Between this Zemzem well and the Eastern Riwak is the Stoa, or
Academia, of the Prophet's city. In the cool mornings and evenings the
ground is strewed with professors, who teach the young idea, as an
eminent orientalist hath it, to shout rather than to shoot.[FN#80] A
few feet to the South of the palm garden is a moveable wooden planking
painted green, and about three feet high; it serves to separate the
congregation from the Imam when he prays here; and at the North-Eastern
angle of the enclosure is a
[p.339] Shajar Kanadil, a large brass chandelier, which completes the
furniture of the court.
After this inspection, the shadows of evening began to gather round us.
We left the Mosque, reverently taking care to issue forth with the left
foot, and not to back out of it as is the Sunnat or practice derived
from the Apostle, when taking leave of the Meccan Temple.
To conclude this long chapter. Although every Moslem, learned and
simple, firmly believes that Mohammed's remains are interred in the
Hujrah at Al-Madinah, I cannot help suspecting that the place is
doubtful as that of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. It must be
remembered that a tumult followed the announcement of the Apostle's
death, when the people, as often happens, believing him to be
immortal,[FN#81] refused to credit the report, and even Omar threatened
destruction to any one that asserted it.
