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MECCA (Arab. Makkah)
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See also:MECCA (Arab. Makkah) ,' the See also:chief See also:town of the See also:Hejaz in See also:Arabia, and the See also:great See also:holy See also:city of See also:Islam. It is situated two See also:camel See also:marches (the resting-See also:place being Bahra or Hadda), or about 45 M. almost due E., from See also:Jidda on the Red See also:Sea. Thus on a rough estimate Mecca lies in 210 25' N., 390 50' E. It is said in the See also:Koran (Sur. xiv. 40) that Mecca lies in a sterile valley, and the old geographers observe that the whole Haram or sacred territory See also:round the city is almost without cultivation or date palms, while See also:fruit trees, springs, See also:wells, gardens and See also:green valleys are found immediately beyond. Mecca in fact lies in the See also:heart of a See also:mass of rough hills, intersected by a See also:labyrinth of narrow valleys and passes, and projecting into the Tehama or See also:low See also:country on the Red Sea, in front of the great See also:mountain See also:wall that divides the See also:coast-lands from the central See also:plateau, though in turn they are themselves separated from the sea by a second See also:curtain of hills forming the western wall of the great See also:Wadi Marr. The inner mountain wall is pierced by only two great passes, and the valleys descending from these embrace on both sides the Mecca hills. Holding this position commanding two great routes between the lowlands and inner Arabia, and situated in a narrow and ' A variant of the name Makkah is Bakkah (Sur. iii. 9o; See also:Bakri, 155 seq.). For other names and honorific epithets of the city see Bakri, ut supra, Azraqi, p. 197, Yaqut iv. 617 seq. The lists are in See also:part corrupt, and some of the names (Kutha and 'Arsh or 'Ursh, the huts ') are not properly names of the town as a whole.barren valley incapable of supporting an See also:urban See also:population, Mecca must have been from the first a commercial centre? In the palmy days of See also:South Arabia it was probably a station on the great See also:incense route, and thus See also:Ptolemy may have learned the name, which he writes Makoraba. At all events, See also:long before See also:Mahomet we find Mecca established in the twofold quality of a commercial centre and a privileged holy place, surrounded by an inviolable territory (the Haram), which was not the See also:sanctuary of a single tribe but a place of See also:pilgrimage, where religious observances were associated with a See also:series of See also:annual fairs at different points in the vicinity. Indeed in the unsettled See also:state of the country See also:commerce was possible only under the sanctions of See also:religion, and through the provisions of the sacred truce which prohibited See also:war for four months of the See also:year, three of these being the See also:month of pilgrimage, with those immediately preceding and following. The first of the series of fairs in which the Meccans had an See also:interest was at Okaz on the easier road between Mecca and Taif, where there was also a sanctuary, and from it the visitors moved on to points still nearer Mecca (Majanna, and finally Dhul-Majaz, on the flank of See also:Jebel Kabkab behind Arafa) where further fairs were held,3 culminating in the See also:special religious ceremonies of the great feast at 'Arafa, Quzah (Mozdalif a), and Mecca itself. The See also:system of intercalation in the lunar See also:calendar of the See also:heathen See also:Arabs was designed to secure that the feast should always fall at the See also:time when the hides, fruits and other merchandise were ready for See also:market,' and the Meccans, who knew how to attract the See also:Bedouins by hospitality, bought up these wares in See also:exchange for imported goods, and so became the leaders of the See also:international See also:trade of Arabia. Their caravans traversed the length and breadth of the See also:peninsula. See also:Syria, and especially See also:Gaza, was their chief See also:goal. The Syrian See also:caravan intercepted, on its return, at Badr (see MAHOMET) represented See also:capital to the value of £20,000, an enormous sum for those days.' The victory of Mahommedanism made a vast See also:change in the position of Mecca. The See also:merchant See also:aristocracy became satraps or pensioners of a great See also:empire; but the seat of dominion was removed beyond the See also:desert, and though Mecca and the Hejaz strove for a time to maintain See also:political as well as religious pre-dominance, the struggle was vain, and terminated on the See also:death of See also:Ibn Zubair, the Meccan pretendant to the See also:caliphate, when the city was taken by Hajjaj (A.D. 692). The sanctuary and feast of Mecca received, however, a new See also:prestige from the victory of Islam. Purged of elements obviously heathen, the Ka'ba became the holiest site, and the pilgrimage the most sacred See also:ritual observance of Mahommedanism, See also:drawing worshippers from so wide a circle that the confluence of the See also:petty traders of the desert was no longer the See also:main feature of the holy See also:season. The pilgrimage retained its importance for the commercial well-being of Mecca; to this See also:day the Meccans live by the See also:Hajj—letting rooms, acting as guides and See also:directors in the sacred ceremonies, as contractors and touts for See also:land and sea transport, as well as exploiting the many benefactions that flow to the holy city; while the surrounding Bedouins derive support from the camel-transport it demands and from the subsidies by which they are engaged to protect or abstain from molesting the See also:pilgrim caravans. But the See also:ancient " fairs of heathenism " were given up, and the See also:traffic of the pilgrim season, sanctioned by the See also:Prophet in Sur. ii. 194, was concentrated at See also:Mina and Mecca, where most of the pilgrims still have some-thing to buy or sell, so that Mina, after the See also:sacrifice of the feast day, presents the aspect of a huge international See also:fancy 2 Mecca, says one of its citizens, in VVagidi (Kremer's ed., p. 196, or Muh. in Med, p. too), is a See also:settlement formed for trade with Syria in summer and See also:Abyssinia in See also:winter, and cannot continue to exist if the trade is interrupted. 