Some Read "Between My
Dwelling-House (In The Mosque) And My Place Of Prayer (In The Barr
Al-Manakhah) Is
A Garden of the Gardens of Paradise." Others again,
"Between my house and my pulpit is a Garden of the
Gardens of
Paradise." A third tradition-"Between my tomb and my pulpit is a Garden
of the Gardens of Paradise, and verily my pulpit is in my Full
Cistern," or "upon a Full Cistern of the Cisterns of Paradise," has
given rise to a new superstition. "Tara," according to some
commentators, alludes especially to the cistern Al-Kausar; consequently
this Rauzah is, like the black stone at Meccah, bona fide, a bit of
Paradise, and on the day of resurrection, it shall return bodily to the
place whence it came. Be this as it may, all Moslems are warned that
the Rauzah is a most holy spot. None but the Prophet and his son-in-law
Ali ever entered it, when ceremonially impure, without being guilty of
deadly sin. The Mohammedan of the present day is especially informed
that on no account must he here tell lies, or even perjure himself.
Thus the Rauzah must be respected as much as the interior of the Bayt
Allah at Meccah.
[FN#19] This is a stone desk on four pillars, where the Muballighs (or
clerks) recite the Ikamah, the call to divine service. It was presented
to the Mosque by Kaid-Bey, the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt.
[FN#20] I shall have something to say about this pulpit when entering
into the history of the Harim.
[FN#21] The afternoon prayers being Farz, or obligatory, were recited,
because we feared that evening might come on before the ceremony of
Ziyarat (visitation) concluded, and thus the time for Al-Asr (afternoon
prayers) might pass away. The reader may think this rather a curious
forethought in a man who, like Hamid, never prayed except when he found
the case urgent. Such, however, is the strict order, and my Muzawwir
was right to see it executed.
[FN#22]. This two-bow prayer, which generally is recited in honour of
the Mosque, is here, say divines, addressed especially to the Deity by
the visitor who intends to beg the intercession of his Prophet. It is
only just to confess that the Moslems have done their best by all means
in human power, here as well as elsewhere, to inculcate the doctrine of
eternal distinction between the creature and the Creator. Many of the
Maliki school, however, make the ceremony of Ziyarat to precede the
prayer to the Deity.
[FN#23] The Sujdah is a single "prostration" with the forehead touching
the ground. It is performed from a sitting position, after the Dua or
supplication that concludes the two-bow prayer. Some of the Olema,
especially those of the Shafe'i school, permit this "Sujdah of thanks"
to be performed before the two-bow prayer if the visitor have any
notable reason to be grateful.
[FN#24] The candles are still sent from Cairo.
[FN#25] These windows are a present from Kaid-Bey, the Mamluk Sultan of
Egypt.
[FN#26] These oil lamps are a present from the Sultan.
[FN#27] The five daily liturgies are here recited by Imams, and every
one presses to the spot on account of its peculiar sanctity.
[FN#28] In Moslem theology "Salat" from Allah means mercy, from the
angels intercession for pardon, and from mankind blessing. The act of
blessing the Prophet is one of peculiar efficacy in a religious point
of view. Cases are quoted of sinners being actually snatched from hell
by a glorious figure, the personification of the blessings which had
been called down by them upon Mohammed's head. This most poetical idea
is borrowed, I believe, from the ancient Guebres, who fabled that a
man's good works assumed a beautiful female shape, which stood to meet
his soul when winding its way to judgment. Also when a Moslem blesses
Mohammed at Al-Madinah, his sins are not written down for three
days,-thus allowing ample margin for repentance,-by the recording
angel. Al-Malakayn (the two Angels), or Kiram al-Katibin (the Generous
Writers), are mere personifications of the good principle and the evil
principle of man's nature; they are fabled to occupy each a shoulder,
and to keep a list of words and deeds. This is certainly borrowed from
a more ancient faith. In Hermas II. (command. 6), we are told that
"every man has two angels, one of godliness, the other of iniquity,"
who endeavour to secure his allegiance,-a superstition seemingly
founded upon the dualism of the old Persians. Mediaeval Europe, which
borrowed so much from the East at the time of the Crusades, degraded
these angels into good and bad fairies for children's stories.
[FN#29] Burckhardt writes this word Hedjra (which means "flight"). Nor
is M. Caussin de Perceval's "El Hadjarat" less erroneous. At Madinah it
is invariably called Al-Hujrah-the chamber. The chief difficulty in
distinguishing the two words, meaning "chamber" and "flight," arises
from our only having one h to represent the hard and soft h of Arabic,
???? [Arabic text] and ???? [Arabic text]. In the case of common
saints, the screen or railing round the cenotaph is called a "Maksurah."
[FN#30] Yet Mohammed enjoined his followers to frequent graveyards.
"Visit graves; of a verity they shall make you think of futurity!" And
again, "Whoso visiteth his two parents' grave, or one of the two, every
Friday, he shall be written a pious child, even though he might have
been in the world, before that, a disobedient."
[FN#31] The truth is no one knows what is there. I have even heard a
learned Persian declare that there is no wall behind the curtain, which
hangs so loosely that, when the wind blows against it, it defines the
form of a block of marble, or a built-up tomb. I believe this to be
wholly apocryphal, for reasons which will presently be offered.
[FN#32] The peculiar place where the guardians of the tomb sit and
confabulate is the Dakkat al-Aghawat (eunuch's bench) or Al-Mayda-the
table-a raised bench of stone and wood, on the North side of the
Hujrah.
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