Early the next morning the boat set out from Rumaythah. Soon afterward they ran the rapids, which were shallow, and on several occasions the men had to get out and push the boat across the shallows. They made it safely through the rapids and reached Samawah, the next large town downstream, in about four hours. Since there was now less chance of piracy, Sam dismissed the two soldiers before going to secure quarters for the night.
It was the day before Ashura—the tenth day of the month of Muharram in the Islamic calendar—when Shia Muslims would gather to mourn the martyrdom of Mohammed’s grandson, Hussein ibn Ali, at the Battle of Karbala in the year 680. All of the shops were closed, and the residents of the town were excitedly making arrangements for the next day’s celebration. Sam was relieved and grateful to have found a room for rent overlooking the bazaar.
No sooner had Sam climbed the stairs to his room than a messenger arrived from the local governor. “My master says you cannot leave your room under any circumstances. You are a foreigner here. Even the Sunni Muslims stay off the streets during Ashura. If you venture out, the governor will not be responsible for your safety. The people will become violent if a nonbeliever is among them at this time.”
Sam took the warning seriously and spent the rest of the day resting and reading the Bible with Oman. Of the celebration that occurred the next day, Sam wrote in his journal, “[S]aw the confusion of…. Ashura from the window, the tramp of a mob, the beating of breasts, the wailing of women, the bloody banners and mock martyr scenes, the rhythmic howling and cries of ‘Ya Ali! Ya Hassan! Ya Hussein!’ until throats were hoarse and hands hung heavy for a moment, only to go at it again.”
The following day everything appeared to be quiet, and Sam was able to leave his room. He spoke to several other men staying at the inn and sold several portions of Scripture.
On August 4, Sam booked passage for himself and Oman in a meheleh (large riverboat) loaded with barley being transported to Basrah. The only available place for them aboard was a low cabin under the aft deck filled with boxes, old clothes, ropes, lanterns, and provisions. It was also the only place aboard that offered shelter from the blazing midday sun.
Below Samawah the Euphrates began to broaden and the riverbanks were lined with palms and willows. Then the river became silted and brown, and the meheleh could not pass over the muddy shallows without everyone getting into the water and lifting the vessel downstream.
On August 11 they arrived at Kuma, where the boat had to tie up for the night. By now Sam was eager to get back to Basrah. He hired a native paddler and canoe to take him and Oman the last miles down river to Basrah. They set off at dusk. The water was calm, giving Sam the opportunity to write in his journal: “Seven hundred miles of touring along populous rivers and historic ruins, seven hundred miles of Muslim empire awaiting the conquests of the cross, two missionaries at Basrah—what are these among so many? The Euphrates and Tigris are the natural highways for the gospel in North Arabia, even as the Nile is for that other land of the patriarchs, Egypt. And even so should they be occupied, village after village, by schools and gospel agencies.”
Sam and Oman parted ways when the canoe reached Basrah. Oman had not become a Christian on the journey, as Sam had hoped he would, but he did understand the gospel and promised to continue reading the New Testament.
Now that Sam was back in Basrah, it was time to turn his attention to his next project—welcoming his brother Peter to the Arabian Mission.
Chapter 12
Bahrain
On December 7, 1892, Sam found himself aboard yet another boat, this time a slow gulf steamer headed for the island of Bahrain off the coast of the Arabian Peninsula, 350 miles south of Basrah. Once again he was on his way to “spy out the land” to see whether the island would be a good place to establish a mission station. He also had another motive for traveling to Bahrain: the steamer carrying his brother Peter would make a stop there, and Sam wanted to meet him and travel back to Basrah with him. It would give the two men time to catch up on all the family news before Peter began adjusting to life in Arabia.
Two days after the boat set out from Basrah, the island of Bahrain came into view, and Sam began to pray hard. He had been told it was difficult for a Christian missionary to land and stay on the island, much less speak openly about the gospel. Because there was not a dock large enough for the steamer in Manamah, the largest city on the island, it dropped anchor three miles offshore. Sam, along with other passengers and cargo, was ferried ashore in a smaller boat.
Sam was surprised when he encountered no difficulties with admittance onto the island. Still, he decided it might be a good idea to stay away from the waterfront until after the steamer had sailed on, lest anyone change his mind about his staying. He deposited his suitcase at the post office and set out on a brisk walk around town. He did not return to collect his suitcase until after he saw the smoke from the steamer’s funnels disappear over the horizon. Now that he was safely on Bahrain, Sam set out to find somewhere to stay. He was able to rent a room adjoining a mosque, where he deposited his belongings. He then set out to explore more of Manamah, at the northern end of the thirty-four-mile-long by eleven-mile-wide island.
A week after arriving in Bahrain, Sam decided to explore the interior of the island. He hired a donkey and a guide and was soon riding through date palms and aloe groves on his way to Salmabad and the ruined Portuguese fort there. From the old fort he crossed pastureland and passed more stands of date palms before coming to A’ali, a larger village to the south. Stretching south and west of A’ali was a barren plain filled with rocks and curious sand-covered mounds, each about thirty or forty feet high. When Sam asked the guide what the mounds were, the guide replied that there had once been a great and wicked city of unbelievers there and that all of the inhabitants of the place had been turned to boulders.
