CHAPTER III.—OF ZIYARAT, OR THE VISIT TO THE PROPHET’S TOMB.

“Al-Ziyarat is a practice of the faith, and the most effectual way of

drawing near to Allah through his Prophet Mohammed.

“As the Zair arrives at Al-Madinah, when his eyes fall upon the trees of

the city, he must bless the Prophet with a loud voice. Then he should

enter the Mosque, and sit in the Holy Garden, which is between the

pulpit and the tomb, and pray a two-bow prayer in honour of the Masjid.

After this he should supplicate pardon for his sins. Then, approaching

[p.293] the sepulchre, and standing four cubits away from it, recite

this prayer:—

“‘Peace be with Thee, O Thou T.H. and Y.S.,[FN#44] Peace be with Thee, and

upon Thy Descendants, and Thy Companions, one and all, and upon all the

Prophets, and those inspired to instruct Mankind. And I bear witness

that Thou hast delivered thy Message, and performed Thy Trust, and

advised Thy followers, and swept away Darkness, and fought in Allah’s

Path the good Fight: may Allah requite Thee from us the Best with which

he ever requited Prophet from his Followers!’

“Let the visitor stand the while before the tomb with respect, and

reverence, and singleness of mind, and fear, and awe. After which, let

him retreat one cubit, and salute Abu Bakr the Truthful in these words:—

“‘Peace be with Thee, O Caliph of Allah’s Prophet over his People, and Aider

in the Defence of His Faith!’

“After this, again retreating another cubit, let him bless in the same

way Omar the Just. After which, returning to his former station

opposite the Prophet’s tomb, he should implore intercession for himself

and for all dearest to him. He should not neglect to visit the Bakia

Cemetery and the Kuba Mosque, where he should pray for himself and for

his brethren of the Muslimin, and the Muslimat, the Muminin and the

Muminat,[FN#45] the quick of them and the dead. When ready to depart,

let the Zair take leave of the Mosque with a two-bow prayer, and visit

the tomb, and salute it, and again beg intercession for himself and for

those he loves. And the Zair is forbidden to circumambulate the tomb,

or to carry away the cakes of clay made by the ignorant with the earth

and dust of the Harim.”

[FN#1] M. Huc’s “Travels in Tartary.”

[FN#2] The two extremes, between which lie many gradations, are these.

Abu Hanifah directs every Moslem and Moslemah to perform the pilgrimage

if they have health and money for the road and for the support of their

families; moreover, he allows a deputy-pilgrim, whose expenses must be

paid by the principal. Ibn Malik, on the contrary, enjoins every

follower to visit Meccah, if able to walk, and to earn his bread on the

way. As a general rule, in Al-Islam there are four Shurut al-Wujub, or

necessary conditions, viz.:—

1. Islam, the being a Moslem.

2. Bulugh, adolescence.

3. Hurriyat, the being a free man.

4. Akl, or mental sanity.

Other authorities increase the conditions to eight, viz.:—

5. Wujud al-Zad, sufficiency of provision.

6. Al-Rahlah, having a beast of burthen, if living two days’ journey from

Meccah.

7. Takhliyat al-Tarik, the road being open; and

8. Imkan al-Masir, the being able to walk two stages, if the pilgrim

hath no beast.

Others, again, include all conditions under two heads:—

1. Sihhat, health.

2. Istita’at, ability.

These subjects have exercised not a little the casuistic talents of the

Arab doctors: a folio volume might be filled with differences of

opinion on the subject, “Is a blind man sound?”

[FN#3] The technical meaning of these words will be explained below.

[FN#4] At any other time of the year Ihram is considered Makruh, or

objectionable, without being absolutely sinful.

[FN#5] In other books the following directions are given to the

intended pilgrim:—Before leaving home he must pray two prostrations,

concluding the orisons with a long supplication and blessings upon

relatives, friends, and neighbours, and he must distribute not fewer

than seven silver pieces to the poor. The day should be either a

Thursday or a Saturday; some, however, say

“Allah hath honoured the Monday and the Thursday.”

If possible, the first of the month should be chosen, and the hour

early dawn. Moreover, the pilgrim should not start without a Rafik, or

companion, who should be a pious as well as a travelled man. The other

Mukaddamat al-Safar, or preambles to journeying, are the following.

Istikharah, consulting the rosary and friends. Khulus al-Niyat, vowing

pilgrimage to the Lord (not for lucre or revenge). Settling worldly

affairs, paying debts, drawing up a will, and making arrangements for

the support of one’s family. Hiring animals from a pious person. The best

monture is a camel, because preferred by the Prophet; an ass is not

commendable; a man should not walk if he can afford to ride; and the

palanquin or litter is, according to some doctors, limited to invalids.

Reciting long prayers when mounting, halting, dismounting, and at

nightfall. On hills the Takbir should be used: the Tasbih is properest

for vales and plains; and Meccah should be blessed when first sighted.

Avoiding abuse, curses, or quarrels. Sleeping like the Prophet, namely,

in early night (when prayer-hour is distant), with “Iftirash,” or lying at

length with the right cheek on the palm of the dexter hand; and near

dawn with “Ittaka,” i.e. propping the head upon the hand, with the arm

resting upon the elbow. And, lastly, travelling with collyrium-pot,

looking-glass and comb, needle and thread for sewing, scissors and

tooth-stick, staff and razor.

[FN#6] In the Shafe’i school there is little difference between Al-Farz

and Al-Wajib. In the Hanafi the former is a superior obligation to the

latter.

[FN#7] The Hanafi, Maliki, and even some Shafe’i doctors, reduce the

number from six to four, viz.:—

1. Ihram, with “Niyat.”

2. Tawaf.

3. Wukuf.

4. Sai.

[FN#8] The Ifazah is the impetuous descent from Mount Arafat. Its

Tawaf, generally called Tawaf al-Ziyarat, less commonly Tawaf al-Sadr

or Tawaf al-Nuzul, is that performed immediately after throwing the

stones and resuming the laical dress on the victim-day at Mount Muna.

[FN#9] Shaving is better for men, cutting for women. A razor must be

passed over the bald head; but it is sufficient to burn, pluck, shave,

or clip three hairs when the chevelure is long.

[FN#10] The known Mikat are: North, Zu’l Halifah; North-East, Karn

al-Manazil; North-West, Al-Juhfah ([Arabic]) South, Yalamlam; East, Zat

Irk.

[FN#11] This Tawaf is described in chapter v.

[FN#12] Generally speaking, as will afterwards be shown, the pilgrims

pass straight through Muzdalifah, and spend the night at Muna.

[FN#13] The “Tawaf al-Wida’a” is considered a solemn occasion. The pilgrim

first performs circumambulation. He drinks the waters of Zemzem, kisses

the Ka’abah threshold, and stands for some time with his face and body

pressed against the Multazem. There, on clinging to the curtain of the

Ka’abah, he performs Takbir, Tahlil, Tahmid, and blesses the Prophet,

weeping, if possible, but certainly groaning. He then leaves the

Mosque, backing out of it with tears and lamentations, till he reaches

the “Bab al-Wida’a,” whence, with a parting glance at the Bayt Ullah, he

wends his way home.

[FN#14] See chapter v.

[FN#15] Many pronounce this Niyat. If intending to perform pilgrimage,

the devotee, standing, before prayer says, “I vow this intention of Hajj

to Allah the most High.”

