Moslem pilgrimage is of three kinds.
1. Al-Mukarinah (the uniting) is when the votary performs the Hajj and the Umrah[FN#3] together, as was done by the Prophet in his last visit to Meccah. 2. Al-Ifrad (singulation) is when either the Hajj or the Umrah is performed singularly, the former preceding the latter. The pilgrim may be either Al-Mufrid bil Hajj
[p.281] (one who is performing only the Hajj), or vice versa, Al-Mufrid bil Umrah. According to Abu Hanifah, this form is more efficacious than the following. 3. Al-Tamattu (possession) is when the pilgrim assumes the Ihram, and preserves it throughout the months of Shawwal, Zul Kaadah, and nine days (ten nights) in Zul Hijjah,[FN#4] performing Hajj and Umrah the while.
There is another threefold division of pilgrimage:
1. Umrah (the little pilgrimage), performed at any time except the pilgrimage season. It differs in some of its forms from Hajj, as will afterwards appear. 2. Hajj (or simple pilgrimage), performed at the proper season. 3. Hajj al-Akbar (the great pilgrimage) is when the day of Arafat happens to fall upon a Friday. This is a most auspicious occasion. M. Caussin de Perceval and other writers, departing from the practice of (modern?) Islam, make Hajj al-Akbar to mean the simple pilgrimage, in opposition to the Umrah, which they call Hajj al-Asghar.
The following compendium of the Shafei pilgrim-rites is translated from a little treatise by Mohammed of Shirbin, surnamed Al-Khatib, a learned doctor, whose work is generally read in Egypt and in the countries adjoining.
Know, says the theologist, with scant preamble, that the acts of Al-Hajj, or pilgrimage, are of three kinds:
[p.282] 1. Al-Arkan or Farayz; those made obligatory by Koranic precepts, and therefore essentially necessary, and not admitting expiatory or vicarious atonement, either in Hajj or Umrah. 2. Al-Wajibat (requisites); the omission of which may, according to some schools,[FN#6] be compensated for by the Fidyat, or atoning sacrifice: and 3. Al-Sunan (pl. of Sunnat), the practice of the Prophet, which may be departed from without positive sin.
Now, the Arkan, the pillars upon which the rite stands, are six in number,[FN#7] viz.:
1. Al-Ihram (rendering unlawful), or the wearing pilgrim garb and avoiding certain actions. 2. Al-Wukuf, the standing upon Mount Arafat. 3. The Tawaf al-Ifazah, or circumambulation of impetuosity.[FN#8]
[p.283] 4. The Sai, or course between Mounts Safa and Marwah. 5. Al-Halk; tonsure (of the whole or part) of the head for men; or taksir, cutting the hair (for men or women).[FN#9] 6. Al-Tartib, or the due order of the ceremonies, as above enumerated. But Al-Sai (4), may either precede or follow Al-Wukuf (2), provided that the Tawaf al-Kudum, or the circumambulation of arrival, has previously been performed. And Halk (5) may be done before as well as after the Tawaf al-Ifazah (3).
Now, the Wajibat (requisites of pilgrimage, also called Nusuk) are five in number, viz.:
1. Al-Ihram, or assuming pilgrim garb, from the Mikat, or fixed limit.[FN#10] 2. The Mabit, or nighting at Muzdalifah: for this a short portion, generally in the latter watch, preceding the Yaum al-Nahr, or victim-day, suffices. 3. The spending at Muna the three nights of the Ayyam al-Tashrik, or days of drying flesh: of these, the first is the most important. 4. The Rami al-Jimar, or casting stones at the devil: and 5. The avoiding of all things forbidden to the pilgrim when in a state of Ihram.
Some writers reduce these requisites by omitting the second and third.The Tawaf al-Widaa, or the circumambulation of farewell, is a WajibMustakill, or particular requisite, which may, however, be omittedwithout prejudice to pilgrimage.
Finally, the Sunnat of pilgrimage are many in number. Of these I enumerate but a few. Hajj should precede Umrah. The Talbiyat should be frequently ejaculated. The Tawaf al-Kudum must be performed on arrival at Meccah, before proceeding to Mount Arafat.[FN#11] The two-bow prayer should follow
[p.284] Tawaf. A whole night should be passed at Muzdalifah and Muna.[FN#12] The circumambulation of farewell must not be forgotten,[FN#13] and the pilgrim should avoid all sewn clothes, even slippers.
Before doffing his laical garment, the pilgrim performs a total ablution, shaves, and perfumes himself. He then puts on a Rida and an Izar,[FN#14] both new, clean, and of a white colour: after which he performs a two-bow prayer (the Sunnat of Al-Ihram), with a sotto-voce Niyat, specifying which rite he intends.[FN#15]
When Muhrim (i.e. in Ihram), the Moslem is forbidden (unless in case of sickness, necessity, over-heat, or unendurable cold, when a victim must expiate the transgression),
1. To cover his head with aught which may be deemed a covering, as a cap or turband; but he may carry an umbrella, dive under water, stand in the shade, and even place his hands upon his head. A woman may wear sewn clothes, white or light blue (not black), but her face-veil should be kept at a distance from her face. 2. To wear anything sewn or with seams, as shirt, trowsers, or slippers; anything knotted or woven, as chain-armour; but the pilgrim may use, for instance, a torn-up shirt or trowsers bound round his loins or thrown over his shoulders, he may knot his Izar, and tie it with a cord, and he may gird his waist. 3. To knot the Rida, or shoulder-cloth.[FN#16]
[p.285] 4. To deviate from absolute chastity, even kissing being forbidden to the Muhrim. Marriage cannot be contracted during the pilgrimage season. 5. To use perfumes, oil, curling the locks, or removing the nails and hair by paring, cutting, plucking, or burning. The nails may be employed to remove pediculi from the hair and clothes, but with care, that no pile fall off. 6. To hunt wild animals, or to kill those which were such originally. But he may destroy the five noxious,a kite, a crow, a rat, a scorpion, and a dog given to biting. He must not cut down a tree,[FN#17] or pluck up a self-growing plant; but he is permitted to reap and to cut grass.
It is meritorious for the pilgrim often to raise the Talbiyat cry (for which see p. 140 ante).
Labbayk Allahumma Labbayk!La Sharika laka Labbayk!Inna l hamda wa l niamata laka wal mulk!La Sharika laka, Labbayk.[FN#18]
When assuming the pilgrim-garb, and before entering Meccah, Ghusl, or total ablution, should be performed; but if water be not procurable, the Tayammum, or sand ablution, suffices. The pilgrim should enter the Holy City by day and on foot. When his glance falls upon the Kaabah he should say, O Allah, increase this (Thy) house in degree, and greatness, and honour, and awfulness, and increase all those who have honoured it and glorified it, the Hajis and the Mutamirs (Umrah-performers), with degree, and greatness, and honour, and dignity! Entering the outer Bab al-Salam, he must exclaim, O Allah, Thou art the Safety, and from Thee is the Safety! And then passing into the Mosque, he should repair to the Black Stone, touch it with his right hand, kiss it, and commence his circumambulation.[FN#19]
[p.286]Now, the victims of Al-Ihram are five in number, viz.:
1. The Victim of Requisites, when a pilgrim accidentally or willingly omits to perform a requisite, such as the assumption of the pilgrim garb at the proper place. This victim is a sheep, sacrificed at the id al-Kurban (in addition to the usual offering),[FN#20] or, in lieu of it, ten days fastthree of them in the Hajj season (viz. on the 6th, 7th, and 8th days of Zul Hijjah) and seven after returning home. 2. The Victim of Luxuries, (Turfah), such as shaving the head or using perfumes. This is a sheep, or a three days fast, or alms, consisting of three saa measures of grain, distributed among six paupers. 3. The Victim of suddenly returning to Laical Life; that is to say, before the proper time. It is also a sheep, after the sacrifice of which the pilgrim shaves his head. 4. The Victim of killing Game. If the animal slain be one for which the tame equivalents be procurable (a camel for an ostrich, a cow for a wild ass or cow, and a goat for a gazelle), the pilgrim should sacrifice it, or distribute its value, or purchase with it grain for the poor, or fast one day for each Mudd measure. If the equivalent be not procurable, the offender must buy its value of grain for alms-deeds, or fast a day for every measure. 5. The Victim of Incontinence. This offering is either a male or a female camel[FN#21]; these failing, a cow or seven sheep, or the value of a camel in grain distributed to the poor, or a days fast for each measure.
Of this ceremony there are five Wajibat, or requisites, viz.:Concealing the shame,[FN#22] as in prayer. Ceremonial purity of body, garments, and place. Circumambulation inside the Mosque. Seven circuits of the house. Commencement of circuit from the Black Stone. Circumambulating the house with the left shoulder presented to it. Circuiting the house outside its Shazarwan, or marble basement.[FN#23] And, lastly, the
[p.287] Niyat, or intention of Tawaf, specifying whether it be for Hajj or for Umrah.
