1 /            Travel Accounts of Cape of Good Hope

                               by

                           Omer  Lutfi   

First edition printed by  permit of the  Ministry of Education at
 
the printhouse of Ahmed Efendi which is located in the shopping center of Remzi Efendi, Slave Market( Esir Pazari ).

Any copy not sealed jointly with Mehmed Rif`at Efendi in the 

Basiret Printhouse by the seal of " Omer Lutfi " must be 

considered as false.

Copy right is for the writer and and its coowner.

                         Istanbul   1292                            

2 /                    ( Introduction )

                    Bismillahirrahmannirrahim

After offering limitless and unmeasurable praise andunaccountable 

thanks to the  Presence of the Unity of Allah,whose praiseisthe 

core of  obedience,and who is the Creator of the universe, space 

and the complexes of the earth and skyandwho bound the relation 

between the imperative " be " and " becomes into existence "; After presenting and conveying jewels of roselike prayers and 

limitless holy types of greetings,ambers melling and ligthful 

bouqet of respects to the thronelike presense of honourable 

Muhammad,who is the king of the prophets and the beloved of 

Exaltant Allah and to his honourable family members,companions and 

all followers;

3 / The name of  Sultan Abdulaziz,son of  warrior sultan Mahmudhan,may Allah send His mercy to him and forgive him ,who is the sourceofhonour for the Royal family of Ottomans - may Allah prolong his days of life,and raise his flags and strengthen his decisions as long as time permits, and  to whom we owe the prayer for his long life and his sovereignity and who  is our grateful source of bounties and master of justice,king of kings for scientific works,lightful throne of Royal Family and honour of elite ottoman family,protector of the  Glorious Religion and to whom successorship of the Master of prophets depends;

let  His Mjesty's name and title be full of honour and credit for 

this humble Travel Accounts of mine;

InHis period of full kingdom the materials of science and education bcamea daily  progressing process and tothank and to praise for these big bounties the tongue of each writer and perfect person were steadily involved in prayer for His long life and for His power and  they  don't hesitate remembering him.

During his reign of full omen  eleven year ago,there were in  Cape of Good Hope in Africa three million muslims ( sic. Y.Z.K.),

they were in ignorance and  gone astray for many years;

4 / and since this news reached His Majesty,his ocean of mercy enormously rose up and expanded and He ordered a muslim scholar to be sent immediately to teach and train them;and thus all got guided to the straight path because of his devinely inspired care 

in a very short period;

and they permanently pray to the creator of the universe for His 

Majesty's health and his holy throne to be steady with stability 

forever.

This poor traveller Omer Lutfi,appointed by His Majesty's grace  

was able in his period to go and visit The City of Cape Of Good 

Hope to see and observe its villages,towns,muslim population,

wild life,birds,animals and customs and traditions;

and  recorded  the  observations  under  the  title  of  " Travel 

Accounts of Cape of Good Hope ".

Presenting to the brethren in Islam as a humble gift.

Having courage to publish it, it is requested from the dignitaries and men of literature that any fault or mistake they 

5 / may encounter is to be covered by their skirts of forgivness 

and overlooking.( Success stems from Allah ).

6 /          Travel Accounts of Cape of  Good Hope 

          Migration of Muslims into Cape of  Good Hope    

According to the narrations of the people,85 years ago some of the islands of Jawa fell into the hands Holland ( Dutch ) Administration.

They allowed to let muslim people and scholars go to Cape of Good Hope 

under bondage and settle there.Because they were not allowed to 

read and write and to perform their rites,their posterities and 

children fell into ignorance and went astray with the passage of 

time.

7 /  About Cape of Good  Hope's fall into the English Domination.

Before long  Cape of Good Hope fell to the administration of the British Empire and muslim people all by the grace,were set  free from the slavery of the previous domination and so sent letters of appreciation and thanks to the British King.

Theysent a declaration of His Majesty the King declaring that they all,like all citizens,were equal in justice and equity and  they would enjoy comfort and happiness as long as  Cape of 

Good Hope was under British domination;

Although muslims trying to stand on their own feet builtschools 


and mosques,as it will be explained later, and because they forgot  

how to read and write andapply the rules and regulations of 

Shari`ah, they built their mosques in the same form as churches and 

schools around them and started to teach and train their children in their own way.

8 /  Since they were originally from Jawa, and the books of Fiqh 

and aqidah ( creed ) all were written in jawanise ,and the  children were speaking in dutch not knowing the language of Jawa

they were teaching the jawanise books in their hands as texts being interpreted into the Dutch as we do arabic books  interpreted to Turkish.

They were  very  devoted to their religion,not knowingproperly 

the principles of belief andissues of Shari`ah they gathered and 

discussed how to get ascholarwho has mastered the Shari`ah sciences 

to teach and train them.And this scholar was to find an immediate 

solution to that.

They finally decided to hand a petition in this regard to the governor of Cape of Good Hope whowas appointed bythe British 

King and handed him the text recorded below:

9 /  Copy of the Petition Given to the Governor of  Cape of Good Hope:

As it is well known 85 years ago some of the Jawa islands fell into the hands of the above mentioned goverment,we were all tied up in chains, enslaved and brought here.We were inflicted with 

sufferings and problems;

The honourable British  Empire set us free from the slavery of the  previous administration and gave us full liberty;

for that we thank the Empire for its help and grace, and in case 

of necessity it is incumbent upon us to sacrifice ourselves  for 

its cause we once more express our thanks and gratitudes.

It is obvious that each nation has to know and apply  its religion and way of life and it is natural that we also ought to 

observe our way of life and pratice.

But we forgot our language of origin,the language of Jawa,the books and treatises in our hands are all written in that language

10 /  and  therefore  we  need  a  teacher  obviously to read and 

understand them.

In view of thecurrent situation,it is requestedtobring a scholar-

teacher from a muslim country in order to teach and train us.The will 

is in any way with our Master. 

                By  16 Shawwal 1278            Signature

                                            Muslim People

                                           Cape of  Good Hope
                                            


                The Response of The Governor      

As a matter of fact your needs for ateacher is evident and unfortunately to provide such a teacher is very difficult;therefore this must be sent to Her Majesty and wait according to the order which would honourably be issued.This answer was given.

Thus the governor of  Cape of  Good Hope sent the petition ofthe Muslims sealed and enclosed with a coverletter detailing the situation to Her Majesty.

11 / When the petition reached  Her Majesty's Ofiice,becoming aware of the situation of the muslims transfered the matter to the Parliament with the request to provide a teacher.

After being discussed in Parliament it was decided to solve the matter referring it to His Excellency Muzawras,Ottoman Empire Ambassador to London.

With the help of His Excellency's good qualifications  it was requested from him that the matter to be written to the Sublime Port,enclosing a detailed letter on the muslim populations situation and their needfor a teacher they sent via the ambassador to the Sublime Port.

The  Arrival of the Queen's Note about the Muslims in The Sublime 

Port.

12 /  The above mentioned notes arrived in(Istanbul)  and with 

the help and affection ofthe divine shadow, an order was issued by His Majesty's Caliphate that awell versed muslim scholar  be sent 

to them.

Head Office of Islamic Affairs  appointed immediately  honourable

al-Hajj Abu Bakr,who was perfectly versed in the Islamic Sciences and an exceptional scholar from Baghdad and decided to send him with an aid to be taken by him from his students
                        
         The Reason of travel of this humble person Omer Lutfi 

                       to  Cape of  Good Hope.    

The above mentioned Abu Bakr Efendi,having taken many books and treatises on Islam and being informed by the Head of Islamic Affairs that his salary will be given by the government,  prepared himself for the journey and took with him this humble person

13 / ( the author- Omer Lutfi ). We all departed from Istanbul for 

Paris on  board  a ship of France together with the Ottoman ambassador 

to Paris the late Mehmed Jamil Pasha,newly appointed to the job.

                            Corsica

Twodays later we arrived at the port of Corsica island and the ship ancoredfor  four hours. We landed on an island andlooked around. Corsica city was well built, and the majority of the population
 knew Turkish.

After buying a few items,we returned to the ship because time was up.                              Messina

Departing from Corsica two days later we arrived inMessina. Messina port is very well planned and built as a stronghold inthe 

middle of the sea,and the city is located at the plain of a 

mountain and built along the coast.

14 / Some of the people came up to the ship and sold very cheaply

idols and masks made from coral.After anchoring there seven hours we left for the islands of Sardinia.

After leaving Messina we passed through a narrow channal of which both sides was ornamented withtrees and gardens.                            Sardinia

After sailing for a few hours we arrived in the Islands of Sardinia.The ship was to sail very slowly since the sea around was a litle rough and there were many rocks on the way.After passing the

Sardinia islands and reaching open sea,the weather became very 15 /  windy accompanied by rain. Thunder hit the mast of the ship, and broke it in two pieces. Half of it fell into the sea.We were very scared since I was in my cabin and we never heard such loud noises.

