Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-28
MosLEM woMEN's sHRINEs.
Old Gun Covered With Prayer Sym
bols.

From the Sunday School Times.
Among the ruins of the old city of Bag
dad to the left of the Tigris, stands a
large square brick structure in which the
Moslem keepers solemnly assert the body
of Joshua is buried. 1t is useless to test
their statements by the apparent age of
the building, for the small square bricks
of it's walls. gathered from the ruins of
the Arabic period. may indicate only a
reconstruction. The present building is
not ancient. The entrance, protected by
a portico, leads into a large open court,
which is surrounded by chambers.
At the further end of the court, occupy
ing the entire rear of the building. is the
shrine. a spacious windowless chamber,
lighted only by the doorway and entirely
destitute Of furniture save for the coarse
reed mats which cover the brick floor. Its
center is capped by large dome. and the
walls have recently been whitewashed, yet
in places beneath the thin white coat
appear the more ancient Hebrew inserip-
tions which were once the interior deco
rations.
The tomb beneath the center Of the
dome is protected by large rectangular
paneled case Of dark wood. and, except
ing in one place, where panel is miss
ing, II 10 invisible. At the head of the
case are Two pEOJeCtlOHS, dUOul WulCti
are tied number of strings or rags torn
from the garments OF the visiting pill
grims. One day, while I was standing
at the head of the sacred tomb. young
Moslem woman entered, and. with eyes
wet with weeping. she tore a small rag
Of the projections. while she mumbled
a prayer to God that before q year hence,
when she should come to unite the rag,
she might present her husband with a
child.
It was but q repetition of the picture
of Hannah, the mother of Samuel. while
she was at the temple weeping and pray
ing before Eli the priest In the shrines of
the east the picture Is still common. Be
fore the government buildings at Bagdad
Arab women, aware of its tremendous
power, believe can answer prayer. the
old gun is half hidden with the strings
and rags tied about it each to represent
prayer. and could It speak It might
tell strange stories Of the confessions
which the confiding women have poured
out to 1t. So with the tomb Of Joshua.
There the women gather and pray for
all kinds Of favors. firm in the belief
that the prophet will In some way cause
Less than half century ago the tomb
of Joshua was In Jewish hands, but the
Turkish officials caused a number Of
them to be arrested as they were bear
ing the body of noted rabbi there for
burial. They were imprisoned for at
tempting to bury a Jew at the shrine
of the great prophet. They were finally
released upon the payment Of large sums
of money, but the care of the tomb was
taken from them. Since then the tomb
has been forbidden to the Jews. and, like
most Meslem things, 1t now shows neg
lect. Yet should we follow the Jewish
woman as she crosses the old boat bridge
we might see her turn toward the tomb
>ly ln,< xf v.rlxy OF
the doorway which she Is forbidden to
enter. while her lips utter a prayer with
the hope that the long-buried leader, even
so far away. may hear and answer 1t.