Of the same ceremony the principal Sunnat, or practices, are to walk on foot; to touch, kiss, and place his forehead upon the Black Stone, if possible after each circuit to place the hand upon the Rukn al-Yamani (South corner), but not to kiss it; to pray during each circuit for what is best for man (pardon of sins); to quote lengthily from the Koran,[FN#24] and to often say, Subhan Allah! and to mention none but Allah; to walk slowly, during the first three circuits, and trotting the last four,[FN#25] all the while maintaining a humble and contrite demeanour, with downcast eyes.
The following are the prayers which have descended to us by tradition: When touching the Black Stone the pilgrim says,[FN#26] after Niyat, In the name of Allah, and Allah is omnipotent! O Allah (I do this) in Thy belief and in verification of Thy book, and in faithfulness to Thy covenant, and in pursuance of the example of Thy Prophet Mohammedmay Allah bless Him and preserve!
Opposite the door of the house: O Allah, verily the House is Thy House, and the Sanctuary thy Sanctuary, and the Safeguard Thy Safeguard, and this is the place of the Fugitive to flee from Hell-fire!
Arrived at the Rukn al-Iraki (North corner): O Allah, verily I takerefuge with Thee from Polytheism (Shirk), and Disobedience, andHypocrisy, and Evil Conversation, and Evil Thoughts concerning Family(Ahl, a wife), and Property, and Progeny!
Parallel with the Mizab, or rain-spout: O Allah, shadow me in Thy Shadow that day when there is no shade but Thy Shadow, and cause me to drink from the Cup of Thy Prophet Mohammedmay Allah bless Him and preserve!that pleasant Draught after which is no thirst to all eternity, O Lord of Honour and Glory! RESUME
[p.288]At the corners Al-Shami and Al-Yamani (West and South angles): O Allah, make it an Acceptable Pilgrimage, and the Forgiveness of Sins, and a Laudable Endeavour, and a Pleasant Action in Thy Sight, and a Store that perisheth not, O Thou Glorious! O Thou Pardoner![FN#27]
And between the Southern and Eastern corners: O Lord, grant to us in this World Prosperity, and in the next World Prosperity, and save us from the Punishment of Fire!
After the sevenfold circumambulation the pilgrim should recite a two-bow prayer, the Sunnat of Tawaf, behind the Makam Ibrahim. If unable to pray there, he may take any other part of the Mosque. These devotions are performed silently by day and aloud by night. And after prayer the pilgrim should return to the Black Stone, and kiss it.
After performing Tawaf, the pilgrim should issue from the gate Al-Safa (or another, if necessary), and ascend the steps of Mount Safa, about a mans height from the street.[FN#28] There he raises the cry Takbir, and implores pardon for his sins. He then descends, and turns towards Mount Marwah at a slow pace. Arrived within six cubits of the Mil al-Akhzar (the green pillar, planted in the corner of the temple on the left hand), he runs swiftly till he reaches the two green pillars, the left one of which is fixed in the corner of the temple, and the other close to the Dar al-Abbas.[FN#29] Thence he again walks slowly up to Marwah, and ascends it as he did Safa. This concludes a single course. The pilgrim then starts from Marwah, and walks, runs, and walks again through the same limits, till the seventh course is concluded.
There are four requisites of Sai. The pilgrim must pass over all the space between Safa and Marwah; he must begin with Safa, and end with Marwah; he must traverse the distance seven times; and he must perform the rite after some important Tawaf, as that of arrival, or that of return from Arafat.
The practices of Sai are, briefly, to walk, if possible, to
[p.289] be in a state of ceremonial purity, to quote lengthily from the Koran, and to be abundant in praise of Allah.
The prayer of Sai is, O my Lord, Pardon and Pity, and pass over that (Sin) which Thou knowest. Verily Thou knowest what is not known, and verily Thou art the most Glorious, the most Generous! O, our Lord, grant us in this World Prosperity, and in the Future Prosperity, and save us from the Punishment of Fire!
When Sai is concluded, the pilgrim, if performing only Umrah, shaves his head, or clips his hair, and becomes Muhill, returning to the Moslems normal state. If he purpose Hajj, or pilgrimage after Umrah, he re-assumes the Ihram. And if he be engaged in pilgrimage, he continues Muhrim, i.e., in Ihram, as before.
The days of pilgrimage are three in number: namely, the 8th, the 9th, and the 10th of the month Zul Hijjah.[FN#30]
On the first day (8th), called Yaum al-Tarwiyah, the pilgrim should start from Meccah after the dawn-prayer and sunrise, perform his noontide, afternoon, and evening devotions at Muna, where it is a Sunnat that he should sleep.[FN#31]
[p.290]On the second day (9th), the Yaum Arafat, after performing the early prayer at Ghalas (i.e. when a man cannot see his neighbours face) on Mount Sabir, near Muna, the pilgrim should start when the sun is risen, proceed to the Mountain of Mercy, encamp there, and after performing the noontide and afternoon devotions at Masjid Ibrahim,[FN#32] joining and shortening them,[FN#33] he should take his station upon the mountain, which is all standing ground. But the best position is that preferred by the Prophet, near the great rocks lying at the lower slope of Arafat. He must be present at the sermon,[FN#34] and be abundant in Talbiyat (supplication), Tahlil (recitations of the chapter Say he is the one God![FN#35]), and weeping, for that is the place for the outpouring of tears. There he should stay till sunset, and then decamp and return hastily to Muzdalifah, where he should pass a portion of the night.[FN#36] After a visit to the Mosque Mashr al-Harim, he should collect seven pebbles and proceed to Muna.[FN#37]
Yaum al-Nahr, the third day of the pilgrimage (10th Zul Hijjah), is the great festival of the Moslem year. Amongst
[p.291] its many names,[FN#38] id al-Kurban is the best known, as expressive of Ibrahims sacrifice in lieu of Ismail. Most pilgrims, after casting stones at the Akabah, or Great Devil, hurry to Meccah. Some enter the Kaabah, whilst others content themselves with performing the Tawaf al-Ifazah, or circumambulation of impetuosity, round the house.[FN#39] The pilgrim should then return to Muna, sacrifice a sheep, and sleep there. Strictly speaking, this day concludes the pilgrimage.
The second set of trois jours, namely, the 11th,[FN#40] the 12th, and the 13th of Zul Hijjah, are called Ayyam al-Tashrik, or the days of drying flesh in the sun. The pilgrim should spend that time at Muna,[FN#41] and each day throw seven pebbles at each of the three pillars.[FN#42]
When throwing the stones, it is desirable that the pilgrim should cast them far from himself, although he is allowed to place them upon the pillar. The act also should be performed after the Zawal, or declension of the sun. The pilgrim should begin with the pillar near the Masjid al-Khayf, proceed to the Wusta, or central column, and end with the Akabah. If unable to cast the stones during the daytime, he is allowed to do it at night.
The throwing over:The pilgrim returns to Meccah, and when his journey is fixed, performs the Tawaf al-Widaa (of farewell). On this occasion it is a Sunnat to drink the waters of Zemzem, to enter the temple with more than usual
[p.292] respect and reverence, and bidding it adieu, to depart from the Holy City.
The Moslem is especially forbidden to take with him cakes made of the earth or dust of the Harim, and similar mementoes, as they savour of idolatry.
The word Umrah, denotes a pilgrimage performed at any time except the pilgrim season (the 8th, 9th, and 10th of Zul Hijjah).
The Arkan or pillars upon which the Umrah rite rests, are five in number, viz.:
1. Al-Ihram. 2. Al-Tawaf. 3. Al-Sai (between Safa and Marwah). 4. Al-Halk (tonsure), or Al-Taksir (cutting the hair). 5. Al-Tartib, or the due order of ceremonies, as above enumerated.[FN#43] The Wajibat, or requisites of Umrah, are but two in number:
1. Al-Ihram, or assuming the pilgrim garb, from the Mikat, or fixed limit; and 2. The avoiding of all things forbidden to the pilgrim when in state of Ihram.
In the Sunnat and Mustahabb portions of the ceremony there is no difference between Umrah and Hajj.
Al-Ziyarat is a practice of the faith, and the most effectual way of drawing near to Allah through his Prophet Mohammed.
As the Zair arrives at Al-Madinah, when his eyes fall upon the trees of the city, he must bless the Prophet with a loud voice. Then he should enter the Mosque, and sit in the Holy Garden, which is between the pulpit and the tomb, and pray a two-bow prayer in honour of the Masjid. After this he should supplicate pardon for his sins. Then, approaching
[p.293] the sepulchre, and standing four cubits away from it, recite this prayer:
Peace be with Thee, O Thou T.H. and Y.S.,[FN#44] Peace be with Thee, and upon Thy Descendants, and Thy Companions, one and all, and upon all the Prophets, and those inspired to instruct Mankind. And I bear witness that Thou hast delivered thy Message, and performed Thy Trust, and advised Thy followers, and swept away Darkness, and fought in Allahs Path the good Fight: may Allah requite Thee from us the Best with which he ever requited Prophet from his Followers!
