Personal Narrative Of A Pilgrimage To Al-Madinah & Meccah - Volume 2 of 2 - By Captain Sir Richard F. Burton





























 -  Arabs are
especially jealous of being overlooked, and have no fellow-feeling for
votaries of “beautiful views.” For this reason - Page 219
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Arabs Are Especially Jealous Of Being Overlooked, And Have No Fellow-Feeling For Votaries Of “Beautiful Views.” For This Reason

Here, as in Egypt, a blind Mu’ezzin is preferred, and many ridiculous stories are told about men who for

Years have counterfeited cecity to live in idleness[.] [FN#61] I have illustrated this chapter, which otherwise might be unintelligible to many, by a plan of the Ka’abah (taken from Ali Bey al-Abbasi), which Burckhardt pronounced to be “perfectly correct.” This author has not been duly appreciated. In the first place, his disguise was against him; and, secondly, he was a spy of the French Government. According to Mr. Bankes, who had access to the original papers at Constantinople, Ali Bey was a Catalonian named Badia, and was suspected to have been of Jewish extraction. He claimed from Napoleon a reward for his services, returned to the East, and died, it is supposed, of poison in the Hauran, near Damascus. In the edition which I have consulted (Paris, 1814) the author labours to persuade the world by marking the days with their planetary signs, &c., &c., that he is a real Oriental, but he perpetually betrays himself. Some years ago, accurate plans of the two Harims were made by order of the present Sultan. They are doubtless to be found amongst the archives at Constantinople. [FN#62] It must be remembered that the Moslems, like many of the Jews, hold that Paradise was not on earth, but in the lowest firmament, which is, as it were, a reflection of earth. [FN#63] Others derive the surname from this decision. [FN#64] As will afterwards be mentioned, almost every Meccan knows the prophecy of Mohammed, that the birthplace of his faith will be destroyed by an army from Abyssinia. Such things bring their own fulfilment. [FN#65] Abu Hanifah made it a temporal sanctuary, and would not allow even a murderer to be dragged from the walls. [FN#66] Makkah (our Meccah) is the common word; Bakkah is a synonym never used but in books. The former means “a concourse of people.” But why derive it from the Hebrew, and translate it “a slaughter”? Is this a likely name for a holy place? Dr. Colenso actually turns the Makaraba of Ptolemy into “Makkah-rabbah,” plentiful slaughter. But if Makaraba be Meccah, it is evidently a corruption of “Makkah” and “Arabah,” the Arab race. Again, supposing the Meccan temple to be originally dedicated to the sun, why should the pure Arab word “Ba’al” become the Hebræized Hobal, and the deity be only one in the three hundred and sixty that formed the Pantheon? [FN#67] This is an audacious falsehood; the Ka’abah is scarcely ever opened without some accident happening.

[p.327] APPENDIX III.[FN#1]

SPECIMEN OF A MURSHID'S DIPLOMA, IN THE KADIRI ORDER OF THE MYSTIC CRAFT AL-TASAWWUF.

[ TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: Footnote 1 gives a description of the original manuscript. In Burton’s book, the text is presented as follows: - Firstly, the section of text beginning “This is the tree…” and ending with the lines “Amen.”, “A.”, presented as a triangle, with each line centred on the page. - Below this, the section of text “There is no god but Allah…a thing to Allah.”, centred, and enclosed in a circle. - Below that, the section of text “Sayyid A…of C.”, centred, and enclosed in a horizontal oval. - The line “And of him…we beg aid.”, in smaller type. - All the following lines are enclosed in a box filling most of each page, with a horizontal rule separating the lines of text.

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