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.
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