Mohi

“ Mohi-eddin, “he who makes religion revive and flourish,” is a surname borne by several Muselman doctors. The above-mentioned is Mohi-eddin Ibn al Arabi, born in Kordua, in Spain, of an Arabian family, called Tayí, in the year of the Hejira 560 (A. D. 1164) . He studied in the academy of Seville, and then visited Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, where he heard the most distinguished Shaikhs of his time. He became the founder of a mystic school from which, among other remarkable disciples, the great Maulana Jelal-eddin Rumí issued; he is called “the Pole of the mystic world.” ”

“ Yet the landscape of Maramma has not the merriness of meadows; partly because of the shadow of Ofo, and partly because of the solemn groves in which the Morais and temples are buried.
According to Mohi, not one solitary tree bearing fruit, not one esculent root, grows in all the isle; the population wholly depending upon the large tribute remitted from the neighboring shores.
“It is not that the soil is unproductive,” said Mohi, “that these things are so. It is extremely fertile; but the inhabitants say that it would be wrong to make a Bread-fruit orchard of the holy island.” ”

“ And whether or no it was Mohi’s purpose to make us tourists quake with his recitals, his revelations were far from agreeable. At certain seasons, human beings were offered to the idol, which being an epicure in the matter of sacrifices, would accept of no ordinary fare. To insure his digestion, all indirect routes to the interior were avoided; the sacrifices being packed in the ventricle itself.
Near to this image of Doleema, so called, a solitary forest-tree was pointed out; leafless and dead to the core. ”

“ Now, issuing from the pagoda, Mohi turned about to gain a view of the ghost he had raised; and no sooner did he behold it, than with King Media and the rest, he made a marked salutation.
Presently, the eremite pointed to where Yoomy was standing; and waved his hand upward; when Mohi informed the minstrel, that it was St. Stylites' pleasure, that he should pay him a visit.
Wondering what was to come, Yoomy proceeded to mount; and at last arriving toward the top of the pagoda, was met by an opening, from which an encouraging arm assisted him to gain the ultimate landing. ”

“ Our tails, Mohi, were worn off by the process of civilization; especially at the period when our fathers began to adopt the sitting posture: the fundamental evidence of all civilization, for neither apes, nor savages, can be said to sit; invariably, they squat on their hams. Among barbarous tribes benches and settles are unknown. But, my lord Media, as your liege and loving subject I can not sufficiently deplore the deprivation of your royal tail. ”

“ Go on, then: vault over your premises.”
“If it be, then, my lord, that—”
“My very worshipful lord,” interposed Mohi, “is not our philosopher getting off soundings; and may it not be impious to meddle with these things?”
“Were it so, old man, he should have known it. The king of Odo is something more than you mortals.”
“But are we the great gods themselves,” cried Yoomy, “that we discourse of these things.”
“No, minstrel,” said Babbalanja; “and no need have the great gods to discourse of things perfectly comprehended by them, and by themselves ordained. ”

“ And, oh Sun! set not; and poppies bend over us, when next we embrace!"
"What ails that somnambulist?" cried Media, rising. "Yoomy, I say! what ails thee?"
"He must have indulged over freely in those citrons," said Mohi, sympathetically rubbing his fruitery. "Ho, Yoomy! a swallow of brine will help thee."
"Alas," cried Babbalanja, "do the fairies then wait on repletion? Do our dreams come from below, and not from the skies? Are we angels, or dogs? Oh, Man, Man, Man! thou art harder to solve, than the Integral Calculus—yet plain as a primer ”

“ Here Yoomy once more was mute.
"Pause you to invent as you go on?" said old Mohi, elevating his chin, till his beard was horizontal.
Yoomy resumed.
"Little or nothing more, my masters, is extant of the legend; only it must be mentioned, that these little people were very tasteful in their personal adornings; the manikins wearing girdles of fragrant leaves, and necklaces of aromatic seeds; and the little damsels, not content with their vines, and their verdure, sporting pearls in their ears; bracelets of wee little porpoise teeth ”

