And Lastly, I Cannot But Look Upon The Tale Of The Blinding Light Which
Surrounds The Apostle's Tomb, Current For Ages Past And Still
Universally Believed Upon The Authority Of The Attendant Eunuchs, Who
Must Know Its Falsehood, As A Priestly Gloss Intended To Conceal A
Defect.
I here conclude the subject, committing it to some future and more
favoured investigator.
In offering the above remarks, I am far from
wishing to throw a doubt upon an established point of history. But
where a suspicion of fable arises from popular "facts," a knowledge of
man and of his manners teaches us to regard it with favouring
eye.[FN#86]
[FN#1] Others add a fourth, namely, the Masjid al-Takwa, at Kuba.
[FN#2] The Moslem divines, however, naïvely remind their readers, that
they are not to pray once in the Al-Madinah Mosque, and neglect the
other 999, as if absolved from the necessity of them. The passage in
the text merely promises 1000 blessings upon that man's devotion who
prays at the Prophet's Mosque.
[FN#3] The visitor, who approaches the Sepulchre as a matter of
religious ceremony, is called "Zair," his conductor "Muzawwir," whereas
the pilgrim at Meccah becomes a "Haji." The Imam Malik disapproved of a
Moslem's saying, "I have visited the Prophet's tomb," preferring him to
express himself thus-"I have visited the Prophet." Others again dislike
the latter formula, declaring the Prophet too venerable to be so
visited by Amr and Zayd.
[FN#4] In A.D. 1807, they prevented Ali Bey (the Spaniard Badia) from
entering Al-Madinah, and it appears that he had reason to congratulate
himself upon escaping without severe punishment.
[FN#5] Nothing in the Spanish cathedrals suggests their oriental origin
and the taste of the people, more than the way in which they are hedged
in by secular buildings.
[FN#6] The ceremony of Ziyarat, however, begins at the Bab al-Salam.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 427 of 571
Words from 117979 to 118302
of 157964
