Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah Volume I Part 26

[p.337] The only remarkable object in it[FN#75] is a square of wooden railing enclosing a place full of well-watered earth, called the Garden of our Lady Fatimah.[FN#76] It now contains a dozen date-trees-in Ibn Jubayr's time there were fifteen. Their fruit is sent by the eunuchs as presents to the Sultan and the great men of Al-Islam; it is highly valued by the vulgar, but the Olema do not think much of its claims to importance. Among the palms are the venerable remains of a Sidr, or Lote tree,[FN#77] whose produce is sold for inordinate sums. The enclosure is entered by a dwarf gate in the South-Eastern portion of the railing, near the well, and one of the eunuchs is generally to be seen in it: it is under the charge of the Mudir, or chief treasurer.

These gardens are not uncommon in Mosques, as the traveller who pa.s.ses through Cairo can convince himself. They form a pretty and an appropriate feature in a building erected for the worship of Him "Who spread the Earth with Carpets of Flowers and drew shady Trees from the dead Ground." A tradition of the Apostle also declares that "Acceptable is Devotion in the Garden and in the Orchard."

[p.338] At the South-East angle of this enclosure, under a wooden roof supported by pillars of the same material, stands the Zemzem, generally called the Bir al-Nabi, or "the Apostle's well." My predecessor declares that the brackishness of its produce has stood in the way of its reputation for holiness. Yet a well-educated man told me that it was as "light" (wholesome) water[FN#78] as any in Al-Madinah,-a fact which he accounted for by supposing a subterraneous pa.s.sage[FN#79]

which connects it with the great Zemzem at Meccah. Others, again, believe that it is filled by a vein of water springing directly under the Apostle's grave: generally, however, among the learned it is not more revered than our Lady's Garden, nor is it ranked in books among the holy wells of Al-Madinah.

Between this Zemzem well and the Eastern Riwak is the Stoa, or Academia, of the Prophet's city. In the cool mornings and evenings the ground is strewed with professors, who teach the young idea, as an eminent orientalist hath it, to shout rather than to shoot.[FN#80] A few feet to the South of the palm garden is a moveable wooden planking painted green, and about three feet high; it serves to separate the congregation from the Imam when he prays here; and at the North-Eastern angle of the enclosure is a

[p.339] Shajar Kanadil, a large bra.s.s chandelier, which completes the furniture of the court.

After this inspection, the shadows of evening began to gather round us.

We left the Mosque, reverently taking care to issue forth with the left foot, and not to back out of it as is the Sunnat or practice derived from the Apostle, when taking leave of the Meccan Temple.

To conclude this long chapter. Although every Moslem, learned and simple, firmly believes that Mohammed's remains are interred in the Hujrah at Al-Madinah, I cannot help suspecting that the place is doubtful as that of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. It must be remembered that a tumult followed the announcement of the Apostle's death, when the people, as often happens, believing him to be immortal,[FN#81] refused to credit the report, and even Omar threatened destruction to any one that a.s.serted it.

Moreover the body was scarcely cold when the contest about the succession arose between the fugitives of Meccah and the auxiliaries of Al-Madinah: in the ardour of which, according to the Shi'ahs, the house of Ali and Fatimah-within a few feet of the spot where the tomb of the Apostle is now placed-was threatened with fire, and Abu Bakr was elected Caliph that same evening. If anyone find cause to wonder that the last resting-place of a personage so important was not fixed for ever, he may find many a parallel case in Al-Madinah. To quote no other, three several localities claim the honour of containing the Lady Fatimah's mortal spoils, although one might suppose that the daughter of the Apostle and the mother of the Imams would not be laid in an unknown grave. My reasons for incredulity are the following: [p.340] From the earliest days the shape of the Apostle's tomb has never been generally known in Al-Islam. For this reason it is that graves are made convex in some countries, and flat in others. Had there been a Sunnat,[FN#82] such would not have been the case.

The accounts of the learned are discrepant. Al-Samanhudi, perhaps the highest authority, contradicts himself. In one place he describes the coffin; in another he expressly declares that he entered the Hujrah when it was being repaired by Kaid-Bey, and saw in the inside three deep graves, but no traces of tombs.[FN#83] Either, then, the mortal remains of the Apostle had, despite Moslem superst.i.tion,[FN#84] mingled with the dust, (a probable circ.u.mstance

[p.341] after nearly nine hundred years' interment), or, what is more likely, they had been removed by the Shi'ah schismatics who for centuries had charge of the sepulchre.[FN#85]

And lastly, I cannot but look upon the tale of the blinding light which surrounds the Apostle's tomb, current for ages past and still universally believed upon the authority of the attendant eunuchs, who must know its falsehood, as a priestly gloss intended to conceal a defect.

