MARS̤ĪYAH (مرثية‎). A funeral elegy. Especially applied to those sung during the Muḥarram in commemoration of al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusain.

MARTYR. The Arabic word for “martyr” in the Qurʾān, and in Muslim theology, is shāhid (شاهد‎), pl. shuhūd, or shahīd (شهيد‎), pl. shuhadāʾ, the literal meaning of which is “present as a witness.” It implies all that is understood by the Greek μάρτυς, and the English martyr; but it is also a much more comprehensive term, for, according to Muḥammadan law, not only those who die in witness of, or in defence of the faith, are martyrs, but all those who die such deaths as are calculated to excite the compassion and pity of their fellow men.

The word occurs in the Qurʾān, Sūrah iv. 71: “Whoso obeys God and the Apostle, these are with those with whom God has been well pleased—with prophets (nabīyīn), and confessors (ṣiddīqīn), and martyrs (shuhadāʾ), and the righteous (ṣāliḥīn): a fair company are they.”

A perfect martyr, or ash-shahīdu ʾl-kāmil, is one who has either been slain in a religious war, or who has been killed unjustly. But the schools of divinity are not agreed as to whether it is necessary, or not, that such persons should be in a state of ceremonial purity at the time of their death, to entitle them to such a high rank.

A special blessing is promised to those who die in a jihād, or religious war, see Qurʾān, Sūrah iii. 163: “Count not those who are killed in the way of God as dead, but living with their Lord.” And according to Muslim law, all persons who have died in defence of the faith, or have been slain unjustly, are entitled to Muslim burial without the usual ablution or any change of clothes, such as are necessary in the case of ordinary persons, the rank of martyrdom being such as to render the corpse legally pure.

But in addition to these two classes of persons, namely those who are slain in religious war, and those who have been killed unjustly, the rank of shahīd is given, in a figurative sense, to any who die in such a manner as to excite the sympathy and pity of mankind, such as by sudden death, or from some malignant disease, or in childbirth, or in the acquirement of knowledge, or a stranger in a foreign country, or dying on Thursday night. Those persons are entitled to the rank of martyr, but not to the honour of being buried without legal washing and purification. (See Raddu ʾl-Muḥtār, vol. i. p. 952; Kashshāf Iṣt̤ilāḥātu ʾl-Funūn, vol. i. p. 747; G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah, in loco.)

MĀRŪT (ماروت‎). [HARUT.]

MARWAH (مروة‎). A hill near Makkah, connected with the rites of the pilgrimage. According to Burton, it means “hard, white flints, full of fire.” [HAJJ.]

MARYAM (مريم‎). [MARY.]

MARY THE VIRGIN. Arabic Maryam (مريم‎). Heb. ‏מִרְיָם‎. The mother of Jesus. According to Muḥammadan tradition, and the Qurʾān, she was the daughter of ʿImrān and his wife Ḥannah, and the sister of Aaron.

The account of her birth as given in the Qurʾān is in Sūrah iii. 31:—

“Remember when the wife of ʿImrān said, ‘O my Lord! I vow to Thee what is in my womb, for thy special service. Accept it from me, for Thou Hearest, Knowest!’ And when she had given birth to it, she said, ‘O my Lord! Verily I have brought forth a female,’—God knew what she had brought forth: a male is not as a female—‘and I have named her Mary, and I take refuge with Thee for her and for her offspring, from Satan the stoned.’ So with goodly acceptance did her Lord accept her, and with goodly growth did he make her grow. Zacharias reared her. So oft as Zacharias went in to Mary at the sanctuary, he found her supplied with food. ‘Oh Mary!’ said he, ‘whence hast thou this?’ She said, ‘It is from God; for God supplieth whom He will, without reckoning!’ ”

In Sūrah xix. 28, is the story of her giving birth to Jesus. [JESUS CHRIST.] And when she brought the child to the people, they exclaimed, “O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a bad man, nor was thy mother a harlot.”

Christian critics have assumed, and not without much reason, that Muḥammad has confused the Mary of the New Testament with the Miriam of the Old, by representing her as the daughter of ʿImrān and the sister of Aaron. It is certainly a cause of some perplexity to the commentators. Al-Baiẓāwī says she was called “sister of Aaron” because she was of the Levitical race; but Ḥusain says that the Aaron mentioned in the verse is not the same person as the brother of Moses.

Muḥammad is related to have said that “no child is born but the devil hath touched it, except Mary and her son Jesus.”

MARY THE COPT. Arabic Māriyatu ʾl-Qibt̤īyah (مارية القبطية‎). A concubine of Muḥammad’s, and the mother of his son Ibrāhīm, who died in infancy. She was a Christian slave girl presented to Muḥammad by the Roman governor of Egypt. [MUHAMMAD.]

MASAḤ (مسح‎). The act of touching the boots or the turban for purification, by drawing the three central fingers over the boot or turban at once, whereby they become ceremonially clean. (Mishkāt, book ii. ch. vii.; book iii. ch. x.)

AL-MAS̤ĀNĪ (المثانى‎). From Mas̤na, “two-and-two.” A title given to the Qurʾān on account of its numerous repetitions.

AL-MASĪḤ (المسيح‎). An evident corruption of the Heb. ‏מָשִׁיחַ‎, which answers to the Χριστὸς of the New Testament, and our English Christ. It occurs seven times in the Qurʾān as the surname of Jesus. Al-Baiẓāwī the commentator says, “It is originally a Hebrew word, signifying ‘the blessed one,’ although some have (erroneously, as he thinks) held it to come from Masaḥ, ‘to anoint,’ either because Jesus healed people with his touch, or because he had been anointed by Gabriel as a prophet.” [JESUS.]

AL-MASĪḤU ʾD-DAJJĀL (المسيح الدجال‎). “The lying Christ.” The Antichrist which Muḥammad said would appear before the Day of Resurrection. He is generally called ad-Dajjāl, but in the Traditions he is called al-Masīḥu ʾd-Dajjāl, and very many have been the speculations as to why he is called al-Masīḥ. The compiler of the Qāmūs says there have been at least fifty reasons assigned for his being called al-Masīḥ. Some say it is because he will have his eyes touched (masaḥ) and be rendered blind; others, that the word was originally masīk͟h, a “monster.” (See Ḥujaju ʾl-Kalimah, p. 401.) Sale, in the preface to his translation of the Qurʾān, says Muslim writers state that the Jews will give him the name of al-Masīḥ, because they will mistake him for the true Messiah, who has come to restore the kingdom of Israel to them.