                           Marseilles


We arrived in  the port of Marseilles at 2 am. after seven days journey from Istanbul.They fireda twenty one gun salute.The ambassador was at the entrance of the port and an ottoman flag
 was hung on the ship.

When we landed, the late ambassador Jamil Pasha got in one of the
 horse drawn carts and we took the remainig ones.These carts were
 sent by the governor of Marseilles, and we proceeded with some aid 

to the location arranged for us.After resting for a few hours His Excellency the ambassador went to meet the governor of 

16 /  Marseilles, while we toured the city of Marseilles.

The city  had very well planned malls,the buildings were made of stones rising seven to fourteen stores high and had ladders 

rising up like spiral minarets.The streets were very wide,

omnibuses were drawn by six horses each;there were roads along 

the coast for sight seeing and leisure walking and the people  
were wandering around in the evenings from one side to another.There 

was a big square right in the middle of the city,around which there 

were  trees witha huge pool in the center in which there were many 

types of fish ranging from one colour to another and a strangely 

structured spring flashed water high up to over fourty cubits;there 

were a fewbenches with tables around the pool wherethe people were sitting.

Therewas a column erected  up to 80 - 90 cubits hihg,on which there was a horse,on which there was a big statue of a person 

17 / armed with some insruments of war  who was pointing  to a 

certain direction.

All day we toured the city, then returned to the hotel we were 

staying in.

On the second day we set out  to  find  the  railway,  after 

walking aimlessly, we finally asked a french man who directed 

us to the railway and uttered some french sentences which we 

couldn't undersatand. We managed to let him understandby sign 

language that we had come from  Istanbul.

When we reached  the train  station, we were  astonished since we never saw any thing like that before.

We returned to the hotel around 10 o'clock,afterobserving the railway station.

Although the weather of this city was good theydid not have 18 /  drinking water. And since the water they had was bitter like well water they drank the  water coming out from a steam machine.

Well,after staying three days in Marseille  we rode at around 9 

o'clock on a train alloted to the late  Jamil Pasha by the Emperor.

The train left  the station around ten.

A little while after moving they switched on the lamps on the the ceiling.

We were wondering why these lamps were switched on  and suddenly 

we arrived at a big mountain.

After hearing whistling by a steam whistler we entered into the mountain and it lasted exactly 17 minutes.

When  I looked out under the light of these lamps, to my 19 / surprise, I saw they pierced the mountain from the beginning to the end,then reinforced with stones and  steel,so strong that it wouldn't collapse at all.

We travelled exactly 9 hours  at the same speed passing  villages and  we finally arrived into a town.

We all left the train since they announced that the trainwillstay there half an hour and went to the restaurant made available by the railways  for their passengers.

Sitting on chairs we all had soup and some other food  brought to us.We all returned to the railway wagon.Since we did not know french we wandered how much to pay the manager of the restaurant,we paid one french franc,having thought that it would be enough.

But the restaurant manager gave it back to us uttering some sentences.And when we gave one more franc thinking that it was perhaps not enough,he burst into laughter and shook his hand on both sides away from his body and returned it to us once more. While we were busy with this issue, one of the guards of Pasha came and and said " what are you doing here,the train is nearly leaving " and when we said "brother,we payed two francs to 

this manager for the food,but he returned it to us; does he 

want more? What does he mean?"  he answered " no money is 

to be given to the restaurant;it is  run by the railway company 

and its free for its  commuters". We got on the train.

The time was 7.30 pm. when we left and we arrived in Parisabout

5.30 a.m.

                                Paris  We got out at the train station and rode on the horse drawn 21 /  carts sent by the emperor and went to the Ottoman Embassy in Paris.

Afteralighting from the carts we rested  in the Embassy all day. The next morning we  left the Embassy and transfered to a hotel 

in the center of Paris,the hotel was beautiful and located in the vicinity of the Embassy.

One of waiters of the Hotel approached us and asked  " what do you 

want to have ? " and we answered " Coffee ".

He brought,a big cup full of coffee and some slices of bread 

and left them on the table.

We were appalled, since we did not in our life experience having

coffee in such a big cup and, more than that,to our dismay,to eat 

bread with coffee.

But,thinking it was necessary to comply with the tradition of country, we dipped the bread into the coffee and ate. Since the 22 / coffee was not pure, it had a very different but 

interesting taste  andwasvery delicious.

Well,after about half an hour we had had so much coffee, with great difficulty we payed one franc each and returned to the Embassy.

When we narrated this story to  some office people in the Embassy whoknew Turkish they told us that the yoke of the egg was added  after being fully whipped and the bread was brought in order to  

prevent vomiting.

The third day we  visited the gardens, parks and palaces in the center of the city and saw what never saw in our lives.

There were many bridges made from stone and iron on the river in 

the middle of Paris; so much so that one wonders how they built them and laid the ground at the bottom of river.

Because the weather in Paris was nice and the city was located on 23 / flat land one could see from one sideto the other. 

Roads were  so  wide so that 30 carts could pass paralell to each other from the same point at the same time.

There were stones placed on both side of the streets,and every body 

happily walked around.

There were very wide squares in the city in which there were big columns with many types of fearfull statues at the top.

They built just accross our Embassy a huge gate type column and painted the whole of its walls with horrible figures.

They painted warriors of ancient times with bows,arrows,lances  and shields,having put on their heads helmets and body protecters.

I mean that,it was a very beautiful and nice city;and all night long there were ceremonies,festivals and there was a continous
 display of fire works ligthting up the night sky. 

24 / The shops were open all night long and you were able to go any where riding carts.Let's cut the story short;after staying about a week in Paris the late Jamil Pasha gave to our company an interpreter and we were on our way.

On the day of our departure at 5 o'clock the late Jamil Pasha met us to bid to farewell.We arrived at the train station. and the train 

departed and half an hour thereafter. We arrived at the shore of

Manche (English Channel ), which is between France and England 

at 10.30.

We got off the train immediately and boarded ship for departure.                     Manche  Sea ( English Channel )

Immediately after setting sail a hurricane struck;so strong that the waves were smashing the ship from top to  bottom.Since I did not experience such a wind before I nearly  fainted and 25 / fell. After two hours when the time was around l in the 

evening ( This the time used in Ottoman Period,in which is taken as the sunset.Y.Z.K.),they woke us and we saw the ship set at the 

shore; but the height of the shore was nearly as high as the mast 

of the ship.

Well,we immediately climbed up the ladder pulled down from the shore and got on the omnibus which was taken by all travellers.

In fifteen minutes  we arrived  at the train station and boarded  

the train and moved ahead.

                           London

Three hours after departure,we arrived in London and went out of the station.

We immediately hired a cart and reached  the Embassy of Ottoman 26 / Empire in London. The ambassador was out of London at some 

resort village and we could not meet him. And since we felt leaving 

was necessary,finally we rode the carts once more in  the company of an interpreter to find a hotel and stay there.

The waiters took our lugguge and showed each of us a room.

Well,that night we spent at the hotel,and when we asked how much it would cost,they told us " two pounds for you and one pound for 

this boy " and therefore we passed one night there and in the 

morning we returned to the Embassy.

The ambassador returned from the resort village.He kissed us  and 

showed his pleasure at meeting our group and also welcomed us.

They sent us immediately to a home near the Embassy where we lodged. 27 / All expenses were paid by our state,Ottoman Empire.

Well,while we stayed in that house, the late Admiral Mehmed Pasha was in London and we met every day with him.

He showed us one by one the places worth  visiting.

London was a very nicely planned and well built city.Its people were very talented.The city center was very beautiful and its street were very wide.

There were so many carts and horses in the streets that,any one who would cross the street was forced to wait a quarter of an hour crossing. At night the lamps were switched on with gases and theshops were 28 /  open all night and every body was busy buying or selling;

and no body stopped in the streetandspoke or fought with any body.

Every body was rushing as though he was bringing  a soup to a patient.

One day I needed a shoe and when we entered a shoe shop there was no owner in the shop,suddenly a trained dog caught us  by our pants and let us sit on the chairs.

Then the dog went in and informed his owner.And when the owner came in and we said to him " give me one boot ",he brought us anexcellent pair of shoes and put it in front of us.

When I asked "How much ? ",he drew it back showing the bottom of the boot.

We looked at the bottom of it;although there were some marks on it, we couldn't read them and thought that "it won't cost more 29 / than one  pound. " We paid one pound and the shopkeeper 

wrapped the shoes in a paper and handed me the change of 12 shilling 

and  25 pence .Because giving back 5 pens was considered as shamefull,

and the shopkeeper did not want to keep it  with him,he handed it me  

wrapped in a paper.

When we left that shop four persons asked us each one differently

how much we had paid for that shoe.

We discovered later that they were undercover police.

Well,we didn't see any one who fought for the sale or buy any thing in the city.

Everythinghad a price ticket,on which the price was clearlywritten and every body paid by looking at what was recorded there and took the material.Many clients did not speak with the owner either.

