COMPASSING OF THE KA’BAH
When we reached the outer gateway of the Bábé Salám, which leads into
the vestibule, it was to bow humbly and then to prostrate ourselves
twice on the threshold, kissing its sacred dust. After this we rose,
saying aloud, with closed eyes and outstretched hands:
“O God, this city is Thy city and this temple Thy temple. I am come
hither in search of Thy compassion, and in perfect obedience to Thy
commands. O Lord, I am submissive to Thy power, I am in passive
contentment with Thy chastisements, I seek the fulfilment of all my
desires from Thee and from none but Thee. Oblige me with Thy divine
compassion, O God, and fling open to me the gates of Paradise.”
We then passed into the vestibule, and, no sooner did our eyes behold
from the inner gateway the surface of the Harem than we stretched out
our hands once more to the sky and closed our eyes in prayer, saying:
“O Lord, this harem is Thy harem and the harem of Thy apostle.
Therefore, since I am here in response to Thy command, preserve
my flesh and blood from the fire of Hell and deliver me from Thy
punishments on the Day of Judgment.”
Then, advancing the left foot, we said:
“O God, grant me Thy protection from the temptations of the devil--may
he be accursed! I praise Thy prophet, O Lord, and also his disciples;
O, forgive me my sins and open on me the gates of Thy mercy.”
Next, when we walked through the inner gateway, and went down the
double flight of steps leading to the colonnades, whence the Ka’bah
twinkled on us its dusky, square face, we bowed reverently to the House
of God and forthwith recited the prayer, which being interpreted, runs:
“In the Name of the great Lord who is alone. There is no god like unto
Him. O God, I visit this Thy temple, praising Thee, and glorifying Thy
name. Nothing can be done save through Thee, for Thine is the power,
and Thine the will alone.”
Then I paused awhile, and my eyes took in the impressive scene.
The open Harem, surrounded on a higher level by the colonnades that
are surmounted by the crescented domes, was packed with pilgrims
from every quarter of Islám. In the middle is the Ka’bah, hemmed in
on three sides of its solid cubic walls by the semi-circular row of
columns already described. Now, facing the gold Spout, on the outer
side of the pillared enclosure, stands the station of the Hanifites.
There, in front of the pulpit, were grouped in the space between the
paved ways and in every attitude of worship the followers of reason.
Some were standing erect, their hands folded on their breasts, others
were kneeling on their prayer rugs, and many were bowed to the lump
of clay. Opposite to them were praying the Hanbalites before the
pavilion-shaped pulpit that forms the extreme limit of the enclosure on
the side nearest to the Black Stone. Priests and peasants, merchants
and princes, all had come from far and near to render unto God their
hearts and minds in accordance with the law of the Prophet. Those
living people clothed in the garments of the dead, there they were,
in the very centre whence had sprung the Faith that flashed forth its
rays over the East, there they were, and why? To do homage to Him whom
Muhammad had made manifest and had delighted to honour thirteen hundred
and twenty years ago. It must be conceded, even by the sceptical and
the scoffer, that the voice of the “illiterate” Prophet has still
the power to work wonders. Hark, his followers are shouting their
allegiance to his watchword. Up go their voices to the burning sky
overhead: “There is no god but God! Muhammad is the Messenger of God!”
Few could remain silent on hearing the cry of Faith within the columned
square of the Harem. It rang out like a trumpet-call, filling the heart
with an emotion never felt before. Sincere and true, it drowned the
rambling eloquence of the priest haranguing the Malekites out there
to the west. It gathered in volume as it passed from lip to lip until
the very pillars of the Harem seemed to shake. And then from time
to time was sung the Talbih, which might be called the song of the
winding-sheet, so frequently was it repeated by the pilgrims in íhrám:
Labbaik, Allahomma, Labbaik!
Labbaik, la Sherika lak Labbaik!
Labbaik, enal-hamda, vanahmeta lak Labbaik!
Labbaik, la Sherika lak Labbaik!
