He Saw How Easily The Coin Had Slipped From My Fingers, And He Fondly Hoped That He Had Not Seen The Last Piece.

“Verily thou art a good

[P.258] young man!” he ejaculated, adding fervently, as prayers cost nothing, “May Allah further all thy desires.” A gentle patting of the back evidenced his high approval.

I never saw old Ali after that evening, but entrusted to the boy Mohammed what was considered a just equivalent for his services.

[FN#1] Jabal Nur, or Hira, has been mentioned before. Jabal Saur rises at some distance to the South of Meccah, and contains the celebrated cave in which Mohammed and Abu Bakr took refuge during the flight. [FN#2] The tradition of these places is related by every historian. The former is the repository of the Black Stone during the Deluge. The latter, “splitting of the moon,” is the spot where the Prophet stood when, to convert the idolatrous Kuraysh, he caused half the orb of night to rise from behind Abu Kubays, and the other from Jabal Kayka’an, on the Western horizon. This silly legend appears unknown to Mohammed’s day. [FN#3] The pilgrimage season, strictly speaking, concluded this year on the 17th September (13th Zu’l Hijjah); at which time travellers began to move towards Jeddah. Those who purposed visiting Al-Madinah would start about three weeks afterwards, and many who had leisure intended witnessing the Muharram ceremonies at Meccah. [FN#4] This is the local tradition; it does not agree with authentic history. Muir (Life of Mahomet, vol. iv. p. 126) reminds me that Khalid and his Badawin attacked the citizens of Meccah without the Prophet’s leave. But after the attack he may have followed in his leader’s train. [FN#5] The reason of their Vandalism has been noticed in a previous volume. [FN#6] The Aloe here, as in Egypt, is hung, like the dried crocodile, over houses as a talisman against evil spirits. Burckhardt assigns, as a motive for it being planted in graveyards, that its name Saber denotes the patience with which the believer awaits the Last Day. And Lane remarks, “The Aloe thus hung (over the door), without earth and water, will live for several years, and even blossom: hence it is called Saber, which signifies patience.” In India it is hung up to prevent Mosquitoes entering a room. I believe the superstition to be a fragment of African fetichism. The Gallas, to the present day, plant Aloes on graves, and suppose that when the plant sprouts the deceased has been admitted into the gardens of “Wak”—the Creator. Ideas breed vocables; but seldom, except among rhymesters, does a vocable give birth to a popular idea: and in Arabic “Sibr,” as well as “Sabr,” is the name of the Aloe. [FN#7] Burckhardt mentions the “Tomb of Umna, the mother of Mohammed,” in the Ma’ala at Meccah; and all the ciceroni agree about the locality. Yet historians place it at Abwa, where she gave up the ghost, after visiting Al-Madinah to introduce her son to his relations.

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