3 The details are variously related. See See also:Biruni, p. 328 (E. T., p. 324) ; Asma'i in Yaqut, iii. 705, iv. 416, 421; Azraqi, p. 129 seq. ; Bakri, p. 661. Jebel Kabkab is a great mountain occupying the See also:angle between W. Naman and the See also:plain of Arafa. The See also:peak is due See also:north of Sheddad, the See also:hamlet which See also:Burckhardt (i. 115) calls Shedad. According to Azraqi, p. 8o, the last See also:shrine visited was that of the three trees of Uzza in W. Nakhla. ' So we are told by Biruni, p. 62 (E. T., 73).
4 Wagidi, ed. Kremer, pp. 20, 21; Muh. in Med. p. 39.
See also:fair.l In the See also:middle ages this trade was much more important The See also:mosque is at the same time the university See also: Beyond the gate, in a place called the Hajun, is the chief See also:cemetery, commonly called el Ma'la, and said to be the resting-place of many of the companions of Mahomet. Here a See also:cross-road, See also:running over the See also: This is the Mas'a (sacred course) between the eminences of See also:Sala and Merwa, and has been from very See also:early times one of the most lively bazaars and the centre of Meccan See also:life. The other chief bazaars are also near the mosque in smaller streets. The See also:general aspect of the town is picturesque; the streets are fairly spacious, though See also:ill-kept and filthy; the houses are all of See also: The madrassehs or buildings around the mosque, originally intended as lodgings for students and professors, have long been let out to See also:rich pilgrims. The See also:minor places of visitation for pilgrims, such as the birthplaces of the prophet and his chief followers, are not notable.' Both these and the court of the great mosque lie beneath the general level of the city, the site having been gradually raised by accumulated rubbish. The town in fact has little See also:air of antiquity; genuine Arab buildings do not last long, especially in a valley periodically ravaged by tremendous floods when the tropical rains burst on the surrounding hills. The See also:history of Mecca is full of the See also:record of these inundations, unsuccessfully combated by the great See also:dam See also:drawn across the valley by the See also:caliph See also:Omar (Kutbeddin, p. 76), and later See also:works of See also:Mandi.5 The fixed population of Mecca in 1878 was estimated by Assistant-Surgeon `Abd el-Razzaq at 5o,000 to 6o,000; there is a large floating population—and that not merely at the proper season of pilgrimage, the pilgrims of one season often beginning to arrive before those of the former season have all dispersed. At the height of the season the town is much overcrowded, and the entire want of a drainage system is severely See also:felt. Fortunately good water is tolerably plentiful; for, though the wells are mostly undrinkable, and even the famous Zamzam water only available for medicinal or religious purposes, the underground conduit from beyond Arafa, completed by See also:Sultan See also:Selim II. in 1571, supplies to the public fountains a sweet and See also:light water, containing, according to `Abd el-Razzaq, a large amount of chlorides. The water is said to be See also:free to townsmen, but is sold to the pilgrims at a rather high See also:rate.6 See also:Medieval writers celebrate the copious supplies, especially of See also:fine fruits, brought to the city from Taff and other fertile parts of Arabia. These fruits are still famous; See also:rice and other See also:foreign products are brought by sea to Jidda; mutton, See also:milk and See also:butter are plentifully supplied from the desert' The See also:industries all centre in the pilgrimage; the chief See also:object of every Meccan—from the notables and sheikhs, who use their See also:influence to gain See also:custom for the Jidda speculators in the pilgrim traffic, down to the cicerones, pilgrim brokers, lodging-See also:house keepers, and mendicants at the holy places—being to pillage the visitor in every possible way. The fanaticism of the Meccan is an affair of the See also:purse; the See also:mongrel population (for the town is by no means purely Arab) has exchanged the virtues of the Bedouin for the worst corruptions of Eastern town life, without casting off the ferocity of the desert, and it is hardly possible to find a worse certificate of See also:character than the three parallel gashes on each cheek, called Tashrit, which are the customary See also:mark of See also:birth in the holy city. The unspeakable vices of Mecca are a See also:scandal to all Islam, and a See also:constant source of wonder to pious pilgrims.8 The slave trade has connexions with the pilgrimage which are not thoroughly clear; but under See also:cover of the pilgrimage a great See also:deal of importation and exportation of slaves goes on. Since the fall of Ibn Zubair the political position of Mecca ' For details as to the ancient quarters of Mecca, where the several families