Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Islamic
Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Arabian Peninsula -- Description and travel
Beyond the north-eastern corner, in the northern wall, is the Bab
Duraybah, a small entrance with one arch. Next to it, almost fronting
the Kaabah, is the grand adit, Bab al-Ziyadah, also known as Bab
al-Nadwah. Here the colonnade, projecting far beyond the normal line,
forms a small square or hall supported by pillars, and a false
colonnade of sixty-one columns leads to the true cloister of the
Mosque. This portion of the building being cool and shady, is crowded
by the poor, the diseased, and the dying, during Divine worship, and at
other times by idlers, schoolboys, and merchants. Passing through three
external arches, pilgrims descend by a flight of steps into the hall,
where they deposit their slippers, it not being considered decorous to
hold them when circumambulating the Kaabah.[FN#53] A broad pavement, in
the shape of an irregular triangle, whose base is the cloister, leads
to the circuit of the house. Next to the Ziyadah Gate is a small,
single-arched entrance, Bab Kutubi, and beyond it one similar, the Bab
al-Ajlah ([Arabic]), also named Al-Basitiyah, from its proximity to the
college of Abd al Basitah. Close to the north-west angle of the
cloister is the Bab al-Nadwah, anciently called Bab al-Umrah, and now
Bab
[p.316] al-Atik, the Old Gate. Near this place and opening into the
Kaabah, stood the Town Hall (Dar al-Nadwah), built by Kusay, for
containing the oriflamme Al-Liwa, and as a council-chamber for the
ancients of the city.[FN#54]
In the western wall are three entrances. The single-arched gate nearest
to the north angle is called Bab Benu Saham or Bab al-Umrah, because
pilgrims pass through it to the Tanim and to the ceremony Al-Umrah
(Little Pilgrimage). In the centre of the wall is the Bab Ibrahim, or
Bab al-Khayyatin (the Tailors Gate); a single arch leading into a large
projecting square, like that of the Ziyadah entrance, but somewhat
smaller. Near the south-west corner is a double arched adit, the Bab
al-Widaa (of farewell): hence departing pilgrims issue forth from the
temple.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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