Hejaz

“ Hejaz remained in Egyptian occupation until 1845, when its administration was taken over directly by Constantinople, and it was constituted a vilayet under a vali or governor-general. The population is estimated at 300,000, about half of which are inhabitants of the towns and the remainder Bedouin, leading a nomad or pastoral life. The principal tribes are the Sherarat, Beni Atiya and Huwetat in the north; the Juhena between Yambu’ and Medina, and the various sections of the Harb throughout the centre and south; the Ateba also touch the Mecca border on the south-east. ”

“ To this influence the Hejāz owes what little of law and order it enjoys. During the last quarter of the 19th century Turkish influence became preponderant in western Arabia, and the railway from Syria to the Hejāz tended to consolidate the sultan’s supremacy. After the sherīfs, the principal family of Mecca is the house of Shaibah, which holds the hereditary custodianship of the Kaʽba. ”

“ We come now to the passage of the River Jordan and the operations in Eastern Palestine. It will be remembered, from what has already been written, [9] that active operations were in progress about this time between the Turks south-east of the Dead Sea and our Arab allies, the troops of the King of the Hejaz. The Turkish line of communications ran down the Hejaz Railway through eastern Palestine, temptingly near our forces at Jericho. It will also be remembered, [10] that the Jordan Valley, and ascent therefrom into the hills of Eastern Palestine are unique. ”

“ The country falls naturally into three main divisions, a northern, a central and a southern; the first includes the area between the Midian coast on the west and the head of the Persian Gulf on the east, a desert tract throughout, stony in the north, sandy in the south, but furnishing at certain seasons excellent pasturage; its population is almost entirely nomad and pastoral. The central zone includes Hejaz (or Hijaz) , Nejd and El Hasa; much of it is a dry, stony or sandy steppe, with few wells or watering-places, and only occupied by nomad tribes ”

“ The open sesame to the house, in the days of pilgrimage, is the seductive jingle of gold. An influential Hájí, by means of bakhshísh, can effect an entrance whenever he likes, but his poverty-stricken fellow-pilgrims are not granted the same privilege. Twice every year the house is ceremoniously cleaned and washed. When that happens it is incumbent on the Sheríf, the Governor-General of Hejaz, the head [Pg 165] priest, the keepers, and the priestly officials to be present, after they have performed the prescribed purifications and ablutions of the body. ”

“ The ruling dynasty of Julanda in their capital Suhār lasted on till the Abbasid period. No Persian officials are mentioned in this country; whether Persians exercised authority over it is doubtful. On the west coast of Arabia the influence of the kingdom of Yemen was felt in varying degree according to the strength of the rulers of that land. Apart from this influence the Hejaz was simply a collection of cities each with its own government, while outside the cities the various tribes governed themselves and fought continual battles with one another. ”

“ It will be necessary for you to go into a strange land. And may Allah be with you! May he be your helper!”
They embraced each other and separated. The desolate girl wandered, weeping, from mountain to mountain, while the boy took the garment that had been dipped in lamb’s blood, and returned all the [189] long way to the Hejaz and gave it to his father, saying:
“Here, my father! Receive the bloody garment of your daughter, which I have brought in fulfillment of your command.” ”

“ The Princes of Nejd would certainly not tolerate the presence of Turkish soldiers at Medina, and the Sherifs of Mecca would have to make terms with them and with the restored Imams of Yemen till such time as they should find a new protector elsewhere. Above all, [Pg 111] the half million of Wakaf income would no longer be forthcoming, and a Turkish Emir el Haj arriving empty-handed at Mecca would bring his master to a climax of derision. Hejaz then would infallibly look out for a new potentate whom she could dignify with the title of Hami el Harameyn and Emir el Mumenin ”

“ Emir Feisal is, no doubt, an enlightened prince, but one swallow does not make a summer, and Hejazi troops have not yet evolved enough moral to dominate and control a more formidable breed or be trusted with the [132] peace and welfare of a more civilised population, especially where there are large non-Moslem communities. There has been a great deal of nonsense talked and written about their invincible fighting prowess. ”

“ It is hardly too much to say that one can learn more of modern Islam in a week at Jeddah than in a year elsewhere, for there the very shopkeepers discourse of things divine, and even the Frank Vice-Consuls prophesy. The Hejazi is less shy, too, of discussing religious matters than his fellow Mussulmans are in other places. Religion is, as it were, part of his stock-in-trade, and he is accustomed to parade it before strangers. ”

“ And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, "Let her alone: for her soul is vexed within her; and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me."
Then she said, "Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, 'Do not deceive me'?"
Then he said to Gehazi, "Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child." ”

“ No European garden can be so beautiful as that. Now I am going straight home.”
She smiled to herself as she said the last word.
Outside the hotel they found Hadj looking ferocious. He exchanged some words with Batouch, accompanying them with violent gestures. When he had finished speaking he spat upon the ground.
“What is the matter with him?” Domini asked.
“The Monsieur who is staying here would not take him to-day, but went into the desert alone. Hadj wishes that the nomads may cut his throat, and that his flesh may be eaten by jackals. ”

“ The Arab answered him immediately; “God prosper you in everything; but as for yesterday’s secret, take care you do not divulge it to day.” “That I will,” said Hejaj; “but you must choose one of these two things, either to acknowledge me for your master, and then I will retain you in my service; or else to be sent to Abdalmelik, to whom I will give an account of all that you have said of him.” The Arab, having heard Hejaj’s proposal, answered him instantly: “There is a third way you may take, which seems to me to be much better.” “What is that?” said Hejaj. ”

