Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah Volume Ii Part 27

[FN#29] Usually called the Hajar al-Akhzar, or green stone. Al-Idrisi speaks of a white stone covering Ishmael's remains; Ibn Jubayr of "green marble, longish, in form of a Mihrab arch, and near it a white round slab, in both of which are spots that make them appear yellow." Near them, we are told, and towards the Iraki corner, is the tomb of Hagar, under a green slab one span and a half broad, and pilgrims used to pray at both places. Ali Bey erroneously applies the words Al-Hajar Ismail to the parapet about the slab.

[FN#30] My measurements give five feet six inches. In Al-Idrisi's day the wall was fifty cubits long.

[FN#31] Al-Hatim ([Arabic] lit. the "broken"). Burckhardt a.s.serts that the Mekkawi no longer apply the word, as some historians do, to the s.p.a.ce bounded by the Ka'abah, the Part.i.tion, the Zemzem, and the Makam of Ibrahim. I heard it, however, so used by learned Meccans, and they gave as the meaning of the name the break in this part of the oval pavement which surrounds the Ka'abah. Historians relate that all who rebuilt the "House of Allah" followed Abraham's plan till the Kuraysh, and after them Al-Hajjaj curtailed it in the direction of Al-Hatim, which part was then first broken off, and ever since remained so.

[FN#32] Al-Hijr ([Arabic]) is the s.p.a.ce separated, as the name denotes, from the Ka'abah. Some suppose that Abraham here penned his sheep.

Possibly Ali Bey means this part of the Temple when he speaks of Al-Hajar ([Arabic]) Ismail-les pierres d'Ismail.

[FN#33] "Al-Hajjaj"; this, as will afterwards be seen, is a mistake. He excluded the Hatim.

[FN#34] As well as memory serves me, for I have preserved no note, the inscriptions are in the marble casing, and indeed no other stone meets the eye.

[FN#35] It is a fine, close, grey polished granite: the walk is called Al-Mataf, or the place of circ.u.mambulation.

[FN#36] These are now iron posts, very numerous, supporting cross rods, and of tolerably elegant shape. In Ali Bey's time there were "trente-une colonnes minces en piliers en bronze." Some native works say thirty-three, including two marble columns. Between each two hang several white or green gla.s.s globe-lamps, with wicks and oil floating on water; their light is faint and dismal. The whole of the lamps in the Harim is said to be more than 1000, yet they serve but to "make darkness visible."

[FN#37] There are only four "Makams," the Hanafi, Maliki, Hanbali, and the Makam Ibrahim; and there is some error of diction below, for in these it is that the Imams stand before their congregations, and nearest the Ka'abah. In Ibn Jubayr's time the Zaydi sect was allowed an Imam, though known to be schismatics and abusers of the caliphs. Now, not being permitted to have a separate station for prayer, they suppose theirs to be suspended from heaven above the Ka'abah roof.

[FN#38] The Makam al-Maliki is on the west of, and thirty-seven cubits from, the Ka'abah; that of the Hanbali forty-seven paces distant.

[FN#39] Only the Mu'ezzin takes his stand here, and the Shafe'is pray behind their Imam on the pavement round the Ka'abah, between the corner of the well Zemzem, and the Makam Ibrahim. This place is forty cubits from the Ka'abah, that is say, eight cubits nearer than the Northern and Southern "Makams." Thus the pavement forms an irregular oval ring round the house[.]

[FN#40] In Burckhardt's time the schools prayed according to the seniority of their founders, and they uttered the Azan of Al-Maghrib together, because that is a peculiarly delicate hour, which easily pa.s.ses by unnoticed. In the twelfth century, at all times but the evening, the Shafe'i began, then came the Maliki and Hanbali simultaneously, and, lastly, the Hanafi. Now the Shaykh al-Mu'ezzin begins the call, which is taken up by the others. He is a Hanafi; as indeed are all the princ.i.p.al people at Meccah, only a few wild Sharifs of the hills being Shafe'i.

