[p.330] a meek-looking but exceedingly importunate Hindi beggar, who
insisted on stunning me with the Chapter Y, S.,[FN#64] we fronted
Southwards, and taking care that our backs should not be in a line with
the Apostle's face, stood opposite the niche called Mihrab Osman. There
Hamid proceeded with another supplication. "O Allah! (three times
repeated), O Safeguard of the Fearful, and Defender of those who trust
in Thee, and Pitier of the Weak, the Poor, and the Destitute! accept
us, O Beneficent! and pardon us, O Merciful! and receive our Penitence,
O Compassionate! and have Mercy upon us, O Forgiver!-for verily none
but Thou canst remit Sin! Of a Truth Thou alone knowest the hidden, and
veilest Man's Transgressions: veil, then, our Offences, and pardon our
Sins, and broaden our Breasts, and cause our last Words at the Supreme
Hour of Life to be the Words, ‘There is no god but Allah,[FN#65] and
our Lord Mohammed is the Apostle of Allah!' O Allah! cause us to live
according to this Saying, O thou Giver of life; and make us to die in
this Faith, O thou Ruler of Death! And the best of Blessings and the
completest of Salutations upon the sole Lord of Intercession, our Lord
Mohammed and His Family, and His Companions One and All!"
Lastly, we returned to the Garden,[FN#66] and prayed another two-bow
prayer, ending, as we began, with the worship of the Creator.
[p.331] Unfortunately for me, the boy Mohammed had donned that grand
embroidered coat. At the end of the ceremony the Aghas, or eunuchs of
the Mosque, a race of men considered respectable by their office, and
prone to make themselves respected by the freest administration of
club-law, assembled in Al-Rauzah to offer me the congratulation
Ziyaratak Mubarak-"Blessed be thy Visitation,"-and to demand fees. Then
came the Sakka, or water-carrier of the Mosque well, Zemzem,[FN#67]
offering a tinned saucer filled from the holy source. And lastly I was
beset by beggars.
Some were mild beggars and picturesque, who sat upon the ground
immersed in the contemplation of their napkins; others, angry beggars
who cursed if they were not gratified; and others noisy and petulant
beggars, especially the feminine party near the Lady's tomb, who
captured me by the skirt of my garment, compelling me to ransom myself.
There were, besides, pretty beggars, boys who held out the right hand
on the score of good looks; ugly beggars, emaciated rascals whose long
hair, dirt, and leanness entitled them to charity; and lastly, the
blind, the halt, and the diseased, who, as Sons of the Holy City,
demanded from the Faithful that support with which they could not
provide themselves. Having been compelled by my companions, highly
against my inclination, to become a man of rank, I was obliged to pay
in proportion, and my almoner in the handsome coat, as usual, took a
kind of pride in being profuse. This first visit cost me double what I
had intended-four dollars-nearly one pound sterling, and never
afterwards could I pay less than half that sum.[FN#68]
[p.332] Having now performed all the duties of a good Zair, I was
permitted by Shaykh Hamid to wander about and see the sights. We began
our circumambulation at the Bab al-Salam,[FN#69] the Gate of Salvation,
the South-Western entrance pierced in the long wall of the Mosque. It
is a fine archway handsomely encrusted with marble and glazed tiles;
the many gilt inscriptions on its sides give it, especially at
night-time, an appearance of considerable splendour. The
portcullis-like doors are of wood, strengthened with brass plates, and
nails of the same metal. Outside this gate is a little Sabil, or public
fountain, where those who will not pay for the water, kept ready in
large earthen jars by the "Sakka" of the Mosque, perform their
ablutions gratis. Here all the mendicants congregate in force, sitting
on the outer steps and at the entrance of the Mosque, up and through
which the visitors must pass.
About the centre of the Western wall is the Bab alRahmah, the Gate of
Pity, which admits the dead bodies of the Faithful when carried to be
prayed over in the Mosque. There is nothing remarkable in its
appearance; in common with the other gates it has huge folding doors,
iron-bound, an external flight of steps, and a few modern inscriptions.
The Bab Majidi, or Gate of the Sultan Abd al-Majid, stands in the
centre of the Northern wall; like its portico, it is unfinished, but
its present appearance promises that it will eclipse all except the Bab
al-Salam.
