’ I do not know by whom this arch was built,
but it appears to be modern.[FN#45]”
“Nearly in front of the Bab-es-Salam and nearer the Kaabah than any of
the other surrounding buildings, stand[s] the Makam Ibrahim.[FN#46]
This is a small building supported by six pillars about eight feet
high, four of which are surrounded from top to bottom by a fine iron
railing, while they leave the space beyond the two hind pillars open;
within the railing is a frame about five feet square, terminating in a
pyramidal top, and said to contain the sacred stone upon which Ibrahim
stood when he built the Kaabah, and which with the help of his son
Ismayl he had removed from hence to the place
[p.312] called Maajen, already mentioned. The stone is said to have
yielded under the weight of the Patriarch, and to preserve the
impression of his foot still visible upon it; but no hadjy has ever
seen it,[FN#47] as the frame is always entirely covered with a brocade
of red silk richly embroidered. Persons are constantly seen before the
railing invoking the good offices of Ibrahim; and a short prayer must
be uttered by the side of the Makam after the walk round the Kaabah is
completed. It is said that many of the Sahaba, or first adherents of
Mohammed, were interred in the open space between this Makam and Zem
Zem[FN#48]; from which circumstance it is one of the most
[p.313] favourite places of prayers in the Mosque. In this part of the
area the Khalif Soleyman Ibn Abd el Melek, brother of Wolyd (Al-Walid),
built a fine reservoir in A.H. 97, which was filled from a spring east
of Arafat[FN#49]; but the Mekkawys destroyed it after his death, on the
pretence that the water of Zem Zem was preferable.”
“On the side of Makam Ibrahim, facing the middle part of the front of the
Kaabah, stands the Mambar, or pulpit of the Mosque; it is elegantly
formed of fine white marble, with many sculptured ornaments; and was
sent as a present to the Mosque in A.H. 969 by Sultan Soleyman Ibn
Selym.[FN#50] A straight, narrow staircase leads up to the post of the
Khatyb, or preacher, which is surmounted by a gilt polygonal pointed
steeple, resembling an obelisk. Here a sermon is preached on Fridays
and on certain festivals. These, like the Friday sermons of all Mosques
in the Mohammedan countries, are usually of the same turn, with some
slight alterations upon extraordinary occasions.[FN#51]”
“I have now described all the buildings within the inclosure of the
temple.”
“The gates of the Mosque are nineteen in number, and are distributed
about it without any order or symmetry.[FN#52]”
Burckhardt’s description of the gates is short and
[p.314] imperfect. On the eastern side of the Mosque there are
[p.315] four principal entrances, seven on the southern side, three in
the western, and five in the northern wall.
The eastern gates are the Greater Bab al-Salam, through which the
pilgrim enters the Mosque; it is close to the north-east angle. Next to
it the Lesser Bab al-Salam, with two small arches; thirdly, the Bab
al-Nabi, where the Prophet used to pass through from Khadijah’s house;
and, lastly, near the south-east corner, the Bab Ali, or of the Benu
Hashim, opening upon the street between Safa and Marwah.
Beyond the north-eastern corner, in the northern wall, is the Bab
Duraybah, a small entrance with one arch. Next to it, almost fronting
the Ka’abah, is the grand adit, “Bab al-Ziyadah,” also known as Bab
al-Nadwah. Here the colonnade, projecting far beyond the normal line,
forms a small square or hall supported by pillars, and a false
colonnade of sixty-one columns leads to the true cloister of the
Mosque. This portion of the building being cool and shady, is crowded
by the poor, the diseased, and the dying, during Divine worship, and at
other times by idlers, schoolboys, and merchants. Passing through three
external arches, pilgrims descend by a flight of steps into the hall,
where they deposit their slippers, it not being considered decorous to
hold them when circumambulating the Ka’abah.[FN#53] A broad pavement, in
the shape of an irregular triangle, whose base is the cloister, leads
to the circuit of the house. Next to the Ziyadah Gate is a small,
single-arched entrance, “Bab Kutubi,” and beyond it one similar, the Bab
al-Ajlah ([Arabic]), also named Al-Basitiyah, from its proximity to the
college of Abd al Basitah. Close to the north-west angle of the
cloister is the Bab al-Nadwah, anciently called Bab al-Umrah, and now
Bab
[p.316] al-Atik, the Old Gate. Near this place and opening into the
Ka’abah, stood the “Town Hall” (Dar al-Nadwah), built by Kusay, for
containing the oriflamme “Al-Liwa,” and as a council-chamber for the
ancients of the city.[FN#54]
In the western wall are three entrances. The single-arched gate nearest
to the north angle is called Bab Benu Saham or Bab al-Umrah, because
pilgrims pass through it to the Tanim and to the ceremony Al-Umrah
(Little Pilgrimage). In the centre of the wall is the Bab Ibrahim, or
Bab al-Khayyatin (the Tailors’ Gate); a single arch leading into a large
projecting square, like that of the Ziyadah entrance, but somewhat
smaller. Near the south-west corner is a double arched adit, the Bab
al-Wida’a (“of farewell”): hence departing pilgrims issue forth from the
temple.
At the western end of the southern wall is the two-arched Bab Umm Hani,
so called after the lady’s residence, when included in the Mosque.
