Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah Volume Ii Part 25

[FN#44] The 20th and 36th chapters of the Koran.

[FN#45] These second words are the feminines of the first; they prove that the Moslem is not above praying for what Europe supposed he did not believe in, namely, the souls of women.

[p.294] APPENDIX II.

THE BAYT ULLAH.

THE House of Allah[FN#1] has been so fully described by my predecessors, that there is little inducement to attempt a new portrait. Readers, however, may desire a view of the great sanctuary, and, indeed, without a plan and its explanation, the ceremonies of the Harim would be scarcely intelligible. I will do homage to the memory of the accurate Burckhardt, and extract from his pages a description which shall be ill.u.s.trated by a few notes.

"The Kaabah stands in an oblong square (enclosed by a great wall) 250 paces long, and 200 broad,[FN#2] none of the sides of which runs quite in a straight line, though at first sight the whole appears to be of a regular shape. This open square is enclosed on the eastern side by a colonnade. The pillars stand in a quadruple row; they are three deep on the other sides, and are united by pointed arches, every four of which support a small dome plastered and whitened on the outside. These domes, according to Kotobeddyn, are 152 in number.[FN#3] The

[p.295] pillars are above twenty feet in height, and generally from one foot and a half to one foot and three quarters in diameter; but little regularity has been observed in regard to them. Some are of white marble, granite or porphyry; but the greater number are of common stone of the Meccah mountains.[FN#4] El Fasy states the whole at 589, and says they are all of marble excepting 126, which are of common stone, and three of composition. Kotobeddyn reckons 555, of which, according to him, 311 are of marble, and the rest of the stone taken from the neighbouring mountains; but neither of these authors lived to see the latest repairs of the Mosque, after the destruction occasioned by a torrent in A.D. 1626.[FN#5] Between every three or four column stands an octagonal one, about four feet in thickness. On the east side are two shafts of reddish grey granite in one piece, and one fine grey porphyry with slabs of white feldspath. On the north side is one red granite column, and one of fine-grained red porphyry; these are probably the columns which Kotobeddyn states to have been brought from Egypt, and

[p.296] princ.i.p.ally from Akhmim (Panopolis), when the chief (Caliph) El Mohdy enlarged the Mosque in A.H. 163. Among the 450 or 500 columns which form the enclosure I found not any two capitals or bases exactly alike. The capitals are of coa.r.s.e Saracen workmans.h.i.+p; some of them, which had served for former buildings, by the ignorance of the workmen, have been placed upside down upon the shafts. I observed about half a dozen marble bases of good Grecian workmans.h.i.+p. A few of the marble columns bear Arabic or Cufic inscriptions, in which I read the dates 863 and 762 (A.H.).[FN#6] A column on the east side exhibits a very ancient Cufic inscription, somewhat defaced, which I could neither read nor copy. Some of the columns are strengthened with broad iron rings or bands,[FN#7] as in many other Saracen buildings of the East. They were first employed by Ibn Dhaher Berkouk, king of Egypt, in rebuilding the Mosque, which had been destroyed by fire in A.H. 802.[FN#8]"

"Some parts of the walls and arches are gaudily painted in stripes of yellow, red, and blue, as are also the minarets. Paintings of flowers, in the usual Muselman

[p.297] style, are nowhere seen; the floors of the colonnades are paved with large stones badly cemented together."

"Some paved causeways lead from the colonnades towards the Kaabah, or Holy House, in the centre.[FN#9] They are of sufficient breadth to admit four or five persons to walk abreast, and they are elevated about nine inches above the ground. Between these causeways, which are covered with fine gravel or sand, gra.s.s appears growing in several places, produced by the Zem Zem water oozing out of the jars which are placed in the ground in long rows during the day.[FN#10] There is a descent of eight or ten steps from the gates on the north side into the platform of the colonnade, and of three or four steps from the gates on the south side."

"Towards the middle of this area stands the Kaabah; it is 115 paces from the north colonnade, and 88 from the south. For this want of symmetry we may readily account, the Kaabah having existed prior to the Mosque, which was built around it, and enlarged at different periods. The Kaabah is an oblong ma.s.sive structure, 18 paces in length, 14 in breadth, and from 35 to 40 feet in height.[FN#11] It is constructed of the grey Mekka stone, in large blocks of different sizes joined together, in a very

[p.298] rough manner, with bad cement.[FN#12] It was entirely rebuilt, as it now stands, in A.D. 1627. The torrent in the preceding year had thrown down three of its sides, and, preparatory to its re-erection, the fourth side was, according to Asamy, pulled down, after the Olemas, or learned divines, had been consulted on the question whether mortals might be permitted to destroy any part of the holy edifice without incurring the charge of sacrilege and infidelity."

