tHE SACKEDYEILY OF THE SANDS 
Allah’s grace. Another legend says that 
the desert was infested with horrible 
snakes, vipers and scorpions, and wild 
beasts, and that Sidi Okba threatened 
maledictions upon all these creatures 
unless they went away. Of course they 
left immediately, never to return. ‘The 
probable reason for building a town in 
the desert was its geographical position. 
What terrors could a desert wilderness 
have to these hardy Arab conquerors, di- 
rect descendants of Ishmael, the son of 
Abraham by Hagar? They had lived, 
thrived, and multiplied in the desert. 
Carthage, Tunis, Sousse, and Sfax 
were strongholds of the Byzantines. 
They doubtless could have been taken 
by Sidi Okba, but then they would never 
have been secure from the attacks of the 
Byzantine fleets. The Arabs knew noth- 
ing about the sea and still less of boats 
and naval warfare. But the desert had 
terrors for the Byzantines, and that great 
arid wilderness surrounding Kairowan 
made it secure from sudden attack and 
was admirably suited to cavalry combats, 
that were the delight of Sidi Okba and 
his men (see map, page 1089). 
The sacred city of Kairowan has today 
85 mosques and 90 zaouia praying places, 
or Moslem schools. After Mecca and 
Medina, it is the greatest Mohammedan 
shrine. One pilgrimage to Mecca makes 
an Arab or any Mohammedan a “hadj,” 
or pilgrim, and he is always addressed as 
Sidi Hadj. 
Seven pilgrimages to Kairowan are re- 
quired before one becomes a hadj. For 
a radius of several hundred miles the 
bodies of the “faithful” are brought to 
Kairowan for burial in “holy earth,” and 
it is owing to the regal bequests of past 
generations that Kairowan 1s able to keep 
up all these mosques and zaouia. 
Kairowan is the only town in Tunisia 
where infidels can enter the mosques. It 
was taken by the French without one 
shot being fired. A famous maribout had 
prophesied years before that Kairowan 
would be taken by the French, and the 
people believed that it was preordained. 
On entering the city a clean and 
healthy place was needed for a hospital, 
1063 
so they took the Grand Mosque of Sidi 
Okba. Once profaned by infidels, it did 
not matter if they continued coming to 
see it; and, if they entered the Grand 
Mosque, naturally they could enter the 
others. 
A Frenchman came to Tunis several 
years ago from Algeria, where one is 
allowed to enter any mosque. He en- 
tered the mosque of Sidi-Mahrez, near 
the Place Bab-Souika; he was attacked 
and almost killed, as he resisted the 
Arabs who tried to put him out. Since 
then a large sign in French, Italian, Eng- 
lish, and German is placed before each 
entrance to a mosque: “Reserved for 
Moslem worship. Entrance forbidden.” 
The history of Kairowan is extremely 
varied and interesting. Until 1881 no 
foreigner had ever entered its gates and 
left alive, and today it is the most beau- 
tiful Saracen town in existence and con- 
tains within its walls a unique collection 
of architectural fragments of Roman and 
Byzantine periods of marvelous beauty. 
Carthage, El- Djem, Hadrementum, 
Thyna, and Sbéitla were the quarries 
where the Saracens took all that they 
considered worthy to be put into their 
mosques. Between five and six centu- 
ries, when architectural decoration was 
at its height, had just passed, so that the 
Arabs had marvelous works of art to 
choose from. 
How they ever transported all those 
huge columns and blocks of marble will 
remain a mystery. Sfax and Sousse 
were the two nearest towns, and the 
Mediterranean was about 80 kilometers 
(50 miles) away from Kairowan. Being 
a sacred town, Kairowan has attracted 
all the various sects of Moslems and led 
to many complicated theological disputes. 
We think of Mohammedans as believing 
in Allah and “Mohammed the Prophet,” 
and that is about all we know. 
The Koran is a difficult book to under- 
stand, and after the death of Mohammed 
four commentaries were written and 
have been accepted through the Moslem 
world. They are classified as follows: 
“Rite of Malickite,” “Rite of Hanifaite,” 
“Rite of Hambelite,” and “Rite of Scha- 
