He Went To Al-Bakia, Delivered The
Above Benediction (Which Others Give Somewhat Differently), Raised His
Hands Three Times, And Turned To Go Home.
Ayishah hurried back, but she
could not conceal her agitation from her husband, who asked her what
she had done.
Upon her confessing her suspicions, he sternly informed
her that he had gone forth, by order of the Archangel Gabriel, to bless
and to intercede for the people of Al-Bakia. Some authors relate a more
facetious termination of the colloquy.—M.C. de Perceval (Essai, &c., vol.
iii. p. 314.)
[FN#14] “Limping Osman,” as the Persians contemptuously call him, was slain
by rebels, and therefore became a martyr according to the Sunnis. The
Shi’ahs justify the murder, saying it was the act of an “Ijma al-Muslimin,”
or the general consensus of Al-Islam, which in their opinion ratifies
an act of “lynch law.”
[FN#15] This specifying the father Affan, proves him to have been a
Moslem. Abu Bakr’s father, “Kahafah,” and Omar’s “Al-Khattab,” are not mentioned by
name in the Ceremonies of Visitation.
[FN#16] The Christian reader must remember that the Moslems rank
angelic nature, under certain conditions, below human nature.
[FN#17] Osman married two daughters of the Prophet, a circumstance
which the Sunnis quote as honourable to him: the Shi’ahs, on the
contrary, declare that he killed them both by ill-treatment.
[FN#18] These men are generally descendants of the Saint whose tomb
they own: they receive pensions from the Mudir of the Mosque, and
retain all fees presented to them by visitors. Some families are
respectably supported in this way.
[FN#19] This woman, according to some accounts, also saved Mohammed’s
life, when an Arab Kahin or diviner, foreseeing that the child was
destined to subvert the national faith, urged the bystanders to bury
their swords in his bosom. The Sharifs of Meccah still entrust their
children to the Badawin, that they may be hardened by the discipline of
the Desert. And the late Pasha of Egypt gave one of his sons in charge
of the Anizah tribe, near Akabah. Burckhardt (Travels in Arabia, vol.
i. p. 427) makes some sensible remarks about this custom, which cannot
be too much praised.
[FN#20] Al- “Sadiyah,” a double entendre; it means auspicious, and also
alludes to Halimah’s tribe, the Benu Sa’ad.
[FN#21] Both these words are titles of the Prophet. Al-Mustafa means
the “Chosen”; Al-Mujtaba, the “Accepted.”
[FN#22] There being, according to the Moslems, many heavens and many
earths.
[FN#23] See chapter xx.
[FN#24] The Shafe’i school allows its disciples to curse Al-Yazid, the
son of Mu’awiyah, whose cruelties to the descendants of the Prophet, and
crimes and vices, have made him the Judas Iscariot of Al-Islam. I have
heard Hanafi Moslems, especially Sayyids, revile him; but this is not,
strictly speaking, correct. The Shi’ahs, of course, place no limits to
their abuse of him.
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