It swelled ever higher, my guide and I joining in the chorus of praise
and thanksgiving, since it was our bounden duty so to do on setting
foot inside the sacred precincts. Having fulfilled the law of the
Prophet or of tradition in that particular, we were about to direct
our steps to the Ka’bah through the old gate of Beni-Sheybeh, which is
similar in shape to a triumphal arch, when my guide, standing suddenly
stock-still, turned on me a countenance of such antic self-reproach
that I was more than half afraid he had made up his mind to wring
from me a present ere he would pursue his avocation. Perhaps my
determination to resist his blandishments expressed itself in my face,
for he lost no time in correcting the impression he had made, saying:
“Yá-Moulai, I ask pardon of al Moakkibát, I prostrate myself before
the two guardian angels who, in order to cope with the difficulty of
recording in their respective books the good and the evil actions of
every Muslim, are changed from day to day, and I entreat the ones who
are on duty now not only to overlook the negligence whereof I accuse
myself, but also to allow me to retrieve, to the furtherance of our
eternal welfare, the blunder which I have committed. Know then, that to
him who reads a certain prayer near the Salám Gate, after descending
the steps thereof and passing the colonnades, shall be granted the free
gift of one hundred thousand good deeds, together with this additional
benefit, that an equal number of his sins shall be blotted out. Come,
yá-Moulai, let us lose no time in laying down the burden of our
misdeeds.” So saying, he conducted me to the proper place, and made me
repeat after him the following prayer:
“I begin in the name of God, and by the help of God, from God and
towards God, and through what is ordained by God, and on the faith
of the apostle of God. Praise be to God, peace be with the apostle
of God, peace be with Muhammad, the son of Abdullah. O prophet of
God, may God in His compassion grant thee His peace! And may peace
be with all the prophets of God: with Abraham, the friend of God,
and with the messengers of God. Praise be to the Lord of the two
worlds. May peace be with us, and with all the pious creatures of God.
O Lord, may Muhammad be praised, and may his people be praised. May
Muhammad be glorified, and may his people be glorified. May Muhammad
be redeemed, and may his people be redeemed. May Abraham be praised,
and all his people. O Lord, verily, Thou art magnanimous, and highly
to be praised. O Lord, I praise Muhammad Thy slave and Thy prophet.
O Lord, I praise Abraham Thy friend, and all Thy messengers. O Lord,
open to me the gates of Thy mercy, and bring me into obedience to Thee
and into submission to Thy will. O Lord, protect me under the shelter
of faith. For, verily, I am Thy slave, O Lord, and Thy guest in this
Thy house. O Lord the Compassionate, I remind thee that there is no
Lord but Thee. Thou art alone, and hast no mate. Thou art everlasting.
Thou begettest not, neither art Thou begotten, and there is not any
one like unto Thee. Verily, Muhammad is Thy slave and Thy apostle--may
peace be with him and with his people. O Generous, O Magnanimous, O
Exalted, O Just!”
Then we said three times, “God is Great!” and then, “I seek shelter
in Thee from the snares of the devils of man and jinn, and from the
evils that may betide the Arab and Ajem!” We afterwards put the right
foot foremost on the floor of the Harem, and thence returned with
steady steps to the arch of Beni-Sheybeh, which is hard by the Station of
Abraham, and there we raised our hands again and cried: “O Lord, grant
me admittance into Thy place of righteousness, and likewise a safe
return therefrom, and send down to us by Thy saving power a mighty king
that we may say: ‘Then came Right and destroyed Wrong. Verily, Wrong is
destroyable.’”
Now, the first ceremony of the Tewaff--that is, of the compassing of
the Ka’bah--must be performed in front of the Hajerul-Asvad or Black
Stone--a sacred relic which requires a short description before we
proceed on our way round the Ka’bah: and as an introduction to this
description we must relate the story of the creation of Adam, as told
by the Muhammadans. They tell us that God, having resolved to fashion
a creature in his own likeness, sent the angels, Gabriel, Michael, and
Israfil, one after another, to fetch for that purpose seven handfuls
of earth from seven depths and of seven colours. The earth, however,
foreseeing the revolt of man from the will of his Creator, persuaded
the angels to return without performing God’s command, so sure was she
of drawing down on herself the divine wrath should the inanimate clay
be made to breathe. The angel Azraïl was then despatched by God on the
same errand, and he, closing his heart against the earth’s appeal,
executed his commission remorselessly, on which account the Lord
appointed him to be the angel of death, charging him thenceforward to
separate the souls from the bodies. The earth which Azraïl had taken
was carried to a place between Mecca and Tayef, where it was first
kneaded by the angels, and then moulded by God into a human form. It
was afterwards left to dry for the space of forty years, the angels
visiting it frequently. Among these angels was Edris--who from being of
those that are nearest to God became the devil--and he, not contented
with looking on the work of the Creator, which he knew to have been
designed to be his superior, vowed he would never acknowledge it as
such, and he kicked it till it rang. Then God breathed His own spirit
into the clay, so that it was made man, and God called his name Adam,
and placed him in Paradise, and formed Eve out of his left side.
