Travels In Arabia

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ARRIVAL AT MEKKA

[p.93] The coffee-houses, unfortunately, had also been inundated; we
could not find a dry place on which to sit, and with some difficulty a
fire was lighted in one of the small and more weather-proof huts of the
Arabs, into which the Kadhy, with a few of his people and myself, crept,
and boiled our coffee; in another hut were his women, crying from the
severity of the cold. He not wishing that they should be exposed to the
consequences of such a night's lodging, mounted again, after a stay of
half an hour, and proceeded towards Mekka, leaving me and my party in
possession of the fire, by the side of which, after some time, we
contrived to make ourselves com-fortable.

September 9th. We set out early, and found that the storm of yesterday
had not extended farther than the plain of Arafat. Such storms and
inundations are frequent in this country, where the seasons seem to be
much less regular than in other places under the same latitude. I heard
that in the Upper Mountains, and at Tayf, the rainy season, although not
so regular as under the tropics in Africa, is yet more steady than in
the low country of Mekka and Djidda, where, even in the midst of summer,
the sky is often clouded by storms and rain. The historians of Mekka
have recorded several dreadful inundations in that city; the most
disastrous occurred in the years of the Hedjira 80, 184, 202, 280, 297,
549, 620, 802, 829. In some of these, the whole town of Mekka, and the
Temple, as high as the black stone, were under water, and in all of them
many houses were destroyed and lives lost. Assamy gives the details of
an inundation which devastated Mekka in A.H. 1039, or in the year 1626
of our era, when five hundred lives were lost, and the Kaaba in the
Temple was destroyed. Another dreadful inundation happened in 1672.

I arrived at Mekka about mid-day, when my companions went in search of
their acquaintance among the soldiers, and left me to shift for myself,
without knowing a single individual in the town, and without being
recommended to any body but the Kadhy, whom, as I have already said, I
wished to avoid.

MEKKA

[p.94] Whoever enters Mekka, whether pilgrim or not, is enjoined by the
law to visit the Temple immediately, and not to attend to any worldly
concern whatever, before he has done so. We crossed the line of shops
and houses, up to the gates of the mosque, where my ass-driver took his
fare and set me down: here I was accosted by half a dozen metowef, or
guides to the holy places, who knew, from my being dressed in the ihram,
that I intended to visit the Kaaba. I chose one of them as my guide,
and, after having deposited my baggage in a neighbouring shop, entered
the mosque at the gate called Bab-es'-Salam, by which the new-comer is
recommended to enter. The ceremonies to be performed in visiting the
mosque are the following:--1. Certain religious rites to be practised in
the interior of the temple; 2. The walk between Szafa and Meroua; 3. The
visit to the Omra. These ceremonies ought to be repeated by every Moslem
whenever he enters Mekka from a journey farther than two days' distance,
and they must again be more particularly performed at the time of the
pilgrimage to Arafat. I shall here describe them as briefly as possible;
a full detail and explanation of the Mohammedan law on this subject
would be extremely tedious; indeed there exist many voluminous works in
Arabic which treat of nothing else.

1. Rites to be performed in the Interior of the Temple.

At the entrance, under the colonnade, some prayers are recited on first
sight of the Kaaba, and then two rikats, or four prostrations addressed
to the divinity, in thanks for having reached the holy spot, and in
salutation of the mosque itself; after which the pilgrim approaches the
Kaaba by one of the paved ways to it, through the open area in which it
stands. In passing under the insulated arch in front of the Kaaba,
called Bab-es'-Salam, certain prayers are said. Other prayers are
recited in a low voice, and the visitor then places himself opposite to
the black stone of the Kaaba, and prays two

[p.95] rikats; at the conclusion of which, the stone is touched with the
right hand, or kissed, if there is no great pressure of people. The
devotee then begins the Towaf, or walk round the Kaaba, keeping that
building on his left hand. This ceremony is to be repeated seven times;
the three first are in a quick pace, in imitation of the Prophet, whose
enemies having reported that he was dangerously ill, he contradicted
them by running thrice round the Kaaba at full speed. Every circuit must
be accompanied with prescribed prayers, which are recited in a low
voice, and appropriated to the different parts of the building that are
passed: the black stone is kissed or touched at the conclusion of each
circuit, as well as another stone, walled in at one corner of the black
stone. When the seven circuits are finished, the visiter approaches the
wall of the Kaaba, between the black stone and the door of the building,
which space is called El Metzem. There, with widely outstretched arms,
and with his breast closely pressed against the wall, he beseeches the
Lord to pardon his sins. He then retires towards the neighbouring Mekam
Ibrahim, and there prays two rikats, called Sunnet-et-towaf, after which
he repairs to the adjoining well of Zemzem; and, after a short pious
address in honour of the well, drinks as much of the water as he wishes,
or as he can on occasions when the crowd is very great; and this
completes the ceremonies to be observed within the temple.