Regarding this personage, Abū Hurairah relates that Muḥammad said:—

“The Resurrection will not be until the Grecians shall attack ʾAmāq and Dābiq. Then an army will come out from al-Madīnah against them, the best of men on that day; and when the lines of battle shall be drawn up, the Grecians will say, ‘Vacate a place between us and those who made captives a tribe of ours’ (and their design will be to separate the Musalmāns). And the Musalmāns will say, ‘By God! we will not clear a place between you and our brother Musalmāns.’ And the Musalmāns will fight the Grecians and a third of the Musalmāns will be defeated; and God will not accept their repentance. And a third of the Musalmāns will be slain, and they will be the best of martyrs before God. And a third of them will conquer the countries of Greece; after which they will be thrown into commotions, and Constantinople will be taken. And whilst the Musalmāns shall be dividing the plunder, having hung up their swords upon the olive tree, all on a sudden the Devil will call out, ‘Verily, Dajjāl has attacked your wives and children in your absence.’ Then, on hearing this, the Musalmāns will come out of the city; and this information of devils will be false, but when they enter Syria, Dajjāl will come out, and whilst the Musalmāns shall be preparing their implements of war, and dressing their ranks, all on a sudden prayers will begin, and Jesus Son of Mary will come down, and act as Imām to them. And when Dajjāl, this enemy of God, shall see Jesus, he will fear to be near, dissolving away like salt in water. And if Jesus lets him alone, verily he will melt and perish, and God will kill him by the hand of Jesus, who will show to the people the blood of Dajjāl upon his lance.” (Mishkāt, book xxiii. ch. ii.)

In other traditions, Muḥammad is related to have said that ad-Dajjāl will be a young man with long hair and blind in the one eye, and on his forehead will be the three letters K F R, signifying kāfir or infidel. He will first appear midway between Syria and ʿIrāq, and will do many wonders and perform many miracles, and will eventually be slain by Jesus.

MASJID (مسجد‎). Lit. “The place of prostration.” The mosque, or place of public prayer. Mosques are generally built of stone or brick, in the form of a square, in the centre of which is an open court-yard, surrounded with cloisters for students. In the centre of the wall facing Makkah is the miḥrāb or niche, which marks the direction of the Kaʿbah at Makkah, and to the right of this niche is the mimbar or pulpit, from which the k͟hut̤bah, or Friday oration, is recited. In the centre of the open court-yard there is usually a large tank, in which the worshippers perform their ablutions (waẓuʾ), and adjoining the mosque are latrines, in which the legal washings (g͟husl) can be performed. Along the front within the doorway is a low barrier, a few inches high, which denotes the sacred part of the mosque.

The mosques in India and Central Asia are generally constructed on the following plan:—

The mosques in Turkey, Syria, and Egypt are often covered buildings, not unlike Christian churches.

The first mosque erected by Muḥammad was at Qubāʾ, near al-Madīnah. It was without cupola, niche, or minaret, these being added by al-Walīd about eighty years afterwards, nor were there arches supported by pillars, nor cloisters. An ordinary mosque in an Afghan village is still of this description.

The Muslim as he enters the mosque stops at the barrier and takes off his shoes, carries them in his left hand, sole to sole, and puts his right foot first as he passes into the square devoted to prayer. If he have not previously performed the ablution, he repairs at once to the tank or well to perform the necessary duty, and before he commences his prayers he places his shoes and his sword and pistol, if he be thus armed, a little before the spot where his head will touch the ground as he prostrates; his shoes must be put one upon the other, sole to sole.

The chief officer of a mosque is the Imām, or leader of prayers, but there are generally Maulawīs, or learned men, attached to mosques for the instruction of the students. Sometimes the Imām and Maulawī are combined in one, and sometimes a learned Maulawī will possess the mosque, but pay an Imām as his curate to say the stated prayers. There is also a Muʾaẕẕin, or “caller to prayer,” whose duty it is to give the Azān. The trustee or superintendent of a mosque is called mutawallī.

Although mosques are esteemed sacred buildings, they are also places of general resort, and persons may be seen in them lounging and chattering together on secular topics, and eating and sleeping, although such things were forbidden by Muḥammad. They are, in all parts of Islām, used as rest-houses for strangers and travellers.

The Imām, or priest, of the mosque, is supported by endowments, or offerings, the Maulawīs, or professors of divinity by fees, or offerings, and the students of a mosque are supported either by endowments, or the benefactions of the people. In towns and villages there is a parish allotted to each mosque, and the people within the section of the parish claim the services of the Imām at their marriages and funerals, and they pay to him the usual offerings made on the two festivals.

In a large mosque, known as the Masjidu ʾl-Jāmīʿ, where the k͟hut̤bah, or Friday oration is delivered, a person known as the k͟hāt̤ib (also k͟hat̤īb), or preacher, is appointed, whose duty it is to lead the Friday prayer and to preach the sermon.

Muḥammad did not forbid women to attend public prayers in a mosque, but it is pronounced better for them to pray in private.

The following injunctions are given in the Qurʾān regarding mosques:—

Sūrah vii. 29: “O children of Adam! wear your goodly apparel when ye repair to any mosque.”

Sūrah ix. 18: “He only should visit the Masjids of God who believeth in God and the last day, and observeth prayer, and payeth the legal alms, and dreadeth none but God.”

Muḥammad’s injunctions regarding mosques, as handed down in the Traditions, are as follows:—

“When you enter a Masjid, you must say, ‘O Creator! open on us the doors of Thy compassion’; and when you leave the Masjid, say, ‘O Lord! we supplicate thy munificence.’ ”

“It is a sin to spit in a Masjid, and the removal of the sin is to cover it over.”

“Whoever shall enter a Masjid, let him enter it for a good object, namely, to learn something himself or to teach others. For he ranks as an equal with him who fights in the cause of God, who thus enters a Masjid; but he who enters a Masjid on any other account, is like unto a man who covets the property of another. Verily, a time will come when men will attend to worldly matters in a Masjid. But sit ye not with such.”

“Do not prevent your women from coming to the Masjids, but their homes are better for them.”

“Do not read poetry in a Masjid, and do not buy and sell there, nor sit in a circle talking before prayers on a Friday.”

“The prayers of a man in his own house are equal to the reward of one prayer, but prayers in a Masjid near his home are equal to twenty-five prayers, and in a Jāmiʿ (or central mosque), they are equal to five hundred prayers, and in Jerusalem to fifty thousand, and in my Masjid (at al-Madīnah) fifty thousand, and at the Kaʿbah, one hundred thousand.”

The Muslim law regarding the erection and endowment (waqf) of Masjids, as contained in Sunnī and Shīʿah works, is as follows. According to the Sunnīs:—

When a person has erected a Masjid, his right therein does not cease until he has separated both the area occupied by the Masjid and also the road and entrance thereunto from his own private property.

If a person build a Masjid, his right of property in it does not cease so long as he does not separate it from his private property, and give general permission to the people to come and worship in it. But as soon as he separates it from his property and allows even a single person to say his prayers in it, his right to the property devoted to God as a mosque ceases.

