Note 220 — Chapter XII

Arafat is a mountain not far from Mecca. Muhammedans believe that Adam and Eve, having been separated to perform penance, searched for each other during a hundred and twenty or two hundred years, until at last they met again upon the mountain Arafah, the name of which is derived from the Arabian verb “to know.” This is one of the etymologies of this name; I omit others relating to Abraham (see D’Ohsson, t. II. pp. 85-86). This mountain, in the pilgrimage to Mecca, is one of the principal sacred stations, which the pilgrims cannot enter without having taken the Ihhram, or “penitential veil,” on the first day of the moon Zílhajah (the last of the Arabian year); on the 9th day of the same month, called also yum-Arafah, “the day of knowledge,” they arrive at Arafah, where they perform their devotions until after sunset, and then proceed to Mecca to execute the sacred rites mentioned pp. 408-409, note 2.