Burckhardt Supposes That The Governors Of Al-Madinah, Who
Were Often Independent Chiefs, And Sometimes Guardians Of The Tombs,
Made
Occasional draughts upon the generosity of the Faithful.
[FN#56] I inquired in vain about the substance that covered the
Dome.
Some told me it was tinfoil; others supposed it to be rivetted with
green tiles.
[FN#57] The Badawi calls a sound dollar "Kirsh Hajar," or "Riyal
Hajar," a "stone dollar."
[FN#58] At the same time his account is still carefully copied by our
popular and general authors, who, it is presumed, could easily become
better informed.
[FN#59] The Persians in remote times, as we learn from Herodotus (lib.
6), were waited upon by eunuchs, and some attribute to them the
invention. Ammianus Marcellinus (lib. 14) ascribes the origin to
Semiramis. In Al-Islam, the employment of such persons about the Mosque
is a "Bida'ah" or custom unknown in the time of the Prophet. It is said
to have arisen from the following three considerations: 1. These people
are concentrated in their professions; 2. They must see and touch
strange women at the shrines; and 3. The shrines are "Harim," or
sacred, having adyta which are kept secret from the prying eyes of men,
and, therefore, should be served by eunuchs. It is strange that the
Roman Catholic church, as well as the Moslem Mosque, should have
admitted such an abomination.
[FN#60] One of these gentry, if called "Tawashi,"-his generic
name,-would certainly insult a stranger.
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