’ 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.