[FN#41] The door of the Zemzem building fronts to the south-east.

[FN#42] This is not exactly correct. As the plan will show, the angle of one building touches the angle of its neighbour.

[FN#43] Their names and offices are now changed. One is called the Kubbat al-Sa'at, and contains the clocks and chronometers (two of them English) sent as presents to the Mosque by the Sultan. The other, known as the Kubbat al-Kutub, is used as a store-room for ma.n.u.scripts bequeathed to the Mosque. They still are open to Burckhardt's just criticism, being nothing but the common dome springing from four walls, and vulgarly painted with bands of red, yellow, and green. In Ibn Jubayr's time the two domes contained bequests of books and candles. The Kubbat Abbas, or that further from the Ka'abah than its neighbour, was also called Kubbat al-Sharab (the Dome of Drink), because Zemzem water was here kept cooling for the use of pilgrims in Daurak, or earthen jars. The nearer was termed Kubbat al-Yahudi; and the tradition they told me was, that a Jew having refused to sell his house upon the spot, it was allowed to remain in loco by the Prophet, as a lasting testimony to his regard for justice. A similar tale is told of an old woman's hut, which was allowed to stand in the corner of the Great Nus.h.i.+rawan's royal halls.

[FN#44] Called "Al-Daraj." A correct drawing of it may be found in Ali Bey's work.

[FN#45] The Bab al-Salam, or Bab al-Nabi, or Bab benu Shaybah, resembles in its isolation a triumphal arch, and is built of cut stone.

[FN#46] "The (praying) place of Abraham." Readers will remember that the Meccan Mosque is peculiarly connected with Ibrahim, whom Moslems prefer to all prophets except Mohammed.

[FN#47] This I believe to be incorrect. I was asked five dollars for permission to enter; but the sum was too high for my finances. Learned men told me that the stone shows the impress of two feet, especially the big toes, and devout pilgrims fill the cavities with water, which they rub over their eyes and faces. When the Caliph al-Mahdi visited Meccah, one Abdullah bin Osman presented himself at the unusual hour of noon, and informing the prince that he had brought him a relic which no man but himself had yet seen, produced this celebrated stone. Al-Mahdi, rejoicing greatly, kissed it, rubbed his face against it, and pouring water upon it, drank the draught. Kutb al-Din, one of the Meccan historians, says that it was visited in his day. In Ali Bey's time it was covered with "un magnifique drap noir brode en or et en argent avec de gros glands en or;" he does not say, however, that he saw the stone. Its veils, called Sitr Ibrahim al-Khalil, are a green "Ibrisham," or silk mixed with cotton and embroidered with gold. They are made at Cairo of three different colours, black, red, and green; and one is devoted to each year. The gold embroidery is in the Sulsi character, and expresses the Throne-verse, the Chapter of the Cave, and the name of the reigning Sultan; on the top is "Allah," below it "Mohammed"; beneath this is "Ibrahim al-Khalil"; and at each corner is the name of one of the four caliphs. In a note to the "Dabistan" (vol. ii. p. 410), we find two learned Orientalists confounding the Black Stone with Abraham's Station or Platform. "The Prophet honoured the Black Stone, upon which Abraham conversed with Hagar, to which he tied his camels, and upon which the traces of his feet are still seen."

[FN#48] Not only here, I was told by learned Meccans, but under all the oval pavements surrounding the Ka'abah.

[FN#49] The spring gushes from the southern base of Mount Arafat, as will afterwards be noticed. It is exceedingly pure.

[FN#50] The author informs us that "the first pulpit was sent from Cairo in A.H. 818, together with the staircase, both being the gifts of Moayed, caliph of Egypt." Ali Bey accurately describes the present Mambar.

[FN#51] The curious will find a specimen of a Moslem sermon in Lane's Mod. Egypt. Vol. i. ch. iii.

[FN#52] Burckhardt "subjoins their names as they are usually written upon small cards by the Metowefs; in another column are the names by which they were known in more ancient times, princ.i.p.ally taken from Azraky and Kotoby." I have added a few remarks in brackets[.]

