It Looks As If The
Whole Had Been Broken Into Many Pieces By A Violent Blow, And Then
United Again.
It is very difficult to determine accurately the quality
of this stone, which has been worn to its present surface by the
millions of touches and kisses it has received.
It appeared to me like a
lava, containing several small extraneous particles, of a whitish and of
a yellowish substance. Its colour is now a deep reddish brown,
approaching to black: it is surrounded on all sides by a border,
composed of a substance which I took to be a close cement of pitch and
gravel, of a similar, but not quite the same brownish colour. This
border serves to support its detached pieces; it is two or three inches
in breadth, and rises a little above the surface of the stone: Both the
border and the stone itself are encircled by a silver band, broader
below than above
[p.138] and on the two sides, with a considerable swelling below, as if
a part of the stone were hidden under it. The lower part of the border
is studded with silver nails.
In the south-east corner of the Kaaba, or, as the Arabs call it, Roken
el Yemany, there is another stone, about five feet from the ground; it
is one foot and a half in length, and two inches in breadth, placed
upright, and of the common Mekka stone. This the people walking round
the Kaaba touch only with the right hand: they do not kiss it.
On the north side of the Kaaba, just by its door, and close to the wall,
is a slight hollow in the ground, lined with marble, and sufficiently
large to admit of three persons sitting. Here it is thought meritorious
to pray: the spot is called El Madjen, and supposed to be that where
Abraham and his son Ismayl kneaded. the chalk and mud which they used in
building the Kaaba; and near this Madjen, the former is said to have
placed the large stone upon which he stood while working at the masonry.
On the basis of the Kaaba, just over the Madjen, is an ancient Cufic
inscription; but this I was unable to decipher, and had no opportunity
of copying it. I do not find it mentioned by any of the historians.
On the west side of the Kaaba, about two feet below its summit, is the
famous Myzab, or water-spout, through which the rain-water collected on
the roof of the building is discharged, so as to fall upon the ground;
it is about four feet in length, and six inches in breadth, as well as I
could judge from below, with borders equal in height to its breadth. At
the mouth, hangs what is called the beard of the Myzab, a gilt board,
over which the water falls. This spout was sent hither from
Constantinople in A.H. 981, and is reported to be of pure gold. The
pavement round the Kaaba, below the Myzab, was laid down in A.H. 826,
and consists of various coloured stones, forming a very handsome
specimen of mosaic. There are two large slabs of fine verde-antico in
the centre, which, according to Makrizi, [See, in his work, the chapter
"On the Excellencies of Egypt."] were sent thither as
[p.139] presents from Cairo, in A.H. 241. This is the spot where,
according to Mohammedan tradition, Ismayl, the son of Ibrahim, or
Abraham, and his mother Hagar, are buried; and here it is meritorious
for the pilgrim to recite a prayer of two rikats. On this west side is a
semicircular wall, the two extremities of which are in a line with the
sides of the Kaaba, and distant from it three or four feet, leaving an
opening which leads to the burying-place of Ismayl. The wall bears the
name of El Hatym, and the area which it encloses is called Hedjer, or
Hedjer Ismayl, on account of its being separated from the Kaaba: the
wall itself, also, is sometimes so called; and the name Hatym is given
by the historians to the space of ground between the Kaaba and the wall
on one side, and the Bir Zemzem and Makam Ibrahim on the other. The
present Mekkawys, however, apply the name Hatym to the wall only.
Tradition says that the Kaaba once extended as far as the Hatym, and
that this side having fallen down just at the time of the Hadj, the
expenses of repairing it were demanded from the pilgrims, under a
pretence that the revenues of government were not acquired in a manner
sufficiently pure to admit of their application towards a purpose so
sacred, whilst the money of the hadjys would possess the requisite
sanctity. The sum, however, obtained from them, proved very inadequate:
all that could be done, therefore, was to raise a wall, which marked the
space formerly occupied by the Kaaba. This tradition, although current
among the Metowefs, is at variance with history, which declares that the
Hedjer was built by the Beni Koreysh, who contracted the dimensions of
the Kaaba; that it was united to the building by Hadjadj, and again
separated from it by Ibn Zebeyr. It is asserted by Fasy, that a part of
the Hedjer, as it now stands, was never comprehended within the Kaaba.
The law regards it as a portion of the Kaaba, inasmuch as it is esteemed
equally meritorious to pray in the Hadjer as in the Kaaba itself; and
the pilgrims who have not an opportunity of entering the latter, are
permitted to affirm upon oath that they have prayed in the Kaaba,
although they may have only prostrated themselves within the enclosure
of the Hatym.
[p.140] The wall is built of solid stone, about five feet in height, and
four in thickness, cased all over with white marble, and inscribed with
prayers and invocations, neatly sculptured upon the stone in modern
characters.
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