“ Elisha accordingly repaired to Damascus to lead Gehazi back to the paths of righteousness. But he remained impenitent, for he said: "From thyself I have learned that there is no return for him who not only sins himself, but also induces others to sin." (17) So Gehazi died without having done aught to atone for his transgressions, which were so great that he is one of the few Jews who have no share in Paradise. (18) His children inherited his leprosy. He and his three sons are the four leprous men who informed the king of Israel of the precipitate flight of the Syrian host. ”

“ Hejaj did as he bade him, and having drunk, asked him, “Whom do you believe to be the greatest and most excellent of all men?” “Why, the prophet sent by God, to be sure,” said the Arab. “And what do you think of Ali,” added Hejaj? The Arab answered, “His excellency cannot be expressed in words.” Hejaj, continuing his discourse, inquired what he thought of Abdalmelik! The Arab was silent at first, but being pressed, gave him to understand that he took him to be a bad prince. “Why so?” answered Hejaj. “Because he has sent us for a governor the most wicked man under the heavens.” ”

“ Our Hajji, the only one of the Mohammedans who had been in Mecca—had indeed been twice there—was the only rascal in the caravan. He had instigated the others. In my experience Mecca pilgrims are always scoundrels. The Hajji declared that he preferred robbers and tramps on the road to Guffaru and the other Ladakis. The three men vanished from sight as we marched north-westwards up the valley of the Men-chu.
In camp No. 177, on June 15, I held a grand reception, for some chiefs from the direction of Bongba came to visit me, and our old friend, the Gova of Tradum, arrived. ”

“ Hezekiah, the pious son of the godless Ahaz, recognised that it was to be the business of his reign to bring the kingdom out of the utterly ruinous condition into which Ahaz had brought it by his idolatry and his heathen policy, and to elevate the state again, both in respect to religion and morals, and also in political affairs. He consequently endeavoured, in the first place, to do away with the idolatry, and to restore the Jahve-worship according to the law, and then to throw off the yoke of subjection to the Assyrian. ”

“ In the three and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, wherewith he made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael, continually. ”

“ The land had been so hard pressed by Hazael and his son Ben-hadad, and the Israelites had been so reduced in strength, that their available forces consisted of but 10,000 infantry, fifty horse-soldiers, and ten war-chariots. From time to time the Aramæans made inroads, carried off booty and captured prisoners, whom they treated and sold as slaves. Jehoahaz appears to have concluded a disgraceful peace with the conqueror, to whose troops he granted free passage through his lands. Thereupon Hazael overran the land of the Philistines with his warriors, and besieged and conquered the town of Gath. ”

“ The continuance of the Baal-worship, and that on the high places in Jerusalem and Judah, until the sixth or seventh year of Hezekiah's reign, will not much astonish us, if we consider that even before Ahaz the most pious kings had not succeeded in quite suppressing worship on the high places on the part of the people. The reopening of the temple, and of the Jahve-worship in it, Hezekiah might undertake and carry out in the beginning of his reign, because he had all those of the people who were well inclined upon his side. ”

“ In the beautiful vale of Hinnom, or Ben Hinnom, at the southern extension of the valley of Kidron, where the spring of Siloah and other brooklets produce a magnificent vegetation, a fire-altar was erected. There, Ahaz, regardless of the heart-rending lamentations of his son, sacrificed the innocent child.
The example of Ahaz was, as a matter of course, not without influence on others. The nobles of Judah, who had a decided preference for all that was foreign, because it allowed full sway to their passions, gladly welcomed this adoption of Assyrian customs. ”

“ He turned and tramped shortly from the interior. A sudden, lengthening sunlight bathed the open and a sullen group of charcoal burners about Dan Hesa. Their faces seemed ebonized by the grinding in of particles of blackened wood. Some women, even, in gay, primitive clothes, stood back of the men. As Howat passed, a low, hostile murmur rose. He halted, and met them with a dark, contemptuous countenance, and the murmur died in a shuffling of feet in the dry grass. ”

“ In consequence of this want of harmony amongst the highest authorities of the country, Hezekiah's government appears full of contrasts—high-mindedness and meanness, moral improvement and degradation, pure faith in God and dependence on foreign aid; the king an ideal of justice, and his capital full of murderers. Not even in effecting the banishment of idolatry was Hezekiah successful. The nobles retained their silver and golden idols, and worshipped the handiwork of man; in their gardens remained the statues of Astarte under the thickly-laden terebinth trees, planted for idolatrous purposes. ”

“ When they drew near the village of Shunem, Gehazi came out to meet them.
"The child is not awake," he said; but he got no answer.
Elisha went up alone to the little chamber, and there lay the beautiful child, still and quiet upon the bed. And the old man shut the door and prayed to God for him, and stretched himself upon the child, hand to hand, eye to eye, mouth to mouth, until the child grew warm, and showing signs of life, opened his eyes. Then the prophet called to his servant to bring the Shunammite woman. She needed no calling. ”

“ They go up: The Rabbi stops at the bridge.
The Rabbi.
Very well; but you will treat the young girl tenderly, my friends? Look here; you and Esther and Rafael bring her to my house some night when there will be no one else there. We'll let her feel the warmth of our hearts, as if she were already a Jewess. We will show her what the inner life of the Jews is; the life that the Christians have no conception of. And so we will work upon her better nature; but—yes, yes, I see you are busy. You are not worrying about Rafael, then?
Aaron. ”

“ Some one having heard him talk after this manner, said to him:— “You are an envious and an ambitious man, because you desire to have greater authority than others.” To which he answered:— “He is still more envious and ambitious, who says to God, ‘Give me, O Lord, a condition of life which nobody can enjoy after me.’”
Hejaj having once commended himself to the prayers of a religious Mussulman, he instantly prayed that it would please God to kill him quickly, for, said he, nothing better can happen either for him or for the people. ”