Let the visitor stand the while before the tomb with respect, and reverence, and singleness of mind, and fear, and awe. After which, let him retreat one cubit, and salute Abu Bakr the Truthful in these words:
Peace be with Thee, O Caliph of Allahs Prophet over his People, and Aider in the Defence of His Faith!
After this, again retreating another cubit, let him bless in the same way Omar the Just. After which, returning to his former station opposite the Prophets tomb, he should implore intercession for himself and for all dearest to him. He should not neglect to visit the Bakia Cemetery and the Kuba Mosque, where he should pray for himself and for his brethren of the Muslimin, and the Muslimat, the Muminin and the Muminat,[FN#45] the quick of them and the dead. When ready to depart, let the Zair take leave of the Mosque with a two-bow prayer, and visit the tomb, and salute it, and again beg intercession for himself and for those he loves. And the Zair is forbidden to circumambulate the tomb, or to carry away the cakes of clay made by the ignorant with the earth and dust of the Harim.
[FN#1] M. Hucs Travels in Tartary. [FN#2] The two extremes, between which lie many gradations, are these. Abu Hanifah directs every Moslem and Moslemah to perform the pilgrimage if they have health and money for the road and for the support of their families; moreover, he allows a deputy-pilgrim, whose expenses must be paid by the principal. Ibn Malik, on the contrary, enjoins every follower to visit Meccah, if able to walk, and to earn his bread on the way. As a general rule, in Al-Islam there are four Shurut al-Wujub, or necessary conditions, viz.: 1. Islam, the being a Moslem. 2. Bulugh, adolescence. 3. Hurriyat, the being a free man. 4. Akl, or mental sanity. Other authorities increase the conditions to eight, viz.: 5. Wujud al-Zad, sufficiency of provision. 6. Al-Rahlah, having a beast of burthen, if living two days journey from Meccah. 7. Takhliyat al-Tarik, the road being open; and 8. Imkan al-Masir, the being able to walk two stages, if the pilgrim hath no beast. Others, again, include all conditions under two heads: 1. Sihhat, health. 2. Istitaat, ability. These subjects have exercised not a little the casuistic talents of the Arab doctors: a folio volume might be filled with differences of opinion on the subject, Is a blind man sound? [FN#3] The technical meaning of these words will be explained below. [FN#4] At any other time of the year Ihram is considered Makruh, or objectionable, without being absolutely sinful. [FN#5] In other books the following directions are given to the intended pilgrim:Before leaving home he must pray two prostrations, concluding the orisons with a long supplication and blessings upon relatives, friends, and neighbours, and he must distribute not fewer than seven silver pieces to the poor. The day should be either a Thursday or a Saturday; some, however, say
Allah hath honoured the Monday and the Thursday.
If possible, the first of the month should be chosen, and the hour early dawn. Moreover, the pilgrim should not start without a Rafik, or companion, who should be a pious as well as a travelled man. The other Mukaddamat al-Safar, or preambles to journeying, are the following. Istikharah, consulting the rosary and friends. Khulus al-Niyat, vowing pilgrimage to the Lord (not for lucre or revenge). Settling worldly affairs, paying debts, drawing up a will, and making arrangements for the support of ones family. Hiring animals from a pious person. The best monture is a camel, because preferred by the Prophet; an ass is not commendable; a man should not walk if he can afford to ride; and the palanquin or litter is, according to some doctors, limited to invalids. Reciting long prayers when mounting, halting, dismounting, and at nightfall. On hills the Takbir should be used: the Tasbih is properest for vales and plains; and Meccah should be blessed when first sighted. Avoiding abuse, curses, or quarrels. Sleeping like the Prophet, namely, in early night (when prayer-hour is distant), with Iftirash, or lying at length with the right cheek on the palm of the dexter hand; and near dawn with Ittaka, i.e. propping the head upon the hand, with the arm resting upon the elbow. And, lastly, travelling with collyrium-pot, looking-glass and comb, needle and thread for sewing, scissors and tooth-stick, staff and razor. [FN#6] In the Shafei school there is little difference between Al-Farz and Al-Wajib. In the Hanafi the former is a superior obligation to the latter. [FN#7] The Hanafi, Maliki, and even some Shafei doctors, reduce the number from six to four, viz.: 1. Ihram, with Niyat. 2. Tawaf. 3. Wukuf. 4. Sai. [FN#8] The Ifazah is the impetuous descent from Mount Arafat. Its Tawaf, generally called Tawaf al-Ziyarat, less commonly Tawaf al-Sadr or Tawaf al-Nuzul, is that performed immediately after throwing the stones and resuming the laical dress on the victim-day at Mount Muna. [FN#9] Shaving is better for men, cutting for women. A razor must be passed over the bald head; but it is sufficient to burn, pluck, shave, or clip three hairs when the chevelure is long. [FN#10] The known Mikat are: North, Zul Halifah; North-East, Karn al-Manazil; North-West, Al-Juhfah ([Arabic]) South, Yalamlam; East, Zat Irk. [FN#11] This Tawaf is described in chapter v. [FN#12] Generally speaking, as will afterwards be shown, the pilgrims pass straight through Muzdalifah, and spend the night at Muna. [FN#13] The Tawaf al-Widaa is considered a solemn occasion. The pilgrim first performs circumambulation. He drinks the waters of Zemzem, kisses the Kaabah threshold, and stands for some time with his face and body pressed against the Multazem. There, on clinging to the curtain of the Kaabah, he performs Takbir, Tahlil, Tahmid, and blesses the Prophet, weeping, if possible, but certainly groaning. He then leaves the Mosque, backing out of it with tears and lamentations, till he reaches the Bab al-Widaa, whence, with a parting glance at the Bayt Ullah, he wends his way home. [FN#14] See chapter v. [FN#15] Many pronounce this Niyat. If intending to perform pilgrimage, the devotee, standing, before prayer says, I vow this intention of Hajj to Allah the most High. [FN#16] In spite of this interdiction, pilgrims generally, for convenience, knot their shoulder-clothes under the right arm. [FN#17] Hunting, killing, or maiming beasts in Sanctuary land and cutting down trees, are acts equally forbidden to the Muhrim and the Muhill (the Moslem in his normal state). For a large tree a camel, for a small one a sheep, must be sacrificed. [FN#18] See chapter v. After the Talbiyat the pilgrim should bless the Prophet, and beg from Allah paradise and protection from hell, saying, O Allah, by thy mercy spare us from the pains of hell-fire! [FN#19] Most of these injunctions are meritorious, and may therefore [be] omitted without prejudice to the ceremony. [FN#20] Namely, the victim sacrificed on the great festival day at Muna. [FN#21] So the commentators explain Badanah. [FN#22] A mans Aurat is from the navel to the knee; in the case of a free woman the whole of her face and person are shame. [FN#23] If the pilgrim place but his hand upon the Shazarwan, or on the Hijr, the Tawaf is nullified. [FN#24] This is a purely Shafei practice; the Hanafi school rejects it on the grounds that the Word of God should not be repeated when walking or running. [FN#25] The reader will observe (chapter v.), that the Mutawwif made me reverse this order of things. [FN#26] It is better to recite these prayers mentally; but as few pilgrims know them by heart, they are obliged to repeat the words of the cicerone. [FN#27] This portion is to be recited twice. [FN#28] A woman, or a hermaphrodite, is enjoined to stand below the steps and in the street. [FN#29] Women and hermaphrodites should not run here, but walk the whole way. I have frequently, however, seen the former imitating the men. [FN#30] The Arab legend is, that the angels asking the Almighty why Ibrahim was called Al-Khalil (or Gods friend); they were told that all his thoughts were fixed on heaven; and when they called to mind that he had a wife and child, Allah convinced them of the Patriarchs sanctity by a trial. One night Ibrahim saw, in a vision, a speaker, who said to him, Allah orders thee to draw near him with a victim! He awoke, and not comprehending the scope of the dream, took especial notice of it ([Arabic]); hence the first day of pilgrimage is called Yaum al-Tarwiyah. The same speaker visited him on the next night, saying, Sacrifice what is dearest to thee! From the Patriarchs knowing ([Arabic]) what the first vision meant, the second day is called Yaum Arafat. On the third night he was