miles distant from the city. Within this compass of ground it is not law. ful to attack an enemy, or even to hunt or fowl, or cut a branch from a tree; which is the true reason why the pigeons at Mecca are reckoned sacred and not that they are supposed to be of the race of that imaginary pigeor which some authors, who should have known better, would persuade us Mohammed made pass for the Holy Ghost."

The temple of Mecca was a place of worship, and in singular veneration with the Arabs from great antiquity, and many centuries before Mohammed. Though it was most probably dedicated at first to an idolatrous use, yet the Mohammedans are generally persuaded that the Caaba is almost coeval with the world; for they say that Adam, after his expulsion from paradise, pegged of God that he might erect a building like that he had seen there, called Beit al Mamûr, or the frequented house, and al Dorâh, towards which he might direct his prayers, and which he might compass, as the angels do the celestial one. Whereupon God let down a representation of that house in curtains of light, and set it in Mecca, perpendicularly under its original,' ordering the patriarch to turn towards it when he prayed, and to compass it by way of devotion. After Adam's death, his son Seth built a house in the same form, of stones and clay, which being destroyed by the deluge, was rebuilt by Abraham and Ismael, at God's command, in the place where the former had stood, and after the same model, they being directed therein by revelation.1

After this edifice had undergone several reparations, it was a few years after the birth of Mohammed rebuilt by the Koreish on the old foundation,5 and afterwards repaired by Abd'allah Ebn Zobeir, the Khalif of Mecca, and at length again rebuilt by Yusof, surnamed al Hejaj Ebn Yûsff, in the seventy-fourth year of the Hejra, with some alterations, in the form wherein it now remains. Some years after, however, the Khalif Harûn al Rashid (or, as others write, his father al Mohdi, or his grandfather al Mansur,) intended again to change what had been altered by al Hejâj, and to reduce the Caaba to the old form in which it was left by Abd'allah; but was dissuaded from meddling with it, lest so holy a place should become the sport of princes, and being new-modelled after every one's fancy, should lose that reverence which was justly paid it. But notwithstanding the antiquity and holiness of this building, they have a prophecy, by tradition from Mohammed, that in the last times the Ethiopians shall come and utterly demolish it; after which it will not be rebuilt again for ever.

Before we leave the temple of Mecca, two or three particulars deserve further notice. One is the celebrated black stone, which is set in silver,

Gol. Not. in Alfrag. p. 99. Gah. Sionita, et Joh. Hesronita, de nonnullis Orient. Urbib. ad Calc. Geogr. Nub. p. 21. Al Mogholtaï, in his life of Mohammed, says the pigeons of the temple of Mecca are of the breed of those which laid their eggs at the mouth of the cave, where the prophet and Abu Becr hid themselves when they fled from that city. See before, p. 36. See before, p. 12. 'Some say that the Beit al Mámûr itself was the Caaba of Adam, which, having been let down to him from heaven, was, at the flood, taken up again into heaven, and is there kept. Al Zamakh. in Kor. c. 2. 1 Al Jûzi ex Trad. Eben Abbas. It has been observed, that the primitive Christian church held a parallel opinion as to the situation of the celestial Jerusalem with respect to the terrestrial: for in the apocryphal book of the revelations of St. Peter. (chap. xxvii) after Jesus has mentioned unto Peter the creation of the seven heavens (whence by the way, it appears that this number of heavens was not devised by Mohammed), and of the angels, begins the description of the heavenly Jerusalem in these words: We have created the upper Jeru salem above the waters which are above the third heaven, hanging directly over the lower Jerusalem. &c. Vide Gagnier, Not. ad Abulfed. Vit. Moh. p. 28. Al Shahrestâni. Vide Kor. chap 2, p. 16, 17. Al Jannâbi, in Vita Abrah. • Vide Abulfed. Vit, Moh. p. 13. Idem, in Hist. Gen. Al Januâbi. Al Jannâbi, &c. • Idem, Ahmed Ebn Yusef. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 115, &c.

