Meccah, Then, Is Claimed As A Sacred Place, And The Hajar
Al-Aswad, As Well As The Ka’Abah, Are Revered As Holy Emblems By Four
Different Faiths—The Hindu, SabæAn, Gueber, And Moslem.
I have little
doubt, and hope to prove at another time, that the Jews connected it
with traditions about Abraham.
This would be the fifth religion that
looked towards the Ka’abah—a rare meeting-place of devotion.
[FN#21] Presenting this appearance in profile. The Hajar has suffered
from the iconoclastic principle of Islam, having once narrowly escaped
destruction by order of Al-Hakim of Egypt. In these days the metal rim
serves as a protection as well as an ornament.
[FN#22] The height of the Hajar from the ground, according to my
measurement, is four feet nine inches; Ali Bey places it forty-two
inches above the pavement.
[FN#23] The colour was black and metallic, and the centre of the stone
was sunk about two inches below the metal circle. Round the sides was a
reddish-brown cement, almost level with the metal, and sloping down to
the middle of the stone. Ibn Jubayr declares the depth of the stone
unknown, but that most people believe it to extend two cubits into the
wall. In his day it was three “Shibr” (the large span from the thumb to the
little finger-tip) broad, and one span long, with knobs, and a joining
of four pieces, which the Karamitah had broken. The stone was set in a
silver band. “Its softness and moisture were such,” says Ibn Jubayr, “that
the sinner would never remove his mouth from it, which phenomenon made
the Prophet declare it to be the covenant of Allah on earth.”
[FN#24] The band is now a massive circle of gold or silver gilt. I
found the aperture in which the stone is, one span and three fingers
broad.
[FN#25] The “Rukn al-Yamani” is the corner facing the South. The part
alluded to in the text is the wall of the Ka’abah, between the Shami and
Yamani angles, distant about three feet from the latter, and near the
site of the old western door, long since closed. The stone is darker
and redder than the rest of the wall. It is called Al-Mustajab (or
Mustajab min al-Zunub or Mustajab al-Dua, “where prayer is granted”).
Pilgrims here extend their arms, press their bodies against the
building, and beg pardon for their sins.
[FN#26] I have frequently seen it kissed by men and women.
[FN#27] Al-Ma’ajan, the place of mixing or kneading, because the
patriarchs here kneaded the mud used as cement in the holy building.
Some call it Al-Hufrah (the digging), and it is generally known as
Makam Jibrail (the place of Gabriel), because here descended the
inspired order for the five daily prayers, and at this spot the
Archangel and the Prophet performed their devotions, making it a most
auspicious spot. It is on the north of the door, from which it is
distant about two feet; its length is seven spans and seven fingers;
breadth five spans three fingers; and depth one span four fingers. The
following sentence from Herklet’s “Qanoon e Islam” (ch. xii. sec. 5) may
serve to show the extent of error still popular. The author, after
separating the Bayt Ullah from the Ka’abah, erroneously making the former
the name of the whole temple, proceeds to say, “the rain-water which
falls on its (the Ka’abah’s) terrace runs off through a golden spout on a
stone near it, called Rookn-e-Yemeni, or alabaster-stone), and stands
over the grave of Ismaeel.”—!
[FN#28] Generally called Mizab al-Rahmah (of Mercy). It carries rain
from the roof, and discharges it upon Ishmael’s grave, where pilgrims
stand fighting to catch it. In Al-Idrisi’s time it was of wood; now it is
said to be gold, but it looks very dingy.
[FN#29] Usually called the Hajar al-Akhzar, or green stone. Al-Idrisi
speaks of a white stone covering Ishmael’s remains; Ibn Jubayr of “green
marble, longish, in form of a Mihrab arch, and near it a white round
slab, in both of which are spots that make them appear yellow.” Near
them, we are told, and towards the Iraki corner, is the tomb of Hagar,
under a green slab one span and a half broad, and pilgrims used to pray
at both places. Ali Bey erroneously applies the words Al-Hajar Ismail
to the parapet about the slab.
[FN#30] My measurements give five feet six inches. In Al-Idrisi’s day the
wall was fifty cubits long.
[FN#31] Al-Hatim ([Arabic] lit. the “broken”). Burckhardt asserts that the
Mekkawi no longer apply the word, as some historians do, to the space
bounded by the Ka’abah, the Partition, the Zemzem, and the Makam of
Ibrahim. I heard it, however, so used by learned Meccans, and they gave
as the meaning of the name the break in this part of the oval pavement
which surrounds the Ka’abah. Historians relate that all who rebuilt the
“House of Allah” followed Abraham’s plan till the Kuraysh, and after them
Al-Hajjaj curtailed it in the direction of Al-Hatim, which part was
then first broken off, and ever since remained so.
[FN#32] Al-Hijr ([Arabic]) is the space separated, as the name denotes,
from the Ka’abah. Some suppose that Abraham here penned his sheep.
Possibly Ali Bey means this part of the Temple when he speaks of
Al-Hajar ([Arabic]) Ismail—les pierres d’Ismail.
[FN#33] “Al-Hajjaj”; this, as will afterwards be seen, is a mistake. He
excluded the Hatim.
[FN#34] As well as memory serves me, for I have preserved no note, the
inscriptions are in the marble casing, and indeed no other stone meets
the eye.
[FN#35] It is a fine, close, grey polished granite:
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