Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah, vol 2 | Page 7

however, I
cannot accuse the women of
“Swearing into strong shudders The immortal gods who heard them.”
They abused the black girls with unction, but without any violent
expletives. At Meccah, however, the old lady in whose house I was
living would, when excited by the melancholy temperament of her
eldest son and his irregular hours of eating, scold him in the grossest
terms, not unfrequently ridiculous in the extreme. For instance, one of
her assertions was that he—the son—was the offspring of an immoral
mother; which assertion, one might suppose, reflected not indirectly
upon herself. So in Egypt I have frequently heard a father, when
reproving his boy, address him by “O dog, son of a dog!” and “O
spawn of an Infidel—of a Jew—of a Christian!” Amongst the men of
Al-Madinah I remarked a considerable share of hypocrisy. Their
mouths were as full of religious salutations, exclamations, and
hackneyed quotations from the Koran, as of indecency and vile
abuse—a point in which they resemble the Persians. As before
[p.21] observed, they preserve their reputation as the sons of a holy city
by praying only in public. At Constantinople they are by no means
remarkable for sobriety. Intoxicating liquors, especially Araki, are
made in Al-Madinah, only by the Turks: the citizens seldom indulge in
this way at home, as detection by smell is imminent among a people of

water-bibbers. During the whole time of my stay I had to content
myself with a single bottle of Cognac, coloured and scented to
resemble medicine. The Madani are, like the Meccans, a curious
mixture of generosity and meanness, of profuseness and penuriousness.
But the former quality is the result of ostentation, the latter is a
characteristic of the Semitic race, long ago made familiar to Europe by
the Jew. The citizens will run deeply in debt, expecting a good season
of devotees to pay off their liabilities, or relying upon the next begging
trip to Turkey; and such a proceeding, contrary to the custom of the
Moslem world, is not condemned by public opinion. Above all their
qualities, personal conceit is remarkable: they show it in their strut, in
their looks, and almost in every word. “I am such an one, the son of
such an one,” is a common expletive, especially in times of danger; and
this spirit is not wholly to be condemned, as it certainly acts as an
incentive to gallant actions. But it often excites them to vie with one
another in expensive entertainments and similar vanities. The
expression, so offensive to English ears, Inshallah Bukra—Please God,
tomorrow—always said about what should be done to-day, is here
common as in Egypt or in India. This procrastination belongs more or
less to all Orientals. But Arabia especially abounds in the Tawakkal al’
Allah, ya Shaykh!—Place thy reliance upon Allah, O
Shaykh!—enjoined when a man should depend upon his own exertions.
Upon the whole, however, though alive to the infirmities of the Madani
character, I thought favourably of it, finding among this people more of
the redeeming point, manliness,
[p.22]than in most Eastern nations with whom I am acquainted.
The Arabs, like the Egyptians, all marry. Yet, as usual, they are hard
and facetious upon that ill-treated subject—matrimony. It has exercised
the brain of their wits and sages, who have not failed to indite notable
things concerning it. Saith “Harikar al-Hakim” [(]Dominie Do-All) to
his nephew Nadan (Sir Witless), whom he would dissuade from taking
to himself a wife, “Marriage is joy for a month and sorrow for a life,
and the paying of settlements and the breaking of back (i.e. under the
load of misery), and the listening to a woman's tongue!” And again we
have in verse:—

“They said ‘marry!’ I replied, ‘far be it from me To take to my bosom a
sackful of snakes. I am free—why then become a slave? May Allah
never bless womankind!’”
And the following lines are generally quoted, as affording a kind of
bird’s-eye view of female existence:—
“From 10 (years of age) unto 20, A repose to the eyes of
beholders.[FN#35] From 20 unto 30, Still fair and full of flesh. From
30 unto 40, A mother of many boys and girls. From 40 unto 50, An old
woman of the deceitful. From 50 unto 60, Slay her with a knife. From
60 unto 70, The curse of Allah upon them, one and all!”
Another popular couplet makes a most unsupported assertion:—
“They declare womankind to be heaven to man, I say, ‘Allah, give me
Jahannam, and not this heaven.’”
Yet the fair sex has the laugh on its side, for these railers at Al-Madinah
as at other places, invariably marry. The
[p.23]marriage ceremony is tedious and expensive. It begins with a
Khitbah or betrothal: the father of the young man