They
Are Without Ornament, Except The Inscription On The Exterior, Which
Commemorates The Name Of The Builder, And They Are All Posterior In
Date To The Fourteenth Century.
As each gate consists of two or three
arches, or divisions, separated by narrow walls, these divisions are
counted in the enumeration of the gates leading into the Kaabah, and
they make up the number thirty-nine.
There being no doors to the gates,
the Mosque is consequently open at all times. I have crossed at every
hour of the night, and always found people there, either at prayers or
walking about.[FN#55]”
“The outside walls of the Mosques are those of the houses which surround
it on all sides. These houses belonged originally to the Mosque; the
greater part are now the property of individuals. They are let out to
the richest Hadjys, at very high prices, as much as 500 piastres being
given during the pilgrimage for a good apartment with windows opening
into the Mosque.[FN#56] Windows have in consequence been opened in many
parts of the walls on a level with the street, and above that of the
floor of the colonnades. Hadjys living in these apartments are allowed
to perform the Friday’s prayers at home; because, having the Kaabah in
view from the windows, they are supposed to be in the Mosque itself,
and to join in prayer those assembled within the
[p.318] temple. Upon a level with the ground floor of the colonnades
and opening into them are small apartments formed in the walls, having
the appearance of dungeons; these have remained the property of the
Mosque while the houses above them belong to private individuals.
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