and fixed in the south-east corner of the Caaba, being that which looks towards Basra, about two cubits and one-third, or, which is the same thing, seven spans from the ground. This stone is exceedingly respected by the Mohammedans, and is kissed by the pilgrims with great devotion, being called by some the right hand of God on earth. They fable that it is one of the precious stones of paradise, and fell down to the earth with Adam, and being taken up again, or otherwise preserved at the deluge, the angel Gabriel afterwards brought it back to Abraham when he was building the Caaba. It was at first whiter than milk, but grew black long since by the touch of a menstruous woman, or, as others tell us, by the sins of mankind," or rather by the touches and kisses of so many people; the superficies only being black, and the inside still remaining white.' When the Karmatians among other profanations by them offered to the temple of Mecca, took away this stone, they could not be prevailed on for love or money to restore it, though those of Mecca offered no less than five thousand pieces of gold for it. However, after they had kept it twenty-two years, seeing they could not thereby draw the pilgrims from Mecca, they sent it back of their own accord; at the same time bantering its devotees by telling them it was not the true stone: but, as it is said, it was proved to be no tounterfeit by its peculiar quality of swimming on water.

Another thing observable in this temple is the stone in Abraham's place, wherein they pretend to show his footsteps, telling us he stood on it when he built the Caaba, and that it served him for a scaffold, rising and falling of itself as he had occasion; though another tradition says he stood upon it while the wife of his son Ismael, whom he paid a visit to, washed his head. It is now enclosed in an iron chest, out of which the pilgrims drink the water of Zemzem, and are ordered to pray at it by the Korân.9 The officers of the temple took care to hide this stone when the Karmatians took the other.'

The last thing I shall take notice of in the temple is the well Zemzem on the east side of the Caaba, and which is covered with a small building and cupola. The Mohammedans are persuaded it is the very spring which gushed out for the relief of Ismael, when Hagar his mother wandered with him in the desert;2 and some pretend it was so named from her calling to him, when she spied it, in the Egyptian tongue, Zem, zem, that is, Stay, stay, though it seems rather to have had the name from the murmuring of its waters. The water of this well is reckoned holy, and is highly reverenced; being not only drunk with particular devotion by the pilgrims, but also sent in bottles, as a great rarity, to most parts of the Mohammedan dominions. Abd'allah, surnamed al Hâfedh, from his great memory particularly as to the traditions of Mohammed, gave out that he acquired that faculty by drinking large draughts of Zemzem water, to which I really believe it as efficacious as that of Helicon to the inspiring of a poet.

To this temple every Mohammedan, who has health and means sufficient, ought once at least in his life to go on pilgrimage; nor are women excused from the performance of this duty. The pilgrims meet at different places

Al Zamakh, &c., in Kor. Ahmed Ebn Yusef. Poc. Spec. p. 117, &c. 2 Theso Karmatians were a sect which arose in the year of the Hejra 278, and whose opinions overturned the fundamental points of Mohammedism. See D'Herbelot's Bibl. Orient. Art. Carmath, and hereafter, sect. viii. D'Herbel. p. 40. Ahmed Ebn Yusef, Abulfeda. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 119. Abulfed. Vide Hyde, de Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 35. Ebn Yusef, Safio'ddin. • Ahmed Ebn Yusef. Chap. 2, p. 16. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 120. 2 Gen. xxi. 19. G. Sionit. et J. Hesr. de nonnull. Urb. Orient. p. 19. D'Herbel. p. 5. See Kor. chap. 3, p. 47, and the notes thereon.

Ahmed

near Mecca, according to the different parts from whence they come," during the months of Shawâl and Dhu'lkaada; being obliged to be there by the beginning of Dhu'lhajja; which month, as its name imports, is peculiarly set apart for the celebration of this solemnity.

At the places above-mentioned the pilgrims properly commence such; when the men put on the Ihrâm or sacred habit, which consists only of two woollen wrappers, one wrapped about their middle to cover their privates, and the other thrown over their shoulders, having their heads bare, and a kind of slippers which cover neither the heel nor the instep, and so enter the sacred territory in their way to Mecca. While they have this habit on they must neither hunt nor fowl,' (though they are allowed to fish) which precept is so punctually observed, that they will not kill even a louse or a flea, if they find them on their bodies: there are some noxious animals, however, which they have permission to kill during the pilgrimage, as kites, ravens, scorpions, mice, and dogs given to bite. During the pilgrimage it behoves a man to have a constant guard over his words and actions, and to avoid all quarrelling, or ill language, and all converse with women, and obscene discourse, and to apply his whole intention to the good work he is engaged in.

