"aesthetic style"" from 1848 to 1860. Sir Richard Francis Burton, who visited Medina in 1853 disguised as an Afghan Muslim named ""Abdullah"", said that there were fifty-five mosques and shrines after the reconstruction by the Ottomans. Another English adventurer visiting Medina in 1877–1878, described the city as a ""small beautiful city resembling Istanbul"". He mentions its ""white walls, golden slender minarets and green fields"". Also, Ibrahim Rifat Pasha, an Egyptian official travelling between 1901 and 1908, described sixteen domes marking individual and/or a collection of graves. The House of Saud regained control of Hijaz in 1924 (or 1925). The following"
"transgressive pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina that he undertook in 1853 (he was not a Muslim and non-Muslims are forbidden to enter these holy cities). Seven years in Pakistan had given Burton a familiarity with the customs and behaviour of Muslims. This journey made Burton famous. He had planned it whilst travelling disguised among the Muslims of Sindh, and had laboriously prepared for the ordeal by study and practice (including having himself circumcised to further lower the risk of being discovered). Although Burton was not the first non-Muslim European to make the Hajj (that distinction belonging to Ludovico di Barthema"
"his travels of which a full journal has been published (April 1808 to March 1809), a series of most instructive journeys in Jordan and Palestine and the wilderness of Sinai, and so on to Cairo and the Fayum. His chief exploit was a tour round the Dead Sea, which he made without a companion and in the disguise of a beggar. From Egypt he went by sea to Jidda and reached Mecca as a pilgrim in October 1809. After his pilgrimage he converted to Islam and changed his name to Hag Moses. In Arabia he made extensive journeys, ranging from"
"fought in single combat more enemies than perhaps any other man of his time"". Motivated by his love of adventure, Burton got the approval of the Royal Geographical Society for an exploration of the area, and he gained permission from the board of directors of the British East India Company to take leave from the army. His seven years in India gave Burton a familiarity with the customs and behaviour of Muslims and prepared him to attempt a Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca and, in this case, Medina). It was this journey, undertaken in 1853, which first made Burton famous. He"
"able to render some small service to an Indian Emir, who permitted him to join his party who were making pilgrimage to Mecca. Some of Keane's experiences in Mecca were quite extraordinary. He witnessed a great flood and the strange sight of pilgrims swimming around the Kabba. He was denounced as a suspected Christian by schoolchildren (he was actually a Muslim convert) and was stabbed during his pilgrimage to Medina. Most surprisingly of all, he discovered a supposedly British lady living alone in the middle of Mecca (in 1877!). Exactly who she was and how she got there is not"
"the populace, or one who after pilgrimage declared himself an unbeliever."" The pilgrimage entitled him to the title of ""Hajji"" and to wear a green turban. Burton's own account of his journey is given in ""Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al Madinah and Meccah"" (1855). Lady Hester Stanhope, after the death of British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, to whom she acted as hostess, took up a life of travel. She spent most of her life in the Middle East and was accepted as Queen of the Bedouin. Gertrude Bell, was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator,"
"Richard Francis Burton Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer, and diplomat. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian and African languages. Burton's best-known achievements include: a well-documented journey to Mecca in disguise, at a time when Europeans were forbidden access on pain of death; an unexpurgated translation of ""One Thousand and One Nights"""
"from the Arctic regions to the Andes of Ecuador, and from America to the far East, more especially with the object of improving himself in ethnology, botany, and general science. In 1862 he started from London in the assumed character of an English Muslim gentleman, and, devoid of European contact, proceeded to Cairo, where he lived for a considerable period in the native quarter of the city. By this time so intimately acquainted had he become with the habits and manners of Islám, that in the spring of the same year he boldly joined the annual Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca),"
"is buried in the Lynd Cemetery in an unmarked grave Section 3 plot 322 grave number 8868. John Fryer Thomas Keane John Fryer Thomas Keane (4 October 1854 – 1 September 1937), popularly known as Jack Keane, was a Yorkshire clergyman's son who went to sea at the age of twelve. In 1877, still only 23 but having had his share of adventures, he visited Mecca and Medina, one of the few Europeans ever to have done so at that time. Jack Keane was born in the port town of Whitby, the son of an Irish parson, The Reverend Dr."