or septs lived apart, see Azraqi, 455 pp. seq., and compare Ya'qubi, ed. Juynboll, p. too. The minor sacred places are described at length by Azraqi and Ibn Jubair. They are either connected with genuine memories of the Prophet and his times, or have See also:spurious legends to conceal the fact that they were originally holy stones, wells, or the like, of heathen sanctity. See also:Baladhuri, in his See also:chapter on the floods of Mecca (pp. 53 seq.), says that `Omar built two dams. 6 The See also:aqueduct is the successor of an older one associated with the names of Zobaida, wife of See also:Harun al-Rashid, and other benefactors. But the old aqueduct was frequently out of repair, and seems to have played but a secondary part in the medieval water See also:supply. Even the new aqueduct gave no adequate supply in Burckhardt's time. 7 In Ibn Jubair's time large supplies were brought from the Yemen mountains. 8 The corruption of See also:manners in Mecca is no new thing. See the See also:letter of the caliph Mandi on the subject; Wiistenfeld, Orson. Mek., iv. 168. has always been dependent on the movements of the greater Mahommedan world. In the splendid times of the caliphs immense sums were lavished upon the pilgrimage and the holy city; and conversely the decay of the central authority of Islam brought with it a long See also:period of See also:faction, See also:wars and misery, in which the most notable See also:episode was the See also:sack of Mecca by the See also:Carmathians at the pilgrimage season of A.D. 930. The victors carried off the " See also:black stone," which was not restored for twenty-two years, and then only for a great See also:ransom, when it was plain that even the loss of its See also:palladium could not destroy the sacred character of the city. Under the See also:Fatimites See also:Egyptian influence began to be strong in Mecca; it was opposed by the sultans of Yemen, while native princes claiming descent from the Prophet —the Hashimite amirs of Mecca, and after them the amirs of the house of Qatada (since 1202)—attained to great authority and aimed at See also:independence; but soon after the final fall of the See also:Abbasids the Egyptian overlordship was definitely established by sultan Bibars (A.D. 1269). The See also:Turkish See also:conquest of See also:Egypt transferred the supremacy to the See also:Ottoman sultans (1517), who treated Mecca with much favour, and during the 16th century executed great works in the sanctuary and See also:temple. The Ottoman See also:power, however, became gradually almost nominal, and that of the amirs or sherifs increased in proportion, culminating under Ghalib, whose See also:accession See also:dates from 1786. Then followed the wars of the See also:Wahhabis (see ARABIA and WAHHABIS) and the restoration of Turkish See also:rule by the troops of Mehemet `See also:Ali. By him the dignity of sherif was deprived of much of its See also:weight, and in 1827 a change of See also:dynasty was effected by the See also:appointment of Ibn 'Aun. Afterwards Turkish authority again decayed. Mecca is, however, officially the capital of a Turkish See also:province, and has a See also:governor-general and a Turkish See also:garrison, while Mahommedan law is administered by a See also:judge sent from See also:Constantinople. But the real See also:sovereign of Mecca and the Hejaz is the sherif, who, as See also:head of a princely See also:family claiming descent from the Prophet, holds a sort of feudal position. The dignity of sherif (or See also:grand sherif, as Europeans usually say for the See also:sake of distinction, since all the See also:kin of the princely houses reckoning descent from the Prophet are also named sherifs), although by no means a religious pontificate, is highly respected owing to its traditional descent in the line of See also:Hasan, son of the See also:fourth caliph `Ali. From a political point of view the sherif is the See also:modern counterpart of the ancient amirs of Mecca, who were named in the public prayers immediately after the reigning caliph. When the great Mahommedan sultanates had become too much occupied in internecine wars to maintain See also:order in the distant Hejaz, those branches of the Hassanids which from the beginning of Islam had retained rural See also:property in Arabia usurped power in the holy cities and the adjacent Bedouin territories. About A.D. 96o they established a sort of See also:kingdom with Mecca as capital. The influence of the princes of Mecca has varied from time to time, according to the strength of the foreign See also:protectorate in the Hejaz or in consequence of feuds among the branches of the house; until about 1882 it was for most purposes much greater than that of the See also:Turks. The latter were strong_ enough to hold the garrisoned towns, and thus the sultan was able within certain limits—playing off one against the other the two See also:rival branches of the aristocracy, viz. the kin of Ghalib and the house of Ibn`Aun—to assert the right of designating or removing the sherif, to whom in turn he owed the possibility of maintaining, with the aid of considerable See also:pensions, the semblance of his much-prized lordship over the holy cities. The grand sherif can See also:muster a considerable force of freedmen and clients, and his kin, holding wells and lands in various places through the Hejaz, See also:act as his deputies and administer the old Arabic customary law to the Bedouin. To this influence the Hejaz owes what little of law and order it enjoys. During the last quarter of the 19th century Turkish influence became preponderant in western Arabia, and the railway from Syria to the Hejaz tended to consolidate the sultan's supremacy. After the sherifs, the See also:principal family of Mecca is the house of Shaibah, which holds the hereditary custodianship of the Ka'ba. The Great Mosque and the Ka'ba.