Still the number sent is large and their fervour undoubted,
though the upper classes, from a fear of losing credit with the French
authorities, rather hold aloof.
The mainstay of the Mogrebbin Haj are the Moors. These have an immense
name for zeal and religious courage at Mecca, and for the great
scrupulosity with which they perform their religious duties. There is
too among the Moors a far wider level of theological education than
among most Mussulmans. I made acquaintance while at Jeddah with a young
Arab from Shinghiat in Senegal who, Bedouin as he was, was an Alem, and
one sufficiently well versed in the Sheriat to be referred to more than
once in my presence on points of religious law and literature. I
expressed my surprise at finding a Bedouin thus learned, for he was
evidently an Arab of the Arabs, but he told me his was no exceptional
position, and that most Bedouins in Southern Morocco could read the
Koran. The Moors would have a still higher position in Islam than that
already given them were it not that they are on one point at variance
with the mass of Sunites. They do not acknowledge the modern Caliphate.
Those therefore of the Sunites who have acknowledged the Ottoman claim
are at issue with the Moors.
Pages:
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41