The Reader Must Bear In
Mind, That This Part Of The Harim Was Formerly The House Of Ali And
Fatimah; It Was Separated From The Hujrah-The Abode Of Mohammed And
Ayishah-Only By A Narrow Brick Wall, With A Window In It, Which Was
Never Shut.
Omar Bin Abd al-Aziz enclosed it in the mosque, by order of
Al-Walid, A.H. 90.
[FN#
56] Plural of Sharif, a descendant of Mohammed.
[FN#57] The "people of the garment," so called, because on one occasion
the Apostle wrapped his cloak around himself, his daughter, his
son-in-law, and his two grandsons, thereby separating them in dignity
from other Moslems.
[FN#58] Burckhardt translates "Zahra" "bright blooming Fatimah." This I
believe to be the literal meaning of the epithet. When thus applied,
however, it denotes "virginem [Greek text] nescientem," in which state
of purity the daughter of the Apostle is supposed to have lived. For
the same reason she is called Al-Batul, the Virgin,-a title given by
Eastern Christians to the Mother of our Lord. The perpetual virginity
of Fatimah, even after the motherhood, is a point of orthodoxy in
Al-Islam.
[FN#59] Meaning "joy and gladness in the sight of true believers."
[FN#60] The prayer is now omitted, in order to avoid the repetition of
it when describing a visit to Mount Ohod.
[FN#61] The prayers usually recited here are especially in honour of
Abbas, Hasan, (Ali, called) Zayn al-Abidin, Osman, the Lady Halimah,
the Martyrs, and the Mothers of the Moslems, (i.e. the Apostle's
wives), buried in the holy cemetery. When describing a visit to
Al-Bakia, they will be translated at full length.
[FN#62] Hujjaj is the plural of Hajj-pilgrims; Ghuzzat, of
Ghazi-crusaders; and Zawwar of Zair-visitors to Mohammed's tomb.
[FN#63] "Taslim" is "to say Salam" to a person.
[FN#64] The Ya Sin (Y, S), the 36th chapter of the Koran, frequently
recited by those whose profession it is to say such masses for the
benefit of living, as well as of dead, sinners. Most educated Moslems
commit it to memory.
[FN#65] Or more correctly, "There is no Ilah but Allah," that is,
"There is no god but the God."
[FN#66] Some Zairs, after praying at the Caliph Osman's niche, leave
the Mosque, especially when the "Jama'at," or public worship, is not
being performed in the Rauzah. Others, as we did, pray alone in the
Garden, and many authors prefer this conclusion to Visitation, for the
reason above given.
[FN#67] This has become a generic name for a Well situated within the
walls of a Mosque.
[FN#68] As might be expected, the more a man pays, the higher he
estimates his own dignity. Some Indians have spent as much as 500
dollars during a first visit. Others have "made Maulids," i.e., feasted
all the poor connected with the temple with rice, meat, &c., whilst
others brought rare and expensive presents for the officials. Such
generosity, however, is becoming rare in these unworthy days.
[FN#69] This gate was anciently called the Bab al-Atakah, "of
Deliverance."
[FN#70] Most of these entrances have been named and renamed. The Bab
Jibrail, for instance, which derives its present appellation from the
general belief that the archangel once passed through it, is generally
called in books Bab al-Jabr, the Gate of Repairing (the broken fortunes
of a friend or follower). It must not be confounded with the Mahbat
Jibrail, or the window near it in the Eastern wall, where the archangel
usually descended from heaven with the Wahy or Inspiration.
[FN#71] By some wonderful process the "Printer's Devil" converted, in
the first edition, this "ball or cone" into "bull or cow."
[FN#72] Belal, the loud-lunged crier, stood, we are informed, by Moslem
historians, upon a part of the roof on one of the walls of the Mosque.
The minaret, as the next chapter will show, was the invention of a more
tasteful age.
[FN#73] This abomination may be seen in Egypt on many of the
tombs,-those outside the Bal al-Nasr at Cairo, for instance.
[FN#74] The tale of this Weeping Pillar is well known. Some suppose it
to have been buried beneath the pulpit: others-they are few in
number-declare that it was inserted in the body of the pulpit.
[FN#75] The little domed building which figures in the native sketches,
and in all our prints of the Al-Madinah Mosque, was taken down three or
four years ago. It occupied part of the centre of the square, and was
called Kubbat al-Zayt-Dome of Oil; or Kubbat al-Shama-Dome of
Candles,-from its use as a store-room for lamps and wax candles.
[FN#76] This is its name among the illiterate, who firmly believe the
palms to be descendants of trees planted there by the hands of the
Prophet's daughter. As far as I could discover, the tradition has no
foundation, and in old times there was no garden in the hypaethral
court. The vulgar are in the habit of eating a certain kind of date,
"Al-Sayhani," in the Mosque, and of throwing the stones about; this
practice is violently denounced by the Olema.
[FN#77] Rhamnus Nabeca, Forsk. The fruit, called Nabak, is eaten, and
the leaves are used for the purpose of washing dead bodies. The visitor
is not forbidden to take fruit or water as presents from Al-Madinah,
but it is unlawful for him to carry away earth, or stones, or cakes of
dust, made for sale to the ignorant.
[FN#78] The Arabs, who, like all Orientals, are exceedingly curious
about water, take the trouble to weigh the produce of their wells; the
lighter the water, the more digestible and wholesome it is considered.
[FN#79] The common phenomenon of rivers flowing underground in Arabia
has, doubtless, suggested to the people these subterraneous passages,
with which they connect the most distant places.
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