Now, Not Being Permitted To Have A Separate Station For Prayer, They Suppose Theirs To Be Suspended From Heaven Above

The Ka’abah roof. [FN#38] The Makam al-Maliki is on the west of, and thirty-seven cubits from,

The Ka’abah; that of the Hanbali forty-seven paces distant. [FN#39] Only the Mu’ezzin takes his stand here, and the Shafe’is pray behind their Imam on the pavement round the Ka’abah, between the corner of the well Zemzem, and the Makam Ibrahim. This place is forty cubits from the Ka’abah, that is say, eight cubits nearer than the Northern and Southern “Makams.” Thus the pavement forms an irregular oval ring round the house[.] [FN#40] In Burckhardt’s time the schools prayed according to the seniority of their founders, and they uttered the Azan of Al-Maghrib together, because that is a peculiarly delicate hour, which easily passes by unnoticed. In the twelfth century, at all times but the evening, the Shafe’i began, then came the Maliki and Hanbali simultaneously, and, lastly, the Hanafi. Now the Shaykh al-Mu’ezzin begins the call, which is taken up by the others. He is a Hanafi; as indeed are all the principal people at Meccah, only a few wild Sharifs of the hills being Shafe’i. [FN#41] The door of the Zemzem building fronts to the south-east. [FN#42] This is not exactly correct. As the plan will show, the angle of one building touches the angle of its neighbour. [FN#43] Their names and offices are now changed. One is called the Kubbat al-Sa’at, and contains the clocks and chronometers (two of them English) sent as presents to the Mosque by the Sultan. The other, known as the Kubbat al-Kutub, is used as a store-room for manuscripts bequeathed to the Mosque. They still are open to Burckhardt’s just criticism, being nothing but the common dome springing from four walls, and vulgarly painted with bands of red, yellow, and green. In Ibn Jubayr’s time the two domes contained bequests of books and candles. The Kubbat Abbas, or that further from the Ka’abah than its neighbour, was also called Kubbat al-Sharab (the Dome of Drink), because Zemzem water was here kept cooling for the use of pilgrims in Daurak, or earthen jars. The nearer was termed Kubbat al-Yahudi; and the tradition they told me was, that a Jew having refused to sell his house upon the spot, it was allowed to remain in loco by the Prophet, as a lasting testimony to his regard for justice. A similar tale is told of an old woman’s hut, which was allowed to stand in the corner of the Great Nushirawan’s royal halls. [FN#44] Called “Al-Daraj.” A correct drawing of it may be found in Ali Bey’s work. [FN#45] The Bab al-Salam, or Bab al-Nabi, or Bab benu Shaybah, resembles in its isolation a triumphal arch, and is built of cut stone. [FN#46] “The (praying) place of Abraham.” Readers will remember that the Meccan Mosque is peculiarly connected with Ibrahim, whom Moslems prefer to all prophets except Mohammed. [FN#47] This I believe to be incorrect.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 216 of 331
Words from 112321 to 112867 of 175520