“I have visited the Prophet’s tomb,” preferring him to express himself thus-"I have visited the Prophet.”  Others again dislike the latter formula, declaring the Prophet too venerable to be so visited by Amr and Zayd. [FN#4] In A.D. 1807, they prevented Ali Bey (the Spaniard Badia) from entering Al-Madinah, and it appears that he had reason to congratulate himself upon escaping without severe punishment. [FN#5] Nothing in the Spanish cathedrals suggests their oriental origin and the taste of the people, more than the way in which they are hedged in by secular buildings. [FN#6] The ceremony of Ziyarat, however, begins at the Bab al-Salam.  We rode up to this gate only in order to avoid the sun. [FN#7] Haswah is a place covered with gravel:  Ramlah, one which is sanded over.  Both are equally applicable, and applied to the areas of Mosques.  Al-Sahn is the general word; Al-Hosh is occasionally used, but is more properly applied to the court-yard of a dwelling-house. [FN#8] This Riwak was begun about five or six years ago by Abd al-Majid.  To judge from the size of the columns, and the other preparations which encumber the ground, this part of the building will surpass all the rest.  But the people of Al-Madinah assured me that it will not be finished for some time,-a prophecy likely to be fulfilled by the present state of Turkish finance. [FN#9] This gate derives its peculiar name from its vicinity to the Lady Fatimah’s tomb; women, when they do visit the Mosque, enter it through all the doors indifferently. [FN#10] It is so called by the figure synecdoche:  it contains the Rauzah or the Prophet’s Garden, and therefore the whole portico enjoys that honoured name. [FN#11] These carpets are swept by the eunuchs, who let out the office for a certain fee to pilgrims, every morning, immediately after sunrise.  Their diligence, however, does by no means prevent the presence of certain little parasites, concerning which politeness is dumb [FN#12] Because if not pure, ablution is performed at the well in the centre of the hypaethra.  Zairs are ordered to visit the Mosque perfumed, and in their best clothes, and the Hanafi school deems it lawful on this occasion only to wear dresses of pure silk. [FN#13] In this Mosque, as in all others, it is proper to enter with the right foot, and to retire with the left. [FN#14] I must warn the reader that almost every Muzawwir has his own litany, which descends from father to son:  moreover, all the books differ at least as much as do the oral authorities. [FN#15] That is to say, “over the world, the flesh, and the devil.” [FN#16] This by strangers is called the Masalla Shafe’i, or the Place of Prayer of the Shafe’i school.  It was sent from Constantinople about 100 years ago, by Sultan Sulayman the Magnificent.  He built the Sulaymaniyah minaret, and has immortalised his name at Al-Madinah, as well as at Meccah, by the number of his donations to the shrine. [FN#17] Here is supposed to have been one of the Prophet’s favourite stations of prayer.