ordered to sacrifice Ismail; hence that day is called Yaum Nahr (of throat-cutting). The English reader will bear in mind that the Moslem day begins at sunset. I believe that the origin of Tarwiyat (which may mean carrying water) dates from the time of pagan Arabs, who spent that day in providing themselves with the necessary. Yaum Arafat derives its name from the hill, and Yaum al-Nahr from the victims offered to the idols in the Muna valley. [FN#31] The present generation of pilgrims, finding the delay inconvenient, always pass on to Arafat without halting, and generally arrive at the mountain late in the afternoon of the 8th, that is to say, the first day of pilgrimage. Consequently, they pray the morning prayer of the 9th at Arafat. [FN#32] This place will be described afterwards. [FN#33] The Shafei when engaged on a journey which takes up a night and day, is allowed to shorten his prayers, and to join the noon with the afternoon, and the evening with the night devotions; thus reducing the number of times from five to three per diem. The Hanafi school allows this on one day and on one occasion only, namely, on the ninth of Zul Hijjah (arriving at Muzdalifah), when at the Isha hour it prays the Magh[r]ib and the Isha prayers together. [FN#34] If the pilgrim be too late for the sermon, his labour is irretrievably lost.M. Caussin de Perceval (vol. iii. pp. 301-305) makes the Prophet to have preached from his camel Al-Kaswa on a platform at Mount Arafat before noon, and to have again addressed the people after the post-meridian prayers at the station Al-Sakharat. Mohammeds last pilgrimage, called by Moslems Hajjat al-Bilagh (of perfection, as completing the faith), Hajjat al-Islam, or Hajjat al-Widaa (of farewell), is minutely described by historians as the type and pattern of pilgrimage to all generations. [FN#35] Ibn Abbas relates a tradition, that whoever recites this short chapter 11,000 times on the Arafat day, shall obtain from Allah all he desires. [FN#36] Most schools prefer to sleep, as the Prophet did, at Muzdalifah, pray the night devotions there, and when the yellowness of the next dawn appears, collect the seven pebbles and proceed to Muna. The Shafei, however, generally leave Muzdalifah about midnight. [FN#37] These places will be minutely described in a future chapter. [FN#38] id al-Kurban, or the Festival of Victims (known to the Turks as Kurban Bayram, to the Indians as Bakar-id, the Kine Fete), id al-Zuha, of forenoon, or id al-Azha, of serene night. The day is called Yaum al-Nahr, of throat-cutting. [FN#39] If the ceremony of Sai has not been performed by the pilgrim after the circuit of arrival, he generally proceeds to it on this occasion. [FN#40] This day is known in books as Yaum al-Karr, because the pilgrims pass it in repose at Muna. [FN#41] The days of drying flesh, because at this period pilgrims prepare provisions for their return, by cutting up their victims, and exposing to the sun large slices slung upon long lines of cord. The schools have introduced many modifications into the ceremonies of these three days. Some spend the whole time at Muna, and return to Meccah on the morning of the 13th. Others return on the 12th, especially when that day happens to fall upon a Friday. [FN#42] As will afterwards appear, the number of stones and the way of throwing them vary greatly in the various schools. [FN#43] The difference in the pillars of Umrah and Hajj, is that in the former the standing on Arafat and the Tawaf al-Ifazah are necessarily omitted. [FN#44] The 20th and 36th chapters of the Koran. [FN#45] These second words are the feminines of the first; they prove that the Moslem is not above praying for what Europe supposed he did not believe in, namely, the souls of women.
[p.294] APPENDIX II.
THE House of Allah[FN#1] has been so fully described by my predecessors, that there is little inducement to attempt a new portrait. Readers, however, may desire a view of the great sanctuary, and, indeed, without a plan and its explanation, the ceremonies of the Harim would be scarcely intelligible. I will do homage to the memory of the accurate Burckhardt, and extract from his pages a description which shall be illustrated by a few notes.
The Kaabah stands in an oblong square (enclosed by a great wall) 250 paces long, and 200 broad,[FN#2] none of the sides of which runs quite in a straight line, though at first sight the whole appears to be of a regular shape. This open square is enclosed on the eastern side by a colonnade. The pillars stand in a quadruple row; they are three deep on the other sides, and are united by pointed arches, every four of which support a small dome plastered and whitened on the outside. These domes, according to Kotobeddyn, are 152 in number.[FN#3] The
[p.295] pillars are above twenty feet in height, and generally from one foot and a half to one foot and three quarters in diameter; but little regularity has been observed in regard to them. Some are of white marble, granite or porphyry; but the greater number are of common stone of the Meccah mountains.[FN#4] El Fasy states the whole at 589, and says they are all of marble excepting 126, which are of common stone, and three of composition. Kotobeddyn reckons 555, of which, according to him, 311 are of marble, and the rest of the stone taken from the neighbouring mountains; but neither of these authors lived to see the latest repairs of the Mosque, after the destruction occasioned by a torrent in A.D. 1626.[FN#5] Between every three or four column stands an octagonal one, about four feet in thickness. On the east side are two shafts of reddish grey granite in one piece, and one fine grey porphyry with slabs of white feldspath. On the north side is one red granite column, and one of fine-grained red porphyry; these are probably the columns which Kotobeddyn states to have been brought from Egypt, and
[p.296] principally from Akhmim (Panopolis), when the chief (Caliph) El Mohdy enlarged the Mosque in A.H. 163. Among the 450 or 500 columns which form the enclosure I found not any two capitals or bases exactly alike. The capitals are of coarse Saracen workmanship; some of them, which had served for former buildings, by the ignorance of the workmen, have been placed upside down upon the shafts. I observed about half a dozen marble bases of good Grecian workmanship. A few of the marble columns bear Arabic or Cufic inscriptions, in which I read the dates 863 and 762 (A.H.).[FN#6] A column on the east side exhibits a very ancient Cufic inscription, somewhat defaced, which I could neither read nor copy. Some of the columns are strengthened with broad iron rings or bands,[FN#7] as in many other Saracen buildings of the East. They were first employed by Ibn Dhaher Berkouk, king of Egypt, in rebuilding the Mosque, which had been destroyed by fire in A.H. 802.[FN#8]
Some parts of the walls and arches are gaudily painted in stripes of yellow, red, and blue, as are also the minarets. Paintings of flowers, in the usual Muselman
[p.297] style, are nowhere seen; the floors of the colonnades are paved with large stones badly cemented together.
Some paved causeways lead from the colonnades towards the Kaabah, or Holy House, in the centre.[FN#9] They are of sufficient breadth to admit four or five persons to walk abreast, and they are elevated about nine inches above the ground. Between these causeways, which are covered with fine gravel or sand, grass appears growing in several places, produced by the Zem Zem water oozing out of the jars which are placed in the ground in long rows during the day.[FN#10] There is a descent of eight or ten steps from the gates on the north side into the platform of the colonnade, and of three or four steps from the gates on the south side.
Towards the middle of this area stands the Kaabah; it is 115 paces from the north colonnade, and 88 from the south. For this want of symmetry we may readily account, the Kaabah having existed prior to the Mosque, which was built around it, and enlarged at different periods. The Kaabah is an oblong massive structure, 18 paces in length, 14 in breadth, and from 35 to 40 feet in height.[FN#11] It is constructed of the grey Mekka stone, in large blocks of different sizes joined together, in a very
[p.298] rough manner, with bad cement.[FN#12] It was entirely rebuilt, as it now stands, in A.D. 1627. The torrent in the preceding year had thrown down three of its sides, and, preparatory to its re-erection, the fourth side was, according to Asamy, pulled down, after the Olemas, or learned divines, had been consulted on the question whether mortals might be permitted to destroy any part of the holy edifice without incurring the charge of sacrilege and infidelity.
