[384] Sir Charles Lyall sends me the following note: “There is a masdjedâ at Medâin Ṣâliḥ. Masdjid is the “place of prostration” (sadjada) and this use of ‘sadjada’ is anterior to Islâm. See al-’A’shâ’s line: “Whoever sees Haudhah prostrates himself (yasdjud) without delay, when he puts on the crown above his turban or lays it down.”‘
[385] As, for instance, the khuṭbah of ‘Amr ibn al-’Aṣ in his mosque at Fusṭâṭ (Corbett, ‘The Mosque of ‘Amr,’ Journal of the R. Asiatic Soc., 1890, p. 768), and the khuṭbah of Ziyâd ibn Abîhi at Baṣrah (Lammens, op. cit., p. 36).
[386] Lammens, ibid., p. 31; and Becker, ‘Zur Geschichte des islamischen Kultus,’ Der Islam, vol. iii, p. 394.
[387] Teano, op. cit., vol. i, p. 438.
[388] Idem, vol. ii, pt. i, p. 68; and Becker, Die Kanzel im Kultus des alten Islam, p. 3 (Orientalische Studien Theodor Nöldeke gewidmet).
[389] Teano, op. cit., vol. iii, p. 965.
[390] The Copts built the façade, the Greeks the side and back walls; see Becker’s very interesting note, Der Islam, vol. iii, p. 403.
[391] Balâdhuri, Futûḥ, ed. de Goeje, p. 6. Yâqût, Mu’djám, ed. Wüstenfeld, vol. iv, p. 466.
[392] Teano, op. cit., vol. iv, p. 569, quoting Makrîzi, Khiṭâṭ, vol. ii, p. 247.
[393] Lammens, Ziâd ibn Abîhi, op. cit., p. 246; Becker, ‘Zur Geschichte d. islam. Kultus.’ op. cit., pp. 392-3. Professor Becker points out that though the architectural form was borrowed from the Christian apse, the word ‘miḥrab’ which was applied to it had had an earlier usage. It signified the princely seat of honour, which in all probability was generally niche-shaped.