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Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Mecca - Volume 2

Sir Richard Francis Burton

136 ratings
Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Mecca - Volume 2 | Sir Richard Francis Burton

Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Mecca - Volume 2

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Sir Richard Francis Burton was an English explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia and Africa as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian, and African languages.

Burton's best-known achievements include traveling in disguise to Mecca, his seven years in India gave Burton a familiarity with the customs and behavior of Muslims and prepared him to attempt a Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca and, in this case, Medina). It was this journey, undertaken in 1853, which first made Burton famous. He had planned it whilst traveling disguised among the Muslims of Sindh, and had laboriously prepared for the adventure by study and practice. Burton's own account of his journey is given in A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah.
d up to the neck, remains in the sun fasting all day; in the evening he is allowed a little food. This rude course of “packing” lasts for about a month. It suits some constitutions; but others, especially Europeans, have tried the sand-bath and died of fever. Mules’ teeth, roasted and imperfectly pounded, remove cataract. Teeth are extracted by the farrier’s pincers, and the worm which throughout the East is supposed to produce toothache, falls by fumigation. And, finally, after great fatigue, or when suffering from cold, the body is copiously greased with clarified butter and exposed to a blazing fire.

Mohammed and his followers conquered only the more civilised Badawin; and there is even to this day little or no religion amongst the wild people, except those on the coast or in the vicinity of cities. The faith of the Badawi comes from Al-Islam, whose hold is weak. But his customs and institutions, the growth of his climate, his nature, and his wants, are still those of his ancestors, cherished ere Meccah had sent forth a Prophet, and likely to survive the day when every vestige of the Ka’abah shall have disappeared. Of this nature are the Hijazi’s pagan oaths, his heathenish names (few being Moslem except “Mohammed”), his ordeal of licking red-hot iron, his Salkh, or scarification,—proof of manliness,—his blood revenge, and his eating carrion (i.e., the body of an animal killed without the usual formula), and his lending his wives to strangers. All these I hold to be remnants of some old

[p.110] creed; nor should I despair of finding among the Badawin bordering upon the Great Desert some lingering system of idolatry.

The Badawin of Al-Hijaz call themselves Shafe’i but what is put into the mouths of their brethren in the West applies equally well here. “We pray not, because we must drink the water of ablution; we give no alms, because we ask them; we fast not the Ramazan month, b

Isen 07/11/2020
Part two of Burton's narrative focuses on his journey to Mecca and the rites of the pilgrimage there. This is a lot less exciting than the first part, largely consisting of which prayers are said where. Almost half the book consists of appendices, covering the religious requirements in greater detai
Sjj 01/30/2020
Capt. Sir Burton's account of his covert pilgrimage to Medina and Mecca in 1853 -- in his own words -- was fascinating to me. (Note: I did not read Volume 1.) I found Volume II about the English author's time in Medina and Mecca, and the caravans to and from these cities, to be fascinating. As has b
Greg 01/20/2016
Fantastic old school travelogue. I've been fascinated by Arabic history and culture since reading Karen Armstrong's biography of Mohammed last year. In this book, Burton visits and describes (in great detail) some of the most holy sites in Islam. It's interesting to see the world through his eyes at
William2 02/05/2013
Ironically, for this second volume describes the achievement of Burton's quest--that is, his entry into Medina and Mecca--I found it not as stirring as Volume 1. This from the perspective of someone seeking sprightly travel writing and insight into past cultures. A lot of this volume is dogma and hi
Datolong 07/21/2009
If you are a Muslim who has been on a pilgrimage to Mecca, this book will evoke interesting insight of the extremely harsh conditions of mid 19th century Arabia by comparison to the relative "ease" of today's "pilgrimage". An amazing travelogue by an orientalist, schooled in Arabic and Islamic relig

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