The Remaining Part Of This Side Is Partitioned Off From The
Body Of The Mosque By A Dwarf Wall, Inclosing
The "Khasafat al-Sultan,"
the place where Fakihs are perpetually engaged in Khitmahs, or perusals
of the Koran, on behalf
Of the reigning Sultan.
[FN#33] The ancient practice of Al-Islam during the recitation of the
following benedictions was to face Meccah, the back being turned
towards the tomb, and to form a mental image of the Prophet, supposing
him to be in front. Al-Kirmani and other doctors prefer this as the
more venerable custom, but in these days it is completely exploded, and
the purist would probably be soundly bastinadoed by the eunuchs for
attempting it.
[FN#34] This is the usual introduction to a quotation from the Koran.
[FN#35] It may easily be conceived how offensive this must be to the
Wahhabis, who consider it blasphemy to assert that a mere man can stand
between the Creator and the creature on the last day.
[FN#36] This is called the Testification. Like the Fatihah, it is
repeated at every holy place and tomb visited at Al-Madinah.
[FN#37] Burckhardt mentions that in his day, among other favours
supplicated in prayer to the Deity, the following request was
made,-"Destroy our enemies, and may the torments of hell-fire be their
lot!" I never heard it at the Prophet's tomb. As the above benediction
is rather a long one, the Zair is allowed to shorten it a discretion,
but on no account to say less than "Peace be upon Thee, O Apostle of
Allah"-this being the gist of the ceremony.
[FN#38] Though performing Ziyarat for myself, I had promised my old
Shaykh at Cairo to recite a Fatihah in his name at the Prophet's tomb;
so a double recitation fell to my lot. If acting Zair for another
person (a common custom, we read, even in the days of Al-Walid, the
Caliph of Damascus), you are bound to mention your principal's name at
the beginning of the benediction, thus: "Peace be upon Thee, O Apostle
of Allah from such an one, the son of such an one, who wants Thine
Intercession, and begs for Pardon and Mercy." Most Zairs recite
Fatihahs for all their friends and relations at the tomb.
[FN#39] I have endeavoured in this translation to imitate the imperfect
rhyme of the original Arabic. Such an attempt, however, is full of
difficulties: the Arabic is a language in which, like Italian, it is
almost impossible not to rhyme.
[FN#40] It will not be necessary to inform the reader more than once
that all these several divisions of prayer ended with the Testification
and the Fatihah.
[FN#41] Faruk,-the separator,-a title of Omar.
[FN#42] When the number of the Ashab or "Companions" was thirty-nine,
they were suddenly joined by Omar, who thus became the fortieth.
[FN#43] It is said that Mohammed prayed long for the conversion of Omar
to Al-Islam, knowing his sterling qualities, and the aid he would lend
to the establishment of the faith.
[FN#44] This foolish fanaticism has lost many an innocent life, for the
Arabs on these occasions seize their sabres, and cut down every Persian
they meet. Still, bigoted Shi'ahs persist in practising and applauding
it, and the man who can boast at Shiraz of having defiled Abu Bakr's,
Omar's, or Osman's tomb becomes at once a lion and a hero. I suspect
that on some occasions when the people of Al-Madinah are anxious for an
"avanie," they get up some charge of the kind against the Persians. So
the Meccans have sometimes found these people guilty of defiling the
house of Allah-at which Infidel act a Shi'ah would shudder as much as a
Sunni. This style of sacrilege is, we read, of ancient date in Arabia.
Nafil, the Hijazi, polluted the Kilis (Christian church) erected by
Abrahah of Sanaa to outshine the Ka'abah, and draw off worshippers from
Meccah. The outrage caused the celebrated "affair of the Elephant."
(See D'Herbelot, Bibl. Or., v. "Abrahah.")
[FN#45] Burckhardt, with his usual accuracy, asserts that a new curtain
is sent when the old one is decayed, or when a new Sultan ascends the
throne, and those authors err who, like Maundrell, declare the curtain
to be removed every year. The Damascus Caravan conveys, together with
its Mahmil or emblem of royalty, the new Kiswah (or "garment") when
required for the tomb. It is put on by the eunuchs, who enter the
baldaquin by its Northern gate at night time, and there is a
superstitious story amongst the people that they guard their eyes with
veils against the supernatural splendours which pour from the tomb. The
Kiswah is a black, purple, or green brocade, embroidered with white or
with silver letters. A piece in my possession, the gift of Omar
Effendi, is a handsome silk and cotton Damascus brocade, with white
letters worked in it-manifestly the produce of manual labour, not the
poor dull work of machinery. It contains the formula of the Moslem
faith in the cursive style of the Suls character, seventy-two varieties
of which are enumerated by calligraphists. Nothing can be more elegant
or appropriate than its appearance. The old curtain is usually
distributed amongst the officers of the Mosque, and sold in bits to
pilgrims; in some distant Moslem countries, the possessor of such a
relic would be considered a saint. When treating of the history of the
Mosque, some remarks will be offered about the origin of the curtain.
[FN#46] The place of the Prophet's head is, I was told, marked by a
fine Koran hung up to the curtain This volume is probably a successor
to the relic formerly kept there, the Cufic Koran belonging to Osman,
the fourth Caliph, which Burckhardt supposes to have perished in the
conflagration which destroyed the Mosque.
[FN#47] The eunuchs of the tomb have the privilege of admitting
strangers.
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