The Kaabah stands upon a base two feet in height, which presents a sharp inclined plane.[FN#13] Its roof being flat, it has at a distance the appearance of a perfect cube.[FN#14] The only door which affords entrance, and which is opened but two or three times in the year,[FN#15] is on the
[p.299] north side and about seven feet above the ground.[FN#16] In the first periods of Islam, however, when it was rebuilt in A.H. 64 by Ibn Zebeyr (Zubayr), chief of Mecca, it had two doors even with the ground floor of the Mosque.[FN#17]
[p.300] The present door (which, according to Azraky, was brought hither from Constantinople in A.D. 1633), is wholly coated with silver, and has several gilt ornaments; upon its threshold are placed every night various small lighted wax candles, and perfuming pans, filled with musk, aloe-wood, &c.[FN#18]
At the north-east[FN#19] corner of the Kaabah, near the door, is the famous Black Stone[FN#20]; it forms a part of the [for p.301, see footnote 20]
[p.302] sharp angle of the building,[FN#21] at four or five feet above the ground.[FN#22] It is an irregular oval, about seven inches in diameter, with an undulating surface, composed of about a dozen smaller stones of different sizes and shapes, well joined together with a small quantity of cement, and perfectly well smoothed: it looks as if the whole had been broken into many pieces by a violent blow, and then united again. It is very difficult to determine accurately the quality of this stone, which has been worn to its present surface by the million touches and kisses it has received. It appeared to me like a lava, containing several small extraneous particles of a whitish and of a yellowish substance. Its colour is now a deep reddish brown, approaching to black. It is surrounded on all sides by a border composed of a substance which I took to be a close cement
[p.303] of pitch and gravel of a similar, but not quite the same, brownish colour.[FN#23] This border serves to support its detached pieces; it is two or three inches in breadth, and rises a little above the surface of the stone. Both the border and the stone itself are encircled by a silver band,[FN#24] broader below than above, and on the two sides, with a considerable swelling below, as if a part of the stone were hidden under it. The lower part of the border is studded with silver nails. In the south-east corner of the Kaabah,[FN#25] or, as the Arab call it, Rokn al-Yemany, there is another stone about five feet from the ground; it is one foot and a half in length, and two inches in breadth, placed upright, and of the common Meccah stone. This the people walking round the Kaabah touch only with the right hand; they do not kiss it.[FN#26]
[p.304] On the north side of the Kaabah, just by its door,[FN#27] and close to the wall, is a slight hollow in the ground, lined with marble, and sufficiently large to admit of three persons sitting. Here it is thought meritorious to pray: the spot is called El Maajan, and supposed to be where Abraham and his son Ismail kneaded the chalk and mud which they used in building the Kaabah; and near this Maajan the former is said to have placed the large stone upon which he stood while working at the masonry. On the basis of the Kaabah, just over the Maajan, is an ancient Cufic inscription; but this I was unable to decipher, and had no opportunity of copying it.
On the west (north-west) side of the Kaabah, about two feet below its summit, is the famous Myzab, or water-spout,[FN#28] through which the rain-water collected on the roof of the building is discharged, so as to fall upon the ground; it is about four feet in length, and six inches in breadth, as well as I could judge from below, with borders equal in height to its breadth. At the
[p.305] mouth hangs what is called the beard of the Myzab; a gilt board, over which the water flows. This spout was sent hither from Constantinople in A.H. 981, and is reported to be of pure gold. The pavement round the Kaabah, below the Myzab, was laid down in A.H. 826, and consists of various coloured stones, forming a very handsome specimen of mosaic. There are two large slabs of fine verdi antico[FN#29] in the centre, which, according to Makrizi, were sent thither, as presents from Cairo, in A.H. 241. This is the spot where, according to Mohammedan tradition, Ismayl the son of Ibrahim, and his mother Hajirah are buried; and here it is meritorious for the pilgrim to recite a prayer of two Rikats. On this side is a semicircular wall, the two extremities of which are in a line with the sides of the Kaabah, and distant from it three or four feet,[FN#30] leaving an opening, which leads to the burial-place of Ismayl. The wall bears the name of El Hatym[FN#31]; and the area
[p.306] which it encloses is called Hedjer or Hedjer Ismayl,[FN#32] on account of its being separated from the Kaabah: the wall itself also is sometimes so called.
Tradition says that the Kaabah once extended as far as the Hatym, and that this side having fallen down just at the time of the Hadj, the expenses of repairing it were demanded from the pilgrims, under a pretence that the revenues of government were not acquired in a manner sufficiently pure to admit of their application towards a purpose so sacred. The sum, however, obtained, proved very inadequate; all that could be done, therefore, was to raise a wall, which marked the space formerly occupied by the Kaabah. This tradition, although current among the Metowefs (cicerones) is at variance with history; which declares that the Hedjer was built by the Beni Koreish, who contracted the dimensions of the Kaabah; that it was united to the building by Hadjadj,[FN#33] and again separated from it by Ibn Zebeyr. It is asserted by Fasy, that a part of the Hedjer as it now stands was never comprehended within the Kaabah. The law regards it as a portion of the Kaabah, inasmuch as it is esteemed equally meritorious to pray in the Hedjer as in the Kaabah itself; and the pilgrims who have not an opportunity of entering the latter are permitted to affirm upon oath that they have prayed in the Kaabah, although they have only prostrated themselves within the enclosure of the Hatym. The wall is built of solid stone, about five feet in height, and four in thickness, cased all over with white marble, and inscribed with prayers and invocations [p.307] neatly sculptured upon the stone in modern characters.[FN#34] These and the casing are the work of El Ghoury, the Egyptian sultan, in A.H. 917. The walk round the Kaabah is performed on the outside of the wallthe nearer to it the better.
Round the Kaabah is a good pavement of marble[FN#35] about eight inches below the level of the great square; it was laid in A.H. 981, by order of the sultan, and describes an irregular oval; it is surrounded by thirty-two slender gilt pillars, or rather poles, between every two of which are suspended seven glass lamps, always lighted after sunset.[FN#36] Beyond the poles is a second pavement, about eight paces broad, somewhat elevated above the first, but of coarser work; then another six inches higher, and eighteen paces broad, upon which stand several small buildings; beyond this is the gravelled ground; so that two broad steps may be said to lead from the square down to the Kaabah. The small buildings just mentioned which surround the Kaabah are the five Makams,[FN#37] with the well
[p.308] of Zem Zem, the arch called Bab es Salam, and the Mambar.
Opposite the four sides of the Kaabah stand four other small buildings, where the Imaums of the orthodox Mohammedan sects, the Hanefy, Shafey, Hanbaly, and Maleky take their station, and guide the congregation in their prayers. The Makam el Maleky on the south, and that of Hanbaly opposite the Black Stone, are small pavilions open on all sides, and supported by four slender pillars, with a light sloping roof, terminating in a point, exactly in the style of Indian pagodas.[FN#38] The Makam el Hanafy, which is the largest, being fifteen paces by eight, is open on all sides, and supported by twelve small pillars; it has an upper story, also open, where the Mueddin who calls to prayers takes his stand. This was built in A.H. 923, by Sultan Selim I.; it was afterwards rebuilt by Khoshgeldy, governor of Djidda, in 947; but all the four Makams, as they now stand, were built in A.H. 1074. The Makam-es-Shafey is over the well Zem Zem, to which it serves as an upper chamber.[FN#39]
Near their respective Makams the adherents of the four different sects seat themselves for prayers. During my stay at Meccah the Hanefys always began their prayer first; but, according to Muselman custom, the Shafeys should pray first in the Mosque; then the Hanefys, Malekys, and Hanbalys. The prayer of the Maghreb is an exception, which they are all enjoined to utter together.[FN#40]
[p.309] The Makam el Hanbaly is the place where the officers of government and other great people are seated during prayers: here the Pasha and the sheriff are placed, and in their absence the eunuchs of the temple. These fill the space under this Makam in front, and behind it the female Hadjys who visit the temple have their places assigned, to which they repair principally for the two evening prayers, few of them being seen in the Mosque at the three other daily prayers: they also perform the Towaf, or walk round the Kaabah, but generally at night, though it is not uncommon to see them walking in the day-time among the men.
The present building which encloses Zem Zem stands close by the Makam Hanbaly, and was erected in A.H. 1072: it is of a square shape, and of massive construction, with an entrance to the north,[FN#41] opening into the room which contains the well. This room is beautifully ornamented with marbles of various colours; and adjoining to it, but having a separate door, is a small room with a stone reservoir, which is always full of Zem Zem water. This the Hadjys get to drink by passing their hand with a cup through an iron grated opening, which serves as a window, into the reservoir, without entering the room. The mouth of the well is surrounded by a wall five feet in height and about ten feet [i]n diameter. Upon this the people stand who draw up the water in leathern buckets, an iron railing being so placed as to [p.310] prevent their falling in. In El Fasys time there were eight marble basins in this room, for the purpose of ablution.
On the north-east (south-east) side of Zem Zem stand two small buildings, one behind the other,[FN#42] called El Kobbateyn; they are covered by domes painted in the same manner as the Mosque, and in them are kept water-jars, lamps, carpets, mats, brooms, and other articles used in the very Mosque.[FN#43] These two ugly buildings are injurious to the interior appearance of the building, their heavy forms and structure being very disadvantageously contrasted with the light and airy shape of the Makams. I heard some Hadjys from Greece, men of better taste than the Arabs, express their regret that the Kobbateyn should be allowed to disfigure the Mosque. They were built by Khoshgeldy, governor of Djidda A.H. 947; one is called Kobbet el Abbas, from having been placed on the site of a small tank said to have been formed by Abbas, the uncle of Mohammed.
[p.311] A few paces west (north-west) of Zem Zem, and directly opposite to the door of the Kaabah, stands a ladder or staircase,[FN#44] which is moved up to the wall of the Kaabah on days when that building is opened, and by which the visitors ascend to the door. It is of wood, with some carved ornaments, moves on low wheels, and is sufficiently broad to admit of four persons ascending abreast. The first ladder was sent hither from Cairo in A.H. 818 by Moyaed Abou el Naser, King of Egypt.
