[323]. The ‘Umrah or lesser Pilgrimage, I have noted, is the ceremony performed in Meccah at any time out of the pilgrim-season proper, i.e. between the eighth and tenth days of the twelfth lunar month Zu ‘l-Hijjah. It does not entitle the Moslem to be called Hájj (pilgrim) or Hájí as Persians and Indians corrupt the word.
[324]. I need hardly note that Mohammed borrowed his pilgrimage-practices from the pagan Arabs who, centuries before his day, danced around the Meccan Ka’abah. Nor can he be blamed for having perpetuated a Gentile rite, if indeed it be true that the Ka’abah contained relics of Abraham and Ishmael.
[325]. On first sighting Meccah. See Night xci.
[326]. Arab. Tawáf: the place is called Matáf and the guide Mutawwif (Pilgrimage, iii. 193, 205). The seven courses are termed Ashwát.
[327]. Stoning the Devil at Mina. Pilgrimage, iii. 282. Hence Satan’s title “the Stoned” (lapidated not castrated).
[328]. Koran viii. 66; in the chapter entitled “Spoil,” and relating mainly to the “day of Al-Bedr.”
[329]. Arab. Al-Ikálah = cancelling: Mr. Payne uses the technical term “resiliation.”
[330]. Freedman of Abdallah, son of the Caliph Omar and noted as a traditionist.
[331]. i.e. at a profit: the exchange must be equal—an ordinance intended to protect the poor. Arabs have strange prejudices in these matters; for instance it disgraces a Badawi to take money for milk.
[332]. Arab. Jamá’ah, which in theology means the Heb. Edah (עדה) and the Greek ἐκκλησία our “Church,” the congregation of the Faithful under a lawful head. Hence the Sunnis call themselves “People of the Sunnat and Jamá’at.” In the text it is explained as “Ulfat” or intimacy.