When a trustee or superintendent (mutawallī) has been appointed for a Masjid, and delivery of the property has been made to him, the Masjid ceases to be private property. So, also, when delivery of it is made to the Qāẓī, or his deputy.

If a person appropriate ground for the purpose of erecting a Masjid, he cannot afterwards resume or sell it, neither can it be claimed by his heirs and inherited, because this ground is altogether alienated from the right of the individual, and appertains solely to God.

When a man has an unoccupied space of ground fit for building upon, and has directed a body of persons to assemble on it for prayers, the space becomes a Masjid, if the permission were given expressly to pray on it forever; or, in absolute terms, intending that it should be for ever; and the property does not go to his heirs at his death. But if the permission were given for a day, or a month, or a year, the space would not become a Masjid, and on his death it would be the property of his heirs.

If a man during his sickness has made his own house a Masjid, and died, and it neither falls within a third of his property nor is allowed by his heirs, the whole of it is heritage, and the act of making it a Masjid is void, because, the heirs having a right in it, there has been no separation from the rights of mankind, and an undefined portion has been made a Masjid, which is void. In the same way as if he should make his land a Masjid, and another person should establish an undefined right, in which case the remainder would revert to the property of the appropriator; contrary to the case of a person making a bequest that a third of his residence shall be made a Masjid, which would be valid; for in such a case there is a separation, as the house may be divided and a third of it converted into a Masjid. (A third of a man’s property being the extent to which he can bequeath to other than his heirs.)

When a man has made his land a Masjid, and stipulated for something out of it for himself, it is not valid, according to all the jurists.

It is also generally agreed that if a man make a Masjid on condition that he shall have an option, the waqf is lawful and the condition is void.

When a man has built a Masjid and called persons to witness that he shall have the power to cancel and sell it, the condition is void, and the Masjid is as if he had erected a Masjid for the people of the street, saying, “It is for this street especially,” when it would, notwithstanding, be for others as well as for them to worship in.

When a Masjid has fallen into decay and is no longer used for prayers, nor required by the people, it does not revert to the appropriator or his heirs, and cannot be sold according to the most correct opinions.

When of two Masjids one is old and gone to decay, the people cannot use its materials to repair the more recent one, according to either the Imām Muḥammad or Imām Abū Yūsuf. Because though the former thought that the materials may be so applied, he held that it is the original appropriator or his heirs, to whom the property reverts, that can so apply them, and because Abū Yūsuf was of opinion that the property in a Masjid never reverts to the original appropriator, though it should fall to ruin and be no longer used by the people.

If a man appropriate his land for the benefit of a Masjid, and to provide for its repairs and necessaries, such as oil, &c., and when nothing more is required for the Masjid, to apply what remains to poor Muslims the appropriation is lawful.

If a man has appropriated his land for the benefit of a Masjid, without any ultimate destination for the poor, the appropriation is lawful, according to all opinions.

If a man gives money for the repairs of a Masjid, also for its maintenance and for its benefit, it is valid. For if it cannot operate as a waqf, it operates as a transfer by way of gift to the Masjid, and the establishing of property in this manner to a Masjid is valid, being completed by taking possession.

If a person should say, “I have bequeathed a third of my property to the Masjid,” it would not be lawful, unless he say “to expend on the Masjid.” So if he were to say, “I have bequeathed a third of my property to the lamps of the Masjid,” it would not be lawful unless he say, “to give light with it in the Masjid.” If he say, “I have given my house for a Masjid,” it is valid as a transfer, requiring delivery. (Fatāwā-i-ʿĀlamgīrī, vol. ii. p. 545; Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 356; Baillie’s Digest, pp. 504–605.)

The Shīʿah law regarding the endowment of Masjids, or land for the benefit of Masjids, does not differ in any important particular from that of the Sunnīs. But there is a provision in the Shīʿah law regarding the sale of an endowment which is important.

If dissensions arise among the persons in whose favour the waqf is made, and there is apprehension of the property being destroyed, while on the other hand the sale thereof is productive of benefit, then, in that case, its sale is lawful.

If a house belonging to a waqf should fall into ruins, the space would not cease to be waqf, nor would its sale be lawful. If, however, dissensions should arise among the persons for whom it was appropriated, insomuch as to give room for apprehension that it will be destroyed, its sale would be lawful.

And even if there should be no such difference, nor any room for such apprehensions, but the sale would be more for the advantage of the parties interested, some are of opinion that the sale would be lawful; but the approved doctrine is to forbid it. (Mafātiḥ; Sharāʾiʿu ʾl-Islām, p. 239.)

AL-MASJIDU ʾL-AQṢĀ (المسجد الاقصى‎). Lit. “The Most Distant Mosque.” The temple at Jerusalem erected by Solomon, called also al-Baitu ʾl-Muqaddas, or “the Holy House.” Known also in Muḥammadan literature as aṣ-Ṣak͟hraḥ, “the Rock,” from which it is believed Muḥammad ascended to heaven on the occasion of his celestial journey. (See Qurʾān, Sūrah xvii.)

Jalālu ʾd-dīn as-Suyūt̤ī has devoted a whole volume to the consideration of the superabundant merits existing in the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā, which work has been translated into English by the Rev. James Reynolds (Oriental Translation Fund, 1836). He says it is called al-Aqṣā, because it is the most distant mosque to which pilgrimage is directed. [JERUSALEM, AS-SAKHRAH.]

MASJIDU ʾL-ḤARĀM (مسجد الحرام‎). “The Sacred Mosque.” The temple at Makkah which contains the Kaʿbah, or Cube-house, in which is placed the Ḥajaru ʾl-Aswad, or “Black Stone.” The term Baitu ʾllāh, or “House of God,” is applied to the whole enclosure, although it more specially denotes the Kaʿbah itself.

The following graphic account of this celebrated building is given by the traveller Burckhardt, who visited it in A.D. 1814. Captain R. Burton, who visited the temple thirty-eight years later, testifies to the great accuracy of Burckhardt’s description, and quotes his description in extenso. The account by Burckhardt is given in the present article, with some slight corrections.

The Kaʿbah stands in an oblong square, two hundred and fifty paces long, and two hundred broad, 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 united by pointed arches, every four of which support a small dome, plastered and whitened on the outside. These domes, according to Qut̤bu ʾd-dīn, are one hundred and fifty-two in number. Along the whole colonnade, on the four sides, lamps are suspended from the arches. Some are lighted every night, and all during the nights of Ramaẓān. The 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 Makkah mountains. Fasy states the whole at five hundred and eighty-nine, and says they are all of marble excepting one hundred and twenty-six, which are of common stone, and three of composition. Qut̤bu ʾd-dīn reckons five hundred and fifty-five, of which, according to him, three hundred and eleven are of marble, and the rest of 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. Between every three or four columns stands an octagonal one, about four feet in thickness. On the east side are two shafts of reddish gray granite, in one piece, and one fine gray porphyry column 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 Qut̤bu ʾd-dīn states to have been brought from Egypt, and principally from Akhinim (Panopolis), when the chief Mahdī enlarged the mosque, in A.H. 163. Among the four hundred and fifty or five hundred columns, which form the enclosure, I found not any two capitals or bases exactly alike. The capitals are of coarse Saracenic 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 A.H. 863 and A.H. 762. A column on the east side exhibits a very ancient Cufic inscription, somewhat defaced, which I could neither read nor copy. Those shafts, formed of the Makkan stone, cut principally from the side of the mountain near the Shubaikah quarter, are mostly in three pieces; but the marble shafts are in one piece.

