The Small Buildings Just Mentioned, Which Surround The Kaaba, Are The Five Makams, With The Well Of Zemzem, The Arch Called Bab-Es'-Salam, And The Mambar.

Opposite the four sides of the Kaaba 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. The Makam el Hanefy, 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 first built in A.H. 923, by Sultan Selym 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. [Vide Kotobeddyn and Asamy] The Makam-es-Shafey is over the well Zemzem, to which it serves as an upper chamber.

Near their respective Makams, the adherents of the four different sects seat themselves for prayers. During my stay at Mekka, 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 Magreb is an exception, which they are all enjoined to utter together. [Vide Fasy.] The Makam el Hanbaly

[p.143] is the place where the officers of government, and other great people, are seated during prayers; here the Pasha and the Sherif 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 Kaaba, 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 Zemzem, stands close by the Makam Hanbaly, and was erected in A.H. 1072 [Vide Asamy.]: it is of a square shape, and of massive construction, with an entrance to the north, 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 Zemzem 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 in diameter.

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