having performed the greater ablution, and used the toothstick as directed, and dressed ourselves in white clothes, which the apostle loved, we were ready to start upon our holy errand. as my foot still gave me great pain, shaykh hamid sent for a donkey. a wretched animal appeared, raw-backed, lame of one leg, and wanting an ear, with accoutrements to match, a pack-saddle without stirrups, and a halter instead of a bridle. such as the brute was, however, i had to mount it, and to ride through the misri gate, to the wonder of certain badawin, who, like the indians, despise the ass.
“honourable is the riding of a horse to the rider,
but the mule is a dishonour, and the donkey a disgrace,”
says their song. the turkish pilgrims, however, who appear to take a pride in ignoring all arab points of prejudice, generally mount donkeys when they cannot walk. the badawin therefore settled among themselves, audibly enough, that i was an osmanli, who of course could not understand arabic, and they put the question generally,
“by what curse of allah had they been subjected to ass-riders?”
but shaykh hamid is lecturing me upon the subject of the mosque. the masjid al-nabawi, or the prophet’s mosque, is one of the haramayn, or the “two sanctuaries” of al-islam, and is the second of the three1 most venerable places of worship in the world; the other two being the masjid al-harim at meccah (connected with abraham) and the masjid al-aksa of jerusalem (the peculiar place of solomon). a hadis or traditional saying of mohammed asserts, “one prayer in this my mosque is more efficacious than a thousand in other places, save only the masjid al-harim.2” it is therefore the visitor’s duty, as long as he stays at al-madinah, to pray there the five times per diem, to pass the day in it reading the koran, and the night, if possible, in watching and devotion.
a visit to the masjid al-nabawi, and the holy spots within it, is technically called “ziyarat” or visitation.3 an essential difference is made between this rite and hajj or pilgrimage. the latter is obligatory by koranic order upon every moslem once in his life: the former is only a meritorious action. “tawaf,” or circumambulation of the house of allah at meccah, must never be performed at the apostle’s tomb. this should not be visited in the ihram or pilgrim dress; men should not kiss it, touch it with the hand, or press the bosom against it, as at the ka’abah; or rub the face with dust collected near the sepulchre; and those who prostrate themselves before it, like certain ignorant indians, are held to be guilty of deadly sin. on the other hand, to spit upon any part of the mosque, or to treat it with contempt, is held to be the act of an infidel.
thus the learned and religious have settled, one would have thought, accurately enough the spiritual rank and dignity of the masjid al-nabawi. but mankind, especially in the east, must always be in extremes. the orthodox school of al-malik holds al-madinah, on account of the sanctity of, and the religious benefits to be derived from, mohammed’s tomb, more honourable than meccah. some declare that the apostle preferred his place of refuge, blessing it as abraham did meccah. moreover, as a tradition declares that every man’s body is drawn from the ground in which he is buried, al-madinah evidently had the honour of supplying materials for the apostle’s person. others, like omar, were uncertain which to prefer. the wahhabis, on the other hand, rejecting the intercession of the apostle on the day of judgment, considering the grave of a mere mortal unworthy of notice, and highly disgusted by the idolatrous respect paid to it by certain foolish moslems, plundered the sacred building with sacrilegious violence, and forbade visitors from distant countries to enter al-madinah.4
the general consensus of al-islam admits the superiority of the bayt allah (“house of god”) at meccah to the whole world; and declares al-madinah to be more venerable than every part of meccah, and consequently all the earth, except only the bayt allah. this last is a juste milieu view by no means in favour with the inhabitants of either place. in the meanwhile the meccans claim unlimited superiority over the madani: the madani over the meccans.
passing through muddy streets, — they had been freshly watered before evening time, — i came suddenly upon the mosque. like that at meccah, the approach is choked up by ignoble buildings, some actually touching the holy “enceinte,” others separated by a lane compared with which the road round st. paul’s is a vatican square.5 there is no outer front, no general prospect of the prophet’s mosque; consequently, as a building, it has neither beauty nor dignity.
and entering the bab al-rahmah6 — the gate of pity, — by a diminutive flight of steps, i was astonished at the mean and tawdry appearance of a place so universally venerated in the moslem world. it is not, like the meccan temple, grand and simple, the expression of a single sublime idea: the longer i looked at it, the more it suggested the resemblance of a museum of second-rate art, an old curiosity-shop, full of ornaments that are not accessories, and decorated with pauper splendour.