I here conclude the subject, committing it to some future and more favoured investigator. In offering the above remarks, I am far from wishing to throw a doubt upon an established point of history. But where a suspicion of fable arises from popular "facts," a knowledge of man and of his manners teaches us to regard it with favouring eye.[FN#86]

[FN#1] Others add a fourth, namely, the Masjid al-Takwa, at Kuba.

[FN#2] The Moslem divines, however, navely remind their readers, that they are not to pray once in the Al-Madinah Mosque, and neglect the other 999, as if absolved from the necessity of them. The pa.s.sage in the text merely promises 1000 blessings upon that man's devotion who prays at the Prophet's Mosque.

[FN#3] The visitor, who approaches the Sepulchre as a matter of religious ceremony, is called "Zair," his conductor "Muzawwir," whereas the pilgrim at Meccah becomes a "Haji." The Imam Malik disapproved of a Moslem's saying, "I have visited the Prophet's tomb," preferring him to express himself thus-"I have visited the Prophet." Others again dislike the latter formula, declaring the Prophet too venerable to be so visited by Amr and Zayd.

[FN#4] In A.D. 1807, they prevented Ali Bey (the Spaniard Badia) from entering Al-Madinah, and it appears that he had reason to congratulate himself upon escaping without severe punishment.

[FN#5] Nothing in the Spanish cathedrals suggests their oriental origin and the taste of the people, more than the way in which they are hedged in by secular buildings.

[FN#6] The ceremony of Ziyarat, however, begins at the Bab al-Salam. We rode up to this gate only in order to avoid the sun.

[FN#7] Haswah is a place covered with gravel: Ramlah, one which is sanded over. Both are equally applicable, and applied to the areas of Mosques. Al-Sahn is the general word; Al-Hosh is occasionally used, but is more properly applied to the court-yard of a dwelling-house.

[FN#8] This Riwak was begun about five or six years ago by Abd al-Majid. To judge from the size of the columns, and the other preparations which enc.u.mber the ground, this part of the building will surpa.s.s all the rest. But the people of Al-Madinah a.s.sured me that it will not be finished for some time,-a prophecy likely to be fulfilled by the present state of Turkish finance.

[FN#9] This gate derives its peculiar name from its vicinity to the Lady Fatimah's tomb; women, when they do visit the Mosque, enter it through all the doors indifferently.

[FN#10] It is so called by the figure synecdoche: it contains the Rauzah or the Prophet's Garden, and therefore the whole portico enjoys that honoured name.

[FN#11] These carpets are swept by the eunuchs, who let out the office for a certain fee to pilgrims, every morning, immediately after sunrise. Their diligence, however, does by no means prevent the presence of certain little parasites, concerning which politeness is dumb [FN#12] Because if not pure, ablution is performed at the well in the centre of the hypaethra. Zairs are ordered to visit the Mosque perfumed, and in their best clothes, and the Hanafi school deems it lawful on this occasion only to wear dresses of pure silk.

[FN#13] In this Mosque, as in all others, it is proper to enter with the right foot, and to retire with the left.

[FN#14] I must warn the reader that almost every Muzawwir has his own litany, which descends from father to son: moreover, all the books differ at least as much as do the oral authorities.

[FN#15] That is to say, "over the world, the flesh, and the devil."

[FN#16] This by strangers is called the Masalla Shafe'i, or the Place of Prayer of the Shafe'i school. It was sent from Constantinople about 100 years ago, by Sultan Sulayman the Magnificent. He built the Sulaymaniyah minaret, and has immortalised his name at Al-Madinah, as well as at Meccah, by the number of his donations to the shrine.

[FN#17] Here is supposed to have been one of the Prophet's favourite stations of prayer. It is commonly called the Musalla Hanafi, because now appropriated by that school.

