Again
Remounting, We Issued Through The Bab Al-Safa Towards The Open Country
North-East Of The City.
The way was crowded with pilgrims, on foot as
well as mounted, and their loud Labbayk distinguished those engaged in
the Umrah rite from the many whose business was with the camp of the
Damascus Caravan.
At about half a mile from the city we passed on the
left a huge heap of stones, where my companions stood and cursed. This
grim-looking cairn is popularly believed to note the place of the well
where Abu Lahab laid an ambuscade for the Prophet. This wicked uncle
stationed there a slave, with orders to throw headlong into the pit the
first person who
[p.242] approached him, and privily persuaded his nephew to visit the
spot at night: after a time, anxiously hoping to hear that the deed had
been done, Abu Lahab incautiously drew nigh, and was precipitated by
his own bravo into the place of destruction.[FN#21] Hence the
well-known saying in Islam, “Whoso diggeth a well for his brother shall
fall into it himself.” We added our quota of stones,[FN#22] and
proceeding, saw the Jeddah road spanning the plain like a white ribbon.
In front of us the highway was now lined with coffee-tents, before
which effeminate dancing-boys performed to admiring Syrians; a small
whitewashed “Bungalow,” the palace of the Emir al-Hajj, lay on the left,
and all around it clustered the motley encampment of his pilgrims.
After cantering about three miles from the city, we reached the
Alamayn, or two pillars that limit the Sanctuary; and a little beyond
it is the small settlement popularly called Al-Umrah.[FN#23]
Dismounting here, we
[p.243] sat down on rugs outside a coffee-tent to enjoy the beauty of
the moonlit night, and an hour of Kayf, in the sweet air of the Desert.
Presently the coffee-tent keeper, after receiving payment, brought us
water for ablution. This preamble over, we entered the principal
chapel; an unpretending building, badly lighted, spread with dirty
rugs, full of pilgrims, and offensively close. Here we prayed the Isha,
or night devotions, and then a two-bow prayer in honour of the
Ihram,[FN#24] after which we distributed gratuities to the guardians,
and alms to the importunate beggars. And now I perceived the object of
Abdullah’s companionship. The melancholy man assured me that he had
ridden out for love of me, and in order to perform as Wakil
(substitute) a vicarious pilgrimage for my parents. Vainly I assured
him that they had been strict in the exercises of their faith. He would
take no denial, and I perceived that love of me meant love of my
dollars. With a surly assent, he was at last permitted to act for the
“pious pilgrim Yusuf (Joseph) bin Ahmad and Fatimah bint Yunus,”—my
progenitors. It was impossible to prevent smiling at contrasts, as
Abdullah, gravely raising his hands, and directing his face to the
Ka’abah, intoned, “I do vow this Ihram of Umrah in the name of Yusuf Son of
Ahmad, and Fatimah Daughter of Yunus; then render it attainable unto
them, and accept it of them!
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