Now, when Adam fell and was cast out of Paradise there fell with him
a certain Stone, which has since become the most cherished possession
in the Muhammadan world. The legend runs that it was restored to
Paradise at the Deluge, after which it was brought back to the earth
by Gabriel and given to Abraham, who set it in the south-eastern corner
of the Ka’bah, which he is said to have built. There it remained till
the Karmatians--that sect, founded in the year 278 of the Hegira by a
native of Khúzistán called Karmata, which overturned the fundamental
points of Islám--bore it away in triumph to their capital, having first
polluted its sacred precincts by burying there three thousand dead
bodies, by tearing the golden Spout from its place, and by dividing
among themselves the veil of the temple itself. The citizens of Mecca
sought to redeem the Stone by offering no less than five thousand
pieces of gold for it; but the ransom was scornfully rejected by the
impious sectaries, who hoped by keeping it in their possession to draw
the pilgrims from the Holy City to their own capital. Some twenty-two
years later, however, having failed to achieve the purpose they had at
heart, they sent back the Stone of their own free will, covering their
discomfiture by declaring it to be a counterfeit. The dismay of the
Meccans was allayed when they discovered that the stone would swim on
water, that being the peculiar quality of the stone they had lost, and
so they were satisfied that the true one had been returned to them.
At first the Stone was whiter than milk, but it grew to be black,
either by the touch of a certain class of woman, by the sins of
mankind, or by the kisses of the pilgrims. All believers, whatever may
be the cause to which they attribute the change of colour, agree that
the defilement is purely superficial, the inside of the Stone being
still as white as the driven snow. Let us hope that the same thing can
be said of the hearts of the Faithful, whose lips are supposed to have
wrought on this lodestone of theirs a transformation so miraculous.
The silver box wherein it lies is about twenty inches square, and is
raised a little more than five feet from the ground. A round window
having a diameter of some nine inches is kept open on purpose to enable
the pilgrims to kiss or to touch the treasure within, which is known
as “the right hand of God on earth.” This year the act of osculation
was not performed by more than ten pilgrims out of every hundred that
attempted it, the crowd being utterly undisciplined in its zeal. It
must be confessed that I owed my good fortune to main strength, for I
shoved my way through the excited mob and examined the Stone curiously
while kissing it. In colour it is a shining black; in shape, hollow
like a saucer, presumably the result of the pressure of devoted lips.
A pilgrim, if he fail in touching the Stone, must make a reverential
salám before it, and then pass on. Special prayers are also said. My
guide, before leaving, recited for my edification certain lines from
the “Fotúhúl Haremeyn,” which in rhythmic prose would run something
like this:
“Think not that the Ka’bah was made from the earth--in the body of
the world it took the place of the heart. And the stone that you call
the Black Stone was itself a ball of dazzling light. In ages past,
the Prophet said, it shone like the crescent moon, until at last the
shadows, falling from the sinful hearts of those that gazed on it,
turned its surface black. Now, since this amber gem that came to the
earth from Paradise with the Holy Ghost has received such impressions
on itself, what should be the impressions which our hearts receive?
Verily, whosoever shall touch it, being pure of conscience, is like
unto him that has shaken hands with God.”
