CHAPTER II—GLIMPSES OF PERSONALITY
THE HAJ AND ITS LESSON
'Twas theirs the hallowed path to find
Which once their leader trod,
And in the service of mankind
The path that leads to God.
To save Sir Nizamat Jung from being mistaken
for an overzealous Puritan or a fanatical Haji,
I shall quote what he has himself said on the
subject of his repeated pilgrimages.
" It was not to earn any heavenly reward,
but to do my share of work on earth and to feel
the greatness of Islam at the fountain-head, and
to ' visualise/ as you would say, a mentally
f reconstructed pageant of its splendid career as
• it issued from the desert and overspread the
* earth!"
His mind was haunted by this inspiring
vision, which I take to be the true explana-
tion of his desire to visit the spots where Islam
had its glorious birth.
I have had from him interesting accounts of
his visits to Arabia and the spiritual vigour he
derived from that " barren land for ever blest."
In an unfinished poem on the Haj we find pen
pictures, such as these : —
A lucent shallow bay of waters green—
Landward, above the water's edge behold