The ones who didn't have children or were not to have 30 /  servants,had got trained big dogs and they let them carry  vegetables and some other foods by the way they were trained.

They had a special type of basket,and wrote onapaper a shopping 

list and put in it  enough money .Then sent the dog to the shop,basket 

hung over the dog's head.The dog went in the shop  known by him and 

submitted it to the owner.And the owner took the paper and put 

whatever was ordered into the basket and hung it over the neck of 

the dog.The dog brought it to his owner.

We saw many of the dogs having baskets on their heads.

One day the late Mehmed Pasha took us  to an exhibition ( sic 

exposition ), a general exhibition in London,and after paying two 

shilings each we  entered.

31 /  There was at this exhibition many specimens of handcrafts 

of each state,and things produced in each province antique tools and 

instruments for any craftsman.

Each state was alloted  a special location and  its flag was placed over it.


Well,all types of crafts of the world and their export  goods were exhibited there.After viewing the exihibition for about 5 hours
 
we went to the river flowing in the center of the city.We tookaship floating in the river and arrived at a shopping center which was built under the sea and called Thames Tunnel.The ship stopped at the port and we got out and after walking we arrived at the door of 

the shopping center.

We entered  by paying one shilling each;then suddenly what we encountered was a big dome,around which there was spiral ladder 32 /  and we went slowly down  the ladder. On reaching the

bottom we saw  very well lighted, two shopping centers which were built from wood in the form  of some turkish type of cap.There 

were in them more than two hundred shops, casinos and  alcohol 

places.

There were gas lamps  fully lighting up the night and every 

body walked arm in arm;some were reading news papers sitting in the casinos,and entertained with some other things and some were shopping here and there;I mean, there was a crowd like farmers market.

Although the center was very strongly built, it was humid,the 

owners of the shops did not sleep at night there in the shops and 

came out.There were ships at the top of the center.There was sea on 

the top of it.

When we were in the center,one of the ships anchored and the because 

the anchor hit the ceiling of it, the center was terribly shaken 

it sounded like an artillery bullet.

It was,shortly, a very strange and unique shopping center.We

got out after browsing about  for two hours and goton the  bridge and 

33 / watched the ships passing by.

An englishman approached us there and spoke with us in turkish,of which he knew litle.

He showed us the following things: There were 120 ships in the river sailing from one coast to another transporting the people;and there were many bridges on the  river.The bridges were very high,some of them made of stones and some of steel.

The ships were sailing under them and trains were running on them.

One of thebridges was a suspension bridge;that is they erected six castle like columns in the river, parallel with each other,set two by two and the bridge was hung by chains between those towers  ( columns ).

We returned to our living quarters,after waching them quite  a 34 /  while. One day we went to the zoo.We entered in the park after paying one and half shilling at the gate.The park was very wide and there were all kinds of animals in it.

There was a shop at the gate where they  sold food for every animal .

We bought  some  cookies wrapped in a nepkin,and entered .First we went tothe bears. There was a big room, with a table in the middle  

on which there were some note books and papers,a pen and a cup of ink 

and things to write with.There were six chairs around table.

There were more chairs out side the room for the viewers and we sat on them and watched the bears.

35 / Suddenly the door of of the room was opened and a bear with a broom inhis hand jumped in, swept the room clean and after cleaning it up he closed the door and left.

A few minutes later the door was opened once more and suddenly a white bear jumped in with a shining hat on the head,eye glasses and 

a stick in  hand with a note book tucked under his arm; the bear put down the note book on the table.

After putting the stick against the wall in the corner,he sat on the chair around the table.He opened the note book brought by him,and started to move his lips as though he was reading.

He turned the pages from one side to another,when he saw that the script of one of the pages was spoiled he immediately took off his hat and hit it on the table and moved the bell on the table.

Then suddenly a black bear  entered in the room and stood in the front.

36 / The white bear  rushed up and walked angrily to the black bear and caught him by his ear and took him near the table and showed him the spoiled script in the note book.

The black bear suddenly pulled back and sat on the floor  and put his front legs on the floor as though he was appologizing for his mistakes.

Although the black bear asked for forgivness the white bear stayed as 

he ignored the black bear.

Then he waved his front legs as hands and sent the black bear out of the room.

After a while  the door was opened and the black bear entered 

and approached the white bear and bowed and whispered into 

his ear and  returned.

The door opened and  a fair haired bear entered .He had put on 37 /  a starched shirt and a hat,and had a stick in one hand and 

a bag in the other.He put the bag on  the table,took off his hat and then both of the bears shook their hands .

Each one of them sat on a chair and started to move their lips as though they were speaking with each other.

The fair-haired bear opened the bag and took out some ducument and delivered it to the white bear and  moved his lips and shook his head as if he read it,then put it on the table and took the penandplaced the pen in the ink-cup and drafted on the paper and 

after wrapping it, gave it to the other bear.

Then he held it  in hand and both of the bears stood up and put 

their hats on and went out hand in hand.The black bear came back andtook the nepkin full of cookies from us, took out the cookies and returned the empty nepkin to us.

Then he left waving his hat.

38 / And we left for the lions section.

There were lions 25-70 year old.

While we watched, they threw  them a head of a sheep.They rolled it here and there like a cat,then took it into pieces like dust by a strike of a paw.I was amazed at their strength and their muscles.

The trainer entered, and combed them nicely and petted their heads,

they did their job without any fear.

There were  tigers and wild cats near the lions section.The trainers could not enter. For they couldn't recognize their trainers, would attack them.

39 / We went from there to the place of the elephant.We entered and sat down on the chairs;there was beyond the bars of the cage an eighteen 

year old  elephant.He had ivory six to seven cubits long .


The elephant started to move  and  climbed to a chair-like iron stand and stood on it.We really were surprised.For such a huge animal 

to stand on a small stand by putting all four legs together was 

obviously a difficult task.

Then he got down from the stand and put his trunk into the pool and drank more than half of the water in one sip so that  his trunk  

shaped like a buffalo and then pushed it in the mouth and poured the 

water into his stomach sounding gart,gart.

40 / There was also a drawer some where in the bars.The elephant put the money given by the visitors in it. If they gave gold,he said koch koch and showed his happiness by flapping his ears.And then put the coin in the drawer with its trunk.

If they gave silver coin,he took and put it in the drawer without any sound.

If they gave a coper coin he threw it back to the giver with his

trunk.People intentionally gave a coper coin and thenran out.

Because if the coin was thrown by him,and it hit a person, ithad 

the effect of a bullet.

The wall was hit and plunged by many coins thrown by him.

We went from there to the area of the monkeys.When we entered through 41 / the gate,they were at the back of the net of wires shaped circle.Each one played different type of games.

When I was watching one,another one took a towel from my pocket 

without me noticing,and showed me from some where inside the cage.Whenever I tried to get it back,I failed.Finally I got it back by giving him a few cookies and he ate half the cookies  himself and gave the other half to another monkey.

We went from there to the birds section.Each one has its own cage. There were many types of parrots, and also peacocks which

five persons might sit under the tale of each one of them.There were also very little types of topaz colured birds which were shining under the sun. There were all types of birds there.

We left from there to the section of hippopotamus ( sic: sea 

oxes ). They were two in  number. One part was stable, another 

42 / side was pool.There was some food.They came out from the 

pool and ate grass and other foods and after that entered in the 

pool and half an hour later they showed up.They  look like buffalos;

but their lips were very thick.Its thickness was about  one and 

half cubit ( sic ).

Each one of the snakeswere alloted a special place seperated byglass windows.The people wached them beyond the windows.

There were columns, one in each cage, with a split at the top.The 

snakes were wrapped around those columns.Their heads were rested  in a split the top  of the column. They moved once a week, on fridays 

only;otherwise they remained motionless.

On fridays two-three rabbits were fed to each one of the snakes as 

43 / food and as the rabbits were placed in the cage,the snakes 

attacked the rabit and  immeadiately dried up  its blood and 

swallowed it.

It was terrible to hear the  sounds of the rabbit.The snakes were as thick as a medium size tree.Their eyes were big, double timesthe size of  eyes of buffalos.Let's cut short,we left theplace 

for the house after watching sea lion ( sic.sea dog ),wild donkeysand other animals.We were home in the evening.

Afew days later we went to a museum and entered it paying half crown.


There were statues of all kinds, and head of states made from wax,each having their own clothes and also medals.

Some sat on the chair and some were standing up and speaking with

44 / the other.The statues were so artfully varved that,no one could imagine that whey were not real.

There was a woman and a man standing near each other,turning their heads to the right and to the left and  making some jests with their hands as if they were talking to  each other.

We learned that there were some machines inside the statues causing them to move.There was also a  statue of Napoleone Bonaparte.

He lay in a bed covered with a blanket as if he was ill.

He made sounds of pain  cused by the machines put inside the body of the statue.There were two physicians  sitting nearby, one was 

inspecting his pulse.There were over a thousand such statues and 

over two hundred of these were kings.

Shortly thereafter we returned home, after passing more than two hours.