In the same line with the ladder and close by it stands a lightly built insulated and circular arch, about fifteen feet wide, and eighteen feet high, called Bab es Salam, which must not be confounded with the great gate of the Mosque, bearing the same name. Those who enter the Bait Ullah for the first time are enjoined to do so by the outer and inner Bab-es-Salam; in passing under the latter they are to exclaim, O God, may it be a happy entrance. 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]
Burckhardts description of the gates is short and
[p.314] imperfect. On the eastern side of the Mosque there are
[p.315] four principal entrances, seven on the southern side, three in the western, and five in the northern wall.
The eastern gates are the Greater Bab al-Salam, through which the pilgrim enters the Mosque; it is close to the north-east angle. Next to it the Lesser Bab al-Salam, with two small arches; thirdly, the Bab al-Nabi, where the Prophet used to pass through from Khadijahs house; and, lastly, near the south-east corner, the Bab Ali, or of the Benu Hashim, opening upon the street between Safa and Marwah.
Beyond the north-eastern corner, in the northern wall, is the Bab Duraybah, a small entrance with one arch. Next to it, almost fronting the Kaabah, is the grand adit, Bab al-Ziyadah, also known as Bab al-Nadwah. Here the colonnade, projecting far beyond the normal line, forms a small square or hall supported by pillars, and a false colonnade of sixty-one columns leads to the true cloister of the Mosque. This portion of the building being cool and shady, is crowded by the poor, the diseased, and the dying, during Divine worship, and at other times by idlers, schoolboys, and merchants. Passing through three external arches, pilgrims descend by a flight of steps into the hall, where they deposit their slippers, it not being considered decorous to hold them when circumambulating the Kaabah.[FN#53] A broad pavement, in the shape of an irregular triangle, whose base is the cloister, leads to the circuit of the house. Next to the Ziyadah Gate is a small, single-arched entrance, Bab Kutubi, and beyond it one similar, the Bab al-Ajlah ([Arabic]), also named Al-Basitiyah, from its proximity to the college of Abd al Basitah. Close to the north-west angle of the cloister is the Bab al-Nadwah, anciently called Bab al-Umrah, and now Bab
[p.316] al-Atik, the Old Gate. Near this place and opening into the Kaabah, stood the Town Hall (Dar al-Nadwah), built by Kusay, for containing the oriflamme Al-Liwa, and as a council-chamber for the ancients of the city.[FN#54]
In the western wall are three entrances. The single-arched gate nearest to the north angle is called Bab Benu Saham or Bab al-Umrah, because pilgrims pass through it to the Tanim and to the ceremony Al-Umrah (Little Pilgrimage). In the centre of the wall is the Bab Ibrahim, or Bab al-Khayyatin (the Tailors Gate); a single arch leading into a large projecting square, like that of the Ziyadah entrance, but somewhat smaller. Near the south-west corner is a double arched adit, the Bab al-Widaa (of farewell): hence departing pilgrims issue forth from the temple.
At the western end of the southern wall is the two-arched Bab Umm Hani, so called after the ladys residence, when included in the Mosque. Next to it is a similar building, Bab Ujlan [Arabic] which derives its name from the large college Madrasat Ujlan; some call it Bab al-Sharif, because it is opposite one of the palaces. After which, and also pierced with two arches, is the Bab al-Jiyad (some erroneously spell it Al-Jihad, of War), the gate leading to Jabal Jiyad. The next is double arched, and called the Bab al-Mujahid or Al-Rahmah (of Mercy). Nearly opposite the Kaabah, and connected with the pavement by a raised line of stone, is the Bab al-Safa, through which pilgrims now issue to perform the ceremony Al-Sai; it is a small and unconspicuous erection. Next to it is the Bab al-Baghlah with two arches, and close to the south-east angle of the Mosque the Bab Yunus, alias Bab Bazan, alias Bab al-Zayt, alias Bab al-Asharah (of the ten), because a favourite with the first ten Sahabah, or Companions [p.317] of the Prophet. Most of these gates, says Burckhardt, have high pointed arches; but a few round arches are seen among them, which, like all arches of this kind in the Heja[z], are nearly semi-circular. 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 Fridays 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. They are let out to water-men, who deposit in them the Zem Zem jars, or to less opulent Hadjys who wish to live in the Mosque.[FN#57] Some of the surrounding houses still belong to the Mosque, and were originally intended for public schools, as their names of Medresa implies; they are now all let out to Hadjys.
The exterior of the Mosque is adorned with seven minarets irregularly distributed:1. Minaret of Bab el Omra (Umrah); 2. Of Bab el Salam; 3. Of Bab Aly; 4. Of Bab el Wodaa (Widaa); 5. Of Medesa Kail (Kait) Bey; 6. Of Bab el Zyadi; 7. Of Medreset Sultan Soleyman.[FN#58] They are quadrangular or round steeples, in no way differing from other minarets. The entrance to them is from the different buildings round the Mosque, which they adjoin.[FN#59] A beautiful view of the busy crowd below is attained by ascending the most northern one.[FN#60]
Having described at length the establishment
[p.319] attached to the Mosque of Al-Madinah, I spare my readers a detailed account of the crowd of idlers that hang about the Meccan temple. The Naib al-Harim, or vice-intendant, is one Sayyid Ali, said to be of Indian extraction; he is superior to all the attendants. There are about eighty eunuchs, whose chief, Sarur Agha, was a slave of Mohammed Ali Pasha. Their pay varies from 100 to 1,000 piastres per mensem; it is, however, inferior to the Madinah salaries. The Imams, Muezzins, Khatibs, Zemzemis, &c., &c., are under their respective Shaykhs who are of the Olema.[FN#61]
Briefly to relate the history of the Kaabah.
The House of Allah is supposed to have been built and rebuilt ten times.
1. The first origin of the idea is manifestly a symbolical allusion to the angels standing before the Almighty and praising his name. When Allah, it is said, informed the celestial throng that he was about to send a vice-regent on earth, they deprecated the design. Being reproved with these words, God knoweth what ye know not, and dreading the eternal anger, they compassed the Arsh, or throne, in adoration. Upon this Allah created the Bayt al-Maamur, four jasper pillars with a ruby roof,
[p.320] and the angels circumambulated it, crying, Praise to Allah, and exalted be Allah, and there is no ilah but Allah, and Allah is omnipotent! The Creator then ordered them to build a similar house for man on earth. This, according to Ali, took place 40, according to Abu Hurayrah, 2,000 years before the creation; both authorities, however, are agreed that the firmaments were spread above and the seven earths beneath this Bayt al-Maamur.
2. There is considerable contradiction concerning the second house. Kaab related that Allah sent down with Adam[FN#62] a Khaymah, or tabernacle of hollow ruby, which the angels raised on stone pillars. This was also called Bayt al-Maamur. Adam received an order to compass it about; after which, he begged a reward for obedience, and was promised a pardon to himself and to all his progeny who repent.
Others declare that Adam, expelled from Paradise, and lamenting that he no longer heard the prayers of the angels, was ordered by Allah to take the stones of five hills, Lebanon, Sinai, Tur Zayt (Olivet), Ararat, and Hira, which afforded the first stone. Gabriel, smiting his wing upon earth, opened a foundation to the seventh layer, and the position of the building is exactly below the heavenly Bayt al-Maamur,a Moslem corruption of the legends concerning the heavenly and the earthly Jerusalem. Our First Father circumambulated it as he had seen the angels do, and was by them taught the formula of prayer and the number of circuits.
According to others, again, this second house was not erected till after the Angelic Foundation was destroyed by time.
3. The history of the third house is also somewhat
[p.321] confused. When the Bayt al-Maamur, or, as others say, the tabernacle, was removed to heaven after Adams death, a stone-and-mud building was placed in its stead by his son Shays (Seth). For this reason it is respected by the Sabaeans, or Christians of St. John, as well as by the Moslems. This Kaabah, according to some, was destroyed by the deluge, which materially altered its site. Others believe that it was raised to heaven. Others, again, declare that only the pillars supporting the heavenly tabernacle were allowed to remain. Most authorities agree in asserting that the Black Stone was stored up in Abu Kubays, whence that first created of mountains is called Al-Amin, the Honest.
4. Abraham and his son were ordered to build the fourth house upon the old foundations: its materials, according to some, were taken from the five hills which supplied the second; others give the names Ohod, Kuds, Warka, Sinai, Hira, and a sixth, Abu Kubays. It was of irregular shape; 32 cubits from the Eastern to the Northern corner; 32 from North to West; 31 from West to South; 20 from South to East; and only 9 cubits high. There was no roof; two doors, level with the ground, were pierced in the Eastern and Western walls; and inside, on the right hand, near the present entrance, a hole for treasure was dug. Gabriel restored the Black Stone, which Abraham, by his direction, placed in its present corner, as a sign where circumambulation is to begin; and the patriarch then learned all the complicated rites of pilgrimage. When this house was completed, Abraham, by Allahs order, ascended Jabal Sabir, and called the world to visit the sanctified spot; and all earths sons heard him, even those in their fathers loins or in their mothers womb, from that day unto the day of resurrection.