"examined by a delegation of scholars from Mecca in 1884 and upon successfully completing the examination was allowed to commence a pilgrimage to the Holy Muslim city of Mecca in 1885. He was one of the first Western scholars of Oriental cultures to do so. A pioneering traveler, he was a rare Western presence in Mecca, but embraced the culture and religion of his hosts with passion in such that he successfully gave people the impression that he had converted to Islam. He admitted that he pretended to be a Muslim as he explained in a letter sent to his"
"John Fryer Thomas Keane John Fryer Thomas Keane (4 October 1854 – 1 September 1937), popularly known as Jack Keane, was a Yorkshire clergyman's son who went to sea at the age of twelve. In 1877, still only 23 but having had his share of adventures, he visited Mecca and Medina, one of the few Europeans ever to have done so at that time. Jack Keane was born in the port town of Whitby, the son of an Irish parson, The Reverend Dr. William Keane. He was the eldest of five. His father died in 1873, when Keane was only"
"had planned it whilst traveling disguised among the Muslims of Sindh, and had laboriously prepared for the adventure by study and practice (including undergoing the Muslim tradition of circumcision to further lower the risk of being discovered). Although Burton was certainly not the first non-Muslim European to make the ""Hajj"" (Ludovico di Varthema did this in 1503), his pilgrimage is the most famous and the best documented of the time. He adopted various disguises including that of a Pashtun to account for any oddities in speech, but he still had to demonstrate an understanding of intricate Islamic traditions, and a"
"Ludovico di Varthema Ludovico di Varthema, also known as Barthema and Vertomannus (c. 1470 – 1517), was an Italian traveller, diarist and aristocrat known for being the first non-Muslim European to enter Mecca as a pilgrim. Nearly everything that is known about his life comes from his own account of his travels, ""Itinerario de Ludouico de Varthema Bolognese,"" published in Rome in 1510. Varthema was born in Bologna. He was perhaps a soldier before beginning his distant journeys, which he undertook apparently from a passion for adventure, novelty and the fame which (then especially) attended successful exploration. Varthema left Europe"
"In the documentary, titled ""The Victorian Sex Explorer"", Everett explores the life of a man who investigated a male brothel frequented by British soldiers in Bombay in disguise; who introduced ""The Koran"", ""One Thousand And One Nights"" and the ""Kama Sutra"" in their first English translations; who travelled to the city of Mecca, and kissed the Holy Stone of Kaaba in disguise as an Arab; and was able to converse in more than 20 languages. Everett explained in 2008: ""I've been interested in him for years. So many contradictions. Such a riveting, showbusiness character. The godfather of the sexual revolution."""
"Hedley Churchward Al-Hajj Hedley Churchward (Mahmoud Mobarek) (Aldershot – 28 August 1929 Johannesburg), was an English set designer and painter, notable for converting to Islam and in 1910 being the first known British Muslim to make the Hajj. Hedley's father, a member of a respected and ancient English family, was a commissar in the British Army at the time of the Crimean War. During Hedley's childhood he came into contact with his father’s rather unusual circle of friends and acquaintances, spending some time at the Court of Queen Victoria. He was sent to Kilburn College, where he “shared lollipops with"
"his guide arrived in the Holy City. A large number of Churchward's paintings and drawings are preserved at the University of Witwatersrand. Hedley Churchward Al-Hajj Hedley Churchward (Mahmoud Mobarek) (Aldershot – 28 August 1929 Johannesburg), was an English set designer and painter, notable for converting to Islam and in 1910 being the first known British Muslim to make the Hajj. Hedley's father, a member of a respected and ancient English family, was a commissar in the British Army at the time of the Crimean War. During Hedley's childhood he came into contact with his father’s rather unusual circle of friends"
"excavate the temple. Burckhardt continued north to Esme. He later made an additional trip to Nubia travelling as far as Shendi near the Pyramids of Meroë. From here he journeyed to the Red Sea and resolved to make the pilgrimage to Mecca as this would enhance his credentials as a Muslim on his journey to Timbuktu. After crossing the Red Sea, he entered Jeddah on 18 July 1814 and became sick with dysentery for the first time in his travels. Here he proved his credentials as a Muslim and was permitted to travel to Mecca. He spent several months in"