45 / The air in London was very heavy;the people usedcoalto run the 

ship,in factories as fuel and  to heat homes.

There was very heavy smog on the city;so much so that some times duringthe day, when it was just 6 o'clock the darkness descended and the lamps were lit in the streets.

One had to change  clothes twice a day; because clothes turned black from the smog.

We saw the sun once  only for about half an hour on a sunday during the two months we lived in London.

Because the factories were not working on sundays, the people were  

shopping for their homes around noon on saturdays.

And sunday none of the shops or factories were open.

There was a public park in the center of London, which had more than 10 000 chairs.

46 / There were many cafes inside the park; the people were welcomed into the cafes.

The behaviour of the people was very good;they did not have bad character like french people.They generally took off their hats when they met us and shook  hands.

They spoke to us by saying  "  sic: turkish very good " and offered us coffee.Some of them took us to their homes and made us feel very welcome and and offered us food.

Many had had books and treatises translated from turkish  and asked about Istanbul and what kind of city it was.Though food  in London was not very expensive,but fruit was. A bunch of grapes, weighing 50 dirhems ( 400 dirhems= one okka= 2.8 lbs ) was 

sold for five shilling.Look at this,how costly it was; and  imagine what were the costs of other fruits. 47 / Some of the people wore, admiring ottoman clothing,turban on head,eatern type of shirt and and overcoat and they were proud naming it " turkish,oriental ".

There were  many huge squares in London and big columns and pillars upon which were stationed very big statues.One felt fear 

in one's bones when looking at them.

The streets were very wide and well planned.One could see looking fromone end the other.Houses and streets were very clean and similar to each other.It was difficult to find one's home ifone did not know how to read.

Cutting the story short,after stayingin Londonfor two months, sight seeing every day, and after getting prepared, we bid a 

farewell to the ambassador in the evening and accompanied by an 

interpreter rode on horse drawn carts and proceeded to the railway 

station.

48 / We went to Liverpool by train.We stayed two days in a hotel.The city of Liverpool was very beautiful and well arranged.And its streets and homes were the same as in London,they were very wide.

The next morning we went to the maritime company,and we enquired about the time ofthe ship's departure to  Cape of  Good Hope and 

we were told: " tomorrow at 7 o'clock ".

Our interpreter immediately paid the fare and purchasedour tickets and we transfered our heavy  luggage onto the ship.

We returned to our hotel and stayed one more night and the next morning 

the interpreter took us into the ship and bid us farewell. We departed at 7 o'clock and after floating four hours we arrived at a port.Because the sea was very rough we did not disembark.The 49 /  ship anchored that night there.The next day the sea was calmer and the ship left for  Cape of  Good Hope.Our ship had two 

masts and more than half of its load was coal.

The total number of travellers on board was fifty seven.Shortly, the ship sailed continouslyfor 18 days and we saw no land. On nineteenth day of our journey we reached the equator. The 

crew fixed a portable pool from waxed sheets and filled it with 

water and called all the passengers on  board. We all went to bank 

of the pool.

Two members of the crew were naked in the pool. One  member of the crew was sitting on a paint box at the end of the pool with a a mule shoe instead of a razor and a soap as if he was a hairstylist.

50 / One crew member demanded tips from the  passengersasthe passage fare for passing through the equator;if the person gave  

the tip,nothing happened;no harm came to him.Any one who did not 

give, would sitat the endofthe pool as punishment,and was 

brushed in the mouth,nose,eyes and ears fully with bad smelling 

paintall around the face,then shaved him with a mule shoe,after 

which  he was kicked and thrown into the pool.

The two crew members who were in the pool,doused the new comer quite a few times and let him swallow  a good amount of water before releasing him. 

When we departed from London,on December 15,it was the middle of the 

winter season.And as we drew nearer and nearer to the equator we 

felt the heat.

The crew watered  the ship with pumps once each hour. The 51 /  tar on the deck melted, because of the sun's heat.

We sat in our cabins during the day  for about five to nine hours

without going up to the deck.Once when I went to the deck around 

6 o'clock,I looked around and discovered that my shadow was not apparent,because  the sun was right at the top of my head.

Gradually our shadows started to appear  parallel to the movement of 

the ship.

We encountered some fish as long as the length of the ship.They swam three or four days along with the ship.

Whenever they drew near to the ship,they were distracted by the

whistle ofit.These fish  threw themselves into the air as the 52 /  dolphins do.So that  whenever they threw themselves into the air, a wave like hill came to exist.Some times they dived 

vertically with heads to the bottom and the tales up as the mast of 

the ship.We honestly,were very afraid whenever they drew near to 

the ship. Some times they  splashed water,hitting  it with their tales 

up at the height of one and half minaret.

There were some fish that had fins like the wings of birds,

flew 70-80 paces and then fell into the sea.

Some times in the night these fish fell on the deck of the ship.

We saw one of these fish;it had  fins without any haironit, with bare skin like the wings of bats.

On the 25th day after our depature from Liverpool we encountered 

53 / a ship coming from  Cape of  Good Hope going to  Liverpool.Both 

of the ships stopped and let the boats down and for two hours  sailed back and forth.

We did not see any ship or  land other than this ship.After 

sailing for fouty three days in this way,in the evening the captain 

informed all passengers that wewouldarrive in Cape of GoodHope 

at 5 o'clock the next day.

  
                       Cape of Good Hope

Since we saw no land for 44 days,we couldn't sleep on thelast 

night because of the happiness we felt.In the morning we saw the mountains of  Cape of Good Hope.All passengersgot out from 

their terrible appearances and put  their best clothes on and 

then wached from the deck.

Four hours later, we reached the strait of Cape of Good Hope.

54 / There was a little island at the left and The City of  Cape of  Good Hope at the right.

Thestraitlasted about three hours.When we entered into the

strait and arrived in the port they hung a British flag on the 

main mast and an Ottoman flag on the next one.Then they fired a 

gun three times.This was their general practice. And they also fired from the castle three gun shots.After the gun fire  the ship anchored and then many boats  rushed toward us 

from the quay.After delivering the post they let us enter the boats 

and we all landed .

When we were on the quay a person by the name Abdullah met us.He went to hajj and knew a little arabic.We greeted each other and went with him

Abdullah wanted us to go to his home,but  we did not accept his 55 / invitation and requested him to take us to a public turkish 

bath.They lead us to the bath.Though the name was bathroom,but there 

was no hot water. They dug a hole like grave and put a little 

hot water in it.

Any way,while we  wre washing ourselves,the muslim brother went to the muslims gathered outside and informed them that we had arrived.

All gladly and happily came to welcome us.After washing,  we came out from the bath and we saw that  muslims lined up waiting 

for us at the door.

When they saw us the leaders welcomed us and kissed the hands of respectful Abu Bakr Efendi.While we were talking with them,Mr.Ruben, the Ottoman Empire ambassador to Cape Town arrived 

56 / in the cart at the front of the bath and welcomed us.

Heinsisted, we get on the cart, but Abu Bakr Efendi responded by 

saying  " while such a crowd muslims are walking,how can I ride on the 

cart? "

Therefore Mr.Ruben  also stepped down and walked in our company and we arrived at a villa prepared for us earlier and set aside for our staying.

They opened the doors and Abu Bakr Efendi was lead with ful respect and honour to a room where he sat down.  

Imam Abd al-Majid who made his hajj and was one of the leading muslims raised his hands and prayed as  follows:

"  With the help of the grace of Sultan of sultans of the time,

master of alexandrian guards and real care taker of us to whom we 

owe every thing,our king and by his merciful caliphate we are getting rid of the darkness of  ignorance  and  going  astray and  

57 / are enlightened by  clear knowledge.As a people and elite

we pray for him that he may  stay on his sulaiman type throne as long as the time runs and his health be good all the time and and for  that we ask Allah almighty ". Imam Abd al-Majid prayed 

loudly and the people said " amin ". After the supplication Mr.

Ruben also welcomed us and said " this villa was prepared for you ".

Shortly speaking, we had a stream of visitors,coming ang going. All 

were thankful and praying to Allah that  the sultan and the 

caliph who bestowed them this assistance and asking Allah that  the 

caliph may be prosperous in his reign and caliphate.

Mr.Ruben  appointed Abd Allah,the person we met when we landed first on the quay,as interpreter,since he knew a little arabic,and 58 /  declared that whatever we needed will be supplied by him.

The next day the respectful Haji Abu Bakr Efendi gave the letter he had to the governor of Cape Town.And the governor said :" Teach and train them as you wish ".So he began to teach and train them with the authority he got from the governor.

               How Did the People of Cape Town Learn?  
  
After 15 days we opened a big school and began to teach and train them.Because they were very eager and willing to learn how to read and write, we assembled more than 300  pupils within a period of twenty days.

Abu Bakr Efendi started to teach these children.And he appointed me as his assitant to make them understand their lessons and memorize them.

