K.C.M.G., F.R.G.S., &c., &c., &c.
EDITED BY HIS WIFE, ISABEL BURTON.
“Our notions of Mecca must be drawn from the Arabians; as no unbeliever
is permitted to enter the city, our travellers are silent.”—Gibbon, chap.
50.
MEMORIAL EDITION.
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME II.
[p.xii]
[Arabic]
Dark and the Desert and Destriers me ken,
And the Glaive and the Joust, and Paper and Pen.
Al-Mutanabbi
PART II.
AL-MADINAH.
(Continued.)
[p.1]
A PILGRIMAGE
TO
AL-MADINAH AND MECCAH.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE PEOPLE OF AL-MADINAH.
AL-MADINAH contains but few families descended from the Prophet’s
Auxiliaries. I heard only of four whose genealogy is undoubted. These
were,—
1. The Bayt al-Ansari, or descendants of Abu Ayyub, a most noble race
whose tree ramifies through a space of fifteen hundred years. They keep
the keys of the Kuba Mosque, and are Imams in the Harim, but the family
is no longer wealthy or powerful.
2. The Bayt Abu Jud: they supply the Harim with Imams and
Mu’ezzins.[FN#l] I was told that there are now but two surviving members
of this family, a boy and a girl.
3. The Bayt al-Sha’ab, a numerous race. Some of the members travel
professionally, others trade, and others are employed in the Harim.
4. The Bayt al-Karrani, who are mostly engaged in commerce.
There is also a race called Al-Nakhawilah,[FN#2] who,