I may here add, that the Towaf is a Muselman ceremony not exclusively
practised in the temple at Mekka. In the summer of 1813, I was present
at the annual festival of the patron saint of Kenne, in Upper Egypt,
called Seid Abderrahman el Kennawy. Many thousands of the people of the
country were assembled on the plain, in which stands the saint's tomb,
at a distance of one mile from the town. Each person, as he arrived,
walked seven times round the small mosque which contains the tomb; and
when the new covering intended to be laid over it for that year was
brought in solemn procession, the whole assembly followed it seven times
round the building, after which it was placed upon the tomb.

[p.96] 2. Walk between Szafa and Meroua.

My guide, who, during the whole of the ceremonies above men-tioned, had
been close at my heels, reciting all the necessary prayers, which I
repeated after him, now led me out of the mosque by the gate called Bab-
es'-Szafa. About fifty yards from the S.E. side of the mosque, on a
slightly ascending ground, stand three small open arches, connected by
an architrave above, having below three broad stone steps leading up to
them.

This is called the Hill of Szafa: here, standing on the upper step, with
his face turned towards the mosque, which is hidden from view by
intervening houses, the pilgrim raises his hands towards heaven,
addresses a short prayer to the Deity, and implores his assistance in
the holy walk, or Say, as it is called; he then descends, to begin the
walk, along a level street about six hundred paces in length, which the
Arabian historians call Wady Szafa, leading towards Meroua, which is at
its farther extremity, where stands a stone platform, ele-vated about
six or eight feet above the level of the street, with several broad
steps ascending to it. The visiter is enjoined to walk at a quick pace
from Szafa to Meroua; and for a short space, which is marked by four
stones or pilasters, called El Myleyn el Akhdereyn, built into the walls
of the houses on both sides, he must run. Two of these stones seemed to
be of a green colour; they exhibit nume-rous inscriptions; but these are
so high in the walls, that it would be difficult to read them. Prayers
are recited uninterruptedly in a loud voice during this walk. Persons
who are unwell may ride, or be borne in a litter. On reaching Meroua,
the pilgrim ascends the

ARRIVAL AT MEKKA

[p.97] steps, and, with uplifted hands, repeats a short prayer like that
of Szaffa, to which place he must now return. The walk between the two
places is to be repeated seven times, concluding at Meroua; four times
from Szaffa to Meroua; and three times from Meroua to Szaffa.

3. The Visit to the Omra.

In the vicinity of Meroua are many barbers' shops; into one of these the
pilgrim enters, having completed the Say, and the barber shaves his
head, reciting a particular prayer, which the pilgrim repeats after him.
The Hanefys, one of the four orthodox sects of Moslims, shave only one-
fourth part of the head; the other three-fourths continuing untouched
till they return from the Omra. After the ceremony of shaving is
finished, the visitor is at liberty to lay aside the ihram, and put on
his ordinary dress; or, if he choose, he may go immediately from thence
to the Omra, in which case he still wears the ihram, and says only two
rikats on setting out. This, however, is seldom done, as the ceremonies
of the Towaf and Say are sufficiently fatiguing to render repose
desirable on their completion the visitor, therefore, dresses in his
usual clothes; but the next or any following day, (the sooner the
better,) he resumes the ihram, with the same ceremonies as are observed
on first assuming it, and then proceeds to the Omra, a place one hour
and a half from Mekka. Here he repeats two rikats in a small chapel, and
returns to the city, chanting all the way the pious ejaculations called
Telby, beginning with the words, "Lebeyk, Alla humma, Lebeyk." He must
now again perform the Towaf and the Say, have his head completely
shaved, and lay aside the ihram, which closes those ceremonies. A visit
to the Omra is enjoined by the law as absolutely necessary; but many
individuals, notwithstanding, dispense with it. I went thither, on the
third day after my arrival in the city, performing the walk in the
night-time, which is the fashion during the hot season.

