Travels In Arabia

J >> John Lewis Burckhardt >> Travels In Arabia

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The grandfather of Mohammed, Abd el Motalleb Ibn Hesham, had restored
the well of Zemzem by an excavation some time before the burning of the
Kaaba.

When the victorious Mohammed entered the town of his fathers, he
destroyed the images in the temple, and abolished the idolatrous worship
of his countrymen; and his Mueddin, the negro Belal, called the Moslems
to prayers from the top of the Kaaba.

The Koreysh had built a small town round the Kaaba, which they venerated
so much that no person was permitted to raise the roof of his house
higher than that of the sacred structure. The pilgrimage to this holy
shrine, which the pagan Arabs had instituted, was confirmed by Islam.

[p.165] Omar Ibn Khatab first built a mosque round the Kaaba. In the
year of the Hedjra 17, having purchased from the Koreysh the small
houses which enclosed it, and carried a wall round the area, Othman Ibn
Affan, in A.H. 27, enlarged the square; and in A.H. 63, when the heretic
and rebel Yezyd was besieged at Mekka by Abdallah Ibn Zebeyr, the nephew
of Aysha, the Kaaba was destroyed by fire, some say accidentally, while
others affirm it to have been done by the slinging machines directed
against it by Yezyd from the top of Djebel Kobeys, where he had taken
post. After his expulsion, Ibn Zebeyr enlarged the enclosure of the wall
by purchasing some more houses of the Mekkawys, and by including their
site, after having levelled them, within the wall. He also rebuilt the
Kaaba upon an enlarged scale, raising it from eighteen pikes (its height
under the Koreysh) to twenty-seven pikes, or nearly equal to what it was
in the time of the Beni Kossay. He opened two doors into it, level with
the surface of the area, and constructed a double roof, supported by
three instead of six pillars, the former number. This new building was
twenty-five pikes in length, twenty in breadth on one side, and twenty-
one on the other. In the interior, the dry well, called Byr Ahsef, still
remained, wherein the treasures were deposited, particularly the golden
vessels that had been presented to the Kaaba. It was at this period
that the structure took the name of Kaaba, which is said to be derived
from kaab, a die or cube, the form which the building now assumed. Its
former title was the House of God, (Beitullah) or the Old House, a name
still often applied to it.

Twenty years after the last-mentioned date, El Hadjadj Ibn Yousef el
Thakafy, then governor of Mekka, disliking the enlarged size of the
Kaaba, reduced it to the proportions it had in the time of the Koreysh,
cutting off six pikes from its length; he also restored the wall called
Hedjer, which Ibn Zebeyr had included within the building. The size then
given to the edifice is the same as that of the present structure, it
having been scrupulously adhered to in all the repairs or re-erections
which subsequently took place.

Towards the end of the first century of the Hedjra, Wolyd Ibn Abd el
Melek was the first who reared columns in the mosque. He

[p.166] caused their capitals to be covered with thin plates of gold,
and incurred a great expense for decorations: it is related that all the
golden ornaments which he gave to the building were sent from Toledo in
Spain, and carried upon mules through Africa and Arabia.

Abou Djafar el Mansour, one of the Abassides, in A.H. 139, enlarged the
north and south sides of the mosque, and made it twice as large as it
had been before, so that it now occupied a space of forty-seven pikes
and a half in length. He also paved the ground adjoining the well of
Zemzem with marble.

The Khalife El Mohdy added to the size of the mosque at two different
periods; the last time, in A.H. 163, he bought the ground required for
these additions from the Mekkawys, paying to them twenty-five dinars for
every square pike. It was this Khalife who brought the columns from
Egypt, as I have already observed. The improvements which he had begun,
were completed by his son El Hady. The roof of the colonnade was then
built of sadj, a precious Indian wood. The columns brought from Egypt by
El Mohdy, were landed at one day's journey north of Djidda; but some
obstacles arising, they were not all transported to Mekka, some of them
having been abandoned on the sands near the shore. I mention this for
the sake of future travellers, who, on discovering them, might perhaps
consider them as the vestiges of some powerful Greek or Egyptian colony.

The historians of Mekka remark, and not without astonishment, that the
munificent Khalife Haroun er Rasheid, although he repeatedly visited the
Kaaba, added nothing to the mosque, except a new pulpit, or mambar.

A.H. 226. During the Khalifat of Motasem b'illah, the well of Zemzem was
covered above: it had before been enclosed all round, but not roofed.

A.H. 241. The space between the Hedjer and the Kaaba was laid out with
fine marbles. At that time there was a gate leading into the space
enclosed within the Hedjer.