59 /  First alphabet,then some issues related with the beliefand 

and religion were the subjectof the books translated intheir languagesor compiled. After studying these  books we taught them  books in arabic ,namely " al-Fiqh al-Akbar " in the belief 

and " Multaqa 'l-Abhur " in Fiqh.

We let some of the pupils who had nice voices  namely,Abd al-Hamid,Isma`il and `Ubaidah memorize  Qur'an.Praise and gratitudes to Allah;These three boys memorized Qur'an excellently within two 

years. Many more students attempted to memorize the Qur'an.

The majority of these children learned Islam within three years, at the level they needed.In the beginning of this teaching job,this 

poor guy ( me )  experienced difficulty,because  there were more than three hundred children.But when two years passed,and the majority 

of them -as it will be  further explained- learned Fiqh,Tajwid and 

rules of the recitation of Qur'an, we  selected a few successful 60 / students as assistants who were responsible for a group of students at the lower level of learning.

I was responsiblefor teaching these assistants.By the extraordinary efforts of Abu Bakr Efendi, within four years  

the religion of Islam was  perfectly taught.

As for  the teaching of adults and elderly people,they were busy with their livelihood during the day but gathered in the evenings 

at the school.

We taught them one by one  " al-Fatiha " and gave them some 

religious information.

Although we made every effort to help and teach these adults,but 

they could not  recite Qur'an according to the rules of Tajweed.

Look; What was happening is this.When they intended to say " Alhamdu lillahi ",they couldn't pronounce it properly and they pronounced as " Alhamdu lillakhi ". Instead of saying "Fa-tabaraka Allahu Ahsanu 'l-Khaliqin ",they pronounced it like

"Pa-tabaghaka Allakhu Ahshanu 'l-khalikin".Their tongue could 61 /  not be adjusted to it at all. These lovely people used to sweat up to their bones trying to manage proper pronounciation.

In this way their time was spent up to fiveo'clockinthe evenings 

( This the time which begins from 0 at sun set.Y.Z.K.).

reading Qur'an,and learning religious matters after which went home.

Since  sundays were holidays, according to their traditions,they also met in the school on sundays.

No teaching and trainig was done on sundays.Abu Bakr Efendi gave them lectures from the Commentary of Qur'an named Ruhu 'l-Bayan. They listened  for hours and hours and broke into tears,because of the sincerety in their hearts.At the end of each session they raised their hands and prayed for the caliph of the Prophet Muhammad, because of his concern to lead them away from darkness of ignorance.

They went home after praying Zuhr.

As for the school children; Fridays  were holidays accordingto the Islamic way.The following was said once: " Here in christian
 
62 /  schools,they pray for the founders of the schools.Each 

saturday evenigs,they all  met in one place in each school,since 

the next day was holiday, they prayed loudly all together and went to their homes." Therefore,this poor guy,Omer Lutfi,wrote the 

following poem since I was fairly good in arud ( sience of poems 

rhythms ) and the students in our school went home each thursdays 

evenings after reading it loudly:

          Poem written in six system praising the Caliph
    
Alexander full of generosity and devine shadow;

He is every body's soul,heart,king and place of refuge.

      He gave us a blow of revival by his looking;

      It is not possible to describe him as he is.

Aslongas the earth and the crescent and the moon ofthesky stay,
  
Let be the life of that king long and long,O my God!

63 /  Ignorance and darkness had sourrounded every part of us;

      The Sun of guidance rose up and drowned us into light.

No better better justice than this may occur in the universe for sure;      
  
We ask from God's Presence;no need for patience.

      As long as the earth and the crescent and the moon of the sky stay;

      Let be the life of that king long and long,O my God!

He is the king full of efforts for Cape of Good Hope;

He is our guide and whose  efforts we don't deny.



      From East to West may almighty,

      Give him victory against his enemies all the time.

As long as the earth and the crescent and the moon of the sky stay;

Let be the life of that king long and long;O my God!

      Mine of gifts and Khusraw of time sent us,

      Many religious books and a renown scholar.

As long as the earth,and the crescent and the moon of the sky stay,

Let be the life of that king long and long,O my God!

     If Sulaiman saw this grace and his generosity,

     Surprisingly he would appreciate it  very much.

As long as the earth,and the crescent and the moon of the sky stay,

Let be  the life of that king long and long,O my God!

         
64 /  To that lovely king,lovely as the lenses of our eyes, is entrusted
 
the Ummah;

      Let be His grace and assitance to us as much as does.

The crown of the kings of the world and the generousity of the
 sea;      
Our prayers are like this finally all the time;

      As long as the earth and the crescent and the moon of the sky stay,

      Let be the life of that king long and long,O my God!

Our prayers deserve to be raflected up to the celestial Throne;

All angels came down to the earth to hear that.

      He gave in this area honour to the clear religion;

      To pray  was obligatory for us; is swear needed?

As long as the earth and the crescent and the moon of the sky stay,

Let be the life of that king long and long,O my God!

      Truly to obey to  ulul amr ( authority ) is mandatory to us;

      Come,obey him and so become closer to religion.

Lutfi,traveller,helpless poet;

Pray for him, whenever he was remembered.

       As long as the earth and the crescent and the moon of the sky stay,

       Let be the life of that king long and long,O my God!.

65 /                    How  was  Cape  Town

Cape Town is called in english as Cape of Good Hope and it is expressedin the native tongue as Kaapstad.It is located at the plain of a mountain and also on the sea shore. This mountain is  named

as " Tafel Berg ".It is a high mountain and it was covered in clouds in winter and in summer.

The water of this town stemmed from it.It was a very nice city and the streets were very well planned and vast enough to accomodate the passage of ten carts at the same time from the same point.The lamps of gases were erected along the the streets.One lamp of gas ,then  a tree and then a lamp and then a tree.Generally no sun light reached the streets during the day.All 

buildings were constructed from brick or stone.And they were decorated with ornaments.There was also a zoo,like London,in which 

66 / there were many wild animals.This was a  national park for 


them,in which they all met and gathered  on sundays and days of feast. Though  there were ways to climb the mountain,but noone could 

climb it, because of the clouds at the top.Once the people 

gathered and climbed the mountain;they carried a bigtrumpet in order not to lose each other on the mountain.

Second year  after our arrival,I joined the people to climb the mountain.

We were over five hundred persons.Every body had a very thick coat or some blanket.I also took a blanket with me;We all began walking, singing,chanting and blowing some musicalinstruments.We climbed it in three hours.

67 /  Strangely,there were no clouds for three years long.The top of the mountain was very plain,and stretched far away to a distance of twelve hours,according to the information supplied by 

the people.

We saw some figures of old age and springs of fresh water. Cape Town was fairly hot,but this mountain was,to the contrary,very cold;therefore after wandering around for about five hours,a cloud set down, and we went down the mountain.

A darkness descended;so that no one could see any thing.We were very  afraid and our guide,who had the trumpet,blew it;so we all went to the direction of where the sound came from and  gathered there. Then we began walking slowly, blowingthe trumpet.Because 

of the distance to the bottom of the mountain,we slept that night 

on the mountain.

The next morning we started walking down slowly  as we did 68 /  before.At about  6 o'clock the clouds  dispersed by the help of Allah;suddenly we discovered that we were not goingin the proper direction, butweregoing, in the opposite direction 

to a plain, far away from the mountain. Any way,thanks to Allah,we 

managed to return.

Thanks to Allah that the top of this mountain was very flat,and there was no pits or valleys.If there were hilly terrain, we 

would have been injured.Any way each one of us ran to a corner as 

the lamb runs away from the wolf;some of us left their blankets and 

some of us lost their coats;and we returned to the town ina very desperate situation.

We came down the hill slowly and in three hours arrived at the bottom. 

The majorityofthe people in thetownwaitedfor us anxiously,because 

we passed the night  in the mountain;Shortly the people met us and we 

went to our homes.

Six people among us were lost,four of whom came down after a 69 / day,Butwedid not hear about the other two.When reached Cape 

Town,it was the middle of the summer,whereas in this part(Istanbul) 

it waswinter season; There was no snow at all in this town. And no 

body knew what snow was.

The weather was a little cold and it rained too much.They had no winter,and therefore they never got provisions like wood and coal as fuel for the winter.

         The Clothing of the People from Cape of Good Hope

Muslims of Cape of Good Hope were two times more in number 

than non muslims and these muslims were called Malayi(Malayan );

the majorityof whom were tall;their colour was dark brown and very few of them had blue eyes.

As I stated earlier,although they were muslims,their deeds were generally against Islam;so much so that muslim women wore 70 /  skirts like christians;but there were no folds and pleats and ornaments on them;they were just plainly sewn.Muslim women didn't put any wires in their skirts to puff themup as the christian ladies did.Their heads were uncovered;and they never put on hats or any thing like that.

Man and woman  were not seperated and all gatherings were mixed.

The difference between them and christian ladies ware that muslim women didn't dance and they never walked in the streets armin arm.As the prerequisite of marriage ,the mother  of thewould-be husband or one of the most elderly lady from his relatives was to go to bride's house.