"The Kaabah stands upon a base two feet in height, which presents a sharp inclined plane.[FN#13] Its roof being flat, it has at a distance the appearance of a perfect cube.[FN#14] The only door which affords entrance, and which is opened but two or three times in the year,[FN#15] is on the

[p.299] north side and about seven feet above the ground.[FN#16] In the first periods of Islam, however, when it was rebuilt in A.H. 64 by Ibn Zebeyr (Zubayr), chief of Mecca, it had two doors even with the ground floor of the Mosque.[FN#17]

[p.300] The present door (which, according to Azraky, was brought hither from Constantinople in A.D. 1633), is wholly coated with silver, and has several gilt ornaments; upon its threshold are placed every night various small lighted wax candles, and perfuming pans, filled with musk, aloe-wood, &c.[FN#18]"

"At the north-east[FN#19] corner of the Kaabah, near the door, is the famous 'Black Stone'[FN#20]; it forms a part of the [for p.301, see footnote 20]

[p.302] sharp angle of the building,[FN#21] at four or five feet above the ground.[FN#22] It is an irregular oval, about seven inches in diameter, with an undulating surface, composed of about a dozen smaller stones of different sizes and shapes, well joined together with a small quant.i.ty of cement, and perfectly well smoothed: it looks as if the whole had been broken into many pieces by a violent blow, and then united again. It is very difficult to determine accurately the quality of this stone, which has been worn to its present surface by the million touches and kisses it has received. It appeared to me like a lava, containing several small extraneous particles of a whitish and of a yellowish substance. Its colour is now a deep reddish brown, approaching to black. It is surrounded on all sides by a border composed of a substance which I took to be a close cement

[p.303] of pitch and gravel of a similar, but not quite the same, brownish colour.[FN#23] This border serves to support its detached pieces; it is two or three inches in breadth, and rises a little above the surface of the stone. Both the border and the stone itself are encircled by a silver band,[FN#24] broader below than above, and on the two sides, with a considerable swelling below, as if a part of the stone were hidden under it. The lower part of the border is studded with silver nails."

"In the south-east corner of the Kaabah,[FN#25] or, as the Arab call it, Rokn al-Yemany, there is another stone about five feet from the ground; it is one foot and a half in length, and two inches in breadth, placed upright, and of the common Meccah stone. This the people walking round the Kaabah touch only with the right hand; they do not kiss it.[FN#26]"

[p.304] "On the north side of the Kaabah, just by its door,[FN#27] and close to the wall, is a slight hollow in the ground, lined with marble, and sufficiently large to admit of three persons sitting. Here it is thought meritorious to pray: the spot is called El Maajan, and supposed to be where Abraham and his son Ismail kneaded the chalk and mud which they used in building the Kaabah; and near this Maajan the former is said to have placed the large stone upon which he stood while working at the masonry. On the basis of the Kaabah, just over the Maajan, is an ancient Cufic inscription; but this I was unable to decipher, and had no opportunity of copying it."

"On the west (north-west) side of the Kaabah, about two feet below its summit, is the famous Myzab, or water-spout,[FN#28] through which the rain-water collected on the roof of the building is discharged, so as to fall upon the ground; it is about four feet in length, and six inches in breadth, as well as I could judge from below, with borders equal in height to its breadth. At the

[p.305] mouth hangs what is called the beard of the Myzab; a gilt board, over which the water flows. This spout was sent hither from Constantinople in A.H. 981, and is reported to be of pure gold. The pavement round the Kaabah, below the Myzab, was laid down in A.H. 826, and consists of various coloured stones, forming a very handsome specimen of mosaic. There are two large slabs of fine verdi antico[FN#29] in the centre, which, according to Makrizi, were sent thither, as presents from Cairo, in A.H. 241. This is the spot where, according to Mohammedan tradition, Ismayl the son of Ibrahim, and his mother Hajirah are buried; and here it is meritorious for the pilgrim to recite a prayer of two Rikats. On this side is a semicircular wall, the two extremities of which are in a line with the sides of the Kaabah, and distant from it three or four feet,[FN#30] leaving an opening, which leads to the burial-place of Ismayl. The wall bears the name of El Hatym[FN#31]; and the area

[p.306] which it encloses is called Hedjer or Hedjer Ismayl,[FN#32] on account of its being separated from the Kaabah: the wall itself also is sometimes so called."