[FN#16] In spite of this interdiction, pilgrims generally, for

convenience, knot their shoulder-clothes under the right arm.

[FN#17] Hunting, killing, or maiming beasts in Sanctuary land and

cutting down trees, are acts equally forbidden to the Muhrim and the

Muhill (the Moslem in his normal state). For a large tree a camel, for

a small one a sheep, must be sacrificed.

[FN#18] See chapter v. After the “Talbiyat” the pilgrim should bless the

Prophet, and beg from Allah paradise and protection from hell, saying, “O

Allah, by thy mercy spare us from the pains of hell-fire!”

[FN#19] Most of these injunctions are “meritorious,” and may therefore [be]

omitted without prejudice to the ceremony.

[FN#20] Namely, the victim sacrificed on the great festival day at Muna.

[FN#21] So the commentators explain “Badanah.”

[FN#22] A man’s “Aurat” is from the navel to the knee; in the case of a free

woman the whole of her face and person are “shame.”

[FN#23] If the pilgrim place but his hand upon the Shazarwan, or on the

Hijr, the Tawaf is nullified.

[FN#24] This is a purely Shafe’i practice; the Hanafi school rejects it

on the grounds that the Word of God should not be repeated when walking

or running.

[FN#25] The reader will observe (chapter v.), that the Mutawwif made me

reverse this order of things.

[FN#26] It is better to recite these prayers mentally; but as few

pilgrims know them by heart, they are obliged to repeat the words of

the cicerone.

[FN#27] This portion is to be recited twice.

[FN#28] A woman, or a hermaphrodite, is enjoined to stand below the

steps and in the street.

[FN#29] Women and hermaphrodites should not run here, but walk the

whole way. I have frequently, however, seen the former imitating the

men.

[FN#30] The Arab legend is, that the angels asking the Almighty why

Ibrahim was called Al-Khalil (or God’s friend); they were told that all

his thoughts were fixed on heaven; and when they called to mind that he

had a wife and child, Allah convinced them of the Patriarch’s sanctity by

a trial. One night Ibrahim saw, in a vision, a speaker, who said to

him, “Allah orders thee to draw near him with a victim!” He awoke, and not

comprehending the scope of the dream, took especial notice of it

([Arabic]); hence the first day of pilgrimage is called Yaum

al-Tarwiyah. The same speaker visited him on the next night, saying,

“Sacrifice what is dearest to thee!” From the Patriarch’s knowing ([Arabic])

what the first vision meant, the second day is called Yaum Arafat. On

the third night he was ordered to sacrifice Ismail; hence that day is

called Yaum Nahr (of “throat-cutting”). The English reader will bear in

mind that the Moslem day begins at sunset. I believe that the origin of

“Tarwiyat” (which may mean “carrying water”) dates from the time of pagan

Arabs, who spent that day in providing themselves with the necessary.

Yaum Arafat derives its name from the hill, and Yaum al-Nahr from the

victims offered to the idols in the Muna valley.

[FN#31] The present generation of pilgrims, finding the delay

inconvenient, always pass on to Arafat without halting, and generally

arrive at the mountain late in the afternoon of the 8th, that is to

say, the first day of pilgrimage. Consequently, they pray the morning

prayer of the 9th at Arafat.

[FN#32] This place will be described afterwards.

[FN#33] The Shafe’i when engaged on a journey which takes up a night and

day, is allowed to shorten his prayers, and to “join” the noon with the

afternoon, and the evening with the night devotions; thus reducing the

number of times from five to three per diem. The Hanafi school allows

this on one day and on one occasion only, namely, on the ninth of Zu’l

Hijjah (arriving at Muzdalifah), when at the “Isha” hour it prays the

Magh[r]ib and the Isha prayers together.

[FN#34] If the pilgrim be too late for the sermon, his labour is

irretrievably lost.—M. Caussin de Perceval (vol. iii. pp. 301-305) makes

the Prophet to have preached from his camel Al-Kaswa on a platform at

Mount Arafat before noon, and to have again addressed the people after

the post-meridian prayers at the station Al-Sakharat. Mohammed’s last

pilgrimage, called by Moslems Hajjat al-Bilagh (“of perfection,” as

completing the faith), Hajjat al-Islam, or Hajjat al-Wida’a (“of farewell”),

is minutely described by historians as the type and pattern of

pilgrimage to all generations.

[FN#35] Ibn Abbas relates a tradition, that whoever recites this short

chapter 11,000 times on the Arafat day, shall obtain from Allah all he

desires.

[FN#36] Most schools prefer to sleep, as the Prophet did, at

Muzdalifah, pray the night devotions there, and when the yellowness of

the next dawn appears, collect the seven pebbles and proceed to Muna.

The Shafe’i, however, generally leave Muzdalifah about midnight.

[FN#37] These places will be minutely described in a future chapter.

[FN#38] id al-Kurban, or the Festival of Victims (known to the Turks as

Kurban Bayram, to the Indians as Bakar-id, the Kine Fete), id al-Zuha,

“of forenoon,” or id al-Azha, “of serene night.” The day is called Yaum

al-Nahr, “of throat-cutting.”

[FN#39] If the ceremony of “Sai” has not been performed by the pilgrim

after the circuit of arrival, he generally proceeds to it on this

occasion.

[FN#40] This day is known in books as “Yaum al-Karr,” because the pilgrims

pass it in repose at Muna.

[FN#41] “The days of drying flesh,” because at this period pilgrims prepare

provisions for their return, by cutting up their victims, and exposing

to the sun large slices slung upon long lines of cord. The schools have

introduced many modifications into the ceremonies of these three days.

Some spend the whole time at Muna, and return to Meccah on the morning

of the 13th. Others return on the 12th, especially when that day

happens to fall upon a Friday.

[FN#42] As will afterwards appear, the number of stones and the way of

throwing them vary greatly in the various schools.

[FN#43] The difference in the pillars of Umrah and Hajj, is that in the

former the standing on Arafat and the Tawaf al-Ifazah are necessarily

omitted.

[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 illustrated 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] principally 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 coarse Saracen workmanship; 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 workmanship. 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, grass 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 massive 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

quantity 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 space

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

asserted 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 glass 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 coarser 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 pagodas.[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 space under this Makam in front, and behind

it the female Hadjys who visit the temple have their places assigned,

to which they repair principally 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

massive 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

passing 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 passing under the latter they are to exclaim, ‘O God,

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 space 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 space between this Makam and Zem

Zem[FN#48]; from which circumstance 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 principal 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 pass through from Khadijah’s house;

and, lastly, near the south-east corner, the Bab Ali, or of the Benu

Hashim, 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 worship, and at

other times by idlers, schoolboys, and merchants. Passing 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 circumambulating 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 pass 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 assembled within the

[p.318] temple. Upon a level with the ground floor of the colonnades

and opening into them are small apartments formed in the walls, having

the appearance of dungeons; these have remained the property of the

Mosque while the houses above them belong to private individuals. They

are let out to water-men, who deposit in them the Zem Zem jars, or to

less opulent Hadjys who wish to live in the Mosque.[FN#57] Some of the

surrounding houses still belong to the Mosque, and were originally

intended for public schools, as their names of Medresa implies; they

are now all let out to Hadjys.”

