O Thou Pardoner!” This Was Repeated
Thrice, Till We Arrived At The Yamani, Or South Corner, Where, The
Crowd Being Less Importunate, We Touched The Wall With The Right Hand,
After The Example Of The Prophet, And Kissed The Finger-Tips.
Finally,
between the south angle and that of the Black Stone, where our circuit
would be completed, we said,
“O Allah, verily I take Refuge with Thee
from Infidelity, and I take Refuge with Thee from Want, and from the
Tortures of the Tomb, and from the Troubles of Life and Death. And I
fly to Thee from Ignominy in this World and the next, and I implore Thy
Pardon for the Present and for the Future. O Lord, grant to me in this
Life Prosperity, and in the next Life Prosperity, and save me from the
Punishment of Fire.”
Thus finished a Shaut, or single course round the house. Of these we
performed the first three at the pace called Harwalah, very similar to
the French pas gymnastique, or Tarammul, that is to say, “moving the
shoulders as if walking in sand.” The four latter are performed in
Ta’ammul, slowly and leisurely; the reverse of the Sai, or running. These
seven Ashwat, or courses, are called collectively one Usbu ([Arabic]).
The Moslem origin of this custom is too well known to require mention.
After each Taufah[,] or circuit, we, being unable to kiss or even to
touch the Black Stone, fronted towards it, raised our hands to our
ears, exclaimed, “In the Name of Allah, and Allah is omnipotent!” kissed
our fingers, and resumed the ceremony of circumambulation, as before,
with “Allah, in Thy Belief,” &c.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 213 of 630
Words from 57366 to 57644
of 175520