"the Levant. In 1856-1857 he was again in Algeria; in 1858 he reached the city of Morocco; and in 1860 he succeeded in performing the pilgrimage to Mecca, which he afterwards described in ""Meine Wallfahrt nach Mekka"" (Leipzig, 1865), but had to flee for his life to Jidda without visiting Medina. He then visited Aden and Bombay, and after some two years of study in Europe again began to wander through the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean, repeatedly visiting Algeria. His first book of travel, ""Drei Jahre im Nordwesten von Afrika"" (Leipzig), appeared in 1863, and was followed by"
"suspicion. Was Keane a Muslim? For western ears, he seems to want to give the impression that it is all a great adventure and he is ""pretending""; but he makes many admiring remarks about Islam and Islamic culture that seem to show another side. In particular, it appears that he made Islamic prayer when quite alone and not overseen, suggesting that his conversion was sincere in his own mind at that time. On his return to England, Keane published two books about his visit to the Hijaz. These were ""Six Months in Meccah"" (sic) and ""My Journey to Medinah"". According"
"Journey to Mecca Journey to Mecca: In the Footsteps of Ibn Battuta is an IMAX (""giant screen"") dramatised documentary film charting the first real-life journey made by the Islamic scholar Ibn Battuta from his native Morocco to Mecca for the Hajj (Muslim pilgrimage), in 1325. The 20-year-old Muslim religious law student Ibn Battuta (1304–1368), whose full name was Abu Abdullah Muhammed Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta, set out from Tangier, a city in northern Morocco, in 1325, on a pilgrimage to Mecca, some 3,000 miles (over 4,800 km) to the East. The journey took him 18 months"
"Proceeding to Alexandria as assistant to the British consul-general there, he devoted himself to Arabic and its various dialects, and made himself master of Eastern manners and usages. On leaving Egypt he travelled by land to the Persian Gulf, disguised as a Mamluk, visiting Damascus, and entering the great mosque undetected. At Bombay, which he reached in September 1807, he was the guest of Sir James Mackintosh, whose eldest daughter Mary he married on 22 January 1808, proceeding soon after to Baghdad as the British Resident. There he began his investigations into the geography, history and antiquities of the district."
"entirely certain to this day. Keane could speak Hindustani, but only rudimentary Arabic. He passed himself off in Mecca as a pilgrim from Bombay or, when this would not have passed muster, as a resident of a country called ""North"". He appears to have mastered Islamic ritual and prayer by copying what he saw; although he claims to have made earlier preparation for this adventure by closely observing the various Muslim crews with whom he previously served. When he made errors he claimed to be a recent convert to Islam, which seems to have generated admiration and assistance rather than"
"and appendices have been characterised as “obtrusive, kinky and highly personal”. In 1982, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) began naming features on Saturn's moon Enceladus after characters and places in Burton's translation because “its surface is so strange and mysterious that it was given the ""Arabian Nights"" as a name bank, linking fantasy landscape with a literary fantasy”. (See List of geological features on Enceladus.) Burton – an accomplished geographer, explorer, orientalist, ethnologist, diplomat, polylinguist and author – was best known in his lifetime for travelling in disguise to Mecca (1853) and for journeying (with John Hanning Speke) as the"
"Western Himalayas and into Central Asia—and nearly all of what was known of Tibet—was the result of their work. Operating under code names or initials— the Mullah, the Havildar, A.K., etc.—they included Buddhists and Hindus as well as Mohammedans; C23, otherwise the horse-dealer Mahbub Ali in ""Kim"", was inspired by what Kipling could glean of their activities."" William Watts McNair William Watts McNair (13 September 1849 – 13 August 1889) was a British surveyor, the first British explorer of Kafiristan (now Nuristan). Details of McNair's life up to the time of his 1883 journey are sketchy. According to John Keay,"
"Ali Bey el Abbassi Domingo Francisco Jorge Badía y Leblich (; 1767–1818), better known by his pseudonym and nom de plume Ali Bey el Abbassi (, ""Alī Bay al-Abasī""), was a Spanish explorer, soldier, and spy in the early 19th century. He supported the French occupation of Spain and worked for the Bonapartist administration, but he is principally known for his travels in North Africa and the Middle East. He witnessed the Saudi conquest of Mecca in 1807. Badía y Leblich was born in Barcelona on April 1, 1767. After receiving a liberal education, he devoted particular attention to the"
