A few paces west of Zemzem, and directly opposite to the door of the Kaaba, stands a ladder or staircase, which is moved up to the wall of the Kaaba, 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 Moay-ed Abou el Naser, King of Egypt; for in the Hedjaz 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 Bab-es-Salam, which must not be confounded with the great gate of the mosque bearing the same name. Those who enter the Beitullah 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.
Nearly in front of the Bab-es-Salam; and nearer to the Kaaba than any of the other surrounding buildings, stands the Makam Ibrahim. 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 Ibrahim (Abraham) stood when he built the Kaaba, and which, with the help of his son Ismayl, he had removed from hence to the place called Madjen, 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, 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
[p.147] Ibrahim; and a short prayer must be uttered by the side of the Makam, after the walk round the Kaaba is completed. It is said that many of the Sahabe, or first adherents of Mohammed, were interred in the open space between this Makam. and Zemzem, from which circumstance it is one of the most favourite places of prayer in the mosque. In this part of the area, the Khalif Soleyman Ibn Abd el Melek, brother of Wolyd, built a fine reservoir, in A.H. 97, which was filled from a spring east of Arafat; but the Mekkawys destroyed it after his death, on the pretence that the water of Zemzem was preferable. [Vide Makrizis Treatise— Manhadj myn el Kholafa.]
On the side of Makam Ibrahim, facing the middle part of the front of the Kaaba, 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: [The first Mambar was sent from Cairo in A.H. 818, together with the steps above mentioned, by Moay-ed, King of Egypt. See Asamy.] 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 tenor, with some slight alterations upon extraordinary occasions. Before the Wahabys invaded Mekka, prayers were added for the Sultan and the Sherif; but these were forbidden by Saoud. Since the Turkish conquest, however, the ancient custom has been restored; and on Fridays, as well as at the end of the first daily evening prayers, the Sultan, Mohammed Aly Pasha, and Sherif Yahya are included in the formula. The right of preaching in the Mambar is vested in several of the first olemas in Mekka; they are always elderly persons, and officiate in rotation. In ancient times, Mohammed himself, his successors, and the Khalifes, whenever they came to Mekka, mounted the pulpit, and preached to the people.
The Khatyb, or preacher, appears in the Mambar wrapped in a white cloak, which covers his head and body, and with a stick in his
[p.148] hand; a practice observed also in Egypt and Syria, in memory of the first age of Islam, 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 Mambar, the visitors of the Kaaba deposit their shoes; as it is neither permitted to walk round the Kaaba 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 hadjys.
I have now described all the buildings within the enclosure of the Temple. [The ground-plan of the Temple given by Aly Bey el Abbassi is perfectly correct. This cannot be said of his plan of Mekka, nor of his different views in the Hedjaz: a comparison of my description with his work will show in what points I differ from him, as well in regard to the temple, as to the town and its inhabitants. His travels came to my hands after I had returned from Arabia. The view of the mosque given by dOhsson, in his valuable work, is tolerably correct, except that the Kaaba is too large in proportion to the rest of the building. The view of the town of Mekka, on the contrary, is very unfaithful. That in Niebuhr, which was copied from an ancient Arabic drawing, is less accurate than dOhssons. The original seems to have been taken before the last alterations made in the buildings of the Temple.]
The gravel-ground, and part of the adjoining outer pavement of the Kaaba, 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 hadjys 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 hadjys, for which they have in return the satisfaction of seeing their names inscribed on them in large characters.