Some of the columns are strengthened with broad iron rings or bands, as in many other Saracen buildings of the East; they were first employed here by Ibn Dhaher Berkouk, King of Egypt, in rebuilding the mosque, which had been destroyed by fire in A.H. 802.

This temple has been so often ruined and repaired, that no traces of remote antiquity are to be found about it. On the inside of the great wall which encloses the colonnades, a single Arabic inscription is seen, in large characters, but containing merely the names of Muḥammad and his immediate successors, Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUs̤mān, and ʿAlī. The name of Allāh, in large characters, occurs also in several places. On the outside, over the gates, are long inscriptions, in the S̤ulus̤ī character, commemorating the names of those by whom the gates were built, long and minute details of which are given by the historians of Makkah.

The inscription on the south side, over Bābu Ibrahīm, is most conspicuous; all that side was rebuilt by the Egyptian Sultān al-G͟haurī, A.H. 906. Over the Bābu ʿAlī and Bābu ʾl-ʿAbbās is a long inscription, also in the S̤ulus̤ī character, placed there by Sultān Murād ibn Sulaimān, A.H. 984, after he had repaired the whole building. Qut̤bu ʾd-dīn has given this inscription at length; it occupies several pages in his history, and is a monument of the Sultān’s vanity. This side of the mosque having escaped destruction in A.D. 1626, the inscription remains uninjured.

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 Muslim style, are nowhere seen; the floors of the colonnades are paved with large stones badly cemented together.

Seven paved causeways lead from the colonnades towards the Kaʿbah, or holy house, in the centre. 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 zamzam water oozing out of the jars, which are placed in the ground in long rows during the day. The whole area of the mosque is upon a lower level than any of the streets surrounding it. 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 Kaʿbah; it is one hundred and fifteen paces from the north colonnade, and eighty-eight from the south.

For this want of symmetry we may readily account, the Kaʿbah having existed prior to the mosque, which was built around it, and enlarged at different periods.

The Kaʿbah is an oblong massive structure, eighteen paces in length, fourteen in breadth, and from thirty-five to forty feet in height. I took the bearing of one of its longest sides, and found it to be N.N.W. ½ W. It is constructed of the grey Makkan stone, in large blocks of different sizes, joined together in a very rough manner, and with bad cement. 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 Assamī, pulled down, after the ʿUlamāʾ, 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 Kaʿbah stands upon a base two feet in height, which presents a sharp inclined plane; its roof being flat, it has at a distance the appearance of a perfect cube. The only door which affords entrance, and which is opened but two or three times in the year, is on the north side, and about seven feet above the ground. In entering it, therefore, wooden steps are used; of them I shall speak hereafter. In the first periods of Islām, however, when it was rebuilt in A.H. 64, by Ibn Zubair, Chief of Makkah, the nephew of ʿĀyishah, it had two doors even with the ground-floor of the mosque. The present door (which, according to Azraqī, 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.

At the north-east corner of the Kaʿbah, near the door, is the famous “Black Stone”; it forms a part of the sharp angle of the building, at four or five feet above the ground. It is an irregular oval, about seven inches in diameter, with an undulated surface, composed of about a dozen smaller stones of different sizes and shapes, well joined together with a small quantity of cement, and perfectly 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 millions of 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 of pitch and gravel, of a similar, but not quite the same brownish colour. 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, 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 Kaʿbah, or, as the Arabs call it, Ruknu ʾl-Yamānī, 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 Makkah stone. This the people walking round the Kaʿbah touch only with the right hand; they do not kiss it.

On the north side of the Kaʿbah just by its door, 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 Miʿjan, and supposed to be that where Abraham and his son Ishmael kneaded the chalk and mud which they used in building the Kaʿbah; and near this Miʿjan the former is said to have placed the large stone upon which he stood while working at the masonry. On the basis of the Kaʿbah, just over the Miʿjan, is an ancient Cufic inscription, but this I was unable to decipher, and had no opportunity of copying it. I do not find it mentioned by any of the historians.

On the west side of the Kaʿbah, about two feet below its summit, is the famous Miʾzāb, or water-spout, 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 mouth hangs what is called the beard of the Miʾzāb, a gilt board, over which the water falls. This spout was sent hither from Constantinople in A.H. 981, and is reported to be of pure gold. The pavement round the Kaʿbah, below the Miʾzāb, 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 verde-antico in the centre, which, according to Makrīzī, were sent thither as presents from Cairo in A.H. 241. This is the spot where, according to Muḥammadan tradition, Ishmael, the son of Abraham, and his mother Hagar, are buried; and here it is meritorious for the pilgrim to recite a prayer of two rakʿahs.

On this west side is a semi-circular wall, the two extremities of which are in a line with the sides of the Kaʿbah, and distant from it three or four feet, leaving an opening which leads to the burying-place of Ishmael. The wall bears the name of Ḥat̤īm, and the area which it encloses is called Ḥijr, or Ḥijru Ismāʿīl, on account of its being “separated” from the Kaʿbah; the wall itself, also, is sometimes so called; and the name Ḥat̤īm is given by the historians to the space of ground between the Kaʿbah and the wall on one side, and the Biʾru ʾz-Zamzam and Maqāmu Ibrāhīm on the other. The present Makkans, however, apply the name Ḥat̤īm to the wall only.

Tradition says that the Kaʿbah once extended as far as the Ḥat̤īm, and that this side having fallen down just at the time of the Ḥajj, 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, whilst the money of the pilgrims would possess the requisite sanctity. The sum, however, obtained from them, proved very inadequate: all that could be done, therefore, was to raise a wall, which marked the space formerly occupied by the Kaʿbah. This tradition, although current among the Makkans, is at variance with history, which declares that the Ḥijr was built by the Banū Quraish, who contracted the dimensions of the Kaʿbah, that it was united to the building by Ḥajjāj, and again separated from it by Ibn Zubair.

It is asserted by Fasy, that a part of the Ḥijr, as it now stands, was never comprehended within the Kaʿbah. The law regards it as a portion of the Kaʿbah, inasmuch as it is esteemed equally meritorious to pray in the Ḥijr as in the Kaʿbah 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 Kaʿbah, although they may have only prostrated themselves within the enclosure of the Ḥat̤īm. 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, neatly sculptured upon the stone in modern characters. These and the casing are the work of al-G͟haurī, the Egyptian Sultān, in A.H. 917, as we learn from Qut̤bu ʾd-dīn.

