Before The Window Of Setna Fatme Sits A Party Of Women,
(Fatme Being Herself A Female Saint,) Who Likewise Receive Gifts In
Their Handkerchiefs.
In the Rodha stand the eunuchs, or the guardians of
the temple, waiting till the visiter has finished his
Last prayer of
salutation, to wish him joy on having successfully completed the zyara
or visit, and to receive their fees; and the great gate of Bab-es'-Salam
is constantly crowded with poor, who closely beset the visiter, on his
leaving the mosque: the porter also expects his compliment, as a matter
of right. The whole visit cost me about fifteen piastres, and I gave ten
piastres to my cicerone; but I might, perhaps, have got through for half
that sum.
The ceremonies may be repeated as often as the visiter wishes: but few
perform them all, except on arriving at Medina, and when on the point of
departing. It is a general practice, however, to go every day, at least
once, to the window opposite Mohammed's tomb, and recite there a short
prayer: many persons do it whenever they enter the mosque. It is also a
rule never to sit down in the mosque, for any of the usual daily
prayers, without having previously addressed an invocation to the
Prophet, with uplifted hands, and the face turned towards his tomb. A
similar practice is prevalent in many other mosques in the East, which
contain the tomb of a saint. The Moslim divines affirm, that prayers
recited in the mosque of Medina are peculiarly acceptable to the Deity;
and invite the faithful to perform this pilgrimage, by telling them that
one prayer said in sight of the Hedjra is as efficacious as a thousand
said in any other mosque except that of Mekka.
I have already stated, that the north and east sides, and part of the
west side, of the mosque are by no means so well built as the south
side, where are the Hedjra and Rodha. The columns in those parts are
more slender, and less carefully painted; the pavement is coarse, and no
kind of ornament is seen on the white plastered walls,
[p.341] except on the east side, where the coarsely painted
representations of the mosque of St. Sophia, of Sultan Ahmed, of Bayazed
Waly, and of Scutari, celebrated temples in the capital, attract some
notice: they are painted in water-colours, upon the white wall, without
the smallest attention to perspective. The whole north side was at
present under repair; and the old pavement had been removed, to be
replaced by a better one.
The open court enclosed between the colonnades is unpaved, and covered
with sand and gravel. In the midst of it stands a small building, with a
vaulted roof, where the lamps of the mosque are kept. Near it is a small
enclosure of low wooden railing, which contains some palm-trees, held
sacred by the Moslims, because they are said to have been planted by
Fatme, and another tree, of which the stem only now remains, and which I
believe to have been a nebek, or lotus-tree.
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