The
Mosque Is A Square Solid-Built Edifice Of Small Dimensions.
Its dome was
thrown down by the Wahabys, but they spared the tomb.
The mosque
encloses the tomb of Hamze, and those of his principal men who were
slain in the battle; namely, Mesab ibn Omeyr, Djafar ibn Shemmas, and
Abdallah ibn Djahsh. The tombs are in a small open yard, and, like those
of the Bekya, mere heaps of earth, with a few loose stones placed around
them. Beside them is a small portico, which serves as a mosque: a short
prayer is said here, and the pilgrims then advance to the tombs, where
they recite the chapter of Yasein (from the Koran), or the short chapter
of El Khalas forty times; after which Hamze and his friends are invoked
to intercede with the Almighty, and obtain for the pilgrim and all his
family, faith, health, wealth, and the utter destruction of all their
enemies. Money is given, as usual, at every corner, to the guardians of
the mosque, of the tombs, to the Mueddin, Imam, &c. &c.
A little further on, towards the mountain, which is only at a gun-shot
distance, a small cupola marks the place where Mohammed was
[p.366] struck in battle by a stone, which knocked out four of his front
teeth, and felled him to the ground. [This story is related here,
though the historians of the Prophet do not agree on the subject.] His
party thought he was killed; but the angel Gabriel immediately appeared,
and exclaimed that he was still alive. At a short distance from this
cupola, which like all the rest has been demolished, are the tombs of
twelve other partisans of the Prophet, who were killed in the battle.
They form together several mounds of rubbish and stones, in which their
respective tombs can no longer be distinguished. Prayers are again
recited, with that passage of the Koran which says, in speaking of the
slain: "Do not think that those who were killed in war with the infidels
are dead; no, they are living, and their reward is with their Lord:" a
sentence still used to encourage, even in our days, the Turkish soldiers
in their battles with Europeans.
The mountain of Ohod consists of different coloured granite; on its
sides I likewise found flint, but no lava. The entire mountain is almost
four miles in length, from west to east. Having been the scene of the
famous battle, which so much contributed to strengthen the party of
Mohammed and his new religion, it is not surprising that Djebel Ohod
should be the object of peculiar veneration. The people of Medina
believe that on the day of resurrection it will be transported into
Paradise; and that when mankind shall appear before the Almighty for
judgment, they will be assembled upon it, as the most favoured station.
The mountain of Ayra, mentioned above as situated to the S.W. of the
town, (about the same distance from it as Ohod is, on the other side,)
will on that day experience a much less enviable fate.
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