"Tradition says that the Kaabah once extended as far as the Hatym, and that this side having fallen down just at the time of the Hadj, the expenses of repairing it were demanded from the pilgrims, under a pretence that the revenues of government were not acquired in a manner sufficiently pure to admit of their application towards a purpose so sacred. The sum, however, obtained, proved very inadequate; all that could be done, therefore, was to raise a wall, which marked the s.p.a.ce formerly occupied by the Kaabah. This tradition, although current among the Metowefs (cicerones) is at variance with history; which declares that the Hedjer was built by the Beni Koreish, who contracted the dimensions of the Kaabah; that it was united to the building by Hadjadj,[FN#33] and again separated from it by Ibn Zebeyr. It is a.s.serted by Fasy, that a part of the Hedjer as it now stands was never comprehended within the Kaabah. The law regards it as a portion of the Kaabah, inasmuch as it is esteemed equally meritorious to pray in the Hedjer as in the Kaabah itself; and the pilgrims who have not an opportunity of entering the latter are permitted to affirm upon oath that they have prayed in the Kaabah, although they have only prostrated themselves within the enclosure of the Hatym. The wall is built of solid stone, about five feet in height, and four in thickness, cased all over with white marble, and inscribed with prayers and invocations [p.307] neatly sculptured upon the stone in modern characters.[FN#34]

These and the casing are the work of El Ghoury, the Egyptian sultan, in A.H. 917. The walk round the Kaabah is performed on the outside of the wall-the nearer to it the better."

"Round the Kaabah is a good pavement of marble[FN#35] about eight inches below the level of the great square; it was laid in A.H. 981, by order of the sultan, and describes an irregular oval; it is surrounded by thirty-two slender gilt pillars, or rather poles, between every two of which are suspended seven gla.s.s lamps, always lighted after sunset.[FN#36] Beyond the poles is a second pavement, about eight paces broad, somewhat elevated above the first, but of coa.r.s.er work; then another six inches higher, and eighteen paces broad, upon which stand several small buildings; beyond this is the gravelled ground; so that two broad steps may be said to lead from the square down to the Kaabah.

The small buildings just mentioned which surround the Kaabah are the five Makams,[FN#37] with the well

[p.308] of Zem Zem, the arch called Bab es Salam, and the Mambar."

"Opposite the four sides of the Kaabah stand four other small buildings, where the Imaums of the orthodox Mohammedan sects, the Hanefy, Shafey, Hanbaly, and Maleky take their station, and guide the congregation in their prayers. The Makam el Maleky on the south, and that of Hanbaly opposite the Black Stone, are small pavilions open on all sides, and supported by four slender pillars, with a light sloping roof, terminating in a point, exactly in the style of Indian paG.o.das.[FN#38]

The Makam el Hanafy, which is the largest, being fifteen paces by eight, is open on all sides, and supported by twelve small pillars; it has an upper story, also open, where the Mueddin who calls to prayers takes his stand. This was built in A.H. 923, by Sultan Selim I.; it was afterwards rebuilt by Khoshgeldy, governor of Djidda, in 947; but all the four Makams, as they now stand, were built in A.H. 1074. The Makam-es'-Shafey is over the well Zem Zem, to which it serves as an upper chamber.[FN#39]"

"Near their respective Makams the adherents of the four different sects seat themselves for prayers. During my stay at Meccah the Hanefys always began their prayer first; but, according to Muselman custom, the Shafeys should pray first in the Mosque; then the Hanefys, Malekys, and Hanbalys. The prayer of the Maghreb is an exception, which they are all enjoined to utter together.[FN#40]

[p.309] The Makam el Hanbaly is the place where the officers of government and other great people are seated during prayers: here the Pasha and the sheriff are placed, and in their absence the eunuchs of the temple. These fill the s.p.a.ce under this Makam in front, and behind it the female Hadjys who visit the temple have their places a.s.signed, to which they repair princ.i.p.ally for the two evening prayers, few of them being seen in the Mosque at the three other daily prayers: they also perform the Towaf, or walk round the Kaabah, but generally at night, though it is not uncommon to see them walking in the day-time among the men."

"The present building which encloses Zem Zem stands close by the Makam Hanbaly, and was erected in A.H. 1072: it is of a square shape, and of ma.s.sive construction, with an entrance to the north,[FN#41] opening into the room which contains the well. This room is beautifully ornamented with marbles of various colours; and adjoining to it, but having a separate door, is a small room with a stone reservoir, which is always full of Zem Zem water. This the Hadjys get to drink by pa.s.sing their hand with a cup through an iron grated opening, which serves as a window, into the reservoir, without entering the room. The mouth of the well is surrounded by a wall five feet in height and about ten feet [i]n diameter. Upon this the people stand who draw up the water in leathern buckets, an iron railing being so placed as to [p.310] prevent their falling in. In El Fasy's time there were eight marble basins in this room, for the purpose of ablution."

