At Al-Madinah, Amongst
Other Tales Of Short Cuts Known Only To Certain Badawi Families, A Man
Told Me Of A Shaft Leading From His Native City To Hazramaut:
According
to him, it existed in the times of the Prophet, and was a journey of
only three days!
[FN#80] The Mosque Library is kept in large chests near the Bab
al-Salam; the only MS.
Of any value here is a Koran written in the
Sulsi hand. It is nearly four feet long, bound in a wooden cover, and
padlocked, so as to require from the curious a "silver key."
[FN#81] So the peasants in Brittany believe that Napoleon the First is
not yet dead; the Prussians expect Frederick the Second; the Swiss,
William Tell; the older English, King Arthur; and certain modern
fanatics look forward to the re-appearance of Joanna Southcote. Why
multiply instances in so well known a branch of the history of popular
superstitions?
[FN#82] The Sunnat is the custom or practice of the Apostle, rigidly
conformed to by every good and orthodox Moslem.
[FN#83] The reader will bear in mind that I am quoting from Burckhardt.
When in Al-Hijaz and at Cairo, I vainly endeavoured to buy a copy of
Al-Samanhudi. One was shown to me at Al-Madinah; unhappily, it bore the
word Wakf (bequeathed), and belonged to the Mosque. I was scarcely
allowed time to read it. (See p. 102, ante.)
[FN#84] In Moslem law, prophets, martyrs, and saints, are not supposed
to be dead; their property, therefore, remains their own.
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