Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-07-19

sense like the story Of the birth Of Samson
or Samuel and that IL is in itself another
illustration Of the Oriental character of the
Bible narratives and of the strange fixed
ness in manners Of speech and action Of the
people of Bible lands.
The narrative here given is by an Egyp-
tian woman, Husnah, as she heard it from
the Fikis, the men learned in the religious
or ceremonial law. This woman repeats
the story of Arsbis origin at the house Of
Mr., Abbott in the presence of the gentle
man OF Cairo mentioned above, who re-
produces the history in a communication to
the Sunday School Times. The incidents
not directly bearing upon the story of Arabi's
life are omitted. EDITOR WATCHMAN.
Upon hearing the name Uraby, prcked
up my ears for was not this the famous
Arab Bey who was playing such a part in
modern Egyptian politics 7 Mrs Abbott
remarked to me in English that we should
now learn what the masses-the folk
thought and were taught to believe concern
ing him. Husnahs graphic narration ran,
substantially, as follows
About fifty years ago, there lived in the
Delta of Egypt, near a small hamlet called
el-Wijh-that is, the front, because it lay
near the Eastern desert, and faced it, not
far from Zagazig, on the iron road since
built by the Angles between Alexandria and
Suez, worshiping farmer of some means,
whose wife was barren. This farmer, or
land owner, was man Of some influence
among his clan, which was originally de-
scended from the Bedawin Arabs of the
Eastern desert, but had become " domest-
Gated" and had settled down on the borders
of the Delta as tillers of the soil. His
friends had often told him that the cause
of his wife's barrenness was, of course,
known to the Omniscient only; but that
as she was an Egyptian of the low lands and
he was descended from the stock of Abra-
ham and his eldest son Ishmael, God would
be much more likely to bless him with off.
spring, were he to take wife from among
the children of the desert. He accordingly
sent eastward to certain wandering tribes,
and in due course of time had brought to
him true Bedawin girl. This girl know
ing that she had been taken to wife by her
husband only with view to offspring, had,
on her way to el-Wigh, passed by the rest
ing place OF the remains OF Our Lady
Nafeessab (between Zagazig and Ismailsh),
TO there pray that she might be blessed soon
with male child, that she might find favor
with her lord. Nafeessah, the name of the
holy woman in question, means egcellent,
eloquent, full of soul and spirit the word
is also used as pure adjective to describe
woman who has just given birth for has
she not at such time brought soul-a
nafs, or nefesh-into being The shrine of
Our Lady Nafeessah is held in high honor,
both by Mosems and Christians, even as it
is said First, pilgrimage to Mecca next,
a pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem
and third, visit to Our Lady Nafeessah,
thus making her shrine second only to
Mecca and Jerusalem. During the night
that this true Arabian girl, who was on the
eve Of marriage, spent at the tomb of the
soul-giving Nafeessah, she had dream. A
man clothed in the robes of the religious
order Of law doctors appeared to her, saying,
I" Go in peace to thy intended husband, for
thou shalt find favor in his eyes," In the
fullness of time, she gave birth to male
child and when the midwife bore the glad
tidings to the father, he exclaimed, "Ah-
mad.ul-P Aha" which means, al praise
God" Therefore all the women friends,
when they heard what the father had said,
declared that the boy should be called
Aimdd. Ahmad grew up to be stalwart
youth. Arab Pasha is at least six feet
tall, and is in every way large man, though
by no means corpulent. He was known
among his fellows by the appellstive " ell
Urabi," because of his descent from the
AraJs in contradistinction with the Egyp-
tians. And, indeed, Arab Bey, or Pasha,
speaks dialect which betrays his Bedawin
origin from the Eastern desert.
Urabi's mother had not forgotten the vision
of the man in flowing legal robes and she
had destined her boy-her little hope, as she
called the tall youth-for the study of the law,
both civil and religious. Accordingly, after
having been taught reading and writing,
Ahmad, surnamed el-Urabi, was taken by
his father to the great mosque university of
At this period Moslem students are taught,
pre-eminently, the law. This includes not
only civil law, but religious law.
E-Urabi was, therefore, taught, first of
all, the theology of the Mohammedans, in all
its subtletes, as divine and revealed re-
ligion, as the only true religion taught by
the greatest of all prophets and the last of
all apostles, and afterwards the civil or
worldly law. But Ell l-Urabi did not like a
students life He preferred a life of deeds
to a life of reading at the hands of the pro-
fessors. He left the mosque of el-Azhar and
entered the army of the khedive of Egypt
At this time the nation of the Franks called
the Melikans, were in war against their
black tillers of the soil, who refused to pow
and SOW and plant cotton for their Melikan
masters for which reason, said Husnah,
cotton rose greatly in price throughout
Egypt, and el-Uraby grew rich by the cotton
raised on his estate near el-Wijh, which he
had received from his father. Urabi was
not greatly favored by the then khedive of
Egypt, Ismael Pasha. He did not rise above
the rank of a major. His ambition had led
him on three different occasions to endeavor
to obtain the rank of bey or colonel. But
Khedive Ismael had replied to the general
advocating the cause of Urabi's promotion
with the words "If create him colonel
he will create a revolt in the regiment un-
der his command in less than six months"
But the foreordained purposes of God could
not be defeated, not even by mighty
khedive. Ismael was deposed by our mas
ter, the sultan, and soon after Tewfik, his
son, came to be ruler of the Egyptian re-
gions he bestowed upon Arab the rank
and title of bey. He is now soldier and
scholar, learned in the arts of war and well
grounded in the doctrines of our divine faith.
He is beloved of the army as bold and fear
less warrior, and has the good wishes of the
religious body of law doctors, for they are
sure that he will use his worldly sword for
the honor and glory of God, and to the great
good of the Arab Moslem world, even as is
denoted by his name, Ahmad elUraby;
that is, praise God, !, the descendant of
the true Arab--Sunddy-Sc Times.