During The Hours Of Noon, Many Persons Come
To Repose Beneath The Cool Shade Of The Vaulted Roof Of The
Colonnade; a
custom which not only accounts for the mode of construction observed in
the old Mohammedan temples of Egypt
And Arabia, but for that also of the
ancient Egyptian temples, the immense porticoes of which were probably
left open to the idolatrous natives, whose mud-built houses could afford
them but an imperfect refuge against the mid-day heats.
It is only during the hours of prayer that the great mosques of these
countries partake of the sanctity of prayer, or in any degree seem to be
regarded as consecrated places. In El Azhar, the first mosque at Cairo,
I have seen boys crying pancakes for sale, barbers shaving their
customers, and many of the lower orders eating their dinners, where,
during prayers, not the slightest motion, nor even whisper, diverts the
attention of the congregation. Not a sound but the voice of the Imam is
heard during prayers in the great mosque at Mekka, which at other times
is the place of meeting for men of business to converse on their
affairs, and is sometimes so full of poor hadjys, or of diseased persons
lying about under the colonnade, in the midst of their miserable
baggage, as to have the appearance of an hospital rather than a temple.
Boys play in the great square, and servants carry luggage across it, to
pass by the nearest route from one part of the town to the other.
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of 182297