the masjid al-nabi is a parallelogram about four hundred and twenty feet in length by three hundred and forty broad, the direction of the long walls being nearly north and south. as usual in al-islam, it is a hypaethral building with a spacious central area, called al-sahn, al-hosh, al-haswah, or al-ramlah,7 surrounded by a peristyle with numerous rows of pillars like the colonnades of an italian cloister. the arcades or porticoes are flat-ceilinged, domed above with the small media naranja, or half-orange cupola of spain, and divided into four parts by narrow passages, three or four steps below the level of the pavement. along the whole inner length of the northern short wall runs the majidi riwak, so called from the then reigning sultan.8 the western long wall is occupied by the riwak of the rahmah gate; the eastern by that of the bab al-nisa, the “women’s entrance.9”
embracing the inner length of the southern short wall, and deeper by nearly treble the amount of columns than the other porticoes, is the main colonnade, called al-rauzah10 (the garden), the adytum containing all that is venerable in the building. these four riwaks, arched externally, are supported internally by pillars of different shape and material, varying from fine porphyry to dirty plaster. the southern, where the sepulchre or cenotaph stands, is paved with handsome slabs of white marble and marquetry work, here and there covered with coarse matting, and above this by unclean carpets, well worn by faithful feet.11
but this is not the time for tafarruj or lionising.
shaykh hamid warns me, with a nudge, that other things are expected of a zair (visitor). he leads me to the bab al-salam, fighting his way through a troop of beggars, and inquires markedly if i am religiously pure.12 then, placing our hands a little below and on the left of the waist, the palm of the right covering the back of the left, in the position of prayer, and beginning with the dexter feet,13 we pace slowly forwards down the line called the muwajihat al-sharifah, or “the illustrous fronting,” which, divided off like an aisle, runs parallel with the southern wall of the mosque. on my right hand walks the shaykh, who recites aloud the following prayer, making me repeat it after him.14 it is literally rendered, as, indeed, are all the formulae, and the reader is requested to excuse the barbarous fidelity of the translation.
“in the name of allah and in the faith of allah’s apostle! o lord, cause me to enter the entering of truth, and cause me to issue forth the issuing of truth, and permit me to draw near to thee, and make me a sultan victorious15!” then follow blessings upon the apostle, and afterwards: “o allah! open to me the doors of thy mercy, and grant me entrance into it, and protect me from the stoned devil!”
during this preliminary prayer we had passed down two-thirds of the muwajihat al-sharifah. on the left hand is a dwarf wall, about the height of a man, painted with arabesques, and pierced with four small doors which open into the muwajihat. in this barrier are sundry small erections, the niche called the mihrab sulaymani,16 the mambar, or pulpit, and the mihrab al-nabawi.17
the two niches are of beautiful mosaic, richly worked with various coloured marbles, and the pulpit is a graceful collection of slender columns, elegant tracery, and inscriptions admirably carved. arrived at the western small door in the dwarf wall, we entered the celebrated spot called al-rauzah, after a saying of the apostle’s, “between my tomb and my pulpit is a garden of the gardens of paradise.18” on the north and west sides it is not divided from the rest of the portico; on the south runs the dwarf wall, and on the east it is limited by the west end of the lattice-work containing the tomb.
accompanied by my muzawwir i entered the rauzah, and was placed by him with the mukabbariyah19 behind me, fronting meccah, with my right shoulder opposite to, and about twenty feet distant from, the dexter pillar of the apostle’s pulpit.20 there, after saying the afternoon prayers,21 i performed the usual two bows in honour of the temple,22 and at the end of them recited the hundred and ninth and the hundred and twelfth chapters of the koran-the “kul, ya ayyuha’l-kafiruna,” and the “surat al-ikhlas,” called also the “kul, huw’ allah,” or the declaration of unity; and may be thus translated:
“say, he is the one god!
“the eternal god!
“he begets not, nor is he begot!
“and unto him the like is not.”
after which was performed a single sujdah (prostration) of thanks,23 in gratitude to allah for making it my fate to visit so holy a spot.
this being the recognised time to give alms, i was besieged by beggars, who spread their napkins before us on the ground, sprinkled with a few coppers to excite generosity. but not wishing to be distracted by them, before leaving hamid’s house i had changed two dollars, and had given the coin to the boy mohammed, who accompanied me, strictly charging him to make that sum last through the mosque.
my answer to the beggars was a reference to my attendant, backed by the simple action of turning my pockets inside out; and, whilst he was battling with the beggars, i proceeded to cast my first coup-d’oeil upon the rauzah.
the “garden” is the most elaborate part of the mosque. little can be said in its praise by day, when it bears the same relation to a second-rate church in rome as an english chapel-of-ease to westminster abbey. it is a space of about eighty feet in length, tawdrily decorated so as to resemble a garden. the carpets are flowered, and the pediments of the columns are cased with bright green tiles, and adorned to the height of a man with gaudy and unnatural vegetation in arabesque. it is disfigured by handsome branched candelabras of cut crystal, the work, i believe, of a london house, and presented to the shrine by the late abbas pasha of egypt.24
the only admirable feature of the view is the light cast by the windows of stained glass25 in the southern wall. its peculiar background, the railing of the tomb, a splendid filigree-work of green and polished brass, gilt or made to resemble gold, looks more picturesque near than at a distance, when it suggests the idea of a gigantic bird-cage. but at night the eye, dazzled by oil-lamps26 suspended from the roof, by huge wax candles, and by smaller illuminations falling upon crowds of visitors in handsome attire, with the richest and the noblest of the city sitting in congregation when service is performed,27 becomes less critical. still the scene must be viewed with moslem bias, and until a man is thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the east, the last place the rauzah will remind him of, is that which the architect primarily intended it to resemble-a garden.
