Under These
Circumstances A Traveller Cannot Expect To Find Here The Most Trifling
Comforts; And Even Money Cannot Supply His Wants.
Here is, however, one
class of men, to whom I have already referred in describing Mekka, and
who render themselves equally useful at Medina.
I mean the black
pilgrims from Soudan. Few negroes, or Tekayrne, as they are called, come
to Mekka, without visiting Medina also, a town even more venerable in
their estimation than Mekka. The orthodox sect of Malekites, to which
they belong, carry, in general, their respect for Mohammed further than
any of the three other sects; and the negroes, little instructed as they
usually are, may be said to adore the Prophet, placing him, if not on a
level with the Deity, at least very little below him. They approach his
tomb with a terrified and appalled conscience, and with more intense
feelings than when they visit the Kaaba; and they are fully persuaded,
that the prayers which they utter while standing before the window of
the Hedjra, will sooner or later obtain their object. A negro hadjy once
asked me, after a short conversation with him in the mosque, if I knew
what prayers he should recite to make Mohammed appear to him in his
sleep, as he wished to ask him a particular question; and when I
expressed my ignorance, he told me that the Prophet had here appeared to
a great many of his countrymen. These people furnish Medina with fire-
wood, which they collect in the neighbouring mountains, and sell to
great advantage. If none, or only few of them, happen to be at Medina,
no wood can be got even for money. They likewise serve as carriers or
porters; and such of them as are not strong enough for hard work, make
small mats and baskets of date-leaves. They usually live together in
some of the huts of the public place called El Menakh, and remain till
they have earned money enough for their journey home. Very few of them
are beggars; of forty or fifty whom I saw here, only two or three
resorted to mendicity, being unfit for any other vocation. In general
beggars are much less numerous at Medina than at Mekka; and most of the
foreign beggars, as at Mekka, are Indians. Few hadjys come here without
either bringing the necessary funds, or being certain of gaining their
livelihood by labour, the distance of Medina from the sea being much
[p.383] greater than that of Mekka, and the road through the Desert
being dreaded by absolute paupers. It may be calculated that only one-
third of the pilgrims who visit Mekka go also to Medina. The Egyptian
caravan of pilgrims seldom passes by the town. [Whenever the Egyptian
caravan passes by Medina, it is always on its return from Mekka, and
then remains, like the Syrian, for three days only. In going from Cairo
to Mekka, this caravan never visits Medina.] Medina has pilgrims during
the whole year, there being no prescribed season for visiting the tomb;
and they usually stay here about a fortnight or a month. They are in the
greatest number during the months following the pilgrimage to Arafat,
and likewise during the month of Rabya el Thany, on the 12th of which,
the birth-day of Mohammed, or Mouled el Naby, is celebrated.
The Medinans make up for the paucity of beggars in their own town by
going elsewhere to beg. It is a custom with those inhabitants of the
town who have received some education, and can read and write, to make a
mendicant journey in Turkey once or twice in their lives. They generally
repair to Constantinople, where, by means of Turkish hadjys, whom they
have known in their own town, they introduce themselves among the
grandees, plead poverty, and receive considerable presents in clothes
and money, being held in esteem as natives of Medina, and neighbours of
the Prophet's tomb. Some of these mendicants serve as Imams in the
houses of the great. After a residence of a couple of years, they invest
the alms they have collected in merchandize, and thus return with a
considerable capital. There are very few individuals of the above
description at Medina, who have not once made the grand tour of Turkey:
I have seen several of them at Cairo, where they quartered themselves
upon people with whom their acquaintance at Medina had been very slight,
and became extremely disagreeable by their incessant craving and
impudence. There are few large cities in Syria, Anatolia, and European
Turkey, where some of these people are not to be found. For their
travelling purposes, and for the duties incumbent upon them as ciceroni
in their own town, many individuals learn a little Turkish; and it is
their pride to
[p.384] persuade the Turkish pilgrims, that they are Turks, and not
Arabians, however little they may like the former.
The Medinans generally are of a less cheerful and lively disposition
than the Mekkans. They display more gravity and austerity in their
manners, but much less than the northern Turks. They outwardly appear
more religious than their southern neighbours. They are much more rigid
in the observance of their sacred rites, and public decorum is much more
observed at Medina than at Mekka: the morals, however, of the
inhabitants appear to be much upon the same level with those of the
Mekkans; all means are adopted to cheat the hadjys. The vices which
disgrace the Mekkans are also prevalent here; and their religious
austerity has not been able to exclude the use of intoxicating liquors.
These are prepared by the negroes, as well as date-wine, which is made
by pouring water over dates, and leaving it to ferment. On the whole, I
believe the Medinans to be as worthless as the Mekkans, and greater
hypocrites. They, however, wish to approach nearer to the northern
Turkish character; and, for that reason, abandon the few good qualities
for which the Mekkans may be commended.
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