziyarat or visitation.
The people pray in the Harim of Al-Madinah, after which they repair to
the Kuba Mosque, and go through the ceremonies which in religious
efficacy equal an Umrah or Lesser pilgrimage. In books I have read that
the 15th of Ramazan is the proper day.
[FN#22] This is believed to be the spot where the Prophet performed his
first Rukat, or prayer-bow.
[FN#23] "Mabrak" is the locative noun from the triliteral root
"Baraka-he blessed, or he (the camel) knelt upon the ground." Perhaps
this philological connection may have determined Mohammed to consider
the kneeling of the dromedary a sign that Allah had blessed the spot.
[FN#24] "Ayat" here means a verset of the Koran.
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