[FN#18] This tradition, like most others referring to events posterior to the Prophet's death, is differently given, and so important are the variations, that I only admire how all Al-Islam does not follow Wahhabi example, and summarily consign them to oblivion. Some read "Between my dwelling-house (in the Mosque) and my place of Prayer (in the Barr al-Manakhah) is a Garden of the Gardens of Paradise." Others again, "Between my house and my pulpit is a Garden of the Gardens of Paradise." A third tradition-"Between my tomb and my pulpit is a Garden of the Gardens of Paradise, and verily my pulpit is in my Full Cistern," or "upon a Full Cistern of the Cisterns of Paradise," has given rise to a new superst.i.tion. "Tara," according to some commentators, alludes especially to the cistern Al-Kausar; consequently this Rauzah is, like the black stone at Meccah, bona fide, a bit of Paradise, and on the day of resurrection, it shall return bodily to the place whence it came. Be this as it may, all Moslems are warned that the Rauzah is a most holy spot. None but the Prophet and his son-in-law Ali ever entered it, when ceremonially impure, without being guilty of deadly sin. The Mohammedan of the present day is especially informed that on no account must he here tell lies, or even perjure himself.

Thus the Rauzah must be respected as much as the interior of the Bayt Allah at Meccah.

[FN#19] This is a stone desk on four pillars, where the Muballighs (or clerks) recite the Ikamah, the call to divine service. It was presented to the Mosque by Kaid-Bey, the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt.

[FN#20] I shall have something to say about this pulpit when entering into the history of the Harim.

[FN#21] The afternoon prayers being Farz, or obligatory, were recited, because we feared that evening might come on before the ceremony of Ziyarat (visitation) concluded, and thus the time for Al-Asr (afternoon prayers) might pa.s.s away. The reader may think this rather a curious forethought in a man who, like Hamid, never prayed except when he found the case urgent. Such, however, is the strict order, and my Muzawwir was right to see it executed.

[FN#22]. This two-bow prayer, which generally is recited in honour of the Mosque, is here, say divines, addressed especially to the Deity by the visitor who intends to beg the intercession of his Prophet. It is only just to confess that the Moslems have done their best by all means in human power, here as well as elsewhere, to inculcate the doctrine of eternal distinction between the creature and the Creator. Many of the Maliki school, however, make the ceremony of Ziyarat to precede the prayer to the Deity.

[FN#23] The Sujdah is a single "prostration" with the forehead touching the ground. It is performed from a sitting position, after the Dua or supplication that concludes the two-bow prayer. Some of the Olema, especially those of the Shafe'i school, permit this "Sujdah of thanks"

to be performed before the two-bow prayer if the visitor have any notable reason to be grateful.

[FN#24] The candles are still sent from Cairo.

[FN#25] These windows are a present from Kaid-Bey, the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt.

[FN#26] These oil lamps are a present from the Sultan.

[FN#27] The five daily liturgies are here recited by Imams, and every one presses to the spot on account of its peculiar sanct.i.ty.

[FN#28] In Moslem theology "Salat" from Allah means mercy, from the angels intercession for pardon, and from mankind blessing. The act of blessing the Prophet is one of peculiar efficacy in a religious point of view. Cases are quoted of sinners being actually s.n.a.t.c.hed from h.e.l.l by a glorious figure, the personification of the blessings which had been called down by them upon Mohammed's head. This most poetical idea is borrowed, I believe, from the ancient Guebres, who fabled that a man's good works a.s.sumed a beautiful female shape, which stood to meet his soul when winding its way to judgment. Also when a Moslem blesses Mohammed at Al-Madinah, his sins are not written down for three days,-thus allowing ample margin for repentance,-by the recording angel. Al-Malakayn (the two Angels), or Kiram al-Katibin (the Generous Writers), are mere personifications of the good principle and the evil principle of man's nature; they are fabled to occupy each a shoulder, and to keep a list of words and deeds. This is certainly borrowed from a more ancient faith. In Hermas II. (command. 6), we are told that "every man has two angels, one of G.o.dliness, the other of iniquity,"

who endeavour to secure his allegiance,-a superst.i.tion seemingly founded upon the dualism of the old Persians. Mediaeval Europe, which borrowed so much from the East at the time of the Crusades, degraded these angels into good and bad fairies for children's stories.

[FN#29] Burckhardt writes this word Hedjra (which means "flight"). Nor is M. Caussin de Perceval's "El Hadjarat" less erroneous. At Madinah it is invariably called Al-Hujrah-the chamber. The chief difficulty in distinguishing the two words, meaning "chamber" and "flight," arises from our only having one h to represent the hard and soft h of Arabic, ???? [Arabic text] and ???? [Arabic text]. In the case of common saints, the screen or railing round the cenotaph is called a "Maksurah."

[FN#30] Yet Mohammed enjoined his followers to frequent graveyards.

