It was
this title after the Koranic order (chap, xxxiii. v. 53) which rendered
their widowhood eternal; no Arab would willingly marry a woman whom he
has called mother or sister.
[FN#39] Authors mention a place outside the Northern wall called
Al-Suffah, which was assigned by Mohammed as a habitation to houseless
believers; from which circumstance these paupers derived the title of
Ashab al-Suffah, "Companions of the Sofa."
[FN#40] So I translate the Arabicised word "Saj."
[FN#41] A place about five miles from Al-Madinah, on the Meccan way.
See Chap. XIV.
[FN#42] And curious to say Al-Islam still has the largest cathedral in
the world-St. Sophia's at Constantinople. Next to this ranks St.
Peter's at Rome; thirdly, I believe, the "Jumma Masjid," or cathedral
of the old Moslem city Bijapur in India; the fourth is St. Paul's,
London,
[FN#43] It is to this monarch that the Saracenic Mosque-architecture
mainly owes its present form. As will be seen, he had every advantage
of borrowing from Christian, Persian, and even Indian art. From the
first he took the dome, from the second the cloister-it might have been
naturalised in Arabia before his time-and possibly from the third the
minaret and the prayer-niche. The latter appears to be a peculiarly
Hindu feature in sacred buildings, intended to contain the idol, and to
support the lamps, flowers, and other offerings placed before it.
[FN#44] The reader will remember that in the sixth year of the Hijrah,
after Mohammed's marriage with Zaynab, his wives were secluded behind
the Hijab, Pardah, or curtain.
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