Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2

Scanned and proofread by William Thierens and Robert Sinton
PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF A PILGRIMAGE TO AL-MADINAH & MECCAH
K.C.M.G., F.R.G.S., &c., &c., &c.
Our notions of Mecca must be drawn from the Arabians; as no unbeliever is permitted to enter the city, our travellers are silent.Gibbon, chap. 50.
AL-MADINAH. (Continued.)
AL-MADINAH contains but few families descended from the Prophets Auxiliaries. I heard only of four whose genealogy is undoubted. These were,
1. The Bayt al-Ansari, or descendants of Abu Ayyub, a most noble race whose tree ramifies through a space of fifteen hundred years. They keep the keys of the Kuba Mosque, and are Imams in the Harim, but the family is no longer wealthy or powerful.
3. The Bayt al-Shaab, a numerous race. Some of the members travel professionally, others trade, and others are employed in the Harim.
4. The Bayt al-Karrani, who are mostly engaged in commerce.
Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast. number of reports are current about the horrid
The citizens of Al-Madinah are a favoured race, although the city is not, like Meccah, the grand mart of the Moslem world or the meeting-place of nations. They pay no taxes, and reject the idea of a Miri, or land-cess, with extreme disdain. Are we, the children of the Prophet, they exclaim, to support or to be supported? The Wahhabis, not understanding the argument, taxed them,
The Khanahdan, who keep open house and receive poor strangers gratis. Their Ikram amounts to eight purses, and they number from a hundred to a hundred and fifty families.