The Passage In
The Text Merely Promises 1000 Blessings Upon That Man's Devotion Who
Prays At The Prophet's Mosque.
[FN#
3] The visitor, who approaches the Sepulchre as a matter of
religious ceremony, is called "Zair," his conductor "Muzawwir," whereas
The pilgrim at Meccah becomes a "Haji." The Imam Malik disapproved of a
Moslem's saying, "I have visited the Prophet's tomb," preferring him to
express himself thus-"I have visited the Prophet." Others again dislike
the latter formula, declaring the Prophet too venerable to be so
visited by Amr and Zayd.
[FN#4] In A.D. 1807, they prevented Ali Bey (the Spaniard Badia) from
entering Al-Madinah, and it appears that he had reason to congratulate
himself upon escaping without severe punishment.
[FN#5] Nothing in the Spanish cathedrals suggests their oriental origin
and the taste of the people, more than the way in which they are hedged
in by secular buildings.
[FN#6] The ceremony of Ziyarat, however, begins at the Bab al-Salam. We
rode up to this gate only in order to avoid the sun.
[FN#7] Haswah is a place covered with gravel: Ramlah, one which is
sanded over. Both are equally applicable, and applied to the areas of
Mosques. Al-Sahn is the general word; Al-Hosh is occasionally used, but
is more properly applied to the court-yard of a dwelling-house.
[FN#8] This Riwak was begun about five or six years ago by Abd
al-Majid. To judge from the size of the columns, and the other
preparations which encumber the ground, this part of the building will
surpass all the rest. But the people of Al-Madinah assured me that it
will not be finished for some time,-a prophecy likely to be fulfilled
by the present state of Turkish finance.
[FN#9] This gate derives its peculiar name from its vicinity to the
Lady Fatimah's tomb; women, when they do visit the Mosque, enter it
through all the doors indifferently.
[FN#10] It is so called by the figure synecdoche: it contains the
Rauzah or the Prophet's Garden, and therefore the whole portico enjoys
that honoured name.
[FN#11] These carpets are swept by the eunuchs, who let out the office
for a certain fee to pilgrims, every morning, immediately after
sunrise. Their diligence, however, does by no means prevent the
presence of certain little parasites, concerning which politeness is
dumb
[FN#12] Because if not pure, ablution is performed at the well in the
centre of the hypaethra. Zairs are ordered to visit the Mosque
perfumed, and in their best clothes, and the Hanafi school deems it
lawful on this occasion only to wear dresses of pure silk.
[FN#13] In this Mosque, as in all others, it is proper to enter with
the right foot, and to retire with the left.
[FN#14] I must warn the reader that almost every Muzawwir has his own
litany, which descends from father to son: moreover, all the books
differ at least as much as do the oral authorities.
[FN#15] That is to say, "over the world, the flesh, and the devil."
[FN#16] This by strangers is called the Masalla Shafe'i, or the Place
of Prayer of the Shafe'i school.
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