A Piece In My Possession, The Gift Of Omar
Effendi, Is A Handsome Silk And Cotton Damascus Brocade, With White
Letters Worked In It-Manifestly The Produce Of Manual Labour, Not The
Poor Dull Work Of Machinery.
It contains the formula of the Moslem
faith in the cursive style of the Suls character, seventy-two varieties
of which are enumerated by calligraphists.
Nothing can be more elegant
or appropriate than its appearance. The old curtain is usually
distributed amongst the officers of the Mosque, and sold in bits to
pilgrims; in some distant Moslem countries, the possessor of such a
relic would be considered a saint. 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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 436 of 571
Words from 120651 to 120909
of 157964