“The exterior of the Mosque is adorned with seven minarets irregularly

distributed:—1. Minaret of Bab el Omra (Umrah); 2. Of Bab el Salam; 3. Of

Bab Aly; 4. Of Bab el Wodaa (Wida’a); 5. Of Medesa Kail (Kait) Bey; 6. Of

Bab el Zyadi; 7. Of Medreset Sultan Soleyman.[FN#58] They are

quadrangular or round steeples, in no way differing from other

minarets. The entrance to them is from the different buildings round

the Mosque, which they adjoin.[FN#59] A beautiful view of the busy

crowd below is attained by ascending the most northern one.[FN#60]”

Having described at length the establishment

[p.319] attached to the Mosque of Al-Madinah, I spare my readers a

detailed account of the crowd of idlers that hang about the Meccan

temple. The Naib al-Harim, or vice-intendant, is one Sayyid Ali, said

to be of Indian extraction; he is superior to all the attendants. There

are about eighty eunuchs, whose chief, Sarur Agha, was a slave of

Mohammed Ali Pasha. Their pay varies from 100 to 1,000 piastres per

mensem; it is, however, inferior to the Madinah salaries. The Imams,

Mu’ezzins, Khatibs, Zemzemis, &c., &c., are under their respective

Shaykhs who are of the Olema.[FN#61]

Briefly to relate the history of the Ka’abah.

The “House of Allah” is supposed to have been built and rebuilt ten times.

1. The first origin of the idea is manifestly a symbolical allusion to

the angels standing before the Almighty and praising his name. When

Allah, it is said, informed the celestial throng that he was about to

send a vice-regent on earth, they deprecated the design. Being reproved

with these words, “God knoweth what ye know not,” and dreading the eternal

anger, they compassed the Arsh, or throne, in adoration. Upon this

Allah created the Bayt al-Ma’amur, four jasper pillars with a ruby roof,

[p.320] and the angels circumambulated it, crying, “Praise to Allah, and

exalted be Allah, and there is no ilah but Allah, and Allah is

omnipotent!” The Creator then ordered them to build a similar house for

man on earth. This, according to Ali, took place 40, according to Abu

Hurayrah, 2,000 years before the creation; both authorities, however,

are agreed that the firmaments were spread above and the seven earths

beneath this Bayt al-Ma’amur.

2. There is considerable contradiction concerning the second house. Ka’ab

related that Allah sent down with Adam[FN#62] a Khaymah, or tabernacle

of hollow ruby, which the angels raised on stone pillars. This was also

called Bayt al-Ma’amur. Adam received an order to compass it about; after

which, he begged a reward for obedience, and was promised a pardon to

himself and to all his progeny who repent.

Others declare that Adam, expelled from Paradise, and lamenting that he

no longer heard the prayers of the angels, was ordered by Allah to take

the stones of five hills, Lebanon, Sinai, Tur Zayt (Olivet), Ararat,

and Hira, which afforded the first stone. Gabriel, smiting his wing

upon earth, opened a foundation to the seventh layer, and the position

of the building is exactly below the heavenly Bayt al-Ma’amur,—a Moslem

corruption of the legends concerning the heavenly and the earthly

Jerusalem. Our First Father circumambulated it as he had seen the

angels do, and was by them taught the formula of prayer and the number

of circuits.

According to others, again, this second house was not erected till

after the “Angelic Foundation” was destroyed by time.

3. The history of the third house is also somewhat

[p.321] confused. When the Bayt al-Ma’amur, or, as others say, the

tabernacle, was removed to heaven after Adam’s death, a stone-and-mud

building was placed in its stead by his son Shays (Seth). For this

reason it is respected by the Sabaeans, or Christians of St. John, as

well as by the Moslems. This Ka’abah, according to some, was destroyed by

the deluge, which materially altered its site. Others believe that it

was raised to heaven. Others, again, declare that only the pillars

supporting the heavenly tabernacle were allowed to remain. Most

authorities agree in asserting that the Black Stone was stored up in

Abu Kubays, whence that “first created of mountains” is called Al-Amin, “the

Honest.”

4. Abraham and his son were ordered to build the fourth house upon the

old foundations: its materials, according to some, were taken from the

five hills which supplied the second; others give the names Ohod, Kuds,

Warka, Sinai, Hira, and a sixth, Abu Kubays. It was of irregular shape;

32 cubits from the Eastern to the Northern corner; 32 from North to

West; 31 from West to South; 20 from South to East; and only 9 cubits

high. There was no roof; two doors, level with the ground, were pierced

in the Eastern and Western walls; and inside, on the right hand, near

the present entrance, a hole for treasure was dug. Gabriel restored the

Black Stone, which Abraham, by his direction, placed in its present

corner, as a sign where circumambulation is to begin; and the patriarch

then learned all the complicated rites of pilgrimage. When this house

was completed, Abraham, by Allah’s order, ascended Jabal Sabir, and

called the world to visit the sanctified spot; and all earth’s sons heard

him, even those “in their father’s loins or in their mother’s womb, from that

day unto the day of resurrection.”

5. The Amalikah (descended from Imlik, great grandson of Sam, son of

Noah), who first settled near Meccah, founded the fifth house.

Al-Tabari and the Moslem

[p.322] historians generally made the erection of the Amalikah to

precede that of the Jurham; these, according to others, repaired the

house which Abraham built.

6. The sixth Ka’abah was built about the beginning of the Christian era

by the Benu Jurham, the children of Kahtan, fifth descendant from Noah.

Ismail married, according to the Moslems, a daughter of this tribe,

Da’alah bint Muzaz ([Arabic]) bin Omar, and abandoning Hebrew, he began

to speak Arabic (Ta arraba). Hence his descendants are called

Arabicized Arabs. After Ismail’s death, which happened when he was 130

years old, Sabit, the eldest of his twelve sons, became “lord of the

house.” He was succeeded by his maternal grandfather Muzaz, and

afterwards by his children. The Jurham inhabited the higher parts of

Meccah, especially Jabal Ka’aka’an, so called from their clashing arms;

whereas the Amalikah dwelt in the lower grounds, which obtained the

name of Jiyad, from their generous horses.

7. Kusay bin Kilab, governor of Meccah and fifth forefather of the

Prophet, built the seventh house, according to Abraham’s plan. He roofed

it over with palm leaves, stocked it with idols, and persuaded his

tribe to settle near the Harim.

8. Kusay’s house was burnt down by a woman’s censer, which accidentally set

fire to the Kiswah, or covering, and the walls were destroyed by a

torrent. A merchant-ship belonging to a Greek trader, called “Bakum”

([Arabic]), being wrecked at Jeddah, afforded material for the roof,

and the crew were employed as masons. The Kuraysh tribe, who rebuilt

the house, failing in funds of pure money, curtailed its proportions by

nearly seven cubits and called the omitted portion Al-Hatim. In digging

the foundation they came to a green stone, like a camel’s hunch, which,

struck with a pickaxe, sent forth blinding lightning, and prevented

further excavation. The Kuraysh, amongst other alterations, raised the

walls

[p.323] from nine to eighteen cubits, built a staircase in the northern

breadth, closed the western door and placed the eastern entrance above

the ground, to prevent men entering without their leave.

When the eighth house was being built Mohammed was in his twenty-fifth

year. His surname of Al-Amin, the Honest, probably induced the tribes

to make him their umpire for the decision of a dispute about the

position of the Black Stone, and who should have the honour of raising

it to its place.[FN#63] He decided for the corner chosen by Abraham,

and distributed the privilege amongst the clans. The Benu Zahrah and

Benu Abd Manaf took the front wall and the door; to the Benu Jama and

the Benu Sahm was allotted the back wall; the Benu Makhzum and their

Kuraysh relations stood at the southern wall; and at the “Stone” corner

were posted the Benu Abd al-Dar, the Benu As’ad, and the Benu Ada.

