The grave of Eve is also frequently visited by pilgrims, which is said to be situated near Jeddah; this, however, is not considered an indispensable duty, but, as they say, prompted by 'respect for the Mother of men'.[40]
These remarks, and many others of an interesting nature, I have been favoured with from the most venerable aged man I ever knew, Meer Hadjee Shaah,[41] the revered father of my excellent husband; who having performed the Hadje[42] (pilgrimage) three several times, at different periods of his eventful life—returning after each pilgrimage to his home in Lucknow—and being a person of strict veracity, with a remarkably intelligent mind and retentive memory, I have profited largely by his information, and derived from it both amusement and instruction, through many years of social intercourse. When he had numbered more than eighty years he dwelt with hope on again performing the Hadje, where it was his intention to rest his earthly substance until the great day of restitution, and often expressed his wishes to have me and mine to share with him the pilgrimage he desired to make. But this was not allowed to his prayer; his summons arrived rather unexpectedly to those who loved and revered him for virtues rarely equalled; happily for him, his pure soul was prepared to meet his Creator, in whose service he had passed this life, with all humility, and in whose mercy alone his hopes for the future were centred.
[1] 'Whatsoever alms ye shall give, of a truth God knoweth it…. Give ye
your alms openly? it is well. Do ye conceal them and give them to the
poor? This, too, will be of advantage to you, and will do away your
sins: and God is cognizant of your actions' (Koran, ii. 274-5).
[2] Sayyid, 'lord', 'chief, the class of Musalmans who claim descent
from Fatimah, daughter of the Prophet, and 'Ali, his
cousin-german and adopted son; they are divided into two branches
descended from Hasan and Husain, sons of 'Ali and Fatimah.
[3] Mir, a contraction of Amir, 'lord'.
[4] Koran, Qur'an.
[5] 'They who swallow down usury shall arise in the resurrection only as he ariseth whom Satan hath infected by his touch' (Koran, ii. 276). But this is rather theory than practice, and many ingenious methods are adopted to avoid the prohibition.
[6] Begam, feminine of Beg, 'lord', used to denote a Sayyid lady, like Khanam among Pathans.
[7] Here, as elsewhere, zenanah, zananah, Persian zan, 'woman'.
[8] This is incorrect. The Koran has been translated into various languages, but the translation is always interlineary with the original text. In Central Asia the Musalman conquerors allowed the Koran to be recited in Persian, instead of Arabic, in order that it might be intelligible to all (Arnold, The Preaching of Islam, 183).