مجموعة ٦/ ٩ "تقارير جدة يناير ١٩٣١ -" [ظ‎‎٦‎١] (٨٠٢/١٢٣)

application of the concession to pilgrim vessels entailed a breach in the Paris
Convention. This was at once remedied by the steamship companies in practice,
and it has now been remedied in law.
150. Two Indian “ Yunani doctors are believed to have impressed the
King favourably by their treatment of some of his wives, and to have been invited
by him to establish themselves in this country. One is the chief Yunani medical
officer of Bahawalpur State, the other a prosperous hakim of Delhi. The first
says that he will return in order to be revenged on an Indian intriguer with whom
he has fallen out, the other says he intends to accept the King’s offer in order to
raise the status of the medical profession which he considers has been degraded
in the Hejaz by the mercenary doctors from Syria.
151. Mr. Rom Landau, a Polish subject living in England, who is the author
of God is my Adventure and has been commissioned by his publishers to write
“ a comprehensive survey of the spiritual undercurrents influencing the cultural,
political and religious life in Europe and the Near East,” came to Jedda at the
invitation of Sheikh Hafiz Wahba, whom he had come to know in connexion with
the International Congress of Faiths. He arrived on the 2 nd March and stayed
six days. He was depressed to find that his sponsor had gone to Uqair, but he
was able to see Ibn Saud, who came down to Shumaisi to meet him. Mr. Landau
seemed very ingenuous. He expressed surprise that his request to be allowed to
pursue his enquiry in Soviet Russia did not secure him a visa immediately, and
that the rector of A1 Azhar did not give a direct answer to any single one of his
doubtless searching list of questions. Mr. Landau has gone to Egypt, Palestine
and Turkey. A recent number of the Muqattam contains a paragraph which
clearly refers to Mr. Landau. It reads :—
There is in Egypt to-day a European scholar who recently paid a visit
to Arabia and who met and spoke with King Abdul Aziz and acquainted
himself with his achievements. This man has returned full of admiration
for what he saw and heard, and he is convinced that this Arab King is of
the flower of the products of Arabia, and that if God grants him long life
he and his people will have a great influence on the affairs of the Near East
and its destiny.”
152. Ibn Saud has been at some pains to prevent the exhibition of films of
Mecca in London and elsewhere, and it is therefore surprising to see, from an
advertisement in the Sudan Daily Herald, that a film of the pilgrimage is being
shown in Omdurman. The advertisement reads: tc Pilgrimage to Mecca. The
first Arabic talking religious film in the world, revealing the magnificent sacred
buildings, traditional garbs, ceremonies, habits, and observances of the pilgrims.
Spectacular scenes never caught by the camera before.” If only it revealed all
the doings of the mutawwifs it could rank as a gangster film, for in spite of the
greater control by the Government, this fraternity manages to compress a lot of
villainy into a short season.