Throughout The Year,
Swarms Of Pilgrims Arrive From All Parts Of The Mohammedan World,
Usually By The Way Of Yembo.
The Moggrebyns especially seem the most
fervent in their visits:
They are, however, brought here by another
object, for in this town is situated the tomb of the Imam Malek ibn
Anes, the founder of the orthodox sect of the Malekites, to which belong
the Moggrebyns.
The mosque at Mekka is visited daily by female hadjys, who have their
own station assigned to them. At Medina, on the contrary, it is thought
very indecorous in women to enter the mosque. Those who come here from
foreign parts, visit the tomb during the night, after the last prayers,
while the women resident in the town hardly ever venture to pass the
threshold: my old landlady, who had lived close to it for fifty years,
assured me that she had been only once in her life within its precincts,
and that females of a loose character only are daring enough to perform
their prayers there. In general, women are seldom seen in the mosques in
the East, although free access is not forbidden. A few are sometimes met
in the most holy temples, as that
[p.348] of the Azhar at Cairo, where they offer up their thanks to
Providence, for any favour which they may have taken a vow thus to
acknowledge. Even in their houses the women seldom pray, except devout
old ladies; and it is remarked as an extraordinary accomplishment in a
woman, if she knows her prayers well, and has got by heart some chapters
of the Koran. Women being considered in the East as inferior creatures,
to whom some learned commentators on the Koran deny even the entrance
into Paradise, their husbands care little about their strict observance
of religious rites, and many of them even dislike it, because it raises
them to a nearer level with themselves; and it is remarked, that the
woman makes a bad wife, who can once claim the respect to which she is
entitled by the regular reading of prayers.
There are no sacred pigeons in this mosque, as in that at Mekka; but the
quantity of woollen carpets spread in it, where the most dirty Arabs sit
down by the side of the best dressed hadjys, have rendered it the
favourite abode of millions of other animals less harmless than pigeons,
and a great plague to all visiters, who transfer them to their private
lodgings, which thus swarm with vermin.
This mosque being much smaller than that of Mekka, and a strict police
kept up in it by the eunuchs, it is less infested with beggars and idle
characters than the former. It should seem also, that the tomb of
Mohammed inspires the people of Medina with much greater awe, and
religious respect, than the Kaaba does those of Mekka; which sentiment
deters them from approaching it with idle thoughts, or as a mere
pastime: much more decorum is therefore observed within its precincts
than within those of the Beitullah.
As at Mekka, a number of Khatybs, Imams, Mueddins, and other persons
belonging to the body of Olemas, are attached to the mosque. The olemas
here are said to be more learned than their brethren of Mekka; and those
of former days have produced many valuable writings. At present,
however, there is less appearance of learning here than at Mekka. During
my visits to the mosque I never saw a native Arab teaching knowledge of
any kind, and only a few Turkish hadjys explaining some religious books
in their own language, to a very few auditors, from whom they collected
trifling sums, to defray
[p.349] the expenses of their journey home. Tousoun Pasha, the only one
of his family who is not an avowed atheist, frequently attended those
lectures, and sat in the same circle with the other persons present. I
was told, that in the medrese called El Hamdye some public lectures are
delivered; but I had no opportunity of ascertaining the fact. I believe
that there is not in the whole Mohammedan empire a town so large as
Medina where lectures are not held in the mosques; that this was
formerly the case also in this town, is proved by the many pious
foundations established exclusively for this purpose, the emoluments of
which many olemas still enjoy without performing the duties.
The haram or mosque of Medina, like that at Mekka, possesses
considerable property and annuities in every part of the empire. Its
yearly income is divided among the eunuchs, the olemas, and the
Ferrashyn. The daily expenses of lighting and repairing the building are
made to account for the expenditure of the whole. As, excepting the
precious articles contained in the Hedjra, no money-treasure has ever
been kept in the mosque, a double advantage accrues to the inhabitants
of the town, numbers of whom gain a comfortable livelihood, while all
are exempted from the danger and the internal broils which would, no
doubt, occur, were it known that a large sum of money might be obtained
by seizing the mosque. The days are past, in the East, when a public
treasure can be deposited in a place sufficiently sacred to guard it
from the hands of plunderers. The smallest part of the income of all
public foundations is spent in the relief of the poor, or the pious
purpose to which it was destined: it serves merely to pamper a swarm of
idle hypocrites, who have no other motives for acquiring a smattering of
learning, than the hope of sharing in the illegal profits that accrue to
the guardians or agents of these institutions.
Like most of the public buildings in the East, the approach to the
mosque is choked on all sides by private habitations, so as to leave, in
some parts, only an open street between them and the walls of the
mosque; while in others the houses are built against the walls, and
conceal them.
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