—Long before Mahomet the chief sanctuary of Mecca was the Ka'ba, a See also:rude stone building without windows, and having a See also:door 7 ft. from the ground; and so named from its resemblance to a monstrous astragalus (See also:die) of about 40 ft. See also:cube, though the shapeless structure is not really an exact cube nor even exactly rectangular.' The Ka'ba has been rebuilt more than once since Mahomet purged it of idols and adopted it as the chief sanctuary of Islam, but the old See also:form has been preserved, except in secondary details;' so that the " Ancient House," as it is titled, is still essentially a heathen temple, adapted to the See also:worship of Islam by the clumsy fiction that it was built by See also:Abraham and See also:Ishmael by divine See also:revelation as a temple of pure monotheism, and that it was only temporarily perverted to idol worship from the time when `Amr ibn Lohai introduced the statue of Hobal from Syria3 till the victory of Islam. This fiction has involved the superinduction of a new See also:mythology over the old heathen ritual, which remains practically unchanged. Thus the chief object of veneration is the black stone, which is fixed in the See also:external angle facing Sala,. The building is not exactly oriented, but it may be called the south-east corner. Its technical name is the black corner, the others being named the Yemen (south-west), Syrian (north-west), and Irak (north-east) corners, from the lands to which they approximately point. The black stone is a small dark mass a span long, with an aspect suggesting volcanic or meteoric origin, fixed at such a height that it can be conveniently kissed by a See also:person of middle See also:size. It was broken by See also:fire in, the See also:siege of A.D. 683 (not, as many authors relate, by the Carmathians), and the pieces are kept together by a See also:silver setting. The history of this heavenly stone, given by See also:Gabriel to Abraham, does not conceal the fact that it was originally a fetish, the most venerated of a multitude of idols and sacred stones which stood all round the sanctuary in the time of Mahomet. The Prophet destroyed the idols, but he left the characteristic form of worship—the tawaf, or sevenfold See also:circuit of the sanctuary, the worshipper kissing or touching the See also:objects of his veneration—and besides the black stone he recognized the so-called " southern " stone, the same presumably as that which is still touched in the tawaf at the Yemen corner (f'Iuh. in Med. pp. 336, 425)• The ceremony of the tawaf and the worship of stone fetishes was See also:common to Mecca with other ancient Arabian sanctuaries.' It was, as it still is, a frequent religious exercise of the Meccans, and the first See also:duty of one who returned to the city or arrived there under a, See also:vow of pilgrimage; and thus the outside of the Ka'ba was and is more important than the inside. Islam did away with the worship of idols; what was lost in interest by their suppression ' The exact measurements (which, however, vary according to different authorities) are stated to be: sides 37 ft. 2 in. and 38 ft. 4 in.; ends 31 ft. 7 in. and 29 ft.; height 35 ft. 2 The Ka'ba of Mahomet's time was the successor of an older building, said to have been destroyed by fire. It was constructed in the still usual rude style of Arabic See also:masonry, with See also:string courses of See also:timber between the stones (like See also:Solomon's Temple). The roof rested on six pillars; the door was raised above the ground and approached by a See also:stair (probably on See also:account of the floods which often swept the valley) ; and worshippers left their shoes under the stair before entering. During the first siege of Mecca (A.D. 683), the building was burned down, the Ibn Zubair reconstructed it on an enlarged See also:scale and in better style of solid See also:ashlar-See also:work. After his death his most glaring innovations (the introduction of two doors on a level with the ground, and the See also:extension of the building lengthwise to include the Ilijr) were corrected by Ilajjaj, under orders from the caliph, but the building retained its more solid structure. The roof now rested on three pillars, and the height was raised one-See also:half. The Ka'ba was again entirely rebuilt after the See also:flood of A.D. 1626, but since Hajjaj there seem to have been no structural changes. 8 Hobal was set up within the Temple over the See also:pit that contained the sacred treasures. His chief See also:function was connected with the sacred See also:lot to which the Meccans were accustomed to betake them-selves in all matters of difficulty. ' See Ibn Hisham i. 54, Azralci p. 8o ('Uzza in Batn Marr) ; YalOut iii. 705 (Otheyda) ; See also:Bar Hebraeus on See also:Psalm xii. 9. Stones worshipped by circling round them See also:bore the name dawar or duwar (Krehl, Rel. d. Araber, p. 69). The later Arabs not unnaturally viewed such cultus as imitated from that of Mecca (Yaqut iv. 622, cf. See also:Dozy, Israeliten to Mekka, p. 125, who draws very perverse inferences). has been supplied by the invention of spots consecrated by recollections of Abraham, Ishmael and Hagar, or held to be acceptable places of See also:prayer. Thus the space of ten spans between the black stone and the door, which is on the east side, between the black and Irak corners, and a See also:man's height from the ground, is called the Multazam, and here prayer should be offered after the tawaf with outstretched arms and See also:breast pressed