In front of this Stone, the first rite is performed: it is called
Niyyat or Determination. The various forms and ceremonies at this stage
of the pilgrim’s initiation vary with the sect to which he belongs,
but six points are common to all Muhammadans. First, Niyyat, including
the declaration of passive obedience to God’s will, the belief in His
day of judgment, and the formal repentance of all sins committed;
second, the frequent recitation of the watchword of the Faith which
is called Takbir; third, the reading of Esteghfar, a short chapter of
repentance and of tacit submission to God’s ordinance; fourth, certain
formulæ in praise of Allah and the Prophet, which are known by the
name of Tahleel; fifth, the intoning of Hamde, which is the chapter
of praise; and lastly, the lively repetition of Ghúl-hú-Allah, which
runs: “In the name of the most merciful God. Say, God is one God; the
eternal God: He begetteth not, neither is He begotten: and there is not
any one like unto Him.” The pilgrim, on making his “Determination,”
must raise his hands to his cheeks, putting the thumbs under the lobes
of his ears, and stretch up his shoulders, allowing his chest to droop
inward, and say in a voice toned to a reverent spirit: “O Allah, Thou
art omnipotent, Thou art glorified. I purpose, in Thy excellent name,
to make seven complete circuits round Thy blessed house.” Having
repeated this after the motewaff or guide, I cried out: “In the name of
God, God is great!” Then the stream of Hájís caught me to its bosom,
and I was tossed about as in a whirlpool. Fortunately Seyyid ’Alí stuck
close to my side, and there, in the eddying torrent of human beings
that gave forth a sound as of a swelling sea, we raised our voices, my
motewaff and I, one after the other, and cried: “O Allah, I do perform
this rite out of the fulness of my belief in Thee, in acknowledgment
of Thy book, and in faithfulness to Thy covenant, according to the
example of Thy prophet Muhammad--may he be blessed and glorified!” And
all the while we struggled as hard as we could to get within touch
of the Hajerul-Asvad, which, as we knew well from the pressure of
the throng, was the lodestone that drew the sheeted pilgrims to the
south-eastern corner of the house. Now we were driven forward, and then
we were hurled back; indeed, the bare-footed Faithful, seeing their
hopes alternately rise and fall, grew grimly resolute to kiss the Black
Stone, cost them what it might. The yearning to do so, which had filled
their hearts with piety in the seclusion of their homes, gave place
at close quarters to a determination so fierce and so uncontrollable
as might have offered to a cool-headed spectator a living picture of
Pandemonium. Every now and then a pilgrim would succeed in snatching
a hasty kiss, after which he would be flung aside, and another, less
fortunate than himself, would have to be contented with touching the
Stone with his hand and kissing that; but by far the greater number
had no other choice than to pass on with a salaam expressive of good
intentions. Some said their prayers with the tongue of their hearts,
and with tears in their eyes; others said them aloud, the sweat
streaming down their cheeks. “O Lord, I bring my heart and soul to
Thee, I acknowledge Thy Book faithfully, I give evidence that there is
not any one equal to Thee, and I promise to obey Thy Commandments.”
Opposite to the place called al-Moltezem, between the Black Stone
and the gate of the Ka’bah, we paused and said: “O Allah, Thou who
art omnipotent, I beseech Thee to pardon my sins in violating Thy
commands.” A few steps forward brought us face to face with the gate
itself, whose threshold is raised so high above the ground that the
pilgrims must mount by means of steps moving on wheels which are kept
alongside a wall of the Zem-Zem well when not in use. There we stopped
again, saying:
“O Allah, this house is Thy house, this sanctuary is Thy sanctuary,
this peaceful shelter is Thy shelter, and this place is the place
of all those that flee to Thee from hell-fire. O Allah, Thy house is
great and Thou art magnanimous; verily, Thou art compassionate and
merciful. From fire, O Allah, and from the cursed Satan deliver me:
yea, render my flesh and blood scatheless in the fire of hell, and
pour on me Thy mercy on the day of judgment, and shower on me Thy
blessings in this world and the next.”
We proceeded thence to the north-eastern angle called the Rokné-Araghi,
where we halted in order to ask another blessing, and cried out in a
tone of deepest contrition: “O Allah, I take refuge with Thee from
evil, from doubt, from disobedience, from disunion, from immorality,
from hypocrisy, and from all evil thoughts concerning one’s family and
one’s estate.” And when we went in front of the Mizab, gold Spout, a
few paces farther on, it was to say: “O Allah, grant me refuge under
the canopy of Thy heaven on the day whereon there is no shelter save
Thy shelter. O Allah, make me to drink of the same cup as Muhammad,
on whom be blessings and glory!” Then we proceeded on our way till
we reached the Rokné-Shami or the north-western angle, and there we
said: “O Allah, may it please Thee to accept this pilgrimage, making
it a praiseworthy perseverance and a laudable deed. O Compassionate,
O Beloved, O Lord, O Merciful, and Omnipotent!” Next, on reaching
the south-western angle or Rokné-Yemani, we fell again to praying,
in accordance with the law: “O, Allah, our Lord and Ruler, grant us
prosperity in this world and happiness in the next, and deliver us
from the punishments of fire. O Allah, I seek shelter in Thee from
infidelity and from poverty and from the sorrows of life and from the
pangs of death; I also take refuge in Thee from ignominy in this world
and in the world to come.” The last prayer we said was at the starting
point, facing the Black Stone. Finding it impossible to approach
within arm’s reach, we lifted up our hands from afar, and then bowed,
saying: “O Lord of this sacred relic, I flee to Thee and to ‘Thy right
hand on earth’ from all want and also from all infidelity.”
