A Dictionary of Islam / Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion.

by Thomas Patrick Hughes

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.