against the house. On the other side of the door, against the same wall, is a shallow trough, which is said to mark the See also:original site of the stone on which Abraham stood to build the Ka'ba. Here the growth of the See also:legend can be traced, for the place is now called the " kneading-place " (Ma'See also:jan), where the See also:cement for the Ka'ba was prepared. This name and See also:story do not appear in the older accounts. Once more, on the north side of the Ka'ba, there projects a low semicircular wall of See also:marble, with an opening at each end between it and the walls of the house. The space within is paved with See also:mosaic, and is called the Hijr. It is included in the tawaf, and two slabs of verde antico within it are called the See also:graves of Ishmael and Hagar, and are places of acceptable prayer. Even the See also:golden or gilded mizab (water-spout) that projects into the $ijr marks a place where prayer is heard, and another such place is the part of the west wall See also:close to the Yemen corner. The feeling of religious conservatism which has preserved the structural rudeness of the Ka'ba did not prohibit costly See also:surface decoration. In Mahomet's time the See also:outer walls were covered by a See also:veil (or kiswa) of striped Yemen See also:cloth. The caliphs substituted a covering of figured See also:brocade, and the Egyptian See also:government still sends with each pilgrim caravan from See also:Cairo a new kiswa of black brocade, adorned with a broad See also:band embroidered with golden See also:inscriptions from the Koran, as well as a richer curtain for the door., The door of two leaves, with its posts and See also:lintel, is of silver gilt. The' interior of the Ka'ba is now opened but a few times every year for the general public, which ascends by the portable See also:staircase brought forward for the purpose. Foreigners can obtain See also:admission at any time for a special See also:fee. The modern descriptions, from observations made under difficulties, are not very See also:complete. Little change, however, seems to have been made since the time of Ibn Jubair, who describes the See also:floor and walls as overlaid with richly variegated See also:marbles, and the upper half of the walls as plated with silver thickly gilt, while the roof was veiled with coloured See also:silk. Modern writers describe the place as windowless, but Ibn Jubair mentions five windows of rich stained See also:glass from Irak. Between the three pillars of See also:teak hung thirteen silver lamps. A See also:chest in the corner to the left. of one entering contained Korans, and at the Irak corner a space was cut off enclosing the stair that leads to the roof. The door to this stair (called the door of See also:mercy—Bab el-Ralima) was plated with silver by the caliph Motawakkil. Here, in the time of Ibn Jubair, the Maqam or See also:standing stone of Abraham was usually placed for better See also:security, but brought out on great occasions.2 The houses of ancient Mecca pressed close upon the Ka'ba, the noblest families, who traced their descent from Kosai, the reputed founder of the city, having their dwellings immediately round the sanctuary. To the north of the Ka'ba was the See also:Dar el-Nadwa, or place of See also:assembly of the Koreish. The multiplication of pilgrims after Islam soon made it necessary to clear away the nearest dwellings and enlarge the place of prayer around the Ancient House. Omar, See also:Othman and Ibn Jubair had all a See also:share in this work, but the great founder of the mosque in its See also:present form, with its spacious See also:area and deep ' The old kiswa is removed on the 25th day of the month before the pilgrimage, and fragments of it are bought by the pilgrims as charms. Till the loth day of the pilgrimage month the Ka'ba is See also:bare. 2 Before Islam the Ka'ba was opened every See also:Monday and See also:Thursday; in the time of Ibn Jubair it was opened with considerable ceremony every Monday and See also:Friday, and daily in the month Rajah. But, though prayer within the building is favoured by the example of the Prophet, it is not compulsory on the Moslem, and even in the time of Ibn Batuta the opportunities of entrance were reduced to Friday and the birthday of the Prophet.colonnades, was the caliph Mandi, who spent enormous sums in bringing costly pillars from Egypt and Syria. The work was still incomplete at his death in A.D. 785, and was finished in less sumptuous style by his successor. Subsequent See also:repairs and additions, extending. down to Turkish times, have left little of Mandi's work untouched, though a few of the pillars probably date from his days. There are more than five hundred pillars in all, of very various style and workmanship, and the enclosure—25o paces in length and Zoo in breadth, according to Burckhardt's measurement—is entered by nineteen archways irregularly disposed. After the Ka'ba the principal points of interest in the mosque are the well Zamzam and the Maqam See also:Ibrahim. The former is a deep See also:shaft enclosed in a massive vaulted building paved with marble, and, according to Mahommedan tradition, is the source (corresponding to the See also:Beer-lahai-roi of Gen. xvi. 14) from which Hagar See also:drew water for her son Ishmael. The legend tells that the well was long covered up and rediscovered by `Abd al-Mottalib, the grandfather of the Prophet. Sacred wells are See also:familiar features of Semitic sanctuaries, and Islam, retaining the well, made a quasi-biblical story for it, and endowed its tepid See also:waters with miraculous curative virtues. They are eagerly drunk by the pilgrims, or when poured over the body are held to give