9. Abdullah bin Zubayr, nephew of Ayishah, rebuilt the Ka’abah in A.H.

64. It had been weakened by fire, which burnt the covering, besides

splitting the Black Stone into three pieces, and by the Manjanik

(catapults) of Hosayn ([Arabic]) bin Numayr, general of Yazid, who

obstinately besieged Meccah till he heard of his sovereign’s death.

Abdullah, hoping to fulfil a prophecy,[FN#64] and seeing that the

people of Meccah fled in alarm, pulled down the building by means of

“thin-calved Abyssinian slaves.” When they came to Abraham’s foundation he

saw that it included Al-Hijr, which part the Kuraysh had been unable to

build. The building was made of cut stone and fine lime brought from

Al-Yaman. Abdullah, taking in the Hatim, lengthened the building by

seven cubits, and added to its former height nine cubits,

[p.324] thus making a total of twenty-seven. He roofed over the whole,

or a part; re-opened the western door, to serve as an exit; and,

following the advice of his aunt, who quoted the Prophet’s words, he

supported the interior with a single row of three columns, instead of

the double row of six placed there by the Kuraysh. Finally, he paved

the Mataf, or circuit, ten cubits round with the remaining slabs, and

increased the Harim by taking in the nearer houses. During the

building, a curtain was stretched round the walls, and pilgrims

compassed them externally. When finished, it was perfumed inside and

outside, and invested with brocade. Then Abdullah and all the citizens

went forth in a procession to the Tanim, a reverend place near Meccah,

returned to perform Umrah, the Lesser Pilgrimage, slew 100 victims, and

rejoiced with great festivities.

The Caliph Abd al-Malik bin Marwan besieged Abdullah bin Zubayr, who,

after a brave defence, was slain. In A.H. 74, Hajjaj bin Yusuf, general

of Abd al-Malik’s troops, wrote to the prince, informing him that

Abdullah had made unauthorised additions to and changes in the Harim:

the reply brought an order to rebuild the house. Hajjaj again excluded

the Hatim and retired the northern wall six cubits and a span, making

it twenty-five cubits long by twenty-four broad; the other three sides

were allowed to remain as built by the son of Zubayr. He gave the house

a double roof, closed the western door, and raised the eastern four

cubits and a span above the Mataf, or circuit, which he paved over. The

Harim was enlarged and beautified by the Abbasides, especially by

Al-Mahdi, Al-Mutamid, and Al-Mutazid. Some authors reckon, as an

eleventh house, the repairs made by Sultan Murad Khan. On the night of

Tuesday, 20th Sha’aban, A.H. 1030, a violent torrent swept the Harim; it

rose one cubit above the threshold of the Ka’abah, carried away the

lamp-posts and the

[p.325] Makam Ibrahim, all the northern wall of the house, half of the

eastern, and one-third of the western side. It subsided on Wednesday

night. The repairs were not finished till A.H. 1040. The greater part,

however, of the building dates from the time of Al Hajjaj; and Moslems,

who never mention his name without a curse, knowingly circumambulate

his work. The Olema indeed have insisted upon its remaining untouched,

lest kings in wantonness should change its form: Harun al-Rashid

desired to rebuild it, but was forbidden by the Imam Malik.

The present proofs of the Ka’abah’s sanctity, as adduced by the learned,

are puerile enough, but curious. The Olema have made much of the

verselet: “Verily the first house built for mankind (to worship in) is

that in Bakkah[FN#65] (Meccah), blessed and a salvation to the three

worlds. Therein (fihi) are manifest signs, the standing-place of

Abraham, which whoso entereth shall be safe” (Kor. ch. 3). The word “therein”

is interpreted to mean Meccah; and the “manifest signs” the Ka’abah, which

contains such marvels as the foot-prints on Abraham’s platform and the

spiritual safeguard of all who enter the Sanctuary.[FN#66] The other

“signs,” historical, psychical, and physical, are briefly these: The

preservation of the Hajar al-Aswad and the Makam Ibrahim from many

foes, and the miracles put forth (as in the War of the Elephant), to

defend the house; the violent and terrible deaths of the sacrilegious;

and the fact that, in the Deluge, the large fish did not eat the little

fish in the Harim. A wonderful desire and love impel men from distant

regions to visit the holy spot, and the first sight of the Ka’abah causes

awe and fear, horripilation and tears. Furthermore, ravenous beasts

will not destroy their prey in the Sanctuary land, and the pigeons and

other birds never perch upon the house, except to be

[p.326] cured of sickness, for fear of defiling the roof. The Ka’abah,

though small, can contain any number of devotees; no one is ever hurt

in it,[FN#67] and invalids recover their health by rubbing themselves

against the Kiswah and the Black Stone. Finally, it is observed that

every day 100,000 mercies descend upon the house, and especially that

if rain come up from the northern corner there is plenty in Irak; if

from the south, there is plenty in Yaman; if from the east, plenty in

India; if from the western, there is plenty in Syria; and if from all

four angles, general plenty is presignified.

[FN#1] “Bayt Ullah” (House of Allah) and “Ka’abah,” i.e. cube (house), “la maison

carree,” are synonymous.

[FN#2] Ali Bey gives 536 feet 9 inches by 356 feet: my measurement is

257 paces by 210. Most Moslem authors, reckoning by cubits, make the

parallelogram 404 by 310.

[FN#3] On each short side I counted 24 domes; on the long, 35. This

would give a total of 118 along the cloisters. The Arabs reckon in all

152; viz., 24 on the East side, on the North 36, on the South 36, one

on the Mosque corner, near the Zarurah minaret; 16 at the porch of the

Bab al-Ziyadah; and 15 at the Bab Ibrahim. The shape of these domes is

the usual “Media-Naranja,” and the superstition of the Meccans informs the

pilgrim that they cannot be counted. Books reckon 1352 pinnacles or

battlements on the temple wall.

[FN#4] The “common stone of the Meccah mountains” is a fine grey granite,

quarried principally from a hill near the Bab al-Shabayki, which

furnished material for the Ka’abah. Eastern authors describe the pillars

as consisting of three different substances, viz.: Rukham, white

marble, not “alabaster,” its general sense; Suwan, or granite (syenite?);

and Hajar Shumaysi,” a kind of yellow sandstone, so called from “Bir

Shumays,” a place on the Jeddah road near Haddah, the half-way station.

[FN#5] I counted in the temple 554 pillars. It is, however, difficult

to be accurate, as the four colonnades and the porticos about the two

great gates are irregular; topographical observations, moreover, must

here be made under difficulties. Ali Bey numbers them roughly at “plus de

500 colonnes et pilastres.”

[FN#6] The author afterwards informs us, that “the temple has been so

often ruined and repaired, that no traces of remote antiquity are to be

found about it.” He mentions some modern and unimportant inscriptions

upon the walls and over the gates. Knowing that many of the pillars

were sent in ships from Syria and Egypt by the Caliph Al-Mahdi, a

traveller would have expected better things.

[FN#7] The reason being, that “those shafts formed of the Meccan stone

are mostly in three pieces; but the marble shafts are in one piece.”