The walk round the Kaʿbah is performed on the outside of the wall—the nearer to it the better. The four sides of the Kaʿbah are covered with a black silk stuff, hanging down, and leaving the roof bare. This curtain, or veil, is called kiswah, and renewed annually at the time of the Ḥajj, being brought from Cairo, where it is manufactured at the Sultān’s expense. On it are various prayers, interwoven in the same colour as the stuff, and it is, therefore, extremely difficult to read them. A little above the middle, and running round the whole building, is a line of similar inscriptions, worked in gold thread. That part of the kiswah which covers the door is richly embroidered with silver. Openings are left for the black stone, and the other in the south-east corner, which thus remain uncovered.

The kiswah is always of the same form and pattern; that which I saw on my first visit to the mosque was in a decayed state, and full of holes. On the 25th of the month Ẕū ʾl-Qadah, the old one is taken away, and the Kaʿbah continues without a cover for fifteen days. It is then said that “The Kaʿbah has assumed the iḥrām,” which lasts until the tenth of Ẕū ʾl-Ḥijjah, the day of the return of the pilgrims from ʿArafah to Wādī Minā, when the new kiswah is put on. During the first days, the new covering is tucked up by cords fastened on the roof, so as to leave the lower part of the building exposed; having remained thus for many days, it is let down, and covers the whole structure, being then tied to strong brass wings in the basis of the Kaʿbah. The removal of the old kiswah was performed in a very indecorous manner; and a contest ensued among the pilgrims and the people of Makkah, both young and old, about a few rags of it. The pilgrims even collect the dust which sticks to the walls of the Kaʿbah, under the kiswah, and sell it, on their return, as a sacred relic. [KISWAH.]

At the moment the building is uncovered and completely bare (ʿuryān), a crowd of women assemble round it, rejoicing with cries called walwalah.

The black colour of the kiswah, covering a large cube in the midst of a vast square, gives to the Kaʿbah, at first sight, a very singular and imposing appearance; as it is not fastened down tightly, the slightest breeze causes it to move in slow undulations, which are hailed with prayers by the congregation assembled round the building, as a sign of the presence of its guardian angels, whose wings, by their motion, are supposed to be the cause of the waving of the covering. Seventy thousand angels have the Kaʿbah in their holy care, and are ordered to transport it to Paradise, when the trumpet of the Last Judgment shall be sounded.

The clothing of the Kaʿbah was an ancient custom of the Pagan Arabs. The first kiswah, says Azraqī, was put on by Asad Tubbaʿ, one of the Ḥimyarite kings of Yaman; before Islām, it had two coverings, one for winter and the other for summer. In the early ages of Islām, it was sometimes white and sometimes red, and consisted of the richest brocade. In subsequent times it was furnished by the different Sultāns of Bagẖdad, Egypt, or Yaman, according to their respective influence over Makkah prevailed; for the clothing of the Kaʿbah appears to have always been considered as a proof of sovereignty over the Ḥijāz. Kalaun, Sultān of Egypt, assumed to himself and successors the exclusive right, and from them the Sultāns at Constantinople have inherited it. Kalaun appropriated the revenue of the two large villages, Bisaus and Sandabair, in Lower Egypt, to the expense of the kiswah, and Sultān Sulaiman ibn Salīm subsequently added several others; but the Kaʿbah has long been deprived of this resource.

Round the Kaʿbah is a good pavement of marble, about eight inches below the level of the great square; it was laid in A.H. 981, by order of the Sultān, 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. 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 Kaʿbah. The small buildings just mentioned, which surround the Kaʿbah, are the five Maqāms, with the wall of Zamzam, the arch called Bābu ʾs-Salām (the Gate of Peace), and the mimbar (pulpit).

Opposite the four sides of the Kaʿbah stand four other small buildings, where the Imāms of the four orthodox Muḥammadan sects, the Ḥanafī, Shāfiʿī, Ḥanbalī, and Malakī, take their station, and guide the congregation in their prayers. The Maqāmu ʾl-Malakī, on the south, and that of Ḥanbalī, 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.

The Maqāmu ʾl-Ḥanafī, which is the largest, being fifteen paces by eight, is open on all sides, and supported by twelve small pillars; it has an upper storey, also open, where the Muʾaẕẕin, who calls to prayers, takes his stand. This was first built in A.H. 923, by Sultān Salīm I.; it was afterwards rebuilt by K͟hushgildī, Governor of Jiddah, in A.H. 947; but all the four Maqāms, as they now stand, were built in A.H. 1074. The Maqāmu ʾsh-Shāfiʿī is over the well Zamzam, to which it serves as an upper chamber.

Near their respective Maqāms, the adherents of the four different sects seat themselves for prayers. During my stay at Makkah, the Ḥanafīs always began their prayer first; but, according to Muslim custom, the Shāfiʿīs should pray first in the mosque, then the Ḥanafīs, Malakīs, and Ḥanbalīs. The evening prayer is an exception, which they are all enjoined to utter together. The Maqāmu ʾl-Ḥanbalī is the place where the officers of government and other great people are seated during prayers; here the Pasha and the Sharīf are placed, and, in their absence the eunuchs of the temple. These fill the space under this Maqām in front, and behind it the female pilgrims 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 t̤awāf, or walk round the Kaʿbah, but generally at night, though it is not uncommon to see them walking in the daytime among the men.

The present building which encloses Zamzam, stands close by the Maqāmu ʾl-Ḥanbalī, and was erected in A.H. 1072; it is of a square shape, and of massive construction, with an entrance to the north, 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 Zamzam water; this the pilgrims 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 in diameter. Upon this the people stand who draw up the water, in leathern buckets, an iron railing being so placed as to prevent their falling in. In Fasy’s time, there were eight marble basins in this room for the purpose of ablution.

From before dawn to near midnight, the well-room is constantly crowded with visitors. Everyone is at liberty to draw up the water for himself, but the labour is generally performed by persons placed there on purpose, and paid by the mosque; they expect also a trifle from those who come to drink, though they dare not demand it. I have been more than once in the room a quarter of an hour before I could get a draught of water, so great was the crowd. Devout pilgrims sometimes mount the wall and draw the bucket for several hours, in the hope of thus expiating their evil deeds.

