You think I am making fun but it is really true that in western Arabia
there is a house that always wears an overcoat. This is a large, square
stone house without windows and with only one door to let in the light and
the air; it is empty inside, although crowds gather around it as you see
in the picture. Yet this house always has on an overcoat of black silk,
very heavy and richly embroidered. Every year the old coat is taken off
and a new one put on. A few days ago a Moslem pilgrim showed me a piece of
the cloth of last year's overcoat and he was very proud of it. It was
indeed a fine piece of heavy silk and the names of God and Mohammed were
prettily woven into the cloth. This man had just come from visiting the
square-house and I will tell you what he saw.
The place he visited with hundreds and thousands of other pilgrims is
called Mecca and the square-house is the _Beit Allah_ or house of God to
all Mohammedans. It is also called the _Kaaba_, which is the Arabic word
for a cube.
The Moslems believe all sorts of foolish things about the Kaaba. They say
Adam built it as soon as he fell down on the earth out of Paradise, and
that Abraham repaired it after it had been ruined by the flood in the days
of Noah. They even show a large white stone on which Abraham and Ishmael
stood when they plastered the walls; the stone still bears the impress of
Abraham's feet, they say. Did you ever hear such a topsy-turvy story?
The building is about twenty-four cubits long and wide and nearly twenty
cubits high. It has no ornaments or beauty except one rain-spout to carry
the water off the flat roof; you can see it on the right side of the Kaaba
on the picture. This spout is said to be of pure gold. In one corner of
the building is a large black stone which is also an object of worship.
The Mohammedans say it came down from heaven with Adam and was once pure
white. By the many kisses of sinful worshippers it has turned black. Not
only is it black but broken. For about three hundred years after
Mohammed's death the stone remained imbedded in the walls of the Kaaba,
but then some wild Arabs from the Persian Gulf came, sacked Mecca and
stole the black stone. It was carried to Katif, a place near Bahrein,
right across Arabia, and they kept it a long time until the people of
Mecca paid a large sum of money and carried it back. On the long journey
it must have fallen from the camel because, at present, it is cracked and
the broken pieces are held together by a silver band. There once were a
great many of these stone idols in the Kaaba, but Mohammed destroyed them
all except this one when he became master of Mecca.
[Illustration: THE SQUARE HOUSE WITH THE BLACK OVERCOAT.]
At present the stone house is empty of idols and yet all the Moslems turn
in the direction of this old heathen temple to pray. The cloth that covers
it comes every year as a present from the Khedive of Egypt, who is a
Mohammedan. It is very costly and is sent on a special camel, beautifully
decked with trappings of gilt, and a large throng of pilgrims go along
to escort the overcoat.
When the wind stirs the heavy folds of cloth, the pious boys and girls of
Mecca say it is the angels that watch around the Kaaba, whose wings lift
the covering. It must be a wonderful sight to see thousands of Moslem
pilgrims stand around this place and kneel and pray.
Besides running around the Kaaba, kissing the black stone and drinking
water from a holy well called _zemzem_, they have one day on which they
sacrifice sheep or other animals. One curious custom on this day of
sacrifice I must tell you of. It is called "stoning the great devil."
Early in the morning thousands of pilgrims go to a place in the valley of
Mina where there are three white pillars made of masonry; the first and
largest is called the Great Devil. The pilgrims cast stones at this
pillar. Each one must stand at the distance of not less than fifteen feet
and say, as he throws seven pebbles: "In the name of God the Almighty I do
this, and in hatred of the devil and his shame." The Moslems fail to
realise that Satan is in the hearts of men and not behind a pillar, nor
that he can be driven away with prayer better than by pebbles.
For thirteen hundred years Moslems have come every year to Mecca, and gone
away, with no one ever to tell them of the Son of God, the Saviour of the
World. Thirteen hundred years! Don't you think it is time to go and tell
them? And will you not pray that even this place may open its doors to
Jesus Christ, and crown Him Lord of all?