The Bab al-Nisa, or Gate of Women, is in the Eastern wall opposite the
Bab al-Rahmah, with which it is connected by the "Farsh al-Hajar," a
broad band of stone, two or three steps below the level of the portico,
[p.333] and slightly raised above the Sahn or the hypaethral portion of
the Mosque. And lastly, in the Southern portion of the same Eastern
wall is the Bab Jibrail, the Gate of the Archangel Gabriel.[FN#70]
All these entrances are arrived at by short external flights of steps
leading from the streets, as the base of the temple, unlike that of
Meccah, is a little higher than the foundation of the buildings around
it. The doors are closed by the attendant eunuchs immediately after the
night prayers, except during the blessed month Al-Ramazan and in the
pilgrimage season, when pious visitors pay considerable fees there to
pass the night in meditation and prayer.
The minarets are five in number; but one, the Shikayliyah, at the
North-West angle of the building, has been levelled, and is still in
process of being rebuilt. The Munar Bab al-Salam stands by the gate of
that name: it is a tall, handsome tower, surmounted by a large ball or
cone[FN#71] of brass gilt or burnished. The Munar Bab al-Rahmah, about
the centre of the Western wall, is of more simple form than the others:
it has two galleries, with the superior portion circular, and
surmounted by the conical "extinguisher"-roof so common in Turkey and
Egypt. On the North-East angle of the Mosque stands the Sulaymaniyah
Munar, so named after its founder, Sultan Sulayman the Magnificent. It
is a well-built and substantial stone-tower divided into three stages;
the two
[p.334] lower portions are polygonal, the upper cylindrical, and each
terminates in a platform with a railed gallery carried all round for
the protection of those who ascend.
And lastly, from the South-East angle of the Mosque, supposed to be
upon the spot where Belal, the Apostle's loud-lunged crier, called the
first Moslems to prayer,
[FN#72] springs the Munar Raisiyah, so called because it is
appropriated to the Ruasa or chiefs of the Mu'ezzins. Like the
Sulaymaniyah, it consists of three parts: the first and second stages
are polygonal; and the third, a cylinder, is furnished like the lower
two with a railed gallery. Both the latter minarets end in solid ovals
of masonry, from which project a number of wooden triangles. To these
and to the galleries on all festive occasions, such as the arrival of
the Damascus caravan, are hung oil-lamps-a poor attempt at
illumination, which may rationally explain the origin of the Madinite
superstition concerning the column of light which crowns the Prophet's
tomb. There is no uniformity in the shape or the size of these four
minarets, and at first sight, despite their beauty and grandeur, they
appear somewhat bizarre and misplaced. But after a few days I found
that my eye grew accustomed to them, and I had no difficulty in
appreciating their massive proportions and lofty forms.
Equally irregular are the Riwaks, or porches, surrounding the
hypaethral court. Along the Northern wall there will be, when finished,
a fine colonnade of granite, paved with marble. The Eastern Riwak has
three rows of pillars, the Western four, and the Southern, under which
stands the tomb, of course has its columns ranged deeper than all the
others. These supports of the building are of different material; some
of fine marble, others of
[p.335] rough stone, plastered over and painted with the most vulgar of
arabesques,-vermilion and black in irregular patches and broad streaks,
like the stage-face of a London clown.[FN#73] Their size, moreover, is
different, the Southern colonnade being composed of pillars palpably
larger than those in the other parts of the Mosque. Scarcely any two
shafts own similar capitals; many have no pedestal, and some of them
are cut with a painful ignorance of art. I cannot extend my admiration
of the minarets to the columns-in their "architectural lawlessness"
there is not a redeeming point.
Of these unpraisable pillars three are celebrated in the annals of
Al-Islam, for which reason their names are painted upon them, and five
others enjoy the honour of distinctive appellations. The first is
called Al-Mukhallak, because, on some occasion of impurity, it was
anointed with a perfume called Khaluk. It is near the Mihrab al-Nabawi,
on the right of the place where the Imam prays; and it notes the spot
where, before the invention of the Pulpit, the Apostle, leaning upon
the Ustuwanat al-Hannanah-the Weeping Pillar[FN#74]-used to recite the
Khutbah or Friday sermon.
The second stands third from the Pulpit, and third from the Hujrah. It
is called the Pillar of Ayishah, also the Ustuwanat al-Kurah, or the
Column of Lots, because the Apostle, according to the testimony of his
favourite wife, declared that if men knew the value of the place, they
would cast lots to pray there: in some books it is known as the Pillar
of the Muhajirin or Fugitives, and others mention it as
Al-Mukhallak-the Perfumed.