Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates Vol 2 - The Search For Mecca

CH. XXVI.] The Rcligwn of Job. 221
The kindred faitli, so essential to our ownhap})incss,
that in a future life, seems to have no places in the
Bedouin mind.
Like Job, the Bedouin looks upon
the grave as a " land of darkness which is darkness
itself," and it enters not into the scope of his wishes
to hope for anything beyond. It is difficult for a
European to put himself into the position of one
who is content to die thus, who neither believes nor
despairs because he does not believe. The Bedouin
knows that he shall die but he does not fear death.
He believes that he shall ])erish utterly, yet he does
not shudder at the oTave. He thinks no more of
complaining than ^ve do because we have not wings.
In his scheme of the universe there has never been
room for a heaven or a hell.
The words I have quoted at the head of this
chapter are precisely the expression of the Bedouin's
thought, if he thinks of death.
little or nothing about it.
But in fact he thinks
His way of life prevents
this. In Europe we suffer from the malady of
thought, quite as much in consequence of our idle
habits as from an excess of intelligence. The
Bedouin, in his youth, has no time for idleness ;
is constantly employed. A life spent in the open
air,
a thoroughly healthy condition of body, a spare
diet, and hard exercise, are not conducive to serious
thought, or to that melancholy which leads to
reflection upon things unseen. AYe ourselves had
ample proof of this during our travels.
he
Our minds
were busy all day long with the things before us.