The Very Names, Say Moslem Divines, Make It Abundantly
Evident That Even As The Men Of Al-Madinah Were Of
Two parties,
friendly and hostile to the Prophet, so were these mountains.
[FN#12] This Cave is a Place of
Visitation, but I did not go there, as
it is on the Northern flank of the hill, and all assured me that it
contained nothing worth seeing. Many ignore it altogether.
[FN#13] Ohod, it is said, sent forth in the Prophet's day 360 springs,
of which ten or twelve now remain.
[FN#14] Meaning that the visitor must ascend several smaller eminences.
The time occupied is from eight to nine hours, but I should not advise
my successor to attempt it in the hot weather.
[FN#15] When engaged in such a holy errand as this, to have ridden away
for the purpose of inspecting a line of black stone, would have been
certain to arouse the suspicions of an Arab. Either, he would argue,
you recognise the place of some treasure described in your books, or
you are a magician seeking a talisman.
[FN#16] Most Arab authors place Ohod about two miles N. of Al-Madinah.
Al-Idrisi calls it the nearest hill, and calculates the distance at
6000 paces. Golius gives two leagues to Ohod and Ayr, which is much too
far. 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.
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