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. 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