Before the Wahhābī invasion, the well Zamzam belonged to the Sharīf, and the water becoming thus a monopoly, was only to be purchased at a high price; but one of Saʿūd’s first orders, on his arrival at Makkah, was to abolish this traffic, and the holy water is now dispensed gratis. The Turks consider it a miracle that the water of this well never diminishes, notwithstanding the continual draught from it. There is certainly no diminution in its depth, for, by an accurate inspection of the rope by which the buckets are drawn up, I found that the same length was required both at morning and evening, to reach the surface of the water. Upon inquiry, I learned from one of the persons who had descended in the time of the Wahhābīs to repair the masonry, that the water was flowing at the bottom, and that the well is therefore supplied by a subterraneous rivulet. The water is heavy to the taste, and sometimes in its colour resembles milk; but it is perfectly sweet, and differs very much from that of the brackish wells dispersed over the town. When first drawn up, it is slightly tepid, resembling, in this respect, many other fountains of the Ḥijāz.

Zamzam supplies the whole town, and there is scarcely one family that does not daily fill a jar with the water. This only serves, however, for drinking or for ablution, as it is thought impious to employ water so sacred for culinary purposes or on common occasions. Almost every pilgrim when he repairs to the mosque for evening prayer, has a jar of the water placed before him by those who earn their livelihood by performing this service.

The water is distributed in the mosque to all who are thirsty for a trifling fee, by water-carriers, with large jars upon their backs; these men are also paid by charitable pilgrims for supplying the poorer ones with this holy beverage immediately before or after prayers.

The water is regarded as an infallible cure for all diseases; and the devotees believe that the more they drink of it, the better their health will be, and their prayers the more acceptable to the Deity. I have seen some of them at the well swallowing such a quantity of it, as I should hardly have thought possible. A man who lived in the same house with me, and was ill of an intermittent fever, repaired every evening to Zamzam, and drank of the water till he was almost fainting; after which he lay for several hours extended upon his back, on the pavement near the Kaʿbah, and then returned to renew his draught. When by this practice he was brought to the verge of death, he declared himself fully convinced that the increase of his illness proceeded wholly from his being unable to swallow a sufficient quantity of the water. Many pilgrims, not content with drinking it merely, strip themselves in the room, and have buckets of it thrown over them, by which they believe that the heart is purified as well as the outer body.

Few pilgrims quit Makkah without carrying away some of this water in copper or tin bottles, either for the purpose of making presents, or for their own use in case of illness, when they drink it, or for ablution after death. I carried away four small bottles, with the intention of offering them as presents to the Muḥammadan kings in the black countries. I have seen it sold at Suez by pilgrims returning from Makkah, at the rate of one piastre for the quantity that filled a coffee-cup.

The chief of Zamzam is one of the principal ʿUlamāʾ of Makkah. I need not remind the reader that Zamzam is supposed to be the spring found in the wilderness by Hagar, at the moment when her infant son Ishmael was dying of thirst. It seems probable that the town of Makkah owes its origin to this well. For many miles round, no sweet water is found, nor is there found in any part of the adjacent country so copious a supply.

On the north-east side of Zamzam stand two small buildings, one behind the other, called al-Qubbatain; 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. 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 Maqāms. I heard some pilgrims from Greece, men of better taste than the Arabs, express their regret that the Qubbatain should be allowed to disfigure the mosque. Their contents might be deposited in some of the buildings adjoining the mosque, of which they form no essential part, no religious importance being attached to them. They were built by K͟hushgildī, Governor of Jiddah, A.H. 947; one is called Qubbatu ʾl-ʿAbbās, from having been placed on the site of a small tank, said to have been formed by al-ʿAbbās, the uncle of Muḥammad.

A few paces west of Zamzam, and directly opposite to the door of the Kaʿbah, stands a ladder or staircase, which is moved up to the wall of the Kaʿbah, on the 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 Muʾyad Abū ʾn-Nāṣir, King of Egypt; for in the Ḥijāz, it seems, there has always been so great a want of artizans, that whenever the mosque required any work, it was necessary to have mechanics brought from Cairo, and even sometimes from Constantinople.

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 Bābu ʾs-Salām, which must not be confounded with the great gate of the mosque bearing the same name. Those who enter the Baitu ʾllāh for the first time, are enjoined to do so by the outer and inner Bābu ʾs-Salām; 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.

Nearly in front of the Bābu ʾs-Salām, and nearer to the Kaʿbah than any of the other surrounding buildings, stands the Maqāmu Ibrāhīm. 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, which thus leaves 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 Abraham stood when he built the Kaʿbah, and which, with the help of his son Ishmael, he had removed from hence to the place called Miʿjan, 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 pilgrim has ever seen it, 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 Abraham, and a short prayer must be uttered by the side of the Maqām, after the walk round the Kaʿbah is completed. It is said that many of the Companions, or first adherents of Muḥammad, were interred in the open space between this Maqām and Zamzam, from which circumstance it is one of the most favourite places of prayer in the mosque. In this part of the area, the K͟halīfah Sulaimān ibn ʿAbdi ʾl-Malik, brother of al-Walīd, built a fine reservoir in A.H. 97, which was filled from a spring east of ʿArafāt; but the Makkans destroyed it after his death, on the pretence that the water of Zamzam was preferable.

On the side of Maqāmu Ibrāhīm, facing the middle part of the front of the Kaʿbah, stands the Mimbar, 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 Sultān Sulaimān ibn Salīm. A straight narrow staircase leads up to the post of the k͟hat̤īb, 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 Muḥammadan countries, are usually of the same tenour, with some slight alterations upon extraordinary occasions. Before the Wahhābīs invaded Makkah, prayers were added for the Sultān and the Sharīf; but these were forbidden by Saʿūd. Since the Turkish conquest, however, the ancient custom has been restored. The right of preaching in the Mimbar is vested in several of the first ʿUlamāʾ in Makkah; they are always elderly persons, and officiate in rotation. In ancient times Muḥammad himself, his successors, and the K͟halīfahs, whenever they came to Makkah, mounted the pulpit, and preached to the people.

The k͟hat̤īb, or preacher, appears in the Mimbar wrapped in a white cloak, which covers his head and body, and with a stick in hand; a practice observed also in Egypt and Syria, in memory of the first age of Islām, when the preachers found it necessary to be armed, from fear of being surprised. As in other mosques, two green flags are placed on each side of him.

About the Mimbar, the visitors of the Kaʿbah deposit their shoes; as it is neither permitted to walk round the Kaʿbah with covered feet, nor thought decent to carry the shoes in the hand, as is done in other mosques. Several persons keep watch over the shoes, for which they expect a small present; but the vicinity of the holy temple does not intimidate the dishonest, for I lost successively from this spot three new pairs of shoes; and the same thing happens to many pilgrims.

I have now described all the buildings within the enclosure of the temple.

The gravel-ground, and part of the adjoining outer pavement of the Kaʿbah is covered, at the time of evening prayers, with carpets of from sixty to eighty feet in length, and four feet in breadth, of Egyptian manufacture, which are rolled up after prayers. The greater part of the pilgrims bring their own carpets with them. The more distant parts of the area, and the floor under the colonnade, are spread with mats brought from Souakin; the latter situation being the usual place for the performance of the mid-day and afternoon prayers. Many of these mats are presented to the mosque by the pilgrims, for which they have in return the satisfaction of seeing their names inscribed on them in large characters.

