In This Street Are Most Of The Shops.
Another Considerable Street, Called El Belat, Runs From The Mosque To
The Syrian Gate; But Many Of Its Houses Are In Ruins:
This contains also
a few shops, but none are found in other parts of the town; thus
differing from Mekka, which is one continued market.
In general, the
latter is much more like an Arab town than Medina, which resembles more
a Syrian city. I had no time to trace all the different quarters of the
town; but I shall here give the names by which they are at present
known.
The quarter comprised between the two main streets leading from the
Egyptian and Syrian gates to the mosque, are, Es-Saha, Komet Hasheyfe,
El Belat, Zogag el Towal, (here is situated the Mekkam, or house of the
Kadhy, and several pleasant gardens are attached to the larger
buildings;) Zogag el Dhorra, Sakyfet Shakhy, Zogag el Bakar.
The quarters lying to the north of the street El Belat, extending to the
north of the mosque, as far as the gate El Djoma, are: - El Hamata, Zogag
el Habs, Zogag Ankyny, Zogag es' Semahedy, Haret el Meyda, Haret es'
Shershoura, Zogag el Bedour, Haret el Agowat, where the eunuchs of the
mosque live.
The quarters from the gate El Djoma, along the southern parts of the
town, as far as the Egyptian gate, and the great market-street, are:
Derwan, Es-Salehye, Zogag Yahou, Haret Ahmed Heydar, Haret Beni Hosseyn,
the tribe of Beni Hosseyn living here; Haret el Besough, Haret Sakyfet,
Er-Resas, Zogag el Zerendy, Zogag el Kibreit,
[p.325] Zogag el Hadjamyn, Haret Sydy Malek, where Malek ibn Anes, the
founder of the Malekite sect, had his house, and Haret el Kamashyn.
Very few large buildings, or public edifices, are found in the precincts
of the town. The great mosque, containing the tomb of Mohammed, is the
only temple. A fine public school, called Medrese el Hamdye, in the
street El Belat; a similar one, near the mosque, where the Sheikh el
Haram, or its guardian, lives; a large corn-magazine, enclosing a wide
yard, in the southern quarter of the town; a bath, (the only one,) not
far distant from it, built in A.H. 973, by Mohammed Pasha, vizier of
Sultan Soleyman, are all the public buildings which fell under my
observation. [The historian of Medina mentions several Okals, or public
khans, in this town; but I saw none, nor do I believe that they now
exist] This want of splendid monuments was likewise remarked by me at
Mekka. The Arabians, in general, have little taste for architecture; and
even their chiefs content themselves in their mansions with what is
merely necessary. Whatever public edifices are still found in Mekka and
Medina, are the work of the Sultans of Egypt or of Constantinople; and
the necessary expenses incurred annually by these distant sovereigns,
for the sake of the two holy cities, were too great to allow of any
augmentation for mere show.
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