At the time of the Hadj, all these ceremonies must be repeated

[p.98] after returning from Wady Muna, and again on taking leave of
Mekka. The Towaf, or walk round the Kaaba, should also be performed as
often as convenient; and few foreigners live at Mekka, who do not make
it a point to execute it twice daily; in the evening and before day-
break.

Prior to the age of Mohammed, when idolatry prevailed in Arabia, the
Kaaba was regarded as a sacred object, and visited with religious
veneration by persons who performed the Towaf nearly in the same manner
as their descendants do at present. The building, however, was, in those
times, ornamented with three hundred and sixty idols, and there was a
very important difference in the cere-mony; for men and women were then
obliged to appear in a state of perfect nudity, that their sins might be
thrown off with their garments. The Mohammedan Hadj or pilgrimage, and
the visit to the Kaaba, are, therefore, nothing more than a continuation
and con-firmation of the ancient custom. In like manner, Szafa and
Meroua were esteemed by the old Arabians as holy places, which contained
images of the gods Motam and Nehyk; and here the idolaters used to walk
from the one place to the other, after their return from the pilgrimage
to Arafat. Here, if we may believe Mohammedan tradition, Hadjer, the
mother of Ismayl, wandered about in the Desert, after she had been
driven from Abraham's house, that she might not witness the death of her
infant son, whom she had laid down almost expiring from thirst; when the
angel Gabriel appearing, struck the ground with his foot, which caused
the well of Zemzem immediately to spring forth. In commemoration of the
wanderings of Hadjer, who in her affliction had gone seven times between
Szafa and Meroua, the walk from one place to the other is said to have
been instituted.

El Azraky relates that, when the idolatrous Arabs had concluded the
ceremonies of the Hadj at Arafat, all the different tribes that had been
present, assembled, on their return to Mekka, at the holy place called
Szafa, there to extol, in loud and impassioned strains, the glory of
their ancestors, their battles, and the fame of their

[p.99] nation. From each tribe, in its turn, arose a poet who addressed
the multitude. "To our tribe," exclaimed he, "belonged such and such
eminent warriors and generous Arabs; and now," he added, "we boast of
others." He then recited their names, and sang their praises; concluding
with a strain of heroic poetry, and an appeal to the other tribes, in
words like the following:--"Let him who denies the truth of what I have
said, or who lays claim to as much glory, honour, and virtue as we do,
prove it here!" Some rival poet then arose, and celebrated in similar
language the equal or superior glory attached to his own tribe,
endeavouring, at the same time, to under-value or ridicule his rival's
pretensions.

To allay the animosity and jealousies produced by this custom; or,
perhaps, to break the independent spirit of his fierce Bedouins,
Mohammed abolished it by a passage in the Koran, which says:--"When you
have completed the rites of the pilgrimage, remember God, as you
formerly were wont to commemorate your forefathers, and with still
greater fervency." Thus, probably, was removed the cause of many
quarrels; but, at the same time, this stern lawgiver destroyed the
influence which the songs of those rival national bards exercised over
the martial virtues and literary genius of their countrymen.

The visit of the Omra was likewise an ancient custom. Mohammed retained
the practice; and it is said that he frequently recited his evening
prayers on that spot.

Having completed the fatiguing ceremonies of the Towaf and Say, I had a
part of my head shaved, and remained sitting in the barber's shop, not
knowing any other place of repose. I inquired after lodgings, but
learned that the town was already full of pil-grims, and that many
others, who were expected, had engaged apartments. After some time,
however, I found a man who offered me a ready-furnished room: of this I
took possession, and having no servant, boarded with the owner. He and
his family, consisting of a wife and two children, retired into a small,
open court-yard, on the side of my room. The landlord was a poor man
from Medina,

MEKKA

[p.100] and by profession a Metowaf, or cicerone. Although his mode of
living was much below that of even the second class of Mekkawys, yet it
cost me fifteen piastres a day; and I found, after we parted, that
several articles of dress had been pilfered from my travelling sack; but
this was not all: on the feast-day he invited me to a splendid supper,
in company with half a dozen of his friends, in my room, and on the
following morning he presented me with a bill for the whole expense of
this entertainment.

