walls, and public bathhouses open to all, irrespective of faith, color, or means. The rich paid most for their baths, while the poorest might bathe for nothing, in the name of the Compassionate. At the highest point of the town stood the kasbah of Selim ben-Hafs, with its countless buildings, and on either side of its main entrance iron hooks were to be seen, on which were impaled human heads and limbs. The finest building of all, however, was the great mosque by the harbor. The Spanish island fortress commanded the harbor mouth, and Spaniards armed with swords and harquebuses rowed freely to and fro, or stalked haughtily among the populace, whom they compelled to make way for them. This offended many a devout Moslem, for by the law of the Koran no believer ought to step aside for an unbeliever, but should crowd him and jostle him out into the street.
On our way about the city, Abu el-Kasim gathered together with many blessings the jars which, hidden in peasants’ grain baskets, had arrived at the houses of his merchant friends, and we carried them back to his house. The city was divided in a very sensible and practical manner into different quarters, in which each kind of merchandise and craft had its own street. Thus the coppersmiths kept to one alley, while tailors, tanners, dyers, and all other artisans each had theirs. Our own house was in the street of the spice merchants and dealers in drugs. It was one of the more respectable thoroughfares, since wealthy merchants as well as poor ones lived there, as could be seen by the crowd of beggars and cripples who squatted all day at rich men’s doors in the hope of alms.
At noon Abu el-Kasim took us to the mosque, in whose forecourt was a marble basin supplied with fresh running water. We performed the prescribed ablutions and entered the mosque, carrying our slippers in our hands. There were costly carpets on the floor, many lamps hung from the roof by copper and silver chains, and columns of different colors supported the great dome. We murmured our purpose in coming and imitated the actions of the reader, kneeling when he knelt and bowing down as he did. After the prayers Abu el-Kasim took us to the madrasseh, or mosque school, where youths under the direction of gray-bearded teachers were studying the Koran, the duty of man, the traditions, and the law. Abu el-Kasim had given us clean clothes, and he now presented us to an elderly man with a white beard, saying, “Venerable Ibrahim ben Adam el-Mausili! In the name of the Compassionate I bring you two men who have found the faith and desire to follow the true path.”
From that day forward, after the evening prayer, we attended the school for converts, to learn Arabic and the seven pillars, roots, and branches of Islam. Not even Fridays were excepted; for although Moslems leave their labor or their business to attend the noon service on that day, yet they count no day as a day of rest. In their opinion the Christian and Jewish manner of honoring the Sabbath is blasphemous, because it is based on the idea that God, after creating heaven and earth, rested upon the seventh day. Moslems acknowledge that God created heaven and earth, but being omnipotent He must have done it without effort; the very notion that He could be in need of rest is blasphemy to them.
When the old teacher Ibrahim ben-Adam observed my genuine desire for knowledge he conceived a liking for me and expounded the Koran to the best of his ability, and often I stayed on after the others had left until late in the evening. He was very devout and never wearied of reading the sacred writings. It was from him I learned that Islam has room in it for many paths whose followers dispute among themselves. But these questions did not disturb my peace of mind, for I studied the Koran with intellectual detachment, and solely from a desire for knowledge. I soon perceived that Christians had little to be proud of in their supposedly superior religion, for dogmatic
On our way about the city, Abu el-Kasim gathered together with many blessings the jars which, hidden in peasants’ grain baskets, had arrived at the houses of his merchant friends, and we carried them back to his house. The city was divided in a very sensible and practical manner into different quarters, in which each kind of merchandise and craft had its own street. Thus the coppersmiths kept to one alley, while tailors, tanners, dyers, and all other artisans each had theirs. Our own house was in the street of the spice merchants and dealers in drugs. It was one of the more respectable thoroughfares, since wealthy merchants as well as poor ones lived there, as could be seen by the crowd of beggars and cripples who squatted all day at rich men’s doors in the hope of alms.
At noon Abu el-Kasim took us to the mosque, in whose forecourt was a marble basin supplied with fresh running water. We performed the prescribed ablutions and entered the mosque, carrying our slippers in our hands. There were costly carpets on the floor, many lamps hung from the roof by copper and silver chains, and columns of different colors supported the great dome. We murmured our purpose in coming and imitated the actions of the reader, kneeling when he knelt and bowing down as he did. After the prayers Abu el-Kasim took us to the madrasseh, or mosque school, where youths under the direction of gray-bearded teachers were studying the Koran, the duty of man, the traditions, and the law. Abu el-Kasim had given us clean clothes, and he now presented us to an elderly man with a white beard, saying, “Venerable Ibrahim ben Adam el-Mausili! In the name of the Compassionate I bring you two men who have found the faith and desire to follow the true path.”
From that day forward, after the evening prayer, we attended the school for converts, to learn Arabic and the seven pillars, roots, and branches of Islam. Not even Fridays were excepted; for although Moslems leave their labor or their business to attend the noon service on that day, yet they count no day as a day of rest. In their opinion the Christian and Jewish manner of honoring the Sabbath is blasphemous, because it is based on the idea that God, after creating heaven and earth, rested upon the seventh day. Moslems acknowledge that God created heaven and earth, but being omnipotent He must have done it without effort; the very notion that He could be in need of rest is blasphemy to them.
When the old teacher Ibrahim ben-Adam observed my genuine desire for knowledge he conceived a liking for me and expounded the Koran to the best of his ability, and often I stayed on after the others had left until late in the evening. He was very devout and never wearied of reading the sacred writings. It was from him I learned that Islam has room in it for many paths whose followers dispute among themselves. But these questions did not disturb my peace of mind, for I studied the Koran with intellectual detachment, and solely from a desire for knowledge. I soon perceived that Christians had little to be proud of in their supposedly superior religion, for dogmatic
Similar Books
