Page 450 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

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U* r |,i<s cousin. About two years later another cousin took revenue and
',|l ,(| ,nv owner right on the streets of Dohah. But with my master gone.
|'was once more sold when his property was divided. 'This time a man
liniii |<ln,r# a small town some distance to the north ol I )ohah bought me.
lint last year a-good-for-nolhing sou of my owner stole some id’ his father's
and hid it. My master suspected one of the slavegirls, and though
she protested her innocence and there was no proof, lie seized her by the
throat, and with him and the son beating her with clubs and daggers, she
was soon dead. They even ripped open her body, and threw her on the
refuse pile.
“Put this was going too far for the men of the town. They declared
that his prayers had no value from now on. and that he might not enter
die mosque. To make restitution, they demanded that he set free three of
his slaves. He said that he could not do that, since the slaves were of
j.rolit to him, but that he would at least set one free. That one happened
m he me, and so he was again allowed to say his prayers in the mosque.
Me he sent off without a cent—all I got was the shirt 1 was wearing.
'•Then I came on to Hidd (a village of the Bahrein Islands), where 1
kept alive last winter by asking people for Clod’s bounty (i.e., by begging).
I made my home in a tumble-down mosque. But one evening, I after l
had gone my rounds and was entering, in the dark, to eat what 1 had
obtained, I fell over a well, crushing my leg under me. And so it was that i
i landed in your hospital, where, thanks to God, I am getting better from
day to day. You people are certainly far more merciful than the Moslems.”
Ferej bin Mubarak’s face wears a sad expression. No wonder! How­
ever, all the hard experiences of his life have not embittered him. Mis
simple philosophy of life, which doubtless he has never consciously for­
mulated, can be expressed in one word, Predetermination. The linn belief
that everything is predetermined, both good and evil, including also the
i-vil that men did to him, saved him a lot of worry. Speaking of how his
owner broke faith with him at Mekka, after first promising him his free
doll), lie used the expression “but God had predetermined that 1 was to he
Mild.” Having been a slave all his life, he knows what a slave has to
expect and accept. And are we not all God’s slaves! lie has no concep­
tion of a God of love, a God who is our heavenly Father: 1ml tor that
very reason he spends no time trying to “justify the ways of God to man.”
In spite of the fact that all the evils of his life were indicted on him
by zealous Moslems, and under the sanctions of their religion, l do not
think that the slightest shadow of a doubt as to Islam has ever crossed
his mind. I hat there should be a necessary connection between religion
and morals, has never seemed to occur to him, except in a general way. !
I rue, he admits, that we are more merciful than the Moslems, but that
indicates no doubt as to his religion; it only means that tin* Moslems have i
ktl the right path, and that were Moslems lull a true to their religion as
i
they were some time in the golden past, they, too, would he good and
merciful.
Note: Patients from that region in the hospital at the same time, were able to
urily the Katar part of the story. In fact, at the time his master was killed on the
itrccts of Donah, one of our patients was a slave of the man that did the killing. So
we may be fairly certain the whole of the story is substantially correct.

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