[FN#8] To this may be added, that the façades of the cloisters are

twenty-four along the short walls, and thirty-six along the others;

they have stone ornaments, not inaptly compared to the French “fleur de

lis.” The capital and bases of the outer pillars are grander and more

regular than the inner; they support pointed arches, and the Arab

secures his beloved variety by placing at every fourth arch a square

pilaster. Of these there are on the long sides ten, on the short seven.

[FN#9] I counted eight, not including the broad pavement which leads

from the Bab al-Ziyadah to the Ka’abah, or the four cross branches which

connect the main lines. These “Firash al-Hajar,” as they are called, also

serve to partition off the area. One space for instance is called “Haswat

al-Harim,” or the “Women’s sanded place,” because appropriated to female

devotees.

[FN#10] The jars are little amphoræ, each inscribed with the name of the

donor and a peculiar cypher.

[FN#11] My measurements give 22 paces or 55 feet in length by 18 (45)

of breadth, and the height appeared greater than the length. Ali Bey

makes the Eastern side 37 French feet, 2 inches and 6 lines, the

Western 38° 4' 6", the Northern 29 feet, the Southern 31° 6', and the

height 34° 4'. He therefore calls it a “veritable trapezium.” In Al-Idrisi’s

time it was 25 cubits by 24, and 27 cubits high.

[FN#12] I would alter this sentence thus:—“It is built of fine grey granite

in horizontal courses of masonry of irregular depth; the stones are

tolerably fitted together, and are held by excellent mortar like Roman

cement.” The lines are also straight.

[FN#13] This base is called Al-Shazarwan, from the Persian Shadarwan, a

cornice, eaves, or canopy. It is in pent-house shape, projecting about

a foot beyond the wall, and composed of fine white marble slabs,

polished like glass; there are two breaks in it, one opposite and under

the doorway, and another in front of Ishmael’s tomb. Pilgrims are

directed, during circumambulation, to keep their bodies outside of the

Shazarwan ; this would imply it to be part of the building, but its

only use appears in the large brass rings welded into it, for the

purpose of holding down the Ka’abah covering.

[FN#14] Ali Bey also errs in describing the roof as “plat endessus.” Were

such the case, rain would not pour off with violence through the spout.

Most Oriental authors allow a cubit of depression from South-West to

North-West. In Al-Idrisi’s day the Ka’abah had a double roof. Some say this

is the case in the present building, which has not been materially

altered in shape since its restoration by Al-Hajjaj, A.H. 83. The roof

was then eighteen cubits long by fifteen broad.

[FN#15] In Ibn Jubayr’s time the Ka’abah was opened every day in Rajah, and

in other months on every Monday and Friday. The house may now be

entered ten or twelve times a year gratis; and by pilgrims as often as

they can collect, amongst parties, a sum sufficient to tempt the

guardians’ cupidity.

[FN#16] This mistake, in which Burckhardt is followed by all our

popular authors, is the more extraordinary, as all Arabic authors call

the door-wall Janib al-Mashrik—the Eastern side—or Wajh al-Bayt, the front

of the house, opposed to Zahr al-Bayt, the back. Niebuhr is equally in

error when he asserts that the door fronts to the South. Arabs always

hold the “Rukn al-Iraki,” or Irak angle, to face the polar star, and so it

appears in Ali Bey’s plan. The Ka’abah, therefore, has no Northern side.

And it must be observed that Moslem writers dispose the length of the

Ka’abah from East to West, whereas our travellers make it from North to

South. Ali Bey places the door only six feet from the pavement, but he

calculates distances by the old French measure. It is about seven feet

from the ground, and six from the corner of the Black Stone. Between

the two the space of wall is called Al-Multazem (in Burckhardt, by a

clerical error, “Al-Metzem,” vol. i. p. 173). It derives its name, the

“attached-to,” because here the circumambulator should apply his bosom, and

beg pardon for his sins. Al-Multazem, according to M. de Perceval,

following d’Ohsson, was formerly “le lieu des engagements,” whence, according

to him, its name[.] “Le Moltezem,” says M. Galland (Rits et Ceremonies du

Pelerinage de la Mecque), “qui est entre la pierre noire et la porte, est

l’endroit ou Mahomet se reconcilia avec ses dix compagnons, qui disaient

qu’il n’etait pas veritablement Prophete.”

[FN#17] From the Bab al-Ziyadah, or gate in the northern colonnade, you

descend by two flights of steps, in all about twenty-five. This

depression manifestly arises from the level of the town having been

raised, like Rome, by successive layers of ruins; the most populous and

substantial quarters (as the Shamiyah to the north) would, we might

expect, be the highest, and this is actually the case. But I am unable

to account satisfactorily for the second hollow within the temple, and

immediately around the house of Allah, where the door, according to all

historians, formerly on a level with the pavement, and now about seven

feet above it, shows the exact amount of depression, which cannot be

accounted for simply by calcation. Some chroniclers assert, that when

the Kuraysh rebuilt the house they raised the door to prevent devotees

entering without their permission. But seven feet would scarcely oppose

an entrance, and how will this account for the floor of the building

being also raised to that height above the pavement? It is curious to

observe the similarity between this inner hollow of the Meccan fane and

the artificial depression of the Hindu pagoda where it is intended to

be flooded. The Hindus would also revere the form of the Meccan fane,

exactly resembling their square temples, at whose corners are placed

Brahma, Vishnu, Shiwa and Ganesha, who adore the great Universal

Generator in the centre. The second door anciently stood on the side of

the temple opposite the present entrance; inside, its place can still

be traced. Ali Bey suspects its having existed in the modern building,

and declares that the exterior surface of the wall shows the tracery of

a blocked-up door, similar to that still open. Some historians declare

that it was closed by the Kuraysh when they rebuilt the house in

Mohammed’s day, and that subsequent erections have had only one. The

general opinion is, that Al-Hajjaj finally closed up the western

entrance. Doctors also differ as to its size; the popular measurement

is three cubits broad and a little more than five in length.

[FN#18] Pilgrims and ignorant devotees collect the drippings of wax,

the ashes of the aloe-wood, and the dust from the “Atabah,” or threshold of

the Ka’abah, either to rub upon their foreheads or to preserve as relics.

These superstitious practices are sternly rebuked by the Olema.

[FN#19] For North-East read South-East.

[FN#20] I will not enter into the fabulous origin of the Hajar

al-Aswad. Some of the traditions connected with it are truly absurd.

“When Allah,” says Ali, “made covenant with the Sons of Adam on the Day of

Fealty, he placed the paper inside the stone”; it will, therefore, appear

at the judgment, and bear witness to all who have touched it. Moslems

agree that it was originally white, and became black by reason of men’s

sins. It appeared to me a common aerolite covered with a thick slaggy

coating, glossy and pitch-like, worn and polished. Dr. Wilson, of

Bombay, showed me a specimen in his possession, which externally

appeared to be a black slag, with the inside of a bright and sparkling

greyish-white, the result of admixture of nickel [p.301] with the iron.

This might possibly, as the learned Orientalist then suggested, account

for the mythic change of colour, its appearance on earth after a

thunderstorm, and its being originally a material part of the heavens.