then with hamid, professionally solemn, i reassumed the position of prayer, and retraced my steps. after passing through another small door in the dwarf wall that bounds the muwajihah, we did not turn to the right, which would have led us to the bab al-salam; our course was in an opposite direction, towards the eastern wall of the temple. meanwhile we repeated, “verily allah and his angels28 bless the apostle! o ye who believe, bless him, and salute him with honour!” at the end of this prayer, we arrived at the mausoleum, which requires some description before the reader can understand the nature of our proceedings there.
the hujrah29 or “chamber” as it is called, from the circumstance of its having been ayishah’s room, is an irregular square of from fifty to fifty-five feet in the south-east corner of the building, and separated on all sides from the walls of the mosque by a passage about twenty-six feet broad on the south side, and twenty on the east. the reason of this isolation has been before explained, and there is a saying of mohammed’s, “o allah, cause not my tomb to become an object of idolatrous adoration! may allah’s wrath fall heavy upon the people who make the tombs of their prophets places of prayer30!”
inside there are, or are supposed to be, three tombs facing the south, surrounded by stone walls without any aperture, or, as others say, by strong planking.31 whatever this material may be, it is hung outside with a curtain, somewhat like a large four-post bed. the external railing is separated by a dark narrow passage from the inner, which it surrounds; and is of iron filigree painted of a vivid grass green, — with a view to the garden. here carefully inserted in the verdure, and doubly bright by contrast, is the gilt or burnished brass work forming the long and graceful letters of the suls character, and disposed into the moslem creed, the profession of unity, and similar religious sentences.
on the south side, for greater honour, the railing is plated over with silver, and silver letters are interlaced with it. this fence, which connects the columns and forbids passage to all men, may be compared to the baldacchino of roman churches. it has four gates: that to the south is the bab al-muwajihah; eastward is the gate of our lady fatimah; westward the bab al-taubah (of repentance), opening into the rauzah or garden; and to the north, the bab al-shami or syrian gate. they are constantly kept closed, except the fourth, which admits, into the dark narrow passage above alluded to, the officers who have charge of the treasures there deposited; and the eunuchs who sweep the floor, light the lamps, and carry away the presents sometimes thrown in here by devotees.32
in the southern side of the fence are three windows, holes about half a foot square, and placed from four to five feet above the ground; they are said to be between three and four cubits distant from the apostle’s head. the most westerly of these is supposed to front mohammed’s tomb, wherefore it is called the shubak al-nabi, or the prophet’s window. the next, on the right as you front it, is abu bakr’s, and the most easterly of the three is omar’s.
above the hujrah is the green dome, surmounted outside by a large gilt crescent springing from a series of globes. the glowing imaginations of the moslems crown this gem of the building with a pillar of heavenly light, which directs from three days’ distance the pilgrims’ steps towards al-madinah. but alas! none save holy men (and perhaps, odylic sensitives), whose material organs are piercing as their spiritual vision, may be allowed the privilege of beholding this poetic splendour.
arrived at the shubak al-nabi, hamid took his stand about six feet or so out of reach of the railing, and at that respectful distance from, and facing33 the hazirah (or presence), with hands raised as in prayer, he recited the following supplication in a low voice, telling me in a stage whisper to repeat it after him with awe, and fear, and love:—
“peace be upon thee, o apostle of allah, and the mercy of allah and his blessings! peace be upon thee, o apostle of allah! peace be upon thee, o friend of allah! peace be upon thee, o best of allah’s creation! peace be upon thee, o pure creature of allah! peace be upon thee, o chief of prophets! peace be upon thee, o seal of the prophets! peace be upon thee, o prince of the pious! peace be upon thee, o apostle of the lord of the (three) worlds! peace be upon thee, and upon thy family, and upon thy pure wives! peace be upon thee, and upon all thy companions! peace be upon thee, and upon all the prophets, and upon those sent to preach allah’s word! peace be upon thee, and upon all allah’s righteous worshippers! peace be upon thee, o thou bringer of glad tidings! peace be upon thee, o bearer of threats! peace be upon thee, o thou bright lamp! peace be upon thee, o thou apostle of mercy! peace be upon thee, o ruler of thy faith! peace be upon thee, o opener of grief! peace be upon thee! and allah bless thee! and allah repay thee for us, o thou apostle of allah! the choicest of blessings with which he ever blessed prophet! allah bless thee as often as mentioners have mentioned thee, and forgetters have forgotten thee! and allah bless thee among the first and the last, with the best, the highest, and the fullest of blessings ever bestowed on man; even as we escaped error by means of thee, and were made to see after blindness, and after ignorance were directed into the right way. i bear witness that there is no god but the god (allah), and i testify that thou art his servant, and his apostle, and his faithful follower, and best creature. and i bear witness, o apostle of allah! that thou hast delivered thy message, and discharged thy trust, and advised thy faith, and opened grief, and published proofs, and fought valiantly for thy lord, and worshipped thy god till certainty came to thee (i.e. to the hour of death). and we thy friends, o apostle of allah! appear before thee, travellers from distant lands and far countries, through dangers and difficulties, in the times of darkness, and in the hours of day, longing to give thee thy rights (i.e. to honour thee by benediction and visitation), and to obtain the blessings of thine intercession, for our sins have broken our backs, and thou intercedest with the healer. and allah said,34 ‘and though they have injured themselves, they came to thee, and begged thee to secure their pardon, and they found god an acceptor of penitence, and full of compassion.’ o apostle of allah, intercession! intercession! intercession35! o allah, bless mohammed and mohammed’s family, and give him superiority and high rank, even as thou didst promise him, and graciously allow us to conclude this visitation. i deposit on this spot, and near thee, o apostle of god, my everlasting profession (of faith) from this our day, to the day of judgment, that there is no god but allah, and that our lord mohammed is his servant and his apostle.36 amen! o lord of the (three) worlds!37”
after which, performing ziyarat38 for ourselves, we repeated the fatihah or “opening” chapter of the koran.
