Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1893-01-27
A MOHAMMEpAN TEMPLE
rhs Great Mosque In Mecca During the
Season of the Hadj.


season of the Hndj.
The mosque has been so often de-
sstroyed and rebuilt and repaired that
lit contains few traces of remote antiq-
uity The structure as it stands was
mostly built in the seventeenth centu-.
ry, but repairs have been made down
to our day. AS its object was simply
to enclose the Kaaba, the size of the
court has been varied in the successive
rebuildings. The mosque has nineteen
gates, placed at irregular distances,
but MS some of the gates have three
arches, the number of entrances is
thirty-nine,s The principal of these are
Bab-es-Salam (gate of peace) by which
every pilgrim makes his first entrance;
Bab-el-Neby, by which Mohammed used
to enter, and through which the bodies
of the dead are carried, that prayers
may be said over them, and the Babel
Omra through which it is necessary
to pass in order topray before perform
ing the rite of Omra, or the Little Pill
grimage to holy place three miles ont.
side of the city, AS these gates have
no doors, the mosque is open at all
times The exterior is adorned with
seven minarets of the common Moslem
style. The entrances to these are from
the houses; which touch the mosque on
all'sides, and.from somepf these houses
windows are opened in the wall of en-.
closure so that pilgrims lodging in
them can pray at home in sight of the
Kaaba. 1t is said that the court of the
mosque will hold thirty-fve thousand
people; but it is never full even in the
time of the Hadj, and belief is cur
rent that it never could be filled by any
number of grims-either the wor-
shippers would be individually dimin-
ished in size or the court would be mi
raculously enlarged for the occasion
The mosque is never deserted, and day
and night presents scenes of animation
and picturesqueness. Through its open
gates citizens, burden and
trafickers constantly pass from one part
of the city to the other At sunset,
ono of the hours of prayer when great
numbers assemble, spread their carpets,
and perform their devotions, the sight
of seven thousand or eight thousand
persons bending in joint prostrations in
the waning light is awe-inspiring.
Later, when the lamps are lighted,
the devotces, rank outside of
rank circling round the Kaa.
ba,. racing. crowdipg, calculating, the
metowefs. loudly reciting the prayers,
oilers clamoring and chatting, and boys
running hither and thither and shout
ing, give the court the appearance of a
place of amusement Every hour of the
day people are seen under the colon
nades reading the Koran. Indians and
! Negroes spread tHeir-' mats and pass
/ the whole period of their Mecca visit
there, being allowed to battle, eat and
sleep, but not to cook in the court.
Men come there to lounge in the cool
! shade at noon and to talk business.
Poor Hadjis, diseased and deformed, lie
about among, the pillars in the midst of
their miserable baggage Public
schools are held for young children.
Learned men deliver lectqNs; ulemas
recite the Koran. At the gates sit
scribes with inkstands and pa.
per for writing letters and con.
tracts, and producing amulets and
love-charms. Winding-sheets for
many Hadjis buy at Mecca the
shrouds in which they wish to DE bur
ied) and other linen washed in the holy
well Zem-zem hang drying between
the pillars. In the square are many
small stone basins filed with water for
the use of the: pigeons which gather
there, and by these basins Arab public
women sit in order to exhibit them.
selves and make appointments with Wis.
itors, and for a pretense sell corn 10
feed the birds. Burckhardt says that
the holy. Kaaba is oftenstbe scene of in.
decencies practiced with impunity, and
calling forth usually only a laugh from
the spectators. At the end of the Hadj
the mosque presents a sad, appearance;
the fatigues of the pilgrimage, the un.
healthy lodgings, the bad water and
food, caused great mortality, and the
court is filled with the bodies of the
dead and those in the last stages of
emaciation who are borne there in or
der to be sprinkled, when dying, with
the waters of Zem-zen. Charles Dud-
ley Warner. in Itarper's Magazine, -