"met Sheikh Muhammad Ayyad al-Tantawi and learned more about the Middle East. He made his first expedition to the area in 1843. When Wallin went for his expeditions he portrayed himself as a Muslim and took the name Abd al-Wali in order to get closer to his subjects. Many people believe Wallin converted to Islam, but there is no proof to support that claim at least according to his diaries and letters. His grave in Hietaniemi cemetery in Helsinki has his Arabic name engraved over it with Arabic letters. He is buried on Christian church ground. He visited Mecca in"
"with the intention of persuading Russia to invade India. In response, Britain sent its own diplomatic missions in 1808, with military advisers, to Persia and Afghanistan under the capable Mountstuart Elphinstone, averting the French and possible Russian threat. However, Britain was left with concerns about being able to defend India. In 1810, Lieutenant Henry Pottinger and Captain Charles Christie undertook an expedition from Nushki (Balochistan) to Isfahan (Central Persia) disguised as Muslims. The expedition was funded by the East India Company and was to map and research the regions of ""Beloochistan"" (Balochistan) and Persia because of concerns about India being"
"in 1503), his pilgrimage is the most famous and the best documented of the time. He adopted various disguises, including that of a Pathan, to account for any oddities in speech, but he still had to master intricate Islamic ritual, and the minutiae of Eastern manners and etiquette. Burton's trek to Mecca was quite dangerous and his caravan was attacked by bandits (a common experience at the time). As he put it, although ""...neither Koran or Sultan enjoin the death of Jew or Christian intruding within the columns that note the sanctuary limits, nothing could save a European detected by"
"Henry Timberlake (merchant adventurer) Henry Timberlake (1570 – 1625) was a prosperous London ship captain and merchant adventurer who travelled to the Mediterranean in his ship the ""Trojan"" early in 1601. After calling at Algiers (where he took on board Muslim passengers bound for Mecca) and Tunis, he reached Alexandria. Here he and his assistant Waldred took his Levant Company stock and went overland and then up the Nile to Cairo. Finding it impossible to sell his goods in Cairo, he went with another Englishman, John Burrell, to visit Jerusalem. This was a very hazardous journey to make, given the"
"Henry Timberlake (merchant adventurer) Henry Timberlake (1570 – 1625) was a prosperous London ship captain and merchant adventurer who travelled to the Mediterranean in his ship the ""Trojan"" early in 1601. After calling at Algiers (where he took on board Muslim passengers bound for Mecca) and Tunis, he reached Alexandria. Here he and his assistant Waldred took his Levant Company stock and went overland and then up the Nile to Cairo. Finding it impossible to sell his goods in Cairo, he went with another Englishman, John Burrell, to visit Jerusalem. This was a very hazardous journey to make, given the"
"Ibn Jubayr Ibn Jubayr (1 September 1145 –29 November 1217; ), also written Ibn Jubair, Ibn Jobair, and Ibn Djubayr, was an Arab geographer, traveller and poet from al-Andalus. His travel chronicle describes the pilgrimage he made to Mecca from 1183 to 1185, in the years preceding the Third Crusade. His chronicle describes Saladin's domains in Egypt and the Levant which he passed through on his way to Mecca. Further, on his return journey he passed through Christian Sicily, which had only been recaptured from the Muslims a century before, and he makes several observations on the hybrid polyglot culture"
"the Religion, Government, Usages and Character of the Inhabitants of that Kingdom"". Malcolm's treatment, though interesting, is not well informed. In ""An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians written in Egypt during the years 1833-1835"" (1836) Edward William Lane noted, and illustrated with his own woodcuts, his close observations of the Rifa'i derwishes while living in Cairo ""in disguise"". The success of his work also introduced the success of the ""disguise"". Sir Richard Burton's ""Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah"" (3 vol.1855-1856) was undertaken while travelling as a Qadiri, and Armin Vambéry reached"
"envoy from Tunis. Bilali ""Ben Ali"" Muhammad was a Fula Muslim from Timbo, Futa-Jallon, in present-day Guinea-Conakry, who arrived at Sapelo Island during 1803. While enslaved, he became the religious leader and Imam for a slave community numbering approximately eighty Muslim men residing on his plantation. During the War of 1812, Muhammad and the eighty Muslim men under his leadership protected their master's Sapelo Island property from a British attack. He is known to have fasted during the month of Ramadan, worn a fez and kaftan, and observed the Muslim feasts, in addition to consistently performing the five obligatory prayers."