It Is Mentioned By Herodotus, And Known To
Almost Every Oriental People.
The Badawin sometimes, though rarely, use
a table or kettledrum.
Yet, amongst the “Pardah,” or miuscal modes of the
East, we find the Hijazi ranking with the Isfahani and the Iraki.
Southern Arabia has never been celebrated for producing musicians, like
the banks of the Tigris to which we owe, besides castanets and cymbals,
the guitar, the drum, and the lute, father of the modern harp. The name
of this instrument is a corruption of the Arabic “Al-’ud” ([Arabic text]),
through liuto and luth, into lute.
[FN#6] NOTE TO THIRD EDITION.—Since this was written there have been two
deadly epidemics, which began, it is reported, at Muna. The victims,
however, have never numbered 700,000, nor is “each pilgrim required to
sacrifice one animal at the shrine of Mohammed,”(!) as we find it in
“Cholera Prospects,” by Tilbury Fox, M.D. (Hardwicke).
[FN#7] A scarf thrown over the head, with one end brought round under
the chin and passed over the left shoulder composes the “Taylasan.”
[FN#8] As late as Ibn Jubayr’s time the preacher was habited from head to
foot in black; and two Mu’ezzins held black flags fixed in rings on both
sides of the pulpit, with the staves propped upon the first step.
[FN#9] Mr. Lane remarks, that the wooden sword is never held by the
preacher but in a country that has been won from infidels by Moslems.
Burckhardt more correctly traces the origin of the custom to the early
days of Al-Islam, when the preachers found it necessary to be prepared
for surprises. And all authors who, like Ibn Jubayr, described the
Meccan ceremonies, mention the sword or staff. The curious reader will
consult this most accurate of Moslem travellers; and a perusal of the
pages will show that anciently the sermon differed considerably from,
and was far more ceremonious than, the present Khutbah.
[FN#10] The words were “Peace be upon ye! and the Mercy of Allah and His
Blessings!”
[p.227] CHAPTER XXXII.
LIFE AT MECCAH, AND UMRAH, OR THE LITTLE PILGRIMAGE.
MY few remaining days at Meccah sped pleasantly enough. Omar Effendi
visited me regularly, and arranged to accompany me furtively to Cairo.
I had already consulted Mohammed Shiklibha—who suddenly appeared at Muna,
having dropped down from Suez to Jeddah, and having reached Meccah in
time for pilgrimage—about the possibility of proceeding Eastward. The
honest fellow’s eyebrows rose till they almost touched his turband, and
he exclaimed in a roaring voice, “Wallah! Effendi! thou art surely mad.”
Every day he brought me news of the different Caravans. The Badawin of
Al-Hijaz were, he said, in a ferment caused by the reports of the Holy
War, want of money, and rumours of quarrels between the Sharif and the
Pasha: already they spoke of an attack upon Jeddah. Shaykh Mas’ud, the
camel man, from whom I parted on the best of terms, seriously advised
my remaining at Meccah for some months even before proceeding to Sana’a.
Others gave the same counsel.
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