a miraculous refreshment after the fatigues of religious exercise; and the manufacture of bottles or jars for carrying the water to distant countries is quite a trade. Ibn Jubair mentions a curious superstition of the Meccans, who believed that the water See also:rose in the shaft at the full See also:moon of the month Shahan. On this occasion a great See also:crowd, especially of See also:young See also:people, thronged round the well with shouts of religious See also:enthusiasm, while the servants of the well dashed buckets of water over their heads. The Maqam of Abraham is also connected with a relic of heathenism, the ancient holy stone which once stood on the Ma'jan, and is said to See also:bear the prints of the See also:patriarch's feet. The whole legend of this stone, which is full of miraculous incidents, seems to have arisen from a misconception, the Maqam Ibrahim in the Koran meaning the sanctuary itself; but the stone, which is a See also:block about 3 spans in height and 2 in breadth, and in shape " like a See also:potter's See also:furnace " (Ibn Jubair), is certainly very ancient. No one is now allowed to see it, though the See also:box in which it lies can be seen or touched through a grating in the little See also:chapel that surrounds it. In the middle ages it was sometimes shown, and Ibn Jubair describes the pious enthusiasm with which he drank Zamzam water poured on the footprints. It was covered with inscriptions in an unknown character, one of which was copied by Fakihi in his history of Mecca. To judge by the facsimile in Dozy's Israeliten to Mekka, the character is probably essentially one with that of the Syrian Saf a inscriptions, which extended through the Nejd and into the I3ejaz 3 Safa and Merwa.—In religious importance these two points or " hills," connected by the Mas`a, stand second only to the Ka'ba. Safa is an elevated See also:platform surmounted by a triple See also:arch, and approached by a See also:flight of steps.' It lies south-east of the Ka'ba, facing the black corner, and 76 paces from the " Gate of Safa," which is architecturally the chief gate of the mosque. Merwa is a similar platform, formerly covered with a single arch, on the opposite side of the valley. It stands on a See also:spur of the Red Mountain called Jebel Kuaykian. The course between these two sacred points is 493 paces long, and the religious ceremony called the " sa'y " consists in traversing it seven times, beginning and ending at Safa. The lowest part of the course, between the so-called green milestones, is done at a run. This ceremony, which, as we shall presently see, is part of the omra, is generally said to be performed in memory of Hagar, who ran to and fro between the two eminences vainly seeking water for her son. The observance, however, is certainly of See also:pagan origin; and at one time there were idols on both the so-called hills (see especially Azraqi, pp. 74, 78).
The Ceremonies and the Pilgrimage.—Before Islam the Ka'ba was the See also:local sanctuary of the Meccans, where they prayed and did
2 See De See also:Vogue, Syrie centrale: inscr. sem. ; See also:Lady See also:Anne See also:Blunt Pilgrimage of Nejd, ii., and W. R. See also: Ibn Jubair speaks of fourteen steps, Ali See also:Bey of four, Burckhardt of three. The surrounding ground no doubt has risen so that the old name " hill of Safa " is now inapplicable. sacrifice, where oaths were administered and hard cases submitted to divine See also:sentence according to the immemorial custom of Semitic shrines. But, besides this, Mecca was already a place of pilgrimage. Pilgrimage with the ancient Arabs was the fulfilment of a vow, which appears to have generally terminated—at least on the part of the well-to-do—in a sacrificial feast. A vow of pilgrimage might be directed to other sanctuaries than Mecca—the technical word for it (ihlal) is applied, for example, to the pilgrimage to Man-at (Bakri, p. 519). He who was under such a vow was See also:bound by ceremonial observances of See also:abstinence from certain acts (e.g. See also:hunting) and sensual pleasures, and in particular was forbidden to shear or See also:comb his See also:hair till the fulfilment of the vow. This old Semitic usage has its close parallel in the vow of the See also:Nazarite. It was not peculiarly connected with Mecca; at Taif, for example, it was customary on return to the city after an See also:absence to present oneself at the sanctuary, and there shear the hair (Muh. in Med., p. 381). Pilgrimages to Mecca were not tied to a single time, but they were naturally associated with festive occasions, and especially with the great annual feast and market. The pilgrimage was so intimately connected with the wellbeing of Mecca, and had already such a hold on the Arabs round about, that Mahomet could not afford to sacrifice it to an abstract purity of religion, and thus the old usages were transplanted into Islam in the See also:double form of the omra or vow of pilgrimage to Mecca, which can be discharged at any time, and the hall or pilgrimage at the great annual feast. The latter closes with a visit to the Ka'ba, but its essential ceremonies lie outside Mecca, at the neighbouring shrines where the old Arabs gathered before the Meccan fair. The omra begins at some point outside the Ilaram(or holy territory), generally at Tanim, both for convenience sake and because Ayesha began the omra there in the year to of the Hegira. The pilgrim enters the Ilaram in the See also:antique and scanty pilgrimage See also:dress (ihram), consisting of two cloths See also:wound round his person in a way prescribed by ritual. His devotion is expressed in shouts of " Labbeyka" (a word of obscure origin and meaning; he enters the great