The thousands of lamps lighted during Ramadhan in the great mosque,
rendered it the nightly resort of all foreigners at Mekka; here they
took their walk, or sat conversing till after midnight. The scene
presented altogether a spectacle which (excepting the absence of women)
resembled rather an European midnight assemblage, than what I should
have expected in the sanctuary of the Mohammedan religion. The night
which closes Ramadhan, did not present those brilliant displays of
rejoicing that are seen in other parts of the East; and the three
subsequent days of the festival are equally devoid of public amusements.
A few swinging machines were placed in the streets to amuse children,
and some Egyptian jugglers exhibited their feats to multitudes assembled
in the streets; but little else occurred to mark the feast, except a
display of gaudy dresses, in which the Arabians surpass both Syrians and
Egyptians.

I paid the visit, customary on occasion of this feast, to the Kadhy, and
at the expiration of the third day, (on the 15th of September,) set out
for Djidda, to complete my travelling equipments, which are more easily
procured there than at Mekka. On my way to the coast, I was nearly made
prisoner at Bahra by a flying corps of Wahabys. My stay at Djidda was
prolonged to three weeks, chiefly in consequence of sore legs; a disease
very prevalent on this unhealthy coast, where every bite of a gnat, if
neglected, becomes a serious wound.

About the middle of October I returned to Mekka, accompanied by a slave
whom I had purchased. This boy had been in the caravan with which I went
from the Black Country to Sowakin, and was

[p.101] quite astonished at seeing me in a condition so superior to that
in which he had before known me. I took with me a camel-load of
provisions, mostly flour, biscuit, and butter, procured in Djidda at one
third of the price demanded at Mekka, where, immediately on my arrival,
I hired decent apartments in a quarter of the town not much frequented,
called Haret el Mesfale. I had here the advantage of several large trees
growing before my windows, the verdure of which, among the barren and
sun-burnt rocks of Mekka, was to me more exhilarating than the finest
landscape could have been under different circumstances. At this place I
enjoyed an enviable freedom and independence, known only to the Kadhy
and his followers, who soon after took their departure. The Pasha and
his court remained at Tayf till the days of the Hadj. I frequented only
such society as pleased me, and, mixing with a crowd of foreign pilgrims
from all parts of the world, I was not liable to impertinent remarks or
disagreeable inquiries. If any question arose about my origin (a
circum-stance that rarely happened in a place which always abounds with
strangers), I stated myself to be a reduced member of the Mamelouk corps
of Egypt, and found it easy to avoid those persons whose intimate
knowledge of that country might perhaps have enabled them to detect the
falsehood. But there was little to be appre-hended even from the
consequences of such detection; for the assumption of a false character
is frequent among all eastern travellers, and especially at Mekka, where
every one affects poverty in order to escape imposition, or being led
into great expenses. During all my journies in the East, I never enjoyed
such perfect ease as at Mekka; and I shall always retain a pleasing
recollection of my residence there, although the state of my health did
not permit me to benefit by all the advantages that my situation
offered. I shall now proceed to describe the town, its inhabitants, and
the pilgrimage, and then resume the narrative of my travels.

[p.102] DESCRIPTION OF MEKKA. [EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN. [not included]]

MEKKA is dignified among the Arabs with many lofty-sounding titles. The
most common are Om el Kora (the mother of towns);

[p.103] El Mosherefe (the noble); Beled al Ameyn (the region of the
faithful). Firuzabadi, the celebrated author of the Kamus, has composed
a whole treatise on the different names of Mekka. This town is situated
in a valley, narrow and sandy, the main direction of which is from north
to south; but it inclines towards the north-west near the southern
extremity of the town. In breadth this valley varies from one hundred to
seven hundred paces, the chief part of the city being placed where the
valley is most broad. In the narrower part are single rows of houses
only, or detached shops. The town itself covers a space of about fifteen
hundred paces in length, from the quarter called El Shebeyka to the
extremity of the Mala; but the whole extent of ground comprehended under
the denomination of Mekka, from the suburb called Djerouel (where is the
entrance from Djidda) to the suburb called Moabede (on the Tayf road),
amounts to three thousand five hundred paces. The mountains inclosing
this valley (which, before the town was built, the Arabs had named Wady
Mekka or Bekka) are from two to five hundred feet in height, completely
barren and destitute of trees. The principal chain lies on the eastern
side of the town: the valley slopes gently towards the south, where
stands the quarter called El Mesfale (the low place). The rain-water
from the town is lost towards the south of Mesfale in the open valley
named Wady el Tarafeyn. Most of the town is situated in the valley
itself; but there are also parts built on the sides of the mountains,
principally of the eastern chain, where the primitive habitations of the
Koreysh, and the ancient town appear to have been placed.

