Azar's Middle Eastern Journeys
"I began a systematic study
of the
practical Muslim divinity,
learned about a quarter of the Koran by heart,
and became proficient at prayer.
It was always my desire to visit Meccah
during the pilgrimage season;
So to this preparation I devoted all my time and energy;
not forgetting a systematic study of Sufism,
the Gnosism of Al-Islam,
which would raise me high above the rank of mere Moslem.
I conscientiously went through the chilla or
quarantine of fasting, and other exercises,
which by-the-by,
proved rather
over-exciting to the brain."
Sir Richard Burton, 1869
* from Edward Rice,'s: Captain Sir Richard Francis
Burton (1990)
Introduction | Road to Damascus | Arab
Revolt | Mark Twain on Damascus |
Street Called Straight | Syrian
Homes | Story of Palmyra | Aleppo | Olive
Oil Soap | Aleppo 1849 | Sufism
| Sufi 2
***
Site Map / Home / Syria
/ Lebanon / Palestine/
Iraq / Genius's / The
Photographer / Book
Orders / Lectures
/Cool Links / Write
Me
Copyright © George Azar 1996 All rights reserved.