Kutb al-Din expressly declares that, when the Karamitah restored it

after twenty-two years to the Meccans, men kissed it and rubbed it upon

their brows; and remarked that the blackness was only superficial, the

inside being white. Some Greek philosophers, it will be remembered,

believed the heavens to be composed of stones (Cosmos, “Shooting Stars”):

and Sanconiathon, ascribing the aerolite-worship to the god Cœlus,

declares them to be living or animated stones. “The Arabians,” says Maximus

of Tyre (Dissert. 38, p. 455), “pay homage to I know not what god, which

they represent by a quadrangular stone.” The gross fetichism of the

Hindus, it is well known, introduced them to litholatry. At Jagannath

they worship a pyramidal black stone, fabled to have fallen from

heaven, or miraculously to have presented itself on the place where the

temple now stands. Moreover, they revere the Salagram, as the emblem of

Vishnu, the second person in their triad. The rudest emblem of the “Bonus

Deus” was a round stone. It was succeeded in India by the cone and

triangle; in Egypt by the pyramid; in Greece it was represented by

cones of terra-cotta about three inches and a half long. Without going

deep into theory, it may be said that the Ka’abah and the Hajar are the

only two idols which have survived the 360 composing the heavenly host

of the Arab pantheon. Thus the Hindu poet exclaims:—

“Behold the marvels of my idol-temple, O Moslem!

That when its idols are destroy’d, it becomes Allah’s House.”

Wilford (As. Soc. vols. iii. and iv.) makes the Hindus declare that the

Black Stone at Mokshesha, or Moksha-sthana (Meccah) was an incarnation

of Moksheshwara, an incarnation of Shiwa, who with his consort visited

Al-Hijaz. When the Ka’abah was rebuilt, this emblem was placed in the

outer wall for contempt, but the people still respected it. In the

Dabistan the Black Stone is said to be an image of Kaywan or Saturn;

and Al-Shahristani also declares the temple to have been dedicated to

the same planet Zuhal, whose genius is represented in the Puranas as

fierce, hideous, four-armed, and habited in a black cloak, with a dark

turband. Moslem historians are unanimous in asserting that Sasan, son

of Babegan, and other Persian monarchs, gave rich presents to the

Ka’abah; they especially mention two golden crescent moons, a significant

offering. The Guebers assert that, among the images and relics left by

Mahabad and his successors in the Ka’abah, was the Black Stone, an emblem

of Saturn. They also call the city Mahgah— moon’s place—from an exceedingly

beautiful image of the moon; whence they say the Arabs derived “Meccah.”

And the Sabaeans equally respect the Ka’abah and the pyramids, which they

assert to be the tombs of Seth, Enoch (or Hermes), and Sabi the son of

Enoch. Meccah, then, is claimed as a sacred place, and the Hajar

al-Aswad, as well as the Ka’abah, are revered as holy emblems by four

different faiths—the Hindu, Sabæan, Gueber, and Moslem. I have little

doubt, and hope to prove at another time, that the Jews connected it

with traditions about Abraham. This would be the fifth religion that

looked towards the Ka’abah—a rare meeting-place of devotion.

[FN#21] Presenting this appearance in profile. The Hajar has suffered

from the iconoclastic principle of Islam, having once narrowly escaped

destruction by order of Al-Hakim of Egypt. In these days the metal rim

serves as a protection as well as an ornament.

[FN#22] The height of the Hajar from the ground, according to my

measurement, is four feet nine inches; Ali Bey places it forty-two

inches above the pavement.

[FN#23] The colour was black and metallic, and the centre of the stone

was sunk about two inches below the metal circle. Round the sides was a

reddish-brown cement, almost level with the metal, and sloping down to

the middle of the stone. Ibn Jubayr declares the depth of the stone

unknown, but that most people believe it to extend two cubits into the

wall. In his day it was three “Shibr” (the large span from the thumb to the

little finger-tip) broad, and one span long, with knobs, and a joining

of four pieces, which the Karamitah had broken. The stone was set in a

silver band. “Its softness and moisture were such,” says Ibn Jubayr, “that

the sinner would never remove his mouth from it, which phenomenon made

the Prophet declare it to be the covenant of Allah on earth.”

[FN#24] The band is now a massive circle of gold or silver gilt. I

found the aperture in which the stone is, one span and three fingers

broad.

[FN#25] The “Rukn al-Yamani” is the corner facing the South. The part

alluded to in the text is the wall of the Ka’abah, between the Shami and

Yamani angles, distant about three feet from the latter, and near the

site of the old western door, long since closed. The stone is darker

and redder than the rest of the wall. It is called Al-Mustajab (or

Mustajab min al-Zunub or Mustajab al-Dua, “where prayer is granted”).

Pilgrims here extend their arms, press their bodies against the

building, and beg pardon for their sins.

[FN#26] I have frequently seen it kissed by men and women.

[FN#27] Al-Ma’ajan, the place of mixing or kneading, because the

patriarchs here kneaded the mud used as cement in the holy building.

Some call it Al-Hufrah (the digging), and it is generally known as

Makam Jibrail (the place of Gabriel), because here descended the

inspired order for the five daily prayers, and at this spot the

Archangel and the Prophet performed their devotions, making it a most

auspicious spot. It is on the north of the door, from which it is

distant about two feet; its length is seven spans and seven fingers;

breadth five spans three fingers; and depth one span four fingers. The

following sentence from Herklet’s “Qanoon e Islam” (ch. xii. sec. 5) may

serve to show the extent of error still popular. The author, after

separating the Bayt Ullah from the Ka’abah, erroneously making the former

the name of the whole temple, proceeds to say, “the rain-water which

falls on its (the Ka’abah’s) terrace runs off through a golden spout on a

stone near it, called Rookn-e-Yemeni, or alabaster-stone), and stands

over the grave of Ismaeel.”—!

[FN#28] Generally called Mizab al-Rahmah (of Mercy). It carries rain

from the roof, and discharges it upon Ishmael’s grave, where pilgrims

stand fighting to catch it. In Al-Idrisi’s time it was of wood; now it is

said to be gold, but it looks very dingy.

[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 asserts that the

Mekkawi no longer apply the word, as some historians do, to the space

bounded by the Ka’abah, the Partition, 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 space 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 circumambulation.

[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 glass 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

passes 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 principal 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 manuscripts

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 Nushirawan’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, principally 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 passes 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 illustrated this chapter, which otherwise might be

unintelligible to many, by a plan of the Ka’abah (taken from Ali Bey

al-Abbasi), which Burckhardt pronounced 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 Hebræized 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 MURSHID'S DIPLOMA, IN THE KADIRI ORDER OF THE MYSTIC

CRAFT AL-TASAWWUF.

[ TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: Footnote 1 gives a description of the original

manuscript. 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 god 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 passed 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 god but

Allah—Shaykh

Abd al-Kadir

—a thing to

Allah.[FN#3]

Sayyid A

Son of Sayyid B

of C.[FN#4]

And of him—In the name of Allah the Merciful, the Compassionate—we beg aid.