“in the name of allah, the merciful, the compassionate!
“praise be to allah, who the (three) worlds made.
“the merciful, the compassionate.
“the king of the day of faith.
“thee (alone) do we worship, and of thee (alone) do we ask aid.
“guide us to the path that is straight —
“the path of those for whom thy love is great, not those on whom is hate, nor they that deviate.
“amen! o lord of angels, jinnis, and men!39”
after reciting this mentally with upraised hands, the forefinger of the right hand being extended to its full length, we drew our palms down our faces and did alms-deeds, a vital part of the ceremony. thus concludes the first part of the ceremony of visitation at the apostle’s tomb.
hamid then stepped about a foot and half to the right, and i followed his example, so as to place myself exactly opposite the second aperture in the grating called abu bakr’s window. there, making a sign towards the mausoleum, we addressed its inmate, as follows:—
“peace be upon thee, o abu bakr, o thou truthful one! peace be upon thee, o caliph of allah’s apostle over his people! peace be upon thee, o companion of the cave, and friend in travel! peace be upon thee, o thou banner of the fugitives and the auxiliaries! i testify thou didst ever stand firm in the right way, and wast a smiter of the infidel, and a benefactor to thine own people. allah grant thee through his apostle weal! we pray almighty god to cause us to die in thy friendship, and to raise us up in company with his apostle and thyself, even as he hath mercifully vouchsafed to us this visitation.40”
after which we closed one more step to the right, and standing opposite omar’s window, the most easterly of the three, after making a sign with our hands, we addressed the just caliph in these words:—
“peace be upon thee, o omar! o thou just one! thou prince of true believers! peace be upon thee, who spakest with truth, and who madest thy word agree with the strong book! (the koran): o thou faruk! (the separator).41 o thou faithful one! who girdedst thy loins with the apostle, and the first believers, and with them didst make up the full number forty,42 and thus causedst to be accomplished the apostle’s prayer,43 and then didst return to thy god a martyr leaving the world with praise! allah grant thee, through his apostle and his caliph and his followers, the best of good, and may allah feel in thee plenary satisfaction!”
shaykh hamid, after wrenching a beggar or two from my shoulders, then permitted me to draw near to the little window, called the apostle’s, and to look in. here my proceedings were watched with suspicious eyes. the persians have sometimes managed to pollute the part near abu bakr’s and omar’s graves by tossing through the aperture what is externally a handsome shawl intended as a present for the tomb.44 after straining my eyes for a time, i saw a curtain,45 or rather hangings, with three inscriptions in long gold letters, informing readers that behind them lie allah’s apostle and the first two caliphs.
the exact place of mohammed’s tomb is moreover distinguished by a large pearl rosary, and a peculiar ornament, the celebrated kaukab-al-durri, or constellation of pearls, suspended to the curtain breast-high.46 this is described to be a “brilliant star set in diamonds and pearls,” placed in the dark that man’s eye may be able to bear its splendours: the vulgar believe it to be a “jewel of the jewels of paradise.” to me it greatly resembled the round glass stoppers used for the humbler sort of decanters; but i thought the same of the koh-i-nur. moreover i never saw it quite near enough to judge fairly, and i did not think fit to pay an exorbitant sum for the privilege of entering the inner passage of the baldaquin.47
altogether the coup-d’oeil had nothing to recommend it by day. at night, when the lamps, hung in this passage, shed a dim light upon the mosaic-work of the marble floors, upon the glittering inscriptions, and the massive hangings, the scene is more impressive.
