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The principal saint buried in the city is Shaykh Umar Abadir El Bakri, originally from Jeddah, and now the patron of Harar: he lies under a little dome in the southern quarter of the city, near the Bisidimo Gate. The ancient capital of Hadiyah shares with Zebid in Yemen, the reputation of being an Alma Mater, and inundates the surrounding districts with poor scholars and crazy "Widads."
The locks are dyed dun, frizzled, and greased; the Widads or learned men remove them, and none but paupers leave them in their natural state; the mustachios are clipped close, the straggling whisker is carefully plucked, and the pile erroneously considered impure is removed either by vellication, or by passing the limbs through the fire.
It is about three times the size of our English bird, of a bluish-black with a snow-white poll, and a beak of unnatural proportions: the quantity of lead which it carried off surprised me. A number of Widads assembled to greet us, and some Habr Awal, who were returning with a caravan, gave us the salam, and called my people cousins.
With the end of the week's repose came Shaykh Jami, the Berteri, equipped as a traveller with sword, praying-skin, and water-bottle. This bustling little divine, whose hobby it was to make every man's business his own, was accompanied by his brother, in nowise so prayerful a person, and by four burly, black-looking Widads, of whose birth, learning, piety, and virtues he spoke in terms eloquent.
The divine appeared in the afternoon accompanied by all the incurables of the country side: after hearing the tale of the blood-money, I determined that talismans were the best and safest of medicines in those mountains. The Shaykh at first doubted their efficacy. But when my diploma as a master Sufi was exhibited, a new light broke upon him and his attendant Widads.
Till late at night we were kept awake by the crazy Widads: Ao Samattar had proposed the casuistical question, "Is it lawful to pray upon a mountain when a plain is at hand?" Some took the pro, others the contra, and the wordy battle raged with uncommon fury.
As we advanced our Widads, who, poor devils! had been "roasted" by the women all day on account of their poverty, began to recite the Koran with might, in gratitude for having escaped many perils.
About the Gerad Hirsi different reports were rife: some described him as cruel, violent, and avaricious; others spoke of him as a godly and a prayerful person: all, however, agreed that he had sowed wild oats. In token of repentance, he was fond of feeding Widads, and the Shaykh Jami of Harar was a frequent guest at his kraal.
Amongst them was a Bedouin widow, known by her "Wer," a strip of the inner bark of a tree tied round the greasy fillet. We were accompanied by three Widads, provided with all the instruments of their craft, and uncommonly tiresome companions.
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