[Mention is made of Modern names; Arches; and Ancient names.]

1. Bab el Salam, composed of gates or arches; 3; Bab Beni Shaybah (this is properly applied to the inner, not the outer Salam Gate.) 2. Bab el Neby; 2; Bab el Jenaiz, Gate of Biers, the dead being carried through it to the Mosque.

3. Bab el Abbas, opposite to this the house of Abbas once stood; 3; Bab Sertakat (some Moslem authors confound this Bab al-Abbas with the Gate of Biers.)

4. Bab Aly; 3; Bab Beni Hashem

5. Bab el Zayt Bab el Ashra; 2; Bab Bazan (so called from a neighbouring hill).

6. Bab el Baghlah; 2;

7. Bab el Szafa (Safa); 5; Bab Beni Makhzoum.

8. Bab Sherif; 2; Bab el Djiyad (so called because leading to the hill Jiyad)

9. Bab Medjahed; 2; Bab el Dokhmah.

10. Bab Zoleykha; 2; Bab Sherif Adjelan, who built it.

11. Bab Om Hany, so called from the daughter of Aby Taleb; 2; Bab el Hazoura (some write this Bab el Zarurah).

12. Bab el Wodaa (Al-Wida'a), through which the pilgrim pa.s.ses when taking his final leave of the temple; 2; Bab el Kheyatyn, or Bab Djomah.

13. Bab Ibrahim, so called from a tailor who had a shop near it; 1;

14. Bab el Omra, through which pilgrims issue to visit the Omra. Also called Beni Saham; 1; Bab Amer Ibn el Aas, or Bab el Sedra.

15. Bab Atech (Al-Atik?); 1; Bab el Adjale.

16. Bab el Bastye; 1; Bab Zyade Dar el Nedoua.

17. Bab el Kotoby, so called from an historian of Mekka who lived in an adjoining lane and opened this small gate into the Mosque; 1;

18. Bab Zyade; 3; (It is called Bab Ziyadah-Gate of Excess-because it is a new structure thrown out into the Shamiyah, or Syrian quarter.)

19. Bab Dereybe; 1; Bab Medrese.

Total [number of arches] 39[FN#53] An old pair of slippers is here what the "shocking bad hat" is at a crowded house in Europe, a self-preserver. Burckhardt lost three pairs.

I, more fortunately, only one.

[FN#54] Many authorities place this building upon the site of the modern Makam Hanafi.

[FN#55] The Meccans love to boast that at no hour of the day or night is the Ka'abah ever seen without a devotee to perform "Tawaf."

[FN#56] This would be about 50 dollars, whereas 25 is a fair sum for a single apartment. Like English lodging-house-keepers, the Meccans make the season pay for the year. In Burckhardt's time the colonnato was worth from 9 to 12 piastres; the value of the latter coin is now greatly decreased, for 28 go to the Spanish dollar all over Al-Hijaz.

[FN#57] I entered one of these caves, and never experienced such a sense of suffocation even in that favourite spot for Britons to asphixiate themselves-the Baths of Nero.

[FN#58] The Magnificent (son of Salim I.), who built at Al-Madinah the minaret bearing his name. The minarets at Meccah are far inferior to those of her rival, and their bands of gaudy colours give them an appearance of tawdry vulgarity.

[FN#59] Two minarets, namely, those of the Bab al-Salam and the Bab al-Safa, are separated from the Mosque by private dwelling-houses, a plan neither common nor regular.

[FN#60] A stranger must be careful how he appears at a minaret window, unless he would have a bullet whizzing past his head. Arabs are especially jealous of being overlooked, and have no fellow-feeling for votaries of "beautiful views." For this reason here, as in Egypt, a blind Mu'ezzin is preferred, and many ridiculous stories are told about men who for years have counterfeited cecity to live in idleness[.]