The Khalife El Motaded, in A.H. 281, put the whole mosque into a
complete state of repair: he rebuilt its walls; made new gates,
assigning to them new names; and enlarged the building on the west

[p.167] side, by adding to it the space formerly occupied by the
celebrated Dar el Nedowa; an ancient building of Mekka, well known in
the history of the Pagan Arabs, which had always been the common
council-house of the chiefs of Mekka. It is said to have stood near the
spot where the Makam el Hanefy is now placed.

In A.H. 314, or, according to others, 301, Mekka and its temple
experienced great disasters. The army of the heretic sect of the
Carmates, headed by their chief, Abou Dhaher, invaded the Hedjaz, and
seized upon Mekka: fifty thousand of its inhabitants were slain during
the sack of the city, and the temple and the Kaaba were stripped of all
their valuable ornaments. After remaining twenty-one days, the enemy
departed, carrying with them the great jewel of Mekka, the black stone
of the Kaaba. During the fire which injured the Kaaba, in the time of
Ibn Zebeyr, the violent heat had split the stone into three pieces,
which were afterwards joined together again, and replaced in the former
situation, surrounded with a rim of silver; this rim was renewed and
strengthened by Haroun er Rasheid.

The Carmates carried the stone to Hedjer, [Asamy says that the stone was
carried to El Hassa, near the Persian Gulf, a town which had been
recently built by Abou Dhaher. I find, in the Travels of Ibn Batouta, a
town in the province of El Hassa, called Hedjer.] a fertile spot in the
Desert, on the route of the Syrian caravan, north of Medina, which they
had chosen as one of their abodes. They hoped that all the moslems would
come to visit the stone, and that they should thus succeed to the riches
which the pilgrims from every part of the world had brought to Mekka.
Under this impression, Abou Dhaher refused an offer of fifty thousand
dinars as a ransom for the stone; but after his death, the Carmates, in
A.H. 339, voluntarily sent it back, having been convinced by experience
that their expectations of wealth, from the possession of it, were ill
founded, and that very few moslems came to Hedjer for the purpose of
kissing it. At this time it was in two pieces, having been split by a
blow from a Carmate during the plunder of Mekka.

Seventy years after its restoration to its ancient seat, the stone

[p.168] suffered another indignity: Hakem b'amr Illah, the mad king of
Egypt, who had some intentions of claiming divine honours for himself,
sent in A.H. 413, an Egyptian with the pilgrim caravan to Mekka, to
destroy the stone. With an iron club concealed beneath his clothes, the
man approached it, and exclaimed, "How long shall this stone be adored
and kissed? There is neither Mohammed nor Aly to prevent me from doing
this, and to-day I shall destroy this building!" He then struck it three
times with his club. A party of horsemen, belonging to the caravan in
which he had travelled from Egypt, were ready at the gates of the mosque
to assist the lithoclast, as soon as he should have executed his task;
but they were not able to protect him from the fury of the populace. He
was slain by the dagger of a native of Yemen; the horsemen were pursued;
and the whole Egyptian caravan was plundered on the occasion.

Upon inspection, it was found that three small pieces, of the size of a
man's nail, had been knocked off by the blows; these were pulverised,
and their dust kneaded into a cement, with which the fractures were
filled up. Since that time, the stone has sustained no further
misfortune, except in the year 1674, when it was found, one morning,
besmeared with dirt, together with the door of the Kaaba; so that every
one who kissed it, retired with a sullied face. The author of this
sacrilegious joke was sought in vain; suspicion fell upon some Persians,
but the fact could not be proved against them. [See Asamy for these
details.]

The sanctity of the stone appears to have been greatly questioned by one
of the very pillars of Islam. El Azraky gives the testimony of several
witnesses, who heard Omar Ibn Khatab exclaim, while standing before it:--
"I know thou art a mere stone, that can neither hurt nor help me; nor
should I kiss thee, had I not seen Mohammed do the same."

In A.H. 354, the Khalife El Mokteder built the vestibule near the gate
of the mosque, called Bab Ibrahim, which projects beyond the straight
line of the columns, and united in it two ancient gates, called

[p.169] Bab Beni Djomah and Bab el Khayatein. From that time no further
improvements were made for several centuries.

In A.H. 802, a fire completely destroyed the north and west sides of the
mosque: two years after, it was rebuilt at the expense of El Naszer
Feradj Ibn Dhaher Berkouk, Sultan of Egypt. The wood necessary for that
purpose was transported partly from Egypt and partly from Tayf, where
the tree Arar, a species of cypress or juniper, furnished good timber.