Mekka may be styled a handsome town: its streets are in general broader
than those of eastern cities; the houses lofty, and built of stone; and
the numerous windows that face the streets give them a more lively and
European aspect than those of Egypt or Syria, where the houses present
but few windows towards the exterior. Mekka (like Djidda) contains many
houses three stories high; few at Mekka are white-washed; but the dark
grey colour of the stone is much pre-ferable to the glaring white that
offends the eye in Djidda. In most

[p.104] towns of the Levant the narrowness of a street contributes to
its coolness; and in countries where wheel-carriages are not used, a
space that allows two loaded camels to pass each other is deemed
sufficient. At Mekka, however, it was necessary to leave the passages
wide, for the innumerable visitors who here crowd together; and it is in
the houses adapted for the reception of pilgrims and other sojourners,
that the windows are so contrived as to command a view of the streets.

The city is open on every side; but the neighbouring mountains, if
properly defended, would form a barrier of considerable strength against
an enemy. In former times it had three walls to protect its extremities;
one was built across the valley, at the street of Mala; another at the
quarter of Shebeyka; and the third at the valley opening into the
Mesfale. These walls were repaired in A.H. 816 and 828, and in a century
after some traces of them still remained. [See Azraky, Fasy, and
Kotobeddyn.]

The only public place in the body of the town is the ample square of the
great mosque; no trees or gardens cheer the eye; and the scene is
enlivened only during the Hadj by the great number of well-stored shops
which are found in every quarter. Except four or five large houses
belonging to the Sherif, two medreses or colleges (now converted into
corn magazines), and the mosque, with some buildings and schools
attached to it, Mekka cannot boast of any public edifices, and in this
respect is, perhaps, more deficient than any other eastern city of the
same size. Neither khans, for the accommodation of travellers, or for
the deposit of merchandize, nor palaces of grandees, nor mosques, which
adorn every quarter of other towns in the East, are here to be seen; and
we may perhaps attribute this want of splendid buildings to the
veneration which its inhabi-tants entertain for their temple; this
prevents them from construct-ing any edifice which might possibly
pretend to rival it.

he mode of building is the same as that adopted at Djidda, with the
addition of windows looking towards the street; of these many project
from the wall, and have their frame-work elaborately

[p.105] carved, or gaudily painted. Before them hang blinds made of
slight reeds, which exclude flies and gnats while they admit fresh air.
Every house has its terrace, the floor of which (composed of a
preparation from lime-stone) is built with a slight inclination, so that
the rain-water runs off through gutters into the street; for the rains
here are so irregular that it is not worth while to collect the water of
them in cisterns, as is done in Syria. The terraces are concealed from
view by slight parapet walls; for throughout the east it is reckoned
discreditable that a man should appear upon the terrace, whence he might
be accused of looking at women in the neighbour-ing houses, as the
females pass much of their time on the terraces, employed in various
domestic occupations, such as drying corn, hanging up linen, &c. The
Europeans of Aleppo alone enjoy the privilege of frequenting their
terraces, which are often beautifully built of stone; here they resort
during the summer evenings, and often to sup and pass the night. All the
houses of the Mekkawys, except those of the principal and richest
inhabitants, are constructed for the accommodation of lodgers, being
divided into many apart-ments, separated from each other, and each
consisting of a sitting-room and a small kitchen. Since the pilgrimage,
which has begun to decline, (this happened before the Wahaby conquest,)
many of the Mekkawys, no longer deriving profit from the letting of
their lodgings, found themselves unable to afford the expense of
repairs; and thus numerous buildings in the out-skirts have fallen
completely into ruin, and the town itself exhibits in every street
houses rapidly decaying. I saw only one of recent construction; it was
in the quarter of El Shebeyka, belonged to a sherif, and cost, as report
said, one hundred and fifty purses; such a house might have been built
at Cairo for sixty purses.

The streets are all unpaved; and in summer time the sand and dust in
them are as great a nuisance as the mud is in the rainy season, during
which they are scarcely passable after a shower; for in the interior of
the town the water does not run off, but remains till it is dried up. It
may be ascribed to the destructive rains,