If she liked the bride to be,she informed her son or a relative and

thegroom to be.Next day the suitor would put on new cloths and 71 /  go directly to the house of the girl with a bunch of roses in his hand.On that day all of the people at the girl's home went out and 

left the girl  alone.

The suitor knocked the door,but the girl would not open. After waiting 

at the door for about one hour,the girl openeda window and asked what 

he wanted. And heanswered" I havea  request to  ask  you ".She said 

" Sir,offer what you got ". Then he said "I am here at the door,you 

are there at the window;how can I offer my request? Do me a favour,

open the door,I have some thing to demand from you."  After that the 

girl opened the door immediately, saying "OK".Then took him upstairs. She sat on a chair; and welcomed him.After asking  how  

she was, he gave her the bunch of the roses saying "I give 72 / these roses to  you for your beauty". If she said, " sir,I don't 

deserve such roses ", he insisted and convinced her to accept it.

And then he would place a ring he had on his finger onto her finger.

After speaking to herfor a while,he would leave and take back the 

bunch of roses, he had put on her neck or some other roses and 

returned to his home bidding her farewell.

After the suitor leaves,the girl's relatives and neighbours 

gathere in the home of the girl and spoke about the ring the man 

placed on her hand andwhat he said etc.Then they played instruments 

of music and danced as if there was a wedding ceremony.

As for the boy,he went back home.and put the roses he grabbed from her head on the front of his parents and said " You must get this girl  for me." Then they came to her homeand proposed 73 / to  her by the injunction of Allah and her family accepts the proposal and fixes  a wedding date.Then a wedding ceremony takes place.

The tradition was not to make a wedding ceremony in the home.They conducted the marriage ina mosque taking  both parties agencies.

The marriage contract was conducted in the absence of the girl and boy.The boy went to thehomeof the girl.And both sat together 

on a stage prepared for them in a verydecorated way; ladies  and 

children all gathered  and sang many types of songs. While they were 

doing this, good news reaches;that is " the marriage contract was 

accomplished ". When the boy hears this,he gives money, according to 

his status, to the bringer of this news;after which  he would get up 

and kiss the girl on both  cheeks under the watch of a big crowd and 

then he would sit on his place.

They danced and entertained themselves till the evening and then returned to his home.After the accomplishment of the marriage 74 /  contract,the family of the boy proceed to the girl's home and 

to take her to his home.Shortly speaking,when they realized that this 

way of conducting a marriage was not allowed by Shari`ah of our 

Prophet,they allgave up this practice.

The wives of the majority of them  refrained  from  mixing  with  foreigners ( persons whome they were allowed to marry to ) and didn't show up.

But the males wore a coat and pants, and in order to be different 

from christians,they had tied an woven cloth in their heads.And put 

on a hat which had the form of umbrella and it was made from straw 

and that was for the protecting themselves from the sun light.

Twenty persons from among them went to hajj  and stayed in Macca a few months and returned .These people  had some  books in jawanise language and they taught them, some times without genuine knowledge, to the muslims.These hajis were called imams 

75 / and followers were named as murids.Each one ofthese divided 

muslims as murshidsinto the twenty parties and each party developed 

some hatred andanger against the other.For each one had given a different meaning to the books brought and felt himself more knowledgeable than the others and misled his followers.

Each one read the books and adressed  his murids as " o my followers!Youmust give all your fitrahs ( money ),your sacrificial 

meats in Adha feasts and whatever you got as charity, accordingto these books to your imam whom you follow;if you give to any one other than your imam,that will not be accepted by Allah " and defrauded those people by these words. The people were very sincere, 

they gave all their charities to their imam whom they followed.By 

this way and technique each one of the imams had a big store in 

76 / his home in which he filled at each  ramadan what was brought  

by the murids and as fitrahs and the imam ate year after year those 

fitrahs.Each sacrificial feast time  they brought one by one more 

than five or six hundred sheep or ram to him and the imam would sell some of these andboiled  thebalance and put salt on them and 

squeezed them into the buckets without being wasted.

What a pity it was for a person in whose home a death occured.For,

the person who had a relative dead was supposed to give a big party to all followers of his imam seven days long and feed them.

Think,that guy! was he to pity himself or to take care of the murids of his imam by feeding them.While the poorperson earned every day 5-10 qurush ( One qurush is 1 % of a Turkish Lira.Y.Z.K.) per day as some thing barely to live on,now he fell into 

the 10.000 qurush debt.And he would not be able to payoff that amount 

year after year.Shortly this unpleasant tradition made the muslims very 

poor.

77 / Further more,he was after fourty days of the death to give 

another big party to all followers of his imam and feed them and to 

do sameafter one hundred days and after a year,an excellent 

party as anniversary of the deceased. After that each year  upto 

seventh year he was supposed to repeat these anniversary parties and 

to feed them.It was believed that this was obligatory.

The imam used to tell them  and warned them that if he was to make 

any mistake  in performing one of those traditions, his faith may not 

be accepted in Allah's presence and the deceased would be inHell 

for ever.

Any how these imams were at a different party every day and barely


had time,to eat at their homes more than 3-4 times per tear. 78 /  Now,lets come to the ceremonies done after the party was over

in the home of the deceased. After the food part was over,they

brought into the middle of the room a container of fire,in which 

they had aromatic incense burning.They sat around that container and each one would throw a piece from that incense into the fire and 

all together chanted as loudly as they could, recitation of Surah  

" Yasin " anddaroods and Dhikrs;but their pronounciation was all wrong.

Their recitation lasted for about four hours;and the majority of them 

lost their voices and were left hoarse.

Since Abu Bakr Efendi explained to them that what they were doing was totally against the Shariah of the Prophet,based onverses of
 
Qur'an and the sayings of the Prophet,they discarded such 79 / practices,which they were involved in this way for many years. 

and since these practices were discarded,it effected the personal 

interests of  the imams,who met us and greeted us previously when we 

arrived in Cape of Good Hope and that was the reason why they told 

their desciples the following: " Although  we thought that the scholar 

who came here was a real knowledgeable alim; but later on, by his 

actions and words it is understood that he had no idea about the 

Shari`ah;therefore any one who goes to him from now on,will be 

considered to be  bad, according to us and also according to God. 

Therefore, we strongly warn you all not to go to him at all." By 

saying so,they tried to keep the people in the darkness of ignorance.

That was the reason why the majority of them with the exception of 

a few smart ones,left the islamic school refusing to learn islamic 

issues. They believed that whoever did not shave his moustache was not 

muslim and also to shave the beard was perceived as one of the biggest 

sins.The railway began operating just four years before our arrival in 

Cape of Good Hope.

80 / During the year of our arrival,we went toSimonsBay city,which 

was in the interior,away from Cape of Good Hope.The next morning early 

at about four o'clock we boarded a trainfor Simons Bay.After half an 

hour we arrived into a town called Dary Cup.

We got out of the train  and visited some places. That town was  

very beautiful and had  orchards and gardens.And there were many 

types of roses and flowers in those gardens.

We were hosted by the imam of that town whose name was Abd al-Wahhab. That night he offered us a  good reception beingvery 

happy at our visit.We all went to see his garden.We were taken aback by the various fragrances of the flowers in that garden, when 

weentered.

81 / Well;it was full with fruit bearing and nonfruit bearing trees.

There wasa pool in the middle,which had a jet ofwaterinthe 

center.

The water was shooting upward to 15 cubit.

We sat on the cahirs around the pool and spoke a while.

Meanwhile theyquestioned us as to whether there were gardens like these in Istanbul and they were surprised when I told them thatthese types of gardens were not considered as gardens in Istanbul.

They listened to me very carefully.

After staying in that town  for three days, we got onto the train and 

toured around three hours. The land on the way was very flat,with 

farms or  gardens; there was no empty space.


When we looked ahead,we couldn't see mountain;we saw only 82 /  farms, grass and lawns and whenever wind blew,the waves of grass and crops were beating each other like a green sea.  

Some travellers said  it was flat like this up to  18 days distance 

going into the interior of the country.They said that there were no

mountains or rivers.

Any how, after three hours of train journey we arrived in a  town called " Simons Bay ",which was mentioned before.

We got out from the train and went to look for the house of Imam 

Mustafa who was living there.He came out and met us, then took us to 

his home.

They showed a great deal of joy, because of our being guest in their home.

This town was very nice and well planned and it's size was half of the size of Cape Town.It was full of trees;and sun-light could 

penetrate through them.However no lamps of gas were fixed yet,though 

the streets very tidy and well arranged.

83 / The water here was so plenty that it was running down the streets.

Becausethe  fruits were abundant,they were railed from here by train to Cape Town.

Any way,none of the cities I travelled could be matched with this one.The people were eager to host others and even fought with each 

other, saying that he will stay with me.

We stayed over there one week.Imam Mustafa wanted us to go with him to a tomb four hours far from this city and since he insisted 

we couldn't say "no " and we unwillingly went along with him. We rode the next  morning a cart drawn by four horses and went to the 

tomb.

