Mashhad

“ Those going to Karballa take from three to five months, likewise those going to Mashhad. Every band of pilgrims when returning to their own city will send a messenger about ten days ahead to announce that in so many days a band of pilgrims will appear in the city. On the day of their arrival many hundred men will meet them several miles from the city. The Say-yids ride before them crying säläwäts. Friends and relatives kill lambs as a sacrifice before them. ”

“ When he reached the top of the wall, he clapped his hands and gazed fixedly down into the city; whereupon the folk below cried out to him with one accord, saying, “O Shaykh Abd al-Samad, for the Lord’s sake, cast not thyself down!”; and they added, “Verily we are Allah’s and unto Him we are returning! If the Shaykh fall, we are dead men one and all.” Then he laughed beyond all measure and sat a long hour, reciting the names of Allah Almighty and repeating the Verses of Safety; then he rose and cried out at the top of his voice, saying, “O Emir, have no fear ”

“ For these big, bold, burly men are fairly savages in comparison with the cultured Hindu whom they harried. And Masûd, though by repute an affable gentleman, generous even to prodigality, and of uncommon personal strength and courage, was as turbulent as a king as he had been as a prince.
His favourite maxim was, "Dominion follows the longest sword." His was not only long, but heavy. No other man of his court could wield it, and an arrow from his bow would pierce the hide of a mailed elephant. During the ten years of his reign he entered India with an army three times. ”

“ If our friends win the victory, we will be reviled; and if they are defeated, we would be the cause of their defeat." Thus they returned and joined Khâlid. The Moslems and the "polythesists" met, and the former took to flight until they got to their place of abode where as-Sâʾib ibn-al-ʿAuwâm stood up and addressed them saying, "Ye have reached, O people, your place of abode; and after his own place of abode, man has no place to flee to!" ”

“ A prophet for the Arabs must fulfil two conditions if he will bring with his good tidings the power of making them accepted: he must spring from the traditional centre of Arabian religion, and he must come of a noble family of pure Arab blood. Moḥammad fulfilled both. His family was that branch of the Ḳureysh which had raised Mekka to the dignity of the undisputed metropolis of Arabia, and which, though impoverished, still held the chief offices of the sacred territory. Moḥammad’s grandfather was the virtual chief of Mekka ”

“ As a peace-maker, prophet, or messiah, he would be equally welcome in a city torn asunder by party jealousies.
When the time of pilgrimage again came round, Moḥammad waited at the appointed place in a secluded glen, and there met him men from the two pagan tribes of [Pg lv] Yethrib—the clans of Khazraj and Aws—ten from one and two from the other. They told him of the willingness of their people to embrace Islám, and their hope to make ready the city for his welcome. They plighted their faith with him in these words: ‘We will not worship save one God ”

“ It was reserved for Moḥammad to formulate the faith of the Ḥaneefs in the dogmas of Islám. For the leader of these few ‘skeptics’ was Zeyd ibn ́Amr, to whom Moḥammad often resorted, and another, Waraḳah, was the cousin of the Prophet and his near neighbour: and thus the Ḥaneefs were the forerunners of the man who was to change the destinies of the Arabs.
We can no longer see the true Arab as he was in ‘the Time of Ignorance,’ and we cannot but regret our loss; for the Pagan Arab is a noble type of man, though there be nobler. ”

“ The Persian monarch, having devoted himself to a life of abstinence and piety, shed not any blood, neither did he put any person to death, nor make war on any one, and Mazdak encouraged, him in this line of conduct. Then all veneration and fear of Kobad departed from the hearts of the princes, and no one respected or dreaded him; and as they were free from any apprehensions of his attacking them, all the princes in his empire began to form ambitious projects. The king of the Arabs, Naaman ibn Al Mondar was under his subjection, and his residence was at Hirah ”

“ Ibn-i-Masud went out to search, and found him at last, in the midst of a pile of corpses. The chief of the idolaters was still breathing. Ibn-i-Masud placed his foot on the dying man's neck, even as one stamps on a viper, but just as he leant over, Abu Jahal, to brave him, seized him by the beard, and gazing at his conqueror, with a mad look of impotent rage, he shouted, the death-rattle sounding in his throat: 'Hast ever seen such a noble fellow as I, murdered by such vile ploughmen?'
To put an end to the infidel's insults, Ibn-i-Masud cut off his head and brought it to the Prophet. ”

