One month before starting each man must give according to his ability for alms. They are besieged by the others to prepare food and drink for feasts. If a man is rich the demand is repeated. Before starting the pilgrim goes to the leader to inquire what is necessary for him to do and how to do it that his pilgrimage be accepted. The priest will say if the man is rich, "You found a mosque." If a man is poor a smaller amount of money is required. The very poor are commanded to fast from ten to forty days. Those who make their pilgrimage on horseback scatter money on the way for the benefit of the beggars and the poor. As the pilgrim sets out he is accompanied by friends for some distance as a mark of honor to the faithful Islam. Before the band of pilgrims the leader rides calling out in a loud voice, "Säläwät."
CARRYING THE DEAD.
Their law requires that not only the living but also the dead shall go to these places. The dead are sometimes carried to the sacred cities forty years after burial. Sometimes when a stingy man dies who has not gone on a pilgrimage in his lifetime, he exacts a promise from his relatives that a certain amount of his money will be used to carry his body to a holy city. If this promise is not kept, the priest will compel his relatives and heirs not only to restore the specified sum for sacred purposes but more. When the poor man is about to die he administers an oath to his relatives that after his death his body shall at some future time be taken to Karballa. As a reward for this service, the relatives will be blessed of God and made rich. The dead are buried in a box so that at some appointed time the remains may be exhumed and transferred to a new box and strapped to the back of a horse and carried to the holy city. It matters not if the body has decayed. If the bones remain it is not too late for the pilgrimage. If the deceased has been very poor and his friends cannot take him in person, they hire strangers to do it. Thus one may see the caravans with hundreds of horses—sometimes thousands—with the boxes of dead strapped to their backs on their way to the holy places.
MOTIVE IN PILGRIMAGES FOR THE DEAD.
The object of these trips is to secure heaven for the dead. Their religion teaches that all who die in a holy city or who are buried there find a home in heaven. Some say God has a multitude of spiritual camels with riders who will come and carry the dead bodies to heaven. If you say to them, "Flesh and bones cannot inherit the holy place of God," they will answer, "Their spirit is taken to heaven, not their body." Others will say, "The bones are not the original ones but likenesses of them." Others say, "it is an honor to the prophets who are buried in the holy city for other dead men to be buried there." At an appointed time after burial it is believed that the dead will rise and bow to the tombs of the prophets. This is the manner of their worship: Those who go to Medina must arrive before a certain day because on that particular day their worship is commenced. For two or three days various ceremonies are performed such as fasting, prayer, purification and washing of their bodies. When these are concluded, on the fourth day they array themselves in a special robe for worship. Without any covering on their feet they walk around the mosque seven times. When they enter the mosque they bow themselves before the tomb of Mohammed. After this bowing they walk seven times around the tomb of the prophet. They then kneel down and kiss the tomb at the same time placing such money upon it as they can spare. Upon leaving the mosque a ram is killed as a sacrificial offering. On that day more than one hundred thousand sheep are killed in that small city. This together with the warm sun beating on the blood of the victims gives rise to the most fearful of all scourges, cholera. In Karballa, Medina and Mashhad worship is conducted in this manner.
THE FEMALE PILGRIM.
The law requires that females also go to these holy places. Girls at every age are allowed to go, also children. Widows under fifty years are not accepted as pilgrims, first, because of their probable desire for marriage, and second because the law says no women must undertake a pilgrimage alone for thus they would expose themselves to men. So in order to go some marry for the occasion. The husband accompanies them hither and upon returning either divorces them or keeps them as wives or concubines.
THE RETURN OF THE PILGRIMS.
Those who went to Mecca from certain parts before trains began to run in the east consumed a year or more in their journey, but now it takes only six or eight months. 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. This sacrifice is a holy thing and no man can touch it till its blood is shed, but when it is beheaded, it belongs to God and the strongest man takes it for his own. This being a sacred thing all are very anxious to partake of it. The weak will do all they can to keep the strong from carrying the sacrifice away. So there is always quarreling when the pilgrims return. The acquaintances of the pilgrims will come and say, "My portion be as thy portion. Blessed art thou. May your pilgrimage be accepted," and the pilgrim will answer, "God grant that you may also go to this Holy Place and receive remission of sin." Women will sometimes cut pieces from the pilgrim's garments which are supposed to be holy. At the pilgrims home many sheep are killed and a variety of fine meats are cooked. People gather there to eat and drink and they say to the host, "God bless your pilgrimage." He will answer, "May the prophet give you success and grant that you, too, may visit the Holy Place."
It is evident from the above descriptions that there is no place in Islam for peace of conscience or absolute assurance of heaven. The writer has often asked of Mohammedans: "Have you any hope of heaven?" They say, "We don't know God knows." "Yes God knows everything but what do you say of your hope?" He will reply, "I have no hope—but God is merciful."