Word: mecca
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1920-1929
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Prophet.* The citizens of Mecca, about 610 A. D., were idly curious when Mohammed, a jovial but second-rate trader of their town, contracted the habit of repairing to a cave in the hills nearby, sometimes alone, sometimes with his elderly wife or a slave, to perform secret things for days at a time. Perhaps, it was thought, he was counterfeiting. But this Mohammed, a shambling wight of 40, was a standing, harmless joke. Epileptic as a boy, he had later acquitted himself with notable lack of distinction in the trading caravans. He was no fighter. A rich widow, years...
...beggars and poor cousins of Mohammed leaked it out that his vigils were to confer with the angel Gabriel, who was repeatedly confiding that of the sundry gods then worshiped in Arabia, Allah was the only god and he, Mohammed, was His rasul (prophet). The powerful Koreish clan in Mecca scowled. Mohammed's friends, now dubbed Moslems (traitors) found it best to keep his revelations secret. It was four years before their number was great enough for him to broach his mission openly in Mecca...
Islam. Allah, like his new servants, was nomadic and whimsical. Often as not He left Mohammed in the lurch, at first. The indignant Koreish drove the Moslems out of Mecca into the hills one winter. But soon Allah was well-behaved and sharp-eared again. He revealed a splendid opening for an up-and-coming prophet at ancient, paradisaic Medina up the Red Sea coast. There, Jews were noxious, Arabs uneasy. After cautious reconnoitering, Mohammed sent his band thither on the so-called Great Hegira. No harm ensuing, he followed later in holy triumph on his long-lived she-camel...
...women who Sacrifice their lives for a religious faith are known to their fellow adherents as martyrs, to opposing sects as fanatics. The latter term was the one used in newspaper despatches to define 25 Wahhabis who were shot by Egyptian soldiers last week in the streets of Mecca...
...soldiers, commanded by Azmi Pasha, were starting for Cairo as an escort of the Holy Carpet, the immemorial piece of rug that covers the Kaaba in the Mosque at Mecca. Because of friction between Sultan Ibn Soud and King Fuad of Egypt, the Holy Carpet had not gone to Cairo for two years, but this year things looked better; the King of Egypt had a chance of being made Calif of Islam; the rug started on its journey, accompanied by the soldiers and followed by a brass band which blared out, with wandering horns and cymbals, an Egyptian marching song...