"Visit graves; of a verity they shall make you think of futurity!" And again, "Whoso visiteth his two parents' grave, or one of the two, every Friday, he shall be written a pious child, even though he might have been in the world, before that, a disobedient."

[FN#31] The truth is no one knows what is there. I have even heard a learned Persian declare that there is no wall behind the curtain, which hangs so loosely that, when the wind blows against it, it defines the form of a block of marble, or a built-up tomb. I believe this to be wholly apocryphal, for reasons which will presently be offered.

[FN#32] The peculiar place where the guardians of the tomb sit and confabulate is the Dakkat al-Aghawat (eunuch's bench) or Al-Mayda-the table-a raised bench of stone and wood, on the North side of the Hujrah. The remaining part of this side is part.i.tioned off from the body of the Mosque by a dwarf wall, inclosing the "Khasafat al-Sultan,"

the place where Fakihs are perpetually engaged in Khitmahs, or perusals of the Koran, on behalf of the reigning Sultan.

[FN#33] The ancient practice of Al-Islam during the recitation of the following benedictions was to face Meccah, the back being turned towards the tomb, and to form a mental image of the Prophet, supposing him to be in front. Al-Kirmani and other doctors prefer this as the more venerable custom, but in these days it is completely exploded, and the purist would probably be soundly bastinadoed by the eunuchs for attempting it.

[FN#34] This is the usual introduction to a quotation from the Koran.

[FN#35] It may easily be conceived how offensive this must be to the Wahhabis, who consider it blasphemy to a.s.sert that a mere man can stand between the Creator and the creature on the last day.

[FN#36] This is called the Testification. Like the Fatihah, it is repeated at every holy place and tomb visited at Al-Madinah.

[FN#37] Burckhardt mentions that in his day, among other favours supplicated in prayer to the Deity, the following request was made,-"Destroy our enemies, and may the torments of h.e.l.l-fire be their lot!" I never heard it at the Prophet's tomb. As the above benediction is rather a long one, the Zair is allowed to shorten it a discretion, but on no account to say less than "Peace be upon Thee, O Apostle of Allah"-this being the gist of the ceremony.

[FN#38] Though performing Ziyarat for myself, I had promised my old Shaykh at Cairo to recite a Fatihah in his name at the Prophet's tomb; so a double recitation fell to my lot. If acting Zair for another person (a common custom, we read, even in the days of Al-Walid, the Caliph of Damascus), you are bound to mention your princ.i.p.al's name at the beginning of the benediction, thus: "Peace be upon Thee, O Apostle of Allah from such an one, the son of such an one, who wants Thine Intercession, and begs for Pardon and Mercy." Most Zairs recite Fatihahs for all their friends and relations at the tomb.

[FN#39] I have endeavoured in this translation to imitate the imperfect rhyme of the original Arabic. Such an attempt, however, is full of difficulties: the Arabic is a language in which, like Italian, it is almost impossible not to rhyme.

[FN#40] It will not be necessary to inform the reader more than once that all these several divisions of prayer ended with the Testification and the Fatihah.

[FN#41] Faruk,-the separator,-a t.i.tle of Omar.

[FN#42] When the number of the Ashab or "Companions" was thirty-nine, they were suddenly joined by Omar, who thus became the fortieth.

[FN#43] It is said that Mohammed prayed long for the conversion of Omar to Al-Islam, knowing his sterling qualities, and the aid he would lend to the establishment of the faith.

[FN#44] This foolish fanaticism has lost many an innocent life, for the Arabs on these occasions seize their sabres, and cut down every Persian they meet. Still, bigoted Shi'ahs persist in practising and applauding it, and the man who can boast at Shiraz of having defiled Abu Bakr's, Omar's, or Osman's tomb becomes at once a lion and a hero. I suspect that on some occasions when the people of Al-Madinah are anxious for an "avanie," they get up some charge of the kind against the Persians. So the Meccans have sometimes found these people guilty of defiling the house of Allah-at which Infidel act a Shi'ah would shudder as much as a Sunni. This style of sacrilege is, we read, of ancient date in Arabia.

Nafil, the Hijazi, polluted the Kilis (Christian church) erected by Abrahah of Sanaa to outshine the Ka'abah, and draw off worshippers from Meccah. The outrage caused the celebrated "affair of the Elephant."

