The Hindus Still Wander To Egypt, To
Tibet, And To The Inhospitable Caucasus; The Classic Philosophers
Visited Egypt; The Jews Annually Flocked To Jerusalem; And The Tartars
And Mongols—Buddhists—Journey To Distant Lamaserais.
The spirit of
pilgrimage was predominant in mediæval Europe, and the processions of the
Roman Catholic Church are, according to her votaries,[FN#1] modern
memorials of the effete rite.
Every Moslem is bound, under certain conditions,[FN#2]
[P.280] to pay at least one visit to the Holy City. This constitutes
the Hajjat al-Farz (the one obligatory pilgrimage), or Hajjat al-Islam,
of the Mohammedan faith. Repetitions become mere Sunnats, or practices
of the Prophet, and are therefore supererogatory. Some European writers
have of late years laboured to represent the Meccan pilgrimage as a
fair, a pretext to collect merchants and to afford Arabia the benefits
of purchase and barter. It would be vain to speculate whether the
secular or the spiritual element originally prevailed; but most
probably each had its portion. But those who peruse this volume will
see that, despite the comparatively lukewarm piety of the age, the
Meccan pilgrimage is religious essentially, accidentally an affair of
commerce.
Moslem pilgrimage is of three kinds.
1. Al-Mukarinah (the uniting) is when the votary performs the Hajj and
the Umrah[FN#3] together, as was done by the Prophet in his last visit
to Meccah.
2. Al-Ifrad (singulation) is when either the Hajj or the Umrah is
performed singularly, the former preceding the latter.
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