The Total Value, Therefore, Might Have Amounted To About Three
Hundred Thousand Dollars.
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:
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