The pilgrims, being arrived at Mecca, immediately visit the temple, and then enter on the performance of the prescribed ceremonies, which consist chiefly in going in procession round the Caaba, in running between the mounts Safâ and Merwâ, in making the station on mount Arafat, and slaying the victims, and shaving their heads in the valley of Mina. These ceremonies have been so particularly described by others,' that I may be excused if I but just mention the most material circumstances thereof.

In compassing the Caaba, which they do seven times, beginning at the corner where the black stone is fixed, they use a short quick pace the three first times they go round it, and a grave ordinary pace the four last; which it is said was ordered by Mohammed, 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. But the aforesaid quick pace they are not obliged to use every time they perform this piece of devotion, but only at some particular times. So often as they pass by the black stone they either kiss it, or touch it with their hand, and kiss that.

The running between Safâ and Merwâ is also performed seven times, partly with a slow pace, and partly running: for they walk gravely till they come to a place between two pillars; and there they run, and afterwards walk again; sometimes looking back, and sometimes stopping, like one who has lost something, to represent Hagar seeking water for her son : for the ceremony is said to be as ancient as her time."

On the ninth of Dhul'hajja, after morning prayer, the pilgrims leave the valley of Mina, whither they come the day before, and proceed in a tumultuous and rushing manner to mount Arafat, where they stay to perform their devotions till sunset: then they go to Mozdalifa, an oratory between Arafat and Mina, and there spend the night in prayer, and reading the Korán. The next morning by day-break they visit al Mashér al harâm, or

8

Vide Bobov. de Peregr. Mecc. p, 12. &c Korân, chap. 5. • Ibid. • Al Beid. Bobov. de Peregr. Mecc. p. 11, &c. Chardin, Voy. de Perse, tom. 2, p. 440, &c. See also Pitts's account of the rel. &c., of Mohammedans, p. 92, &c. Gagnier, Vie de Moh. tom. 2, p 258, &c. Abulfed. Vit. Moh. p. 130, &c., and Reland. de Rel Moh. p. 113, &c. 2 Ebn al Athîr. Vide Pocock, Spec. p. 314. • See before p. 15. • Al Ghazâli. Reland. de Rel. Moh. p. 121. Ebn al Athîr. • Seo

Kor. chap. 2, p. 23.

the sacred monument, and departing thence before sunrise, haste by Batn Mohasser to the valley of Mina, where they throw seven stones1 at three marks or pillars, in imitation of Abraham, who meeting the devil in that place, and being by him disturbed in his devotions, or tempted to disobedience, when he was going to sacrifice his son, was commanded by God to drive him away by throwing stones at him; though others pretend this rite to be as old as Adam, who also put the devil to flight in the same place, and by the same means.3

The

This ceremony being over, on the same day, the tenth of Dhu'lhajja, the pilgrims slay their victims in the said valley of Mina; of which they and their friends eat part, and the rest is given to the poor. These victims must be either sheep, goats, kine, or camels; males, of either of the two former kinds, and females if of either of the latter, and of a fit age. sacrifices being over, they shave their heads, and cut their nails, burying them in the same place; after which the pilgrimage is looked on as completed: though they again visit the Caaba, to take their leave of that sacred building.

The above-mentioned ceremonies, by the confession of the Mohammedans themselves, were almost all of them observed by the pagan Arabs many ages before their prophet's appearance; and particularly the compassing of the Caaba, the running between Safâ and Merwâ, and the throwing of the stones in Mina; and were confirmed by Mohammed, with some alterations in such points as seemed most exceptionable: thus, for example, he ordered that when they compassed the Caaba, they should be clothed;" whereas before his time they performed that piece of devotion naked, throwing off their clothes as a mark that they had cast off their sins, or as signs of their disobedience towards God.

It is also acknowledged that the greater part of these rites are of no intrinsic worth, neither affecting the soul, nor agreeing with natural reason, but altogether arbitrary, and commanded merely to try the obe dience of mankind, without any farther view; and are therefore to be complied with, not that they are good in themselves, but because God has so appointed. Some, however, have endeavoured to find out some reasons for the arbitrary injunctions of this kind; and one writer,' supposing men ought to imitate the heavenly bodies, not only in their purity, but in their circular motion, seems to argue the procession round the Caaba to be therefore a rational practice. Reland has observed that the Romans had something like this in their worship, being ordered by Numa to use a circular motion in the adoration of the gods, either to represent the orbicular motion of the world, or the perfecting the whole office of prayer to that God who is maker of the universe, or else in allusion to the Egyptian wheels, which were hieroglyphics of the instability of human fortune.3

