Moreover--and this
is important--it is almost always the practical side of questions that
the commercial Jeddan will put forward. He sees things from a political
and economical point of view, rather than a doctrinal, and if fanatical,
he is so from the same motives, and no others, which once moved the
citizens of Ephesus to defend the worship of their shrines.
In other cities, Cairo and Constantinople excepted, the Ulema, or
learned men, of whom a stranger might seek instruction, would be found
busying themselves mainly with doctrinal matters not always interesting
at the present day, old-world arguments of Koranic interpretation which
have from time immemorial occupied the schools. But here even these are
treated practically, and as they bear on the political aspect of the
hour. For myself, I became speedily impressed with the advantage thus
afforded me, and neglected no opportunity which offered itself for
listening and asking questions, so that without pretending to the
possession of more special skill than any intelligent inquirer might
command, I obtained a mass of information I cannot but think to be of
great value--while this in its turn served me later as an introduction
to such Mussulman divines as I afterwards met in the North.
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