In this, the first circuit or “shaut,” we used the step called
“harvaleh,” walking briskly and shrugging the shoulders up and down,
and we adopted the same gait on the second and third “ashwat” (plural
form of “shaut”). But, in performing the remaining four circuits, a
more grave and stately tread was assumed according to the custom.
This ordinary eastern walk is called “teamol” and combines dignity
of demeanour with leisure of pace; it is a contemplative fashion of
walking, what the French would call _recueilli_, and is admirably
suited to a pilgrim’s devotional stroll round the House of God. On the
other hand, the reformer who should wish to introduce the go-ahead
civilisation of the West could not begin better than by levying a
prohibitive tax on the “teamol.” Sale records the tradition that this
sevenfold compassing of the Ka’bah was ordered by Muhammad, “that his
followers might show themselves strong and active, to cut off the hopes
of the infidels, who gave out that the immoderate heats of Medina had
rendered them weak.” A second tradition is that the circular motion
represents the orbicular motion of the heavenly bodies; a third, that
it is meant to symbolise the Egyptian wheels, those hieroglyphics
of the instability of human fortune; and a fourth, that it arose
from a custom among the Pagan Arabs, who, if they wished to humble
themselves, were wont to walk seven times round the person or persons
whom they delighted to exalt. Anyhow, the compassing of the Ka’bah,
be its origin what it may, is held by the Muhammadans to be an act of
self-sacrifice from man to God. I was much struck by the fact that
the victims of cholera and of other diseases were borne round the
sacred precincts in rude wooden coffins by their friends, who cried out
in tones of lamentation, “Yá-Allah! Yá-Allah!” It was an impressive
funeral procession, and is said to relieve the pressure of the grave,
and to insure to the corpse a safe and a speedy entrance into Paradise.
The Tewaff is brought to a close by a reverential visit to the tomb
of Abraham, which faces the door of the House. It is an open pavilion
resting on four pillars, and crowned with a crescented cupola.
There my guide and I, taking up our position on the thither side of
the tomb which was thus placed between ourselves and the House of God,
prostrated ourselves twice, saying our morning prayers the while; and
then, sitting on our hips, we raised our hands to the sky and said with
closed eyes:
“We give praise to Thee, O Lord, we glorify Thee in the name of
Muhammad--may peace be with him and with his people! O God, accept
this Hájj from me, and allow it not to be the last one. I praise thee,
O Lord, in all Thy attributes, I praise Thee for all Thy blessings; I
praise Thee for all Thou willest, I praise Thee for all Thy power. O
Lord, accept this worship from me, and cleanse my heart, and sharpen
my sense of duty. Take compassion on me, O God, for my worship’s sake,
and because I accept the words of Thy prophet--on whom be peace! O
Lord, make me to detest those that do not worship Thee, and make me
to love those who love Thee, and those who love Thy prophet and Thy
angels and all Thy pious creatures.”
Then, bowing our foreheads to the ground, we said aloud:
“O Lord, I worship Thee on my face; there is no God but Thee; Thou art
just and merciful; Thou art the beginning of everything, and the end
of everything; for Thine is the management and Thine the power alone.
O Thou that forgivest the sins of Thy people, pardon my offences,
for in Thee do I now confess my sins. Verily, no one can pardon grave
sinners except Thyself. I say, there is not any one to be compared
with Thee.”
The rewards of a correct performance of the Tewaff and of the necessary
prayers--preferably at sundown, the best time for meditation--are of a
sort to render the rite extremely popular among the pilgrims. At every
step they take, in making the seven circuits, no fewer than seventy
thousand sins will be blotted out of their bad books, and an equal
number of virtues be added to the companion volumes containing their
good actions. Nor is this all, for they will be made, at the same rate,
the intercessors of seventy thousand sinners; they will build up to
themselves the same number of palaces in heaven, and will earn the
fulfilment of seven hundred thousand of their desires in this world,
and of seventy thousand in the world to come. And that, no doubt, is
why we took precious care that our steps, even when walking briskly,
as we were obliged to do for the first three circuits, should be, if
smart, extremely short ones.