We arrived there around six o'clock.

84 / The people Cape of Good Hope considered the tomb as their 

saint witha very high attachment;and whenever they fellinto difficulty they took vows for the grave of this high personality.

They even swore from time to time by him.

The people came from far away from  Cape of Good Hope to visit 

this tomb.

There was a distance of about a quarter of an hour to arrive atthat place,when we got out from the cart in order to respect him and 

walked and reached that place.The tomb of this high personality was 

at the top of a hill;and they built a room in the form of a dome;we 

climbed that hill and visited that high personality.

The people who came to visit did not give  what they brought to the poor people,but they put them in the middle of the tomb.

There were  more than 200  rolls of cloth and other things inside the tomb.

There were more than 500  bottles of lavender water ina 85 /  corner.There was no inscription or any sign showing who this person was and where he came from; but thepeople narrated 

from their ancestors that he was a muslim scholarwho came from Jawa by 

the name of Shaikh Yusuf and said that they saw many of his

extraordinary deeds.I myself saw that the persons who had epilepsyand 

the desease of malaria, were curedin great numbers after their 

visitation there.Any how, after the visit,we went down the hill and 

sat for a while on the bank of a river. Afterspeaking for a while we walked about a quarter of an hour and reached the place where the cart was and got on it and returned to town.Although I wanted to go further, there was no permit 

to do it;therefore we took the ship ( sic.)  once more and returned to 

Cape of Good Hope.

They said that about ten days ahead from the last city we visited,there were many lions,tigers,elephants and other wild

86 / animals. While I was sitting on the quay,a boat returned from fishing and the fisherman said to me " Why are you sitting like that? Anottomanshipwaving its flag is approaching."Suddenly 

I got so happy and thanked him because of this good news.I took a boat 

and sailed to meet the  ship at sea.

I waited for the ship and half an hour later it passed nearby and entered into the quay and anchored.They fired 21  gun shots of thankfulness and the castle of  Cape of Good Hope also fired 21 gun shots.

Then I approached the ship by boat  and  they let the ladder down and I climbed up to the ship and came to know that the ship

87 /  was a part of egyptian fleet by the name of Ibrahim and there were 500 hundred ottoman marines in it and the captain was Mustapha.I greeted them and we spoke to each other and I told them why we were here in Cape of Good Hope and also visited the different parts of the ship.

There were guns and fire arms and many other military tools in it.It was a huge ship with the three masts. When I was in the ship,some 

of the native dignitary people also came to the ship and welcomed them 

wholeheartedly.They announced that no such a ship came before to Cape of 

Good Hope and that they were very glad because this was an ottoman ship 

visiting this part of the world.

Though I wanted to leave, the marines insisted  that I stay with them 

88 / for the night. Next day the captain and all officers came to the 

school and from there went sight seeing in Cape of Good Hope. After resting  for five days, they came and the ottoman marines donated 

to manymuslims pencils,fezs ( ottoman red caps ),some tables of nice 

scripts and sentences.The people spoke all the time up to my leaving

about the cleanliness of the ship, the marines and the attitude of 

captains etc.

Since Cape Town was on the coast,there were very good fish around.There was a fish called Snook which was very tasteful and 

one and half yard long.Each one of them was sold with one pence

which was equal to 20 ottoman pare,therefore many poor people lived on this fish.They used to make from this fish more than 50 types of dishes.Well,there were more than 70 different fish in the sea .Some of the fishermen went to hunt the big fish I just 89 /  mentioned.As for to their tools; first they had a big 

barrel placed in the middle of the boat.

Three arrows shaped like spears which had at the one end an eye

and at the other end a hook with a barb  as it is drawn in this 

figure:  _________

They tied a rope longer than 200 hundred yards at the one end of the arrow and whenever these fishes came up at the shores of Cape 

of Good Hope,they rushed in their boats three fishermen in each boatandfollow the fish.When they drew near enough,theywould shoot one of the arrows and if it hit,it never comes out and  and then they shoot second and third arrows.when these three arrows hit the fish the blood flushes out onto the suface of the sea.At 


that moment, they throw the barrel mentioned above to the front of the fish and it attacks the barrel thinking that it was hit by 90 / the barrel and it attempts to swallow it,but it can not. Because it is bigger than its mouth.The barrel rolled ahead,as the fish tried to attack it;once more and once more.Cutting short,

as the fish tried to swallow it,the fishermen hit the fish targetting generally wing pits;because if they hit underneathof the pit,it died 

immediately.If they hit other parts,itdid not die easily. These 

fishermen tried from the deck of the boat to keep it vertical and steadywithout swerving to the right or left of it;for God forbids,if the 

boat stayed behind,it may hit its tail with and at that moment every 

body would drown in the sea.If the boat was at the front of the fish,

it was evident that the boat would also be drowned by its attacks.Shortly,they hunt these fishes in this way.Sometimes thefish 

tried to escape even after being hit,did not see the barrel in front 

and escaped.Since the rope is tied to the arrows,itdrags the boat with 

91 / it.If they see it's impossible to catch it,they cut the rope and 

return.Some fish went down,in this case they move up to the rope left 

behind not less than 7 yards;if it drag more down to the bottom, they cut the rope also in this case. Shortly, this was a very dangerous job to do;it was observed that more than 50 persons lost their lives each year  in this way.Once we heard that one fish had been caught and brought to shore,we rushed immediately with horses and went to see it; when we reached to the shore, we surprisingly thought that it was a little hill; we approached it and examined it carefully and properly.It was as high as about 20 yards
              
and its length was more than 500 yards;its teeth were four inches wide;its skin was very soft;the width of its mouth when it was 92 /  fully open was more than 15 yards.Shortly, if a person wished to climb at top of it,he needed a ladder of tweny of steps.They did not cut it into pieces by knives and other cutlers,but just sawed it into pieces with a very big saw. They saw it nearly more than 30 pieces round like wheels.Each one of the pieces was like the round mill stone.They had a specialpot 

large enough to contain it,they put the piece in it and took off its 

oil and sent it to London and other places to use to make some waxes 

etc.They took out of each fish more than 500-600 barrelsof oil. So 

the fishermen got rich by doing this. These fish do not come very 

near to the shore.Very few lose their way and came to the shore and only 

5-6 of them might be caught each year.Their throats can be thought

93 / very big.But they were,actual just as big as they might swallow  

an egg of a goose,not wider than that.They said that it did not swallow 

fish or animals.He was fed by the foam of the sea;according to them it 

swallowed the foam produced by the strong winds in the sea.May be 

glorified He whose creation let the brains wander. Every body was 

shocked for the fact that being fed by foam the fish grew to that size.

    WhatLanguage ArethePeople of Cape of Good Hope Speaking

The original language of the people of Cape of Good Hope was Jawanise.Their language now was dutch.This we mentioned earlier.They were speaking in dutch and pronouncing that way;but they adopted also some english words.And the majority of them could speak, read and write in english.A letter containig their sentences and words is copied below:

94 / 
    A Copy of a Letter Written in the Language of the Muslims
                                                 

In Arabic Ottoman Script (A copy of the page of book is enclosed) 95 /   The Words of the Letter Above Explained in Ottoman

Word By Word ( A copy of the related page is enclosed ):             

98 /        A  Brief Translation of This Letter

O my light of eyes and very lovely sister,

Let be upon you and  upon your brother and my spirit Ubaida the assistance and mercy of The Creator,Omnipotent who created us
 all. I am  very  sorry  and  sorrowful, since I coudn't get the 

opportunity of seeing you before I left the country. I pray 

Allah,whose Existence is necessary, to grant me the privilege of 

seeing you once more with my wordly eyes.It is evident and clear 

for you that my father brought me over here from a very far and 

distant country.He spoke very bad words and insulted me,instead of having with me a good relation.Therefore,although I tried to be patient regarding the attitudes of my father towords 99 /  me,finally I couldn't take it.Now I thought and pondered upon this issue and came to the opinion  that instead of falling at the painful hands of my father,it was better for me to pass over this ocean.Last tuesday I went to my father to say  good-bye since his resentment and anger was still dominant over him, and although he saw me,but neither spoke with me a word, nor looked at me.I pray to Allah to send him his mercy,to forgive

him all the time,although he did deeds I did not deserve.I also prayto Allah to send His assistance to Hasan,who is like a father for me, and to his wife Rasidah,who is like a mother for me,because of the kindnes they showed me.I also pray for the people who ask 

100 / about me,who have any love in their hearts for meand request 

Allah to make themhappyandbe bestowed with the bounties by Him.


                                       Signature

                       This letter was written by Omer Lutfi

                              who passed the big ocean       
            

                             Epilque

I wrote down many things about Cape of Good Hope,the attitudes  and traditions of the population.There were some traditions,that

I did not record.