never having seen the tomb,48 i must depict it from books, — by no means an easy task. most of the historians are silent after describing the inner walls of the hujrah. al-kalkashandi declares in eo lapidem nobilem continere sepulchra apostoli, abubecr et omar, circumcinctum peribole in modum conclavis fere usque ad tectum assurgente, quae velo serico nigro obligatur. this author, then, agrees with my persian friends, who declare the sepulchre to be a marble slab. ibn jubayr, who travelled in a.h. 580, relates that the apostle’s coffin is a box of ebony (abnus) covered with sandal-wood, and plated with silver; it is placed, he says, behind a curtain, and surrounded by an iron grating. al-samanhudi,49 quoted by burckhardt, declares that the curtain covers a square building of black stones, in the interior of which are the tombs of mohammed and of his two immediate successors. he adds that the tombs are deep holes; and that the coffin which contains the apostle is cased with silver, and has on the top a marble slab inscribed “bismillah! allahumma salli alayh!” (“in the name of allah! allah have mercy upon him50!”)
the apostle’s body, it should be remembered, lies, or is supposed to lie, stretched at full length on the right side, with the right palm supporting the right cheek, the face fronting meccah, as moslems are always buried, and consequently the body lies with the head almost due west and the feet due east. close behind him is placed abu bakr, whose face fronts the apostle’s shoulder51; and, lastly, omar holds the same position with respect to his predecessor.
the places they are usually supposed to occupy, then, would be thus disposed. but moslem historians are not agreed even upon so simple a point as this. many prefer this position, in line [figure] -some thus, in unicorn [figure] — and others the right angle.52
[figure]
it is popularly asserted that in the hujrah there is now spare place for only a single grave, reserved for isa bin maryam after his second coming. the historians of al-islam are full of tales proving that though many of their earlier saints, as osman the caliph and hasan the imam, were desirous of being buried there; and that although ayishah, to whom the room belonged, willingly acceded to their wishes, son of man has as yet been unable to occupy it.
after the fatihah pronounced at omar’s tomb, and the short inspection of the hujrah, shaykh hamid led me round the south-east corner of the baldaquin.53 turning towards the north, we stopped at what is commonly called the mahbat jibrail (“place of the archangel gabriel’s descent with the heavenly revelations”), or simply al-malaikah-the angels. it is a small window in the eastern wall of the mosque; we turned our backs upon it, and fronting the hujrah, recited the following prayer:—
“peace be upon you, o angels of allah, the mukarrabin (cherubs), and the musharrifin (seraphs), the pure, the holy, honored by the dwellers in heaven, and by those who abide upon the earth. o beneficent lord! o long-suffering! o almighty! o pitier! o thou compassionate one! perfect our light, and pardon our sins, and accept penitence for our offences, and cause us to die among the holy! peace be upon ye, angels of the merciful, one and all! and the mercy of god and his blessings be upon you!” after which i was shown the spot in the hujrah where sayyidna isa shall be buried54 by mohammed’s side.
then turning towards the west, at a point where there is a break in the symmetry of the hujrah, we arrived at the sixth station, the sepulchre or cenotaph of the lady fatimah. her grave is outside the enceinte and the curtain which surrounds her father’s remains; so strict is moslem decorum, and so exalted its opinion of the “virgin’s”55 delicacy. the eastern side of the hujrah, here turning a little westward, interrupts the shape of the square, in order to give this spot the appearance of disconnection with the rest of the building. the tomb, seen through a square aperture like those above described, is a long catafalque, covered with a black pall. though there is great doubt whether the lady be not buried with her son hassan in the bakia cemetery, this place is always visited by the pious moslem. the following is the prayer opposite the grave of the amiable fatimah:—
“peace be upon thee, daughter of the apostle of allah! peace be upon thee, daughter of the prophet of allah! peace be upon thee, thou daughter of mustafa! peace be upon thee, thou mother of the shurafa!56 (seed of mohammed.) peace be upon thee, o lady amongst women! peace be upon thee, o fifth of the ahl al-kisa!57 peace be upon thee, o zahra and batul!58 (pure and virgin). peace be upon thee, o daughter of the apostle! peace be upon thee, o spouse of our lord ali al-murtaza! peace be upon thee, o mother of hasan and husayn, the two moons, the two lights, the two pearls, the two princes of the youth of heaven, and coolness of the eyes59 (i.e. joy and gladness) of true believers! peace be upon thee, and upon thy sire, al-mustafa, and thy husband, our lord ali! allah honour his face, and thy face, and thy father’s face in paradise, and thy two sons, the hasanayn! and the mercy of allah and his blessings!”
we then broke away as we best could from the crowd of female “askers,” who have established their lares and penates under the shadow of the lady’s wing; and, advancing a few paces, we fronted to the north, and recited a prayer in honour of hamzah, and of the martyrs who lie buried at the foot of mount ohod.60 we then turned to the right, and, fronting the easterly wall, prayed for the souls of the blessed whose mortal spirits repose within al-bakia’s hallowed circuit.61
after this we returned to the southern wall of the mosque, and, facing towards meccah, we recited the following supplication:— “o allah! (three times repeated) o compassionate! o beneficent! o requiter (of good and evil)! o prince! o ruler! o ancient of benefits! o omniscient! o thou who givest when asked, and who aidest when aid is required, accept this our visitation, and preserve us from dangers, and make easy our affairs, and broaden our breasts, (gladden our hearts), and receive our prostration, and requite us according to our good deeds, and turn not against us our evil deeds, and place not over us one who feareth not thee, and one who pitieth not us, and write safety and health upon us and upon thy slaves, the hujjaj (pilgrims), and the ghuzzat (fighters for the faith), and the zawwar62 (visitors to the tomb), and the home-dwellers and the wayfarers of the moslems, by land and by sea, and pardon those of the faith of our lord mohammed one and all!”
from the southern wall we returned to the “apostle’s window,” where we recited the following tetrastich and prayer:—
“o mustafa! verily, i stand at thy door,
a man, weak and fearful, by reason of my sins:
if thou aid me not, o apostle of allah!
i die-for, in the world there is none generous as thou art!”
