Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah

A vivid account of the hajj in 1853, by a British explorer who travelled to Mecca disguised as a pilgrim.

Richard Francis Burton (Author)

9781108042000, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 29 December 2011

484 pages, 5 b/w illus. 2 colour illus. 1 map
21.6 x 14 x 2.7 cm, 0.61 kg

The British explorer Sir Richard F. Burton (1821–90) was a colourful and often controversial character. A talented linguist and keen ethnologist, he worked in India during the 1840s as an interpreter and intelligence officer for General Sir Charles Napier, and published several books about his experiences in 1851–2. He first gained celebrity, however, for his adventurous 1853 trip to Mecca, under the disguise of a pilgrim, which is described in this lively three-volume publication (1855–6). Few Europeans had ever visited the Muslim holy places; one of them was John Lewis Burckhardt, whose 1829 account is also reissued in this series. Volume 3 of Burton's book vividly describes the pilgrims' journey from Medina to Mecca, with catering including coffee, rice and 'occasionally … tough mutton and indigestible goat', crowded camp-sites and all-night prayers and singing. Finally he arrives at the Kaabah and witnesses the culminating ceremonies of the hajj.

23. From El Medinah to El Suwayrkiyah
24. The Bedouins of El Hejaz
25. From El Suwayrkiyah to Meccah
26. The Bait Ullah
27. The first visit to the House of Allah
28. Of Hajj, or pilgrimage
29. The ceremonies of the Yaum el Tarwiyah
30. The ceremonies of the Day of Arafat
31. The ceremonies of the Day of Victims
32. The Days of Drying Flesh
33. Life at Meccah, and the Little Pilgrimage
34. Places of pious visitation at Meccah
35. Jeddah
Index.

Subject Areas: Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]