In A.H. 906, Kansour el Ghoury, Sultan of Egypt, rebuilt the greater
part of the side of Bab Ibrahim; and to him the Hedjaz owes several
other public edifices.

In A.H. 959, in the reign of Solyman Ibn Selim I., Sultan of
Constantinople, the roof of the Kaaba was renewed.

In A.H. 980, the same Sultan rebuilt the side of the mosque towards the
street Mosaa, and caused all the domes to be raised which cover the roof
of the colonnades. He also placed the fine pavement, which is now round
the Kaaba, and a new pavement all around the colonnades.

In A.H. 984, his son Murad repaired and partly rebuilt the three other
sides, that had not been touched by him.

In the year 1039, (or 1626 of our era,) a torrent from Djebel Nour
rushed into the town, and filled the mosque so rapidly, that all the
persons then within it were drowned; whatever books, fine copies of the
Koran, &c. &c. were left in the apartments round the walls of the
building, were destroyed; and a part of the wall before the Kaaba,
called Hedjer, and three sides of the Kaaba itself, were carried away.
Five hundred souls perished in the town. In the following year the
damage was repaired, and the Kaaba rebuilt, after the side which had
escaped the fury of the torrent had been pulled down.

In 1072, the building over the well Zemzem was erected, as it now
stands; and in 1079, the four Makams were built anew.

After this time, the historians mention no other material repairs or
changes in the mosque; and I believe none took place in the eighteenth
century. We may, therefore, ascribe the building, as it now appears,
almost wholly to the munificence of the last Sultans of Egypt, and

[p.170] their successors, the Osmanly Sultans of Constantinople, since
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

In the autumn of 1816, several artists and workmen, sent from
Constantinople, were employed in the Hedjaz to repair all the damage
caused by the Wahabys in the chapels of the saints of that country, as
well as to make all the repairs necessary in the mosques at Mekka and
Medina.

[p.171] DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL OTHER HOLY PLACES,

VISITED BY PILGRIMS AT MEKKA, AND IN ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

DURING the time of the Wahabys, no person dared to visit these places
without exposing himself to their hostility; and all the buildings which
had been erected on these spots were ruined by them, or their domes
were, at least, destroyed.

In the town are shown:--

Mouled el Neby, the birth-place of Mohammed, in the quarter named from
it. In the time of Fasy a mosque stood near it, called Mesdjed el
Mokhtaba. During my stay, workmen were busily employed in re-
constructing the building over the Mouled upon its former plan. It
consists of a rotunda, the floor of which is about twenty-five feet
below the level of the street, with a staircase leading down to it. A
small hole is shown in the floor, in which Mohammed's mother sat when
she was delivered of him. This is said to have been the house of
Abdillah, Mohammed's father.

Mouled Setna Fatme, or the birth-place of Fatme, the daughter of
Mohammed, is shown in a good stone building, said to have been the house
of her mother Khadidje, in the street called Zogag el Hadjar. A
staircase leads down to the floor of this building, which, like that of
the former, is considerably below the street. This small edifice
includes two holy places: in one is a hole, similar to that in the
Mouled el Neby, to mark the place where Fatme was born; and just by is
another,

[p.172] of smaller depth, where she is said to have turned her hand-
mill, or rahha, after she was grown up. In an apartment near this, a
narrow cell is shown, where Mohammed used to sit, and receive from the
angel Gabriel the leaves of the Koran brought from heaven. This place is
called Kobbet el Wahy.

Mouled el Imam Aly, in the quarter called Shab Aly. This is a small
chapel, in the floor of which a hole marks the spot where Aly, the
cousin of Mohammed, is said to have been born.

Mouled Seydna Abou Beker, a small chapel, just opposite to the stone
which gave a salutation, "Salam Aleykum," to Mohammed whenever he passed
it. No sacred spot is here shown; but its floor is covered with very
fine Persian carpets.

All these Mouleds had undergone complete repair since the retreat of the
Wahabys, except that of Mohammed, on which the workmen were still
employed. The guardianship of these places is shared by several
families, principally Sherifs, who attend by turns, with a train of
servants. At every corner of the buildings are spread white handker-
chiefs, or small carpets, upon which visitors are expected to throw some
money; and the gates are lined with women, who occupy their seats by
right, and expect a contribution from the pilgrim's purse. The value of
a shilling, distributed in paras at each of the Mouleds, fully answers
the expectation of the greedy and the indigent.