[FN#61] I have ill.u.s.trated this chapter, which otherwise might be unintelligible to many, by a plan of the Ka'abah (taken from Ali Bey al-Abbasi), which Burckhardt p.r.o.nounced to be "perfectly correct." This author has not been duly appreciated. In the first place, his disguise was against him; and, secondly, he was a spy of the French Government.

According to Mr. Bankes, who had access to the original papers at Constantinople, Ali Bey was a Catalonian named Badia, and was suspected to have been of Jewish extraction. He claimed from Napoleon a reward for his services, returned to the East, and died, it is supposed, of poison in the Hauran, near Damascus. In the edition which I have consulted (Paris, 1814) the author labours to persuade the world by marking the days with their planetary signs, &c., &c., that he is a real Oriental, but he perpetually betrays himself. Some years ago, accurate plans of the two Harims were made by order of the present Sultan. They are doubtless to be found amongst the archives at Constantinople.

[FN#62] It must be remembered that the Moslems, like many of the Jews, hold that Paradise was not on earth, but in the lowest firmament, which is, as it were, a reflection of earth.

[FN#63] Others derive the surname from this decision.

[FN#64] As will afterwards be mentioned, almost every Meccan knows the prophecy of Mohammed, that the birthplace of his faith will be destroyed by an army from Abyssinia. Such things bring their own fulfilment.

[FN#65] Abu Hanifah made it a temporal sanctuary, and would not allow even a murderer to be dragged from the walls.

[FN#66] Makkah (our Meccah) is the common word; Bakkah is a synonym never used but in books. The former means "a concourse of people." But why derive it from the Hebrew, and translate it "a slaughter"? Is this a likely name for a holy place? Dr. Colenso actually turns the Makaraba of Ptolemy into "Makkah-rabbah," plentiful slaughter. But if Makaraba be Meccah, it is evidently a corruption of "Makkah" and "Arabah," the Arab race.

Again, supposing the Meccan temple to be originally dedicated to the sun, why should the pure Arab word "Ba'al" become the Hebraeized Hobal, and the deity be only one in the three hundred and sixty that formed the Pantheon?

[FN#67] This is an audacious falsehood; the Ka'abah is scarcely ever opened without some accident happening.

[p.327] APPENDIX III.[FN#1]

SPECIMEN OF A MURs.h.i.+D'S DIPLOMA, IN THE KADIRI ORDER OF THE MYSTIC CRAFT AL-TASAWWUF.

[ TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Footnote 1 gives a description of the original ma.n.u.script. In Burton's book, the text is presented as follows: - Firstly, the section of text beginning "This is the tree..." and ending with the lines "Amen.", "A.", presented as a triangle, with each line centred on the page.

- Below this, the section of text "There is no G.o.d but Allah...a thing to Allah.", centred, and enclosed in a circle.

- Below that, the section of text "Sayyid A...of C.", centred, and enclosed in a horizontal oval.

- The line "And of him...we beg aid.", in smaller type.

- All the following lines are enclosed in a box filling most of each page, with a horizontal rule separating the lines of text. Each line fills the width of the box neatly, except for the last four lines (beginning "It is finished."), which are centred.

- Footnotes are presented, in smaller type than usual, at the outside edge of the page in which the reference occurs, and (as much as possible) level with the reference.

- The placement of line breaks in the main body of this Appendix has been preserved from the original (book) text. ]

THIS is the tree whose root is firm, and whose branches are spreading, and whose shade is perpetual: and the bearer is a good man- we beg of Allah to grant him purity of intention by the power of him upon whom Revelation descended and In- spiration! I have pa.s.sed it on, and I, the poorest of men, and the ser- vant of the poor, am Sayyid A,[FN#2] son of Sayyid B the Kadiri, the servant of the prayer-rug of his grand- sire, of the Shaykh Abd al-Kadir Jilani, Allah sanctify his honoured tomb!

Amen.

A.

There is no G.o.d but Allah-Shaykh Abd al-Kadir -a thing to Allah.[FN#3]