CHAPTER VI.

El Arils — N^'d — El Kadesia — Meshhed All — Basra — Khqfaja — Khaviarnalc — Wasit — El Oballa
Abbadan — El Ear — Irah — Magun — Ramin — Tostar.

Wh EN things were ready, the Syrian pilgrims proceeded on their pil-
grimage, and I myself with them, with the same intention. This turned
out well ; for, thank God, I duly performed the pilgrimage ; and, then
proceeded with the pilgrims of Irak to the tomb of the prophet at Medina.
After three (days) we descended into the valley of ^ El Arus.! We then
entered the territory of * Nejd, and proceeded on in it till we came to ^ El
Kadisla§ the place in which the remarkable event happened, by which
the fire-worship of Persia was extinguished, and the interest of Islamism
advanced. This was, at that time, a great city, but it is now only a small
village. We next proceeded to the city of ^ Meshhed Ali, where the grave
of Ali is thought to be. It is a handsome place and well peopled ; all

.

* Alluding to a passage in the Koran.

f It is doubtful whether we ought to read j\J^\ cjG or j\^\ cul j, as the MSS. have both
readings ; if the latter, then residence must be substituted in the translation for flight.

t The name of a fortress in Yemen, according to the Kamoos : but this can hardly be the
place mentioned here.

§ A village near Kufa where Saad, one of the generals of Omar, obtained a decisive victory
over the Persians. See the Annales Muslemici, vol. i. p. 231.

32

IRAK.

the inhabitants, however, are of the Rafiza (or Shiah) sect. There is no
governor here, except a sort of tribune. The inhabitants consist chiefly of
rich and brave merchants. About the gardens are plastered walls adorned
with paintings, and within them are carpets, couches, and lamps of gold
and silver. Within the city is a large treasury kept by the tribune,
which arises from the votive offerings brought from different parts : for
when any one happens to be ill, or to suffer under any infirmity, he will
make a vow, and thence receive relief. The garden is also famous for
its miracles ; and hence it is believed that the grave of Ali is there. Of
these miracles, the night of revival”* is one ; for, on the 17th day of the
month Rejeb, cripples come from the different parts of ”Fars, "Room,
^Khorasan, ^Irak, and other places, assemble in companies from twenty

* Mr. Wolfe, the missionary, when last in this country, reported that the cLLj or

“ night of revival,” among the Yezidl sect, is a night on which they worship the
devil. I should doubt whether Mr. Wolfe did not misunderstand the accounts he might
have heard of this matter. In the Book of Pilgrimages, by Ali Ibn Abubeker of Herat,
we have a similar account given of a place in the lieutenancy of Aleppo, his words are :

Ub JU3-

. Borak is one of the villages of its lieutenancy, in which there is a sacred
place visited by the aged and infirm of various places, and in it they lodge. Now, if such person
should see (in his dream) some one saying to him, such or such a thing is thy remedy; or
if he should see him rubbing his hand over him, he will then be well, as the people of that
place report.” And further on where the city of Balat (Uj is noticed, we are told, that

this Author saw a man who had been lame many years, but had been recovered merely by bathing,
according to the injunctions of Ali which he had received in a dream. His words are

m

Ub ^ lb* ijL»~sb CS^

l^L J«syU . That such miracles (if
such they may be called) can be performed, without any extraordinary effort being exerted, has
long been known. A strong persuasion of the mind has always proved wonderfully efficacious :
and to this the Mohammedan, as well as the Roman Catholic, hierarchy owes perhaps more than
half its authority.

IRAK.

33

to thirty in number. They are placed over the grave soon after sun-set.
People then, some praying, others reciting the koran, and others prostrating
themselves, wait expecting their recovery and rising, when, about night,
they all get up sound and well. This is a matter well known among them;
I heard it from creditable persons, but was not present at one of these nights.
I saw, however, several such afflicted persons, who had not yet received,
but were looking forwards for, the advantages of this “ night of revival.”

I next arrived at ’’ Basra, and proceeded on with the Badawin Arabs of
*Khafaja, for there is no travelling in these parts, except with them. We
next came to ‘Khawarnak, the ancient residence of “El Ndoman Ibn Mond-
hor, whose progenitors were kings of the tribe "'Beni Ma El Sama, (sons of
heavenly seed). There are still traces of his palace to be seen.^ It is si-
tuated in a spacious plain, and upon a river derived from the Euphrates.
We left this place, and came next to the city of Wasit. It is surrounded by
an extensive tract of country, and abounds with gardens and plantations.
Its inhabitants are the best of all Irak. From this place I set out to visit
the tomb of El Wall El Aarif, my Lord Ahmed of Rephaa']', which is

* Some notices of this person and his palace will be found in the Historia imperii vetustis-
simiJoctanidarum in Arabia Felice, by A. Schultens, p. 129. And in his Monumenta vetus-
tiora Arabiae, pp. 11, 39, 47.

f The following is an abstract of the account given of this devotee in the CjIsA"*
Nafahat El Ins, by Jam! : the miraculous intercourse, &c. there ascribed to him, I have not
thought it worth while to copy out.