At sunset, great numbers assemble for the first evening prayer; they form themselves into several wide circles, sometimes as many as twenty, around the Kaʿbah, as a common centre before which every person makes his prostration; and thus, as the Muḥammadan doctors observe, Makkah is the only spot throughout the world in which the true believer can, with propriety, turn during his prayers towards any point of the compass. The Imām takes his post near the gate of the Kaʿbah, and his genuflexions are imitated by the whole assembled multitude. The effect of the joint prostrations of six or eight thousand persons, added to the recollection of the distance and various quarters from whence they come, or for what purpose, cannot fail to impress the most cool-minded spectator with some degree of awe. At night, when the lamps are lighted, and numbers of devotees are performing the T̤awāf round the Kaʿbah, the sight of the busy crowds, the voices of the Mut̤awwifs, intent upon making themselves heard by those to whom they recite their prayers, the loud conversation of many idle persons, the running, playing, and laughing of boys, give to the whole a very different appearance, and one more resembling that of a place of public amusement. The crowd, however, leaves the mosque about nine o’clock, when it again becomes the place of silent meditation and prayer to the few visitors who are led to the spot by sincere piety, and not worldly motives or fashion.

There is an opinion prevalent at Makkah, founded on holy tradition, that the mosque will contain any number of the faithful; and that if even the whole Muḥammadan community were to enter at once, they would all find room in it to pray. The guardian angels, it is said, would invisibly extend the dimensions of the building, and diminish the size of each individual. The fact is, that during the most numerous pilgrimages, the mosque, which can contain, I believe, about thirty-five thousand persons in the act of prayer, is never half-filled. Even on Fridays, the greater part of the Makkans, contrary to the injunctions of the law, pray at home, if at all, and many pilgrims follow their example. I could never count more than ten thousand individuals in the mosque at one time, even after the return from ʿArafāt, when the whole body of pilgrims was collected for a few days in and about the city.

At every hour of the day persons may be seen under the colonnade, occupied in reading the Qurʾān and other religious books; and here many poor Indians, or negroes, spread their mats, and pass the whole period of their residence at Makkah. Here they both eat and sleep; but cooking is not allowed. During the hours of noon, many persons come to repose beneath the cool shade of the vaulted roof of the colonnade; a custom which not only accounts for the mode of construction observed in the old Muḥammadan temples of Egypt and Arabia, but for that also of the ancient Egyptian temples, the immense porticoes of which were probably left open to the idolatrous natives, whose mud-built houses could afford them but an imperfect refuge against the mid-day heats.

It is only during the hours of prayer that the great mosques of these countries partake of the sanctity of prayer, or in any degree seem to be regarded as consecrated places. In al-Azhar, the first mosque at Cairo, I have seen boys crying pancakes for sale, barbers shaving their customers, and many of the lower orders eating their dinners, where, during prayer, not the slightest motion, nor even whisper, diverts the attention of the congregation. Not a sound but the voice of the Imām, is heard during prayers in the great mosque at Makkah, which at other times is the place of meeting for men of business to converse on their affairs, and is sometimes so full of poor pilgrims, or of diseased persons lying about under the colonnade, in midst of their miserable baggage, as to have the appearance of a hospital rather than a temple. Boys play in the great square, and servants carry luggage across it, to pass by the nearest route from one part of the town to the other. In these respects, the temple of Makkah resembles the other great mosques of the East. But the holy Kaʿbah is rendered the scene of such indecencies and criminal acts, as cannot with propriety be more particularly noticed. They are not only practised here with impunity, but, it may be said, almost publicly; and my indignation has often been excited, on witnessing abominations which called forth from other passing spectators nothing more than a laugh or a slight reprimand.

In several parts of the colonnade, public schools are held, where young children are taught to spell and read; they are most noisy groups, and the schoolmaster’s stick is in constant action. Some learned men of Makkah deliver lectures on religious subjects every afternoon under the colonnade, but the auditors are seldom numerous. On Fridays, after prayer, some Turkish ʿUlamāʾ explain to their countrymen assembled around them a few chapters of the Qurʾān, after which each of the audience kisses the hand of the expositor, and drops money into his cap. I particularly admired the fluency of speech of one of these ʿUlamāʾ, although I did not understand him, the lecture being delivered in the Turkish language. His gesticulations, and the inflexions of his voice, were most expressive; but, like an actor on the stage, he would laugh and cry in the same minute, and adapt his features to his purpose in the most skilful manner. He was a native of Brusa, and amassed a considerable sum of money.

Near the gate of the mosque called Bābu ʾs-Salām, a few Arab shaik͟hs daily take their seat, with their inkstand and paper, ready to write, for any applicant, letters, accounts, contracts, or any similar document.

They also deal in written charms, like those current in the Black countries, such as amulets, love-receipts, &c. They are principally employed by Bedouins, and demand an exorbitant remuneration.

Winding sheets (kafan) and other linen washed in the waters of Zamzam, are constantly seen hanging to dry between the columns. Many pilgrims purchase at Makkah the shroud in which they wish to be buried, and wash it themselves at the well of Zamzam, supposing that, if the corpse be wrapped in linen which has been wetted with this holy water, the peace of the soul after death will be more effectually secured. Some pilgrims make this linen an article of traffic.

Makkah generally, but the mosque in particular, abounds in flocks of wild pigeons, which are considered to be the inviolable property of the temple, and are called the pigeons of the Baitu ʾllāh. Nobody dares to kill any of them, even when they enter the private houses. In the square of the mosque, several small stone basins are regularly filled with water for their use; here, also, Arab women expose for sale, upon small straw mats, corn and durrah, which the pilgrims purchase, and throw to the pigeons. I have seen some of the public women take this mode of exhibiting themselves, and of bargaining with the pilgrims, under pretence of selling them corn for the sacred pigeons.

The gates of the mosque are nineteen in number, and are distributed about it, without any order or symmetry. The principal of these gates are: on the north side, Bābu ʾs-Salām, by which every pilgrim enters the mosque; Bābu ʾl-ʿAbbās; Bābu ʾn-Nabī, by which Muḥammad is said to have always entered the mosque; Bābu ʿAlī. On the east side: Bābu Zai, or Bābu ʾl-ʿAshrah, through which the ten first adherents of Muḥammad used to enter; Bābu ʾṣ-Ṣafā; two gates called Bībānu ʾsh-Sharīf, opposite the palaces of the Sharīf. On the south side: Bābu Ibrāhīm, where the colonnade projects beyond the straight line of the columns, and forms a small square; Bābu ʾl-ʿUmrah, through which it is necessary to pass, on visiting the ʿUmrah. On the west side: Bābu ʾz-Ziyādah, forming a projecting square similar to that at Bābu Ibrāhīm, but larger.

