Some Authors Apply The
Above Quoted Lines To The Prophet's Mosque At Al-Madinah Exclusively,
Others To Both Buildings.
[FN#
25] Ibn Jubayr informs us that Abu Bakr, Ayishah, and Omar had
habitations at Kuba.
[FN#26] Some authors mention
A second Bir al-Aris, belonging in part to
the Caliph Osman. According to Yakut, "Aris" is the Hebrew or Syriac
word for a peasant; he quotes the plural form Arisun and Ararisah.
[FN#27] Others assert, with less probability, that the article in
question was lost by one Ma'akah, a favourite of Osman. As that
ill-fated Caliph's troubles began at the time of this accident, the
ring is generally compared to Solomon's. Our popular authors, who
assert that Mohammed himself lost the ring, are greatly in error.
[FN#28] According to some authors, Mohammed drew a bucket of water,
drank part of the contents, spat into the rest, and poured it back into
the well, which instantly became sweet. Ibn Jubayr applies the epithet
Bir Al-Taflat peculiarly to the Aris well: many other authors are not
so exact.
[FN#29] The pious perform the Lesser Ablution upon the brink of the
seven wells, and drink of the remnant of the water in "Tabarruk" or to
secure the blessings of God.
[FN#30] Some alter the 3rd, the 5th, and the 7th names to Bir al-Nabi,
a well in the Kuba gardens, Bir al-Ghurbal, and Bir al-Fukayyir, where
the Prophet, together with Salman the Persian and others of his
companions, planted date trees. The Bir al-Aris has already been
described. The Bir al-Ghars, Gharas or Ghurs, so called, it is said,
from the place where it was sunk, about half a mile N.E. of the Kuba
Mosque, is a large well with an abundance of water. Mohammed used to
perform ablution on its brink, and directed Ali to wash his corpse with
seven skins full of the water. The Bir Rumah is a large well with a
spring at the bottom, dug in the Wady al-Akik, to the north of the
Mosque Al-Kiblatayn. It is called "Kalib Mazni" (the old well of
Mazni), in this tradition; "the best of old wells is the old well of
Mazni." And ancient it must be if the legend say true, that when Abu
Karb besieged Al-Madinah (A.D. 495), he was relieved of sickness by
drinking its produce. Some assert that it afforded the only sweet water
in Al-Madinah when the Prophet arrived there. The town becoming crowded
by an influx of visitors, this water was sold by its owner, a man of
the Benu Ghaffar tribe, or according to others, by one Mazni, a Jew.
Osman at last bought it by paying upwards of 100 camels. The Bir
Buza'at, or Biza'at, or Bisa'at, is in the Nakhil or palm plantations,
outside the Bab al-Shami or North-western gate of Al-Madinah on the
right of the road leading to Ohod.
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