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]
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