mosque, performs the tawaf and the sa'y' and then has his head shaved and resumes his common dress. This ceremony is now generally combined with the bajj, or is performed by every stranger or traveller when he enters Mecca, and the ibram (which involves the acts of abstinence already referred to) is assumed at a considerable distance froth the city. But it is also proper during one's See also:residence in the holy city to perform at least one omra from Tanim in connexion with a visit to the mosque of Ayesha there. The triviality of these See also:rites is ill concealed by the legends of the sa'y of Hagar and of the tawaf being first performed by See also:Adam in See also:imitation of the circuit of the angels about the See also:throne of See also:God; the meaning of their ceremonies seems to have been almost a See also:blank to the Arabs,before Islam, whose religion had become a See also:mere formal tradition. We do not even know to what deity the worship expressed in the tawaf was properly addressed. There is a tradition that the Ka'ba was a temple of See also:Saturn (See also:Shahrastani, p. 431) ; perhaps the most distinctive feature of the shrine may be sought in the sacred doves which still enjoy the See also:protection of the sanctuary. These recall the sacred doves of See also:Ascalon (See also:Philo vi. 200 of See also:Richter's ed.), and suggests See also:Venus-worship as at least one See also:element (cf. See also:Herod i. 131, iii. 8; Ephr. Syr., Op. Syr. ii. 457). To the See also:ordinary pilgrim the omra has become so much an episode of the haj' that it is described by some See also:European pilgrims as a mere visit to the mosque of Ayesha; a better conception of its original significance is got from the Meccan feast of the seventh month (Rajah), graphically described by Ibn Jubair from his observations in A.D. 1184. Rajab was one of the ancient sacred months,and the feast, which extended through the whole month and was a joyful season of hospitality and thanksgiving, no doubt represents the ancient feasts of Mecca more exactly than the ceremonies of the bajj, in which old usage has been overlaid by traditions and glosses of Islam. The omra was performed by crowds from day to day, especially at new and full moon' The new moon celebration was nocturnal; the road to Tanim, the Mas'a, and the mosque were brilliantly illuminated; and the appearing of the moon was greeted with noisy See also:music. A genuine old Arab market was held, for the See also:wild Bedouins of the Yemen mountains came in thousands to See also:barter their See also:cattle and fruits for clothing, and deemed that to absent them-selves would bring drought and cattle See also:plague in their homes. Though ignorant of the legal ritual and prayers, they performed the tawaf with enthusiasm, throwing themselves against the Ka'ba and clinging to its curtains as a See also:child clings to its See also:mother. They also made a point of entering the Ka'ba. The 29th of the month was the feast day of the Meccan See also:women, when they and their little ones had the Ka'ba to themselves without the presence even of the Sheybas. The central and essential ceremonies of the See also:ban or greater pilgrim-See also:age are those of the day of Arafa, the 9th of the i ' pilgrimage month " (Dhu'l Ilijja), the last of the Arab year; and every Moslem who is his own See also:master, and can command the necessary means, is bound to join in these once in his life, or to have them fulfilled by a substitute i The latter perhaps was no part of the ancient omra; see Snouck-Hurgronje, Het Mekkaansche Feest (188o) p. 115 sqq. ' The 27th was also a great day, but this day was in See also:commemoration of the rebuilding of the Ka'ba by Ibn Jubair.on his behalf and at his expense. By them the pilgrim becomes as pure from See also:sin as when he was See also:born, and gains for the See also:rest of his life the See also:honourable See also:title of bajj. Neglect of many other parts of the pilgrim ceremonial may be compensated by offerings, but to See also:miss the " stand " (woquf) at Arafa is to miss the pilgrimage. Arafa or Arafat is a space, artificially limited, round a small isolated hill called the Hill of Mercy, a little way outside the holy territory, on the road from Mecca to Taif.. One leaving Mecca after midday can easily reach the place on See also:foot the same evening. The road is first north-wards along the Mecca valley and then turns eastward. It leads through the straggling village of Mina, occupying a long narrow valley (Wadi Mina), two to three See also:hours from Mecca, and thence by the mosque of Mozdalifa over a narrow pass opening out into the plain of Arafa,which is an expansion of the great Wadi Naman,through which the Taif road descends from See also:Mount Kara. The lofty and rugged mountains of the Hodheyl See also:tower over the plain on the north side and overshadow the little Hill of Mercy, which is one of those bosses of weathered See also:granite so common in the Hejaz. Arafa lay quite near Dhul-Majaz, where, according to Arabian tradition, a great fair was held from the 1st to the 8th of the pilgrimage month; and the ceremonies from which the hajj was derived were originally an appendix to this fair. Now, on the contrary, the pilgrim is expected to follow as closely as may be the movements of the prophet at his " farewell pilgrimage " in the year lo of the Hegira (A.D. 632). He therefore leaves Mecca in pilgrim garb on the 8th of Dhu'l Iiijja, called the day of tarwiya (an obscure and pre-Islamic name), and, strictly speaking, should spend the See also:night at Mina. It is now, however, customary to go right on and encamp at once at Arafa. The night should be spent in devotion, but the