The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-27


 tains enough cloth to make a trained skirt for lady. I have made a photo graph of the consul with his kavasses standing beside him. He looks like prisoner with the kavasses as guards.
 The Mosque of Omar
 It is these Mohammedan guides that enable us to visit the Mosque of Omar which was supposed by the Crusaders to be Solomon's temple. It was actually built as a cathedral by the Christian em- perors who reigned at Constantinople. and is one of the finest specimens of Byzantine architecture. When it was constructed it was dedicated to the Vir- gin Mary, but about 1900 years ago, when Omar captured Jerusalem, he turned if into a Mohammedan mosque, and so 1t is to this day.
 Imagine a mighty dome of greenish copper on the top of winch is a golden crescent Let this be as large or larger, than that of the capitol at Washington, and let it rest upon vast octagonal temple walled with tiles so fine that any one of them would be prized as piece of rare china. Let there be dado of marble below the tiles and a wide frieze above them, inlaid with Arabic charac- ters containing texts from the Koran, and let the whole be entered by mighty doors over which are arches of carvings, and you have a faint idea of the Dome of the Rock, the name by which this mosque is known.
 The Mohammedans Believe in Christ Here may be seen striking evidences of the belief that the Mohammedans hold as to Christ and the prophets. They be- | lieve in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and class Jesus as one of the prophets, al- though not so high, perhaps, as Moham- med. In the verses of the Koran on the front of the mosque is one saying: ''The Messiah Jesus, Is the only son of Mary, the ambassador of God, and His word which He deposited in Mary. Believe, then, in God and His ambassador, and do not maintain that in one there are three" Another reads: Blessings be on me in the day of my birth and my death. He is Jesus the Son of Mary, the word of truth, concerning whom some are in doubt" There are other passages of the Koran which give the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the Mohammedans reverence this spot in connection with them.
 Where Gabriel Will Blow His Trump But let us take off our shoes and go in. The floor of the mosque Is holy ground and none is permitted to enter except in his stocking or bare feet. The inside Is even more beautiful than that without. The walls and roofs are a mass of carvings and mosaics. The mosiac is made up of bits of gold and glass, the latter of many colors, all so delicately put together that they form beautiful paintings. Each bit is as big as the head of nall, or smaller, and thousands of them are required to make each of the pictures. The columns which uphold the roof are of marble, and the floor is of marble carpeted with old rugs from Turkey and Persia.
 D i,J,f in the huge rock upon which Abraham built his altar for Isaac, and upon it, the Mo- hammedans say, the angel Gabriel Will stand when he blows the last trumpet calling the people to Judgment. At that time according to them, the souls of the human race will rush to this spot and present themselves before Mohammed and Christ, who will pass on their vir- tues and sins. After that all must go to the pillar of judgment and cross wire rope to the Mount of Olives, and thence up to heaven or down into hell The wicked will fall in the crossing Ac- cording to another Mohammedan story, the Moslems will be turned into feas, and Mohammed himself into sheep. in which shape he will ascend to heaven with the Mohammedan fleas in his wool.
 The rock Is esteemed sacred by every Mohammedan. It is surrounded by an iron stockade, which none is allowed to enter. The rock Is about forty feet long and sixty feet wide, and it rises about six feet out of the floor. It fills the whole inclosure and comes close to the fence that one can touch it, or, if devout, as most of the worshpers l saw in the mosque were, can put his mouth through the bars and impress kiss on it.
 How I Saved the World
 As we walk about the fence examining the rock our turbaned guide shows us Its wonders. Here says he, pointing to1 a round hole in one of the sides, lis the mark of Mohammeds heel It was from that spot that the holy prophet ascended to heaven, and as he rose the rock start ed to go up with him holding fast to his heel. The Angel Gabriel had to put his hand upon it to keep 1t down, and here,' pointing to five curious marks, 'are the places where Gabriels fingers rested when he did so."
 little further on the guide tells us that this rock is the center of the earth, and that some believe it to be also the gate of he'll He shows us plate Of jasper as big as a checker board, in which are three golden nails, saying that the plate originally contained 19 nails which sMohammed had driven into it. Ore nail drops out at the end of each lge. and when the last nail is gone the end of the world will occur. The guide offered to let me pull out the last three nails for N piece. but l have no