5. The Amalikah (descended from Imlik, great grandson of Sam, son of Noah), who first settled near Meccah, founded the fifth house. Al-Tabari and the Moslem
[p.322] historians generally made the erection of the Amalikah to precede that of the Jurham; these, according to others, repaired the house which Abraham built.
6. The sixth Kaabah was built about the beginning of the Christian era by the Benu Jurham, the children of Kahtan, fifth descendant from Noah. Ismail married, according to the Moslems, a daughter of this tribe, Daalah bint Muzaz ([Arabic]) bin Omar, and abandoning Hebrew, he began to speak Arabic (Ta arraba). Hence his descendants are called Arabicized Arabs. After Ismails death, which happened when he was 130 years old, Sabit, the eldest of his twelve sons, became lord of the house. He was succeeded by his maternal grandfather Muzaz, and afterwards by his children. The Jurham inhabited the higher parts of Meccah, especially Jabal Kaakaan, so called from their clashing arms; whereas the Amalikah dwelt in the lower grounds, which obtained the name of Jiyad, from their generous horses.
7. Kusay bin Kilab, governor of Meccah and fifth forefather of the Prophet, built the seventh house, according to Abrahams plan. He roofed it over with palm leaves, stocked it with idols, and persuaded his tribe to settle near the Harim.
8. Kusays house was burnt down by a womans censer, which accidentally set fire to the Kiswah, or covering, and the walls were destroyed by a torrent. A merchant-ship belonging to a Greek trader, called Bakum ([Arabic]), being wrecked at Jeddah, afforded material for the roof, and the crew were employed as masons. The Kuraysh tribe, who rebuilt the house, failing in funds of pure money, curtailed its proportions by nearly seven cubits and called the omitted portion Al-Hatim. In digging the foundation they came to a green stone, like a camels hunch, which, struck with a pickaxe, sent forth blinding lightning, and prevented further excavation. The Kuraysh, amongst other alterations, raised the walls
[p.323] from nine to eighteen cubits, built a staircase in the northern breadth, closed the western door and placed the eastern entrance above the ground, to prevent men entering without their leave.
When the eighth house was being built Mohammed was in his twenty-fifth year. His surname of Al-Amin, the Honest, probably induced the tribes to make him their umpire for the decision of a dispute about the position of the Black Stone, and who should have the honour of raising it to its place.[FN#63] He decided for the corner chosen by Abraham, and distributed the privilege amongst the clans. The Benu Zahrah and Benu Abd Manaf took the front wall and the door; to the Benu Jama and the Benu Sahm was allotted the back wall; the Benu Makhzum and their Kuraysh relations stood at the southern wall; and at the Stone corner were posted the Benu Abd al-Dar, the Benu Asad, and the Benu Ada.
9. Abdullah bin Zubayr, nephew of Ayishah, rebuilt the Kaabah in A.H. 64. It had been weakened by fire, which burnt the covering, besides splitting the Black Stone into three pieces, and by the Manjanik (catapults) of Hosayn ([Arabic]) bin Numayr, general of Yazid, who obstinately besieged Meccah till he heard of his sovereigns death. Abdullah, hoping to fulfil a prophecy,[FN#64] and seeing that the people of Meccah fled in alarm, pulled down the building by means of thin-calved Abyssinian slaves. When they came to Abrahams foundation he saw that it included Al-Hijr, which part the Kuraysh had been unable to build. The building was made of cut stone and fine lime brought from Al-Yaman. Abdullah, taking in the Hatim, lengthened the building by seven cubits, and added to its former height nine cubits,
[p.324] thus making a total of twenty-seven. He roofed over the whole, or a part; re-opened the western door, to serve as an exit; and, following the advice of his aunt, who quoted the Prophets words, he supported the interior with a single row of three columns, instead of the double row of six placed there by the Kuraysh. Finally, he paved the Mataf, or circuit, ten cubits round with the remaining slabs, and increased the Harim by taking in the nearer houses. During the building, a curtain was stretched round the walls, and pilgrims compassed them externally. When finished, it was perfumed inside and outside, and invested with brocade. Then Abdullah and all the citizens went forth in a procession to the Tanim, a reverend place near Meccah, returned to perform Umrah, the Lesser Pilgrimage, slew 100 victims, and rejoiced with great festivities.
The Caliph Abd al-Malik bin Marwan besieged Abdullah bin Zubayr, who, after a brave defence, was slain. In A.H. 74, Hajjaj bin Yusuf, general of Abd al-Maliks troops, wrote to the prince, informing him that Abdullah had made unauthorised additions to and changes in the Harim: the reply brought an order to rebuild the house. Hajjaj again excluded the Hatim and retired the northern wall six cubits and a span, making it twenty-five cubits long by twenty-four broad; the other three sides were allowed to remain as built by the son of Zubayr. He gave the house a double roof, closed the western door, and raised the eastern four cubits and a span above the Mataf, or circuit, which he paved over. The Harim was enlarged and beautified by the Abbasides, especially by Al-Mahdi, Al-Mutamid, and Al-Mutazid. Some authors reckon, as an eleventh house, the repairs made by Sultan Murad Khan. On the night of Tuesday, 20th Shaaban, A.H. 1030, a violent torrent swept the Harim; it rose one cubit above the threshold of the Kaabah, carried away the lamp-posts and the
[p.325] Makam Ibrahim, all the northern wall of the house, half of the eastern, and one-third of the western side. It subsided on Wednesday night. The repairs were not finished till A.H. 1040. The greater part, however, of the building dates from the time of Al Hajjaj; and Moslems, who never mention his name without a curse, knowingly circumambulate his work. The Olema indeed have insisted upon its remaining untouched, lest kings in wantonness should change its form: Harun al-Rashid desired to rebuild it, but was forbidden by the Imam Malik.
The present proofs of the Kaabahs sanctity, as adduced by the learned, are puerile enough, but curious. The Olema have made much of the verselet: Verily the first house built for mankind (to worship in) is that in Bakkah[FN#65] (Meccah), blessed and a salvation to the three worlds. Therein (fihi) are manifest signs, the standing-place of Abraham, which whoso entereth shall be safe (Kor. ch. 3). The word therein is interpreted to mean Meccah; and the manifest signs the Kaabah, which contains such marvels as the foot-prints on Abrahams platform and the spiritual safeguard of all who enter the Sanctuary.[FN#66] The other signs, historical, psychical, and physical, are briefly these: The preservation of the Hajar al-Aswad and the Makam Ibrahim from many foes, and the miracles put forth (as in the War of the Elephant), to defend the house; the violent and terrible deaths of the sacrilegious; and the fact that, in the Deluge, the large fish did not eat the little fish in the Harim. A wonderful desire and love impel men from distant regions to visit the holy spot, and the first sight of the Kaabah causes awe and fear, horripilation and tears. Furthermore, ravenous beasts will not destroy their prey in the Sanctuary land, and the pigeons and other birds never perch upon the house, except to be [p.326] cured of sickness, for fear of defiling the roof. The Kaabah, though small, can contain any number of devotees; no one is ever hurt in it,[FN#67] and invalids recover their health by rubbing themselves against the Kiswah and the Black Stone. Finally, it is observed that every day 100,000 mercies descend upon the house, and especially that if rain come up from the northern corner there is plenty in Irak; if from the south, there is plenty in Yaman; if from the east, plenty in India; if from the western, there is plenty in Syria; and if from all four angles, general plenty is presignified.
