There is nothing remarkable in its
appearance; in common with the other gates it has huge folding doors,
iron-bound, an external flight of steps, and a few modern inscriptions.
The Bab Majidi, or Gate of the Sultan Abd al-Majid, stands in the
centre of the Northern wall; like its portico, it is unfinished, but
its present appearance promises that it will eclipse all except the Bab
al-Salam.
The Bab al-Nisa, or Gate of Women, is in the Eastern wall opposite the
Bab al-Rahmah, with which it is connected by the "Farsh al-Hajar," a
broad band of stone, two or three steps below the level of the portico,
[p.333] and slightly raised above the Sahn or the hypaethral portion of
the Mosque. And lastly, in the Southern portion of the same Eastern
wall is the Bab Jibrail, the Gate of the Archangel Gabriel.[FN#70]
All these entrances are arrived at by short external flights of steps
leading from the streets, as the base of the temple, unlike that of
Meccah, is a little higher than the foundation of the buildings around
it. The doors are closed by the attendant eunuchs immediately after the
night prayers, except during the blessed month Al-Ramazan and in the
pilgrimage season, when pious visitors pay considerable fees there to
pass the night in meditation and prayer.
The minarets are five in number; but one, the Shikayliyah, at the
North-West angle of the building, has been levelled, and is still in
process of being rebuilt. The Munar Bab al-Salam stands by the gate of
that name: it is a tall, handsome tower, surmounted by a large ball or
cone[FN#71] of brass gilt or burnished. The Munar Bab al-Rahmah, about
the centre of the Western wall, is of more simple form than the others:
it has two galleries, with the superior portion circular, and
surmounted by the conical "extinguisher"-roof so common in Turkey and
Egypt. On the North-East angle of the Mosque stands the Sulaymaniyah
Munar, so named after its founder, Sultan Sulayman the Magnificent. It
is a well-built and substantial stone-tower divided into three stages;
the two
[p.334] lower portions are polygonal, the upper cylindrical, and each
terminates in a platform with a railed gallery carried all round for
the protection of those who ascend.
And lastly, from the South-East angle of the Mosque, supposed to be
upon the spot where Belal, the Apostle's loud-lunged crier, called the
first Moslems to prayer,
[FN#72] springs the Munar Raisiyah, so called because it is
appropriated to the Ruasa or chiefs of the Mu'ezzins. Like the
Sulaymaniyah, it consists of three parts: the first and second stages
are polygonal; and the third, a cylinder, is furnished like the lower
two with a railed gallery. Both the latter minarets end in solid ovals
of masonry, from which project a number of wooden triangles. To these
and to the galleries on all festive occasions, such as the arrival of
the Damascus caravan, are hung oil-lamps-a poor attempt at
illumination, which may rationally explain the origin of the Madinite
superstition concerning the column of light which crowns the Prophet's
tomb. There is no uniformity in the shape or the size of these four
minarets, and at first sight, despite their beauty and grandeur, they
appear somewhat bizarre and misplaced. But after a few days I found
that my eye grew accustomed to them, and I had no difficulty in
appreciating their massive proportions and lofty forms.
Equally irregular are the Riwaks, or porches, surrounding the
hypaethral court. Along the Northern wall there will be, when finished,
a fine colonnade of granite, paved with marble. The Eastern Riwak has
three rows of pillars, the Western four, and the Southern, under which
stands the tomb, of course has its columns ranged deeper than all the
others. These supports of the building are of different material; some
of fine marble, others of
[p.335] rough stone, plastered over and painted with the most vulgar of
arabesques,-vermilion and black in irregular patches and broad streaks,
like the stage-face of a London clown.[FN#73] Their size, moreover, is
different, the Southern colonnade being composed of pillars palpably
larger than those in the other parts of the Mosque. Scarcely any two
shafts own similar capitals; many have no pedestal, and some of them
are cut with a painful ignorance of art. I cannot extend my admiration
of the minarets to the columns-in their "architectural lawlessness"
there is not a redeeming point.
Of these unpraisable pillars three are celebrated in the annals of
Al-Islam, for which reason their names are painted upon them, and five
others enjoy the honour of distinctive appellations. The first is
called Al-Mukhallak, because, on some occasion of impurity, it was
anointed with a perfume called Khaluk. It is near the Mihrab al-Nabawi,
on the right of the place where the Imam prays; and it notes the spot
where, before the invention of the Pulpit, the Apostle, leaning upon
the Ustuwanat al-Hannanah-the Weeping Pillar[FN#74]-used to recite the
Khutbah or Friday sermon.
The second stands third from the Pulpit, and third from the Hujrah. It
is called the Pillar of Ayishah, also the Ustuwanat al-Kurah, or the
Column of Lots, because the Apostle, according to the testimony of his
favourite wife, declared that if men knew the value of the place, they
would cast lots to pray there: in some books it is known as the Pillar
of the Muhajirin or Fugitives, and others mention it as
Al-Mukhallak-the Perfumed.
