Milford chronicle., 1909-07-30

unspeakable name of God, whic
they say that Jesus succeeded il
reading, failing in which He cOul,
not have worked his miracles. Whel
Mohamet had prayed here, he was
say the Muslims, carried 10 heavei
on his winged steed, and commu
nicated such an upward impetus t
the Holy Rock with the whirlwinC
( Of his ascent that the Aichange
Michael had to fly down and stay
it with his hand, lest the worlC
should be left without its altar
/ However ancient and unauthetiC
may be this belief OF the Muslims,
know that the finger prints are in
the rock to this day, but how they
got there 1 am unable to say.
Within one of the four gates Mo
hamet had driven into a slab of Jas
per, forming part of the pavement,
nineteen silver nails, one of which
it IS said has fallen out at the close
of every century or epoch. Three
and one half now remain, and when
all shall have disappeared, then, it
is prophesied, will come the end of
the world, so in order for the visitor
to go to the promised land it is nee
essary that you deposit on this slab
OF jasper some "baksheesh, " which
is anything from a plaster to a ten
dollar gold piece. We now 60 down
below the Holy Rock where there
Is a large cavern and four tombs,
one of which is supposed to be that
OF St. George who killed the dragon
and one of Mohamedan, but as to
the positive Identification Of the
other two nothing is known.
Close by the Dome Of the Holy
Rock as we come out the north
gate is a domed canopy covering
the site Of the throne Of Solomon
where he delivered his judgments
and where he was found dead. 1t
is said that it was here that he de-
cided that widely known dispute
between the two mothers over the
child, when both claimed it and
Solomon said cut the child in twain
and each take half; one agreed
and the other did not, so it was an
easy matter for him to decide to
whom belonged the child, and un-
der this dOmed canopy all visitors
must remove their shoes or put on
Overshoes before visiting any part
Of the Haram.
The great mosque El-Aksa is also
situated within the Haram, Just
across the court from the mosque of
Omar, and is a massive building
built originally by the Emperor +
Justinian and dedicated to the mem
Dry of the Virgin Mary in A. D. 6S4,
It IS much larger than the mosque
)f Omar but not so handsome
throughout and the earthquakes
nave damaged the building to some
.xtent during the last few centuries.
The mosque El-Aksa now belongs
o the Mahomedans and they as
emble there in great numbers on /
.ach Friday at noon to offer up
prayers and lamentations. Within
his mosque also are two handsome
marble pillars situated about eigh-
cen inches apart, and any person
ble to so between them was able
o go to heaven, but owing to the
act that one Muslin soldier in try
ng to go through became fast and
vas nesessary to render him aid to ,
xtricate him, since which time
mere has been placed an iron bar
o that no one can pass between
hem, but the pillars have been con
iderabiy worn as evidence that
umberless people have passed be
yeen them. There is also a spot
! this mosque that is held sacred
wing to the fact that when the par
nts of Christ on leaving Jerusalem
u Bethlehem found him missing
nd on returning found him on this I
DOT in the synagogue conversing
18th the wise man and the doctors.