J ‘’d

^ IsMl

(jV Sheikh my lord Ahmed

Ibn Abu El Hasan El Raphai, may God sanctify (a word wanting'). His rank as a saint and
confessor was high. By him God performed many miracles, and converted to him many persons
(rf distinction. He also did many wonders. Of his disciples, some are good, others bad. Some
of them will enter fires, and play with serpents. This is what the Sheikh the head of saints
taught them. God protect us from Satan, He was one of the sons of the great Imam Musa
Kazim, upon whom be peace. He resided at Om Obaida, and died on the Thursday the 22d
of the first Jumada, in the year (of the Hejira) 578, A. D. 1182.

F

34

PERSIA.

situated in a village called “Om Obaida, at the distance of a day from
Wasit. At this place I arrived, and found that the grandson of the
Sheikh, upon whom the dignity of Sheikh had also devolved, had come
thither before me for the same purpose. He was also named Sheikh
Ahmed, and held the dignity of his grandfather, which he exercised
in the cell formerly occupied by him. In the afternoon, and after the
reading of the koran, the religious attached to the cell got together
a great quantity of wood, to which they set fire : they then walked into
it, some eating it, others rolling in it, and others trampling upon it,
till they had entirely extinguished it. Such is the sect called El Re-
phala, and this the custom by which they are particularized. Some of
them too will take great serpents in their teeth and bite the head off. It
happened that, when I was in a certain part of India, there came to
me a company of the religious of the ‘'Hydarla sect,^ having in their
hands and about their necks iron chains. Their leader was a black of a
filthy colour. They requested me to solicit the governor of the place to
bring them some wood to which they may set fire, and then sing and walk
into it. I did so, and he brought them ten bundles; they then set fire to it,
and commencing their song, went into it : nor did they cease dancing and
rolling about in it until they had extinguished it. The leader then asked
me for a shirt. I gave him a very fine one, which he put on, and then pro-
ceeded to’ roll about in the fire, and to strike it with his sleeves, until he
had put it out. He then brought me the shirt, upon which the fire had
not made the least impression. At this I very much wondered.

After visiting this Sheikh I proceeded to Basra, a place much abounding
with palms. The inhabitants are so friendly to strangers that a traveller has
nothing to fear among them. We have here the mosque of Ali, in which
prayers are said every Friday : it is then closed till the next. This was
formerly in the middle of the town ; but is situated two miles']' from its

* When we come to Khorasan in this work, some account of the leader and practices of this
sect will be given.

-|- As the term mile ( will occasionally occur in this work, we shall here determine its
extent. According to the Succardan ofibn Hajila, a mile is = 1,000 baas, a baa = 4> cubits;
a cubit = 24> digits ; a digit : 6 barley-corns placed side by side : and a barleycorn . 6 hairs
taken out of the tail of a mule. A Parasang = 3 miles ; a band = 4> parasangs

PERSIA.

' 35

present population. In this is the koran which Othman had sent (for the use of
the inhabitants), and in which he was reading when he was killed. The marks
of his blood are still visible in the words aJJi , &c. I then went on

board a ‘'Sambuk (Turkish 'Senbuki) which is a small boat, and proceeded
to ■'^El Oballa,* which was once a large city, but is now only a village ;

i

U^t ^

•^\Ji ^ J . In Golius, sub

voce , we have “ mensura itineraria XII. milliarlum, seu III. parasangarum,” where for III
we ought to read IV. Now, in order to determine the relative value of an Oriental with an
English mile, I take 18f parasangs to the degree, as given in the preface to Koehler’s Syria of
Abulfeda ; and getting rid of the fractions the ratio will be, that of 112 to 139 : and inverting this,
the Oriental mile will be to the English one, as 139 to 112; and, if this be correct, the Oriental
mile will contain 2, 184f English yards. From this the value of the other measures mentioned above
maybe known. According to the author of the Kamoos, however, the mile (J^) is a perfectly
lax and vague measure, and differing just as the parasang did in ancient and times.

