In Short, They
Make Use Of This Water Only To Drink, Take Abdes, And For Bathing:
Neither May They Take Abdes With It, Unless They First Cleanse Their
Secret Parts With Other Common Water.
Yea, such an high esteem they
have for it, that many Hagges carry it home to their respective
countries
In little latten or tin pots; and present it to their
friends, half a spoonful, may be, to each, who receive it in the hollow
of their hand with great care and abundance of thanks, sipping a little
of it, and bestowing the rest on their faces and naked heads; at the
same time holding up their hands, and desiring of God that they also
may be so happy and prosperous as to go on pilgrimage to Mecca. The
reason of their putting such an high value upon the water of this well,
is because (as they say) it is the place where Ishmael was laid by his
mother Hagar. I have heard them tell the story exactly as it is
recorded in the 21st chapter of Genesis; and they say, that in the very
place where the child paddled with his feet, the water flowed out.
“I shall now inform you how, when, and where, they receive the honourable
title of Hagges, for which they are at all this pains and expence.
“The Curbaen Byram, or the Feast of Sacrifice, follows two months and ten
days after the Ramadan fast. The eighth day after the said two months
they all enter into Hirrawem, i.e.} put on their mortifying habit
again, and in that manner go to a certain hill called Gibbel el Orphat
(El Arafat), i.e. the Mountain of Knowledge; for [p.374] there, they
say, Adam first found and knew his wife Eve. And they likewise say,
that she was buried at Gidda near the Red Sea; at whose sepulchre all
the Hagges who come to Mecca by way of the Red Sea, perform two
Erkaets-nomas, and, I think, no more. I could not but smile to hear
this their ridiculous tradition (for so I must pronounce it), when
observing the marks which were set, the one at the head, and the other
at the foot of the grave: I guessed them to be a bow-shot distant from
each other. On the middle of her supposed grave is a little Mosque
built, where the Hagges pay their religious respect.
“This Gibbel or hill is not so big as to contain the vast multitudes
which resort thither; for it is said by them, that there meet no less
than 70,000 souls every year, in the ninth day after the two months
after Ramadan; and if it happen that in any year there be wanting some
of that number, God, they say, will supply the deficiency by so many
angels.[FN#31]
“I do confess the number of Hagges I saw at this mountain was very great;
nevertheless, I cannot think they could amount to so many as 70,000.
There are certain bound-stones placed round the Gibbel, in the plain,
to shew how far the sacred ground (as they esteem it) extends; and many
are so zealous as to come and pitch their tents within these bounds,
some time before the hour of paying their devotion here comes, waiting
for it. But why they so solemnly approach this mountain beyond any
other place, and receive from hence the title of Hagges, I confess I do
not more fully understand than what I have already said, giving but
little heed to these delusions. I observed nothing worth seeing on this
hill, for there was only a small cupola on the top of it[FN#32];
[p.375] neither are there any inhabitants nearer to it than Mecca.
About one or two of the clock, which is the time of Eulea-nomas, having
washed and made themselves ready for it, they perform that, and at the
same time perform Ekinde-nomas, which they never do at one time, but
upon this occasion; because at the time when Ekinde-nomas should be
performed in the accustomed order, viz. about four of the clock in the
afternoon, they are imploring pardon for their sins, and receiving the
Emaum’s benediction.[FN#33]
“It was a sight indeed, able to pierce one’s heart, to behold so many
thousands in their garments of humility and mortification, with their
naked heads, and cheeks watered with tears; and to hear their grievous
sighs and sobs, begging earnestly for the remission of their sins,
promising newness of life, using a form of penitential expressions, and
thus continuing for the space of four or five hours, viz. until the
time of Acsham-nomas, which is to be performed about half an hour after
sunset. (It is matter of sorrowful reflection, to compare the
indifference of many Christians with this zeal of these poor blind
Mahometans, who will, it is to be feared, rise up in judgment against
them and condemn them.) After their solemn performance of their
devotions thus at the Gibbel, they all at once receive that honourable
title of Hagge from the Emaum, and are so stiled to their dying day.
Immediately upon their receiving this name, the trumpet is sounded, and
they all leave the hill and return for Mecca, and being gone two or
three miles on their way[,] they then rest for that night[FN#34]; but
after nomas, before
[p.376] they go to rest, each person gathers nine-and-forty small
stones about the bigness of an hazle nut; the meaning of which I shall
acquaint you with presently.
“The next morning they move to a place called Mina, or Muna; the place,
as they say, where Abraham went to offer up his son Isaac,[FN#35] and
therefore in this place they sacrifice their sheep. It is about two or
three miles from Mecca. I was here shown a stone, or little rock, which
was parted in the middle.
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