"On the north-east (south-east) side of Zem Zem stand two small buildings, one behind the other,[FN#42] called El Kobbateyn; they are covered by domes painted in the same manner as the Mosque, and in them are kept water-jars, lamps, carpets, mats, brooms, and other articles used in the very Mosque.[FN#43] These two ugly buildings are injurious to the interior appearance of the building, their heavy forms and structure being very disadvantageously contrasted with the light and airy shape of the Makams. I heard some Hadjys from Greece, men of better taste than the Arabs, express their regret that the Kobbateyn should be allowed to disfigure the Mosque. They were built by Khoshgeldy, governor of Djidda A.H. 947; one is called Kobbet el Abbas, from having been placed on the site of a small tank said to have been formed by Abbas, the uncle of Mohammed."

[p.311] "A few paces west (north-west) of Zem Zem, and directly opposite to the door of the Kaabah, stands a ladder or staircase,[FN#44] which is moved up to the wall of the Kaabah on days when that building is opened, and by which the visitors ascend to the door. It is of wood, with some carved ornaments, moves on low wheels, and is sufficiently broad to admit of four persons ascending abreast. The first ladder was sent hither from Cairo in A.H. 818 by Moyaed Abou el Naser, King of Egypt."

"In the same line with the ladder and close by it stands a lightly built insulated and circular arch, about fifteen feet wide, and eighteen feet high, called Bab es' Salam, which must not be confounded with the great gate of the Mosque, bearing the same name. Those who enter the Bait Ullah for the first time are enjoined to do so by the outer and inner Bab-es-Salam; in pa.s.sing under the latter they are to exclaim, 'O G.o.d, may it be a happy entrance.' I do not know by whom this arch was built, but it appears to be modern.[FN#45]"

"Nearly in front of the Bab-es-Salam and nearer the Kaabah than any of the other surrounding buildings, stand[s] the Makam Ibrahim.[FN#46]

This is a small building supported by six pillars about eight feet high, four of which are surrounded from top to bottom by a fine iron railing, while they leave the s.p.a.ce beyond the two hind pillars open; within the railing is a frame about five feet square, terminating in a pyramidal top, and said to contain the sacred stone upon which Ibrahim stood when he built the Kaabah, and which with the help of his son Ismayl he had removed from hence to the place

[p.312] called Maajen, already mentioned. The stone is said to have yielded under the weight of the Patriarch, and to preserve the impression of his foot still visible upon it; but no hadjy has ever seen it,[FN#47] as the frame is always entirely covered with a brocade of red silk richly embroidered. Persons are constantly seen before the railing invoking the good offices of Ibrahim; and a short prayer must be uttered by the side of the Makam after the walk round the Kaabah is completed. It is said that many of the Sahaba, or first adherents of Mohammed, were interred in the open s.p.a.ce between this Makam and Zem Zem[FN#48]; from which circ.u.mstance it is one of the most

[p.313] favourite places of prayers in the Mosque. In this part of the area the Khalif Soleyman Ibn Abd el Melek, brother of Wolyd (Al-Walid), built a fine reservoir in A.H. 97, which was filled from a spring east of Arafat[FN#49]; but the Mekkawys destroyed it after his death, on the pretence that the water of Zem Zem was preferable."

"On the side of Makam Ibrahim, facing the middle part of the front of the Kaabah, stands the Mambar, or pulpit of the Mosque; it is elegantly formed of fine white marble, with many sculptured ornaments; and was sent as a present to the Mosque in A.H. 969 by Sultan Soleyman Ibn Selym.[FN#50] A straight, narrow staircase leads up to the post of the Khatyb, or preacher, which is surmounted by a gilt polygonal pointed steeple, resembling an obelisk. Here a sermon is preached on Fridays and on certain festivals. These, like the Friday sermons of all Mosques in the Mohammedan countries, are usually of the same turn, with some slight alterations upon extraordinary occasions.[FN#51]"

"I have now described all the buildings within the inclosure of the temple."

"The gates of the Mosque are nineteen in number, and are distributed about it without any order or symmetry.[FN#52]"

Burckhardt's description of the gates is short and

[p.314] imperfect. On the eastern side of the Mosque there are

[p.315] four princ.i.p.al entrances, seven on the southern side, three in the western, and five in the northern wall.