* Abulfeda says of this place

ing to the^Atwal the longitude is 74° 8' lat. 30° 55' and according to the Kanun long. 74° 8' lat
31° 55'. He then describes it, ^

j jS^\\ IaS)

^\ji ^ j\ Jjb j

diJj A5»-|^ ^ C1.JA^ Aj Iglisf Ai As-!*

(Js-Aj ^ J.U.! ^c=-!^‘^^l! A-« L5'-^ lAV

. ^'LJ! !jlsr b! jy=r !Ali ^ Ibn Hawkal states,

that Oballa is a small, strong, and well peopled city. Its river, the Oballah, after issuing from the
Tigris which is over against the city, makes its way to it, and thence to Basra. The channel of
this river reaches to the sea, and to Abbadan. The length of its course to Basra is four
parasangs, upon the banks of which are palaces and gardens, so close to each other, that they
appear to form one garden passing on in a direct line : its palms also spread out in like manner in
an extended line. All the gardens too of these parts are so situated one by another, that when
the tide of the sea comes out towards them, it passes into all the channels until it comes to their
palms, and into their valleys without the least difficulty : and, when it ebbs, it rolls back, leaving
the gardens and palm-plantations. The channels here mentioned are, according to Dr. Russell,
Nat. Hist. Aleppo, generally so contrived as to bring the water into the gardens, and then, out of
these still smaller channels are cut, which carry the water into the several parterres and
divisions of the gardens. The Psalmist seems to have had these channels in view when he speaks
of the “ tree planted by the rivers of waters,” better, the divisions of the waters, the original being

F 2

/

36

PERSIA.

which, with its gardens about it, is about ten miles from Basra. I then
sailed from El Oballa in an arm of the Persian gulf, and arrived the next
morning at ^AbbMan,* * which is a village situated in a salt marsh. It
was my intention to have gone to Bagdad ; but a person at Basra advised
me to go on to the country of ^ El Ear, then to ‘ Irak El Ajam,'|' then to
Arabian Irak : and I did so. I then proceeded from Abbadan by sea ; and
after four days, arrived at the city of * Magun (or Magul, of the quantity
Fa-til, with the g pronounced hard). This is a small town on the Persian
gulf. I passed from this by land, during a journey of three days, through

. and ‘ • jjU' '• • '

D'D which exactly corresponds with Dr. Russell’s description. — See also Asseman’s Bi-

blioth. Orient., tom. iii., P. 2, p. dccvi, and D’Herbelot under Obollah.

* According to El Harawl this is an island in the sea, in which there is a meshhed dedicated
to the prophet. It also has All’s well, and a meshhed sacred to El Khizr, and other establish-
ments : the pious of which are much visited from other parts. His words are

j ^

Abulfeda says this place is in the longitude 74° 30', lat. 25° 20' according to the Atwal : but
others give 75° 55', and 75° 30' longitude. He then thus describes it after Ibn Said.

i-i A ^ ^ 3

^3 iAs>yc !Sj^\ U^3ji^

. has said that Abbadan is on the sea of Ears, which encircles it, leaving only a small

part of land (or isthmus). On the south-east of this place the Tigris joins the sea. Others have
said, that Abbadan is upon the mouth of the Tigris towards its east, and on the sea of Ears. Erom
it to the shores of Mehruban is about four stages. Erom Basra it is a stage and a half. It has been
said too, that on the south and east of Abbadan are the Khushbab, i. e. marks placed in the sea
for the purpose of limiting the approach of vessels, and beyond which they never pass, lest upon

the ebbing of the tide they should strike upon the ground. Khushbab < Castell tells us,

are moderately sized ropes : if so, they are here so placed as to mark the places to which ships
may safely come. See also Asseman’s Biblioth Orient, tom. iii. P. 2. p. dccvi ; Sir Wm.
Ouseley’s Oriental Geography, p. 11, &c. ; and D’Herbelot sub voce Abadan.

f The geography of these parts has been well illustrated by Ulenbroek in his Iracse Per-
sicae descriptio, &c. Lugduni Batavorum, 1822. See pp. 4 and 5. Asseman’s Biblioth. Orient,
tom. iii-, P. 2, p. dccxlv.

PERSIA.

37

a plain inhabited by Kurds, and came to the city of ' Ramin,* * * § a beautiful
place abounding with fruit and rivers. I then proceeded on through a plain,
in which were villages of the Kurds, and in three days arrived at the city of
”‘Tostar,t which is at the extremity of this plain. On the first of the
mountains there is a large and beautiful city, abounding with fruits and
rivers, surrounded by a river, known by the name of ” El Azrak the blue.
This river is wonderfully clear, and is cold in the summer season.