The pilgrimage to Mecca, and the ceremonies prescribed to those who perform it, are, perhaps, liable to greater exception than any other of

1

See Korân, chap. 2. p. 23. M. Gagnier has been twice guilty of a mistake in confound. ing this monument with the sacred enclosure of the Caaba. Vide Gagn Not. ad Abulfed. Vit. Moh. p. 131, et Vie de Moh. tom. 2, p. 262. Dr. Pocock, from al Ghazali, says seventy, at different times and places. Spec. p. 315. 2 Al Ghazali, Ahmed Ebn Yusef. Ebn al Athîr. Vide Reland, ubi sup. p. 117. See Kor. chap. 2. p. 23. Al Faïk, de Tempore Ignor. Arabum, apud Millium de Moham medmo ante Moh. p. 332. Compare Isaiah Ixiv. 6. Jallal. al Beid. This notion comes very near, if it be not the same, with that of the Adamites. Al Ghazali, vide Abulfar. Hist Dyn. p. 171. Abu Jaafar Ebn Tofail, in Vita Hai Ebn Yokdhân, p. See Mr. Ockley's English translation thereof, p. 117. 2 De Rel. Moh. p. 123. Plutarch. in Numa.

Idem. chap. 7.

151.

Mocammed's institutions; not only as silly and ridiculous in themselves, but as relics of idolatrous superstition. Yet whoever seriously considers how difficult it is to make people submit to the abolishing of ancient cus. toms, how unreasonable soever, which they are fond of, especially where the interest of a considerable party is also concerned, and that a man may with less danger change many things than one great one, must excuse Mohammed's yielding some points of less moment, to gain the principal. The temple of Mecca was held in excessive veneration by all the Arabs in general (if we except only the tribes of Tay, and Khatháam, and some of the posterity of al Hareth Ebn Caab, who used not to go in pilgrimage thereto), and especially by those of Mecca, who had a particular interest to support that veneration; and as the most silly and insignificant things are generally the objects of the greatest superstition, Mohammed found it much easier to abolish idolatry itself than to eradicate the superstitious bigotry with which they were addicted to that temple, and the rites performed there: wherefore, after several fruitless trials to wean them therefrom," he thought it best to compromise the matter, and, rather than to frustrate his whole design, to allow them to go on pilgrimage thither, and to direct their prayers thereto: contenting himself with transferring the devotions there paid from their idols to the true God, and changing such circumstances therein as he judged might give scandal. And herein he followed the example of the most famous legislators, who instituted not such laws as were absolutely the best in themselves, but the best their people were capable of receiving: and we find God himself had the same condescendence for the Jews, whose hardness of heart he humoured in many things, giving them therefore statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live.

SECTION V.

OF CERTAIN NEGATIVE PRECEPTS IN THE KORAN.

HAVING in the preceding section spoken of the fundamental points of the Mohammedan religion, relating both to faith and to practice, I shall, in this and the two following discourses, speak in the same brief method of some other precepts and institutions of the Korân, which deserve peculiar notice, and first of certain things which are thereby prohibited.

The drinking of wine, under which name all sorts of strong and inebriating liquors are comprehended, is forbidden in the Korân in more places than one. Some, indeed, have imagined that only excess therein is forbidden and that the moderate use of wine is allowed by two passages in the same book: but the more received opinion is, that to drink any strong liquors either in a lesser quantity or in a greater, is absolutely unlawful; and though libertines indulge themselves in the contrary practice, yet the more conscientious are so strict, especially if they have performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, that they hold it unlawful not only to taste wine, but to press

Al Shahrestâni.

'Maimonides (in Epist. ad Prosel. Rel) pretends that the worship of Mercury was per formed by throwing of stones, and that of Chemosh, by making bare the head, and putting on unsewn garments. According to the maxim, Tutius est multa mutare quàm unum magnum. See Kor. chap. 2, p. 17. Spencer, de Urim et Thummim, cap. 4, sect. 7. Chap. 2, p. 25, and chap. 16. Vide D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient. p. 696. de Morib. et Instit. Turcar. Ep. 2, p. 28, &c.

Ezek. xx. 25. Vide See chap. 2, p. 25, and chap. 5. 2 Vide Smith, Vide Chardin, ubi supra, p. 212.