DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15174#0076
60
APPROACH TO MESHID.
CHAP. XIII.
were put to death or sent in perpetual exile across
the desert.
Our arrival in Persia afforded the greatest source
of joy to many of the persons in the caravan, who,
though natives of Bokhara, were yet Shiahs. I
thought that when we quitted that holy city, we
should have done with such sanctified spots ; but
the capital which we were now approaching, Meshid
i Mookuddus, the sacred Meshid, appeared, by
every account, to be even more holy than Bokhara.
When we should behold its gilded dome, I now
heard that every one would fall down and pray.
The Persians here began to speak boldly of their
creed, which they had so long concealed: and the
spirit of the place might now be discovered by the
tale of a person in the caravan, who was by no
means illiterate. A merchant, who had lately tra-
velled to Meshid, overloaded one of his camels,
which fled, immediately on its reaching the city, to
the shrine of the holy Imam Ruza, and lowed out
its complaints. The animal was received, I presume,
into the list of the faithful, since the priests of the
shrine added him to their flock, adorned him with
housings and bells, and gave him precedence of all
other camels. The merchant confessed his cruelty,
sued for forgiveness, and was pardoned at the sa-
crifice of his camel. To these and such tales an
European must always listen and wonder ; for
though we have asserted, on the authority of the
Koran itself, that the creed of the Mahommedan is
not supported by miracles, its votaries admit no
such doctrine ; and enumerate the hundred thou-
APPROACH TO MESHID.
CHAP. XIII.
were put to death or sent in perpetual exile across
the desert.
Our arrival in Persia afforded the greatest source
of joy to many of the persons in the caravan, who,
though natives of Bokhara, were yet Shiahs. I
thought that when we quitted that holy city, we
should have done with such sanctified spots ; but
the capital which we were now approaching, Meshid
i Mookuddus, the sacred Meshid, appeared, by
every account, to be even more holy than Bokhara.
When we should behold its gilded dome, I now
heard that every one would fall down and pray.
The Persians here began to speak boldly of their
creed, which they had so long concealed: and the
spirit of the place might now be discovered by the
tale of a person in the caravan, who was by no
means illiterate. A merchant, who had lately tra-
velled to Meshid, overloaded one of his camels,
which fled, immediately on its reaching the city, to
the shrine of the holy Imam Ruza, and lowed out
its complaints. The animal was received, I presume,
into the list of the faithful, since the priests of the
shrine added him to their flock, adorned him with
housings and bells, and gave him precedence of all
other camels. The merchant confessed his cruelty,
sued for forgiveness, and was pardoned at the sa-
crifice of his camel. To these and such tales an
European must always listen and wonder ; for
though we have asserted, on the authority of the
Koran itself, that the creed of the Mahommedan is
not supported by miracles, its votaries admit no
such doctrine ; and enumerate the hundred thou-