O Lord Abbas, The Free From Impurity And
Uncleanness, And Father’S Brother To The Best Of Men!
And Thou too O Lord
Hasan, Grandson of the Prophet!
And thou also O Lord Zayn
al-Abidin[FN#28]! Peace be upon Ye, One and All, for verily God hath
been pleased to deliver You from all Guile, and to purify You with all
Purity. The Mercy of Allah and His Blessings be upon Ye, and verily He
is the Praised, the Mighty!” After which, freeing ourselves from the
hands of greedy boys, we turned round and faced the southern wall,
close to which is a tomb attributed to the Lady Fatimah.[FN#29] I will
not repeat the prayer, it being the same as that recited in the Harim.
[p.42] Issuing from the hot and crowded dome, we recovered our slippers
after much trouble, and found that our garments had suffered from the
frantic gesticulations of the Persians. We then walked to the gate of
Al-Bakia, stood facing the cemetery upon an elevated piece of ground,
and delivered the general benediction.
“O Allah! O Allah! O Allah! O full of Mercy! O abounding in Beneficence!
Lord of Length (of days), and Prosperity, and Goodness! O Thou, who
when asked, grantest, and when prayed for aid, aidest! Have Mercy upon
the Companions of thy Prophet, of the Muhajirin, and the Ansar! Have
Mercy upon them, One and All!
[p.43] Have Mercy upon bdullah bin Hantal” (and so on, specifying their
names), “and make Paradise their Resting-place, their Habitation, their
Dwelling, and their Abode! O Allah! accept our Ziyarat, and supply our
Wants, and lighten our Griefs, and restore us to our Homes, and comfort
our Fears, and disappoint not our Hopes, and pardon us, for on no other
do we rely; and let us depart in Thy Faith, and after the Practice of
Thy Prophet, and be Thou satisfied with us! O Allah! forgive our past
Offences, and leave us not to our (evil) Natures during the Glance of
an Eye, or a lesser Time; and pardon us, and pity us, and let us return
to our Houses and Homes safe,” (i.e., spiritually and physically)
“fortunate, abstaining from what is unlawful, re-established after our
Distresses, and belonging to the Good, thy Servants upon whom is no
Fear, nor do they know Distress. Repentance, O Lord! Repentance, O
Merciful! Repentance, O Pitiful! Repentance before Death, and Pardon
after Death! I beg pardon of Allah! Thanks be to Allah! Praise be to
Allah! Amen, O Lord of the (three) Worlds!”
After which, issuing from Al-Bakia,[FN#30] we advanced
[p.44] northwards, leaving the city gate on the left hand, till we came
to a small Kubbah (dome) close to the road. It is visited as containing
the tomb of the Prophet’s paternal aunts, especially of Safiyah, daughter
of Abd al-Muttalib, sister of Hamzah, and one of the many heroines of
early Al-Islam.
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