Praise be to Allah, opener of the locks of hearts with his name, and withdrawer of the veils of hidden

[p.328] things with his beneficence, and raiser of the flags of

increase to those who persevere in thanking him. I praise him because that he hath made us of the people of Unity. And I thank him, being desirous of his benefits. And I bless and salute our Lord Mohammed, the best of his Prophets and of his Servants, and (I bless and salute) his (Mohammed's) family and companions, the excelling indignity, for the increase of their dignity and its augmentation. But afterwards thus saith the needy slave, who confesseth his sins and his weakness and his faults, and hopeth for the pardon of his Lord the Almighty—Sayyid A the Kadiri,son of Sayyid B the Kadiri, son of Sayyid Abu Bakr the Kadiri, son of Sayyid Ismail the Kadiri, son of Sayyid Abd al-Wahhab the Kadiri, son of Sayyid Nur al-Din the Kadiri, son of Sayyid Darwaysh the Kadiri, son of Sayyid Husam al-Din the Kadiri, son of Sayyid Nur al-Din the Kadiri, son of Sayyid Waly al-Din the Kadiri, son of Sayyid Zayn al-Din the Kadiri, son of Sayyid Sharaf al-Din the Kadiri, son of Sayyid Shams al-Din the Kadiri, son of Sayyid Mohammeda I-Hattak, son of Sayyid Abd al-Aziz, son of the

[p.329] Sayyid of Sayyids, Polar-Star of Existence, the White Pearl, the Lord of the Reins of (worldy) possession, the Chief of (Allah's) friends, the incomparable Imam, the Essence negativing accidents, the Polar Star of Polar Stars,[FN#5] the Greatest Assistance,[FN#6] the Uniter of the Lover and the Beloved,[FN#7]the Sayyid (Prince), the Shaykh (Teacher), Muhiyal-Din, Abd al-Kadir of Jilan,[FN#8] Allah sanctify his honoured Sepulchre, and Allah enlighten his place of rest!—Son of Abu Salih Muse Jangi-dost, son of Sayyid Abdullah al-Jayli, son of Sayyid Yahya al-Zahid, son of Sayyid Mohammed, son of Sayyid Da'ud,son of Sayyid Musa, son of Sayyid Abdullah, son of Sayyid Musa al-Juni, son of Sayyid Abdullah al-Mahz, son of Sayyid Hasan al-Musanna,[FN#9] son of theImam Hasan, Son of the Imam and the Amir ofTrue Believers, Ali the son of Abu Talib—may Allah be satisfied with him!—Son of Abd al-Mut-Talib,[FN#10] son of Hashim, son of Abd al-Manaf, son of Kusay, son of Kilab, son of Murrat, son of Ka’ab, Son of Luwiyy, son of Ghalib, son of Fihr (Kuraysh), Son of Malik, son of Nazr, son of Kananah, son of Khuzaymah, son of Mudrikah, son of Iliyas, son of

[p.330] Muzarr, son of Nizar, son of Adnan,[FN#11] son of Ada, son of Udad, son of Mahmisah, son of Hamal, son of Nayyit, son of Kuzar, son of Ismail, son of Ibrahim, son of Karikh, son of Kasir, son of Arghwa, son of Phaligh, son of Shalikh, son of Kaynan, son of Arfakhshad, son of Sam, son of Noah, son of Shays, son of Adam the Father of Mankind[FN#12]—with whom be Peace, and upon our Prophet the best of blessings and salutation!—and Adam was of dust, and dust is of the earth, and earth is of foam, and foam is of the wave, and the wave is of water,[FN#13] and water is of the rainy firmament, and the rainy firmament is of Power, and Power is of Will, and Will is of the Omniscience of the glorious God. But afterwards that good man, the approaching to his Lord, the averse to all besides him, the desirous of the abodes of futurity, the hoper for mercy, the Darwayah Abd-ullah[FN#14] son of

the Pilgrim Joseph the Afghan,—henceforward let him be known by the name of "Darwaysh King-in-the-name-of-Allah!"—hath ccome to us and visited us and begged of us instruction in the Saying of Unity. I therefore taught him the saying which I learned by ordinance from my Shaykh and my instructor and

[p.331] my paternal uncle Sayyid the Shaykh Abd al-Kadir[FN#15] the Kadiri, son of the Sayyid the Shaykh Abu Bakr the Kadiri, son of the Sayyid the Shaykh Ismail the Kadiri, son of the Sayyid the Shaykh Abd al-Wahhab the Kadiri, son of the Sayyid the Shaykh Nur al-Din the Kadiri, son of the Sayyid the Shaykh Shahdarwaysh the Kadiri, son of the Sayyid the Shaykh Husam al-Din the Kadiri, son of the Sayyid the Shaykh Nur al-Din the Kadiri, from his sire and Shaykh Waly al-Din the Kadiri, from his sire and Shaykh Zayn al-Din the Kadiri, from his sire and Shaykh Sharafil al-Din the Kadiri, from his sire and Shaykh Mohammed al-Hattak the Kadiri, from his sire and Shaykh Abd al-Aziz—Allah sanctify his honoured Sepulchre and Allah enlighten his Place of rest!—from his sire and Shaykh Sayyid the Polar Star of Existence, the White Pearl, the Polar Star of Holy Men, the Director of those that tread the Path, the Sayyid the Shaykh Muhiyy al-Din Abd al-Kadir of Jilan—Allah sanctify his honoured Sepulchre and Allah

enlighten his place of rest! Amen!—from his Shaykh the Shaykh Abu-Sa'id al-Mubarak al-Makhzumi, from his Shaykh the Shaykh Abu 'I Hasan, al-Hankari,

[p.332] from his Shaykh the Shaykh Abu Faras al-Tarsusi, from his Shaykh the Shaykh Abd al-Wahidal-Tamimi, from his Shaykh the Shaykh Abu 'l Kasim al-Junayd of Baghdad, from his Shaykh the Shaykh al-Sirri al-Sakati, from his Shaykh the Shaykh al-Ma'aruf al-Karkhi, from his Shaykh the Shaykh Da'ud al-Tai, from his Shaykh the Shaykh Habib al-'Ajami, from his Shaykh the Shaykh al-Hasan of Bussorah, from his Shaykh the Prince of True Believers, Ali Son of Abu Talib—Allah be satisfied with him! and

Allah honour his countenance!—from the Prophet of Allah, upon whom may Allah have mercy, from Jibrail, from the Omnipotent, the Glorious.

And afterwards we taught him (i.e. that good man Abdullah) the Saying of Unity, and ordered its recital 165 times after each

Farizah,[FN#16] and on all occasions according to his capability. And Allah have mercy upon our Lord Mohammed and upon His Family and upon His Companions one and all! And praise be to Allah, Lord of the (three) worlds!It is finished.There is no god but Allah! Number[FN#17] 165.

[FN#1] This document is written upon slips of paper pasted together, 4

feet 5 inches long, by about 6 1/2 inches broad, and contains

altogether 71 lines below the triangle. The divisions are in red ink.

It rolls up and fits into a cylinder of tin, to which are attached

small silk cords, to sling it over the shoulder when travelling or on

pilgrimage.

[FN#2] The names are here omitted for obvious reasons.

[FN#3] Facsimile of the seal of the Great Abd al-Kadir. This upon the

document is a sign that the owner has become a master in the craft.

[FN#4] This is the living Shaykh's seal, and is the only one applied to

the apprentice's diploma.

[FN#5] Or Prince of Princes, a particular degree in Tasawwuf.

[FN#6] Ghaus (Assistance) also means a person who, in Tasawwuf, has

arrived at the highest point to which fervour of devotion leads.

[FN#7] The human soul, and its supreme source.

[FN#8] For a short notice of this celebrated mystic, see d'Herbelot,

"Abdalcader.

[FN#9] "Hasan the Second," from whom sprung the Sharifs of Al-Hijaz.

[FN#10] Father to Abdullah, Father of Mohammed.

[FN#11] Dated by M.C. de Perceval about 130 years B.C.

[FN#12] Thus, between Adnan and Adam we have eighteen generations!

Al-Wakidi and Al-Tabiri give forty between Adnan and Ishmael, which Ibn

Khaldun, confirmed by M.C. de Perceval, thinks is too small a number.