Most of these gates have high-pointed arches, but a few round arches are seen among them, which, like all the arches of this kind in the Ḥijāz, are nearly semicircular. They are without any 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 Kaʿbah, and thus 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.

The outside walls of the mosque 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, who have purchased them. They are let out to the richest pilgrims, at very high prices, as much as five hundred piastres being given, during the pilgrimage, for a good apartment, with windows opening into the mosque. 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. Pilgrims living in these apartments are allowed to perform the Friday’s prayers at home, because, having the Kaʿbah in view from the windows, they are supposed to be in the mosque itself, and to join in prayer those assembled within the 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 watermen, who deposit in them the Zamzam jars, or to less opulent pilgrims who wish to live in the mosque. Some of the surrounding houses still belong to the mosque, and were originally intended for public schools, as their name of Madrasah implies; they are now all let out to pilgrims. In one of the largest of them, Muḥammad ʿAlī Pasha lived; in another Ḥasan Pasha.

Close to Bābu Ibrāhīm is a large madrasah, now the property of Saiyid Ageyl, one of the principal merchants of the town, whose warehouse opens into the mosque. This person, who is aged, has the reputation of great sanctity; and it is said that the hand of the Sharīf G͟hālib, when once in the act of collaring him for refusing to advance some money, was momentarily struck with palsy. He has evening assemblies in his house, where theological books are read, and religious topics discussed.

Among other buildings forming the enclosure of the mosque, is the Miḥkam, or house of justice, close by the Bābu ʾz-Ziyādah; it is a fine, firmly-built structure, with lofty arches in the interior, and has a row of high windows looking into the mosque. It is inhabited by the Qāẓī. Adjoining to it stands a large Madrasah, enclosing a square, known by the name of Madrasah Sulaimān, built by Sultān Sulaimān and his son Salīm II., in A.H. 973. It is always well filled with Turkish pilgrims, the friends of the Qāẓī, who disposes of the lodgings.

The exterior of the mosque is adorned with seven minarets, irregularly distributed: 1. Minaret of Bābu ʾl-ʿUmrah; 2. of Bābu ʾs-Salām; 3. of Bābu ʿAlī; 4. of Bābu ʾl-Wadāʿ; 5. of Madrasah Kail Beg; 6. of Bābu ʾz-Ziyādah; 7. of Madrasah Sultān Sulaimān. 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. A beautiful view of the busy crowd below is obtained by ascending the most northern one. (Taken, with slight alterations, chiefly in the spelling of Arabic words and names, from Burckhardt’s Travels in Arabia, vol. i. p. 243.)

Mr. Sale says: “The temple of Mecca was a place of worship, and in singular veneration with the Arabs from great antiquity, and many centuries before Muhammad. Though it was most probably dedicated at first to an idolatrous use, yet the Muhammadans are generally persuaded that the Kaʿbah is almost coeval with the world; for they say that Adam, after his expulsion from Paradise, begged of God that he might erect a building like that he had seen there, called Baitu ʾl-Maʿmūr, or the frequented house, and al Durah, towards which he might direct his prayers, and which he might compass, as the angels do the celestial one. Whereupon God let down a representation of that house in curtains of light, and set it in Mecca, perpendicularly under its original, ordering the patriarch to turn towards it when he prayed, and to compass it by way of devotion. After Adam’s death, his son Seth built a house in the same form, of stone and clay, which being destroyed by the Deluge, was rebuilt by Abraham and Ishmael at God’s command, in the place where the former had stood, and after the same model, they being directed therein by revelation.

“After this edifice had undergone several reparations, it was, a few years after the birth of Muhammad, rebuilt by the Quraish on the old foundation, and afterwards repaired by Abdullah Ibn Zubair, the Khalif of Mecca; and at length again rebuilt by Yusuf, surnamed al Hijaj Ibn Yusuf, in the seventy-fourth year of the Hijrah, with some alterations, in the form wherein it now remains. Some years after, however, the Khalif Harun al Rashid (or, as others write, his father al Mahdi, or his grandfather al Mansur) intended again to change what had been altered by al Hijaj, and to reduce the Kaʿbah to the old form in which it was left by Abdullah, but was dissuaded from meddling with it, lest so holy a place should become the sport of princes, and being new-modelled after everyone’s fancy, should lose that reverence which was justly paid it. But notwithstanding the antiquity and holiness of this building, they have a prophecy by tradition from Muhammad, that in the last times the Ethiopians shall come and utterly demolish it, after which it will not be rebuilt again for ever.” (Prel. Dis., p. 83).

The following are the references to the Sacred Mosque in the Qurʾān:—

Sūrah ii. 144, 145: “From whatever place thou comest forth, then turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque; for this is a duty enjoined by thy Lord; and God is not inattentive to your doings. And from whatever place thou comest forth, then turn thy face toward the Sacred Mosque: and wherever ye be, to that part turn your faces, that men have no cause of dispute against you.”

Sūrah v. 2: “O Believers! violate neither the rites of God, nor the sacred month, nor the offering, nor its ornaments, nor those who press on to the Sacred Mosque, seeking favour from their Lord and His good pleasure in them.”

Sūrah viii. 33–35: “But God chose not to chastise them while thou wast with them, nor would God chastise them when they sued for pardon. But because they debarred the faithful from the Sacred Mosque, albeit they are not its guardians, nothing is there on their part why God should not chastise them. The God-fearing only are its guardians; but most of them know it not. And their prayer at the house is no other than whistling through the fingers and clapping of the hands—‘Taste then the torment, for that ye have been unbelievers.’ ”

Sūrah ix. 7: “How shall they who add gods to God be in league with God and with His Apostle, save those with whom ye made a league at the Sacred Mosque? So long as they are true to you, be ye true to them; for God loveth those who fear Him.”

Sūrah ix. 28: “O Believers! only they who join gods with God are unclean! Let them not, therefore, after this their year, come near the Sacred Mosque. And if ye fear want, God, if He please, will enrich you of His abundance: for God is Knowing, Wise.”

Sūrah xvii. 1: “Glory be to Him who carried his servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the temple that is more remote (i.e. Jerusalem), whose precinct we have blessed, that we might show him of our signs! for He is the Hearer, the Seer.”

Sūrah xxii. 25: “From the Sacred Mosque which we have appointed to all men, alike for those who abide therein, and for the stranger.”

Sūrah xlviii. 25: “These are they who believed not, and kept you away from the Sacred Mosque, as well as the offering which was prevented from reaching the place of sacrifice.”

Sūrah xlviii. 27: “Now hath God in truth made good to His Apostle the dream in which he said, ‘Ye shall surely enter the Sacred Mosque, if God will, in full security, having your heads shaved and your hair cut: ye shall not fear; for He knoweth what ye know not; and He hath ordained you, beside this, a speedy victory.’”