In Al-Islam, the employment of such persons about the Mosque
is a "Bida'ah" or custom unknown in the time of the Prophet. It is said
to have arisen from the following three considerations: 1. These people
are concentrated in their professions; 2. They must see and touch
strange women at the shrines; and 3. The shrines are "Harim," or
sacred, having adyta which are kept secret from the prying eyes of men,
and, therefore, should be served by eunuchs. It is strange that the
Roman Catholic church, as well as the Moslem Mosque, should have
admitted such an abomination.
[FN#60] One of these gentry, if called "Tawashi,"-his generic
name,-would certainly insult a stranger. The polite form of address to
one of them is "Agha"-Master,-in the plural "Aghawat." In partibus,
they exact the greatest respect from men, and the title of the Eunuch
of the Tomb is worth a considerable sum to them. The eunuchs of
Al-Madinah are more numerous and better paid than those of Meccah: they
are generally the slaves of rich men at Constantinople, and prefer this
city on account of its climate.
[FN#61] The "Sons of the City," however, are always allowed to do such
service gratis; if, indeed, they are not paid for it.
[FN#62] Others told me that there were only two muftis at Al-Madinah,
namely, those of the Hanafi and Shafe'i schools. If this be true, it
proves the insignificance of the followers of Malik, which personage,
like others, is less known in his own town than elsewhere.
[FN#63] The Hanbali school is nowhere common except in Nijd, and the
lands Eastward as far as Al-Hasa. At present it labours under a sort of
imputation, being supposed to have thrown out a bad offshoot, the
Wahhabis.
[FN#64] "Ruasa" is the plural of Rais, a chief or president. It is the
term generally applied in Arabia to the captain of a vessel, and in
Al-Yaman it often means a barber, in virtue, I presume, of its
root-Ras, the head.
[FN#65] Some say that the Egyptian distinction between the Imam Khatib
and the Imam Ratib does not obtain at Al-Madinah.
[p.376]CHAPTER XVIII.
AL-MADINAH.
IT is equally difficult to define, politically and geographically, the
limits of Al-Hijaz. Whilst some authors, as Abulfeda,[FN#1] fix its
Northern frontier at Aylah (Fort Al-'Akabah) and the Desert, making
Al-Yaman its Southern limit, others include in it only the tract of
land lying between Meccah and Al-Madinah. The country has no natural
boundaries, and its political limits change with every generation;
perhaps, therefore, the best distribution of its frontier would be that
which includes all the property called Holy Land, making Yambu' the
Northern, and Jeddah the Southern extremes, while a line drawn through
Al-Madinah, Suwayrkiyah, and Jabal Kora-the mountain of Taif-might
represent its Eastern boundary. Thus Al-Hijaz would be an irregular
parallelogram, about two hundred and fifty miles in length, with a
maximum breadth of one hundred and fifty miles.
Two meanings are assigned to the name of this venerated region. Most
authorities make it mean the "Separator," the "Barrier," between Nijd
and Tahamah,[FN#2] or between Al-Yaman and Syria. According to others,
it signifies the "colligated," i.e. by mountains. It is to be observed
that the people of the country, especially the Badawin, distinguish the
lowlands from the high region
[p.377]by different names; the former are called Tahamat al-Hijaz-the
sea coast of Al-Hijaz, as we should say in India, "below the Ghauts;"
the latter is known peculiarly as Al-Hijaz.[FN#3]
Madinat al-Nabi,[FN#4] the Prophet's City, or, as it is
[p.378]usually called for brevity, Al-Madinah, the City, is situated on
the borders of Nijd, upon the vast plateau of high land
[p.379] which forms central Arabia. The limits of the sanctuary called
the Hudud al-Harim, as defined by the Apostle, may still serve to mark
out the city's plain. Northwards, at a distance of about three miles,
is Jabal Ohod, or, according to others, Jabal Saur, a hill somewhat
beyond Ohod; these are the last ribs of the vast tertiary and primitive
chine[FN#5] which, extending from Taurus to near Aden, and from Aden
again to Maskat, fringes the Arabian trapezium. To the South-west the
plain is bounded by ridges of scoriaceous basalt, and by a buttress of
rock called Jabal Ayr, like Ohod, about three miles distant from the
town. Westward, according to some authors, is the Mosque Zu'l-Halifah.
On the East there are no natural landmarks, nor even artificial, like
the "Alamayn" at Meccah; an imaginary line, therefore, is drawn,
forming an irregular circle of which the town is the centre, with a
diameter from ten to twelve miles. Such is the sanctuary.[FN#6]
Geographically considered, the
[p.380]plain is bounded, on the East, with a thin line of low dark
hills, traversed by the Darb al-Sharki, or the "Eastern road," through
Al-Nijd to Meccah: Southwards, the plateau is open, and almost
perfectly level as far as the eye can see.
Al-Madinah dates its origin doubtless from ancient times, and the cause
of its prosperity is evident in the abundant supply of water, a
necessary generally scarce in Arabia. The formation of the plateau is
in some places salt sand, but usually a white chalk, and a loamy clay,
which even by the roughest manipulation makes tolerable bricks. Lime
also abounds. The town is situated upon a gently-shelving part of the
plain, the, lowest portion of which, to judge from the versant, is at
the southern base of Mount Ohod, hence called Al-Safilah, and the
highest at the Awali, or plains about Kuba, and the East.
The Southern and South-Eastern walls of the suburb are sometimes
carried away by violent "Sayl," or torrents, which, after rain, sweep
down from the Western as
[p.381]well as from the Eastern highlands.
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