And—qui multum peregrinatur, raro sanctificatur—become a worldly-wise,
God-forgetting, and Mammonish sort of folk. Tuf w’ asaa, w’ aamil
al-saba—“Circumambulate and run (i.e. between Safa and Marwah) and commit
the Seven (deadly sins)”—is a satire popularly levelled against them.
Hence, too, the proverb Al-haram f’ il Haramayn—“Evil (dwelleth) in the two
Holy Cities”; and no wonder, since plenary indulgence is so easily
secured.[FN#7] The pilgrim is forbidden, or rather dissuaded, from
abiding at Meccah after the rites, and wisely. Great emotions must be
followed by a re-action. And he who stands struck by the first aspect
of Allah’s house, after a few months, the marvel waxing stale, sweeps
past with indifference or something worse.
[p.233] There is, however, little at Meccah to offend the eye. As among
certain nations further West, a layer of ashes overspreads the fire:
the mine is concealed by a green turf fair to look upon. It is only
when wandering by starlight through the northern outskirts of the town
that citizens may be seen with light complexions and delicate limbs,
coarse turbands, and Egyptian woollen robes, speaking disguise and the
purpose of disguise. No one within the memory of man has suffered the
penalty of immorality. Spirituous liquors are no longer sold, as in
Burckhardt’s day,[FN#8] in shops; and some Arnaut officers assured me
that they found considerable difficulty in smuggling flasks of Araki
from Jeddah.
The Meccan is a darker man than the Madinite. The people explain this
by the heat of the climate. I rather believe it to be caused by the
number of female slaves that find their way into the market. Gallas,
Sawahilis, a few Somalis, and Abyssinians are embarked at Suakin,
Zayla, Tajurrah, and Berberah, carried in thousands to Jeddah, and the
Holy City has the pick of every batch. Thence the stream sets
Northwards, a small current towards Al-Madinah, and the main line to
Egypt and Turkey.[FN#9]
Most Meccans have black concubines, and, as has been said, the
appearance of the Sharif is almost that of a negro. I did not see one
handsome man in the Holy City, although some of the women appeared to
me beautiful. The male profile is high and bony, the forehead recedes,
and the head rises unpleasantly towards the region of firmness. In most
families male children, when forty days old, are taken to the Ka’abah,
prayed over, and carried home, where the barber draws with a razor
three parallel gashes
[p.234] down the fleshy portion of each cheek, from the exterior angles
of the eyes almost to the corners of the mouth. These Mashali, as they
are called,[FN#10] may be of modern date: the citizens declare that the
custom was unknown to their ancestors. I am tempted to assign to it a
high antiquity, and cannot but attribute a pagan origin to a custom
still prevailing, despite all the interdictions of the Olema. In point
of figure the Meccan is somewhat coarse and lymphatic. The ludicrous
leanness of the outward man, as described by Ali Bey, survives only in
the remnants of themselves belonging to a bygone century. The young men
are rather stout and athletic, but in middle age—when man “swills and
swells”—they are apt to degenerate into corpulence.
The Meccan is a covetous spendthrift. His wealth, lightly won, is
lightly prized. Pay, pension, stipends, presents, and the Ikram, here,
as at Al-Madinah, supply the citizen with the means of idleness. With
him everything is on the most expensive scale, his marriage, his
religious ceremonies, and his household expenses. His
[p.235] house is luxuriously furnished; entertainments are frequent,
and the junketings of his women make up a heavy bill at the end of the
year. It is a common practice for the citizen to anticipate the
pilgrimage season by falling into the hands of the usurer. If he be in
luck, he catches and “skins” one or more of the richest Hajis. On the other
hand, should fortune fail him, he will feel for life the effect of
interest running on at the rate of at least fifty per cent., the simple
and the compound forms of which are equally familiar to the wily
Sarraf.[FN#11]
The most unpleasant peculiarities of the Meccan[s][FN#12] are their
pride and coarseness of language. Looking upon themselves as the cream
of earth’s sons, they resent with extreme asperity the least slighting
word concerning the Holy City and its denizens. They plume themselves
upon their holy descent, their exclusion of Infidels,[FN#13] their
strict fastings, their learned men, and their purity of
language.[FN#14] In fact, their pride shows itself at every moment;
[p.236] but it is not the pride which makes a man too proud to do “dirty
work.” My predecessor did not remark their scurrility: he seems, on the
contrary, rather to commend them for respectability in this point. If
he be correct, the present generation has degenerated. The Meccans
appeared to me distinguished, even in this foul-mouthed East, by the
superior licentiousness of their language. Abuse was bad enough in the
streets, but in the house it became intolerable. The Turkish pilgrims
remarked, but they were too proud to notice it. The boy Mohammed and
one of his tall cousins at last transgressed the limits of my
endurance. They had been reviling each other vilely one day at the
house-door about dawn, when I administered the most open reprimand: “In
my country (Afghanistan) we hold this to be the hour of prayer, the
season of good thoughts, when men remember Allah; even the Kafir doth
not begin the day with curses and abuse.” The people around approved, and
the offenders could not refrain from saying, “Thou hast spoken truth, O
Effendi!” Then the bystanders began, as usual, to “improve the occasion.” “See,”
they exclaimed, “this Sulaymani gentleman, he is not the Son of a Holy
City, and yet he teacheth you—ye, the children of the Prophet!—repent and
fear Allah!” They replied, “Verily we do repent, and Allah is a Pardoner
and the Merciful!”—were silent for an hour, and then abused each other more
foully than before.
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