“ The City of Mashad, close to the ruins of Tus, where Al-Ghazali was born and where he died, has been truly described as the Mecca of the Persian world. Its streets are crowded with a hundred thousand pilgrims every year. ”

“ So he said to her, "O my daughter, dost thou deal thus with me?" She answered "If I be indeed thy daughter, become a Moslem, even as I became a Moslemah, for the truth was shown to me and I attested it; and the false, and I deserted it. I have submitted myself unto Allah, The Lord of the Three Worlds, and am pure of all faiths contrary to that of Al-Islam in this world and in the next world. Wherefore, if thou wilt become a Moslem, well and good; if not, thy death were better than thy life." Ala al-Din also exhorted him to embrace the True Faith ”

“ Without going deep into theory, it may be said that the Ka�abah and the Hajar are the only two idols which have survived the 360 composing the heavenly host of the Arab pantheon. Thus the Hindu poet exclaims:�
"Behold the marvels of my idol-temple, O Moslem! That when its idols are destroy�d, it becomes Allah�s House."
Wilford (As. Soc. vols. iii. and iv.) makes the Hindus declare that the Black Stone at Mokshesha, or Moksha-sthana (Meccah) was an incarnation of Moksheshwara, an incarnation of Shiwa, who with his consort visited Al-Hijaz. ”

“ When the Light of Muḥammad shone forth all Arabia was brightened. These oppressed and degraded peoples became enlightened and cultured; so much so, indeed, that other nations imbibed Arabian civilization from Arabia. This was the proof of Muḥammad’s divine mission.
All the teaching of the Prophets is one; one faith; one Divine light shining throughout the world. Now, under the banner of the oneness of humanity all people of all creeds should turn away from prejudice and become friends and believers in all the Prophets. As Christians believe in Moses, so the Jews should believe in Jesus. ”

“ Ibn al-Sammák (Son of the fisherman or fishmonger) , whose name was Abú al-Abbás Mohammed bin Sabíh, surnamed Al-Mazkúr (Ibn al-Athir says Al-Muzakkar) , was a native of Kufah (where he died in A.H. 183 = 799–80) , a preacher and professional tale-teller famed as a stylist and a man of piety. Al-Siyuti (p. 292) relates of him that when honoured by the Caliph with courteous reception he said to him, “Thy humility in thy greatness is nobler than thy greatness.” He is known to have been the only theologician who, ex cathedrâ, promised Al-Rashid a place in Paradise. ”

“ But one cannot fully understand the religious spirit of the Mussulman without knowing something of the prayers which he is wont to address to the Deity. No class of men, probably, have the name of God—Allah—more frequently on their lips than the Moslems. This is particularly true of those devotees—and their number is legion—known as dervishes.
Prayer five times a day is the second of the five pillars of Islam. At dawn, at midday, in the afternoon, evening and night the Muezzin ascends the minaret and repeats in a loud voice:
God is great. ”

“ Khalifah rejoined, “By Allah, O Jew, an thou islamise ’twill nor advantage the Moslems nor damage the Jews; and in like manner, an thou hold to thy misbelief ’twill nor damage the Moslems nor advantage the Jews. But what I desire of thee is that thou rise to thy feet and say:—Bear witness against me, O people of the market, that I barter my ape for the ape of Khalifah the Fisherman and my lot in the world for his lot and my luck for his luck.” Quoth the Jew, “If this be all thou desirest ’twill sit lightly upon me.”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say. ”

“ When the fire of repentance burns, it consumes everything. He made his ablutions, resumed his Moslem garb, and departed for Mecca, where he and his old disciples embraced with tears of joy.
In the meantime the young Christian saw the Prophet appearing to her in a dream, and saying, "Follow the Sheikh! Adopt his doctrine; be the dust under his feet. Thou who wert the cause of his apostasy, be pure as he is." When she awoke from her dream, a strong impulse urged her to seek for him. With a heart full of affection, though with a feeble body, she went to seek for the Sheikh and his disciples. ”