(See D'Herbelot, Bibl. Or., v. "Abrahah.") [FN#45] Burckhardt, with his usual accuracy, a.s.serts that a new curtain is sent when the old one is decayed, or when a new Sultan ascends the throne, and those authors err who, like Maundrell, declare the curtain to be removed every year. The Damascus Caravan conveys, together with its Mahmil or emblem of royalty, the new Kiswah (or "garment") when required for the tomb. It is put on by the eunuchs, who enter the baldaquin by its Northern gate at night time, and there is a superst.i.tious story amongst the people that they guard their eyes with veils against the supernatural splendours which pour from the tomb. The Kiswah is a black, purple, or green brocade, embroidered with white or with silver letters. A piece in my possession, the gift of Omar Effendi, is a handsome silk and cotton Damascus brocade, with white letters worked in it-manifestly the produce of manual labour, not the poor dull work of machinery. It contains the formula of the Moslem faith in the cursive style of the Suls character, seventy-two varieties of which are enumerated by calligraphists. Nothing can be more elegant or appropriate than its appearance. The old curtain is usually distributed amongst the officers of the Mosque, and sold in bits to pilgrims; in some distant Moslem countries, the possessor of such a relic would be considered a saint. When treating of the history of the Mosque, some remarks will be offered about the origin of the curtain.

[FN#46] The place of the Prophet's head is, I was told, marked by a fine Koran hung up to the curtain This volume is probably a successor to the relic formerly kept there, the Cufic Koran belonging to Osman, the fourth Caliph, which Burckhardt supposes to have perished in the conflagration which destroyed the Mosque.

[FN#47] The eunuchs of the tomb have the privilege of admitting strangers. In this pa.s.sage are preserved the treasures of the place; they are a "Bayt Mal al-Muslimin," or public treasury of the Moslems; therefore to be employed by the Caliph (i.e. the reigning Sultan) for the exigencies of the faith. The amount is said to be enormous, which I doubt.

[FN#48] And I might add, never having seen one who has seen it. Niebuhr is utterly incorrect in his hearsay description of it. It is not "enclosed within iron railings for fear lest the people might surrept.i.tiously offer worship to the ashes of the Prophet." The tomb is not "of plain mason-work in the form of a chest," nor does any one believe that it is "placed within or between two other tombs, in which rest the ashes of the first two Caliphs." The traveller appears to have lent a credulous ear to the eminent Arab merchant, who told him that a guard was placed over the tomb to prevent the populace sc.r.a.ping dirt from about it, and preserving it as a relic.

[FN#49] Burckhardt writes this author's name El Samhoudy, and in this he is followed by all our popular book-makers. Moslems have three ways of spelling it: 1. Al-Samhudi, 2. Al-Samahnudi, and 3. Al-Samanhudi. I prefer the latter, believing that the learned Shaykh, Nur al-Din Ali bin Abdullah al-Hasini (or Al-Husayni) was originally from Samanhud in Egypt, the ancient Sebennitis. He died in A.H. 911, and was buried in the Bakia cemetery.

[FN#50] Burckhardt, however, must be in error when he says "The tombs are also covered with precious stuffs, and in the shape of catafalques, like that of Ibrahim in the great Mosque of Meccah." The eunuchs positively declare that no one ever approaches the tomb, and that he who ventured to do so would at once be blinded by the supernatural light. Moreover the historians of Al-Madinah all quote tales of certain visions of the Apostle, directing his tomb to be cleared of dust that had fallen upon it from above, in which case some man celebrated for piety and purity was let through a hole in the roof, by cords, down to the tomb, with directions to wipe it with his beard. This style of ingress is explained by another a.s.sertion of Al-Samanhudi, quoted by Burckhardt. "In A.H. 892, when Kaid-Bey rebuilt the Mosque, which had been destroyed by lightning, three deep graves were found in the inside, full of rubbish, but the author of this history, who himself entered it, saw no traces of tombs. The original place of Mohammed's tomb was ascertained with great difficulty; the walls of the Hujrah were then rebuilt, and the iron railing placed round it, which is now there."

[FN#51] Upon this point authors greatly disagree. Ibn Jubayr, for instance, says that Abu Bakr's head is opposite the Apostle's feet, and that Omar's face is on a level with Abu Bakr's shoulder.

[FN#52] The vulgar story of the suspended coffin has been explained in two ways. Niebuhr supposes it to have arisen from the rude drawings sold to strangers. Mr. William Bankes (Giovanni Finati, vol. ii., p.

289) believes that the ma.s.s of rock popularly described as hanging unsupported in the Mosque of Omar at Jerusalem was confounded by Christians, who could not have seen either of these Moslem shrines, with the Apostle's Tomb at Al-Madinah.

