Peace be upon
Ye, Martyrs of Al-Bakia, One and All!
We verily, if Allah please, are
about to join You! O Allah, pardon us and Them, and the Mercy of God,
and His Blessings!” After which we recited the Chapter Al-Ikhlas and the
Testification, then raised our hands, mumbled the Fatihah, passed our
palms down our faces, and went on.
Walking down a rough narrow path, which leads from the western to the
eastern extremity of Al-Bakia, we entered the humble mausoleum of the
Caliph Osman—Osman “Al-Mazlum,” or the “ill-treated,” he is called by some
Moslems. When he was slain,[FN#14] his friends wished to bury him by
the Prophet in the Hujrah, and Ayishah made no objection to the
measure. But the people of Egypt became violent; swore that the corpse
should neither be buried nor be prayed over, and only permitted it to
be removed upon the threat of Habibah (one of the “Mothers of the Moslems,”
and daughter of Abu Sufiyan) to expose her countenance. During the
night that followed his death, Osman was carried out by several of his
friends to Al-Bakia, from which, however, they were driven away, and
obliged to deposit their burden in a garden, eastward of and outside
the saints’ cemetery. It was called Hisn Kaukab, and was looked upon as
an inauspicious place of sepulture, till Marwan included it in
Al-Bakia. We stood before Osman’s monument, repeating, “Peace be upon Thee,
O our Lord Osman, Son of Affan![FN#15] Peace be upon
[p.36] Thee, O Caliph of Allah’s Apostle!
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