[P.400] After The Pilgrimage Haji Mahomet Repaired To Taif.

On the road he remarked a phenomenon observable in Al-Hijaz—the lightness of the nights there.

Finati attributes it to the southern position of the place. But, observing a perceptible twilight there, I was forced to seek further cause. May not the absence of vegetation, and the heat-absorbing nature of the soil,—granite, quartz, and basalt,—account for the phenomenon[FN#19]? The natives as usual, observing it, have invested its origin with the garb of fable.

It is not my intention to accompany Mahomet to the shameful defeat of Taraba, where Tussun Pasha lost three quarters of his army, or to the glorious victory of Bissel, where Mohammed Ali on the 10th January, 1815, broke 24,000 Wahhabis commanded by Faysal bin Sa’ud. His account of this interesting campaign is not full or accurate like Mengin’s; still, being the tale of an eye-witness, it attracts attention. Nothing can be more graphic than his picture of the old conqueror sitting with exulting countenance upon the carpet where he had vowed to await death or victory, and surrounded by heaps of enemies’ heads.[FN#20]

Still less would it be to the purpose to describe the latter details of Haji Mahomet’s career, his return to Cairo, his accompanying Mr. Bankes to upper Egypt and Syria, and his various trips to Aleppo, Kurdistan, the

[p.401] Sa’id, the great Oasis, Nabathaea, Senna’ar, and Dongola. We concede to him the praise claimed by his translator, that he was a traveller to no ordinary extent; but beyond this we cannot go. He was so ignorant that he had forgotten to write[FN#21]; his curiosity and his powers of observation keep pace with his knowledge[FN#22]; his moral character as it appears in print is of that description which knows no sense of shame: it is not candour but sheer insensibility which makes him relate circumstantially his repeated desertions, his betrayal of Fatimah, and his various plunderings.

[FN#1] He describes the Harim as containing “the females of different countries, all of them young, and all more or less attractive, and the merriest creatures I ever saw.” His narration proves that affection and fidelity were not wanting there. [FN#2] Mr. Bankes, Finati’s employer and translator, here comments upon Ali Bey’s assertion, “Even to travellers in Mahometan countries, I look upon the safety of their journey as almost impossible, unless they have previously submitted to the rite.” Ali Bey is correct; the danger is doubled by non-compliance with the custom. Mr. Bankes apprehends that “very few renegadoes do submit to it.” In bigoted Moslem countries, it is considered a sine qua non. [FN#3] See Chap. xiii. of this work. [FN#4] “Black cloth, according to Ali Bey; and I believe he is correct.” So Mr. Bankes. If Ali Bey meant broad-cloth, both are in error, as the specimen in my possession—a mixture of silk and cotton—proves. [FN#5] Ali Bey showed by his measurements that no two sides correspond exactly. To all appearance the sides are equal, though it is certain they are not; the height exceeds the length and the breadth. [FN#6] Ali Bey (A.D. 1807) computes 80,000 men, 2,000 women, and 1,000 children at Arafat. Burckhardt (A.D. 1814) calculated it at 70,000. I do not think that in all there were more than 50,000 souls assembled together in 1853. [FN#7] Rich pilgrims always secure lodgings; the poorer class cannot afford them; therefore, the great Caravans from Egypt, Damascus, Baghdad, and other places, pitch on certain spots outside the city. [FN#8] An incorrect expression; the stone is fixed in a massive gold or silver gilt circle to the S.E. angle, but it is not part of the building. [FN#9] Ali Bey is correct in stating that the running is on the return from Arafat, directly after sunset. [FN#10] This sentence abounds in blunders. Sale, Ali Bey, and Burckhardt, all give correct accounts of the little pillar of masonry—it has nothing to do with the well—which denotes the place where Satan appeared to Abraham. The pilgrims do not throw one stone, but many. The pebbles are partly brought from Muzdalifah, partly from the valley of Muna, in which stands the pillar. [FN#11] Mr. Bankes confounds this column with the Devil’s Pillar at Muna. Finati alludes to the landmarks of the Arafat plain, now called Al-Alamayn (the two marks). The pilgrims must stand within these boundaries on a certain day (the 9th of Zu’l Hijjah), otherwise he has failed to observe a rital ordinance. [FN#12] He appears to confound the proper place with Arafat. The sacrifice is performed in the valley of Muna, after leaving the mountain. But Finati, we are told by his translator, wrote from memory—a pernicious practice for a traveller. [FN#13] This custom is now obsolete, as regards the grand body of pilgrims. Anciently, a certificate from the Sharif was given to all who could afford money for a proof of having performed the pilgrimage, but no such practice at present exists. My friends have frequently asked me, what proof there is of a Moslem’s having become a Haji. None whatever; consequently impostors abound. Sa’adi, in the Gulistan, notices a case. But the ceremonies of the Hajj are so complicated and unintelligible by mere description, that a little cross-questioning applied to the false Haji would easily detect him. [FN#14] No wonder Mr. Bankes is somewhat puzzled by this passage. Certainly none but a pilgrim could guess that the author refers to the rites called Al-Umrah and Al-Sai, or the running between Mounts Safa and Marwah. The curious reader may compare the above with Burckhardt’s correct description of the ceremonies. As regards the shaving, Finati possibly was right in his day; in Ali Bey’s, as in my time, the head was only shaved once, and a few strokes of the razor sufficed for the purpose of religious tonsure. [FN#15] Jabal Nur, anciently Hira, is a dull grey as of granite; it derives its modern name from the spiritual light of religion. Circumstances prevented my ascending it, so I cannot comment upon Finati’s “custom of leaping.” [FN#16] Open three days in the year, according to Ali Bey, the same in Burckhardt’s, and in my time.

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