The eastern gates are the Greater Bab al-Salam, through which the pilgrim enters the Mosque; it is close to the north-east angle. Next to it the Lesser Bab al-Salam, with two small arches; thirdly, the Bab al-Nabi, where the Prophet used to pa.s.s through from Khadijah's house; and, lastly, near the south-east corner, the Bab Ali, or of the Benu Has.h.i.+m, opening upon the street between Safa and Marwah.

Beyond the north-eastern corner, in the northern wall, is the Bab Duraybah, a small entrance with one arch. Next to it, almost fronting the Ka'abah, is the grand adit, "Bab al-Ziyadah," also known as Bab al-Nadwah. Here the colonnade, projecting far beyond the normal line, forms a small square or hall supported by pillars, and a false colonnade of sixty-one columns leads to the true cloister of the Mosque. This portion of the building being cool and shady, is crowded by the poor, the diseased, and the dying, during Divine wors.h.i.+p, and at other times by idlers, schoolboys, and merchants. Pa.s.sing through three external arches, pilgrims descend by a flight of steps into the hall, where they deposit their slippers, it not being considered decorous to hold them when circ.u.mambulating the Ka'abah.[FN#53] A broad pavement, in the shape of an irregular triangle, whose base is the cloister, leads to the circuit of the house. Next to the Ziyadah Gate is a small, single-arched entrance, "Bab Kutubi," and beyond it one similar, the Bab al-Ajlah ([Arabic]), also named Al-Basitiyah, from its proximity to the college of Abd al Basitah. Close to the north-west angle of the cloister is the Bab al-Nadwah, anciently called Bab al-Umrah, and now Bab

[p.316] al-Atik, the Old Gate. Near this place and opening into the Ka'abah, stood the "Town Hall" (Dar al-Nadwah), built by Kusay, for containing the oriflamme "Al-Liwa," and as a council-chamber for the ancients of the city.[FN#54]

In the western wall are three entrances. The single-arched gate nearest to the north angle is called Bab Benu Saham or Bab al-Umrah, because pilgrims pa.s.s through it to the Tanim and to the ceremony Al-Umrah (Little Pilgrimage). In the centre of the wall is the Bab Ibrahim, or Bab al-Khayyatin (the Tailors' Gate); a single arch leading into a large projecting square, like that of the Ziyadah entrance, but somewhat smaller. Near the south-west corner is a double arched adit, the Bab al-Wida'a ("of farewell"): hence departing pilgrims issue forth from the temple.

At the western end of the southern wall is the two-arched Bab Umm Hani, so called after the lady's residence, when included in the Mosque. Next to it is a similar building, "Bab Ujlan" [Arabic] which derives its name from the large college "Madrasat Ujlan"; some call it Bab al-Sharif, because it is opposite one of the palaces. After which, and also pierced with two arches, is the Bab al-Jiyad (some erroneously spell it Al-Jihad, "of War"), the gate leading to Jabal Jiyad. The next is double arched, and called the Bab al-Mujahid or Al-Rahmah ("of Mercy"). Nearly opposite the Ka'abah, and connected with the pavement by a raised line of stone, is the Bab al-Safa, through which pilgrims now issue to perform the ceremony "Al-Sai"; it is a small and unconspicuous erection. Next to it is the Bab al-Baghlah with two arches, and close to the south-east angle of the Mosque the Bab Yunus, alias Bab Bazan, alias Bab al-Zayt, alias Bab al-Asharah ("of the ten"), because a favourite with the first ten Sahabah, or Companions [p.317] of the Prophet. "Most of these gates," says Burckhardt, "have high pointed arches; but a few round arches are seen among them, which, like all arches of this kind in the Heja[z], are nearly semi-circular. They are without ornament, except the inscription on the exterior, which commemorates the name of the builder, and they are all posterior in date to the fourteenth century. As each gate consists of two or three arches, or divisions, separated by narrow walls, these divisions are counted in the enumeration of the gates leading into the Kaabah, and they make up the number thirty-nine. There being no doors to the gates, the Mosque is consequently open at all times. I have crossed at every hour of the night, and always found people there, either at prayers or walking about.[FN#55]"

"The outside walls of the Mosques are those of the houses which surround it on all sides. These houses belonged originally to the Mosque; the greater part are now the property of individuals. They are let out to the richest Hadjys, at very high prices, as much as 500 piastres being given during the pilgrimage for a good apartment with windows opening into the Mosque.[FN#56] Windows have in consequence been opened in many parts of the walls on a level with the street, and above that of the floor of the colonnades. Hadjys living in these apartments are allowed to perform the Friday's prayers at home; because, having the Kaabah in view from the windows, they are supposed to be in the Mosque itself, and to join in prayer those a.s.sembled within the