Instead Of A Mihrab Or Prayer-Niche,[FN#34] A Large Block Of
Stone Directed The Congregation; At First It Was Placed Against The
Northern Wall
[P.362]of the Mosque, and it was removed to the Southern when Meccah
became the Kiblah.
In the beginning the Prophet, whilst preaching the Khutbah or Friday
sermon, leaned when fatigued against a post.[FN#35] The Mambar,[FN#36]
or pulpit, was the invention of a Madinah man, of the Benu Najjar. It
was a wooden frame, two cubits long by one broad, with three steps,
each one span high; on the topmost of these the Prophet sat when he
required rest. The pulpit assumed its present form about A.H. 90,
during the artistic reign of Al-Walid.
In this Mosque Mohammed spent the greater part of the day[FN#37] with
his companions, conversing, instructing, and
[p.363]comforting the poor. Hard by were the abodes of his wives, his
family, and his principal friends. Here he prayed, at the call of the
Azan, or devotion-cry, from the roof. Here he received worldly envoys
and embassies, and the heavenly messages conveyed by the Archangel
Gabriel. And within a few yards of the hallowed spot, he died, and
found a grave.
The theatre of events so important to Al-Islam could not be
allowed-specially as no divine decree forbade the change-to remain in
its pristine lowliness. The first Caliph contented himself with merely
restoring some of the palm pillars, which had fallen to the ground:
Omar, the second successor, surrounded the Hujrah, or Ayishah's
chamber, in which the Prophet was buried, with a mud wall; and in A.H.
17, he enlarged the Mosque to 140 cubits by 120, taking in ground on
all sides except the Eastern, where stood the abodes of the "Mothers of
the Moslems.[FN#38]" Outside the Northern wall he erected a Suffah,
called Al-Batha-a raised bench of wood, earth, or stone, upon which the
people might recreate themselves with conversation and quoting poetry,
for the Mosque was now becoming [a] place of peculiar reverence to
men.[FN#39]
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![Personal Narrative Of A Pilgrimage To Al-Madinah & Meccah - Volume 1 of 2 - By Captain Sir Richard F. Burton
- Instead of a Mihrab or prayer-niche,[FN#34] a large block of
stone directed the congregation; at first it - Page 463](../images/travel.jpg)
