ID 1028514
Lot 212 | Autograph manuscript travel diaries, lecture notes, and photographs
1904 pilgrimage and travels:
Sa'oudi, Muhammad 'Ali Effendi. [Journey from 'Abassiah railway station, Cairo, to Suez, then on the Rahmaneyah boat to Jeddah], February 6-11, 1904; together with notes from the second pilgrimage, from 'Abassiah station with the train of the Mahmal, December 23, 1907, and on the Al Minya boat to Jeddah, autograph manuscript in Arabic, 15pp. lined foolscap (310 x 195mm.), recto and verso in black ink, bound within a contemporary green card folder, folder slightly worn
Ibid. [Notes on the Hajj], February 6, 1904 to March 3, 1904, autograph manuscript in Arabic, 22pp., on watermarked lined foolscap (350 x 235mm.), watermark of crescent and three stars and text "Gouvernement Egyptien", recto and verso in ink, preserved within modern green cloth portfolio
MANUSCRIPT DRAFT LECTURES AND CONFERENCES
5 autograph manuscript documents in Arabic by Sa'oudi, comprising approximately 37 leaves of conference and lecture drafts, in black ink and pencil, on foolscap (various sizes), unbound
MANUSCRIPT NOTES AND NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS
21 folders, containing autograph manuscript notes by Sa'oudi and others on various subjects, including the timing of Ihram, the birthplace of the Prophet and his companions and others, descriptions of the Ka'bah at Makkah and its surroundings, comparative tables of the budget regarding the Kiswah and expenses incurred by the Mahmal in Makkah and Madinah 1903-04, salaries of the Egyptian Hajj, a summary of the report of the Amir Al Hajj for 1321AH (1904), Islamic civilisation, Khalif Osman, possible draft for a book or lecture with an introduction on Makkah, the history of the Ka'bah and its principal buildings illustrated with 3 photographs, mounted, and notes on Jews in Arabia, together with newspaper cuttings regarding the Mahmal, pilgrims, landmarks around Makkah and Madinah, and a newspaper report by Lord Cromer forbidding travel to the Hijaz due to a cholera epidemic
PHOTOGRAPHS
36 photographs, each lettered and numbered on the mount, comprising:
A1. Portrait of Sa'oudi in traditional dress from Madinah, mounted on thick card; A2. Portrait of Sheikh Muhammad 'Abduh, (1849-1905), mounted on card; both expertly restored; B1. The Turkish Mahmal; B2. The Egyptian Mahmal; B2.2. Another of the Egyptian Mahmal; B3. Sa'oudi at a graduation (later copy print); B4. Sa'oudi in later life (?1940s); C1. Sa'oudi in his Ihram robes (worn by pilgrims to Makkah); C2. Bedouins from Nejd with the young Ibn Sa'oud and his uncles; C3-3.1. Group photographs on the roof of Sheihk Al Farasheen's house; C4. Al Sayed Ass'ad Berri; C5. Helmi Bek, chief accountant of Al Madinah Al Mounawarah; C6, 6.1, 6.2. Views of Al Masged Al Nabawi bil Madinah; C7. Interior of Al Masged Al Nabawi; C8. Portrait of the Court Chief at Jeddah; C9-9.1. Cemetery at Al Bakee?; C10. Egyptian dignitaries; C11. The Librarian of the Kutub khanah; C12. Sheikh Abou Bakr Hamad; C13-13.1. The mosque at Hamza; C14. Procession of the Mahmal; C15. Camp of the Egyptian Mahmal; C16. The Turkish Mahmal; C17-17.1. Group shot; C18. Vizir Al Monabihy; C19. Probably the Swedish wife of the Syrian doctor at Al Tor; C20. Sheikh Hazem Ibn Abdalah Malih; C21. The charity house at Madinah; C22. A view from Ohod mountain; C23. Kufic inscription on the mountain of Sala. All preserved within 3 green modern cloth folders
A RARE AND RICHLY DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE ARABIAN PENINSULA AND THE HAJJ IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, recorded in diaries, notes, and photographs. Sa'oudi (1865-1955), a civil servant in the Ministry of Justice in Cairo, undertook the Hajj twice in the company of the Amir al-Hajj, Ibrahim Rif'at Pasha, first in 1904 – in the official capacity of Al Kateb Al Thani Lil Sourrah (assistant secretary to the treasury of the Mahmal) – and again in 1907-8. From this privileged position he was able to observe and record the formidable challenges involved in organising the world's greatest pilgrimage as well as his own experiences of the journey.
