American Sunday School Times Psalm 27:5-6 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me… Not only are non-Muhammadans forbidden to enter the sacred enclosure at Mecca, but the territory around Mecca — the Beled el-Harem, or district of the sanctuary — is regarded as a sacred asylum. Here, according to the sacred law, no war can be waged, no blood can be shed, no animal can be killed, no tree can be cut down. Not even a fly can be killed in the sacred district; but if any of the insect pests which are so common in the East annoy the pilgrim, it is permitted to him, "if they cannot well be endured any longer, to remove them from one part of the body to another." The idea which underlies these whimsical rules is that the place of God's sanctuary should be open only to true believers, to whom it should always be a safe retreat from peril of their enemies. Burton, in his El Medinah and Mecca, gives several specimens of Muhammadan belief regarding the miraculous safety to be found in Mecca. The Black Stone and the Place of Abraham have been miraculously preserved from their foes; at the time of the deluge, the great fish of the sea did not eat the little fish of the Meccan Sanctuary; ravenous beasts will not destroy their prey in the Beled el-Harem; no one is ever hurt in the Kaabah; ten thousand mercies descend upon it daily; and when men see the sacred building for the first time their hearts are filled with awe and their eyes with tears. The Quran expressly teaches that the Kaabah is a safe place of refuge: "Verily the first house appointed unto men was that which is in Becca (Mecca)... therein are manifest signs, the place where Abraham stood; and whoso entereth therein, shall be safe." This is but the relic of the old sanctuary idea which is seen in the case of the cities of refuge among the Jews, and in the (limited) right of sanctuary at the horns of the altar (1 Kings 2:28-31). In many of the ancient Greek temples criminals were given the right of sanctuary, and protected from their pursuers; and in some of the old English churches a stone seat beside the altar was provided for those fleeing to the safety of the church. In pre-Protestant Scotland, excommunication was the penalty of dragging a fugitive from the sanctuaries of the church. A trace of the sanctuary law still exists in Scotland (or existed until lately) in the sanctuary for debtors in the Abbey of Holyrood. (American Sunday School Times.) Parallel Verses KJV: For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. |
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