After Vainly Addressing The Pilgrims,
Of Whom Nothing Could Be Seen But A Mosaic Of Occupits And
Shoulder-Blades, The Boy Mohammed Collected About Half A Dozen Stalwart
Meccans, With Whose Assistance, By Sheer Strength, We Wedged Our Way
Into The Thin And Light-Legged Crowd.
The Badawin turned round upon us
like wild-cats, but
[P.169] they had no daggers. The season being autumn, they had not
swelled themselves with milk for six months; and they had become such
living mummies, that I could have managed single-handed half a dozen of
them. After thus reaching the stone, despite popular indignation
testified by impatient shouts, we monopolised the use of it for at
least ten minutes. Whilst kissing it and rubbing hands and forehead
upon it I narrowly observed it, and came away persuaded that it is an
aerolite. It is curious that almost all travellers agree upon one
point, namely, that the stone is volcanic. Ali Bey calls it
“mineralogically” a “block of volcanic basalt, whose circumference is
sprinkled with little crystals, pointed and straw-like, with rhombs of
tile-red feldspath upon a dark background, like velvet or charcoal,
except one of its protuberances, which is reddish.” Burckhardt thought it
was “a lava containing several small extraneous particles of a whitish
and of a yellowish substance.”
Having kissed the stone we fought our way through the crowd to the
place called Al-Multazem. Here we pressed our stomachs, chests, and
right cheeks to the Ka’abah, raising our arms high above our heads and
exclaiming, “O Allah! O Lord of the Ancient House, free my Neck from
Hell-fire, and preserve me from every ill Deed, and make me contented
with that daily bread which Thou hast given to me, and bless me in all
Thou hast granted!” Then came the Istighfar, or begging of pardon; “I beg
Pardon of Allah the most high, who, there is no other God but He, the
Living, the Eternal, and unto Him I repent myself!” After which we
blessed the Prophet, and then asked for ourselves all that our souls
most desired.[FN#9]
[p.170] After embracing the Multazem, we repaired to the Shafe’is’ place of
prayer near the Makam Ibrahim, and there recited two prostrations,
technically called Sunnat al-Tawaf, or the (Apostle’s) practice of
circumambulation. The chapter repeated in the first was “Say thou, O
Infidels”: in the second, “Say thou He is the one God.[FN#10]” We then went
to the door of the building in which is Zemzem: there I was condemned
to another nauseous draught, and was deluged with two or three skinfuls
of water dashed over my head en douche. This ablution causes sins to
fall from the spirit like dust.[FN#11] During the potation we prayed, “O
Allah, verily I beg of Thee plentiful daily Bread, and profitable
Learning, and the healing of every Disease!” Then we returned towards the
Black Stone, stood far away opposite, because unable to touch it,
ejaculated the Takbir, the Tahlil, and the Hamdilah; and thoroughly
worn out with scorched feet and a burning head,—both extremities, it must
be remembered, were bare, and various delays had detained us till ten
A.M.,—I left the Mosque.[FN#12]
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