Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah, vol 2 | Page 9

Koran well. The
citizens speak and pronounce[FN#44] their language purely; they are
not equal to the people of the southern Hijaz, still their Arabic is
refreshing after the horrors of Cairo and Maskat.
The classical Arabic, be it observed, in consequence of an extended
empire, soon split up into various dialects, as the Latin under similar
circumstances separated into the Neo-Roman patois of Italy, Sicily,
Provence, and Languedoc. And though Niebuhr has been deservedly
[p.27]censured for comparing the Koranic language to Latin and the
vulgar tongue to Italian, still there is a great difference between them,

almost every word having undergone some alteration in addition to the
manifold changes and simplifications of grammar and syntax. The
traveller will hear in every part of Arabia that some distant tribe
preserves the linguistic purity of its ancestors, uses final vowels with
the noun, and rejects the addition of the pronoun which apocope in the
verb now renders necessary.[FN#45] But I greatly doubt the existence
of such a race of philologists. In Al-Hijaz, however, it is considered
graceful in an old man, especially when conversing publicly, to lean
towards classical Arabic. On the contrary, in a youth this would be
treated as pedantic affectation, and condemned in some such satiric
quotation as
“There are two things colder than ice, A young old man, and an old
young man.”
[FN#1] Ibn Jubayr relates that in his day a descendant of Belal, the
original Mu’ezzin of the Prophet, practised his ancestral profession at
Al-Madinah. [FN#2] This word is said to be the plural of
Nakhwali,—one who cultivates the date tree, a gardener or farmer. No
one could tell me whether these heretics had not a peculiar name for
themselves. I hazard a conjecture that they may be identical with the
Mutawalli (also written Mutawilah, Mutaalis, Metoualis, &c., &c.), the
hardy, courageous, and hospitable mountaineers of Syria, and
Cœlesyria Proper. This race of sectarians, about 35,000 in number,
holds to the Imamship or supreme pontificate of Ali and his
descendants. They differ, however, in doctrine from the Persians,
believing in a transmigration of the soul, which, gradually purified, is at
last “orbed into a perfect star.” They are scrupulous of caste, and will
not allow a Jew or a Frank to touch a piece of their furniture: yet they
erect guest-houses for Infidels. In this they resemble the Shi’ahs, who
are far more particular about ceremonial purity than the Sunnis. They
use ablutions before each meal, and herein remind us of the Hindus.
[FN#3] The communist principles of Mazdak the Persian (sixth century)
have given his nation a permanent bad fame in this particular among
the Arabs. [FN#4] In Arabia the Sharif is the descendant of Hasan
through his two sons, Zaid and Hasan al-Musanna: the Sayyid is the
descendant of Hosayn through Zayn al-Abidin, the sole of twelve

children who survived the fatal field of Kerbela. The former devotes
himself to government and war; the latter, to learning and religion. In
Persia and India, the Sharif is the son of a Sayyid woman and a
common Moslem. The Sayyid “Nejib al-Taraf” (noble on one side) is
the son of a Sayyid father and a common Moslemah. The Sayyid
“Nejib al-Tarafayn” (noble on both sides) is one whose parents are both
Sayyids. [FN#5] Burckhardt alludes to this settlement when he says,
“In the Eastern Desert, at three or four days’ journey from Medinah,
lives a whole Bedouin tribe, called Beni Aly, who are all of this Persian
creed.” I travelled to Suwayrkiyah, and found it inhabited by Benu
Hosayn. The Benu Ali are Badawin settled at the Awali, near the Kuba
Mosque: they were originally slaves of the great house of Auf, and are
still heretical in their opinions. [FN#6] “Refusing, rejecting.” Hence the
origin of Rafizi,—“a rejector, a heretic.” “Inna rafaznahum,”—“verily
we have rejected them,” (Abu Bakr, Omar, and Osman,) exclaim the
Persians, glorying in the opprobrious epithet. [FN#7] Sayyids in
Al-Hijaz, as a general rule, do not denote their descent by the green
turband. In fact, most of them wear a red Kashmir shawl round the head,
when able to afford the luxury. The green turband is an innovation in
Al-Islam. In some countries it is confined to the Sayyids; in others it is
worn as a mark of distinction by pilgrims. Khudabakhsh, the Indian, at
Cairo generally dressed in a tender green suit like a Mantis. [FN#8]
Plural of Suftah—a half-caste Turk. [FN#9] Plural of Zaydi. These are
well-known schismatics of the Shi’ah persuasion, who abound in
Southern Arabia. [FN#10] The Bayazi sect flourishes near Maskat,
whose Imam or Prince, it is said, belongs to the heretical persuasion. It
rejects Osman, and advocates the superiority of Omar over the other
two Caliphs. [FN#11] Sadat is the plural of Sayyid. This word in the
Northern Hijaz