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. In this passage are preserved the treasures of the place;
they are a "Bayt Mal al-Muslimin," or public treasury of the Moslems;
therefore to be employed by the Caliph (i.e. the reigning Sultan) for
the exigencies of the faith. The amount is said to be enormous, which I
doubt.
[FN#48] And I might add, never having seen one who has seen it. Niebuhr
is utterly incorrect in his hearsay description of it. It is not
"enclosed within iron railings for fear lest the people might
surreptitiously offer worship to the ashes of the Prophet." The tomb is
not "of plain mason-work in the form of a chest," nor does any one
believe that it is "placed within or between two other tombs, in which
rest the ashes of the first two Caliphs." The traveller appears to have
lent a credulous ear to the eminent Arab merchant, who told him that a
guard was placed over the tomb to prevent the populace scraping dirt
from about it, and preserving it as a relic.
[FN#49] Burckhardt writes this author's name El Samhoudy, and in this
he is followed by all our popular book-makers. Moslems have three ways
of spelling it: 1. Al-Samhudi, 2. Al-Samahnudi, and 3. Al-Samanhudi. I
prefer the latter, believing that the learned Shaykh, Nur al-Din Ali
bin Abdullah al-Hasini (or Al-Husayni) was originally from Samanhud in
Egypt, the ancient Sebennitis. He died in A.H. 911, and was buried in
the Bakia cemetery.
[FN#50] Burckhardt, however, must be in error when he says "The tombs
are also covered with precious stuffs, and in the shape of catafalques,
like that of Ibrahim in the great Mosque of Meccah." The eunuchs
positively declare that no one ever approaches the tomb, and that he
who ventured to do so would at once be blinded by the supernatural
light. Moreover the historians of Al-Madinah all quote tales of certain
visions of the Apostle, directing his tomb to be cleared of dust that
had fallen upon it from above, in which case some man celebrated for
piety and purity was let through a hole in the roof, by cords, down to
the tomb, with directions to wipe it with his beard. This style of
ingress is explained by another assertion of Al-Samanhudi, quoted by
Burckhardt. "In A.H. 892, when Kaid-Bey rebuilt the Mosque, which had
been destroyed by lightning, three deep graves were found in the
inside, full of rubbish, but the author of this history, who himself
entered it, saw no traces of tombs.
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