From A’ali the road led southeast to Rifa Sharki and Rifa Gharbi, two large villages. On the way, Sam got to see some of Bahrain’s native animals—great flamingoes, gazelles, desert rabbits, and even hedgehogs.
As they rode back along the coast to Manamah, the guide pointed out to Sam the oyster banks, where up to thirty thousand men would dive for pearls during the season from July to October. Bahraini pearls were the purest in the world because of the freshwater springs that flowed under the ocean around the oyster beds. The guide explained that the entire island was dependent on the pearl industry. Sam was amazed to learn that over four hundred thousand British pounds’ worth of pearls (roughly two million US dollars’ worth) were taken from the oyster beds each season. Now he realized why some of the local merchants were dressed in fine clothes and took extended trips to India.
The time passed quickly, and soon the steamer carrying Peter dropped anchor off Manamah. This was the moment Sam had looked forward to. Sam had not seen a family member since he said farewell to his father and brother Fred in Mainz, Germany, nearly two and a half years before.
Sam’s reunion with his younger brother was a happy one. Peter was in fine health and eager to begin missionary work. As the two brothers journeyed on the steamer up the Persian Gulf to Basrah, Peter told Sam that their father was still fit and active. Although he was now nearly seventy years of age, Adriaan was a full-time pastor, with their sister Maud managing the house for him. There were now eight grandchildren, and their sister Mary was expecting another child any day. James, their oldest brother, had been elected president of Western Theological Seminary, while Fred was about to leave South Dakota to become a pastor in Graafschap, Michigan.
On hearing all the news, Sam felt a little homesick, but he knew he was blessed to now have his youngest brother at his side. Peter also reported that the missionary zeal at New Brunswick Theological Seminary seemed to be dwindling. He was the only member of his graduating class who had dedicated his life to mission work. But he also had some brighter missionary news. Dr. James Wyckoff, the son of a Reformed church pastor, had joined the Arabian Mission and would be arriving within the month. Sam’s mind raced at the ways Dr. Wyckoff could help open doors for the gospel with his medical skills.
When the steamer docked at Basrah, Jim was waiting for Sam and Peter. The following day Sam and Jim showed Peter around the city, pointing out the many differences between Arab society and life back in the United States. Peter had a difficult time understanding that most women were kept in seclusion and some never left their houses. Sam cautioned his brother to never initiate a conversation with an Arab woman, but the caution was too much for Peter. “Jesus talked to the woman at the well!” he said. “Look at how our much our own sisters work to spread the gospel among men and women. This matter of the equality of the sexes is one of the glories of Christianity. Why should we not treat the women of Islam as we treat our own?”
Several days later Peter went for a walk. He returned to the house in a hurry, with men carrying sticks and stones chasing him. The mob slowly dispersed once Peter was safely in the house, and Peter recounted to Sam what had happened.
“I was walking by a graveyard, and I saw a lone woman weeping beside a grave. I walked up to her and tried to tell her that there is hope beyond the grave. She yelled that she was being accosted by a dog and an unbeliever and let out bloodcurdling screams. The men then arrived and started to chase me. It’s a good thing I’m a fast runner,” Peter added.
Sam smiled. His brother had learned an important lesson about life in Arabia the hard way, and he was grateful that no lasting harm had been done.
After several weeks the three missionaries got down to the business of deciding where they should start other permanent mission stations. It seemed a waste of resources for all three of them to remain in Basrah. As Jim and Sam had done upon Sam’s arrival in Beirut, the men spread a map of Arabia out on the table. After praying over it, they all felt that God wanted Jim to stay in Basrah while Sam would open a new work in Bahrain. In the meantime, Peter would stay in Basrah for language study before going to start a new mission station. When Dr. Wyckoff arrived he would also stay in Basrah as he acclimatized to life in Arabia and then move to Bahrain to begin medical work there. Sam could hardly wait to have a medical doctor working alongside him. He still dreamed of opening a hospital in Arabia.
In February 1893, Sam set out for Bahrain. Before he left, Jim and Sam agreed that when Peter completed his language study in Basrah at the end of the year, he would go to Muscat on the Gulf of Oman and establish a new mission station. Sam was comforted to know that the two new mission stations would be only about five hundred miles apart, and he looked forward to being able to visit and support his younger brother.
Just as Sam expected, it proved difficult finding a place to rent in Manamah. But he persisted and eventually rented a twelve-by-twelve-foot room above the pearl market. The room had sixteen small windows without glass panes and a leaky roof.
The next challenge was to locate a place to set up a Bible shop. This involved a lot of haggling, but Sam won the day and rented a small store in the bazaar. The shop was located at the intersection of the street where the tinsmiths worked and sold their wares and where grocery items were sold.
The store space Sam rented was long and dark and open to the weather during the day. At night Sam secured the place by sliding upright boards into grooves and padlocking them together. Inside he set up a low bench covered with palm leaf matting. An upturned dry goods box served as a table, and a homemade bookcase housed Bibles and New Testaments along with other books in many languages. On the walls Sam hung a copy of the Lord’s Prayer in Arabic, the English and Arabic alphabets, and a text telling all men everywhere to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
