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CLAUDE DELAVAL COBHAM
Exerpta Cypria
page 387

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UMM l.IARÂM. 377 woman (may God be pleased with her) was set witli all honour on a mule ; and on arriving at the place where now her luminous tomb is seen, they were attacked by Genoese infidels, and falling from her beast she broke her pellucid neck, and yielded up her victorious soul, and in that fragrant spot was at once buried. And it is clear that that irrefragable prophetic word, " Thon art of the first," is of the number of the manifest miracles of Mohammad. It is by the perfect divine favour of the Giver of all gifts in the other world that the beloved of God and honoured Prophet (may tlie favour and blessing of God be upon him) has given life to the hearts of the believers by saying—" If any of the male companions or female disciples be buried in a holy place they will intercede for such dwellers in that place as are worthy of tfieir intercession/' So likewise in this life it is by the grace of God that—as it is said by the Imam Hlinawi (on him be the mercy of the Almighty), in his comment on the Jihni' ae-$aghir—whenever the people of Damascus are sorely tried by droughts and other troubles, and with full trust appeal to that honoureiT lady, asking from the Giver of all good and munificence rain and rest, and deliverance from trouble and attack, the Dispeller of all cares and sorrows, God Most High, out of respect to that honoured lad)', dispels their anxieties and troubles and grants them His rain and grace. And especially there is no doubt that for those who with earnest endeavour and in full faith make the customary and acceptable visitation to the honoured tomb and revered shrine which contain her sacred body, the Giver of blessings in unequalled wisdom satisfies all their needs. It is the perfect favour and grace of God Most High and Exalted that He has made the aunt of that most glorious of created beings an intercessor for the inhabitants of this island and the visitors who earnestly appeal to her, and that when we confide in her exalted person we attain nil our desires and aims in this world and the next. What great fortune and felicity is this 1 " This is the grace of God, which He gives to all Hie servants who seek it ; and God is the Lord of the greatest grace" Conclusion, setting forth sundry of the miracles and graces of that exalted lady. One of the miracles of that exalted lady (may God be pleased with her) is this :—On her journey from Jerusalem to Randa she alighted on her way as a guest at the house of a Christian monk. She beheld in the house three huge stones like columns, and to show a marvel and display saintship she desired to buy the said stones from the monk. The monk, fully persuaded of the impossibility of transporting the stones and carrying them away, gave them as a present to the exalted lady. She accepted them, and said—" Let them remain by way of trust} in due time they will be taken away," and departed. And on the evening of her burial the said stones, by the might of the Lord of the worlds, moved from their place, and walking in the sea*—a wonderful sight—appeared in this fragrant place ; and one of them set-itself at her sacred head, one at her holy feet, and the other stone, as though suspended over them, rested there by the power of God. And now, if we look to be instructed, the elevation and juxtaposition with other stones of a stone so huge must be deemed an impossibility. It is, therefore, clear and manifest that the stone is suspended. These marvels are of the number of the prodigies and saintly works of that source of wonders, and of the signs of her high rank. And even now many holy marvels of hers are seen, and those witnessed by pilgrims who seek her trustfully, and by the servants who live about her pleasant shrine, are such as none may number and count. May God be pleased with her, and benefit us through her intercession. We pray Thee, Ο God, for uprightness in her service, and to exalt us under her banner, through the favour of the chief of the apostles; and praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds. Al-Fâtihat.

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