I could have given a more lengthened account of the events which led to the solemnization of this fast, but I believe the present is sufficient to explain the motives by which the Mussulmauns are actuated, and my next Letter must be devoted to the description of the rites performed upon the celebration of these events in India.
P.S. I have a memorandum in my collection which may here be copied as its proper place.
From Mecca, 'The Holy City', to Medina the distance is twelve stages (a day's march is one stage, about twenty miles of English measurement). From Medina to Kraabaallah there are twenty-one stages; this distance is travelled only by those who can endure great difficulties; neither water nor provisions are to be met with on the whole journey, excepting at one halt, the name of which is Shimmaar. From Kraabaallah to Koofah is two stages.
In the vicinity of Koofah[36] stands Mount Judee[37] (Judea), on which is built, over the remains of Ali, the mausoleum called Nudghiff Usheruff.[38] On this Mount, it is said, Adam and Noah were buried. Ali being aware of this, gave directions to his family and friends, that whenever his soul should be recalled from earth, his mortal remains were to be deposited near those graves venerated and held sacred 'by the faithful'. The ancient writers of Arabia authorise the opinion that Ali's body was entombed by the hands of his sons, Hasan and Hosein, who found the earth open to receive their sire, and which closed immediately on his remains being deposited.
Here, too, it is believed Noah's ark rested after the Deluge. When pilgrims to Mecca make their zeearut[39] (all sacred visits are so called) to this Mount, they offer three prayers, in memory of Adam, Noah, and All.
The grave of Eve is also frequently visited by pilgrims, which is said to be situated near Jeddah; this, however, is not considered an indispensable duty, but, as they say, prompted by 'respect for the Mother of men'.[40]
These remarks, and many others of an interesting nature, I have been favoured with from the most venerable aged man I ever knew, Meer Hadjee Shaah,[41] the revered father of my excellent husband; who having performed the Hadje[42] (pilgrimage) three several times, at different periods of his eventful life--returning after each pilgrimage to his home in Lucknow--and being a person of strict veracity, with a remarkably intelligent mind and retentive memory, I have profited largely by his information, and derived from it both amusement and instruction, through many years of social intercourse. When he had numbered more than eighty years he dwelt with hope on again performing the Hadje, where it was his intention to rest his earthly substance until the great day of restitution, and often expressed his wishes to have me and mine to share with him the pilgrimage he desired to make. But this was not allowed to his prayer; his summons arrived rather unexpectedly to those who loved and revered him for virtues rarely equalled; happily for him, his pure soul was prepared to meet his Creator, in whose service he had passed this life, with all humility, and in whose mercy alone his hopes for the future were centred.