Stone-Lined Cisterns Abound, And Ruins Of Buildings Are
Frequent.
At the Eastern foot of the mountain was a broad canal,
beginning at a spur of the Taif hills, and conveying water to Meccah;
it is now destroyed beyond Arafat.
The plain is cut with torrents,
which at times sweep with desolating violence into the Holy City, and a
thick desert vegetation shows that water is not deep below the surface.
[FN#24] The word is explained in many ways. One derivation has already
been mentioned. Others assert that when Gabriel taught Abraham the
ceremonies, he ended by saying “A’arafata manasik’ak?”—hast thou learned thy
pilgrim rites? To which the Friend of Allah replied, “Araftu!”—I have learned
them.
[FN#25] The latter name, “Ratan,” is servile. Respectable women are never
publicly addressed by Moslems except as “daughter,” “female pilgrim,” after
some male relation, “O mother of Mohammed,” “O sister of Omar,” or, tout
bonnement, by a man’s name. It would be ill-omened and dangerous were the
true name known. So most women, when travelling, adopt an alias.
Whoever knew an Afghan fair who was not “Nur Jan,” or “Sahib Jan”?
[FN#26] The British reader will be shocked to hear that by the term
“fatted ass” the intellectual lady alluded to her husband. The story is
that Mu’awiyah, overhearing the song, sent back the singer to her cousin
and beloved wilds. Maysunah departed with her son Yazid, and did not
return to Damascus till the “fatted ass” had joined his forefathers. Yazid
inherited, with his mother’s talents, all her contempt for his father; at
least the following quatrain, addressed to Mu’awiyah, and generally known
in Al-Islam, would appear to argue anything but reverence:—
“I drank the water of the vine: that draught had power to rouse
Thy wrath, grim father! now, indeed, ’tis joyous to carouse!
I’ll drink!—Be wroth!—I reck not!—Ah! dear to this heart of mine
It is to scoff a sire’s command, to quaff forbidden wine.”
[p.192] CHAPTER XXIX.
THE CEREMONIES OF THE YAUM ARAFAT, OR THE SECOND DAY.
THE morning of the ninth Zu’l Hijjah (Tuesday, 13th Sept.) was ushered in
by military sounds: a loud discharge of cannon warned us to arise and
to prepare for the ceremonies of this eventful day.
After ablution and prayer, I proceeded with the boy Mohammed to inspect
the numerous consecrated sites on the “Mountain of Mercy.” In the first
place, we repaired to a spot on rising ground to the south-east, and
within a hundred yards of the hill. It is called “Jami al-Sakhrah[FN#1]”—the
Assembling Place of the Rock—from two granite boulders upon which the
Prophet stood to perform “Talbiyat.” There is nothing but a small enclosure
of dwarf and whitewashed stone walls, divided into halves for men and
women by a similar partition, and provided with a niche to direct
prayer towards Meccah. Entering by steps, we found crowds of devotees
and guardians, who for a consideration offered mats and carpets.
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