But The Realities Of Hamzah's Mosque
Have Little To Recommend Them.
The building is like that of Kuba, only
smaller:
And the hypostyle is hung with oil lamps and ostrich eggs, the
usual paltry furniture of an Arab
[p.429]mausoleum. On the walls are a few modern inscriptions and framed
poetry, written in a calligraphic hand. Beneath the Riwak lies Hamzah,
under a mass of black basaltic stone,[FN#21] resembling that of Aden,
only more porous and scoriaceous, convex at the top, like a heap of
earth, without the Kiswah,[FN#22] or cover of a saint's tomb, and
railed round with wooden bars. At his head, or westward, lies Abdullah
bin Jaysh, a name little known to fame, under a plain whitewashed tomb,
also convex; and in the courtyard is a similar pile, erected over the
remains of Shammas bin Osman, another obscure Companion.[FN#23] We then
passed through a door in the Northern part of the Western wall, and saw
a diminutive palm plantation and a well. After which we left the
Mosque, and I was under the "fatal necessity" of paying a dollar for
the honour of entering it. But the guardian promised that the chapters
Y.S. and Al-Ikhlas should be recited for my benefit, the latter forty
times; and if their efficacy be one-twentieth part of what men say it
is, the reader cannot quote against me a certain popular proverb
concerning an order of men easily parted from their money.
Issuing from the Mosque, we advanced a few paces towards the mountain.
On our left we passed by-at a respectful distance, for the Turkish
Hajis cried out that their women were engaged in ablution-a large
Sahrij or tank, built of cut stone with steps, and intended to detain
[p.430] the overflowing waters of the torrent. The next place we prayed
at was a small square, enclosed with dwarf whitewashed walls,
containing a few graves denoted by ovals of loose stones thinly spread
upon the ground. This is primitive Arab simplicity. The Badawin still
mark the places of their dead with four stones planted at the head, the
feet, and the sides; in the centre the earth is either heaped up
Musannam (i.e. like the hump of a camel), or more generally left
Musattah (level). I therefore suppose that the latter was the original
shape of the Prophet's tomb. Within the enclosure certain martyrs of
the holy army were buried. After praying there, we repaired to a small
building still nearer to the foot of the mountain. It is the usual
cupola springing from four square walls, not in the best preservation.
Here the Prophet prayed, and it is called the Kubbat al-Sanaya, "Dome
of the Front Teeth," from the following circumstance. Five Infidels
were bound by oath to slay Mohammed at the battle of Ohod: one of
these, Ibn Kumayyah, threw so many stones, and with such goodwill, that
two rings of the Prophet's helmet were driven into his cheek, and blood
poured from his brow down his mustachios, which he wiped with a cloak
to prevent the drops falling to the ground. Then Utbah bin Abi Wakkas
hurled a stone at him, which, splitting his lower lip, knocked out one
of his front teeth.[FN#24] On the left of the Mihrab, inserted low down
in the wall, is a square stone, upon which Shaykh Hamid showed me the
impression of a tooth[FN#25]: he kissed it with peculiar reverence, and
so did I. But the boy Mohammed being by me objurgated-for I
[p.431]remarked in him a jaunty demeanour combined with neglectfulness
of ceremonies-saluted it sulkily, muttering the while hints about the
holiness of his birthplace exempting him from the trouble of stooping.
Already he had appeared at the Harim without his Jubbah, and with
ungirt loins-in waistcoat and shirt-sleeves. Moreover, he had conducted
himself indecorously by nudging Shaykh Hamid's sides during divine
service. Feeling that the youth's "moral man" was, like his physical,
under my charge, and determined to arrest a course of conduct which
must have ended in obtaining for me, the master, the reputation of a
"son of Belial," I insisted upon his joining us in the customary
two-bow prayers. And Sa'ad the Demon, taking my side of the question
with his usual alacrity when a disturbance was in prospect, the youth
found it necessary to yield. After this little scene, Shaykh Hamid
pointed out a sprawling inscription blessing the Companions of the
Prophet. The unhappy Abu Bakr's name had been half effaced by some
fanatic Shi'ah, a circumstance which seemed to arouse all the evil in
my companion's nature; and, looking close at the wall I found a line of
Persian verse to this effect:
"I am weary of my life (Umr), because it bears the name of
Umar."[FN#26]
We English wanderers are beginning to be shamed out of our "vulgar"
habit of scribbling names and nonsense in noted spots. Yet the practice
is both classical and oriental. The Greeks and Persians left their
marks everywhere, as Egypt shows; and the paws of the Sphinx bears
scratches which, being interpreted, are found to be the same manner of
trash as that written upon the remains of Thebes in A.D. 1879. And
Easterns appear never to
[p.432]enter a building with a white wall without inditing upon it
platitudes in verse and prose. Influenced by these considerations, I
drew forth a pencil and inscribed in the Kubbat al-Sanaya,
[Arabic text]
"Abdullah, the servant of Allah." (A.H.) 1269.
Issuing from the dome, we turned a few paces to the left, passed
northwards, and thus blessed the Martyrs of Ohod:
"Peace be upon Ye, O Martyrs! Peace be upon Ye, O Blessed! ye Pious! ye
Pure! who fought upon Allah's Path the good Fight, who worshipped your
Lord until He brought you to Certainty.[FN#27] Peace be upon You of
whom Allah said (viz., in the Koran), ‘Verily repute not them slain on
God's Path (i.e., warring with Infidels); nay, rather they are alive,
and there is no Fear upon them, nor are they sorrowful!' Peace be upon
Ye, O Martyrs of Ohod!
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