“ In the caliphate of abu-Jaʿfar al-Manṣûr, Ṣâliḥ ibn-ʿAli rebuilt Marʿash and fortified it. He invited men to settle in it, promising to increase their stipends. He was succeeded by al-Mahdi who increased its garrison and armed the people.
Muḥammad ibn-Saʿd from al-Wâḳidi:—Mikhâʾîl [Michael] set out from Darb al-Ḥadath at the head of 80,000 men and came to ʿAmḳ Marʿash, killing, burning and carrying away the Moslems as captives. Thence he advanced to the gate of the city of Marʿash in which there was ʿÎsa ibn-ʿAli who in that year was on an expedition. ”

“ The Moslems camped at an-Nukhailah [10] and were led, according to the Bajîlah, by Jarîr ibn-ʿAbdallâh, and, according to the Rabîʿah, by al-Muthanna ibn-Ḥârithah. Others affirm that the Moslems were commanded in turn by the heads of the various tribes. The Moslems met their enemy, and Shuraḥbîl ibn-as-Simṭ al-Kindi distinguished himself in the fight that ensued. Masʿûd ibn-Ḥârithah was slain. So al-Muthanna said, "Fear not, Moslems, because my brother is killed. Such is the fate of the best among you." ”

“ But, after his arrival at Māsabadhān, a place in Jabal (Media, the later Persian Irak) , he died suddenly, at the age of only forty-three. Some attribute his death to an accident met with in hunting; others believe him to have been poisoned. Some European scholars have suspected Mūsā of having been concerned in it, but of this we have no proof whatever.
The reign of Mahdi was a time of great prosperity. Much was done for the organization of the huge empire; agriculture and commerce flourished; the revenues were increasing, whilst the people fared well. ”

“ Muḥammad himself was safe under the protection of Abū Ṭālib and the Banū Hāshim, who, though they had no sympathy for the doctrines their kinsman taught, yet with the strong clan-feeling peculiar to the Arabs, secured him from any attempt upon his life, though he was still exposed to continual insult and annoyance. But the poor who had no protector, and the slaves, had to endure the cruelest persecution, and were imprisoned and tortured in order to induce them to recant. ”

“ Dunyazad said to her, “Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!” She replied:——With love and good will! It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that when Musa had thrust Mohsin into the well with intent to drown him, the blinded man cried, “O Lord thou hast doomed me to blinding, and at last Thou hast condemned me to drowning.” ”

“ A thirst for revenge was now added to the original incentives of ambition and proselytism,—a desire to wipe out, by a series of fresh triumphs, the memory of past reverses, and to inflict a long deferred retaliation for frightful misfortunes endured by the routed armies of Islam. The Djihad, or Holy War, was proclaimed simultaneously from the pulpit of every mosque in the Emir’s dominions. To the promotion of the crusade, every Moslem was bound by the law of the Koran to contribute in proportion to his means, by donations of money, military supplies, provisions, or personal service. ”

“ I never saw a place so void of architectural features as the town of Maskat itself. The mosques have neither domes nor minarets—a sign of the rigid Wahabi influence which swept over Arabia. This sect refuse to have any feature about their buildings, or ritual which was not actually enjoined by Mohammed in his Koran. There are a few carved lintels and doorways, and the bazaars are quaintly pretty, but beyond this the only architectural features are Portuguese.
All traces of the Portuguese rule are fast disappearing, and each new revolution adds a little more to their destruction. ”

“ But the power of Persia was broken 122by the Mohammedan conquest, and the war-cry of the Moslem was the herald of defeated tyranny; hence it is that Mazdeism, although once the fear of the world, has for a thousand years had but little interest except for the historian. It was once the state religion of a powerful empire, but it was virtually driven away from its native soil by the sons of the desert, and the star and crescent waved in triumph above its broken altars. ”

“ In addition to the Mahomedan population of Yezd, that city contains some Hindoo merchants, some Jews, and a considerable number of Guebres; but the people of the last-mentioned sect, owing to the oppression from which they have suffered, are year by year withdrawing themselves, as they find opportunities, from the rule of the Shah, and hastening to join their more prosperous co-religionists in India. The climate of Yezd is considered to be very salubrious, and is extremely dry ”