“of a truth, allah and his angels bless the apostle! o ye who believe, bless him and salute him with salutation!63 o allah! verily i implore thy pardon and supplicate thine aid in this world as in the next! o allah! o allah! abandon us not in this holy place to the consequences of our sins without pardoning them, or to our griefs without consoling them, or to our fears, o allah! without removing them. and blessings and salutation to thee, o prince of apostles, commissioned (to preach the word), and laud be to allah, the lord of the (three) worlds!”
we turned away from the hujrah, and after gratifying a meek-looking but exceedingly importunate hindi beggar, who insisted on stunning me with the chapter y, s.,64 we fronted southwards, and taking care that our backs should not be in a line with the apostle’s face, stood opposite the niche called mihrab osman. there hamid proceeded with another supplication. “o allah! (three times repeated), o safeguard of the fearful, and defender of those who trust in thee, and pitier of the weak, the poor, and the destitute! accept us, o beneficent! and pardon us, o merciful! and receive our penitence, o compassionate! and have mercy upon us, o forgiver! — for verily none but thou canst remit sin! of a truth thou alone knowest the hidden, and veilest man’s transgressions: veil, then, our offences, and pardon our sins, and broaden our breasts, and cause our last words at the supreme hour of life to be the words, ‘there is no god but allah,65 and our lord mohammed is the apostle of allah!’ o allah! cause us to live according to this saying, o thou giver of life; and make us to die in this faith, o thou ruler of death! and the best of blessings and the completest of salutations upon the sole lord of intercession, our lord mohammed and his family, and his companions one and all!”
lastly, we returned to the garden,66 and prayed another two-bow prayer, ending, as we began, with the worship of the creator.
unfortunately for me, the boy mohammed had donned that grand embroidered coat. at the end of the ceremony the aghas, or eunuchs of the mosque, a race of men considered respectable by their office, and prone to make themselves respected by the freest administration of club-law, assembled in al-rauzah to offer me the congratulation ziyaratak mubarak — “blessed be thy visitation,” — and to demand fees. then came the sakka, or water-carrier of the mosque well, zemzem,67 offering a tinned saucer filled from the holy source. and lastly i was beset by beggars.
some were mild beggars and picturesque, who sat upon the ground immersed in the contemplation of their napkins; others, angry beggars who cursed if they were not gratified; and others noisy and petulant beggars, especially the feminine party near the lady’s tomb, who captured me by the skirt of my garment, compelling me to ransom myself. there were, besides, pretty beggars, boys who held out the right hand on the score of good looks; ugly beggars, emaciated rascals whose long hair, dirt, and leanness entitled them to charity; and lastly, the blind, the halt, and the diseased, who, as sons of the holy city, demanded from the faithful that support with which they could not provide themselves. having been compelled by my companions, highly against my inclination, to become a man of rank, i was obliged to pay in proportion, and my almoner in the handsome coat, as usual, took a kind of pride in being profuse. this first visit cost me double what i had intended-four dollars-nearly one pound sterling, and never afterwards could i pay less than half that sum.68
having now performed all the duties of a good zair, i was permitted by shaykh hamid to wander about and see the sights. we began our circumambulation at the bab al-salam,69 the gate of salvation, the south-western entrance pierced in the long wall of the mosque. it is a fine archway handsomely encrusted with marble and glazed tiles; the many gilt inscriptions on its sides give it, especially at night-time, an appearance of considerable splendour. the portcullis-like doors are of wood, strengthened with brass plates, and nails of the same metal. outside this gate is a little sabil, or public fountain, where those who will not pay for the water, kept ready in large earthen jars by the “sakka” of the mosque, perform their ablutions gratis. here all the mendicants congregate in force, sitting on the outer steps and at the entrance of the mosque, up and through which the visitors must pass.
about the centre of the western wall is the bab alrahmah, the gate of pity, which admits the dead bodies of the faithful when carried to be prayed over in the mosque. there is nothing remarkable in its appearance; in common with the other gates it has huge folding doors, iron-bound, an external flight of steps, and a few modern inscriptions.
the bab majidi, or gate of the sultan abd al-majid, stands in the centre of the northern wall; like its portico, it is unfinished, but its present appearance promises that it will eclipse all except the bab al-salam.
