Money Never Appears To Have Been Deposited
Here; For Whatever Presents Were Made To The Mosque In Cash, Were
Immediately Distributed Among Its Attendants.
There is good reason for
supposing, however, that the donations of the faithful, which
accumulated here for ages, amounted to a much greater sun than what
[P.335] is stated above; but it would be strange if the governors of
Medina, who were often independent, or the guardians of the tomb
themselves, should not have made occasional draughts upon this treasure,
in the same manner as the olemas of Mekka, about three hundred years
since, stole the golden lamps of the Kaaba, and carried them out of the
temple, hid under their wide sleeves, according to Kotobeddyn the
historian.
Tousoun Pasha, on his arrival at Medina, made search for the golden
vessels, which had been re-sold by the chiefs of the town to some other
of the inhabitants, and not yet melted. He found several of them, which
he bought from the owners for about ten thousand dollars, and replaced
them in their original situation.
The floor between the curtain and the railing, and of all this part of
the mosque, is laid with various coloured marbles in mosaic: here glass
lamps are suspended all round the curtains, which are lighted every
evening, and remain burning all night. The whole of this enclosure, or
Hedjra, is covered with a fine lofty dome, rising far above the domes
which form the roof of the colonnades, and visible at a great distance
from the town; and the visiters coming to Medina, as soon as they catch
the sight of it, repeat certain prayers. The covering is of lead
surmounted with a globe of considerable size, and a crescent, both
glittering with gold. [The globe was gilt, and the crescent sent from
Constantinople, by the Sultan Soleyman ibn Selym. (See Asamy.) The
cupola, and the whole of the temple as it now stands, was built by Kait
Beg, Sultan of Egypt, from A.H. 881 to 892.]
It is reported that they are of massy gold; which can scarcely be
believed, if we consider the little inclination that even the richest
and most powerful of the Sultans have shown, to ornament with splendour
either the mosque of Mekka or Medina. The Wahabys, allured by the
appearance of the globe, and acting upon their invariable practice of
destroying all domes or cupolas erected over the tombs of mortals, among
whom Mohammed was to be reckoned, attempted to destroy the dome, and
throw down the globe and crescent; but their solid construction, and the
lead covering, rendered this a difficult undertaking two of the workmen
slipped from the smooth roof, and were precipitated
[p.336] below, after which the work of destruction was abandoned; a
circumstance which is now cited as a visible miracle worked by the
Prophet in favour of his monument.
Near the curtain of the Hedjra, but separated from it, though within the
precincts of the railing, which here, to admit it, deviates a little
from its square shape, is the tomb of Setna Fatme, the daughter of
Mohammed, and wife of Aly: it consists of a catafalque forming a cube,
covered with a rich embroidered black brocade, and without any other
ornament. But some difference of opinion exists, whether her remains
actually rest here or in the burial-ground called Bakya, beyond the
town. Till this dispute, however, be settled, the pilgrims are conducted
to both places, and made to pay double fees. On the E. wall of the
mosque, nearly opposite to this tomb, a small window is shown, at the
place where the archangel Gabriel is said to have repeatedly descended
from heaven, with messages to Mohammed. It is called Mahbat Djybrail.
Mohammedan tradition says, that when the last trumpet shall sound, Aysa
(Jesus Christ) is to descend from heaven to earth, and to announce to
its inhabitants the great day of judgment: after which he is to die, and
will be buried in this Hedjra, by the side of Mohammed: that, when the
dead shall rise from their graves, they will both rise together, ascend
to heaven, and Aysa, on that day, will be ordered by the Almighty to
separate the faithful from the infidels. In conformity with this
tradition, the spot is pointed at through the curtain of the Hedjra,
where the tomb of Aysa will be placed.
Outside the railing on the north, close by the tomb of Fatme, is a
square bench in the mosque, elevated above the ground about four feet,
and fifteen paces square, called El Meyda, or the table. Here the eunuch
guardians of the mosque sit; and the councils of the primates of the
town, or their principal assemblies, are often held here.
A wooden partition about eight feet high, and richly painted with
arabesques, runs from the western side of the railing across the mosque,
parallel with the south wall, and about twenty-five feet distant from
it, and terminating near the gate called Bab-es-Salam, thus extending
from the Hedjra nearly across the whole breadth of the mosque. It
[p.337] has several small doors, and is made to separate the holy place
called El Rodha from the common passage of the visiters, who, on
entering through Bab-es'-Salam, pass forward towards the Hedjra, along
the columns standing between this partition and the south wall. Next to
the Hedjra, that part of the southern colonnade north of the partition
is considered the most holy place in the mosque, and called Rodha, i. e.
a garden, or the Garden of the Faithful; a name bestowed upon it by
Mohammed, who said: "Between my tomb and my pulpit is a garden of the
gardens of Paradise." The pulpit of the mosque stands close to this
partition, about midway between the Hedjra and the west wall of the
mosque, and the name Rodha strictly belongs to that space only which is
between the pulpit and the Hedjra, though the whole southern colonnade
of the temple to the north of the partition is often comprised under
that appellation.
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