“ With interest we hearkened to the recitals of Mohi; who discoursing of the sad end of many brave chieftains in Mardi, made allusion to the youthful Adondo, one of the most famous of the chiefs of the chronicles. In a canoe-fight, after performing prodigies of valor; he was wounded in the head, and sunk to the bottom of the lagoon.
“There is a noble monody upon the death of Adondo,” said Yoomy. “Shall I sing it, my lord? It. is very beautiful; nor could I ever repeat it without a tear.”
“We will dispense with your tears, minstrel,” said Media, “but sing it, if you will.” ”

“ The Muselmans in India revere, under the name of Mohi-eddin, a saint, son of Zangui and Bibí Fatima, called also Shaikh Saddo. He lived at Sambhal, in Rohilkunt, according to others, at Amroha, in the province of Delhi, where his tomb still exists. There the devotees assemble every year, on the 11th day of the 2nd Rabiâ (the 4th month of the Arabian year) and celebrate the saint’s memory, by particular fatihas, “prayers,” addressed to him, and other acts of devotion.— (See Mémoire sur les particularités de la Relig. Muselm. dans l’Inde, par M. Garcin de Tassy, pp. 46-54.) ”

“ To what, as a white man has no taint of Indian blood, I should be ashamed to own; to the judgment of the young Mohican, in matters which I should know better than he, but which I can now hardly believe to be true, though my own eyes tell me it is so. ”

“ They call to us for aid, though our ears are not open; they say, ‘Forget us not.’ When they see the spirit of this Mohican toiling after them with his burden, they will know we are of that mind. Then will they go on happy; and our children will say, ‘So did our fathers to their friends, so must we do to them.’ What is a Yengee? we have slain many, but the earth is still pale. ”

“ Go, children of the Lenape, the anger of the Manitou is not done. Why should Tamenund stay? The pale faces are masters of the earth, and the time of the red men has not yet come again. My day has been too long. In the morning I saw the sons of Unamis happy and strong; and yet, before the night has come, have I lived to see the last warrior of the wise race of the Mohicans. ”

“ These Mohicans and I will do what man's thoughts can invent to keep such flowers, which, though so sweet, were never made for the wilderness, from harm, and that without hope of any other recompence but such as God always gives to upright dealings. ”

“ Approaching Uncas, she held the blazing brand in such a manner as to cast its red glare on his person, and to expose the slightest emotion of his countenance. The Mohican maintained his firm and haughty attitude; and his eyes, so far from deigning to meet her inquisitive look, dwelt steadily on the distance, as though it penetrated the obstacles which impeded the view and looked into futurity. ”

“ From somewhere in the darkness the Mohican came gliding on his belly over the velvet carpet of the moss.
"Andastes," he whispered scornfully; "they wear the heads of the beasts whose courage they lack. Fling a stone among them and they will scatter."
As I felt around me in the darkness for a fragment of loose rock, the Mohican arrested my arm.
"Wait, Loskiel. The Andastes hang on the heels of fiercer prowlers, smelling about dead bones like foxes after a battle. Real men can not be far away."
We lay watching the strange and grotesque creatures in the starlight ”

“ You see before you a chief of the great Mohican Sagamores! Once his family could chase their deer over tracts of country wider than that which belongs to the Albany Patteroon, without crossing brook or hill that was not their own; but what is left to their descendant! He may find his six feet of earth when God chooses, and keep it in peace, perhaps, if he has a friend who will take the pains to sink his head so low that the ploughshares cannot reach it! ”

“ One would be, to dismount the gentle ones, and let their beasts range the plain; by sending the Mohicans in front, we might then cut a lane through their sentries, and enter the fort over the dead bodies. ”

“ During the long period that the tribe had been thus collected, the Mohican warrior had kept a steady, anxious look on the cold and senseless countenance of his son. So riveted and intense had been that gaze, and so changeless his attitude, [Pg 360] that a stranger might not have told the living from the dead, but for the occasional gleamings of a troubled spirit that shot athwart the dark visage of one, and the death-like calm that had forever settled on the lineaments of the other.
The scout was hard by, leaning in a pensive posture on his own fatal and avenging weapon ”

“ As bright examples of great qualities are but too uncommon among Christians, so are they singular and solitary with the Indians; though, for the honor of our common nature, neither are incapable of producing them. Let us then hope that this Mohican may not disappoint our wishes, but prove what his looks assert him to be, a brave and constant friend.” ”

