O Allah, Shadow Me In Thy
Shadow On That Day When There Is No Shade But Thy Shadow, And Cause
Me
to drink from the Cup of Thine Apostle Mohammed—may Allah bless Him and
preserve!—that pleasant Draught after
Which is no Thirst to all Eternity,
O Lord of Honour and Glory!” Turning the
[p.167] west corner, or the Rukn al-Shami, we exclaimed, “O Allah, make
it an acceptable Pilgrimage, and a Forgiveness of Sins, and a laudable
Endeavour, and a pleasant Action (in Thy sight), and a store which
perisheth not, O Thou Glorious! O Thou Pardoner!” This was repeated
thrice, till we arrived at the Yamani, or south corner, where, the
crowd being less importunate, we touched the wall with the right hand,
after the example of the Prophet, and kissed the finger-tips. Finally,
between the south angle and that of the Black Stone, where our circuit
would be completed, we said, “O Allah, verily I take Refuge with Thee
from Infidelity, and I take Refuge with Thee from Want, and from the
Tortures of the Tomb, and from the Troubles of Life and Death. And I
fly to Thee from Ignominy in this World and the next, and I implore Thy
Pardon for the Present and for the Future. O Lord, grant to me in this
Life Prosperity, and in the next Life Prosperity, and save me from the
Punishment of Fire.”
Thus finished a Shaut, or single course round the house. Of these we
performed the first three at the pace called Harwalah, very similar to
the French pas gymnastique, or Tarammul, that is to say, “moving the
shoulders as if walking in sand.” The four latter are performed in
Ta’ammul, slowly and leisurely; the reverse of the Sai, or running. These
seven Ashwat, or courses, are called collectively one Usbu ([Arabic]).
The Moslem origin of this custom is too well known to require mention.
After each Taufah[,] or circuit, we, being unable to kiss or even to
touch the Black Stone, fronted towards it, raised our hands to our
ears, exclaimed, “In the Name of Allah, and Allah is omnipotent!” kissed
our fingers, and resumed the ceremony of circumambulation, as before,
with “Allah, in Thy Belief,” &c.
At the conclusion of the Tawaf it was deemed advisable to attempt to
kiss the stone. For a time I stood
[p.168] looking in despair at the swarming crowd of Badawi and other
pilgrims that besieged it. But the boy Mohammed was equal to the
occasion. During our circuit he had displayed a fiery zeal against
heresy and schism, by foully abusing every Persian in his path[FN#8];
and the inopportune introduction of hard words into his prayers made
the latter a strange patchwork; as “Ave Maria purissima,—arrah, dont ye be
letting the pig at the pot,—sanctissima,” and so forth. He might, for
instance, be repeating “And I take Refuge with Thee from Ignominy in this
World,” when “O thou rejected one, son of the rejected!” would be the
interpolation addressed to some long-bearded Khorasani,—“And in that to come”—“O
hog and brother of a hoggess!” And so he continued till I wondered that
none dared to turn and rend him.
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