[FN#1] Bayt Ullah (House of Allah) and Kaabah, i.e. cube (house), la maison carree, are synonymous. [FN#2] Ali Bey gives 536 feet 9 inches by 356 feet: my measurement is 257 paces by 210. Most Moslem authors, reckoning by cubits, make the parallelogram 404 by 310. [FN#3] On each short side I counted 24 domes; on the long, 35. This would give a total of 118 along the cloisters. The Arabs reckon in all 152; viz., 24 on the East side, on the North 36, on the South 36, one on the Mosque corner, near the Zarurah minaret; 16 at the porch of the Bab al-Ziyadah; and 15 at the Bab Ibrahim. The shape of these domes is the usual Media-Naranja, and the superstition of the Meccans informs the pilgrim that they cannot be counted. Books reckon 1352 pinnacles or battlements on the temple wall. [FN#4] The common stone of the Meccah mountains is a fine grey granite, quarried principally from a hill near the Bab al-Shabayki, which furnished material for the Kaabah. Eastern authors describe the pillars as consisting of three different substances, viz.: Rukham, white marble, not alabaster, its general sense; Suwan, or granite (syenite?); and Hajar Shumaysi, a kind of yellow sandstone, so called from Bir Shumays, a place on the Jeddah road near Haddah, the half-way station. [FN#5] I counted in the temple 554 pillars. It is, however, difficult to be accurate, as the four colonnades and the porticos about the two great gates are irregular; topographical observations, moreover, must here be made under difficulties. Ali Bey numbers them roughly at plus de 500 colonnes et pilastres. [FN#6] The author afterwards informs us, that the temple has been so often ruined and repaired, that no traces of remote antiquity are to be found about it. He mentions some modern and unimportant inscriptions upon the walls and over the gates. Knowing that many of the pillars were sent in ships from Syria and Egypt by the Caliph Al-Mahdi, a traveller would have expected better things. [FN#7] The reason being, that those shafts formed of the Meccan stone are mostly in three pieces; but the marble shafts are in one piece. [FN#8] To this may be added, that the façades of the cloisters are twenty-four along the short walls, and thirty-six along the others; they have stone ornaments, not inaptly compared to the French fleur de lis. The capital and bases of the outer pillars are grander and more regular than the inner; they support pointed arches, and the Arab secures his beloved variety by placing at every fourth arch a square pilaster. Of these there are on the long sides ten, on the short seven. [FN#9] I counted eight, not including the broad pavement which leads from the Bab al-Ziyadah to the Kaabah, or the four cross branches which connect the main lines. These Firash al-Hajar, as they are called, also serve to partition off the area. One space for instance is called Haswat al-Harim, or the Womens sanded place, because appropriated to female devotees. [FN#10] The jars are little amphoræ, each inscribed with the name of the donor and a peculiar cypher. [FN#11] My measurements give 22 paces or 55 feet in length by 18 (45) of breadth, and the height appeared greater than the length. Ali Bey makes the Eastern side 37 French feet, 2 inches and 6 lines, the Western 38° 4' 6", the Northern 29 feet, the Southern 31° 6', and the height 34° 4'. He therefore calls it a veritable trapezium. In Al-Idrisis time it was 25 cubits by 24, and 27 cubits high. [FN#12] I would alter this sentence thus:It is built of fine grey granite in horizontal courses of masonry of irregular depth; the stones are tolerably fitted together, and are held by excellent mortar like Roman cement. The lines are also straight. [FN#13] This base is called Al-Shazarwan, from the Persian Shadarwan, a cornice, eaves, or canopy. It is in pent-house shape, projecting about a foot beyond the wall, and composed of fine white marble slabs, polished like glass; there are two breaks in it, one opposite and under the doorway, and another in front of Ishmaels tomb. Pilgrims are directed, during circumambulation, to keep their bodies outside of the Shazarwan ; this would imply it to be part of the building, but its only use appears in the large brass rings welded into it, for the purpose of holding down the Kaabah covering. [FN#14] Ali Bey also errs in describing the roof as plat endessus. Were such the case, rain would not pour off with violence through the spout. Most Oriental authors allow a cubit of depression from South-West to North-West. In Al-Idrisis day the Kaabah had a double roof. Some say this is the case in the present building, which has not been materially altered in shape since its restoration by Al-Hajjaj, A.H. 83. The roof was then eighteen cubits long by fifteen broad. [FN#15] In Ibn Jubayrs time the Kaabah was opened every day in Rajah, and in other months on every Monday and Friday. The house may now be entered ten or twelve times a year gratis; and by pilgrims as often as they can collect, amongst parties, a sum sufficient to tempt the guardians cupidity. [FN#16] This mistake, in which Burckhardt is followed by all our popular authors, is the more extraordinary, as all Arabic authors call the door-wall Janib al-Mashrikthe Eastern sideor Wajh al-Bayt, the front of the house, opposed to Zahr al-Bayt, the back. Niebuhr is equally in error when he asserts that the door fronts to the South. Arabs always hold the Rukn al-Iraki, or Irak angle, to face the polar star, and so it appears in Ali Beys plan. The Kaabah, therefore, has no Northern side. And it must be observed that Moslem writers dispose the length of the Kaabah from East to West, whereas our travellers make it from North to South. Ali Bey places the door only six feet from the pavement, but he calculates distances by the old French measure. It is about seven feet from the ground, and six from the corner of the Black Stone. Between the two the space of wall is called Al-Multazem (in Burckhardt, by a clerical error, Al-Metzem, vol. i. p. 173). It derives its name, the attached-to, because here the circumambulator should apply his bosom, and beg pardon for his sins. Al-Multazem, according to M. de Perceval, following dOhsson, was formerly le lieu des engagements, whence, according to him, its name[.] Le Moltezem, says M. Galland (Rits et Ceremonies du Pelerinage de la Mecque), qui est entre la pierre noire et la porte, est lendroit ou Mahomet se reconcilia avec ses dix compagnons, qui disaient quil netait pas veritablement Prophete. [FN#17] From the Bab al-Ziyadah, or gate in the northern colonnade, you descend by two flights of steps, in all about twenty-five. This depression manifestly arises from the level of the town having been raised, like Rome, by successive layers of ruins; the most populous and substantial quarters (as the Shamiyah to the north) would, we might expect, be the highest, and this is actually the case. But I am unable to account satisfactorily for the second hollow within the temple, and immediately around the house of Allah, where the door, according to all historians, formerly on a level with the pavement, and now about seven feet above it, shows the exact amount of depression, which cannot be accounted for simply by calcation. Some chroniclers assert, that when the Kuraysh rebuilt the house they raised the door to prevent devotees entering without their permission. But seven feet would scarcely oppose an entrance, and how will this account for the floor of the building being also raised to that height above the pavement? It is curious to observe the similarity between this inner hollow of the Meccan fane and the artificial depression of the Hindu pagoda where it is intended to be flooded. The Hindus would also revere the form of the Meccan fane, exactly resembling their square temples, at whose corners are placed Brahma, Vishnu, Shiwa and Ganesha, who adore the great Universal Generator in the centre. The second door anciently stood on the side of the temple opposite the present entrance; inside, its place can still be traced. Ali Bey suspects its having existed in the modern building, and declares that the exterior surface of the wall shows the tracery of a blocked-up door, similar to that still open. Some historians declare that it was closed by the Kuraysh when they rebuilt the house in Mohammeds day, and that subsequent erections have had only one. The general opinion is, that Al-Hajjaj finally closed up the western entrance. Doctors also differ as to its size; the popular measurement is three cubits broad and a little more than five in length. [FN#18] Pilgrims and ignorant devotees collect the drippings of wax, the ashes of the aloe-wood, and the dust from the Atabah, or threshold of the Kaabah, either to rub upon their foreheads or to preserve as relics. These superstitious practices are sternly rebuked by the Olema. [FN#19] For North-East read South-East. [FN#20] I will not enter into the fabulous origin of the Hajar al-Aswad. Some of the traditions connected with it are truly absurd. When Allah, says Ali, made covenant with the Sons of Adam on the Day of Fealty, he placed the paper inside the stone; it will, therefore, appear at the judgment, and bear witness to all who have touched it. Moslems agree that it was originally white, and became black by reason of mens sins. It appeared to me a common aerolite covered with a thick slaggy coating, glossy and pitch-like, worn and polished. Dr. Wilson, of Bombay, showed me a specimen in his possession, which externally appeared to be a black slag, with the inside of a bright and sparkling greyish-white, the result of admixture of nickel [p.301] with the iron. This might possibly, as the learned Orientalist then suggested, account for the mythic change of colour, its appearance on earth after a thunderstorm, and its being originally a material part of the heavens. Kutb al-Din expressly declares that, when the Karamitah restored it after twenty-two years to the Meccans, men kissed it and rubbed it upon their brows; and remarked that the blackness was only superficial, the inside being white. Some Greek philosophers, it will be remembered, believed the heavens to be composed of stones (Cosmos, Shooting Stars): and Sanconiathon, ascribing the aerolite-worship to the god Clus, declares them to be living or animated stones. The Arabians, says Maximus of Tyre (Dissert. 38, p. 455), pay homage to I know not what god, which they represent by a quadrangular stone. The gross fetichism of the Hindus, it is well known, introduced them to litholatry. At Jagannath they worship a pyramidal black stone, fabled to have fallen from heaven, or miraculously to have presented itself on the place where the temple now stands. Moreover, they revere the Salagram, as the emblem of Vishnu, the second person in their triad. The rudest emblem of the Bonus Deus was a round stone. It was succeeded in India by the cone and triangle; in Egypt by the pyramid; in Greece it was represented by cones of terra-cotta about three inches and a half long. Without going deep into theory, it may be said that the Kaabah and the Hajar are the only two idols which have survived the 360 composing the heavenly host of the Arab pantheon. Thus the Hindu poet exclaims: