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. Either three or five minarets (I forget
[p.350] which) are erected on different sides of the building; and one
of them is said to stand on the spot where Bellal, the Abyssinian, the
Mueddin of Mohammed, and one of his great favourites, used to call the
faithful to prayers.
The following brief history of the mosque is taken from Samhoudy, the
historian of Medina:
"The mosque of Medina was founded by Mohammed himself, and is therefore
called his mosque, or Mesdjed-e'-Neby. When he reached the city, at that
time an open settlement of Arabs, called Yathreb, (subsequently Medina)
after his flight from Mekka, and was sure of being now among friends, he
erected a small chapel on the spot where his camel had first rested in
the town, having bought the ground from the Arabs; and he enclosed it
with mud walls, upon which he placed a roof of palm-leaves, supported by
the stems of palm-trees for pillars: this edifice he soon after
enlarged, having laid the foundations with stone.