the bab al-nisa, or gate of women, is in the eastern wall opposite the bab al-rahmah, with which it is connected by the “farsh al-hajar,” a broad band of stone, two or three steps below the level of the portico, and slightly raised above the sahn or the hypaethral portion of the mosque. and lastly, in the southern portion of the same eastern wall is the bab jibrail, the gate of the archangel gabriel.70
all these entrances are arrived at by short external flights of steps leading from the streets, as the base of the temple, unlike that of meccah, is a little higher than the foundation of the buildings around it. the doors are closed by the attendant eunuchs immediately after the night prayers, except during the blessed month al-ramazan and in the pilgrimage season, when pious visitors pay considerable fees there to pass the night in meditation and prayer.
the minarets are five in number; but one, the shikayliyah, at the north-west angle of the building, has been levelled, and is still in process of being rebuilt. the munar bab al-salam stands by the gate of that name: it is a tall, handsome tower, surmounted by a large ball or cone71 of brass gilt or burnished. the munar bab al-rahmah, about the centre of the western wall, is of more simple form than the others: it has two galleries, with the superior portion circular, and surmounted by the conical “extinguisher” — roof so common in turkey and egypt. on the north-east angle of the mosque stands the sulaymaniyah munar, so named after its founder, sultan sulayman the magnificent. it is a well-built and substantial stone-tower divided into three stages; the two lower portions are polygonal, the upper cylindrical, and each terminates in a platform with a railed gallery carried all round for the protection of those who ascend.
and lastly, from the south-east angle of the mosque, supposed to be upon the spot where belal, the apostle’s loud-lunged crier, called the first moslems to prayer, 72 springs the munar raisiyah, so called because it is appropriated to the ruasa or chiefs of the mu’ezzins. like the sulaymaniyah, it consists of three parts: the first and second stages are polygonal; and the third, a cylinder, is furnished like the lower two with a railed gallery. both the latter minarets end in solid ovals of masonry, from which project a number of wooden triangles. to these and to the galleries on all festive occasions, such as the arrival of the damascus caravan, are hung oil-lamps-a poor attempt at illumination, which may rationally explain the origin of the madinite superstition concerning the column of light which crowns the prophet’s tomb. there is no uniformity in the shape or the size of these four minarets, and at first sight, despite their beauty and grandeur, they appear somewhat bizarre and misplaced. but after a few days i found that my eye grew accustomed to them, and i had no difficulty in appreciating their massive proportions and lofty forms.
equally irregular are the riwaks, or porches, surrounding the hypaethral court. along the northern wall there will be, when finished, a fine colonnade of granite, paved with marble. the eastern riwak has three rows of pillars, the western four, and the southern, under which stands the tomb, of course has its columns ranged deeper than all the others. these supports of the building are of different material; some of fine marble, others of rough stone, plastered over and painted with the most vulgar of arabesques, — vermilion and black in irregular patches and broad streaks, like the stage-face of a london clown.73 their size, moreover, is different, the southern colonnade being composed of pillars palpably larger than those in the other parts of the mosque. scarcely any two shafts own similar capitals; many have no pedestal, and some of them are cut with a painful ignorance of art. i cannot extend my admiration of the minarets to the columns-in their “architectural lawlessness” there is not a redeeming point.
of these unpraisable pillars three are celebrated in the annals of al-islam, for which reason their names are painted upon them, and five others enjoy the honour of distinctive appellations. the first is called al-mukhallak, because, on some occasion of impurity, it was anointed with a perfume called khaluk. it is near the mihrab al-nabawi, on the right of the place where the imam prays; and it notes the spot where, before the invention of the pulpit, the apostle, leaning upon the ustuwanat al-hannanah-the weeping pillar74 — used to recite the khutbah or friday sermon.
the second stands third from the pulpit, and third from the hujrah. it is called the pillar of ayishah, also the ustuwanat al-kurah, or the column of lots, because the apostle, according to the testimony of his favourite wife, declared that if men knew the value of the place, they would cast lots to pray there: in some books it is known as the pillar of the muhajirin or fugitives, and others mention it as al-mukhallak-the perfumed.
twenty cubits distant from ayishah’s pillar, and the second from the hujrah, and the fourth from the pulpit, is the pillar of repentance, or of abu lubabah. it derives its name from the following circumstance. abu lubabah was a native of al-madinah, one of the auxiliaries and a companion of mohammed, originally it is said a jew, according to others of the beni amr bin auf of the aus tribe. being sent for by his kinsmen or his allies, the benu kurayzah, at that time capitulating to mohammed, he was consulted by the distracted men, women, and children, who threw themselves at his feet, and begged of him to intercede for them with the offended apostle. abu lubabah swore he would do so: at the same time, he drew his hand across his throat, as much as to say, “defend yourselves to the last, for if you yield, such is your doom.” afterwards repenting, he bound himself with a huge chain to the date-tree in whose place the column now stands, vowing to continue there until allah and the apostle accepted his penitence-a circumstance which did not take place till the tenth day, when his hearing was gone and he had almost lost his sight.
