And The
Learned Believe That The Prophet Refused To Pray Over Or To Intercede
For His Mother, She Having Died Before Al-Islam Was Revealed.
[FN#8] Burckhardt Calls It “Maulid Sittna Fatimah”:
But the name “Kubbat el
Wahy,” applied by my predecessor to this locality, is generally made
synonymous with Al-Mukhtaba,
The “hiding-place” where the Prophet and his
followers used in dangerous times to meet for prayer.
[FN#9] So loose is local tradition, that some have confounded this
quern with the Natak al-Nabi, the stone which gave God-speed to the
Prophet.
[FN#10] He would of course pray the Farz, or obligatory devotions, at
the shrine.
[FN#11] About a year since writing the above a firman was issued by the
Porte suppressing the traffic from Central Africa. Hitherto we have
respected slavery in the Red Sea, because the Turk thence drew his
supplies; we are now destitute of an excuse. A single steamer would
destroy the trade, and if we delay to take active measures, the people
of England, who have spent millions in keeping up a West African
squadron, will not hold us guiltless of negligence.
NOTE TO SECOND EDITION.—The slave trade has, since these remarks were
penned, been suppressed with a high hand; the Arabs of Al-Hijaz
resented the measure by disowning the supremacy of the Porte, but they
were soon reduced to submission.
[FN#12] The Prince was first invested with the Sharifat by Mohammed Ali
of Egypt in A.D. 1827, when Yahya fled, after stabbing his nephew in
the Ka’abah, to the Benu Harb Badawin. He was supported by Ahmad Pasha of
Meccah, with a large army; but after the battle of Tarabah, in which
Ibrahim Pasha was worsted by the Badawin, Mohammed Bin Aun, accused of
acting as Sylla, was sent in honourable bondage to Cairo. He again
returned to Meccah, where the rapacity of his eldest son, Abdullah, who
would rob pilgrims, caused fresh misfortunes. In A.D. 1851, when Abd
al-Muttalib was appointed Sharif, the Pasha was ordered to send Bin Aun
to Stambul—no easy task. The Turk succeeded by a manœuvre. Mohammed’s two
sons, happening to be at Jeddah, were invited to inspect a man-of-war,
and were there made prisoners. Upon this the father yielded himself up;
although, it is said, the flashing of the Badawi’s sabre during his
embarkation made the Turks rejoice that they had won the day by
state-craft. The wild men of Al-Hijaz still sing songs in honour of
this Sharif.
NOTE TO SECOND EDITION.—Early in 1856, when the Sharif Abd al-Muttalib
was deposed, Mohammed bin Aun was sent from Constantinople to quiet the
insurrection caused by the new slave laws in Al-Hijaz. In a short space
of time he completely succeeded.
[FN#13] The 12th of Rabia al-Awwal, Mohammed’s birthday, is here
celebrated with great festivities, feasts, prayers, and perusals of the
Koran.
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