PILGRIMS TO MECCA.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3352, 20 December 1926, Page 8

PILGRIMS TO MECCA.

One-seventh of the human race are Moslems-, and every one of them, should make a pilgrimage te Mecca, at> toast euce. As I stood looking through tne porthole of my cabin of a pilgrim boat in bay, I could see a shed packed full vetoes, of all ages, ranks, and lies (says Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah in “Daily Mail”). . The medical examination was not fr.B from certain humours. Close by the sheß where the pilgrims were being vaccinated! was a, waiter-tap; and as soon as the aver-i ago pilgrim was granted his vaccination certificate it was a curious sight to sec him rush to the water-tap, wash Iris vaccinated arm to rid himself of the serum, suck the wound, and spit out the blood. One of them washed bis arm iu filthy water arm caused painful poisoning. “This is what comes of vaccination,’’ lie lamented. Once small-pox and cholera killed so many pilgrims that half never returned to their homes, their relatives deriving some consolation from the fact that to die on the pilgrimage is a. passport direct to J'aradise. Now conditions are much better. The medical examination over, there was a rush to the gangway, and, amid cries of “Allaho-Akbar” (“God is Great”), the pilgrim boat moved away. Some of the pilgrims took very badly to the sea. Specially do I remember- .one from l.’rusisa. win*, when m tile grip of sea -Alness, rolled on the deck calling the Twelve Disciples to bis aid. He thought an evil genius possessed the waves! The best that can be said of the pilgrims afloat is that one manages to live, not by virtue of the comfort provided on the boat—for there is no such thing on a Harji (or pilgrim) steamer —but by sheer spiritual longing to get to Mecca and not die on the way. Fourteen days after leaving Bombay I landed at Djeddah wearing my pilgrim costume. It consists of two white sheets —one to be wrapped round the upper part of the body and the other for the lower. My head wag shaved—for despite the pitiless sun one must go bareheaded to Mecca—and 1 was wearing sandals. As we left Djeddali for Mecca, the heat of the desert rose until the temperature was about 133 degrees in the shade; and when the car gut stuck in the soft sands in the middle of the desert our agony was indescribable. But at last, surrounded by hills of sunbaked rocks Mecca suddenly came in view. With a great wonder in my heart I reached the Grand Mosque—the Harnm —standing in the centre of the city and with prayer on my lips I entered the ,Shrine towards which I had turned my face ui prayer all my life five times a day. Deep-arched colonnades surround this quadrangle of 257 paces by 210 paces and in the centre of it is the Kaaba the Holy of Holies, a stone erection entirely draped in a khaki coloured tapestry. This is the House of God, which Mahommedaais believe was first built by Adam and rebuilt by Abraham. I encircled it seven times, according to custom, and drank the water of Zarn Zara sanctified by the association of Hagai’. I offered my prayer and sat watching a spectacle which 1 shall never forget. The heat of the day being at its greatest, I could see pilgrims in the deep arches in various postures of prayer—standing, kneeling, and finally touching the ground with the forehead. Many swayed to and fro intoning tlio Koran, others listened to the religious discourse of a doctor of theology. With the steady increase of the beat tho crowds began to thin out,, the hum of life dies away. Hear and there a devotee reclines against a pillar in deep slumber, his mouth wide open; others, overcome by fatigue and heat, have fallen asleep on the ground. For half an hour or so the scene in the deep colonnades remains unchanged; then (lie “callers of the prayer’’ appear with small canes in (heir hands and strike the ground near the sleeping pilgrim. Gently ever so gently, they say: “Rise, my brother, rise; player is better than sleep.” Through the whole corridor they go iu this fashion; till the call of “Allaho-Ak-bar, Allabo-Akbar” strikes upon the ears, and we range ourselves in rows after rows and are once again ut prayer facing the Holy of Holies. Tlie heat was unbearable, the marble path around the Sacred Kaaba was burning hot, yet tlie faithful continued to encircle it scvfen times or more.. Arabs, Persians. Chinese, Indians, and Afghans give a kaleidoscopic effect to the whale scene. .Like olhers, I bad no occupation in Mecca, save prayer, but at times 1 launched forth into the bazaars of Hie city, not for amusement- -for there is no hotel, cinema, or other place of entertainment—but to purchase some necessaries of life. The streets are very clean and wide for an Oriental town, almost pleasant hr the evening. and large bouses of six or seven stories rise on Infill sides. Life in the bazaar is at its best during the evenings, when people drink (lie bitter coffee of the desert in (be cafes, of which there arc hundreds. There comes I lie constant jingle of a money-changer's silver coins -lie can exchange anything up to a thousand pounds on the spot. One cannot pass the rosary shop without purchasing a. string to count one’s prayers upon, and tlie soup-seller is always bunging round yon offering a good drink for a penny. ft is lemon coloured but lias no acid to its taste. Camels and donkeys share the road with pedestrians. During the time of the pilgrimage as many as a hundred thousand new-comers enter the city, and it lias been the rule that practically every one falls ill. This is still true, but excitant medical arrangements are being made by the present ruler, the Sultan Ibn Sand. But perhaps Hie greatest achievement of the present Wahabi Government of Mecca is a complete suppression of brigandage. During the reign of King Hussein poor pilgrims were freely looted and killed if they put up defence.