See also:coffee booths do a lively trade, and songs are as common as prayers. Next forenoon the pilgrim is free to move about, and towards midday he may if he please hear a See also:sermon. In the afternoon the essential ceremony begins; it consists simply in " standing " on Arafa shouting " Labbeyka " and reciting prayers and texts till sunset. After the See also:sun is down the vast assemblage breaks up, and a See also:rush (technically ifada, See also:daf ,nafr is made in the utmost confusion to Mozdalifa, where the night prayer is said and the night spent. Before sunrise next See also:morning (the loth) a second "stand" like that on Arafa is made for a See also:short time by torchlight round the mosque of Mozdalifa, but before the sun is fairly up all must be in See also:motion in the second ifada towards Mina. The day thus begun is the " day of sacrifice," and has four ceremonies—(I) to pelt with seven stones a See also:cairn (jamrat al 'agaba) at the eastern end of W. Mina, (2) to slay a victim at Mina and hold a sacrificial See also:meal, part of the flesh being also dried and so preserved, or given to the poor,' (3) to be shaved and so terminate the ihram, (4) to make the third ifada, i.e. go to Mecca and perform the tawaf and sa'y ('omrat al-ifa4la), returning thereafter to Mina. The sacrifice and visit to Mecca may, however, be delayed till the Ilth, 12th or 13th. These are the days of Mina, a fair and joyous feast, with no special ceremony except that each day the pilgrim Is expected to throw seven stones at the jamrat al 'agaba, and also at each of two similar See also:cairns in the valley. The stones are thrown in the name of See also:Allah, and are generally thought to be directed at the See also:devil. This is, however, a custom older than Islam, and a tradition in Azraqi, p. 412, represents it as an act of worship to idols at Mina. As the stones are thrown on the days of the fair, it is not unlikely that they have something to do with the old Arab mode of closing a See also:sale by the purchaser throwing a stone (Biruni, p. 328).' The pilgrims leave Mina on the 12th or 13th, and the bajj is then over. (See further MAHOMMEDAN RELIGION.) The colourless character of these ceremonies is plainly due to the fact that they are nothing more than expurgated heathen rites. In Islam proper they have no raison d'itre; the legends about Adam and See also:Eve on Arafa, about Abraham's sacrifice of the See also:ram at Thabii by Mina, imitated in the sacrifices of the pilgrimage, are clumsy afterthoughts, as appears from their See also:variations and only partial See also:acceptance. It is not so easy to get at the nature of the original rites, which Islam was careful to suppress. But we find mention of practices condemned by the orthodox, or forming no part of the Moslem ritual, which may be regarded as traces of an older ceremonial. Such are nocturnal illuminations at Mina (Ibn Batuta i. 396), Arafa and Mozdalifa (Ibn Jubair, 179), and tawafs performed by the ignorant at holy spots at Arafa not recognized by law (Snouck-Hurgronje p. 149 sqq.). We know that the rites at Mozdalifa were originally connected with a holy hill bearing the name of the god Quzah (the Edomite Koze) whose See also:bow is the See also:rainbow, and there is See also:reason to think that the ifaclas from Arafa and Quzah, which were not made as now after sunset and before sunrise, but when the sun rested on the tops of the mountains, were ceremonies of farewell and salutation to the sun-god. The See also:statistics of the pilgrimage cannot be given with certainty and vary much from year to year. The See also:quarantine See also:office keeps a record of arrivals by sea at Jidda (66,000 for 1904); but to these must be added those travelling by land from Cairo, See also:Damascus The sacrifice is not indispensable except for those who can afford it and are combining the hajj with the omra. ' On the similar pelting of the supposed graves of Abu Lahab and his wife (Ibn Jubair, p. I to) and of Abu Righal at Mughammas, see NSldeke's See also:translation of See also:Tabari, p. 208. and Irak, the pilgrims who reach Medina from Yanbu and go on to Mecca, and those from all parts of the peninsula. Burckhardt in 1814 estimated the crowd at Arafa at 70,000, See also:Burton in 1853 at 50,000, 'Abd el-Razzak in 1858 at 60,000. This great assemblage is always a dangerous centre of infection, and the days of Mina especially, spent under circumstances originally adapted only for a Bedouin fair, with no provisions for proper cleanliness, and with the air full of the See also:smell of putrefying See also:offal and flesh drying in the sun, produce much sickness. Of European descriptions of Mecca from See also:personal observation the best is Burckhardt's Travels in Arabia (cited above from the 8vo ed , 1829). The Travels of Aly Bey (Badia, See also:London, 1816) describe a visit in 18o7; Burton's Pilgrimage (3rd ed., 1879) often supplements Burckhardt; Von See also:Maltzan's Wallfahrt nach Mekka (1865) is lively but very slight. 'Abd el-Razzaq's See also:report to the government of India on the pilgrimage of 1858 is specially directed to sanitary questions; C. Snouck-Hurgronje, Mekka (2 vols., and a collection of photo-graphs, The See also:Hague, 1888–1889), gives a description of the Meccan sanctuary and of the public and private life of the Meccans as observed by the author during a sojourn in the holy city in 1884–1885 and a political history of Mecca from native See also:sources from the Hegira till 1884. For the pilgrimage see particularly Snouck-Hurgronje, Het Mekkaansche Feest (See also:Leiden, 188o). (W. R. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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