My
Friends Could Not Tell Me When The Line Had Been Given Up, But All Were
Agreed That For Years
They had not seen an Oman caravan, the pilgrims
preferring to enter Al-Hijaz via Jeddah.
[FN#4] According to
Abulfeda, Khaybar is six stations N.E. of
Al-Madinah; it is four according to Al-Idrisi; but my informants
assured me that camels go there easily, as the Tarikh al-Khamisy says,
in three days. I should place it 80 miles N.N.E. of Al-Madinah.
Al-Atwal locates it in 65° 20' E. lon., and 25° 20' N. lat; Al-Kanun in
lon. 67° 30', and lat. 24° 20'; Ibn Sa’id in lon. 64° 56', and lat. 27°; and
D’Anville in lon. 57°, and lat. 25°. In Burckhardt’s map, and those copied from
it, Khaybar is placed about 2° distant from Al-Madinah, which I believe
to be too far.
[FN#5] The Parliamentary limit of an officer’s leave from India is five
years: if he overstay that period, he forfeits his commission.
{to me the comfort of reflecting that possibly at Meccah some
opportunity of crossing the Peninsula might present itself. At any rate
I had the certainty of seeing the strange wild country of the Hijaz,
and of being present at the ceremonies of the Holy City. I must request
the reader to bear with a Visitation once more: we shall conclude it
with a ride to Al-Bakia.[FN#6] This venerable spot is frequented by the
pious every day after the prayer at the Prophet’s Tomb, and especially on
Fridays.
[FN#6] The name means “the place of many roots.” It is also called Bakia
Al-Gharkad—the place of many roots of the tree Rhamnus. Gharkad is
translated in different ways: some term it the lote, others the tree of
the Jews (Forskal, sub voce).
[FN#7] See chapter xxi., ante.
[FN#8] The same is said of the Makbarah Benu Salmah or Salim, a
cemetery to the west of Al-Madinah, below rising ground called Jabal
Sula. It has long ago been deserted. See chapter xiv.
[FN#9] In those days Al-Madinah had no walls, and was clear of houses
on the East of the Harim.
[FN#10] These stones were removed by Al-Marwan, who determined that
Osman’s grave should not be distinguished from his fellows. For this act,
the lieutenant of Mu’awiyah was reproved and blamed by pious Moslems.
[FN#11] It ought to be high enough for the tenant to sit upright when
answering the interrogatory angels.
[FN#12] Because of this superstition, in every part of Al-Islam, some
contrivance is made to prevent the earth pressing upon the body.
[FN#13] This blessing is in Mohammed’s words, as the beauty of the Arabic
shows. Ayishah relates that in the month Safar, A.H. 11, one night the
Prophet, who was beginning to suffer from the headache which caused his
death, arose from his couch, and walked out into the darkness;
whereupon she followed him in a fit of jealousy, thinking he might be
about to visit some other wife.
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