Let me explain my position: I spent a lot of effort in teaching and training the children  four years long in the school we opened in Cape of Good Hope and did not spare any thing in this regard and at the end got more than 40 teacher-student and after that I was relieved from some part of responsibilities and then I got busy with my lessons only.

A few months later, an egyptian ship by the name "Dusuq" which 101 /  was due to sail between Jiddah and Suez Canal arrived in Cape of Good Hope  coming from Liverpool.A student of the school, 

Hafiz Isma`il brought this good news to me;at that moment we rushed 

to the boats and went to the ship.The crew let the ladder down when they saw us and let us in.After  the greetings the captain was shocked whenI  began to speak in Turkish. When he said to me "Where Did you learn this Turkish from?" I narrated my adventure from A to Z.Then I took him to my home. When I asked him how long they were going to stay in Cape of Good Hope,he answred "about ten days".I showed him interesting sights of Cape of Good Hope. Then he returned to the ship.After obtaining enough coal and other 

102 / necessary things,since I was very  eager to come back to my own 


country depending on the saying of the Prophet (pbuh), " love of 

the country is a  part  of  the  belief  ",  I  got   prepared  for a journey.And by the permit of my father in knowledge,respectful master,

I rode on the ship on May 5, 1866 A.D.and departed from Cape  Town.

However I was verydistressed and sad, when I left the port,for  my 

departure from friends, many students and especially  my father in knowledge of that town.

But,what to do. Happened what happened. Four days  after  departure,weencountered a very big storm.It was a heavy storm,  we did not seesuch a storm even in ourjourney to the Cape of Good Hope.All the crew was exhausted.The waves were hitting from one side to the other.The storm continously lasted for three days ;then it 

calmed down and we all got ourselves back and sat on the deck of the 

103 / ship.We saw that all of the sails were totally torn into pieces 

and the ropes were broken and had fallen on the deck. The crew picked 

up the pieces and put every thing together.

Ten days later we passed  by the island of Juhana.It was situated against the city of Musquit. There were very big mountains scraping 

the sky.

We arrived into the port of Adan after 18 days of journey and got out 

by boats;we were sorrounded by arabs more thana hundred who were 

shouting and loudly speaking in a way that no body could understand 

who was saying what.Since the city of Adan was in a distance more 

than one hour,there were carts specially for the travellers.There were 

no more buildings other than a few coal stores;therefore the  tourists 

got helplessly on the carts and went to the city.

104 /  I also took a cart.The horses pulling these carts were very much ambling ones,so that we'd got to Adan in half an hour.

The city of Adan was at the back of a huge mountain andthe british pierced it into two pieces.Both side were high more than 150 cubits. Though  the  city  was  under the  dominion of the british, there no well planned and arranged buildings,the streets were not clean;the walls were made of clay,the tops of them were covered by the straws and the buildings were like cottages.The people also were different. When  we  entered in a restaurant.they put their hand into the pot and dipped it in the food and showed usthe food such as kabab and others.

The food was  smelling bad,so that one's stomach got upset.We were hosted by a person by the name Haji Ahmad for that night.

Because the weather of Adan was very heavy and hot,the majority of the people  slept in the streets. I,also,slept that night 105 /  out on the street.The next day I returned to the quay.There
 
were abundant coconuts in the the quay and I bought 28 of them by 

paying one shilling only.Wegot on board the ship and afterfours only we were able to depart the quay.We passed Bab al-Mandab, a very narrow strait, one day and two nights after  departure.Three days later,about 10 o'clock we arrived  into the quay of Jeddah.As you know,the quay of Jeddah was very rocky and sandy.For thatreason andbecause it got nearly dark, the captain 

could not enter into the port and took the ship back to where we came 

from.We sailed untill six o'clock in the night,then returned and 

in the morning at about three o'clock we entered into the quay.

The date was twelveth of Muharram al-Haram,when we arrived into the 

port of Jeddah;therefore I felt very sorry,since I couldn't catch the Hajj season;what could I do?Nothing.When I asked from the 106 /  captain how long we'd stay there, I got the answer of 

" about 12 days ",and I got in a boat,saying "let us visit Mecca" and set on the way riding the vehicles,stopping each hour on acoffee 

house;when we reached eleventh coffee house,we prayed morning prayer.

Then we set on our way ahead.

We saw Jabal al-Noor ( Mountain of the Noor ) from the front of this coffee house.After half an hour we reached Mecca the Blessed.

And got out immediately from the our rides and after getting ready 

we circumambulated the Holy Ka`bah.I won't go into detail here,since 

there are many who visited this Holy Land.After visiting the places to 

visit  over there in Mecca,I returned to Jeddah and riding on the ship 

took the way to Suez Canal.After four days we reached the port of 

107 / Suez.We  hadto land at the location called Bi'r Musa and go to 

the tents erected there because of the quarantine,they had.We stayed 

there 15 daysingroups of 10 persons.They lifted up thequarantine on the 16th day, so we all reached the city of Suez.We stayed one day

there.The next day we got on the train and after 7 hours we arrived into Egypt ( sic ).After getting off the train, we set in a house 

nearby theGarden named Uzbakiyyah.Next day we visited the places 

to be seen in Egypt ( sic.).I went pesonally to the big mosque named as  Jami`  al-Azhar. Be Allah exalted!  There were more than 

5000 students there.

They all were boarding students there;the students who had families in that city,could visit their families once perfive or six months period.All of the students coming from foreign countries had a seperate room.They studied the knowledge.For instance students 

who went from the Ottoman Empire had been allotted a special 

108 / department named as Rawaq al- Atrak.And the others also,

like this,hada special room for them.The doors of all rooms were 

open to the mosque.With  admiration for these students,thousands in 

number,I also decided to stay there and tostudy the knowledge and settled in the room alloted to Jawans,because it was available.After the study  four monthes long I was inflicted with a desease;my body  got swollen.I couldn'tmove fromone side to another.I was nearly hopeless.A student rented a cart drawn by oxes and put me in it in a bed.Then he took me to a hospital near the blessed Nile.I was treated in that hospital for two months, every day with medicines.Two months later I returnedto 

the mosque,after getting well and healthy.

Though I wanted to study more,but fearful of illness once more,I 109 /  decided to leave and bought a ticket and bade farewell to the students with whom I was aquainted.I left for Alexandria by train.

After 7 hours we reached Alexandria.The city was very well arranged 

and beautiful.The lamps were lighted from the top to the bottom on all the streets and it was like London. After staying there three 

days,we got on the ship and reached the port of Istanbul  after sailing 

for five days.

Praise to Allah;we got out to the quay.Without spending a peny I travelled, by the grace of khaliphate,to such far away countries,

visited them, and stayed in some of them one month and in some 

of them a few years.

A person couldn't travel to such far lands and countries,even if he spent 200 purse Aqcha ( Ottoman Empire money,Y.Z.K. ).It is evident.Therefore, I finish my words, praising Allah and praying 110 /  for the long live of the Caliph and Sultan.


                                  In  7  Muharram   year  1285     This is a Summary of a Letter Sent to The Poor (Me) a Few

             Months before by Respected Abu Bakr Efendi

Praise and gratitudes to Allah. Because I did not spare any thing to 

teach and train in the affairs of religion in this area for 13 years,

a very good number of the people were educatedin the religion of our 

Prophet and some who got mastership in education opened  schools 

for boys and also for girls, preaching the truth and improving their tribes and peoples.They copied and tried to teach my two books, " Bayan 

al-Din "  and " Marasid al-Din " which are like two stars,fullof 

light. Islam was spread around these areas in a short time.

In this way,many people began to live  by being involved in teaching.

111 / Conflicts and fights completely disappeared. Some imams who caused the people to  give up acquiring knowledge,all understood their plots and plans and  rebuked them and made them ashamed and did 

not visit them. Because of this,they grudged and became jealous  against me. As a result of this situation, the majority of them disappeared from the scene.But some of them interfered one another's  interest and taking the  adventage of some shafi`ite 

and hanefite issues appealedto the court.The concerned administration 

called me and  I showed them the truth with justice, basing on the 

book and the judge of the case decided as Iexplained to him.The fees 

and costs of the court were to be paid bythe one wholost according

to their procedures,therefore it is obvious that he would get angry.

Some years ago a case was looked at between the imam Najjar Ishaq and the Imam Abd al-Raqib with a claim that  the masjid in which the latter was imam had belonged to the former imam and no body other than his desciples had the right to enter and  pray in 112 /  that mosque.I was called by the local administration and rendered a religious opinion,and  I pointed out that the mosque was a waqf ( trust ) according to Shari`ah and because ofthat the public may not be deniedaccess to it,and thiswasone ofthe conditions 

of the waqf;when I said that,the plaintiff Najjar Ishaq lost the 

case and he was fined to pay the costs of court and he said  " He is
 
hanefite and therefore I don't accept his verdict ",but he was not 

listened to.

                                           Signature

                            Shaikh of Knowledge  Abu Bakr Efendi

                                        Cape of Good Hope


Ended  in  23  Dhul- Hijjah   Year  1292   
71