Sa'oudi is now well known for his fine photographs of Makkah and Madinah and the Arabian Peninsula, and photography is a frequent subject in his diaries, which mention the precise circumstances and locations of individual photographs, as well as the identities of various sitters, and the occasion when some of his photographic equipment was broken when it fell off a camel. It was the protection of Rif'at that enabled Sa'oudi to take many photographs during the Hajj, despite the hostility of many pilgrims to the use of photography described in the diaries – from the concern of some pilgrims that taking a picture then burning the negative would cause the death of the subject, to the near riot that ensued when Sa'oudi photographed people engaged in the ritual Stoning of the Devil.
As the personal record of a keen-eyed pilgrim associated with those charged with managing the Hajj, the diaries not only describe people, places, incidents, and the religious customs of Makkah and Madinah, but also provide an unexpurgated account of the serious problems that beset pilgrims in the early twentieth century. These included poor hygiene and disease (especially the ever-present threat of an outbreak of cholera), corruption and petty theft, political instability, and banditry. Incidents ranged from rumours that he was a British spy, to the beating to death of a pilgrim from North Africa who complained about the alleged use of parafin by sweepers of the Haram in Madinah. These journeys took place in the years immediately after 'Abd al-'Aziz, known in the West as Ibn Saud, had recaptured Riyadh for the House of Saud, but of course long before the birth of the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The chaotic situation in the latter days of Ottoman rule is all too obvious, especially in the actions of Bedouin tribes who repeatedly threatened to attack groups of pilgrims. They were usually paid off but Sa'oudi describes many exchanges of fire between his group's armed escort and local tribes in which pilgrims were injured or killed. Nevertheless, despite all these problems, Sa'oudi records his astonishment at the stoicism and lack of complaint from the vast majority of the devout pilgrims.
The route of the 1904 pilgrimage was of particular interest: Bedouin activity rendered the normal route from Makkah to Madinah unsafe, so the Egyptian Mahmal proceeded via Jeddah and the Red Sea to Yanbu and thence to Madinah, returning from Madinah via the quarantine station at El Tor to Cairo. Sa'oudi provides information on the desert stations between Yanbu and Madinah and the customs of the Bedouin. These diaries also confirm that Sa'oudi had family in Makkah and that he stayed with the family of Ibrahim Effendi Sedki when in the city, and he writes of their hospitality towards him and other members of the expedition.
In 1907-08, the pilgrimage travelled on the regular route via Jeddah to Makkah, and Sa'oudi's account is enlivened by descriptions of high ranking Egyptian, Turkish and Arab officials. The caravan reached Madinah without incident, where Sa'oudi met a delegation of Wahabi Bedouins from Nejd with the young ruler Ibn Saud and his uncles. A friend provided Sa'oudi with local clothes which allowed him to explore the city without attracting attention, and presumably these are the clothes that he is wearing in the photographic portrait included in this collection (A1). Among other people that are mentioned is his friend Sheikh Muhammad 'Abdouh. The Egyptians wanted to return from Madinah by the new Hijaz railway, which had just been completed, but an Imperial order forbad large groups from travelling on the train. There had been Bedouin attacks on pilgrims near Yanbu so it was decided to go to Al Wajh, north of Yanbu on the east coast of the Red Sea. They initially followed the track of the railway but then took a difficult mountainous path, reaching Al Wajh after an eleven day march.
Sa'oudi paints a picture of a country with such forbidding climate and exceedingly inhospitable terrain that it was closed to all but the most intrepid of outsiders. In a lecture Sa'oudi gave in 1916 he compared himself with the explorer Richard Burton who first visited Makkah and Madinah, in disguise, in 1853. In truth Sa'oudi had more in common with Muhammad Sadiq Bey (1832-1902), an Egyptian colonel and engineer, who took the first photographs of Madinah (1861) and Makkah (1880). These notes, diaries, and photographs
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| Lot number | 212 |
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| Auction date | 21.09.2023 |
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| Lot number | 212 |
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| Auction house | Sotheby´s |
| Auction date | 21.09.2023 |
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| Lot number | 212 |
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| Auction house | Sotheby´s |
| Auction date | 21.09.2023 |
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| Auction date | 21.09.2023 |
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| Lot number | 212 |
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| Auction house | Sotheby´s |
| Auction date | 21.09.2023 |