The Poetical Works of (Richard Monckton Milnes) Lord Houghton | ||
THE SONG OF THE WAHABEES.
These Protestants of Mohammedanism owe their origin to the Sheykh Mohammed Ibn-Abd-El-Wahhab, who founded or incorporated them into a religion and political sect in 1745. They professed to restore Islam to its primitive purity, and to establish an ascetic morality throughout its followers. Like some other religious Reformers, they committed great devastation in places reputed holy, and gratified by the same acts their hatred of superstition and their love of gain. They forbade all luxury in dress and habits of life, and even interdicted the use of the pipe—almost a necessary of existence to the Oriental. The attention of the Porte was not long ago directed to their increasing power in Arabia and the molestations they offered to the pilgrims to the Holy Cities; and the present Pasha of Egypt, after many losses and repulses, succeeded in completely subduing them. Individuals of these tenets are still occasionally to be met with, but it is very difficult to draw from them any information or acknowledgment.
Shall be o'erlaid by dreams and thoughts of none or little worth;
We will not that the noblest Man, that ever lived and died,
Should be for canting, cozening, Saints in reverence set aside.
Mohammed took his lot with us, a man with other men;
And thus in our due love to him, and awe for God alone,
We bless his memory as the chest that holds the precious stone.
Praises and prayers from faithful crowds to Allah's name should rise.
The best of Mosques is still the tent where earnest Muslims meet,
The best of Minarets is the rock that desert tempests beat.
We all are Saints who read the Book and worship from our youth.
Men are no happier than they were for all El-Azhar's lore,
And if our Faith wins Paradise, can knowledge win us more?
Should leave their wholesome natural ends and turn to His despite;
That men should change the sweetest flowers to bitter poison weeds:
The Book has said that “everyone is hostage for his deeds.”
No pipe or downy bed for him, but horse and sword in hand;
Let they who will consume their lives in joys of vicious ease,—
The Prophet's word will scarce prevail with Preachers such as these.
The shawls of rich Cashmere look best on our Circassian maids;
We wear the homely woollen woof, such as Mohammed wore,
Nor steal from herbs the drunken dreams that he with wine forswore.
For Life is not a jest, and God will not create in vain,—
And thus we will not rest while earth has idols still to fall;
Till Islam is indeed Islam, and Allah God for all!
The whole notion of Hagiology is totally at variance with the original idea of Islam: nevertheless there is no city without its mosque, sanctified by the relics of the Prophet or his family, and hardly a district without the tomb of its local Saint. Part of the dress of the Prophet is yearly soaked in a large quantity of water, which is bottled into small vials, and sent to all the great dignitaries of the Empire. So vain have been the Prophet's efforts to establish a practical Monotheism.
The Poetical Works of (Richard Monckton Milnes) Lord Houghton | ||