Presently Shaykh Mohammed Returned In Company With The Principal, A
Little, Thin, Ragged-Bearded, One-Eyed, Hare-Lipped Divine, Dressed In
Very Dirty Clothes, Of Nondescript Cut.
Born at Maskat of Afghan
parents, and brought up at Meccah, he was a kind of cosmopolite,
speaking five languages fluently, and full of reminiscences of toil and
travel.
He refused pipes and coffee, professing to be ascetically
disposed: but he ate more than half my dinner, to reassure me, I
presume, should I have been fearful that abstinence might injure his
health. We then chatted in sundry tongues. I offered certain presents
of books, which were rejected (such articles being valueless), and the
Shaykh Abd al-Wahhab having expressed his satisfaction at my account of
myself, told me to call for him at the Azhar Mosque next Morning.
Accordingly at six P.M. Shaykh Mohammed and Abdullah Khan,[FN#21]-the
latter equipped in a gigantic sprigged-muslin turband, so as to pass
for a student of theology,-repaired to Al-Azhar. Passing through the
open quadrangle, we entered the large hall which forms the body of the
Mosque. In the northern wall was a dwarf door, leading by breakneck
stairs to a pigeon-hole, the study of the learned Afghan Shaykh. We
found him ensconced behind piles of musty and greasy manuscripts,
surrounded by scholars and scribes, with whom he was cheapening books.
He had not much business to transact; but long before he was ready, the
stifling atmosphere drove us out of the study, and we repaired to the
hall. Presently the Shaykh joined us, and we all rode on to the
citadel, and waited in a Mosque till the office hour struck. When the
doors were opened we went into the
[p.131]"Diwan," and sat patiently till the Shaykh found an opportunity
of putting in a word. The officials were two in number; one an old
invalid, very thin and sickly-looking, dressed in the Turco-European
style, whose hand was being severely kissed by a troop of religious
beggars, to whom he had done some small favours; the other was a stout
young clerk, whose duty it was to engross, and not to have his hand
kissed.
My name and other essentials were required, and no objections were
offered, for who holier than the Shaykh Abd al-Wahhab ibn Yunus
al-Sulaymani? The clerk filled up a printed paper in the Turkish
language, apparent1y borrowed from the European method for spoiling the
traveller; certified me, upon the Shaykh's security, to be one
Abdullah, the son of Yusuf (Joseph), originally from Kabul, described
my person, and, in exchange for five piastres, handed me the document.
I received it with joy.
With bows, and benedictions, and many wishes that Allah might make it
the officials' fate to become pilgrims, we left the office, and
returned towards Al-Azhar. When we had nearly reached the Mosque,
Shaykh Mohammed lagged behind, and made the sign. I drew near the
Afghan, and asked for his hand.
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