Mouled Abou Taleb, in the Mala, is completely destroyed, as I have
already said; and will, probably, not be rebuilt.

Kaber Setna Khadidje: the tomb of Khadidje, the wife of Mohammed, the
dome of which was broken down by the Wahabys, and is not yet rebuilt; it
is regularly visited by hadjys, especially on Friday mornings. It lies
in the large burial-ground of the Mala, at the declivity of the western
chain; is enclosed by a square wall, and presents no objects of
curiosity except the tomb-stone, which has a fine inscription in Cufic
characters, containing a passage of the Koran from the chapter entitled,
Souret el Kursy. As the character is not the ancient Cufic, I suspect
that the stone was not intended originally to cover this grave: there is
no date in the inscription. The Sherif Serour, predecessor of Ghaleb,
had the vanity, on his death-bed, to order his family

[p.173] to bury his body close to the tomb of Khadidje, in the same
enclosure where it still remains. At a short distance from hence, the
tomb of Umna, the mother of Mohammed, is shown. It was covered with a
slab of fine marble, bearing a Cufic inscription, in an older character
than the former. The Wahabys broke it, and removed the two pieces, to
show their indignation at the visits paid to the receptacles of the
bones of mortals, which was, in their estimation, a species of idolatry.
Even at these tombs I found women, to whom permission was granted to
spread their handkerchiefs, and ask alms of every visitor.

In walking about these extensive cemeteries, I found many other tomb-
stones with Cufic inscriptions, but not in a very ancient character. I
could decipher no date prior to the sixth century of the Hedjra (the
twelfth of our era); but the greater part of them contain mere prayers,
without either the name of the deceased, or a date. The tombs, in
general, are formed of four large stones placed in an oblong square,
with a broad stone set upright at one end, bearing the inscription. I
saw no massive tomb or turban cut in stone, or any such ornament as is
used in other parts of Asia. A few small buildings have been raised by
the first families of Mekka, to enclose the tombs of their relations;
they are paved inside, but have no roof, and are of the most simple
construction. In two or three of them I found trees planted, which are
irrigated from cisterns built within the enclosure for the reception of
rain-water: here, the families to whom they belong sometimes pass the
day. Of several buildings, surmounted with domes, in which men
celebrated for their learning had been interred, the domes were
invariably broken down by the Wahabys: these fanatics, however, never
touched the tombs themselves, and every where respected the remains of
the dead. Among the tombs are those of several Pashas of Syria and of
Egypt, constructed with little ornament.

At the extremity of almost every tomb, opposite to the epitaph, I found
the low shrub saber, a species of aloe, planted in the ground: it is an
evergreen, and requires very little water, as its Arabic name, saber,
(patience) implies: it is chosen for this purpose from an allusion to
the patience necessary in waiting for the resurrection. On the whole,
this burial-ground is in a state of ruin, caused, it is said, by the
devastations

[p.174] of the Wahabys; but, I believe, still more by the little care
which the Mekkawys take of the graves containing the bodies of their
relations and friends.

The places visited out of the town are:--

Djebel Abou Kobeys. This mountain is one of the highest in the immediate
neighbourhood of the town, and commands it from the east. Muselman
tradition says that it was the first mountain created upon earth; its
name is found in almost every Arabic historian and poet. Two different
spots upon its summit are visited by the pilgrims. The one is called
Mekan el Hedjar (the spot of the stone), where Omar, who afterwards
succeeded to the Khalifat, used to call the people to prayers, in the
first years of Islam, when the Koreysh or inhabitants of Mekka were, for
the greater part, idolaters. Here is shown a cavity cut in the rock,
resembling a small tomb, in which it is said that God, at the deluge,
ordered the guardian angels to place the black stone, revered by them
long before Abraham built the Kaaba, and to make the rock unite over it,
that the waters might not touch it; and that, after the deluge, the
angel Gabriel split the rock, and conveyed the stone back to the site of
the Kaaba. The other place of visit, or Zyara, is across a narrow
valley, at a short distance from the former, on the summit of the
mountain; it is called Mekan Shak el Kamr, or place where the moon was
split-one of Mohammed's greatest miracles. The story, however, is now
differently related by the Mekkawys, who say that, when he was praying
here at mid-day, the first people among the incredulous Koreysh came and
desired him to convince them at once, by some miracles, [It is recorded
by historians, that at the desire of some unbelieving Koreysh, he caused
the full moon to appear as if cleft asunder, so that one half was
visible behind Djebel Abou Kobeys, and the other at the opposite side of
the hemisphere, above Djebel Kaykaan.] that he was really the prophet of
the Almighty. "What shall I do," he replied, "to make you true
believers?" "Let the sun retire," said they, "and the moon and stars
appear; let the moon descend upon earth, come to this mountain, enter
into one of the sleeves of your gown, issue by the other, return to the
firmament, and then let day-light shine again upon us." Mohammed
retired, addressed a short prayer to the Deity, and the whole miracle
was forthwith

