\ 41. THE HOME, AND THE ANTECEDENTS OF ISLAM. 157
chiefly of the pilgrims who annually flock thither by thousands and tens of thousands from all parts of the Mohammedan world. None but Moslems are allowed to enter Mecca, but a few Chris tian travellers — Ali Bey (the assumed name of the Spaniard, Domingo Baclia y Leblich, d. 1818), Burckhardt in 1814, Bur ton in 1852, Maltzan in 1862, Keane in 1880 — have visited it in Mussulman disguise, and at the risk of their lives. To them we
o /
owe our knowledge of the place.1
The most holy place in Mecca is AL-KAABA, a small ob long temple, so called from its cubic form.2 To it the faces of millions of Moslems are devoutly turned in prayer five times a day. It is inclosed by the great mosque, which corresponds in importance to the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem and St. Peter's cathedral in Rome, and can hold about thirty-five thousand per sons. It is surrounded by colonnades, chambers, domes and minarets. Near it is the bubbling well Zemzem, from which JIagar and Ishmael are said to have quenched their burning thirst. The Kaaba is much older than Mecca. Diodorus Siculus men tions it as the oldest and most honored temple in his time. It is supposed to have been first built by angels in the shape of a tent and to have been let down from heaven ; there Adam wor shipped after his expulsion from Paradise; Seth substituted a structure of clay and stone for a tent; after the destruction by the deluge Abraham and Ishmael reconstructed it, and their footsteps are shown.3 It was entirely rebuilt in 1627. It con-
1 See Ali Bey's Travels in Asia and Africa, 1803-1807 (1814, 3 vols.); the works of Burckhardt, and Burton mentioned before ; and Muir, I. 1-9.
2 The Cube-house or Square house, Maison carree. It is also called Beit Ullah, (Beth-el], i. e. House of God. It is covered with cloth. See a description iu Burckhardt, Travels, Lond., 1829, p. 136, Burton II. 154, Sprenger II. 340, and Khan Bahador's Essay on the History of the Holy Mecca (a part of the work above quoted). Burckhardt gives the size: 18 paces long, 14 broad, 35 to 40 feet high. Burton : 22 paces (= 55 English feet) long, 18 paces (45 feet) broad.
3 Bahador says, /. c. : " The most ancient and authentic of all the local tradi tions of Arabia . . . represent the temple of the Kaaba as having been constructed in the 42d century A. M., or 19th century B. C., by Abraham, who was assisted in his work by his son Ishmael." He quotes Gen. xii. 7; xiii. 18 in proof that
158 FOUETH PEEIOD. A. D. 590 TO 1049.
tains the famous BLACK STONE,1 in the North-Eastern corner near the door. This is probably a meteoric stone, or of volcanic origin, and served originally as an altar. The Arabs believe that it fell from Paradise with Adam, and was as white as milk, but turned black on account of man's sins.2 It is semi circular in shape, measures about six inches in height, and eight inches in breadth, is four or five feet from the ground, of reddish black color, polished by innumerable kisses (like the foot of the Peter-statue in St. Peter's at Rome), encased in silver, and covered with black silk and inscriptions from the Koran. It was an object of veneration from time immemorial, and is still devoutly kissed or touched by the Moslem pilgrims on each of their seven circuits around the temple.3
Mohammed subsequently cleared the Kaaba of all relics of idolatry, and made it the place of pilgrimage for his followers. He invented or revived the legend that Abraham by divine command sent his son Ishmael with Hagar to Mecca to establish there the true worship and the pilgrim festival. He says in the Koran : " God hath appointed the Kaaba, the sacred house, to be a station for mankind," and, " Remember when we appointed the sanctuary as man's resort and safe retreat, and said, ' Take ye the station of Abraham for a place of prayer/ And we com manded Abraham and Ishmael, ' Purify my house for those who shall go in procession round it, and those who shall bow down and prostrate themselves.' " *
Abraham raised " altars for God's worship on every spot where he himself had adored Him." But the Bible nowhere says that he ever was in Mecca.
1 It is called in Arabic Hhajera el-Assouad, the Heavenly Stone. Muir II. 35.
3 Bahador discredits this and other foolish traditions, and thinks that the Black Stone was a piece of rock from the neighboring Abba Kobais mountain, and put in its present place by Ishmael at the desire of Abraham.
3 See pictures of the Kaaba and the Black Stone, in Bahador, and also in Muir, II. 18, and description, II. 34 sqq.
4 Eod well's translation, pp. 446 and 648. Sprenger, II. 279, regards the Moslem legend of the Abrahamic origin of the Kaaba worship as a pure inven tion of Mohammed, of which there is no previous trace.