“ And when Moses came to him with our demonstrative signs they said, “This is nought but magical device. We never heard the like among our sires of old.”
And Moses said, “My Lord best knoweth on whom He hath bestowed His guidance, and whose shall be the recompense of the abode of Paradise. Verily, the wicked shall not prosper.”
And Pharaoh said, “O ye nobles, ye have no other God that I know of but myself. Burn me then, Haman, bricks of clay, [13] and build me a tower that I may mount up to the God of Moses, for in sooth, I deem him a liar.” ”

“ The young Mohegan, finding all attempt to escape useless, resigned himself to his fate, with all the indifference which an Indian always assumes, though he may not feel it. At first he scarcely thought that he should be put to death, for he knew that the people into whose hands he had fallen were celebrated throughout the land for the mildness of their character, and their disposition to mercy ”

“ When the Chosen One went down, Moses met him again and questioned him. 'O Prophet of Allah! what hath our Master ordered thee with regard to the number of prayers which His disciples should offer up?'—'Fifty prayers during the day and the night.'—'O thou, the best of created beings!' Moses rejoined, 'go back to our Master, and beg Him to lighten this burden, too heavy for the weakness and laziness of mankind.' So Mohammad went back several times into the presence of the Master of the Worlds, until he prevailed upon Him to reduce the number of prayers to five only. ”

“ Although I felt rather afraid of my fierce-looking visitor, I could scarcely keep my gravity; there was such an air of pompous self-approbation about the Indian, such a sublime look of conceit in his grave vanity.
“Moodie's squaw cannot do everything; she cannot paint young men,” said I, rising, and putting away my drawing-materials, upon which he kept his eye intently fixed, with a hungry, avaricious expression. ”

“ In the earliest group of speeches delivered at Mekka, forty-eight in number, belonging to what is called the First Period, extending over the first four years of Mohammad’s mission, we feel the poetry of the man. Mohammad had not lived among the sheep-folds in vain, and spent long solitary nights gazing at the silent heaven and watching the dawn break over the mountains. This earliest portion of the Korān is one long blazonry of nature’s beauty. How can you believe in aught but the One omnipotent God when you see this glorious world around you and this wondrous tent of heaven above you? ”

“ Moved by such fierce devotion, Mohammad called down the blessing of the Most High on Sad. Then, having ordered his men to wait without flinching for the enemy's attack, he went back with Abu Bakr to the arish, of which the entrance was guarded by Sad ibn Muaz, sword in hand. The Prophet prayed: 'O Allah, remember Thy promise! If this day, Thou dost let the army of the soldiers of the faith be exterminated, no one will be left on earth to adore Thee!'
Uneasy at the great disparity of numbers, Mohammad renewed his supplicating prostrations. His mantle slipped from his shoulders. ”

“ To the envoys bringing the impudent missive, Mohammad replied: 'Were it not that your situation as ambassadors causeth me to look upon your lives as sacred, I would have you beheaded.' And he handed them this answer: "Mohammad, the Prophet of Allah to Musailimah, the Impostor. Peace be with those who follow the right road! The earth is Allah's, and He giveth it to whom he will. Those only prosper who fear the Lord!" ”

“ The effort of the idolaters to storm this impregnable position was unavailing. Ubi ibn Khalaf cried out in his fury: 'O Mohammad! where art thou? Shouldst thou be still alive, I swear thou shalt not escape me!'
The Prophet would not allow his partisans to tear Ubi limb from limb as they wished to do, but dragging a spear from the grasp of Al Haris, Mohammad drove its steel into Ubi's throat. He dropped forward on his horse's neck and, after vainly trying to save himself by clutching at the mane, fell heavily to the ground. The idolaters, exhausted, gave up the idea of avenging his death. ”

“ Abu Talib, in his dying moments, having advised all present to obey Mohammad in everything, for he was sure to lead them into the Path of Righteousness, the Prophet risked a supreme effort. 'O my uncle!' said Mohammad, 'thou dost soothe their souls with wise counsel, but wilt thou do nothing for thine own?'—'What wouldst have me do?'—'Bear witness simply that there is no Allah but Allah!—'O son of my brother! I know that thou dost speak truly, but I fear to be accused of only testifying in affright at the approach of death. ”