The Valley We Had Left To Our Right Takes A
Western Circuitous Tour, And Includes Several Other Villages, Of Which I
Heard The Following Mentioned:
Hosseynye, (nearest to Waset); then,
lower down, Fara and Barake, in the vicinity of Djedyd.
Below Waset the
the valley is considered as belonging to Wady Beder, and above it to
Szafra. Djedyd has very few date-trees and fields; it stands upon a
plain, through which the torrent passes, after having irrigated the
upper plantations of the wady. We continued on this plain for one hour,
direction S. 50 W. After a thirteen hours' march we entered a chain of
mountains, extending westward, the same which I have mentioned in my
journey to Medina, as branching out westward from the great chain near
Bir-es'-Sheikh. Our road lay in a broad sandy valley, with little
windings, which brought us, after a very fatiguing march of fourteen
hours and a half, to Beder.
April 25th. Beder, or as it is also called, Beder Honeyn, is a small
town, the houses of which are built either of stone or mud, and of
better appearance, although less numerous, than those of Szafra. It is
surrounded by a miserable mud wall, ruined in many places. A copious
rivulet flows through the town, which rises in the ridge of mountains we
had just passed, and is conducted in a stone channel: it waters
extensive date-groves, with gardens and fields on the south-west side of
the place; and, although at a distance from its source,
[p.406] is still somewhat tepid. El Assamy, the historian of Mekka, says
that El Ghoury, Sultan of Egypt, built a fine reservoir at Beder, for
the Hadj; but I did not see it, and am ignorant whether it be yet in
existence.
Beder is situated in a plain bounded towards the N. and E. by steep
mountains; to the S. by rocky hills, and to the W. by hills of moving
sand. The Hadj caravans usually make this a station; and we found the
place where they had encamped just by the gate of the town, four months
ago, still covered with carcases of camels, rags of clothes, and remains
of broken utensils, &c. Beder is famous in Arabian history for the
battle fought here by Mohammed, in the second year of the Hedjra, with a
superior force of the Koreysh Arabs, who had come in aid of a rich
caravan expected from Syria, which Mohammed intended to waylay on this
spot. Although very ill, I walked out with the Maskat hadjys, to inspect
the field of battle, to which we were guided by a man from Beder. To the
south of the town, about one mile distant, at the foot of the hills, are
the tombs of the thirteen followers and friends of the Prophet, who fell
by his side. They are mere heaps of earth, enclosed by a row of loose
stones, and are all close together. The Koreysh, as our guide explained
to us, were posted upon the hill behind the tombs, while Mohammed had
divided his small force into two parts, with one of which he himself
advanced in the plain against the enemy, and the reserve was entrusted
to Aly ibn Aby Taleb, with orders to take his post upon the sand-hill on
the western side. The battle could not be won without the interposition
of heaven; and three thousand angels, with Gabriel at their head, were
sent to Mohammed's assistance. The above-mentioned thirteen persons were
slain in the first onset. The Prophet, hard pressed, hid himself behind
a large rock, which opened miraculously to admit him, and enabled him to
reach his reserve; he then made a second attack, and with the heavenly
auxiliaries was victorious, not losing another man, although seventy of
his adversaries were killed on the spot. A handful of stones, or dust,
which he (or according to the Koran, which God) threw towards his
enemies, caused them to fly. After he had forced their position, he
rested a little upon
[p.407] a stone, which, sensible of the honour, forthwith assumed the
form of a seat. The rock and the stone are shown; and, at all events
answer one good purpose, which is to excite the visiter's charity
towards the poor of Beder, who assemble at it whenever a caravan
arrives. The position of Aly's troop upon the distant hill, that of the
party of Mohammed close to the enemy, and the plain beyond that hill,
where the caravan from Syria pursued its route during the battle, are
made to explain the passage of the Koran, which alludes to it thus; "You
were on the nearer side of the valley, and they on the further side, and
the caravan was below," (Sur. 8.): but I could not well understand that
passage, according to the usual interpretation; and rather believe that
by the word rukb, which is taken here as synonymous with caravan, the
party of horsemen under Aly must be understood, whose position, although
upon a hill, was, with relation to Beder, a low one, the ground
descending slightly. Several small domes, which had been erected here,
were ruined by the Wahabys. In returning to the village, we walked, on
its south side, into the mosque called Mesdjed el Ghemame, built on the
spot where Mohammed once sat exposed to the sun's rays, and prayed to
God for a cloud which might overshadow him; this was immediately
granted; and the mosque derives its name from the cloud. It is better
built and more spacious than might be expected in such a poor place.
The market of Beder is furnished with the same articles as that of
Szafra. Some water-melons, the produce of the gardens, were offered for
sale. The Maskat merchant purchased, without my knowledge, five pounds
of Mekka balsam, all that remained in the market, which he intended for
a present to the Imam of Maskat. It was in the same adulterated state as
that I had formerly seen at Szafra.
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