[p.175] performed; after which the Koreysh were converted. These and
similar tales, applied to different places by the Mekkawys, for the
purpose of extorting money from the pilgrims, are quite unsupported by
the authenticated traditions of the prophet. To this spot the people of
Mekka resort, that they may enjoy a view of the new moon of Ramadhan,
and of the month following it. Between these two places, and a little to
the east of them, are the ruins of a solid building, some walls only
remaining. It is said to have formerly been a state prison of the
sherifs of Mekka. In it are several dungeon-like towers, and it was
probably a castle built upon Djebel Kobeys by Mekether el Hashemy, a
chief of Mekka, about the year 530 or 540 of the Hedjra; or it may have
been a mosque called Mesdjid Ibrahim, which, according to Azraky, stood
here in the seventh century of our era. It is vulgarly believed at
Mekka that whoever eats a roasted sheep's head upon Djebel Kobeys, will
be for ever cured of all head-aches.

Djebel Nour, the mountain of light. This lies to the north of the town.
Passing the Sherif's garden-house on the road towards Arafat, a little
further on, we enter a valley, which extends in a direction N.E. by N.
and is terminated by the mountain, which is conical. Steps were formerly
cut in the steep ascent, but they are now ruined; and it required three
quarters of an hour, and much fatiguing exertion, to reach the top. In
the rocky floor of a small building, ruined by the Wahabys, a cleft is
shown, about the size of a man in length and breadth. It is said that
Mohammed, wearied, and grieved at the assertions of his enemies and
dubious adherents at Mekka, who had given out that God had entirely
abandoned him, retired to this mountain, and stretched himself out in
the cleft, imploring help from above. The angel Gabriel was despatched
to him with that short chapter of the Koran, which we call the ninety-
fourth, beginning with the words "Have we not gladdened thy breast?"--the
previous chapter alludes also to his state of grief. A little below this
place is a small cavern in the red granite rock, which forms the upper
stratum of this mountain; it is called Mogharat el Hira. [In the time of
the Pagan Arabs this mountain was called Djebel Hira. I may here add,
that a great many mountains and valleys in the Hedjaz have lost their
ancient names. This is amply proved by the topographical notices of
Azraky, of the historians of Medina, and of Zamakhshary, in his valuable
work entitled El Myat o' el djebal.] Here several other passages

[p.176] of the Koran are said to have been revealed to the prophet, who
often repaired to this elevated spot; but none of those present could
tell me what those passages were. The guardians of these two places are
Bedouins of the tribe of Lahyan (or Laha-yn).

I had left Mekka on foot, at night, with a large party of hadjys, to
visit this place, which is usually done on Saturdays. We were on the
summit before dawn; and when the sun rose, a very extensive view
presented itself to the north and west, the other points being bounded
by mountains. The country before us had a dreary aspect, not a single
green spot being visible: barren black and grey hills, and white sandy
valleys, were the only objects in sight. On the declivity of the
mountain, a little way from the top, is a small stone reservoir, built
to supply the visitors with water. It was dry when I saw it, and in bad
repair.

Djebel Thor. About an hour and a half south of Mekka, to the left of the
road to the village of Hosseynye, is a lofty mountain of this name,
higher, it is said, than Djebel Nour. On the summit of it is a cavern in
which Mohammed and his friend Abou Beker took refuge from the Mekkawys
before he fled to Medina. A spider had spun its web before the entrance,
and his pursuers seeing this, supposed, of course, that the fugitives
could not be within. To this circumstance an allusion is made in the
Koran (chap. ix.) I did not visit the spot.

El Omra. Of this building I have already spoken: it is a small chapel
with a single row of columns, on the road to Wady Fatme. Every pilgrim
is required to visit it; but he is left to his own discretion respecting
the places before mentioned. The Omra is surrounded by ruins of several
habitations: there is a copious well near it, and traces of cultivation
are seen in the valley. I believe the well to be that called by the
historians of Mekka "Bir Tenaym." According to Fasy, a mosque, called
Mesdjed Ahlyledje, stood here in the earliest times of Islam. I shall
conclude my description of Mekka with that of