The text, however, expresses the popular estimate. But it must be

remembered that the Prophet used to say, "beyond Adnan none but Allah

knoweth, and the genealogists lie."

[FN#13] Moslems cleaving to the Neptunian theory of earthy origin.

[FN#14] Your humble servant, gentle reader.

[FN#15] The former genealogy proved my master to be what is technically

called "Khalifah Jaddi," or hereditary in his dignity. The following

table shows that he is also "Khulfai" (adopted to succeed), and gives

the name and the descendants of the holy man who adopted him.

[FN#16] Each obligatory prayer is called a Farizah. The Shaykh

therefore directs the Saying of Unity, i.e. La ilaha illa llah, to be

repeated 825 times per diem.

[FN#17] i.e. number of repetitions after each obligatory prayer.

[p.333]APPENDIX IV.

THE NAVIGATION AND VOYAGES OF LUDOVICUS

VERTOMANNUS, GENTLEMAN OF ROME.

A.D. 1503.

THE first of the pilgrims to Meccah and Al-Madinah who has left an

authentic account of the Holy Cities is “Lewes Wertomannus (Lodovico

Bartema), gentelman of the citie of Rome.[FN#1]” If any man,” says this

aucthor, “shall demand of me the cause of this my voyage, certeynely I

can shewe no better reason than is the ardent desire of knowledge,

which hath moved many other to see the world and the miracles of God

therein.” In the year of our Lord 1503 he departed from Venice “with

prosperous wynds,” arrived at Alexandria and visited Babylon of Egypt,

Berynto, Tripoli, Antioch, and Damascus. He started from the latter

place on the 8th of April, 1503, “in familiaritie and friendshyppe with a

certayne Captayne Mameluke” (which term he applies to “al such Christians

as have forsaken theyr fayth, to serve the Mahumetans and Turks”), and in

the garb of a

[p.334] “Mamaluchi renegado.” He estimates the Damascus Caravan to consist

of 40,000 men and 35,000 camels, nearly six times its present

number.[FN#2] On the way they were “enforced to conflict with a great

multitude of the Arabians:” but the three score mamluks composing their

escort were more than a match for 50,000 Badawin. On one occasion the

Caravan, attacked by 24,000 Arabians, slew 1500 of the enemies, losing

in the conflict only a man and a woman.[FN#3] This “marveyle”—which is

probably not without some exaggeration—he explains by the “strength and

valiantness of the Mamalukes,” by the practice (still popular) of using

the “camells in the steede of a bulwarke, and placing the merchaunts in

the myddest of the army (that is), in the myddest of the camelles,

whyle the pilgrims fought manfully on every side;” and, finally, by the

circumstance that the Arabs were unarmed, and “weare only a thynne loose

vesture, and are besyde almost naked: theyr horses also beyng euyll

furnished, and without saddles or other furniture.” The Hijazi Badawi of

this day is a much more dangerous enemy; the matchlock and musket have

made him so; and the only means of crippling him is to prevent the

importation of firearms and lead, and by slow degrees to disarm the

population. After performing the ceremonies of pilgrimage at Al-Madinah

and Meccah, he escaped to Zida or Gida (Jeddah), “despite the trumpetter

of the caravana giving warning to all the Mamalukes to make readie

their horses, to direct their journey toward Syria, with proclamation

of death to all that should refuse so to

[p.335] doe,” and embarked for Persia upon the Red Sea. He touched at

certain ports of Al-Yaman, and got into trouble at Aden, “where the

Mahumetans took him,” and “put shackles on his legges, which came by

occasion of a certayne idolatour, who cryed after him, saying, O,

Christian Dogge, borne of Dogges.[FN#4]” The lieutenant of the Sultan

“assembled his council,” consulted them about putting the traveller to

death as a “spye of Portugales,” and threw him ironed into a dungeon. On

being carried shackled into the presence of the Sultan, Bartema said

that he was a “Roman, professed a Mamaluke in Babylon of Alcayr;” but when

told to utter the formula of the Moslem faith, he held his tongue,

“eyther that it pleased not God, or that for feare and scruple of

conscience he durst not.” For which offence he was again “deprived of ye

fruition of heaven.”

But, happily for Bartema, in those days the women of Arabia were “greatly

in love with whyte men.” Before escaping from Meccah, he lay hid in the

house of a Mohammedan, and could not express his gratitude for the good

wife’s care; “also,” he says, “this furthered my good enterteynement, that

there was in the house a fayre young mayde, the niese of the Mahumetan,

who was greatly in loue with me.” At Aden he was equally fortunate. One

of the Sultan’s three wives, on the departure of her lord and master,

bestowed her heart upon the traveller. She was “very faire and comely,

after theyr maner, and of colour inclynyng to blacke:” she

[p.336] would spend the whole day in beholding Bartema, who wandered

about simulating madness,[FN#5] and “in the meane season, divers tymes,

sent him secretly muche good meate by her maydens.” He seems to have

played his part to some purpose, under the colour of madness,

converting a “great fatt shepe” to Mohammedanism, killing an ass because he

refused to be a proselyte, and, finally, he “handeled a Jewe so euyll

that he had almost killed hym.” After sundry adventures and a trip to

Sanaa, he started for Persia with the Indian fleet, in which, by means

of fair promises, he had made friendship with a certain captain. He

visited Zayla and Berberah in the Somali country, and at last reached

Hormuz. The 3rd book “entreateth of Persia,” the 4th of “India, and of the

cities and other notable thynges seene there.” The 8th book contains the

“voyage of India,” in which he includes Pegu, Sumatra, Borneo, and Java,

where, “abhorryng the beastly maners” of a cannibal population, he made but

a short stay. Returning to Calicut, he used “great subtiltie,” escaped to

the “Portugales,” and was well received by the viceroy. After describing in

his 7th book the “viage or navigation of Ethiopia, Melinda, Mombaza,

Mozambrich (Mozambique), and Zaphala (Sofala),” he passed the Cape called

“Caput Bonæ Spei, and repaired to the goodly citie of Luxburne (Lisbon),”

where he had the honour of kissing hands. The king confirmed with his

great seal the “letters patentes,” whereby his lieutenant the viceroy of

India had given the pilgrim the order of knighthood. “And thus,” says

Bartema by way of conclusion, “departing from thence with the kyngs

pasporte and safe conducte, at the length after these my long and great

trauayles and

[p.337] dangers, I came to my long desyred native countrey, the citie

of Rome, by the grace of God, to whom be all honour and glory.”

This old traveller’s pages abound with the information to be collected in

a fresh field by an unscrupulous and hard-headed observer. They are of

course disfigured with a little romancing. His Jews at Khaybor, near

Al-Madinah, were five or six spans long. At Meccah he saw two unicorns,

the younger “at the age of one yeare, and lyke a young coolte; the horne

of this is of the length of four handfuls.[FN#6]” And so credulous is he

about anthropophagi, that he relates of Mahumet (son to the Sultan of

Sanaa) how he “by a certayne naturall tyrannye and madnesse delyteth to

eate man’s fleeshe, and therefore secretly kylleth many to eate

them.[FN#7]” But all things well considered, Lodovico Bartema, for

correctness of observation and readiness of wit, stands in the foremost

rank of the old Oriental travellers.

I proceed to quote, and to illustrate with notes, the few chapters

devoted in the 1st volume of this little-known work to Meccah and

Al-Madinah.