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.