the less celebrated pillars are the ustuwanat al-sarir, or column of the cot, where the apostle was wont to sit meditating on his humble couch-frame of date-sticks. the ustuwanat ali notes the spot where the fourth caliph used to pray and watch near his father-in-law at night. at the ustuwanat al-wufud, as its name denotes, the apostle received envoys, couriers, and emissaries from foreign places. the ustuwanat al-tahajjud now stands where mohammed, sitting upon his mat, passed the night in prayer. and lastly is the makam jibrail (gabriel’s place), for whose other name, mirbaat al-bair, “the pole of the beast of burden,” i have been unable to find an explanation.
the four riwaks, or porches, of the madinah mosque open upon a hypaethral court of parallelogramic shape.
the only remarkable object in it75 is a square of wooden railing enclosing a place full of well-watered earth, called the garden of our lady fatimah.76 it now contains a dozen date-trees-in ibn jubayr’s time there were fifteen. their fruit is sent by the eunuchs as presents to the sultan and the great men of al-islam; it is highly valued by the vulgar, but the olema do not think much of its claims to importance. among the palms are the venerable remains of a sidr, or lote tree,77 whose produce is sold for inordinate sums. the enclosure is entered by a dwarf gate in the south-eastern portion of the railing, near the well, and one of the eunuchs is generally to be seen in it: it is under the charge of the mudir, or chief treasurer. these gardens are not uncommon in mosques, as the traveller who passes through cairo can convince himself. they form a pretty and an appropriate feature in a building erected for the worship of him “who spread the earth with carpets of flowers and drew shady trees from the dead ground.” a tradition of the apostle also declares that “acceptable is devotion in the garden and in the orchard.”
at the south-east angle of this enclosure, under a wooden roof supported by pillars of the same material, stands the zemzem, generally called the bir al-nabi, or “the apostle’s well.” my predecessor declares that the brackishness of its produce has stood in the way of its reputation for holiness. yet a well-educated man told me that it was as “light” (wholesome) water78 as any in al-madinah, — a fact which he accounted for by supposing a subterraneous passage79 which connects it with the great zemzem at meccah. others, again, believe that it is filled by a vein of water springing directly under the apostle’s grave: generally, however, among the learned it is not more revered than our lady’s garden, nor is it ranked in books among the holy wells of al-madinah.
between this zemzem well and the eastern riwak is the stoa, or academia, of the prophet’s city. in the cool mornings and evenings the ground is strewed with professors, who teach the young idea, as an eminent orientalist hath it, to shout rather than to shoot.80 a few feet to the south of the palm garden is a moveable wooden planking painted green, and about three feet high; it serves to separate the congregation from the imam when he prays here; and at the north-eastern angle of the enclosure is a shajar kanadil, a large brass chandelier, which completes the furniture of the court.
after this inspection, the shadows of evening began to gather round us. we left the mosque, reverently taking care to issue forth with the left foot, and not to back out of it as is the sunnat or practice derived from the apostle, when taking leave of the meccan temple.
to conclude this long chapter. although every moslem, learned and simple, firmly believes that mohammed’s remains are interred in the hujrah at al-madinah, i cannot help suspecting that the place is doubtful as that of the holy sepulchre at jerusalem. it must be remembered that a tumult followed the announcement of the apostle’s death, when the people, as often happens, believing him to be immortal,81 refused to credit the report, and even omar threatened destruction to any one that asserted it.
moreover the body was scarcely cold when the contest about the succession arose between the fugitives of meccah and the auxiliaries of al-madinah: in the ardour of which, according to the shi’ahs, the house of ali and fatimah-within a few feet of the spot where the tomb of the apostle is now placed-was threatened with fire, and abu bakr was elected caliph that same evening. if anyone find cause to wonder that the last resting-place of a personage so important was not fixed for ever, he may find many a parallel case in al-madinah. to quote no other, three several localities claim the honour of containing the lady fatimah’s mortal spoils, although one might suppose that the daughter of the apostle and the mother of the imams would not be laid in an unknown grave. my reasons for incredulity are the following:
from the earliest days the shape of the apostle’s tomb has never been generally known in al-islam. for this reason it is that graves are made convex in some countries, and flat in others. had there been a sunnat,82 such would not have been the case.
the accounts of the learned are discrepant. al-samanhudi, perhaps the highest authority, contradicts himself. in one place he describes the coffin; in another he expressly declares that he entered the hujrah when it was being repaired by kaid-bey, and saw in the inside three deep graves, but no traces of tombs.83 either, then, the mortal remains of the apostle had, despite moslem superstition,84 mingled with the dust, (a probable circumstance after nearly nine hundred years’ interment), or, what is more likely, they had been removed by the shi’ah schismatics who for centuries had charge of the sepulchre.85
and lastly, i cannot but look upon the tale of the blinding light which surrounds the apostle’s tomb, current for ages past and still universally believed upon the authority of the attendant eunuchs, who must know its falsehood, as a priestly gloss intended to conceal a defect.
i here conclude the subject, committing it to some future and more favoured investigator. in offering the above remarks, i am far from wishing to throw a doubt upon an established point of history. but where a suspicion of fable arises from popular “facts,” a knowledge of man and of his manners teaches us to regard it with favouring eye.