[FN#53] Some Moslems end their Ziyarat at the Apostle's Tomb; others, instead of advancing, as I did, return to the Apostle's window, pray, and beg pardon for their parents and themselves, and ask all they desire, concluding with prayers to the Almighty. Thence they repair to the Rauzah or Garden, and standing at the column called after Abu Lubabah, pray a two-bow prayer there; concluding with the "Dua," or benediction upon the Apostle, and there repeat these words: "O Allah, Thou hast said, and Thy word is true, 'Say, O Lord, pardon and show Mercy; for Thou art the best of the Merciful,' (chap. 23). O G.o.d, verily we have heard Thy Word, and we come for Intercession to Thy Apostle from our own Sins, repenting our Errors, and confessing our Shortcomings and Transgressions! O Allah, pity us, and by the Dignity of Thy Apostle raise our Place, (in the Heavenly Kingdom)! O Allah, pardon our Brothers who have preceded us in the Faith!" Then the Zair prays for himself, and his parents, and for those he loves. He should repeat, "Allah have mercy upon Thee, O Apostle of Allah!" seventy times, when an angel will reply, "Allah bless thee, O thou blesser."

Then he should sit before the Pulpit, and mentally conceive in it the Apostle surrounded by the Fugitives and the Auxiliaries. Some place the right hand upon the pulpit, even as Mohammed used to do. The Zair then returns to the column of Abu Lubabah, and repents his sins there.

Secondly, he stands in prayer at Ali's Pillar in front of the form.

And, lastly, he repairs to the Ustuwanat al-Ashab (the Companions'

Column) the fourth distant from the Pulpit on the right, and the third from the Hujrah on the left; here he prays and meditates, and blesses Allah and the Apostle. After which, he proceeds to visit the rest of the holy places.

[FN#54] It is almost unnecessary to inform the reader that all Moslems deny the personal suffering of Christ, cleaving to the heresy of the Christian Docetes,-certain "beasts in the shape of men," as they are called in the Epistles of Ignatius to the Smyrneans,-who believed that a phantom was crucified in our Saviour's place. They also hold to the second coming of the Lord in the flesh, as a forerunner to Mohammed, who shall reappear shortly before the day of judgment. Bartema (Appendix 2) relates a story concerning the Saviour's future tomb.

[FN#55] This epithet will be explained below. The reader must bear in mind, that this part of the Harim was formerly the house of Ali and Fatimah; it was separated from the Hujrah-the abode of Mohammed and Ayishah-only by a narrow brick wall, with a window in it, which was never shut. Omar Bin Abd al-Aziz enclosed it in the mosque, by order of Al-Walid, A.H. 90.

[FN#56] Plural of Sharif, a descendant of Mohammed.

[FN#57] The "people of the garment," so called, because on one occasion the Apostle wrapped his cloak around himself, his daughter, his son-in-law, and his two grandsons, thereby separating them in dignity from other Moslems.

[FN#58] Burckhardt translates "Zahra" "bright blooming Fatimah." This I believe to be the literal meaning of the epithet. When thus applied, however, it denotes "virginem [Greek text] nescientem," in which state of purity the daughter of the Apostle is supposed to have lived. For the same reason she is called Al-Batul, the Virgin,-a t.i.tle given by Eastern Christians to the Mother of our Lord. The perpetual virginity of Fatimah, even after the motherhood, is a point of orthodoxy in Al-Islam.

[FN#59] Meaning "joy and gladness in the sight of true believers."

[FN#60] The prayer is now omitted, in order to avoid the repet.i.tion of it when describing a visit to Mount Ohod.

[FN#61] The prayers usually recited here are especially in honour of Abbas, Hasan, (Ali, called) Zayn al-Abidin, Osman, the Lady Halimah, the Martyrs, and the Mothers of the Moslems, (i.e. the Apostle's wives), buried in the holy cemetery. When describing a visit to Al-Bakia, they will be translated at full length.

[FN#62] Hujjaj is the plural of Hajj-pilgrims; Ghuzzat, of Ghazi-crusaders; and Zawwar of Zair-visitors to Mohammed's tomb.

[FN#63] "Taslim" is "to say Salam" to a person.

[FN#64] The Ya Sin (Y, S), the 36th chapter of the Koran, frequently recited by those whose profession it is to say such ma.s.ses for the benefit of living, as well as of dead, sinners. Most educated Moslems commit it to memory.